Wish you were here. xox, C. (Cadillac Ranch by Ant Farm. Body work by El Celso. Printing by Publicidad Viusa. Photos by C-M. Click on images to supersize.)
Tag Archive for 'el celso'
Celso’s wall of chicha, with C-Monstruo shout-out. 
Internacional Privados: An original chicha poster from northern Peru.
A view of the mini chicha disco. Sensory overload in a mere 16 square feet.
Opening night for Celso’s ¡No Habla Español! at Pandemic was all kinds of fun. Thanks so much to everyone who came out. We danced, we drank, we danced some more — in a teeny weeny discoteca — into the night. The show is up through April 2nd, so you have plenty of time to shake some ass in the mini-disco. Plus, there’s always the closing party (April 2nd at 7pm). See you there!
An addendum: Public Radio International’s show Afropop has an excellent show on the history of cumbias. They have a whole section devoted to Peruvian chicha cumbias, describing their origins and their use of those super duper psychedelic surf guitars. If you want to get a sense of what these Peruvian chicha posters are all about, give this program a listen. Also, here’s a photo essay devoted to Elliot Túpac Urcuhuaranga, of the family behind Publicidad Viusa — makers of chicha posters.
Continue reading ‘Photo Diary: ¡No Habla Español! at Pandemic — an all around good time.’
Celso y C-Monstruo: Amores Perros. A Peruvian chicha poster — imported to Brooklyn. (Photo by C-M.)
One of my ongoing fascinations with Lima (which I’ve touched on in the past) is the soup of fog that covers the city about six months out of the year. It’s a phenomenon that seems to soak up all brightness and makes the desert ecosystem (already harsh) look even more apocalyptically inhospitable. It’s alluded to in countless works of Peruvian fiction (from novels by Mario Vargas Llosa to Daniel Alarcón), and is even discussed in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick — in the chapter on whiteness. (It is “the strangest, saddest city, thou cans’t see,” he wrote. “For Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this whiteness of her woe.”)
Which brings to me to my ongoing interest in Peruvian chicha posters — the cheaply-printed band posters produced in an array of neon-colored inks. As Celso pointed out to me during our last trip around Peru, it’s almost as if they produce their own light. Perhaps a requirement in a place where sharp edges are often dulled by the perpetual mist.
This Friday, Celso is going to be showing a collection of these — along with collages and a mini chicha/cumbia disco installation that accommodates two people for dancing (I helped with the soundtrack!!) — at Pandemic Gallery in Williamsburg. But we wanted folks to see what the posters look like installed around the foggy Peruvian capital, so we made a short video about it (see below). It includes a bit of footage from our trip to meet Fortunato Urcuhuaranga at Publicidad Viusa, the family-run studio that originated this look in the ’80s. (It is now widely copied all over the country.) And features some spectacular audio of me mumbling. If you want to learn more, Creative Review also has a great video on these wonderful folks.
Anyhow, please come to the opening this Friday to check out the show! It should be a ton of fun.
El Celso
¡No Habla Español!
Pandemic Gallery
37 Broadway (btw. Kent & Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Friday, March 11, 2011
7-11pm
For more info, click here.
¡Sin Esperenza ni temor!, by El Celso, a poster made in the chicha style — a collaboration with the esteemed Fortunato Urcuhuaranga at Publicidad Viusa, in Lima. (Photo by C-M.)
Congrats to JP for winning the C-Mon Giveaway for Skateboarding.3D.
- Condom envelopes. (Thank you so very much, Shorttage.)
- A documentary on bad writing. I need to see this.
- Improvised Egyptian protest helmets. My favorite. (Conscientious Redux.)
- MUST-READ: An absolutely fantastic piece about images culled from the East German secret police archives, complete with pix.
- Naples contemporary art museum seeks asylum in Germany. (Conscientious Redux.)
- Things looking incredibly grim for the Jersey City Museum. More here.
- Correcting misconceptions about David Wojnarowicz’s Fire in My Belly. Number one, it’s not a video. More here.
- LACMA and the Getty pick up a whole lotta Mapplethorpe.
- What you will see on the Google Art project. What you won’t see. And why it may not be as interesting as everyone thinks it is.
- Broken glass.
- Fascinating story on Brody Condon’s est-inspired self-actualization performance at the Hammer. Sounds totally weird-amazing.
- Sculpture goes QWERTY.
- Diego Rivera stole my outfit. (@ArchivesAmericanArt.)
- Disportraits.
- How Rust-oleum is writing itself out of the graffiti business. (Utne Reader.)
- Today’s Graff: It’s all about the trucks.
- On the human figures used in architectural renderings.
- Lladró, purveyor of tacky living room sculptures, is now going all architectural.
- A guide to architecturespeak. Handy.
- Snow monsters.
Rain Delay, by Celso. Shot in Cajamarca, Peru. (Image courtesy of El Celso.)
- Comparative nipple anatomy. (Get the full post here.)
- An ode to donuts.
- “Since 1980 the economy has also continued to grow handsomely, but only a fraction at the top have benefitted. The line flattens for the bottom 90% of Americans. Average income went from that $30,941 in 1980 to $31,244 in 2008. Think about that: the average income of Americans increased just $303 dollars in 28 years.” Bill Moyers, killin’ it. Long but worth it. (joshsternberg.)
- Ai Weiwei placed under house arrest in Beijing for staging a party to mark the destruction of his studio by authorities. Despite his arrest, the party went on without him. Update: Ai has been released.
- A state of the arts in Syria.
- From the Department of Is It Done Yet?: Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia causing consternation on the eve of the Pope’s arrival.
- The rock walls of an Italian church have been found to contain the skull of a dinosaur.
- Conceptualist Hans-Peter Feldman takes home Hugo Boss Prize.
- An extraordinary piece on Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth is available for your listening pleasure at Studio 360.
- Photographing the narcowars in Juarez.
- Annie Liebovitz: Popular with magazine editors. With collectors, not so much. (It Really Makes You Think.)
- Ansel Adams’ 1940s pix of L.A.
- The Jeffrey Deitch home tour. I don’t know about Jesus over the bed.
- Have really been enjoying El Saltzino’s “Ask an Art Critic” feature. But as Tyler Green points out: Cremaster IV? 75 times? For serious? That’s like Star Wars level fantacism. If he did see it, it took up 59 hours of his life.
- Art that makes you go, Duuuuude: Federic Diaz’s Geometric Death Frequency at MASS MoCA. Sorta related: A non-billboard on the U.S.-Canada border by Seattle’s Lead Pencil Studio.
- French street artist JR takes the 2011 TED prize.
- Today’s Graff: With a whole lotta love, from Sencer in Mexico.
- An Os Gemeos poster, for one cent. (World’s Best Ever.)
- NASA has close-up images of the comet fly-by. (Cool Green Morning.)
- Fiorruci Made Me Hardcore. Awesome. (16 Miles.)
Rex Dingler and Celso at the Half Moon in New Orleans. See it LARGE. (Photo by C-M.)
I’m takin’ a break from the Digest and affiliated art B.S. The next coupla weeks are gonna be about getting in a little R&R and going on what promises to be a pretty badass roadtrip. Naturally, I’ll have updates of weird/cool stuff I see and eat. In the meantime, check out my new movie. I think it’s got Golden Globe written all over it.
See ya on the dark side.
xox,
C.
William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton organize a month-long lab — and I’m part of it. (Image courtesy of Winkleman Gallery.)
Needless to say, the last few months in the art industry have been highly entertaining. There was William Powhida’s Brooklyn Rail cover last November, which picked apart the internecine machinations of a buncha high-powered types at the New Museum. Then, there was the announcement that a major commercial gallerist has been named director of a super mongo museum in L.A., an institution whose obscenely-rich trustees saw fit to spend its endowment into the ground. And then, of course, there’s Jerry Saltz’s Facebook, which is keeping the art establishment’s hairs on end wondering who the heck he’s gonna call a ‘dick’ next. In other words, there’s been a LOT going on. And most of it doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Which means that #CLASS — a think-tank about the art industry — organized by artists Powhida and Jennifer Dalton and hosted by the Winkleman Gallery, couldn’t come at a better time. This special project will turn the city’s artistic gaze from its navel to the art industry through a month-long series of events that will include a raft of insightful happenings: guerrilla gallery tours, frank Q&As with established art dealers, work sessions, panels, beer-drinking, chalkboard-writing, art-shredding, motivational speaking and even art yoga (led by me). In other words, the plan is to terrorize Chelsea for a month. (I’m not positive that this is indeed the plan, but it’s certainly my plan.) The best part: anyone is welcome to be a part of this. And it’s all FREE.
You can find the entire schedule of events at the dedicated #CLASS website. But here is just a taste of what’s to come:
- Sunday, Feb. 21, 4pm: The party gets rolling this weekend, so peel your ass off the couch and get down to Chelsea for the first official #CLASS social. An Xiao will serve as social media paparazzi paparazzo. :-p
- Friday, Feb. 26, 6pm: A session on ‘Bad Curating‘ by Stamatina Gregory and Jovana Stokic. (I believe that attendance is required if you work at the New Museum.)
- Saturday, Feb. 27, 2pm – 6pm: All kinds of juicy stuff is going down on this day, including a guerrilla gallery tour being led by William Powhida and a how-to on collecting by blogbuds James Wagner and Barry Hoggard.
- Sunday, Feb. 28, 5pm: Debbie Ainscoe leads a session in Second Life — from the UK. Nerdarrific!
- Wednesday, March 3, 2pm: ART SHRED is an on-site shredding service that will help artists and other participants liberate themselves of important works of art, meaningful love letters and one-of-a-kind photographs. This session will be led by my partner-in-crime, Celso. If you have something of consequence that you would like to have shredded, e-mail him at celso[at]elcelso[dot]com. Walk-ins welcome.
- Thursday, March 4th, 4pm: A discussion/rant/12-step program about art school and the ivory tower, organized by Sharon L. Butler.
- Friday, March 5, 2pm: Art Yoga with C-Mon: Bow to the Art Industry. Get body and mind ready to navigate the hazards of the art world with a 75 minute yoga class geared at those who want to re-contextualize the nature of liminal space while remaining lithe enough to be considered for possible art/fashion spreads in T Magazine. Class will be led by yours truly, a certified yoga teacher (Om Yoga Center, class of 2003 — seriously). The session will begin with sun salutations to Marina Abramovic and quickly spiral downwards from there. Bring a mat and an open mind. Class capacity 18; first come first serve. Later that same evening, at 6pm, artist Nic Rad will present his ‘Celebritist Manifesto,’ a defense of celebrity culture that will make clear that James Franco is the most important artist of the decade.
- Saturday, March 6, 6pm: Rod Verplanck, a motivational speaker who, among other things, will teach you that “the very smallness of your ideas is the key to wild success.” Sounds like a must-do. (Courtesy of Schroeder Romero.)
- Wednesday, March 10: Again, all kinds of good happenings will occur on this day, including balloon-popping with Man Bartlett, a kindergarten class tour of Chelsea with Jennifer Dalton, a feminist tea party and a merciless ask-the-dealer session with Postmasters gallerist Magda Sawon in which she vows “to truthfully answer any and every question posed to her as long as it does not involve her weight, social security number or other people’s money.”
- Wednesday, March 17, 4pm: Art World as High School. Which class of retainer-wearing nerd are you? Find out with this helpful and informative session.
- Saturday, March 20th: Another full roster on this day, including art gift wrapping with Zoe Sheehan Saldaña, assessing assessments with important-sounding people from Princeton, and a closing-night event that’s all about ranting!!!
There’s much much much much more going on, and it’s all listed HashTagClass, so get over there already. Plus, you can read more about it at Art in America and the Wall Street Journal. Update: And ArtNet!!
The Met recently launched a contest called It’s Time We Met, in which the museum asked visitors to submit photos of themselves interacting with the collection. Well, my partner-in-crime El Celso has done ‘em one better. He has video. And it stars me.
Get ready for the most action-packed five minutes of your lives. Then let me know where I should go to accept my Oscar. Or, barring that, my gift bag…
xox,
C.