Archive for the 'Graffiti' Category

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The Digest. 02.18.11.


Smells on a freight car. (Image courtesy of Smells.)

Photo Diary: ’112 Greene Street’ at David Zwirner Gallery, in NYC.


A piece of Gordon Matta-Clark’s graffiti truck, from 1973. Matta-Clark was inspired by graffiti in the early ’70s — before it had caught on with the mainstream art world. (Photo by C-M.)

The 1970s were not kind to New York. There was a middle class exodus to the suburbs. The Son of Sam was terrorizing the town. The city was bankrupt. Which, in a way, made the place an ideal spot for artists — who could take over empty SoHo warehouses for dance performances and attack derelict buildings in the Bronx with chainsaws, all without anybody batting an eyelash. The current David Zwirner exhibit 112 Greene Street: The Early Years (1970-74) examines this history — specifically, the story behind the alternative arts spot that gave rise to a number of figures, among them sculptor and conceptualist Gordon Matta-Clark. (Most interestingly, he was able to make a real live cherry tree grow in 112′s by-all-accounts-nasty basement.)

For those who relish examining a period when the city was entirely bereft of velvet ropes and gaggles of Sex and the City wannabes, this is definitely the show for you. It is heavy on Matta-Clark, containing evidence of some of his early building slicing experiments, but also has some compelling sculptures by Richard Nonas and Alan Senet. In addition, to anyone interested in the history of graffiti, the show is an absolute must-see. Matta-Clark had a heavy duty interest in the art form — letting Bronx teens tag up his van and documenting early tags on the subways in pieces he called Graffiti Photoglyphs. (See the photos below.)

You’ve got until the end of the week to catch the show. 112 Greene Street runs through this Saturday, Feb. 12.

Continue reading ‘Photo Diary: ’112 Greene Street’ at David Zwirner Gallery, in NYC.’

Calendar. 01.25.11.


Ellis G, Permanently Temporary, at the Mighty Tanaka Gallery in Dumbo, through Feb. 4. (Image courtesy of Mighty Tanaka.)

  • S.F.: Christopher Taggart: Away, at Baer Ridgway, opens Saturday at 4pm.
  • L.A.: Art Los Angeles Contemporary, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, begins on Friday at 11am and runs through Sunday at 6pm.
  • NYC: Matt Mullican, an artist who worked with a computer programmer to create a navigable scale model of the solar system, gives a talk at Artists Space in SoHo tonight at 7pm. You can view the piece here.
  • NYC: A free screening of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis at Rabbit Hole Studio, in Dumbo, at 8:30pm. Doors open at 8pm.
  • NYC: Ancient Sci-Fi Update, Pavel Kraus and Megan Burns, at The Proposition, through March 13.
  • NYC: Cooking with Gallery Beat, a live talk show with Paul H-O and Dr. Lisa, featuring Phoebe Hoban, Peter Bolte, John Lee, Pat Daugherty and Jen Friedman, at BravinLee Programs, this Saturday at 6pm.
  • Valhalla, N.Y.: Oona Stern: The Reluctant Naturalist, at Westchester Community College, through Feb. 26.

The Digest. 01.19.11.


Jeff Soto, in Miami. (Photo by Luna Park.)

The Digest. 01.14.11.


The Smart Crew, in NYC. (Photo by C-M.)

Congratulations to knonos for winning the Stikman calendar giveaway!

Calendar. 01.11.11.


An image by Ripo. His solo show Don’t Get Me Wrong, opens at Galería Cosmo in Barcelona, this Friday at 8pm. (Image courtesy of Ripo.)

  • Seattle: Carolina Silva, Against Gravity (or the Oddity of the Flooded Land), at Lawrimore Project, through Jan. 29.
  • L.A.: Classic Photographs Los Angeles, at the Helms Daylight Studio, in Culver City, this Saturday and Sunday only.
  • L.A.: Fierce, a one-night exhibit featuring Anthony Lister, at THIS Los Angeles, this Friday at 7pm.
  • Stanford, Calif.: Art Censorship Issues, A screening of David Wojnarowicz’s Fire in My Belly’ and panel discussion, which will include artist Enrique Chagoya (who recently had a piece of his smashed in Colorado), at Annenberg Auditorium at Stanford, this Wednesday, at 5pm.
  • Chicago: Nicholas Knight, Declaimed, at 65Grand, this Friday at 7pm.
  • NYC: Maximum Perception, a performance festival, at English Kills, this Friday and Saturday, 7pm-midnight.
  • NYC: Trespass, a group show, at Pandemic Gallery in Williamsburg, opens this Saturday at 7pm.
  • NYC: Piotr Uklálnski, Discharge!, at Gagosian Gallery, on Madison Avenue, opens Wednesday.
  • NYC: Imeday Imeday Ollarday Icklenay, at Allegra LaViola, next public performance this Wednesday at 6pm.
  • NYC: R. Luke Dubois: A More Perfect Union, at Bitforms, opens Thursday at 6:30pm.
  • NYC: Ray K. Metzer, at Laurence Miller Gallery, through Feb. 26.
  • NYC: Deborah Brown, The Bushwick Paintings, at Lesley Heller Workspace, opens Wednesday.

Tagger Punks.

Katsu and AVONE do a phone booth in downtown Manhattan. (Photos by C-M.)

The Digest. 12.13.10.


Eko. (Image courtesy of Eko.)

The Digest. 11.15.10.


Train graff in Naples, Italy, 2009. (Photo by C-M.)

Uncovering historical graffiti.

Brad Downey spent two days working with professional conservator Magdalena Recova to uncover 15 years worth of graffiti that had been painted and repainted on a small section of a graff wall in Vienna. Think of it as graffiti history, played backwards.

Find more on Downey’s work here.