Joe Fig @ The Byron Cohen Gallery

I ate some crow on this one. I saw a birds eye shot of the Jackson Pollock minature in The Star and thought it was real, never having gotten around to actually reading the article I thought it was this artist I had heard about a long time ago who would create Jackson Pollock replicas in front of an audience as performance art. So I'm telling the guys we need to make it to this gallery first to make sure we see this artist in action. Needless to say we got there and the gallery had several little stands with these minatures of various famous artist's working in their studios. The top photo is of Jackson Pollock, the second is of Jasper Johns and the third is Clifford Still. So even though the show made me look dumb, it was still my favorite of this first friday shows. Check out more of Joe Fig's work at www.joefig.com .

Waltz With Bashir @ The Palace

Waltz with Bashir is playing at The Palace in the Plaza. It's a very unusual movie, for one thing its an animated documentary and for another it's only the second ever feature length animated movie to come out of Israel. The film is about a man trying to regain his memory of fighting in the war in Lebanon back in 1982. The movie was slower than I expected but definitely makes you think. It's got a stirring ending, that's all I'm going to say. 

A little piece of trivia for you... this movie has been banned in all Arab countries. I read on the Waltz with Bashir Wikipedia site that there was one underground viewing of this movie in Beruit in January. I would have liked to have heard that group's response to the movie.

Folk Art @ The Belger

My last post was about some folk art on my block. This one is about a Folk art show put together by the Belger Arts Center and those guys from The Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations guys on TV. The show is called Rare Visions - Detour Art and it will be up until May 1st. The Belger Arts Center is at 2100 Walnut Street, its a little knot of warehouses there so you'll feel like your in the wrong place, but keep looking you'll find it. Here are some pieces from the show The flag one is called Big Flag by "Ab the Flagman" Roger Lee Ivens. The headboard is an untitled piece by Jesse Howard from Fulton, Missouri. If you read the family history there, it ends on a rather ruthless/cynical note. From all the pieces of his that I've seen,  he is one bitter old geezer. He died back in 1983 at the age of 98. He did this in 1952 at the age of 67. KCAI has a collection of his work. The last piece was done by Ronald & Jessie Cooper. This show had a whole little room devoted to devil art.

Some creatures on my street

This guy's house is two or three blocks down the street from mine and I just like going by it. That giant metal wrench wall and the different creatures made out of big railroad bolts and spikes and who knows what else, you can just tell this guy is having a great time making this stuff. Still haven't met him so I don't know what his story is, but his creatures seem to be spreading to some of his neighbors yards. They are slowly making it up the street towards my house. We'll see what else evolves out of his garage as the migration continues.

A political piece of graffiti

This graffiti is on the side of the Blockbuster Video on Westport road. I don't know if you can read it from this photo, but the soldier's helmet says Israel on it and the barrel says Gaza. So the Israeli soldier is shooting the proverbial fish in a barrel, (The fish being the citizens of the Gaza strip) while U.S. government tells everyone to ignore what's happening. Sorry if I just explained the obvious. If you agree with this artist here are two websites you can check out www.vivirlatino.com or www.helpgaza.org .

The Other Artspace Show - Obama Posters

In one of the upstairs galleries at the Artspace there is a collection of Obama posters done by artists from all over. Here are the artists for the posters shown above in order from top to bottom: Armando Lerma & Carlos Ramirez (The Date Farmers), Alex Pardee, Ron English, and of course Shepard Fairey. The 15 to 20 posters up there are definitely worth checking out, especially if you are already there for the Chinese photography exhibit. I don't know how long it will be up. So go now!

Stairway to Heaven @ Artspace (Modern Chinese Photo Group Show)

Stairway to Heaven: From Chinese Streets to Monuments and Skyscrapers is the current show up at the Artspace Gallery at 16 East 43rd Street. It will be open until April 4th. This a great group show of various chinese artists doing mostly photography, plus for a change of pace model of The Bird's Nest done in Legos. First photo I have posted here is one of my favorites, its called Laidoff by Liu Bolin, definitely showing that the financial crisis is a global epidemic. The second photo is of two scroll work pieces that are done in the traditional style but the subject matter is all modern: instead of trees and mountains they are of cityscapes, instead of calligraphy its computer code and the red block prints in them are of things like manhole covers instead of signatures. The last photo is a digital print from the Dream in the Deserted Peking series. It is a detailed, manipulated digital photo that is about four or five feet wide. You definitely need to see these in person to really enjoy them.