Love//War – 1.31.15
I have been back from LA for nearly a week and I think by tomorrow I will be caught up on life. I still have a pretty serious Gmail inbox problem but I hope to bang all that shit out tomorrow. The catching up process continues with the photos from the Love//War art show at MAMA Gallery that I was in exactly one week ago today. I posted about it on the Road Trip blog but here’s a better write up.
I was really blown away when I saw the artists in this show and saw my name listed as one of them. Photo legends? Check: Ed Templeton and Boogie. Friends I respect and love as artists? Check: Slutlust, Erik Foss, Mike Krim & Sean Maung. People who are famous for other shit that you can name check? Check: Norman Reedus and Leo Fitzpatrick. Babes that make rad art? Check: Rachel Roze and Natalie Krim. Grafitti artists selling artwork for five figure prices? Check: Mint&Serf and Skullphone.
The show was curated by Mint&Serf and Mike Krim’s Paperwork NYC and those dudes did one hell of a job. The show was about conflict: love vs war, New York vs LA, sex vs violence, street art vs contemporary art. They packed MAMA Gallery with art and then with people. Supposedly over 2000 people made it out to the opening. When the gallery first got really packed I looked down at my watch and it was 7:03pm. The show started at 7. It was packed all night and when it was over there were still probably 100 people in the streets hanging out front.
It was an amazing event and I didn’t do a great job of capturing it because I was too busy hanging out with friends and trying to avoid talking to anyone about my “art”. Speaking of my art, my two pieces in the show were nice and fucked up. I don’t actually know that they didn’t sell but I am going to assume no one wanted to spend $750 to hang a photo of a dead fighting cock or a crack head getting arrested on their wall. I sent those dudes probably 40 photos and they chose the two least sellable images of all time and I am totally fine with that. It was nice to watch people make their way around to my images, look up, recoil and move to the next works as quickly as possible.
Next up the show is coming to NYC and then a book is apparently coming. I can’t wait for all that shit. I spend a grand and a week of my life going to Puerto Rico to do a story on cockfighting that was never published so it’s pretty awesome to see my dead rooster make it’s way around the country.
Before I get to the photos I should mention one thing… photographer Pretty Puke was supposed to be in the show but never got his shit together. Sadly two days after the show he got badly injured in a car accident. He of course doesn’t have health insurance and needs your help. I am tragically broke right now so I could only throw in $25 but if I get a couple of you guys to throw in too it would be awesome. I really wanted to talk to the guy about doing some project together and I hope that can still happen one day. Donate to Pretty Puke’s medical fund now.
Bonus coverage of the event: Purple – Bullett – Live Fast
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