February 25, 2008
Zak Smith On Nicholas DiGenova's Upcoming Book For Belio
"I just got my copy of Nicholas DiGenova's new monograph in the mail. It is a fine thing--about 6' inches square, and somehow still so much more satisfying than 90% of the oversized coffee-table books lying around this place.
When I have to explain to some visitor who doesn't already know about some artist--"Fucking Bernini, man" or "Y'know Daido Moriyama" I pick up these huge editions and I riffle through the pages and pick out the particularly good ones and point. But I can tell already I'm not going to do that with this book. When people need to be told about DiGenova I will just toss this little book across the room (I will ruin it, I will keep having to buy more) and let it fall open to any page, because all the pages are spectacular--and there are a lot of pages, so you should buy it if you haven't
Am I biased? True, Nick is my friend, but only because when I first saw his work, I knew I had to meet whoever made it--I knew and liked the pictures long before I knew and liked him. So no, this is not a biased book review.
I think actually reviewing art books is stupid--there's the internet and you can just look and see for yourself, but I have a special reason here.
Here is my special reason--I need everyone to know, despite the fact that this book is the size and shape of a CD and the back of it is full of deliriously-laid out photos designed to make Nick and his works and friends and his repulsive studio in his cold corner of Toronto reeking of poultry and spraypaint seem young and fast and exciting and an introduction which mixes mad euro-rhetoric with weird translation to make gushing and weirdly oblique claims for the work that I dare anyone living to understand, that this is Art, with a capital "A". Not just very good--but important and innovative. Know that when we are ash and our machines are rust and ruin they will dig up a great deal of what we call Contemporary Art and they will put it in the scholarly basement museums where they keep old boats and spoons and pot shards because it will look like nothing more than Information and Opinion but that when they dig up DY 005: Nicholas DiGenova people will want it and people will keep it and no mater what atrophy or evolution people have gone through in the intervening years--whether the people are starved or half-mad or half-fish-they will pay money to see it.
What is it? Almost nothing--pictures of unlikely hybrid animals. Hardly the first work on the subject. Almost meaningless. There is no philosophy to be grasped or knowledge to be gained by studying these ridiculous animals. And that is the trick--because that means that all that is going on in, say, "Bi-Necked Amphibious Climber (Piloted By Member Of The Series 7 Militia)" (2006)--and any nervous system calling itself human will have to admit that there is a lot going on-- is art. Nicholas DiGenova's pictures succeed over and over and over at reminding us that the hardest and best challenge in art is just this: making some thing that you would rather be looking at than not looking at. Look at the many different feathers, look at the many claws, look at the tender loving dots like the way ancient Australians drew kangaroos, look at the faces of things that never lived but that feel so much more like the fresh bite of life than faux-humble faux-naive humdrumming of stoner expressionists fussing about finding ways to fumblingly shuffle human features around their traditional and fudge-colored canvasses, look at the thousand ingenuities of scale and scaliness necessary to hybridize and make the monsters into pictures, look at the furniture of someone else's mind--shorn of all the toothpaste and lightbulb-thoughts we have in common because we live on the same planet and in the same time. This is art. This the human experience, involuted and alien and accomplishing nothing but being there and being worth it.
DiGenova's work is like comic books and it is like graffiti and everyone knows that and everyone says that, but what should be obvious and I guess from the chatter isn't is how eagerly he takes advantage of the fact that most of what is in this book isn't comics and isn't graffiti and that therefore there are no deadlines or cops to chase him away from lavishing brand new forms of attention on the images his comic-book-crisp and graffiti-quick line makes possible. That is, he gives work new depth and weight and in a time when we are all perfectly aware how free and open and downloadable everything is and that every imaginable point of view is available and represented (poorly) somewhere on some nearby cable channel or website the only thing we need and don't have is depth and weight--the feeling that a constantly contemplating sentient mind is working its way toward some new thing as hard as we are. He paints his way across an idea as useless and absurd and (by local standards) redundant as a "Siamese Six-Shooter Stork" and it somehow comes out more uncanny and haunting than any flat, dead rectangle slathered with nothing but fiction has any right to be. Nicholas DiGenova has rendered a corner of human existence more absorbing, he has put out a book that can sit on your shelf near your bed and which, when opened up, does thing like flipping on a switch in a room in your head which you didn't know was there. This is new. This is a thing that does not look like other things. This is a gorgeous monstrous hybrid. Inasmuch as this work is like graffiti and like comics this work may be young and hip, but no more young and hip than a million things that are much worse. That's incidental. This is not some clever crap that is there to make you feel clever even though you're not. This is not here to prove to your friends that you know about skateboards or custom cars or Michelle Foucault or keyboardy music or even Art. This is not a bandwagon you will wish you'd jumped on. This is not a thing made to comment on some other thing because the person was scared to just say it. This isn't here to tell you something, or make you think about something or otherwise assume it knows what's good for you. This is a thing-in-itself. This is the product of a mind that needs to see what the things in it look like when they are in front of it because they are more complicated than what can be held inside it. These are the kinds of images that--if given the attention they deserve--will make tomorrow look different from today. And better.".. Zak Smith
Posted by marc at 3:07 AM in Books | Recommend this! (38) |
| April 12, 2007
Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)
An amazing author like no other. Very sad to hear that he passed away today.
Posted by marc at 7:58 AM in Books | Recommend this! (42) |
January 11, 2007
Urban Recreation from Akay and Peter
Behind every piece of art there's always a terrific story. The intrigue about street art is that most often it's impossible to know who the artist is, let alone know the story behind the work. One of the cool things for us is that we often learn the stories behind different pieces of work on the street, and we then share these stories with others through the Wooster site.
So when we first started to roam the streets of Soho many years ago, we would always walk past these two faded globes with the word "Akayism" on them. These posters lead us to learn more about the work of one of the true legends in street art today, Akay, who lives in Stockholm.
Akay's work is similar to that of artists like Dan Witz in that they think about their work in projects rather than random actions.
This month a terrific book called Urban Recreation is being published by Document. The book tells the stories behind the different projects of Akay and Peter, who together are known as the Barsky Brothers.
The work that these two guys do on the street is extremely rare, in the sense that it truly goes beyond spray cans and wheatpastes to be actual architectural structures and installations. The time, not to mention the money, that goes into their projects is remarkable. The book tells the stories behind thirteen projects done in the last four years.
Using material they find on the streets, Akay and Peter take ugly empty places and turn then into these magical little oases.
For us, Akay and Peter are the type of artists who have the ability to truly change the way people think about (a) their environment and (b) what should be in it and (c) what are definition of public art should be.
One of the projects that we really loved was City Swings in which for two weeks the Barsky Brothers installed 65 swings in Stockholm for people to enjoy, all made from found objects.
If there is one book that you should purchase this month, it's Urban Recreation. We've included photos of a few of the projects that the book showcases, but to get the stories behind them, buy the book. We're told that it willbe distributed in the US by From Here to Fame (NYC) and Last Gasp of San Francisco. We hear that both US distributors will probably have the book in stock in February or March.
Posted by marc at 6:40 AM in Books , Culture Jamming , Environmental | Recommend this! (64) |
October 20, 2006
Alex Fakso's Heavy Metal
While in Milan earlier this year we met a wonderful photographer named Alex Fakso. Alex has been working on a new book called Heavy Metal which will be in stores soon. Keep an eye out for it.
Also, Alex has put together a video trailer for the book, something that we wish more photographers and book publishers do. Now with the low costs of producing video content, and the power of Youtube, it makes a lot of sense....
Posted by marc at 7:38 AM in Books | Recommend this! (23) |
August 18, 2006
Ganz Returns with Graffiti Women
We're pleased to learn that Nicholas Ganz's new book, Graffiti Women, is set to come out in November. Haven't seen it yet, but if it's half as good as his last book, Graffiti World, we're in for a treat. It's good to see that someone has finally put together what looks to be like the definitive book on an amazing group of woman who are central to the graffiti and street are movement. Can't wait to see it.
Posted by marc at 7:14 AM in Books | Recommend this! (41) |
July 31, 2006
New Books From Rojo
Rojo Magazine in Spain has put out four terrific new books. First is Blanco from the Barcelona based street artist Lolo. Second is
Heads or Tails from Sakristan. Third is The dead, the damned and the children of the revolution from Juju's Delivery. And, last but not least, is the long awaited book by Eltono & Nuria, Bar Tom Cruise
Posted by marc at 7:44 AM in Books | Recommend this! |
April 5, 2006
Fight With Other
Amongst our numerous passions is a deep love for artist crafted limited edition books. Recently was had a chance to peep a new book of art from the Canadian artist known as Other. The book, which comes with a mix CD, is really terrific. You can find more information here.
Posted by marc at 8:08 AM in Books | Recommend this! |
January 10, 2006
Rojo Launches New Website and Book Series
Our friends at Rojo Magazine have updated their website. If you haven't checked it out lately, now is a good time. If you're not yet familiar with Rojo and the tireless work of David Quiles Guilló, then you should become so asap. Rojo is an amazing supporter of the arts and a fantastic resource. Year after year Rojo supports new and emerging artists with a magazine, events, books, and much more.
Recently Rojo published a series of five monographic mini-books from such artists as Tofer, Neasden Control Centre, Boris Hoppek, Albert Bertolin and Nuno Valerio.
You can purchse them online here.
The Rjo book collection will soo include works from Lolo, Eltono+Nuria, Robbf/Biosfear, Sakristan and Juju's delivery.
Posted by marc at 10:41 PM in Books | Recommend this! |