After stewing for ten hours over the Kraftwerk debacle, I was happy to indulge in some steam-letting at Wednesday night’s W∆TT▼R (“whatever”), a performance event and party at the legendary Pyramid Club, organized by artist Jory Rabinovitz.  Man, I needed it!  And Francis Heinzfeller’s ghoul-drone menace hit the spot.

Chris Kachulis, who is one-third or one-half of Blanko+Noiry opened the night, after months of “creative hibernation” with showtunes and standards over spooky synth tracks.  Dressed in leather and cast in colored light, he was a Kenneth Anger apparition, though autonomous and living with sympathetic eyes and a loveable voice.  A treasure.

Skint was on next.  I’ve wanted to see them for years, and member Jessie Gold has appeared on this blog, as the muse and model for Frank Benson’s Human Statue (Jessie).  Feline, lissom, and lithe they were, clad in black leggings, metallic lamé blouses, and floral accoutrement.  Easy on the eyes, though not so on the ears.  Still, their formless, provisional micro-rep evinced a type of feminine anarchy, liberated from the patriarchal authority of melody, structure, setlist, etc.

And then Francis Heinzfeller, another one-third or one-half of Blanko+Noiry, terrorized/blessed the stage with chanting, hissing, gurgling, and fa-fa-fa-ing over a synthesizer drone that sounds like chords from the most irretrievable depths of doom.  To see how it looks in sculpture, check out his work (aka Frank Haines) at Lisa Cooley, who opens her capacious new space next month.

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No, you didn’t get Kraftwerk tickets (I know) and no, you don’t know anybody else who got them (me, neither).  Blame scalpers (or terrorists)?  But tickets are only valid with a photo ID.  Blame MoMA?  Sure, if it makes you feel better.

But some people really do blame MoMA for choosing ShowClix, which proved about 15 minutes into the ticket sale that it wasn’t fit for the task.  Though you might have felt alone yesterday – staring at that spinning wheel and confused by the red-on-red banner, waiting 45 minutes for Captcha clearance, or worse, getting dropped while paying for tickets – you weren’t alone.  And if their “Auto-refreshing won’t help u” sounded like “resistance is futile” hubris, then I’m with you.  We aren’t showroom dummies.

Ultimately, Showclix failed so miserably that its CEO had to issue a public apology.  The apology offers little comfort except the assurance that you aren’t dumb and that 98% of users had trouble.  (And Showclix botched the initial apology, too).   And you’ll never recover the lunch hour you sacrificed while staring at a spinning wheel and getting booted off the server.

Selected tweets (not actually in this order)

So blame Showclix for ruining your chance to see the second most influential band ever, outside of the Beatles, and the band that transfigured your headphones from appliances to portals, and the band that propelled you through techno, raves, ecstasy, and a better-living-through-robots alternative to Isaac Asimov, because Asimov was never really your thing, though that’s not to knock Asimov.

More tweets

But honestly, if MoMA is really getting into show biz, then it can’t let itself be vulnerable to loser ticket sites like Showclix.  Showclix is a bad friend, MoMA, and we don’t want anything to happen to you. And remember that MoMA staffers got screwed, too.

More tweets

But if we hear that Kim Kardashian really did get tickets, then we’re throwing acid all over your Vir Heroicis Sublimis.

Local art hero Keith Mayerson brings it all out with Dana Schutz, Ann Craven, Joe Bradley, and several other artists in this series of interviews. Each is recorded by Tom Powell, on the occasion of the 8 Americans exhibition Keith curated at Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery in Brussels. Three are embedded below; you can find the rest at Keith’s excellent website.

Dana Schutz – 8 Americans from Tom Powel Imaging on Vimeo.

Joe Bradley – 8 Americans from Tom Powel Imaging on Vimeo.

Ann Craven – 8 Americans from Tom Powel Imaging on Vimeo.

For The Bronze Project at SVA, select students received a grant to study closely with Ben Keating of Keating Studio. In less than one semester, undergraduate students created a digital CAD file, an ABS plastic prototype, and a bronze cast sculpture, all under the guidance of Keating, an artist whose Trenton-based foundry has produced large-scale, material-intensive sculptures for some of New York’s biggest galleries, artists, and estates. (I’m happy to know Ben personally.) Students even visited the foundry to watch the bronze-pouring process.

(l-r) Ben Keating, Suzanne Anker, and Sabine Flach

Ben Keating, "Love Hate," 2001-present

3D rapid prototyping technology is accelerating so quickly that consumer systems are increasingly approaching affordability. Art students will have to contend with this technology. Best is to immerse themselves in it and learn how to “scale up,” both in physical dimensions and materials, while learning what’s required to deliver a bronze sculpture in time for a show. And anyway, it usually takes a patron with deep pockets to cover the production of bronze projects. That means it could be years or longer before art students get hands-on access to bronze.

Next stop: NYC Affordable Art Fair: Laura Murray, "Inheritance," 2012

The Bronze Project sculptures are now exhibited at SVA’s Visual Arts Gallery in Material Magic, curated by BFA Fine Arts Dept. Chair Suzanne Anker.  Photos here are from last week’s packed opening.  Watch for predators!

"I'm a shark, I'm a shark!"

Michael Joaquin Grey, "Autonomic Mother," 1992