James and I are curating a pair of shows at Dam, Stuhltrager. The first is a sculpture show in their backyard sculpture garden, by Susan C. Dessel. It opens September 8th. ArtCal has the details.

The second part opens on Friday, October 13th. This will be a group show in two of the gallery's rooms. I'll post more details once we decide on a name and have finalized the list of artists. The theme you ask? If you know us or read or blogs, you'll know we have trouble limiting ourselves to one genre or idea. Look for something dealing with our various interests: politics, conceptual art, humor, and beauty.

See also this post from James.

Their new location (still in Williamsburg!) is 359 Bedford Avenue, between S. 4th and S. 5th Streets. The first show, titled The Unhumane Society opens on the 15th of September.

If you have the cash, there is a benefit preview the night before. Tickets cost $150 each and admit two. We'll be there, so say "Hi" if you can make it.

[image from the Momenta Art website]

ArtCal now has a page showing all future openings that are in the system. Check it out.

Pulsewave is a monthly event at downtown space The Tank, showcasing "low-bit, video game influenced musicians and video artists" and "people getting down to the sounds of some rockstar jamming away on nintendos, gameboys, and ataris."

The performers will be:

• Anamanaguchi - Releasing their debut album Power Supply through 8bitpeoples. Powerpop meets NES, Weezer meets Triforce, Ratatat meets Dr. Wily.
• The Depreciation Guild - The Guild steps out of hibernation to rock you into a trance with their astral chiptune melodies. However, at the same time they'll wake you up with some pumping and crushing drum-heavy anthems.
• Nullsleep - The King of 8bit (and quite possibly the universe) is at it again. Watch as he wields the GameBoy as if the d-pad was used to make the entire crowd dance simultaneously.
• Voltage Controlled makes the show with his jarring and colorful broken NES visuals.

Saturday, August 26 @ 10pm sharp - $6
The Tank, 279 Church Street, between Franklin and White

If you schedule yourself well, you can start that evening in the East Village for the Smitten show at Giant Robot and then head downtown for The Tank.

[photo of Anamanaguchi performance from The Tank's website]

Pedro Velez and Maria Saldana / Kunstfascion

Go see it tomorrow! It's open until 5!

We checked out this great show today. I only have time for a quick post, but I wanted to recommend it in case anyone's looking for some new art to see tomorrow in Manhattan. I'm uploading some more photos to Flickr.

James has more info, and the show's website has videos from the opening night performances.

I just received email that James Nicholson Gallery has closed. I'm glad I saw their last group show.

That's the bad news. The good news is that their space is being taken over by two interesting galleries out of Frankfurt, Galerie Adler and Galerie Poller. I can't wait to see shows from those two here in Chelsea.

(Play this with a 1 second pause for the best effect.)

This performance/installation, curated by Daria Brit Shapiro, is part of White Box's summer Six Feet Under series. The exhibitions are meant to be seen through the window from the street after the opening, and features six curators choosing six artists over six weeks.

Ryan was blasting metal, e.g., Iron Maiden, for this two hour performance. Here is a quote from the press release:

For his play on the theme of Six Feet Under, Ryan Humphrey will use White Box as an indoor freestyle BMX facility where he will regress to his creative years before becoming a fine artist. He will assault the architecture with his bicycle, try new maneuvers, mark up the walls and leave skid marks on the floors thus signaling the demise of the clean white gallery space and the economic system that fuels it. Bring on the death of capital. Bring on Mad Max. Bring on the demise of western civilization and say goodbye to your precious art objects.

I should note that Ryan shows with my friends at DCKT Contemporary.

Updated: James has a post on Ryan too.

Gae Savannah
Tiskitte, 2000
plastic claw clips, styrofoam, fabric
31" × 34"

Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't care for John Currin. In this hiliarious Q&A with our friend Gae Savannah, she says:

What single work of art would you most like to destroy?
John Currin, but I wouldn’t make the effort.

In the previous post, I forgot to mention that Eric's Matthew Barney Show will be at SF BOCA (Bar of Contemporary Art) down the street from SF MOMA's Matthew Barney show.

Updated: Eric has some photos of the show.

James is quoted in an article in Variety Weekend about Eric Doeringer. I have to say it's better written than most press I've read about Eric's work. Some choice quotes:

"I love the humor in the work," says longtime collector James Wagner, who, with partner Barry Hoggard, has a large collection of contemporary pieces with political and humorous themes. "We don't buy Eric's work instead of other art. We buy it because we enjoy the conceptual strategy behind it and the politics that seem to address issues of branding and star systems."

That idea finds even greater clarity in Doeringer's "Cremaster Fanatic," a faux fan site devoted to Matthew Barney, the art-world superstar best known for his inscrutable, epic-length films.

"Barney epitomizes the notion of an artist as a celebrity," says Doeringer. "And there's this whole notion that the art world is supposed to be intellectual and above something like rabid fandom."

Ironic? Sure. That's why Doeringer tends to invoke Andy Kauffman rather than Andy Warhol in describing his influences. "With the best of [Kauffman]," he says, "you were never really sure if it was made up or the real thing."