Open Studios at The Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts September 19, 2019

https://www.goldenfoundation.org/

Yeah I know ... Been a while since there'd been a chance for me to get out to the big Artist in Residence Barn at The Golden Foundation in New Berlin. Changing work schedule and family issues have made Thursdays difficult & the time needed to get out to gorgeous New Berlin NY hasn't been there. But I decided it was time to get wise about renewing my commitment to my own art. Reasoned a swift kick in the pants from seeing the work of world-class artists at the peak of their game would about do the trick, and this is the place to go. Boy was I right, or to quote Alfalfa "Aaand How."

Gallery exhibits are curated collections of art removed from the atmosphere in which they are created so why mess around with the results filtered through a curator's agenda. Just go see the stuff as it's been churned out, raw unadorned unframed warts and all. See which ideas work, glom onto the best of it and apply to thine own effors. Will need a kitchen strainer to sift through Max Bard's results, which probably should (and likely will) be the subject of a blog post all on its own. But one point of the AiR program is to contrast the methods of the artists selected to showcase what all can be done with Golden Artist Color's endless arsenal of paints, mediums, pigments and "stuff". Singling just one artist out would deny readers the culture shock of encountering the differing approaches, and they've never been quite as different as this group. 

Be sure to use the Prior Posts menu to examine some of the other residency groups I've gotten swift kicks in the pants from, and to learn more about the Foundation and its residency program click here.

First up is Barbara Marx and while we did not have much chance to visit I was immediately enamored with her use of flattened cardboard boxes as painting surfaces. During the first year of my re-emergence from a long hiatus from visual art I drew on panels chopped from cereal boxes, kleenex boxes, Macaroni & Cheese boxes, and paper matchbook covers. Though I never flattened the boxes out themselves and was impressed by Barbara's bravery in allowing their forms to speak for themselves, spilling out across the wall in non-uniformed dimensions.

Potholders by Barbara Marks.

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks, and I get landscape out of that.

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks

Barbara Marks, and again landscape, or cityscape?

Barbara Marks

Melissa Dorn works with the idea of mops, and you had me at the very idea of making art with or about cleaning products. Should preface by noting that I worked for 20 years in a grocery store and had a fond attachment to assorted mops which played a role in certain work experiences. I did cleanups in Aisle 5, 8, 10, the beer cooler, you name it. Dry mop & wet mop, and the last seven years of working at the store I was a deli attendant. Mopped that floor every night, and the gals I worked with did their share of mopping as well.

Barbara's bio.

Barbara Marks ... I'd refer to her as the Formalist of the group, who was focused on producing works which espoused formalist sensibilities while drawing the viewer's eye in with subtle changes in surface textures & striking color contrasts. And while I groove on the Gender Politics end of her intentions I admired how the painting (or art making) was the focus rather then the politics.

Melissa Dorn, and this one made me think about that frayed loose mop end which would sort of worm along behind the rest of the mass. Wish I'd thought to get more individual pix of this group!

Melissa Dorn ... Butterfly Mop?

Melissa Dorn, and I believe the surfaces are a form of industrial felt padding. Not carpet samples, which was my first guess.

Melissa Dorn

Melissa Dorn

Melissa Dorn

Excellent.

Melissa Dorn

Now for Max ... I did instantly recognize that still images alone would not attest for the sheer magnitude of stuff which he had churned out during his monthlong stay in New Berlin so there's some video below, unedited as filmed & including a look at his outdoor sculptural creation.

Max Bard

Max Bard

Click here to open video in a new window for fullscreen viewing option.

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard, and LOL.

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard: My favorite of his ... things? from the display

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard, and this time, WTF??

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard, and I immediately recognized the thing at the bottom as the better part of a Hoth Rebel Base Playset by Kenner Toys from the early to mid 1980s. Pure genius.

... As seen in the video, if all that wasn't enough to keep Max busy for his month at the AiR barn he set loose in the woods with piles of more stuff, hammer & nails, some parachute cord, and a will to see them transformed.

Max Bard

Max Bard

Max Bard

I have two things to say about Max: He doesn't need a gallery show he needs a Tag Sale, and he looks like his art. That is commitment to a degree which I can only marvel at in awe. I also thought I had been "working with toys" in my own pursuits until I witnessed the above ... I've been taking pictures of toys and altering some of the printouts, as for me the toy forms are subjects where for Max they are surfaces. Both approaches are valid, though rest assured I won't be letting Mr. Bard and his buckets of paint anywhere near my nice antique Marx Toys playset pieces  ;D  Though if things go as I'm hoping we will get to get some his works in the Toys As Art exhibit I'm planning for The Tech Garden's gallery for June of 2020.

One more Open Studios session in October, go have a look & we'll see you there.

My Favorite Twenty Beatles Songs for December 2018

Christmas and the Holidays always make me think of The Beatles, and recently tasked myself to sit down and actually formulate a playlist ranking my favorite Beatles songs now 40 years after first being exposed to them. Not their most famous or well-regarded mind you, but the ones which take my inner Beatles Geek to the land of Looking Glass Ties. I decided ten favorite Beatles songs was too few, twenty-five too many, struggled mightily but kept it to twenty with a bonus track added just to mess with people’s heads. And had some fun with this post linking up other related oddities to make your visit worth bookmarking for future playback reference.

Yeah I know ... Everybody hates Paul 👍 But this is actually quite moving, and is believed to have sparked the "Paul Is Dead" thing in 1969, which I love. So I love this song, and Paul. Worry not  ;]

*My list both starts and ends with #20 because that one is sort of in a league of its own in terms of being revolutionary, visionary and influential. Deserves special propz -- The Beatles invented King Crimson with it, or any other experimental “art rock” approach rife with studio gimcrackery you care to name. An example thereof is supplied at the end. But my all-time #1 Beatles song must remain my all-time #1 Beatles song, a necessary relative constant which has remained unchanged since the age of 14 or 15 (re: when I first heard it over headphones while stoned) and by which all of the others in their catalogue have been evaluated. Not gonna budge on it even knowing what I know now about #20, and feel the workaround used is an acceptable compromise which won't upset the delicate balance of the Cosmos.

Missing is “A Day In The Life”, which my philosophy suggests is best heard in context of the entire “Sgt. Pepper’s” album: The function of this list is casual "just toss it on the earbuds & walk to the store" type listening. Also missing is “Strawberry Fields Forever” which upon reflection was substituted with “Penny Lane”, opting for Paul’s more subversive and less stridently obvious psychedelia, though the "Strawberry Fields" video (film, really) is my favorite of them all. Whether one likes to face up to it or not the point of "Strawberry Fields" is celebrating the acid, where "Penny Lane" is more open to interpretation (though I don't get the horses). I also have specific recollections of it playing on the radio in the car with my mom as a kid and being impressed by the piccolo trumpet ... Truth be told I actually dismissed The Beatles as AM radio pop music as a 13 year old Album Oriented Rock idiot simply because of association with it being "Mom Music". Now I comprehend that she was simply ahead of her time, or at least mine, as your mother should know.

... Mom never dropped any acid.

Also absent are the big pre-“Help!” Beatlemania pop songs, nothing wrong with them. I've just always preferred the middle-period psychedelic Beatles with odd instrumentation + Mellotron effects, and right from the start -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was my favorite Beatles song for the first couple years of listening even without knowing the acronym thing, or being capable of understanding what it meant. I was too young, and it slips off the Twenty list due to "Pepper" overexposure from years of working in record stores. “What’s The New Mary Jane” should likely be on the list too but I’ve only just come around to its weedy charms, where the choices on my Twenty list have pretty much been the Beatle go-to’s since puberty. That they have stuck with me for 40 years is impressive stuff. Other bands may fall in or out of favor but there will always be the elemental genius of The Beatles to come back to. Only other band I would say that about are The Sex Pistols and I mean it.

If pressed to choose my favorite Beatles album would be “Magical Mystery Tour" if allowed (not really an album, see) or "Revolver" if debating with a purist. As for my least favorite there’s no need to ponder: I despise everything about “Let It Be”, naked / dressed, period end of sentence, fuck that noise. Will take any of their pop music era collections set to a slideshow of ex-girlfriends over that bummer slog and regard the film as unwatchable. Especially the "rooftop concert", which I've always found embarrassing both in terms of concept and execution. The cops were right to shut them down. And at least make sure your guitars are in tune first guys, unless giving me a spilled bongwater seed-popping headache just by hearing it was the purpose. Hell, I even hate "I Me Mine"  ;[

Updated: I like "Blue Jay Way" more, content switched.

Which took work, as of the Four I was always a “George Man” while growing up, idolizing Harrison’s aura of quiet mystery & dark spiritual introspection. George's comparatively offbeat songs were always the high points of listening to Beatles albums in the same way Roger Taylor's songs were my favorites on the Queen albums. They were different and so was I. But have come to see the genius of Ringo Starr as a growed up human being, and would single Ringo out as the only one of the four who maintained his sense of fun right up to the end. Which probably came during “The White Album” ... Once Ringo got sick of it they were doomed no matter who’s agenda better fit the need to announce a break-up. He only came back to finish up what they’d collectively started out of love for playing music with them. Whenever Ringo gets to sing it’s also an event, though none of his cuts made my favorite twenty because they’re not. And that’s showbiz.

I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

So, My Favorite Twenty Beatles Songs in Descending Order of Preference:

*20) Tomorrow Never Knows

1) Baby, You’re A Rich Man

2) It’s All Too Much

3) Fixing A Hole

4) Ticket To Ride

5) Rain

6) Hey Bulldog

7) I Am The Walrus

8) Glass Onion

9) You Won’t See Me

10) Only A Northern Song

11) Paperback Writer

12) Lovely Rita

13) I’m Down

14) You Really Got A Hold On Me

(Yeah I know it's a cover. They did a lot of them early on and this is the only one I ever gave a damn about.)

15) Blue Jay Way

16) Penny Lane

17) Day Tripper

18) I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

19) You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

*20) Tomorrow Never Knows

Cover version by art-punk supergroup 801, with Brian Eno on vox + devices.

21) Cheese & Onions (The Rutles)

What use is great art if you can't take the stuffing out of it when in the mood. 

And speaking of messing with people's heads ...

D:

Web of the Spider (1971) "It's Always Halloween at The Castle of Blood" Klaus Kinski Edgar Allan Poe

Web of the Spider (1971)

By Steve Nyland aka Squonkamatic

My favorite of all the Gothic European made horror films is Antonio Margheriti's "Web of the Spider" from 1971. A misfired remake of his classic 1964 masterwork "Castle of Blood", the film purports to be an Edgar Allan Poe related tale about an American journalist (Anthony Franciosa) who takes a sucker bet that he cannot stay an entire night in a secluded Victorian era mansion long rumored to be haunted. The insane Klaus Kinski plays Poe in wraparound segments and the proceedings are best described as a "Supernatural Soap Opera" detailing the fated love quadrangle which leads to murder, insanity, and a curse from beyond the grave to re-live the events once a year on All Saint's Eve.

English language distributors weren't sure what to make of the picture, which didn't have the overt exploitation which Italian genre cinema usually promised. Margheriti had envisioned the film as a 70mm roadshow type experience in widescreen Techniscope but the reduced budget forced him to fudge on some of the supernatural fireworks. The final result bears more in common with a British Hammer Films costumer than a bloodthirsty Italian shocker with nudity & gore. The film performed well enough in Europe (Italian, French, German and Spanish language dubs were created, all slightly different) but was unforgivably hacked apart by its English language sub-producers, shorn of about 12 minutes of footage and re-formatted for the grindhouse type cinemas who would screen such content in double bill presentations.

And it bombed, was quickly pulled from circulation and re-formatted yet again for TV viewing with whiplash inducing pan/scan reduction of the widescreen photography and absolutely all "adult" content removed. Relegated to Creature Feature type syndication for local channels to screen during off programming hours, which is how I first encountered it as a lad. Certain elements stuck with me: The little Derringer type pistol Franciosa is armed with, the dude with the white hair + beard (Peter Carsten) who goes down into the basement after hearing something weird, and the awesome babe (Michelle Mercier) in her buxomy push-up bra who dissolves into nothing at the end. All of which came back to me in the early 2000s when stumbling upon the film as a bargain bin box set pressing during the early era of the DVD craze. 

The Obsession. I cannot explain it, there's just something about this movie which compels me to want to know more.

To say that I became obsessed with "Web of the Spider" is putting it mildly. I *had* to find the purest most complete version and amass any data I could about the movie, to better understand what it is about the film which so fascinates me. Because in many regards it is an awful movie, certainly not the maverick artistic accomplishment that the story served as for "Castle of Blood" (or "Castle of Terror", as the British prints were named). That film is a marvelous study of darkness and atmospherics where light itself becomes a storytelling motif. "Web of the Spider" comes off as a clunky overblown soap opera by comparison, with whatever naughty intrigue would have rewarded the viewer for sticking with it has been removed.

My quest eventually led me to a large collection of different release versions of the film, none absolutely "complete" with all elements present, some with a bit more and most with a bit less. The film did receive a Blu-Ray HD treatment in 2017 but is the same cut English print which circulated for years albeit in an impressive widescreen HD transfer. Which I am nonplussed by, not even having a TV plugged in currently and screening most of my entertainment content on my fone while working on my art. I don't live in a movie theater , but did upload my favorite English language release of the film to my YouTube channel where you can see it too. And if so inclined pick up the Blu-Ray pressing linked below, which has the extended Euro print content as SD bonus content.

Will write about the film more in a future post, just wanted to get this shared up as a Happy Halloween trick or treat item for your goodie bag.

Click here to watch in a separate window for a fullscreen viewing option.

Web of the Spider on Blu-Ray at Amazon.com

I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right - John Lydon, Public Image Ltd. and The End of the World

Click here to view in a separate window for a fullscreen option.

What the world needs today more than anything else is a stern talking-to from John Lydon. STOP what you are doing, if it is cruel or thoughtless or designed to screw people. If unsure look inside yourself and dare to be honest. Go home. Take care of your family and plan for your future, because it is coming. We did an art show on "The End of the World" last summer and one of the ideas I pursued with my own work is that it isn't going to happen. We live in a consumer oriented global culture driven by consumer priorities rather than ideological agenda. Things can't grind to a halt in the traditional notion of the world just "ending". 

Whether or not we'd prefer it or not, we're going to have to come up with rent money for next month, or that mortgage payment if you are so lucky. We're going to have to keep that dentist appointment so you can chew food to continue living to make sure the check cleared. You're going to need to get those car repairs done so it can pass inspection so you can go to work and pay for it all, and again if you are so lucky. It'd be swell if a giant asteroid would target the earth and do away with such concerns, but chances are poor in such an event actually happening before the 1st of the month. Even the global powers' ability to annihilate all life in an unforgivable act of stupidity has come & gone. Though that doesn't mean they still won't give it the old college try.

We are stuck with each other, see. Unless you are fixing to go and top yourself off you're going to have to learn how to live together, somehow. Those legitimately "trapped" in dead-end lives defined by poverty or dross have my compassion. Everyone else should just STFU, go home, take care of your kids or your cat or whatever it is you take care of. Find a reason to live and let live. I have my art to fix up with, anytime I like too, and feel sorry for those who don't know the magic of such things.

All I need to be content is a table with a chair, a lamp to see what I'm doing, maybe a wall socket to plug the phone or laptop in for a charge so I can hear some music or whatever. A window would be nice. My box of watercolor crayons, some gel medium and half a thimble full of water, couple brushes and I am someplace good. No need for drugs or booze, pious religion, sports programming or other forms of personal escape. Some sex would  be great and I will need coffee, but whatever. Take your politics, insane idiots + the global chaos they spew & shove it where the sun don't shine. I'll be at the house working on my stuff.

Good to go.

For some reason that made me think of John, and how he just wants to get on with it. I've looked up to Mr. Lydon since I was fourteen and got the Sex Pistols album. Everyone should have it, and actually listen to what they had to say. People who regard John as some force of mindless destruction or sneering menace twisting young people's minds don't have a clue. If anything through the Pistols and later PIL John teaches the importance of personal responsibility, honesty, and leaving other people the hell alone to do their thing, whatever it is. Punk may have been a fad but Johnny Rotten was very real and I still dye my hair blue violet green in homage to his unflinching loyalty to humanity & determination to lead by example. Gives us a leg-up on the world, to face it's stupidity and indifference. Even if we wear a hat when out shopping or what have you, to blend in with the crowd. Like Mr. Spock, who always wore a hat when they would beam down to mix with humans.

Or better yet bring the crowd onto the stage of life with us, as equals. No hat needed then. That's what John's telling us. Gender, ethnicity, politics, fashion sense, doesn't matter: We're all equals. Or we should be, and anyone who doesn't feel that way is a tosser.

PIL on American Bandstand, 1980. It's beautiful how they brought everyone onstage with them.

Click here to view in a separate window for a fullscreen option.

I want my art shows to go like that, demolishing the boundary between viewer and artist, have come close a couple of times. BC, Fun In Space, Star Wars & Machines, sheer chaos & so much fun. I want more of that. Always more.

In spite of appearances I think this went very well for both parties; 11 minutes and worth it. What Johnny has to say is interesting and Snyder holds his own. They respected each other after even if it wasn't all hugs & kisses.

If you do watch the interview John has an interesting perspective on performing as a "band". I feel the same way about art shows. They are embarrassing. I do them because we must, it is what the art deserves & expects. The art serves no purpose without an audience and I yearn for new or different ways to find them other than standing around in the nicer shirt with the glass of wine, attempting to feign small talk to strangers while perspiring. Usually making do on four hours of sleep, counting out time until you can just go home. It becomes a recurring nightmare. "Art as Endurance Ordeal."

Longest bleep-out ever. 
<3

That Grin.

Illegal Alien (1980) Far-Out ALIEN Parody, from "Fright Show" by Starlog Video

Back to this notion of ALIEN (1979) being one of the pinnacle artistic achievements of mankind, and I am not just referring to drooling space maggots biting people's heads off. It is the totality of the production design, and how if the world created for its horror show to be confined in was not 100% convincing the whole contrivance would have fallen apart like a house of cards in a stiff wind. My particular fascination being with the Planetoid sequence where three of the Nostromo crew don John Mollo designed space suits and go out in search of trouble.

Some of the Planetoid activity which was removed from the final prints. And I want ALL of it.

Effective art is often defined by its ability to suggest or lead to other art including of a parodic or deconstructive nature. And the most thorough parodic deconstruction of ALIEN I have yet to encounter are the surviving 17 minutes of a short film called "Illegal Alien" seen on an anthology video called "Fright Show" released in 1985 by the editors of Starlot Magazine. Who essentially put out a call for short-subject horror spoof entries for distribution, and the best was "Illegal Alien". 

From what I understand via user comments on my YouTube upload of the segment, the film was created near about 1980 and ran an hour in length. I got my grubby mitts on it via a Japanese made VHS obtained back when I was collecting any horror oriented VHS I could find from Japan in particular. Did my own transfer of the tape to digital and excised "Illegal Alien" for my YouTube channel. The resolution was kept purposefully low to ward off unwelcome commercialized re-use but gets the job done, and fans of ALIEN will be impressed.

"Illegal Alien", 17 minutes.

Click here to watch the video in a separate window for a fullscreen viewing option.

I would love to see the complete "Illegal Alien" film, if anyone can point us in the direction please comment below. And what the hey, here's the entire hour long "Fright Show" tape, though be advised its "hosts" are about as enjoyable as standing in line at the DMV in front of the lady who keeps pointing out how long we've been waiting to her long-suffering spouse.

The complete 59 minute "Fright Show" video.

Click here to watch in a separate window for that fullscreen viewing option.