Wow. These are exciting times in which we live. Last night's election results were pretty rough. Bloomberg won a third term as Mayor of New York, as expected. But he only got 51% of the vote to Bill Thompson's 46%, which was unexpected. I certainly didn't think Thompson had the chops to come that close. Perhaps that is what you get when only 1.1 million people vote in a city with 8.3 million inhabitants. The biggest issue in this year's race wasn't commnity development or taxes or bike lanes (though these things were certainly brought up). I think a vast majority of New Yorkers actually think Bloomberg does a pretty good job; the real voting issue seems to have been anger at the mayor for changing the law to allow himself to run for a third term. Having heard Thompson in the debates, I feel pretty confident that he would have been utterly thrashed in the polls without this cloud hanging over Bloomberg.
There were a few other things that I found interesting in the mayoral race. The first was that Rev. Billy Talen, the Green Party Candidate, actually came in fourth, behind the Conservative Party candidate, Stephen Christoper, who I have never even heard of. I voted for Reverend Billy, but the campaign I had the most respect for was C. Montgomery Burns. The basic idea was to point out two things: that, like Burns, Bloomberg is a billionaire autocrat that is out of touch with the needs of real people; and that if Thompson is the best the Democrats can find to run, you might as well vote for a maniacal cartoon character.
Also on the Ballot once again was Jimmy McMillan from the Rent is Too High party (recently shortened from The Rent is Too Damn High), but for some reason, AP listed his party affiliation as "Other" on the election results . What is this about? They had no problem coming up with an appropriate acronym for the fringe Right to Life party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. On that subject, I was impressed that candidates from Socialist parties got 5,000 votes, which is more than half of those cast for Rev. Billy.
Across the river, Ben Corzine lost New Jersey's gubernatorial race to Chris Christie by about 100,000 votes. I don't really care about this race, except that President Obama spent a lot of time campaigning for Corzine and also for Creigh Deeds, who got spanked in Virginia, instead of campaigning for the rights of Same-sex families in Maine. I am truly saddened that the Question 1 passed, repealing Maine's law recognizing same-sex marriage, and I'm starting to wonder when Obama is going to follw through with any of the progressive ideas on which he campaigned. Reading the results this morning was like Prop 8 all over again.
On a happier note, a Democrat was elected to New York's 23rd Congressional district after the republicans started to eat their young. Dede Scozzafava, the slightly liberal Republican, should have won this race easily, but instead of just letting it happen, the neo-conservatives got behind the conservative party candidate, Doug Hoffman. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh backed him while "more maistream Republicans" like Newt Gingrich backed Scozzafava. What happened to the good old days when Gingrich was the radical right? How far right has the GOP been dragged when Gingrich is consisdered mainstream and reasonable? Anyway, Scozzafava pulled out because she was training behind the other two, but instead of throwing her support to the Conservative, she endorsed the Democrat!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Mike Womack at Zieher Smith
I went last night to the opening of Mike Womack's new show at Zieher Smith Gallery in Chelsea. I have great respect for Mike's work, but I also know that it requires a certain degree of space for viewing and that opening night in Chelsea is kind of a zoo. So I made sure to get there early. Fortunately, from the outside, the gallery looked closed due to the lights being lowered for the installation. This kept the crowds down until about 7:15.
Upon opening the door, one hears a distinctly pleasing mechanical whirring which draws the viewer past the banal contraption in the entry area, around the corner, into the main gallery space, where a complicated and beautifully crafted mechanical television works feverishly at the task of displaying archival footage of the infamous Hindenberg Zeppelin. The sound comes from a motor that drives twelve shafts by way of an elaborate belt system. On each shaft ride 40 mirrors precisely angled to catch the light from a strip of LEDs across the room to create the image.
The footage is ghostly and ominous. It recalls a time of great pride technological innovation and at the same time offers a foreboding look at what can go wrong. I didn't see the image of the Hindenberg crashing (I don't think Womack included it) but it isn't needed. That image is so ubiquitous that any picture of any zeppelin conjures it automatically.
The television machine is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It is difficult at first to suppress the impression that Womack made this thing just to prove that he could. But it soon begins to sink in that the piece has something to say. Like the earlier Heat is not Made of Tiny Hot Things (2006), Metronome plays with the pseudo-scientific fragmentation of light. But unlike that piece, there is no great reveal, no man behind the curtain. Heat is not Made of Tiny Hot Things presented the viewer with a grid of reflected colors, the source of which was unknown until the viewer turned to exit the space. Metronome gives no clues as to how the illusion is created, and is confounding.
The final piece in the show Nothing Can Be Perfectly Empty is another contraption, similar in construction as the first but far more effective. This apparatus returns to the great reveal, presenting the viewer at first with only a lens focused on a pattern of red, blue, and green dots, an optical experiment that recalls Moholy -Nagy's optics sculptures from the 1930s. Then one takes in the whole of the structure. This is a Rube Goldberg device designed to capture the viewer's attention. The supporting architecture of the piece is so overbuilt that it is clearly more than functional, plus it includes odd flourishes in shape reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss invention. Without revealing the secret of how the images are created, let me just add that Nothing Can Be Perfectly Empty , like the show as a whole, is terribly satisfying in the end.
For images see www.ziehersmith.com and soon www.mwomack.com
Upon opening the door, one hears a distinctly pleasing mechanical whirring which draws the viewer past the banal contraption in the entry area, around the corner, into the main gallery space, where a complicated and beautifully crafted mechanical television works feverishly at the task of displaying archival footage of the infamous Hindenberg Zeppelin. The sound comes from a motor that drives twelve shafts by way of an elaborate belt system. On each shaft ride 40 mirrors precisely angled to catch the light from a strip of LEDs across the room to create the image.
The footage is ghostly and ominous. It recalls a time of great pride technological innovation and at the same time offers a foreboding look at what can go wrong. I didn't see the image of the Hindenberg crashing (I don't think Womack included it) but it isn't needed. That image is so ubiquitous that any picture of any zeppelin conjures it automatically.
The television machine is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It is difficult at first to suppress the impression that Womack made this thing just to prove that he could. But it soon begins to sink in that the piece has something to say. Like the earlier Heat is not Made of Tiny Hot Things (2006), Metronome plays with the pseudo-scientific fragmentation of light. But unlike that piece, there is no great reveal, no man behind the curtain. Heat is not Made of Tiny Hot Things presented the viewer with a grid of reflected colors, the source of which was unknown until the viewer turned to exit the space. Metronome gives no clues as to how the illusion is created, and is confounding.
The final piece in the show Nothing Can Be Perfectly Empty is another contraption, similar in construction as the first but far more effective. This apparatus returns to the great reveal, presenting the viewer at first with only a lens focused on a pattern of red, blue, and green dots, an optical experiment that recalls Moholy -Nagy's optics sculptures from the 1930s. Then one takes in the whole of the structure. This is a Rube Goldberg device designed to capture the viewer's attention. The supporting architecture of the piece is so overbuilt that it is clearly more than functional, plus it includes odd flourishes in shape reminiscent of a Dr. Seuss invention. Without revealing the secret of how the images are created, let me just add that Nothing Can Be Perfectly Empty , like the show as a whole, is terribly satisfying in the end.
For images see www.ziehersmith.com and soon www.mwomack.com
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
An exciting time for Museums in NYC
Generally speaking, I don't get excited about NYC museums. The Met is old and boring, the Guggenheim is way too expensive, I have hated every Whitney Biennial this millennium and MOMA just doesn't get it. But this summer is a different story. The Met has Jeff Koons on the roof; MoMA just opened a show about pre-fab housing, one of my favorite genres; The Whitney has a show on Buckminster Fuller, the last great renaissance man; and The Guggenheim has Luise Bourgeios. Check back for my impressions of these shows: all I have to do is sell my jeep to afford the entry fees.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
New Work February 2008
OK- Here are some images of the work I completed at Vermont Studio Center in February, 2008.
Ink drawings on watercolor paper, 15" x 22" each
These drawings are each 6" x 9", correction fluid and sharpie on newspaper.
The Debate (whether or not we affect the weather), 2008
marble and fir, dimensions variable
marble and fir, dimensions variable
Stationary Front, 2008
styrofoam, fiberglass, aqua-resin, paint
24" x 14" x 2"
styrofoam, fiberglass, aqua-resin, paint
24" x 14" x 2"
Ink drawings on watercolor paper, 15" x 22" each
These drawings are each 6" x 9", correction fluid and sharpie on newspaper.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
First Post
Ok. Here is my first post of this Blog. This seems like a much faster way to keep people up to date on my work and what's going on with me. The next post will be images of the work I did at Vermont Studio Center in February.
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