Pre Post 2005 Post

The holidays were fun.

I was off for most of the time between Thanksgiving and the New Year. I ate well, read, excercised, explored, saw old friends, slept, and in a drunken moment of inspiration and spontanaiety, rearranged my apartment. I cant say I remember much more than that, but I do feel fully recharged.

NYE is a natural time for retrospection...

It was a very good year. Got a new job, visited the Eastern Hemisphere for the first time, my mother got married, I survived a brush with death...nothing too major.

Some crazy stuff was going on everywhere else though.

Photos courtesy of the New York Times Year in Pictures.

sitting inside, on, and beyond...

Robert Rauschenberg was quoted as saying he wanted to work "in the gap between art and life." Its easy to see this approach translateded in many of the 67 works collected in the new Combines exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fabrics and taxidermy, cans and furniture, blinking lights and ticking clocks. Fifty years later and his pieces still tell a unique story, stretching and challenging the imagination. These carnival like patchworks and constructions beg to be wondered about and inhabited.

In Rauschenberg's work both comfort and confusion are found. Not to mention a collection of references to both the past and the future.

Body Movin'

This past weekend I headed down to the Seaport for the Bodies exhibit. A little pricey at $24.50 a ticket, but some very very cool stuff there no less. The room that deals with the circulatory system was the highlight for me, and I bet if I cared about science I would have enjoyed the show even more. Still, I couldnt stop thinking about the scenes in the movie Alive where they lunch on that dude's butt fat to avoid starvation.

I would suggest not eating immediately before or after this exhibit.

RIP, Richard Pryor

I had to watch Richard Pryor, Live in Concert (1979) when I heard the news last weekend.

That boy was good.

I'm excited to announce the December 12th opening of the aNYthing gangstore on Hester St. from what founder/owner Aron the Don calls "the only brand that matters."

Besides the retail line and record label, Aron rolls with Retail Mafia who recently got the hook up with Boost Mobile, he edited the new Supreme catalog, has appeared in photos from Ryan McGinley at the Whitney, brought NYC to Paris with agnes B., and produced the award winning Kid America Show on TWC of Manhattan's cable access (channel 34). The Red Baron even has his own action figure from the good folks at aLife and Sony.

Back in the day you could find him in front of the camera for Calvin Klein and Stussy (among others), behind the counter at Union and Supreme, or holding court on the Bowery- where he solidified his grip on downtown and launched his quest for global domination. Lately hes been droppin science in Japan, London and Australia, or brand building with his crew at the aNYthing office in Chinatown NYC.

The Downtown Don keeps it moving. Here is a couple of interviews with the man who "never stop(s) working":

http://www.heronpreston.com/anything.html
http://www.thebrilliance.com/thebrilliance/interviews/anything/interview.asp

And an advanced review of the highly anticipated store:

http://men.style.com/news/style/110705/

MOTION SICKNESS

WK has been doing his thing downtown for a while. His stark black and white pieces of people in motion have covered surfaces all over the Lower East Side and Soho, reflecting the activity and vitality of New York City for almost 15 years.

He pops up in galleries and on streets around the world too, and has been holding it down at the 101 Gallery on the LES since Summer 2001. Always a treat to stop in on Stanton, 101 cosistently features fresh installations in WK's trademark styles. So it was sad news when I learned he will be closing the Gallery on December 31 of this year.

Stop in and check him before he jets.

Going Back

The East vs. West rap fued been dead for a second, like the two superstar emcees that personified it. However, this t-shirt design from Under Crown is truly clever, both in its homage to those fallen greats as well as its reference to those ill sports caricature t-shirts that I so highly coveted in the 80's.

I saw the above design at Union on Spring St. a couple of weeks ago. Things have changed at the spot since my friends and I used to frequent there in the early 90's, but they still carry some goodies. They also had two other similar shirts- featuring Pac and Biggie on the dolo.

PEOPLE STAY RUNNIN

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down

Upon hearing the names of the 2006 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductees last week, I wondered how Miles Davis wasnt already a member. Then I started to feel a little old when I saw some of the others for this year (Sabbath, Blondie, The Sex Pistols). Musicians become eligible for consideration 25 years after their first recording...okay, so why so long for Miles?

His music may not be best classified as rock n roll, but then, his life's work transcends genres, classification and boundaries. So the Hall is finally recognizing him. Thank the devil.

This morning I put on "Right Off" from A Tribute to Jack Johnson to start my day, considered by some his best "rock" album (though Id give that to 1969's In A Silent Way). Miles bragged that he could form "the greatest rock band you ever heard." In my opinion he never quite did it, but he comes damn close here.

Rock on Cleveland.

zero eye in a city of the future

2005

acrylic, and marker on paper

64 " x 44 "

Freedom For Manhattan Foundation