meteorite car

in 1992 the car of lllan Langheinrich from Peekskill was struck by this meteorite

the car has a website now.

back in Peekskill

Yesterday I had to do a little presentation to members of the Peekskill townhall.
My piece will be installed for a year , on a popular spot where the community likes to sit on a bench and look over the wide river.
So it was important to makethe politicians of Peekskill happy with the idea. It's a small town and if people don't like it, they will go see there representative. So, everybody needs to be well informed
Job Koelewijn and another local dutch artist , Daan Levin will also have pieces here. It's a great spot near the train station (people (on their way to DIA-Beacon? (10min form here) can see it from the train).
8 representatives where sitting behind 8 laptops by a rectangular table. 2 fancy camera's where filming from two angels everything. This was all in a very small room; around 8x7 meter. Facing the townhall people where other people with presentations. And besides me, two people from the museum. It went all very smoothly and people seemed to be interested. There was also some local press. Earlier that day, the sheriff came visit me in the parking lot of the museum to look at my piece. He looked like a sheriff should look like (but without a hat) and really liked it.
In a small town so close to NY, they are very happy when something is happening in their community. Especially because it's a poor town in a very rich county Westchester ( in villages very close by live celebrities such as Keith Richards, Glenn Close and the Clintons)

dutch artbooks in Brooklyn

in the centre; opa by paul de reus

I went to this very nice bookstore Spoonbill & Sugartown on hipster Bedfordavenue in Williamsburg. It's the perfect bookstore; not too big, for US standard it would be a small bookstore; secondhand , new and magazines. It's all about the selection; Very good. They do well; My old Amsterdam-upstairs-neighbor-moved-to-NY, Viv, self published a novel and it's a bestseller here. That is extremely difficult without a publisher, PR , agent etc,etc. I asked and to my joy heard they sold many copies of my drawings on writing
It's great to see so many books by people I know. Most from Holland; Melanie Bonajo, Saskia Jansen, Paul de Reus,Hendrik Gerritzen and more; all on display.
Not because these are famous artist in NY. No, just because these are really great books. I had never seen the Saskia Jansen book in Holland. (the magazine selection carries FOAM magazine, Butt (they sell that everywhere now, even in Pakistani runned news-paper stands) and Volume.)
It's a strange thought; but with no real art bookstore in Amsterdam; Do you have to go to Brooklyn to buy dutch art books?
I bought a great book I was looking for since a long time;


Heavenly Visions: Shaker Gift Drawings and Gift Songs.

Peekskill

Nuclear power plant for NYC

this is where my piece will be installed.


The last few feet of the original 'yellow brick road'.
The Wizard of Oz was written by Frank Baum while he was in Peekskill

a sculpture on a empty lot....it's

Ab Lincoln in Peekskill.
Also the first black major of the USA was installed here, in 1984.

20.ooo people live here.

Great movietheater!
(saw Sheraphine there. Good movie)
Mel Gibson and Stanley Tucci where born here.
Abel Ferrara born in the bronx, raised in Peekskill

(The making of) Double Dutch in Peekskill

This year is Hudson year. Henry Hudson was a Brit working for the dutch VOC. 400 years ago he 'discovered' this wide beautiful river going all the way up to Albany, the state capital.
All this will be celebrated this year with lots of activities. One of them being this exhibition of contemporary holland related artists at Hudson Valley Cultural Centre in Peekskill .
With Alon Levin, Marc Bijl, Job Koelewijn, Erik van Lieshout, Lara Schnitger, Guido van der Werve ,Martha Colburn and some more. So, I am one of them.
I'm making my second big outdoor piece (one year after Sonsbeek). It's a complicated piece with 13 kaleidoscopes that will be installed for the duration of the exhibition (1 year!) on the shores of the Hudson. I'm excited. This is going to be good, I think. It's really a great (private) museum.
Will be working very hard on it coming 10 days and thinking about it, so I can't show pictures of it yet. Showing a art piece under construction is extremely private;

But I can show a drawing of the piece.

and my studio-box.
The show only opens in a month, but already lots of activities here.
I will do more posts on this town coming days. It's a nice town.

Roman ondak in MoMa (2.5 million visitors a year)

A few years ago I saw this Slovakian artist, Roman Ondak at some gallery in the Fiac; Around 15 very divers little drawings of paintings in a exhibition space.
He had asked a number of friends to make a drawing of his upcoming exhibition in the gallery. That's simple! So that was the show; how his friends imagined his exhibition should look like, exhibited in that very space. It was wonderful.
Now he's in the project space of moma with another simple , drawing related great piece;
Measuring the universe.

Everybody can leave his name, the date, and line above his head.
Like people do all around the world with growing children.
This will only work in a Museum like Moma with 2.5 million visitor a year.
Again; wonderful piece.

people lining to leave their line.

gay in PS1

I've been told you can't say "that is so gay!" anymore. {'THAT is sooooooo gay!'}
Is offensive.
Not that I ever said it.
But when I saw the big Jonathan Horrowitz show at PS1, that was pretty much all that went through my head. Without really knowing what it means.
But these are the ingredients from horrowitz's show; Lots of Celebrities, brands, wit & humor, sparkles & glitter, aids-politics, Elisabeth Taylor, media gossip & the pope.
Let's say; it's good light entertainment.


Also gay, but more interesting and now with a first museum show in
US is the master of underground movie Kenneth Anger (wiki)

The whole show is wrapped in some red blood rubber like plastic.
Floor, walls and ceiling. Very hot & horny.
Looks quite amazing.

I don't think theirs more famous underground filmmakers then Kenneth Anger(1927). Famous & underground;Yes; he could have made the crossed over to art-house by now. Like john waters, Jarmush, etc. It's strange because his stuff is not that experimental. It's not Jonas Mekas or Stan Brakhage. Off course there's nothing wrong with this. But his stuff is so good & still so fresh, that it's a shame that people don't get to see it.
Some of his movies from 1946 (!!) look like they're made now for MTV
Was discovered by Jean Cocteau when he was 19. Worked then with a wide range of people such the likes as; Jean Genet, François Truffeau, Alfred Kinsey (wiki), Rolling stones, etc, etc
You don't have to go to Queens; There's a lot of his movies online..