ArtCall Diary - Entry 5/18/2000
Deal-Aware
Thursday dawned hot and muggy and there was a full plate on the art agenda.
The Gallery Guide had too many openings to hit, so we narrowed our list
to two entries, Montserrat Gallery on 588 Broadway and American Fine Arts
Co. at 18 Wooster St. Everything seemed to run late, maybe it was because
we had been editing the 5/16 entry until 5:30am
the night before and then answering e-mail all day until 6:30pm. Luck was
on our side as we got a parking space on the corner of Prince and B'way
at 6:45pm. At Montserrat, we found an old pal Paul Cabezas who has relocated
himself to Brooklyn and is now heavy into murals. The haunting imagery
of Czech artist Daniel Pesta was something to behold, his piece called
'Andy' is sheer eye candy.
The stormy images of Norma Heisler foreshadowed the weather for the rest
of the evening. We felt as clipped for time as the patron in the Patricia
Pisani work above. Then the rain came! We asked Victor from the gallery
for a plastic bag to keep the Diaries' hardcopy version from bleeding all
over creation and bought a $5 umbrella from a Chinese girl that mysteriously
appeared at the 588 building entrance. It was already 7:30pm and we were
definitely fashionably late as we parked outside the Wooster gallery of
American.Fine Arts Co.
Mark Kostabi greeted us as we walked in the door of American Fine Arts.
Mark was fresh from an opening at Thread Waxing Space which he liked immensely.
He was off to Chelsea for further art perusal. Kostabi now writes a monthly
column for artnet.com. We found gallery owner, Colin Deland in the backroom
doing 'joe' with the throng assembled there. (I can't remember the
last time someone served coffee at an opening hint! hint!) He was in a
jovial mood over the Christian Phillip Muller show. Muller has showed there
several times over the last decade.
The body of Muller work is based on 'relationships' and 'identity'. Here
in Silicon Alley this is better known as 'branding'. We snagged ourselves
a signed Muller book, and sent it to Paul Kostabi for over-imaging, the
book is currently off to ArtCall research for conversion into 3D reality
for auctioning on Amazon-Sotheby's by authorized online auction dealer,
Alan Wigren.
Nineteen Sixth Avenue was the crime of the scene. We were the last to arrive
(save for Colin himself) for this very crowded post-opening dinner. We
sat down at the empty table that you see above and got tossed by the management.
We went to the bar and ordered up a couple of Cokes to see how the situation
would unfold itself (and sulk). Daniel (Colin's assistant) came over and
apologized for the situation. Colin came in and worked the crowd like he
was Leo Castelli in old days over at the 151 Wooster after parties. This
sentence intentionally left blank #@!!?? This sentence intentionally
left blank #@!!?? This sentence intentionally left blank #@!!?? This sentence
intentionally left blank #@!!?? Meanwhile, elsewhere, where the natives
are friendly, one of Ray's wives was serving up "the world's best egg creams
on Avenue A" #@!!??
Leaving
the restaurant, we ran into a confab at Clayton Patterson's joint at 161
Essex St., a tete o' tater was in progress over the garden parade happening
on Saturday (Sunday rain date). We took leave and checked into Pink Pony
where Jaime Lavender had put in a regular appearance at his nightly watering
hole. Discussion about his 'mirage' art and the state of art funding were
the topics of the night.
The above paintings are by Paul Kostabi, passed on from his Paul's agent
and muse Heidi Follin of Follin Gallery.
ArtCall will is looking for artists. This is a shameless plug from your
maverick guide to the East Village, East Village Eric. We need your works!
We want your works! We offer online exposure and a place to make major
directory and search engine placement. Need we say more? There's an online
gallery right here on the East Village site and you can get in it.
An ArtCall exclusive (call Carol @646-279-8696.
Bob Dombrowski might give you some different street signs, but the story
would still be the same. We needed money for renting a space, the
money was in the Mellon Bank in New Jersey. Sandra, the branch manager
took an hour and a half to say no to us. We headed for the Wilmington,
Delaware branch in the rain, we needed to be ready for our counter offer
to the real estate agent and smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and crossing
state lines was the best way to do it.
Jottings: Tribes Gallery tomorrow Sunday 7PM. DJ.com has a new record called
'annual report'. CBGB's 313 Gallery Wednesday 6-9pm. "Luminous Motion"
begins its run at City Cinema Village East. SubCulture Gallery June 10th.
And always consult The Gallery Guide. Research & Development hits NY
May 28th!
photos ©carol
braddock aka red ed
artwork©Daniel Pesta Norma Heisler Patricia Pisani
Christian Phillipp Muller Paul Kostabi
ArtCall Archives
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