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Die Wunderkammer; Objects of Virtue

Samantha Levin — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:01:04 +0000

Thanks to the generosity of artist Lori Field, I recently had the pleasure of attending the VIP opening of a new exhibition, Die Wunderkammer; Objects of Virtue. Curated by Jason Patrick Voegele and Keith Schweitzer of Republic Worldwide this wondrous exhibition is installed at a new gallery called The Lodge at 131 Chrystie Street in New York City. This block of Chrystie Street is jam packed with wunderkammer goodness thanks to speakeasy Fig 19 and its neighbor, Home Sweet Home, which both boast a beautiful collection of taxidermy and curio. I think the entire cast of Oddities NY was in attendance.

Republic Worldwide is a team of curators and art consultants who put together some wonderfully inspiring group shows in unlikely places (not an easy thing to do). Their website describes this particular exhibition simply:

Open to the public from March 21st through May 1st, 2013, Republic Worldwide deconstructs and reimagines the traditional Wunderkammer through works by over a dozen New York based contemporary artists that will stoke your sense of wonder and odd delight. Artists include Paul Brainard, Kate Clark, Lori Field, Aaron Johnson, Melora Kuhn, Dennis McNett, Hayley McCulloch, Pop Mortem, Lucia Pedi, Mac Premo, Graham Preston, Christy Rupp, Tom Sanford, Sigrid Sarda and Madeline Von Foerster. Curated by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele.

Anyone in New York tonight can visit the public opening of the exhibition – details in the flyer above and their facebook event page. Here’s a brief sneak peek at the exhibition (all photos by Samantha Levin):

Sigrid Sarda | "Memento Mori" (detail) | mixed media, 13.5x13.5x12 in

Kate Clark | "Rivalry" (installation view) | baboon hide, foam, clay, pins, thread, rubber eyes, rope, 48x48x84 inches

Kate Clark | "Rivalry" (detail) | baboon hide, foam, clay, pins, thread, rubber eyes, rope, 48x48x84 inches

Kate Clark with her sculpture "Rivalry"

Lori Field | "Cold War" | silverpoint on black ground

Madeline von Foerster | "Reliquary for Saartjie" | oil

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on panel, 21x18 in

Christy Rupp | "Ivory II (Walrus Tusk with COREXIT Dispersant Chemical Molecule Structure 2 | wax, mixed media, dimensions variable

Mac Premo | "Totally Stick Your Head In This Hole" (detail) | wood, drill, mixed media, dimensions variable

Mac Premo | "Totally Stick Your Head In This Hole" (reading directions) | wood, drill, mixed media, dimensions variable

Mac Premo | "Totally Stick Your Head In This Hole" (head in hole - no, I'm not going to tell you what happened to her.) | wood, drill, mixed media, dimensions variable

Dennis McNett | "Wolfbat Spirit Wolf" | wood, paper mache, woodcut prints, dimensions variable

Aaron Johnson | "Voodoo Child" | acrylic on polyester knit mesh, 40x32 inches

Aaron Johnson | "Voodoo Child" (detail showing layering) | acrylic on polyester knit mesh, 40x32 inches

Creep Machine is moving.

josh — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 21:47:06 +0000

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. I have been working the past week or so on moving the Creep Machine to a new host. This is pretty intense, as the site has been up since 2007 and is image heavy. So there is a massive amount of images to go through and prepare for the next site. I am excited to have the new site released, and to get back to writing about art. Thanks for sticking around, and I hope to see you all on the new version of the Creep Machine soon.

The recent silence on the Creep Machine

josh — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:57:27 +0000

I just wanted to make a post and let all the fans know that the Creep Machine is still here, even if there has been a bit of silence lately. This is longest I have ever gone without making a post and I am not very happy about it. Without getting into too much detail, I was recently laid off from a job (as many people have been this past year) and I needed to rearrange my life in order to take care of family. So this left me with little time to update the site, and for a bit I wasn’t even sure I would be able to keep the site alive during this hiatus.

It is my goal this year to get going with the site again, change the look, and even move to a more reliable server. I may have had bad luck with a job, but this could be an opportunity to work harder on this site. The Creep Machine Facebook page (here) has stayed active, with the help of the amazing Maria Pickering, so please make sure you check that out as well, she has done an amazing job with that page. It’s a tough economy out there, and while I would love to do nothing more than write about art, I refuse to allow this site to get cluttered with garish ads dominating the site. I am confident this year will bring new things, and a job will come soon. What happens when we get knocked down? We get right back up, swinging. Thanks to all the fans that have stuck around, and I hope all of you had an amazing holiday.

New Prints by Nicoletta Ceccoli

Samantha Levin — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 18:59:04 +0000

From a quick glance, Nicoletta Ceccoli‘s porcelain creatures, in their odd, sticky-sweet surroundings seem a bit like illustrations for children’s books. The artist’s palette of childhood pastels and ghostly whites, softly rendered into gentle forms, are nurturing and inviting. This lure gives way quickly, revealing the uncanny, visceral qualities of her creatures’ gestures and facial expressions, belying their innocence and emotively exploring the confusion of adulthood. They are, in their surreality, uncomfortably real.

In connection with Nicoletta Ceccoli’s new exhibition Eye Candy, AFA Gallery is offering up some new, gorgeous, exclusive prints on

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their site that you can purchase here. Her new original paintings will be on view at AFA from November 17th through February 3rd, 2013.

Books: Double Talk by KRK Ryden

josh — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:34:35 +0000

Porterhouse Editions is set to release the first book by artist KRK Ryden entitled “Double Talk”. This hard-bound book is a collection of homographs by Ryden, is 15-1/4″ x 9-3/4″ x 3/4″, 114 pages with 51 black and white illustrations with a short essay about the artist. The book comes in two editions, the standard with just the book, and the Special Edition (limited to 50) comes in a handmade, clothbound, foil-stamped, clamshell box, a bookmark, and a signed and numbered limited edition letterpress print. This book will be available November 20th, and pre-ordered books will ship November 26th. Take a look at the preview and then head over to Porterhouse for more images as well as a video that features KRK Ryden reading some excerpts from his book.

Double Talk by KRK Ryden

Huff and Puff…

Samantha Levin — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:25:58 +0000

Huff and puff as much as you want, but New York Galleries are made of brick, fuck you very much, Sandy.

If you don’t already know, Hurricane Sandy has severely hurt the New York art scene. Gotham has never experienced this kind of thing before (we’ve been flooded, but not to this degree). Everyone living here was taken by surprise when the Lower East Side and Chelsea gallery districts both got badly flooded. Artist studios in Gowanus and Greenpoint areas of Brooklyn were not only flooded, but the waters that filled their buildings are known for being severely polluted. What objects survived have to be handled carefully with gloved hands, and likely discarded as unusable. Sandy didn’t really throw a lot of rain at us, but the surge that came in from the ocean filled up gallery basements and went up as high as 5 feet in ground floor spaces.

Here are some links showing images of the damage wreaked by the storm:

ArtInfo: Hurricane Sandy Leaves Greenpoint Studios Wrecked, Destroying Years of Work

From art critic Jerry Saltz: Saltz’s Devastating Tour Through Chelsea’s Ruined Art Galleries

Hyperallergic’s multiple reports:
New York’s Art World Assessing Impact of Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy Report, 2 Days After
Hurricane Sandy Report, 3 Days After
Hurricane Sandy Report, 4 Days After

Yet, on that negative note, I’m happy to report that many galleries have survived without damage and will be open for business as of this week. Life goes on. If you’re in New York and can make it out, please show these artists your support. Their exhibitions have been interrupted by the storm; they’ve largely missed out on what attention they should have gotten. If you’re not nearby, check out their work online. The list below consists only of Manhattan galleries, unfortunately. If I have time, I’ll expand.

Do send New York all your love and strength. On Wednesday, we’re expecting a furry and fanged nor’easter to try to blow our houses down yet again. Oh, hell no!

∞∞∞

Lori Field‘s exhibition, Wild Horses and Wallflowers , at Claire Oliver Gallery, open until November 24th:

Lori Field | I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did

The opening reception for Tiffany Bozic‘s exhibition, Transformation, at Joshua Liner Gallery has been rescheduled for this Thursday and will be on view until December 1st:

Tiffany Bozic | The Golden Gate

Brad Woodfin‘s Unwound and Dame Darcy‘s Handbook for Hot Witches at Alix Sloan’s pop-up gallery have both come down a couple of days early. No

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matter; the shows were highly successful. If you missed them, take a peek at the work online here.

Brad Woodfin | Below Salt

Dame Darcy | cover art for Handbook for Hot Witches

AFA Gallery is back open 7 days a week with Kathie Olivas‘s Haunted exhibition on view. This show will be on view until the end of December.

Kathie Olivas | Agitate

Aaron Nagel‘s show, Sovereign, will not be re-opening, it seems. A recent email from Lyons Wier Gallery states that they sustained some gallery damage (the artwork is OK, I assume) and will be re-opening on November 15th with its next exhibition of work by Melodie Provenzano. To view some of the paintings Nagel had on view, click here.

Aaron Nagel | A Swan Among Ducks

Melodie Provenzano | Rock Center

Jonathan Levine Gallery will be back open starting tomorrow, November 5th from 11-6. They’ve got two absolutely amazing solo exhibitions up right now: Ashley Wood’s Machine Sabbath and Jeremy Geddes’s Exhale. Both shows will be up until November 17th:

Ashley Wood

Jeremy Geddes | Pale Memory

Not sure when Bold Hype is going to re-open. Do check in with them if you are in the area, however. Their exhibition, 35MM, with acrylic paintings by Phil Noto is crisp and energetic. Not to be missed.

Phil Noto | THX

Halloween 2012 Group Feature

josh — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:04:27 +0000

First off, I apologize for the delay in postings the past few weeks. I am still here, and still determined to keep this site going for as long as I can. Work has been a little too hectic lately, but i’m working on getting back to posting more. So, with a bit of a delay, here is this years Halloween feature. Art from Jason Edmiston, Travis Louie, Dan Harding, Ego, Scarecrowoven, Ken Garduno, Jackie Gallagher, Tom Haubrick, Matthew Bone, Chris Mars, Jacob Bannon, Darwin Enriquez, Matt Buck, Patrick Fatica, Tom Bagshaw, Chet Zar, Apricot Mantle, Brian Smith, James Groman, and Fernando Carpaneda. Click on The Bride for the full feature.

The Hyperpointallist Art of Joka

josh — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:20:57 +0000

On October 6th, the WWA Gallery in Culver City opened a group show entitled “The Noise In the Basement”. Overall the work in the show is good, however what stood out the most for me was the art of Joka. I have seen his work for a while now but was really taken with these new pieces. Every painting by Joka is created with the use of toothpicks, so in the style of the pointallists during the late 1880s, Joka goes even further and uses toothpicks in a technique he calls “hyperpointallism”. The works are colorful and have multiple layers. Pointallist works tend to blend smoothly when you are at a certain distance, and then break into the dots that create them, but with Joka’s work the closer you get you see the dots, but there is so much more there that it ends up creating this dense texture. In a way it reminds me of the grain found in certain types of films with a high iso. It looks amazing. Head on over to Joka’s Homepage for more, and then over to the gallery for the rest of the show.

WWA Gallery

Paul Romano's "Little Battle" at Articulated Gallery

Samantha Levin — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:43:24 +0000

Philadelphia artist, Paul Romano, previously mentioned on The Creep in 2011, just opened an exciting solo exhibition of new artworks at Articulated Gallery in San Francisco. Entitled Little Battle, it is a series of pieces that utilize an eclectic combination of symbols to explore the day to day challenges we endure. It is an exhibition of love and loss, hope and growth.

LEVELER Media created a wonderful video of

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Paul working in his studio. It’s quite lovely, complimenting the mood of Paul’s artwork quite well. Go check it out here and, if you’re in San Francisco, don’t miss seeing the show which will be up until November 1.

“I Like to Paint Monsters” Documentary on Chet Zar

josh — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:21:12 +0000

Mike Correll currently has a Kickstarter campaign going in order to raise the funds needed to make his documentary on artist Chet Zar. Entitled “I Like to Paint Moonster”, this introspective look into the life and art of this inspiring artist, will give fans a closer idea of what drives him to create the work he does, and what it took to get there. The campaign is doing very well, and has around 21 days to go, with a closing date of October 12, 2012. Take a look at the video, and then head on over to the page to see how you can help.

I Like to Paint Monsters @ Kickstarter