GREEN

never posted these and i need to see some GREEN. in the woods behind an abandoned house in Vermont.




heart babies


mirrors

Charlie McComber

Charlie McComber

Charlie McComber at a coffee shop... I almost don't want to share this mad genius.


they are all(?) less than $200 and i can't afford any of them!!! but i will get one eventually.




i think charlie would like gellochio and vice-versa.






CANDY


Charlie McComber!

found

found a bunch of someone's unsigned art at a junk shop near glens falls... the dealer said that they came from an estate sale and that there were hundreds, which were split between him and another dealer. the estate they came from was not that of the artist... it was a hoarder whose house was filled with treasures and junk. so no idea where they originally came from. they are spread all over now.

Hulk Demo-Derby Hoods

Hulk Demo-Derby Hoods.

His wife paints The Hulk on his cars before he crashes them. Hulk Smash.


Have you seen Jeff Koons' Hulk painting? Have you seen Richard Prince's hoods? NO CONTEST.


You can see the back of Elizabeth Olbert's stretched bedsheet, on the right.

Paris aka Holy Joseph

Got an e-mail from someone who came across one of my Paris posts! FINALLY!!!!!! Thank YOU.

"It’s really nice to see some other work by Paris. He and I became very close when I was in Philadelphia.

It is really hard to know what part Paris’ stories were true and what was imagination, I chose to believe that the stories and imagination were one in the same.

He had mentioned that he was a chef on the Queen Mary. He always ate at fancy buffets and take out places, often not finishing his food, a sign of a sophisticated taste (I have a drawing of the Queen Mary that he did, it is gorgeous). One other reason that I choose to believe him is the evidence of great depth in his imagery. He must have been to Europe at some point. It is more than some Jungian connection to shapes and symbols in our collective DNA.

I have many pieces by him. Maybe 10 or so. One piece was done in the back room of - the gallery I worked at - , where paintings were kept, on a cold winter night when I was closing up. He was cold so I allowed him to come in and made him a cup of tea. It was partially a plan to see him work. He sat down for an hour or so and made me a drawing. He used some gold from a chocolate wrapper and pinned it on with fancy art hanging nails that I gave him. The nails seemed like a strange connection to the established art world, it might have been the closest he’d ever be to getting his work in a gallery. (I know that he was part of a show at Moore college of Art. He created a little stir and was asked to leave.)

One day in Spring (eighty something), he told me that he was leaving town. He said that he was going South. I admire Paris for his courage and dedication. He is a hero of mine."

Not sure if this person wants his name on-line or not... forgot to ask. He seems to have known Paris before I had moved to Philadelphia in 1986, the Paris I knew was never quite so lucid. I wonder if Paris actually went South somewhere for a while? He was definitely around 1986 through 1993/1994.

Hopefully this person will get back in touch with some more memories and/or photographs of Paris' work.

doll couple

doll couple

Emery Blagdon

Emery Blagdon is one of the artists in The Believers, at Mass Moca.

They're healing machines... they emit healing energy fields, which fill the space within which they're installed.

So... it's a good room to be in.








Larry Bamburg

Paris

Going through my old papers I found this clipping from what is probably the Philadelphia City Paper, I think 1993.

"He may wear Jiffy Pop packaging as a headdress and mutter incomprehensible sermons. But the colored chalk creations of street personality Paris are the real deal, aesthetically impressive and rich in biblical allegory. Paris knows he's good, too - he'll charge a pretty penny if you want to buy a piece of his work. The Sun Ra of Philly art. - J.G."

Good, another piece of Paris documentation! Go to this 8/11/05 post, if you need to get the background on Paris.

Who is J.G.? Maybe J.G. has some photos of Paris, or of his work? I've been into this occasional trackdown of Paris for about eight years, and have found only one photo... and no other extant examples of his work, although I remember seeing pieces in people's apartments long ago... and was told that John Ollman had bought some.

Roberta discovered this other piece of documentation, after I wrote to her and Libby early in 2004, hoping they would post something on their Philadelphia artblog, a listing for a 1991 show that Paris was included in at the Moore College of Art -

"Found Ground - Paintings and drawings on readymade surfaces by sixteen Philadelphia artists including Alfred Bendiner, Rachel Bliss, Salvador Casco, Charles Crumb, Linh Dinh, Rafael Ferrer, Thomas Gartside, Todd Gilens, Anthony—Petr Gorny, Kate Javens, Virgil Marti, Beth McHenry, Quentin Morris, Gerald Nichols, and Paris/Holy Joseph. January 11–February 16, 1991"

Maybe I can write to Moore, or the curator of the show, and ask if they have any photo documentation?

Last time I posted on Paris I hadn't yet figured out how to post more than one image to the blog. It's nice to be able to post these images now. This is a selection of some of my Paris pieces -


Two peacocks and flowers. LArGeR.


Jesus walking on water, and maybe praying in the boat at the same time. The bottom reads "God Bless America".

The back has a similar drawing.


Sweet piece. Very hard - impossible - to see in this image, but there is a second tiny saint sitting atop his staff.


This one is too good, and it is the BACK of that first peacock piece above. They are on a thick-ish kind of cardboard... when I win the mega-millions they will be separated and framed.

Is this a picture of a dreadlocked Jesus in peace talks with Mohammed, moderated by Mary?


This is the only known photo of Paris, at least, known to me and the guy that gave it to me. I put an ad in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1999(?) asking for any info or remembrances of Paris, from which I received a single response. That person remembered Paris, and told me of a shelter that Paris sometimes visited.

A couple years after that I was able to get to Philadelphia and visit the shelter, meeting a staffperson who remembered Paris very well, with great fondness... and who even had a photo of Paris near his desk.

I like that in this photo you can see some crayons or drawing tools on top of that shelf, next to what is, I BET, a ring of foil headgear. It also appears that he is covering himself with one of his drawings, which is what he did on the streets. He slept on and under them.

Read the old post to fill in any gaps to this Paris story, and LOOK here to see my full Paris set.

Charles Steffen

Charles Steffen at Andrew Edlin - Never heard of this artist, but really loved his work... all of it drawings on paper.

The piece pictured above includes text reading - "giant drawing, sunflower nude standing in front of a red chair, holding a sunflower, front and back...".

All of the pieces are full of text, thoughts and descriptions.

Steffen had just started art school in 1949... but soon after began to hear voices, had a breakdown, and was institutionalized until 1963. When he was better he moved back in with his large Chicago family (he was the oldest of eight children), making two or three drawings a day for the next thirty+ years, which were periodically thrown away by the family as they piled up.... only drawings from 1989-1994 survive, saved by a nephew. Steffen died of throat cancer in 1995.


This one is a standing nude in blue and white, with pink highlights... she's kind of goofy-sweet looking.... with text which partially reads - "inspired by alisha the girl next door, thirty one years old, she does not know about this, i don't dare tell her, deals in real estate for a living...".

Most of the drawings are of nudes and family members, almost all the figures female, many drawn from life. They are grotesque, they look boneless, with some so heavily contoured it's like you can see their musculature, but they don't feel creepy or misogynistic. Lots of flowers and smiles and loving vibes...

There is one portrait of a woman sitting in a chair, wearing a sweater over a turtleneck, she actually looks kind of hideous.... it reads - "portrait of my sister sitting in her bedroom rocking chair, a good drawing, it looks just like her... god bless her soul, she is a good sister, it took two hours to complete".

I like this little moonlit(?) alien landscape, two figures meeting at a flower, drawn on eight pieces of scotch-taped notebook paper.

Interesting to think of Steffen making these almost completely unknown works for thirty-plus years, with fellow Chicago artist Henry Darger working on some of his secret stuff at the same time. How many unknown others?

Darger in hospital, knowing he wouldn't ever return home, instructed his landlord to throw everything away (didn't he?)... but the landlord was an artist and once he saw Darger's fantasy art he had to save it. I kind of wanted to bring up Darger with Lisa Ruyter in this thread, ask what she about that...

The Charles Steffen show is open until May 5th.

Herman 'Ray' Davis, Maurice Grossman, Tatyana Grossman and Universal Limited Art Editions

Herman 'Ray' Davis is exhibiting at a coffee shop in Saratoga... these are striking... I was drawn to them immediately...

The artist celebrated his one hundredth birthday on Monday, and most of the work in the show is from fifty+ years ago. He started painting in the army, then became a dentist, and at some point befriended an artist named Maurice Grossman. Grossman gave Davis painting lessons... the woman in the two kitchen pictures is Grossman's wife, Tanya, painted in 1952.

Tanya Grossman is maybe better known as Tatyana Grossman... the woman who started the printmaking business which became known as Universal Limited Art Editions. Her impact can't be overstimated... this is the woman who convinced artists like Rivers, Johns, Rauschenberg, Hartigan, Dine, Frankenthaler, Newman to come to her Long Island workshop and try making prints... the whole artform of contemporary printmaking is indebted to her, if not the entire artmarket for legitimizing the concept of editions.

These Davis paintings, both called Tanya's Kitchen, were made a few years before Maurice had the heart attack which prompted Tanya to start her business. Ray later recieved artist proofs in exchange for dental work.


RIGHT NOW at MoMA - Artistic Collaborations: 50 Years at Universal Limited Art Editions. Here is the NYTimes review.


This one is called Mother and Son, from 1948. I would have posted these paintings regardless of the interesting Tatyana Grossman story.

Richmond Bible Car

I saw this car parked on the street, in front of a church.


side of car.


the window is patched with a bible.


roof of car, with prayer.


it's like the Batmobile.

PREVIOUS COOL CARS:


The Richmond MULLET POLICE. Here is the Richmond Police God.


The Hoosick Falls PAMPERS-MOBILE. This photo was taken on my last visit to my hometown, Hoosick Falls, NY! This is a good post.


window of the pampers-mobile, advertising goods for sale.

UFOjisan

Okay! So... somewhat related to Architect and the wonderful Stitchy Japanese House, allow me to introduce you to UFOjisan.

This was a shop somewhere in Tokyo, can't remember where exactly. It was interesting because it was full of old Japanese treasures, sort of like an antique shop... but co-existed with some kind of religous outer-space meteor temple. There were a ton of signs out front, like big placards, all about UFO's watching us... and pictures of UFOjisan.

UFOjisan seemed to be a cult leader, wearing bright robes and large shiny hats, and has a link to the aliens. The shop is his place (i'm calling it a shop, but i don't think that is the right word exactly), and he was hanging out with some other old guys in the back area around the tv and heater.

I should explain that the Japanese word for U.F.O. is "UFO", written like that and pronounced "you-foe". Yes, they have their own original words also (space is uchu, alien is uchujin), but UFO is just as common. Ojisan is a term for an old(er) man, so UFOjisan is a pun.

EVERYTHING in this shop was interesting, including the imperious bearded UFOjisan. There was an altar to a huge meteor (maybe), draped in bright fabrics... plus lots of other space rocks and cosmic things, Buddhas, many odd interesting beautiful old Japanese treasures, and UFOjisan's drawings documenting his abductions and extra-terrestial experiences.

Here are some bad photos of the drawings, wish I had taken more. Discovered this shop in a hurry to someplace else, and never got that way again.


That third picture in from the right is a self-portrait. The cases are full of old treasures.


I've tried googling him, but can't find anything.. . although I think I am just not putting in the right things.

I know I have a picture of the outside of the shop somewhere, but can't find it. When it shows up I'll add it to this post.

stitchy japanese house

Look at this crazy house! This was close to the ARCHITECT house I posted earlier, in Nagaoka or Niigata ... and very unusual. It was padlocked from the outside, but didn't look abandoned. I wish I could have seen inside.

Look at all the nails...I can't help but think of Philip Guston's piles of hairy legs and shoes, pointy-headed figures, all of his stitchy linework.




Wonderful.