Something bigger, something brighter

On Tuesday we walked around the Chelsea district which was a really cool experience. We went to a bunch of different galleries in the Chelsea district, and saw some pretty amazing artwork by an abundance of awesome artists. I wanted to die by the end of the day. My mind was fried and I had lost both my legs back on 26th ave. But it was well worth it.

A cool installation worth viewing. This was a bunch of little ropes sprung all over.



First off, there was the DIVA NY 2008 "The Streets" happening. Which, was about 9 different shipping crates located on the sides of the streets scattered between 20th and 26th. They blended in well with all of the construction going on in this part of town. Overall, I really wasent impressed with these installations of Digital Art. I was really excited to go and see these, but it turns out they were very forgettable. However, there was one piece that stood out by Ethan Cohen (Brother of Joel Cohen who both recently directed No Country For Old Men.) He directed an interesting piece that was told from three perspectives while each perspective was told on a different TV screen. Each screen was next to each other, so you got to see the main story but different views to this story, which was a bit confusing at first, but later turned amazing. It was really dark for pictures, so none turned out very well. But imagine going into a huge storage crate, that could be mistaken for a garbage receptacle, and finding thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment inside. That was a sight within itself.

Another Crate contained the work of Ray Bartkus. He appears to do most of his work in Photoshop. His crate maintained a bunch of politically influenced photoshoped images spanning from Bill Clinton to the war in Iraq. This piece focused on specifically news anchors going crazy.


Another artists work who we saw was the work of Jordan Eagle. He uses cow's blood. Its seriously maybe the coolest thing I have ever seen. He uses plexiglass, resin and cow's blood to create some pretty intense artwork. it's almost disgusting, but he makes 10 grand a piece, and every show he goes to, he sells out. So, he lives a pretty incredible life. Its really interesting how he incorporates a natural substance; a necessity in life, something that is associated with pain, death and violence, and turns it into something epic looking. Like warp speed. only red.




In the David Zwirner Gallery, we saw the work of Marcel Dzama whos work was creepy and...just creepy. I feel like weird circus music should have been playing in the background.

One of his pieces reflects his attitude toward Duchamps piece, "Étont donnés." Where a nude can be eerily seen, like the viewer is peeping through a crack in the door. This was Duchamps last piece and very little is known about it. besides the fact its undeniably creepy. What we see is a nude female sprawled out on twigs somewhere in the country side. She also happens to be holding an oil lamp.

Dzama's piece is an imitation, but with a more of a sarcastic overtone. In his piece the viewer is able to see a male and a female lying next to each other against the same setting, except there appears to be a fox behind the two bodies. Perhaps indicating what killed these two. There is even a slingshot in this piece possibly indicating the weapon that killed them. This comical representation of Duchamps piece, obviously represents it and definitely lessens the mysteriousness about it. Hes allowing us top conclude that a fox killed two lovers with a slingshot. While Duchamps piece clearly does not allow as much interpretation. I feel like Dzama is poking fun at the melodramatic attitude in Duchamps piece.


We also saw Brian Jungens work of woven sports jerseys. This is the artist who makes african masks out of nike running shoes. Hes pretty weird. And weird people are interesting. So, it all works out well. After seeing one, you've seen them all. Trust me, i got bored after the first one.

They're kinda Native American lookin' also very leathery. Thats pretty much it. However they served an interesting proposition of melding sports teams in harmony. They were the equivalent to a gigantic peace sign. And that is why I don't like them. They are implying peace between sports teams. Rivals. Yeah, right. Are you kidding me? There would be no such thing as sports without rivalries, and teams who absolutely wanted to destroy another. It just doesn't happen. You can't have peace, you can't meld teams together in the sports industry. Games would not be intense. Fans and money would not exist. You have to have competition. These jersey's are like a dichotomy. And a bad one at that. Brian Jungen, your getting me riled up. I don't like your artwork. I like competition and ferocity. It's nice. So don't mess with it, because that's all America has goin' for itself right now.