You Gawkin’ At Me?
The mere mention of Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese’s most famous pictures “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” inspires cinematic visions of a gritty, blood-spattered New York City; before the banks, nail salons and drug stores took over. Scorsese’s NYC is a town haunted by loners, wise guys and vigilantes who stood up, knocked out and/or whacked whoever got in their way; be it a pimp, informer, middleweight contender or even their own reflection in a dingy studio apartment mirror. For one April weekend, well-timed to coincide with the Tribeca Film Festival, Chelsea’s Bold Hype Gallery (in collaboration with Spoke Art in San Francisco) paid artistic homage to Saint Marty and his prodigal apostles, a flawed but well-meaning lot, all too human and usually played by Robert DeNiro.
Six months in the making ,“Scorsese: an art show tribute” painstakingly organized by Spoke Art owner Ken Harman, featured over fifty internationally-acclaimed artists reinterpreting their favorite films by America’s greatest living director (sorry Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and Vincent Gallo) in a dynamic, absorbing and entertaining display of paintings, sculptures and screen prints. Like many of Scorsese’s films, the collection made you blink, think and went down better with a complimentary drink. All of which the boisterous opening night crowd was more than happy to partake in with relatively undivided attention (for NYC anyway), a little spending (thanks to most works priced between $50 and $500) and elbow bending aplenty. The show’s centerpiece; a stark, black, white and blood-red, four-panel collage of “Taxi Driver” images by Derek Gores entitled, “Be Alert! The Safe Driver is Always Ready,” was strategically placed behind the bar, safely drawing attention while staying out of harm’s way.
Nights like this—awesome art and free booze—don’t come along very often, and with some help from Trader Joe’s finest Pinot red, I stayed for over an hour, doing three laps of the collection. Pieces that looked best with every pass were works that brought a twist or a wink to Scorsese’s already unique vision, including “Four Fathers” by Andrew Spear, depicting the guys from Goodfella’s arranged Mount Rushmore-style. Extra eye-catching was “The Key To Everything” by Chuck Sperry, a seven color metallic screen print depicting a stunning Sharon Stone from “Casino.” Proof that good and gruesome things come in small packages was “Bill” by Geoffrey Trapp, a miniature but nonetheless menacing Bill the Butcher from “Gangs of New York” rendered in three-dimensional acrylic on plastic and some delicious sounding stuff called sculpy. One work bordering on too clever was Bethany Marchman’s painting“154 Hopper Avenue” in which a rabbit’s head is placed on “Taxi Driver” Travis Bickle’s body. For those who don’t have the script memorized, 154 Hopper Ave. is the address Bickle gives a Secret Service agent shortly before deciding against shooting presidential candidate Charles Palantine. Seriously Bethany, are you trying to make my head explode?
Of course “Taxi Driver” was by far the most heavily represented of Scorsese’s pictures, with Mohawks and .44 magnums, in one form or another pretty much anywhere you looked around the crowded gallery. Apparently, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “New York New York” don’t resonate as highly with the international arts community. A “Shutter Island” piece brought to mind perhaps my favorite one line review of all time, “If you liked Shutter Island, you belong on Shutter Island.”
In any case, this critic left “Scorsese: an art show tribute” aglow from the impressive art, surprisingly not bad wine and with a well purchased, limited edition, artist-designed AND hand printed “Taxi Driver” T-shirt by Gabz. Congrats to the galleries involved and curator Ken Harman on an even better than expected show, as well-conceived as it was painstakingly transported, and ingeniously displayed, considering Bold Hype’s mid-sized space. Though neither Allen, Eastwood nor Gallo are due for a Spoke Art tribute anytime soon, Harman told me via e-mail that Wes Anderson is due to be celebrated in October with an art show and Halloween costume party he’s planning to bring to NYC.
Meanwhile, cinephiles, art collectors and fans of an all but bygone New York City can check out the imaginative and impressive goods from the Scorcese collection and even purchase their own piece of the reasonably-priced action by visiting http://www.spoke-art.com.
—————————
For More Information Visit:
—————————
http://www.boldhype.net
