Take Me Home
May 2nd, 2010
Hoping to be early birds, we arrived at six on the dot for Power to the People at Feature, Inc. – and got in line. A mellow crowd of artists and the Art Minded, mostly age 35+, had already arrived. They cooperatively cued up, then clued in each newcomer about this social experiment – “gone right,” according to one participant (subject?).
Hudson, the legendary owner/visionary behind Feature, ceremoniously administered crowd control at the door, while simultaneously receiving and welcoming visitors and apparent old friends.
“Power to the People grew out of discussions amongst feature staff and artists about making a benefit sale for the gallery having to leave its then new home at 276 bowery as to the recession and the uncertainty of feature reopening elsewhere. i had some personal and logistical hesitations to the benefit idea, and … when i finally nixed the benefit, end of feb, the generosity of artists was such a force to be reckoned with that this idea of extending the generosity directly to the public evolved. may day, seemed an appropriate time. thank you thank you.” -Hudson
The gallery was packed with a very Springtime crowd, chatting about how they spent the climate-forward afternoon. Despite social graces, mutual eye contact was irresistibly rerouted by the roving eye. Viewing all the free and freely available (just pick one) art objects, most packaged in sandwich or freezer bags, brought tremors to the brain as the High-Minded Delicacy of Taste of an aesthete struggled with the Primitive Hunter/Gatherer Instinct of our genetic determination: just like a man meeting a woman and involuntarily turning and returning his eyes to her cleavage.
Yes, it was a sweaty feeding frenzy and shopping spree, but it was tempered by the restraint of Feature’s distinctive big-picture thinkers and accompanying “just happy to be here” blitheness. Nobody was there just “to get a (insert name here),” but rather to be a part of a highly unconventional event that still felt perfectly natural.
As the art phased out from the walls and into warm hands, the crowd occupied itself with a collective “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” exchange. Others consulted friends in choosing one drawing over another.
And so it was that the art was Gone in 60 Seconds. Walls Stripped Bare by their Bacchae. The latecomers trickling in at 7pm found nothing but thumbtacks and hooks.
I scored a sensual canvas by Gregory Montreuil, someone I’d never heard of, but look forward to meeting. Bloggers/Collectors/Vital Organs James Wagner and Barry Hoggard showed me an atmospheric Icon by Jan Wandrag, who himself selected a seductive print by Robert Flynt, while his husband, David, flipped through a photo album by Robin Byrd. On the way out, I stopped Hudson: “You’re going to run out of art!”
“Fine,” he replied with a warm smile. “We’ll have to do it again.”