ABC No Rio: The Ides of March 2008

Hey Bloggers, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, there is an art opening and performance event that I will have a few pieces of artwork in tomorrow nite at ABC No Rio as part of their "The Ides of March 2008" building wide exhibition. And I remember ABC No Rio for seemingly forever now as one of those radical, alternative squat community spaces in the neighborhood of the Lower East Side that has seemingly survived gentrification, genocide, the sellout and buyout of the squats and still exists to function with their cool and hip events over the years. ABC No Rio has been all art and politics for as long as I can remember.

You are invited to this event. A bit of the heritage of the art scene in the lower east side including many of our friends from the Ridge Street Artists

Show: "Ideas of March"; Collaborative projects
Installation : " Sublime Subprime " by The Ridge Street Artists
Location: ABC No Rio

Show opens Friday, March 14th 7-11 pm: Performances start at 10 pm

Artists will include

Stuart Nicholson,Karni Dorell,Doug Campbell,Jens Veneman,Ursula Clark,Bill Nogosek,Carla Cubit,Bob Powers,Sue Powers,Nancy Kolbert,Fran de Montfalcon,Ed Rosko,Roger Sayre,Vernita n’ Cognita,Amy Shapiro,Maria Castanos,Sheila Linz,Daniel Falghero,Richard Brachman,Metta Haka,Andrzej Bialuski,Heather Driscoll,David Rodgers,Jill Ziccardi,Barbara Listenik,Heather Driscoll,Jennifer C. Protas,Jennifer Bowen,Mark Planisek,Michael Delia,Michelle Hill,Roger Sayre,Peter Barnett,Sam Selvaggio,Suzanne Broughel,Richard Humann

Below is a description of the concept behind the installation Conceptual Idea
Title: Sublime Subprime

In coordination with the recent mortgage crisis and real estate trends, the Sublime Subprime relates the history of a circle artists in New York who were a part of a Lower East Side Gallery, The Ridge Street Gallery. These artists collaborated and took part in exhibitions at the Gallery located at 124 Ridge Street between 1984 and 2000. The gallery eventually became displaced, losing its location to higher rents and gentrification. The individual artist’s history since and during that time will be displayed along with current work mounted on photo and drawn reproductions of the wall of the gallery. The reminiscence of lost space (given the changes in the Lower East Side and throughout NY) will be felt along with a snapshot of their individual histories. The title refers not only to the current mortgage crisis (even though many of these artists were never even able to afford a subprime mortgage) but also to the sublime nature of artists who start a turn around in an urban area only to be ultimately pushed out as subprime members of the community. Artists chose their vocation and/or are called into their line or work through inspiration or a drive to create. The shared nature of this creation of attracts them to urban areas. That their place remains on the fringe of urban society insures two things: one, without proper programs and funding (whether artistic or habitat-related) they will have to leave these urban areas; or the viewed artistic endeavor in such urban areas will become the sole territory of those who have the money to create.

Stuart Nicholson
Ridge Street Artists and Diesel Gallery

The Ides of March
ABC No Rio's Biannual Building-Wide Exhibition
artist collaborations, artist groups and artist collectives on all four floors

OPENING: Friday March 14 at 7:00pm

Thru April 4

With work by:
artcodex; Broadthinking; Collective Gesture; Endless Love Crew; E.Y.E. (Erase Your Ego); Flux Factory; The G-77; Genefree; it/EQ; JustSeeds/Visual Resistance; Mail/Art Global Collaborative; PerfectEight; Ridge Street Gallery; Subject To Change; Three Wise Goats; Catrinel Bartolomeu, Maureen Catbagan, Phoebe Dunne, Dominika Ksel & Sienna Horton; Fabian Berenbaum, Jennifer Ciarleglio & Levi Haske; Carolina Cueva & Loretto Wells; Lambert Fernando, Bedel Tiscareno & Jade Doskow; Julie Hair & Scott Illjes; Joann Harrah & Sarah Kipp; Athena Kokoronis & Natalie Heller; Taylor Kretschmar, Ryan Brown, Charles Mayton & Stephan Tcherepnin; Liz-N-Val; Amanda Matles & Jan Baracz; Mac Mcgill & Steve Harrington; Elizabeth Mcternan & Petter Alexander Goldstine; Natalia Porter, Roy Bautista & Ami Suma; Rob Shepperson, Lynn Stein & Ed Radford. VIDEO: Dara Greenwald; Shit TV

PERFORMANCE:
March 14: The Friendly Falcons & Their Friend the Snake
March 21: Zuvuya Collective
April 4: Matt Callinan & Yoichiro Yoda

Have a great art day.