A message from long-time friends and collaborating artists, George Ferrandi and John Orth:

We invite you to come see “Unsung.” It’s the first official endeavor of our latest enterprise, the collective known as “88′s” and it is opening in Williamsburg at Cinders Gallery on November 14th. (“88′s” is short for “88′s and good numbers”, which is CB lingo for “Best Wishes and Regards.”)

Briefly, about us: George moved to Brooklyn on September 10, 2001 and became a New Yorker the next day. She runs a small business, called Saints Alive, which restores statues for churches. On any given day, her studio is given over in equal parts to the broken bodies of saints and to the less refined, but equally fractured figures of her own making. John splits his time between Gainesville, Florida, where he tends to a succulent garden and a band named Holopaw on the Subpop record label, and Brooklyn, USA where he fleshes out his many creative projects and hangs on the arm of his lovely boyfriend, Alan. On any given day, his house is given over to various whittlings, delicate stippled drawings, and stacks of song lyrics scrawled on Steno pads.

We met in Gainesville, Florida where George was a professor at the University of Florida. Soon after meeting, we organized an exhibit at an old train depot. This was the beginning of over a decade of collaborations which have included several national shows, a traveling circus (Cloudseeding Circus of the Performative Object), a comic strip, and an unfortunate summer haircut. (Sorry, George.)

Our latest collaboration, the 88′s collective, is a celebration of our complimentary sensibilities and our shared interest in delicately adorned pathos, B-movie violence (Is that blood on her dress? Or just glitter?) and small, hypersexualized animals. We’re happy to have 88′s as a conceptual hook on which to hang the many hats of our creative efforts and to present Unsung as the first of those.

The work in Unsung started with conversations concerning the current presidential campaign. Our plea for a massive paradigm shift had us both contemplating what parts of our own psyches could use some serious shifting. We started with the imagery we associate with grass roots revolution – daggers, dynamite, pistols, the felled heads of toppled statues, and the closed eyes of innocents. We then created painted, cast plaster and carved wooden forms that relegate the physical violence of uprising safely to the realm of metaphor, but still speak to a simmering volatility and to the potential for cataclysmic change.

We hope you’ll join us at the opening of Unsung. Until then -

88′s and good numbers,

George and John

88’s presents:
unsung
new work by george ferrandi and john orth

reason #1.

good lord, the level of inventiveness. (how to get from here to there,
what a cardboard tube can be, how to incorporate your life in your work.)

reason #2.

mad skills. the man can seriously draw.

reason #3.

his work is solid evidence of the “personal equals the universal”
theory, so he can make heartbreaking work about his dad’s
funeral, or hilarious drawings about his friends’ favorite
sandwiches, and either way you’re right there with him.

reason #4.

like i said – hilarious.

reason #5.

he’s brilliant – in a “heartful” way. it would serve us all very well if the way
he thinks – about art and about life – entered the greater consciousness.

reason #6. (*lvw category prerequisite)

he’s not a jerk. (in fact he’s a really, really, really good guy.)
(and he’s not bald either, this is his drawing of “the future.”)

get him while he’s hot, world.
rti_mulligan(at)yahoo.com

*lvw is lester van winkle. he is one of my “art parents” and emphasized,
among his many poignant insights into making art, the importance of
not being a jerk.

here is the promised time-lapse video of the mural painting in progress. (video by danny powell.)

danny powell, david “scout” mcqueen, me and *miguel luciano
in front of the finished mural. not pictured are all the artists
who worked on it or cheered us on the first day:

dave herman, bill scanga, grant huang, tamara zahaykevich,
patrick barth, dennis and amanda, kameala, roland pearman,
joy cox, todd crawford, ronnie wright and *jesse james arnold,
if i forgot anyone, please let me know…

it’s been so gratifying to have the windows open and hear people’s
enthusiastic responses as they pass by. or to see the flashes
going off as people take their pictures in front of the image.

*special thanks to jesse and miguel for their help cleaning up the design

he is also working on a documentary series about artists and their
day jobs, and i’m very proud that he featured me and my work as
the first in the series. it’s called “keeping the lights on” and was
recently picked up by ropeadope.com

the first two parts of the video are already posted, with more to follow.

click here for link to video or to read more about danny

friday night and yesterday were spent working on this image with a
rotating crew of dear friends. i’ll post the final image in the next few days.

but so far this month, there have been 2 visitors to this website who found it by googling:

“how to move your lips for kissing”

i can’t decide if i’d like it better if these were 2 separate people, or 1 person who did it twice…

Who makes opening the mail feel like walking into your surprise party, you ask?

Why, who else but the Chief! Executor! of! the! Exclamation! Mark! Lynda Barry!!!!

and she even (maybe) sends bonus, unpaid for, 100% free gift items with your purchase —
extra monkeys (maybe) and this incredible comic book excerpt from her new book…

i could dedicate a lot of space to the importance of lynda barry, but fortunately,
the new york times did a little while ago. so i just say: thank! you! lynda! barry!,
for being a major force in my young art life…. and continuing to knock my proverbial
socks off with your drawings and stories in my less young art life…
…for all your cat’s eye glasses, hairy legs and brilliant insights. for all your
hair ribbons and cigarettes. for packing a black and white wallop every week
in your comic with all the
funny!
sad!
true!

thanks to richard for letting me use his gorgeous images on today and yesterday’s posts.

also thanks to cal, richard, scout and pete for their wonderful company on the trip.

portrait of pete as the bottom half of a jellyfish in its natural environment
also by the esteemed richard smith

note:
there are many more of richard’s images, which capture the humble beauty
of andros (and have been spared my dubious captioning) at his website


disclaimer:
i vaguely remember pete saying something very non-specific
(and there are really so many ways to interpret this, who knows what
he really meant?) along the lines of “don’t put this on the website. then
people will think they can come down here and dress me up.”
although, due to its aforementioned vagueness, this can’t really be
directly translated, it could be roughly understood as “buy me guiness.”

part 2: the compassionate victim

before i left for the bahamas, i knew i needed to make a jellyfish.
at least i thought it was a jellyfish. none of the jellyfish pictures
i found looked like the one in my head, so i just went with my gut.
this was my preliminary proposal to my friend, cal:

some initial concerns:

1. shark bait
2. death trap
3. ridiculous
4. that we may have to buy glow sticks for this thing, which might
involve contact with former ravers.

i came to my senses and quickly eliminated #3.
#4 sort of eliminated itself as the project progressed. (occam’s razor)
#s 1 and 2 were actually legitimate concerns.

whenever i’m dealing with something that is potentially dangerous,
i think it is important to have a back-up plan, so i submitted this to
my friend, cal, as well:

i made some minor alterations while i was on the island, including
flashing it out with some scraps of batiked fabric that were local
to the island. i knew i wanted to videotape it underwater, but wasn’t sure where.
we had lots of options, and decided on the day of the shoot that since it was too
windy to sail, that we would take a skiff to one of andros’ amazing blue holes. i’m
working on a video of the underwater shots, which were pretty amazing, but here
is a still photo of the final form on land, featuring myself and good ole cal.
(thanks to scout for taking the picture, to richard for shooting the pending video,
and to pete for driving the boat and supporting this incredibly important research.)

the night we got back to the city, we ran into a friend who told
us that the andros blue holes were home to cryptid animals.
(presumably this is why pete said, in his characteristically
understated way, that “oh, the locals don’t go to the blue holes”.)
we researched when we got home to find that that the blue holes are
believed by some to house the “lusca.” according to wikipedia:

It has been suggested by cryptozoologists that the lusca is a gigantic
octopus, far larger than the known giant octopuses of the genus
Enteroctopus. Many reports of the creature are from the blue holes,
off Andros, an island in the Bahamas… Although the general identification
of the lusca is with the colossal octopus, there are those who disagree.
Others have it as a multi-headed monster…

hmmm… multi-colored flower headed, maybe?

bluto

karl

the atheist

um… i don’t want any trouble.

this is the third in a series of postings attempting to catch up on
the events and observations from my vacation on andros
island in the bahamas. my good friend, pete, has started an arts center
there. four of us visited for a week to make art, fish, snorkel, and soak
up sun (not necessarily in that order).

thanks to david “scout” mcqueen for both photos on this posting

every morning, they woke us with all the audio hilarity of a live comedy show.
they chased us maternally to the street as we left for the beach, “did you put
on the spf15? the 8 is not strong enough this far south… put on the 15. …
please… for me?”

and when we came home, they met us with such a finely synchronized and
optimistic waddle, our evening conversation always involved the types of
chicken-keeping that might work in our brooklyn apartment. (pete replaced
all the glass in an old vw bug in his yard with hardware cloth, so the ladies
sleep in retro-glorious style.)

the day we got back to new york, i received the following email from pete:

a chicken was stolen today while annie watched
she took down the cars plate and looked hard at the people
fearing the neighborhood watch
the chicken was returned hours later

i theorized that maybe she wasn’t a revolutionary at all, but
had just gone to get her nails done. but i have to admit, there
is something radical in the yellow of her eyes…

*pete never refers to his house, or any of his belongings, really, with possessive
terminology. he’d never say “just leave those at my place.” it was always referred
to as “the pink house.” this is very much in keeping with pete’s complicated
anarc-hippy philosophies.

i’m actually not writing to complain, but to celebrate the
wonders of the green weed that made me feel better. my good
friend, pete, who has founded the maritime arts and inspiration center
on andros, picked some leaves from a “serasee” plant in a
neighbor’s yard and advised me to steep it in hot water.

botanical drawing by Setsuko Murayama

he said i would sweat all night and have very weird dreams and feel
great in the morning. all of this proved to be very true.

here is some information about momordica charantia from what i’m sure is the
surgeon general’s primary botanical reference, the dancehallreggae.com website:

Some consider Serasee to be a sacred plant and thus it should not be
bought or sold, only given. (Something given in return may be accepted,
however.) It should be used in its natural form; nothing should be
isolated or synthesised from it.

This is for informational purposes only. Most of this information is
obtained from oral and traditional sources. No medical claims are made
here. If you have a medical problem you should see your doctor for
treatment. As with any herb, use cautiously, and note any possible
allergic reaction.


one of my serasee dreams

one of sarah sze’s

but i was sick – really sick – for like – 2 weeks. i couldn’t do anything.
and then… and then i was on vacation for a week – out of town – completely
offline. i swear. i mean, i could check email, but i certainly couldn’t post.
i was in the middle of the caribbean… it was very primitive – they only had a p.c…

to catch up… i’ll be posting every day for the next several days, rather
than once weekly-ish (the posts are already written, so you can trust me on this…)

anyhoo... the last thing i did before i fell ill (and “fell” is really
the right word here. it was definitely a falling of sorts; a losing to
a force as determined as gravity) was pick up a new statue to restore -

Our Lady of the Snow:

i usually work on the marble statues on site, but this one needed
to come back to the studio, which was another maneuver for the
dreamteam (scroll down to the giant jesus .pdf). this is my big
summer project. the statue will need to be cleaned and have
the paint removed. (oddly, lots of white marble statues i encounter
have been painted white, presumably to mask the carbon staining
from auto emissions or to mask repairs. this is no good for stone.)

i’ll also be reattaching the broken parts (the statue fell over
during the church’s previous attempt to clean her) and rebuilding
the missing ones.

people often ask me how the restoration work affects my studio work.

sometimes it’s more obvious than other times.

deer

dear

dearest

the show runs through the end of the month.

from “my father’s white spacesuit (scratch-made from his old shirts)”

kelie bowman’s playful tent and sto’s charming “my space, my things” installation

beautifully delicate meteor drawings by a beloved artist whose aka i can’t remember, and david horvitz’ “disappearing polaroids (fog)”

esther pearl watson’s heartful “nasa accident”

well, that didn’t last long. that was monday, today is
thursday and most of the shine was pretty well scraped
off by tuesday night.

nonetheless, here are images of the installation
that i was knocking myself out over and had me
in the post-partum delirium cited above. the piece
is part of a show that cinders curated at the
legendary space 1026 in philadelphia.

the piece was shaped in part by a tremendously sad
and beautiful poem by yehuda amichai called “my father in a white
space suit” (scroll almost to the bottom of the link)
here are some details of the installation:

this is one of my favorite parts. all of the embroidery
is done on my dad’s old shirts.

i was too self-absorbed to remember
to take photos of the other work in the show, but i will when
i go back to break it down. in the meantime, if you’re
anywhere near philadelphia, it’s a great gallery, and a
great show. and it’s only a block from an amazing
market that sells everything from amish pickles to raw
oysters. thanks for looking.
love,
george

and another quick plug for another amazing bit of media i experienced this week:
nina katchadourian breaks your heart a little. (click and scroll to the bottom of the page)

cinders is putting the show together and the topic has my head spinning
(in a good way.) today i’ve spent a fair amount of time information gathering.
my research started with the early astronaut monkeys (did they ever find gordo?),
moved through the authors of the curious george books (who were amazing,
by the way), into the stories behind the constellations (the gemini twins
were fraternal, in case you were wondering), at what height monarch
butterflies migrate (more than 2 !! miles), the furthest distance at which
2 people can still see each other (around 3 miles on flat land, accounting
for the curve of the earth), and the best embroidery stitch for representing
a penis (woven picot). …this is my idea of a great vacation.

p.s. here’s one more photo from the giant jesus installation last weekend

giant-jesus2-copy.pdf

The installation is called “questioning proximity
on the way to becoming atmosphere”

it had a very personal point of departure, but
i really think it moved into a very universal
conversation…

the polkadots carry on throughout the piece,
as a formal element, but also as a continuation
of the open ended thought implied in the
“dot dot dot” at the end of the quote.

i loved the rawness of some the elements…

…in combination with some of the more fastidious
elements, like this cross-stitched duck (or the
cross-stitched soldier posted just a little below.)

ohio is already a blur, but i know that a. ryan and kathryn
have the most glorious guestroom on the planet

r and k in love

and b. it is an honestly wonderful show.
i’m proud to be part of it. i’ll post images of my piece in the
gallery section of this site in the next week or so, but if you find
yourself anywhere near w.k.r.p. town, it is so worth the visit.
there are many pieces that will break your heart just a little…
and videos in the gallery – that you’ll actually watch in their entirety.

One visitor had this lovely response to the show in general:

I felt lucky to be introduced to those artists and to be reminded
that others wrestle with love and loss too… It takes the rarest bravery
to make and say these kinds of things to ourselves, let alone in full view of an
audience of strangers. I can’t imagine a more right moment to spend
time thinking about those left and lost when our world is filled with
so many distant and close examples. When our work can offer
space for people to think and feel then we have done our best service.

i think i’ll write more about the show and specific pieces this weekend…

still from laurel nakadate’s video “stars are blind”

the word from the gallery:

Weight of the World
January 10-31

University of Cincinnati’s Reed Gallery is proud to present “Weight of the World.”
Curated by Maiza Hixson and Ryan Mulligan, “Weight of the World” testifies to
art’s potential for self-healing/coping/and emotional survival. The exhibition
features 17 artists, each of whom examine his/own own life through the practice
of art making, using the process of making as a step in healing. The works are
simultaneously self-centered and universal. With subjects ranging from
homemade support groups, coping with death and grief, self-actualization after
a break-up, financial difficulties, and an artist place in a post 9/11 world, the
show resonates with sincerity and humble self-reflection. Please join us for an
opening reception Thursday, January 10 th at 5:30 pm. Press preview is
available Wednesday the 9 th.

hello little lovely.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. GET YER MIND RIGHT. TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF AND YOUR SOUL.
love, george

thanks to christine hill for sending me this all too scary accurate list

with love from saints alive

new soap carvings featuring Ch-Ch-Charlotte

new ink and shellac paintings on plaster. these were
scanned before the last 5 or 6 layers of shellac, so they
got much deeper.

if anyone is familiar with wordpress, and would like to
trade some tutoring time for some art, please email me -
georgeferrandi*hotmail.com

as well as some new soap carvings and some works on paper.
they’ve got big plans for an unauthorized renovation of their
exhibit area/hotel room, so if you’re anywhere near south florida,
you should most definitely venture over to aqua…

and also that weekend (december 8th) i have 2 videos in a show
that is opening at a museum in equador. (the fact that i cannot
remember the name of the exhibit, nor the museum which houses
the exhibit, nor the city which houses the museum should not
be taken as any indication of my lack of enthusiasm about my
second ever international show.) check back for actual, factual
information.

and coming up in january is a group show in cincinatti curated
by, among others, the amazing vitality known as ryan mulligan.
the show is called “coping strategies,” and, according to the
curator’s blog, “The idea is that these artists have either made
us cry upon seeing the work, or they are using art as a
strategy of coping with some heavy stuff in their life.”

he even blew into the glutin, like it was molten glass, to make a
translucent mouse and puffer fish.

the first of many spidermen

the loot

sweet-toothed spooks

me in civic spook-gear

this spidey traveled via the car service behind him
(seriously, his dad was a driver)

fairy with pearls and toothbrush of questionable origin


oh joy!

but twice this week, i went to church and wasn’t on the clock, i was watching
movies. cine cappelini, is the inspired and inspiring celebration hosted and
co-directed by kamel boutros and anna mosby colman. anna made a
spectacular meal for all who came in out of the rain to attend. we broke
bread in kamel’s apartment, then went downstairs to the church, where
he works as music director, for the screenings. they had curated a
thematically wondrous menu of film and video, moving us from despair
and loss, through the resilient human spirit into joy and vitality.
this was my ideal evening- artists showing art, sharing food and optimism,
without the confusion of commerce or institutional involvement – a pure and
generous gesture.

more about church movies tomorrow…

-The glowing, cafe-au-lait-colored Raquell was there with her mom.
-The delicate and Japanese Hirome brought her spongier brother, Hiro.
(He squished her a little during Shiatsu; she choked him a little when
it was her turn.)
-A frizzy-haired blonde girl brought her frizzy-haired silver mom, who
mimed the instructor’s hands as he worked on the first volunteer.
-Diane, in her Phat Farm sweatsuit spoke in Spanish to Armande.
-The sweaterdress lady in pumps spoke in Polish to her dark-haired husband.
-The bald, blue-eyed, GermanEddie came alone and was paired up
with the skinny, GreyingDavid, who wore his pants both too big, and too high.

Everyone laughed when i said that my favorite part was Scout snoring a little
during Swedish (in a way that made us think they had heard it, too).

The massage and T’ai Ch’i master, Bob

today we piled in the astrovan for the infamous redhook happening
that has brought foodies from around the world clamoring to a
community soccer field in brooklyn.

ma and pa type vendors set up grills and coolers around the perimeter
of the field to sell the most amazing and delicious and inexpensive
latino lunches a person could hope for.

each tent represented a different country’s indigenous snacks.

i can’t tell you how good this food was. you must go – tomorrow
or next weekend- because the season ends then. next year
the vendors will have to follow a whole new set of codes, which
could change the funky feel of the place.

and right now, it’s very, very close to heavenly…

i don’t know what to say today. my thoughts are muddled,
and i’m pre-emptively editing. may these images be a visual
mantra for clarity of thought and for the easy realization of ideas.

the light is so remarkable there.

there was a clarity to the air, and a golden-ness to the light.
there were several times when my heart raced with how beautiful it was.
it has me thinking about landscape painting.

their teachers distract them with impromptu singalong songs when they get
too fidgety. they’re always sitting or standing (both of which involve wriggling)
in single file for one thing or another (to get their swim caps on, to go up to
the gym, to go to the sunshine room, etc.) and percolating into rhyming songs.

once, when cal and i were leaving, the kids were doing their best version of
a straight line against the wall, but things were getting mighty fidgety.
the teacher was trying to get the percolation thing going, but two little boys
in the back were un-defidgetable. they were gently touching their tongues
against each others’ – not the pointy tips, mind you, but the fleshy middles –
and then giggling, electric with what i can only think of as glee.
(not a word i would normally bandy about. nobody’s really “gleeful” anymore, are
they? has anybody been “full of glee” in the last five decades? half-full maybe?)

from the front of the line, the teacher snapped out of song to remind everyone in the
hallway all that we don’t do that, and that in fact, we keep our hands
and our tongues to ourselves. but i’m pretty sure it was too late.
i’m pretty sure they’re not forgetting that feeling.