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Seen and Herd

The Making of a drawing…

I first encountered the work of Rikrit Tiravanija at the original PS1 in Queens New York. The original public school 1 building a converted alternative space for art was barely altered at all. The rooms and hallways of the old building were dimly lit. There was little to no signage, no galleries, just the classrooms and facilities with art here and there in them.

I remember being in a passageway and seeing a bright orange sleeping pad and blanket lying on the floor. This was my first encounter with Rikrit’s work. This work would become a pioneering example of “artistic practices which take as their theoretical and practical point of departure the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent and private space” as defined by the French curator Nicolas Bourriaud and now known as relational aesthetics.

In the early 90’s alternative spaces like PS1 provided space for artists and curators with an emphasis on emerging art. The New Museum, Exit Art, Threadwaxing Space and AC Project Room resembled PS1 in look and emphasis. They were generally artist owned and run spaces, low rent and raw. The original industrial artists lofts of Soho were abandoned factories and workshops. Gutted and emptied out they made ideal work spaces for artists. They were high ceilinged with big windows, cheap and under-regulated. Artists could rent these large lofts cheaply and even live in them giving birth to the live/work loft. The best loft like exhibition space is Dia Beacon in upstate New York a former Nabisco box printing factory. Alternative spaces were like visiting artists studios turned into temporary galleries. In them you felt you were seeing the work very soon after its creation. Some of the artists emerging at this moment I remember seeing were Leonardo Drew, Paul Pagk, Paul Bloodgood the founder of AC Project Room, Moira Dryer, Peter Doig, Siobhan Liddell and Byron Kim.

BYRON KIM
Synecdoche: Adam Xinming Rich, Betty Stolpen, Christy Putnam, Claire Henry, Darryl Atwell, David Gariff, Eric Pullett, Esther Kwon, Heidi Hinish, Nathalie Ryan, Joseph Hudson, Julie Springer, Lara Moynagh, Laurie Peruyero, Linda Daniel, Lorryn Moore, Michelle Donnelly, Megan Liberty, I.D Aruede, Ruth Lizardi, Suzanne Akhavan Sarraf, Téa Chai Beer, Wendy Barbee, William Whitater, Yoav Silverstein, 1991-present
Wax and oil on panel
10 x 8 in. each
25.4 x 20.3 cm each

Living in New York in the early 90’s as a graduate student the only artists left in Soho had rent controlled spaces. Looking into the large loft windows from the street you mostly saw luxury homes instead of artists studios. All the major galleries were in Soho at this time having moved from West 57th and Madison Avenue. Going to an opening at a major gallery you mingled with artists but mostly collectors or very successful people. At the alternative space opening it was all artists and more like a party.

The drawing of Rikrits pop up Thai food stand is from a photograph I took of his installation at the Gagosian Gallery in its new Chelsea Space. He provided free Thai food and space to eat and like the first piece, no apparent art. I remember noticing the natural vibe of the group eating and hanging out. They were exactly what this piece was about.

The last major move of galleries from one neighborhood to another in New York is to Chelsea. Money and art drive these moves. PS1 is now a satellite space of the Museum of Modern Art. The Whitney museum left its uptown location for a much larger Renzo Piano designed building in the meat packing district near Chelsea. The New Museum which began and still provides alternative type shows is now in a new OMA designed building. They moved to the lower east side, LES, which is where young artists initially went after being priced out of Soho. LES is now one of the hippest and most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan. https://www.newmuseum.org