Lastnight @Howdiz and I totally kicked-it with a bunch of artists. I signed-up for their mailing list and I got an email about a potluck/Installation Party for the next exhibit showing in FLUXspace.
The email was witty and silly, and the artwork going up was super-colorprofundo so we decided to fire up the Purple Van and traverse the city to North Philly.
It was totally worth the drive. The potluck ended up being a modest spread of grillable items, one participant brought in a bag of cheeseburgers from McD’s which was promptly devoured. The beer was cheap, the laughs abounded, fruit was caught in mouths. They were all a bit perplexed about why we were chillin, but seemed satisfied enough with my explanation – I like what’s going on in that space, whatever it is, and I want to get to know the energy behind it. Howdiz as my partner-in-crime for all things community was gentlemanly enough to accompany me on this pseudo-adventure. He had his doubts about hobnobbing over a few beers with some artists, but those fears were pretty quickly whisked away as the penis jokes and other generally vulgar witticisms dominated the conversation instead of the art-speak he’s been anticipating.
Not to say there was nothing the night had to offer in the form of good old-fashioned art-speak – these are some very serious and fucking smart young creatives and they know what they are doing…sort-of. If you ask them ‘What do you do?’ most of them can’t answer. But they can certainly wax philosophical with the best of ‘em on their community studio space, their intentions with FLUXspace, their interest in fine arts, and the intricacies of meaning/intention in their acts of creation. It simply seems they’re rejecting that air of hoityness one might expect, and perhaps championing a notion that straight-up definitions might not be quite right for whatever it is they are in fact doing.
I’ve only seen one show up at FLUXspace, but that was more than enough for me to see that what’s going on here is pretty goddamn important. I explained to them how drawn I was to the comfortable, welcoming environment that they created the night of the Artist Talk for ‘Taking Measures’. They seemed surprised I cared so much about that, and explained to me that the faces that wonder into their space are usually familiar to one or more of the members of this community. When a new face walks through the door they make a point to go say hello and welcome them into the space. They had me at ‘hello’ (and a good beer selection). They are simply real, good people who happen to have quite an education in the ways of the Art World. It isn’t something they need to wear on their sleeves, that’s all.
Aside from this inclusive approach that underlies their space, there are some amazing things happening here – in ‘Taking Measures’ three artists came together to group curate a show of their own work. This strikes me as a thoroughly community approach to a traditionally ego-dominated act: Curation. I digress into something approximating ‘Theory’ - I’m working on a piece about this space right now, i’ll save for that.
The visiting artist we met lastnight, John O’Donnell, was installing his solo show ‘Salad Days‘ in the FLUXspace. He comes from the middle of Minnesota, relocated to Connecticut, but it seemed as if he was simply another member of this local community. His witicisms are something everyone who sees his work ought to experiance. There are subtleties revealed as people consume beer, grilled meat, and cigarettes together that simply can’t be captured in any other medium. As i’m becoming more keen to, an integral part of the creation process – I think the grill got the name Fifi? He told us that the majority of his materials come from the party supply store – oh and also the beer supplier in his area who stocks him with life-sized cardboard bombshells promoting beer for him to re-appropriate. This he does, somewhat reluctant to finish – the formings of a giant babe-dinosaur were already coming together in the gallery lastnight.
We didn’t blow-up any baloons (he uses an air compressor) but we did have a damn good time, and got a glimpse at some real art makers in their natural habitiat…one that is very much like something I might myself build one day. Until then, i’d like to write about it.
