Greetings from NYC my name is Fred Benenson and I’ll be taking shots at some of NYC’s art and music gatherings for my friend Ice Cream Man.
Saturday September 10th was the first annual Art Parade organized by Deitch Projects the seminal SoHo gallery. (ed. Check out their cool site if you like ice cream) The downtown arts scene was alive and kicking (literally sometimes) with appearances and art from As Four, Ryan McGinnis, Steve Powers, the Citizens Band, Os Gemeos, Brad Kahlhamer, Kehinde Wiley, and Vanessa Beecroft.
While I missed the beginning of the art parade, and subsequently didn’t see much marching, I did get to the huge party at Wooster Street, just outside the Deitch galleries. As with most Deitch events, the entire street was packed and had been shut down to vehicle traffic. There were some cops shouting at people to get out of Grand street, but for the most part it was pretty well organized.
Then there were the Whore Cops, which as far as I could tell had something to do with Paper Magazine who was co-producing the event. Needless to say, but the whore cops were a lot more attractive and nicer than the real cops. There was also no short supply of incredibly cute little kids checking out the art and it was really nice to see parents engaging their kids in the art scene even if some of the projects were a little wacky (read: perverse).
The main area inside Deitch was mobbed for the music performances and free drinks so I didn’t get a chance to match any musicians with names before it got too crowded to be enjoyable. Outside, however, things were still chill and I got to see JVA Flag Corporation’s performance which was very entertaining and brought me back to the days of being recruited by the cheer leading squad in high school.
Some of my other favorites: Jason Hackenworth, Megamites in Manhattan (the big microbe looking balloon animal) and the birth photo-shoot thing (click here for a picture of Elijah wood in it)
Overall, a great show, and I very very excited for next year’s event its only going to get cooler. I might even participate in it, because, hey, I have a incredibly hard time waiting for Halloween.
Signing off,
