LUCID
DREAMING
By
Beth Wilson
From “See You at the Movies...Candids at the Candy Counter” What's New?
During the languid, last
days of summer, most of the art world usually goes on vacation. (It
can be a little like that British Airways commercial, where the guy
shouts in the middle of the deserted city street, “Where is everybody?”)
As I write this in mid-August, however, not much is cooperating with
this truism—there is little languid in the weather (if it’s
not cold, it’s raining, and at times it’s cold and raining!),
and a number of people in the mid-Hudson Valley seem to be conspiring
to create new spaces and/or projects for exhibiting art just to keep
things interesting, and that may just help make up for the “summer
that never was.”
The life of an artist or writer can be a lonely one—slaving away
at one’s master work in seclusion, sometimes it can seem difficult
to believe that anyone else in the world will know or care about the
products of your creation. (P.S. I’ve gotten precious little fan
mail since I’ve been writing this column—is anybody out there?)
But of course artists also have a social side, and love to get together
to hash out earnest questions about art, politics, the relative merits
of various dealers, and other fun art world gossip. But where to do
it? The Abstract Expressionists had the Cedar Tavern in the Village…and
now Kingston can boast The Flying Saucer. I am sorely tempted to say
that this new coffeehouse/performance space/gallery is a “spin-off”
of the Up Front Art collective, but that would be too bad a pun. But
owners Earl and Hillary Lundy are both members of the collective, and
the place is just downstairs (at 33 N. Front Street, Uptown Kingston),
so it would be technically accurate.… Hillary tells me they’re
going for a retro 60s décor, a sort of Jetsons-chic that inspired
the name, and that they hope to feature a broad sampling of music, spoken
word performances, and spill-over art exhibits from Up Front, to create
a new, hip, happening place to hang out. They’re also drawing on
support from the Alternative Bookstore, which will be physically connected
with the café to encourage book browsing, and the café
will provide space for visiting authors to read as well. The projected
grand opening is sometime in mid-September.
In August, I was pleasantly surprised to find a new exhibition space
open in the Everett & Treadwell building on Broadway, just a stone’s
throw from R&F Handmade Paints. Local architect Scott Dutton (who
also designed the West Strand Grill, the Roadhouse Grill, and now the
new Noah Hotel) has bought the building at 534 Broadway, which had formerly
housed Canfield’s plumbing and heating supply for over 90 years.
(There’s no entrance on Broadway yet, so you have to get in via
the loading dock in back.) He’s gutting the interiors, carving
out a new home for himself and his architectural firm in the upper stories,
and renovating the bottom floors for prospective industrial tenants.
In the meantime, he’s making the space available for artists to
show their work, and plans to continue having shows in the lobby space
if/when the remainder of the first floor is leased. And what a space
it is! Dutton has left the scuffed, whitewashed brick walls and the
scarred wooden floorboards intact, suffusing the space with a uniquely
industrial energy—I was left imagining Richard Serra ought to be
slinging hot lead in a corner somewhere—an atmosphere that played
nicely off sculptor James Weitze’s assemblage work that was on
display in the building during August. No fainthearted flower pastels
here. Provided Dutton can continue to find artists with work that have
the energy to hold their own in the space, the Everett & Treadwell
could continue to provide one of the best local venues for experiencing
art with a bit of an aggressive edge that just needs some room to run.
James Weitze, who helped encourage Dutton to turn the space over to
exhibitions, was responsible for organizing the first group show there,
which included his own often witty sculptures. (My favorite was the
salvaged oven door, in the window of which he organized a sort of pressed
flower and weed arrangement, treating the door itself as nothing more
than an elaborate frame for his crafty display.) In addition to the
artwork in the space, Weitze is interested in creating performance space
for musicians, poetry readings, and so on, in an ongoing project that
he calls “Kre8tivity Alley.” As we go to press, he still wasn’t
sure what he would have lined up for September, but it was likely going
to be in another space somewhere in Kingston. He will be posting a message
announcing the current news as soon as he has it at 973-699-6563.
Last but not least is of course the new Woodstock Film Festival, which
much of this Chronogram is dedicated to documenting. Looking for work
that would harmonize with the festival, Art & Soul Gallery quite
fortuitously stumbled into a re-emerging artist, Bernard Gerson. A photographer
who hasn’t exhibited for the past 15 years or so, Gerson has now
re-emerged with a fun and intriguing series of candid black-and-white
photos made “guerrilla”-style while he was working behind
the candy counter at Upstate Films. He’s managed to capture all
sorts of unexpected looks and facial expressions, which causes me to
wonder just what I look like when I’m contemplating buying that
box of Jujubes. Years ago, when I scooped ice cream one summer at a
Haagen Dazs, I refused to join my coworkers in making fun of customers
who took a long time deciding which flavor they wanted. “Let them
take the time,” I counseled, “it’s the most important
decision most of them make all day.” I think Gerson must appreciate
something of that insight, focusing in this body of work on that naked
moment when greed meets will power, and the candy counter patron alone
decides which will win out.
Make mine a large popcorn, with extra butter!
Bernard Gerson, “See
You At The Movies… Candids at the Candy Counter,” September
2-October 2 at Art & Soul, 12 Tannery Brook Road, Woodstock. 679-0027.
Everett & Treadwell building,
call Scott Dutton to inquire about exhibition space availability. 339-2039.
Flying Saucer café,
33 North Front Street, Kingston. (no number yet, will open mid-September.)
“Kre8tivity Alley,”
dates/place to be announced. Call James Weitze for more information,
973-699-6563.
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