I hate to begin with the big D—death—but there it is. My co-curator Bill Stelling’s brilliant title for the exhibition, taken from Robert Browning’s poem “Love Among the Ruins”, aptly describes the main themes—love and mortality—that were the impetus for this show. As I lost so many friends so suddenly and unexpectedly in…
SSB and Howl! Happening are delighted to present a snippet from Penny’s performance of Margo Howard-Howard below. The full performance, as well as a video of the infamous performance of Jackie Curtis’ Glamor, Glory, and Gold at 56 Bleecker Gallery will be featured in Love Among the Ruins. Performance artist Penny Arcade’s work has…
When Dean Rolston, co-owner of 56 Bleecker Gallery, died in 1994 from AIDS, he left behind a memoir—Remembering Dying—a memento mori of the last two years of his life. No hagiography: In this short, powerful, beautifully written, and honest work Dean looks at his life and imminent death through the prism of contemporary culture and…
Join Some Serious Business for Love Among the Ruins POETRY NOIR hosted by Maynard Monrow on September 28, 2017, 7pm at Howl Happening: An Arturo Vega Project. As the name implies, this evening turns on the dark side of creativity at the end of an era of partying and excess that is now the stuff of…
SSB is pleased to present a portfolio of photographs by Mark Sink. An intrepid chronicler of the antics and personalities that animated 56 Bleecker Gallery, his insightful portraits on view in the exhibition make a powerful statement about the energy and creativity of late 80s New York. A private art consultant, Sink represents and curates…
I knew I wanted to work with moths. Moths conjure up an image of nighttime, lights, creepiness, and they are food for bears. I am a big fan of mammals. In seeing the gallery space I saw options of darkening the room, creating a nighttime “moth feeding” and possibly including a two story tall bear over the stairwell landing who would be consuming the moths.
Some Serious Business presents #FiftyQuestions to highlight folks who are creating, presenting, questioning and critiquing. Each featured artist picks a handful of questions to answer. Laura Splan is an artist and lecturer whose work explores intersections of art, science, technology and craft. Her conceptually based projects examine the material manifestations of our mutable relationship with the…
Some Serious Business presents #FiftyQuestions to highlight folks who are creating, presenting, questioning and critiquing. Each featured artist picks a handful of questions to answer. 11- What is your current guiding motivation to work and/or express yourself? Last week I opened Shadowtime, an exhibition titled after a word which I coined in 2016 with the Bureau…
Photo-credit for the polaroid goes to Jackson Foltz (aged 6) Some Serious Business presents #FiftyQuestions to highlight folks who are creating, presenting, questioning and critiquing. Each featured artist picks a handful of questions to answer. 26- Is destruction a positive phenomenon for you? Destruction is a slippery word. Diamanda Galas recently described her process of reinterpreting…