The New New York Art Scene
Remember when New York City was a place where the hopeful, the talented, and the lost came to get found, live cheaply, and become great (not just rich) artists? Well, it hasn’t seemed like that kind of place for a while, but a new young art scene is emerging in all the boroughs that is more excited about the city streets than the white walls of Chelsea.
Aurel Schmidt
Age: 25. Hometown: Kamloops, Canada. It’s a pulpmill city. Currently resides: East Village. Medium: Drawing. I would like to get into photography—but last year I said I wanted to get into sculpture, and I ended up throwing all my work in the garbage. What are you currently working on? I’m taking a break from showing to concentrate on making work without any pressure from anybody. I’m sick of having my work go out the door and never seeing it again. What’s your studio like? I just moved out of my studio, which was three times the size of my apartment. I had been sleeping and eating there, but now I’m working out of my house, and everything is covered in huge sheets of paper. When people come over to see my work, I say, “It’s in my bedroom, and I’ll buy wine,” which always sounds erotic. Artist hero: For now, Nan Goldin, because she wears her heart on her sleeve. She never tried to separate her life from her work. It changes as she changes. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Haters. Street artists who hate artists who make money. Conceptual artists who hate painting. Painters who hate conceptualists. Lowbrow people who think the highbrow are shitting on them. You can hate art in general, but if you’re in it and hating, you’re like a dog chasing your own tail. Do you want everyone to be like you? Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is in transition. Artists want a change and feel something big is about to come together, but can’t quite see what it is yet. We’re in the eye of the storm.
Alexander Shulan
Age: 21. Hometown: Manhattan. I grew up in SoHo. Currently resides: I split time between Chicago, where I go to school, and SoHo. Medium: Digital and video. I’ve been doing a lot of video manipulation. I’ve been taking films and breaking them down frame by frame, destroying them and then restitching them together. What’s your dream project? I’m interested in curating, not as a curator, but making a new piece out of a lot of other pieces—my own and other people’s. Something like Urs Fischer and Gavin Brown’s show last year at Tony Shafrazi Gallery—“ ‘Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns?’ ”—but even more so. Artist hero: Joseph Cornell. And Lawrence Weiner, because of his book Statements, which is instructions for making a piece. What’s your studio like? It’s my laptop and whatever space I can scrounge. Day job: I have had a lot of internships. I worked for Gavin Brown, Jeffrey Deitch, the New Museum . . . I really liked working for Gavin Brown. He had a good manner. The New Museum people were nice, and Deitch was fun—there were a lot of parties. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? More writers and fewer critics. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is surprisingly small and closeknit. There are a lot of talented people, although the pressure to produce something feels real and excessive.
Carlen Altman
Age: 25. Hometown: New York. Currently resides: Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. My mom also lives there, as do a lot of kooky elderly people. Medium: I work in comedy and on jewelry, and I have a blog: carlenaltman.blogspot.com. I just finished a talking Moses ring for my jewelry line, Jewish Rosaries. What’s your dream project? To go on a show like In LivingColor, or to be on TV in a comedic way, like on Saturday Night Live. Artist hero: My mom is an artist. Her name is Suzy Friedman. She’s a hermit in the way that real artists can be hermits. You know, maybe if Henry Darger had hung out at the Beatrice Inn, he would have beena big star during his lifetime . . . My mom does a lot of religious art, which influenced me on my jewelry line. She just made a jellyfish out of yarmulkes with tzitzit as the tentacles. What else are you working on? I’m cohosting a public access show called Weird Days on BCAT—Brooklyn Community Access Television. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? I feel like a lot of art doesn’t have a sense of humor. I don’t like going to museums because they are so sterile and not fun. They should play rap music. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is smoky. I just mean that when you stand outside a gallery, it’s very smoky. But that works on a lot of levels.
Devin Kyle Cuthbertson
Age: 25. Hometown: I grew up in the Bronx, and then my mother moved to Bushwick,Brooklyn. That’s where I still live. Medium: Drawing, painting, video, writing, and performing. What’s your studio like? It’s my bedroom in my mother’s house. I’ve got a table from Kmart, and it’s really messy right now. Artist hero: I like characters from books. I like James Baldwin’s main character from Another Country, Rufus. The name is interesting because Rufus spelled backwards is sufur—like, “suffer.” Favorite younger artist: I like what rappers are doing, like T.I. or Lil Wayne. I also like Maurizio Bianchi for his album Symphony for a Genocide. Past shows: I was in a group show, “New Deal,” curated by Kyle Thurman and Matthew Moravec. It was my first show, really. Day job: I got kicked out of school. Then I had to work under extreme poverty and homelessness—that was shitty. So I guess that influences my outlook on jobs. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Change it more toward blackness. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is rich. That doesn’t need any explanation. I don’t want to make any enemies.
Dylan Kawahara
Age: 22. Hometown: I was born in L.A. and moved to the Valley in high school. Currently resides: East Village. Medium: Fashion, graphic design, product design. I’m working on my thesis collection at Parsons—a Fall/Wintercollection inspired by murder. It uses a lot of3D elements with graphic prints. As for product design, I haven’t made a crazy toothbrush, but I have ideas for them. What’s your dream project? To do a collaboration with Muji. I like that they’re making office products beautiful again. What’s your studio like? I go to school and work in a converted classroom; it’s a long table with an industrial sewing machine. Artist hero: Louise Bourgeois. She’s been working forever and has a consistent style. Her career is immortal. I love her textiles and quilting pieces. Favorite younger artist: Casey Kresler, my roommate when I was in Paris, who’s a designer and artist. Favorite gallery: Gagosian. The last show I saw there—the Manzoni show—was so great. I felt so turned on by it. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Less competition and more collaboration. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is really in right now. It’s really trendy at this point.
Grear Patterson
Age: 21. Hometown: Hillsborough, North Carolina. But I was born in Danbury, Connecticut, in Edward Steichen’s house. My dad knew him, and when Steichen died in 1973, my dad took over the place. Currently resides: Chinatown—but it’s hard for me to hold on to one place. Medium: Photography and video. I write movies too. I would consider myself a picture maker more than anything. Right now I’m making a book withAron’s O.H.W.O.W. called Streetfighter. I turned in my mockup, and Aron didn’t like it, so I’m making another one. He said I was too young to do aretrospective, so it’s going to be all pictures from my own life. What’s your studio like? Actually, I just moved into a new studio at Prince and Elizabeth. This one needs to be cleaner than the last one. Artist hero: It’s between EdRuscha and Walker Evans. Ruscha has a lot of room to play—he never pigeonholed himself. Evans started on his own as a gun for hire. I respect aptitude. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Make museums free. Art is so good. If more people would see it, they’d be better off. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is all over the place. You can talk about modern artists versus young artists versus postmodern artists. There’s also a celebrity aspect to it that didn’t exist before. That kids move here from L.A. to be famous is crazy.
Isaac Brest
Age: 22. Hometown: Los Angeles. Currently resides: Chinatown. Medium: I don’t want to say photography, because I don’t want to limit myself. My medium is capturing things that I see. I’m finishing up a short film. It’s my senior thesis project at NYU. Forthcoming shows:I belong to a collective of 10 young New York–based artists called Still House. We were joking around about the Still House World Tour ’09. We’re planning shows in L.A. and London and hoping to pack it up in a UHaul and take it to all the big cities in the U.S., or even go around Europe with it. What’s your studio like? I work in my bedroom, but when I edit film, I use the lab at school. For photography, I don’t use a studio. I don’t shoot indoors that much. Artist hero: Richard Neutra. I like functional and multifunctional art. He uses architecture as a sculpture that takes in life—the weather, the seasons, the changes. I can’t be put in a white cube. Favorite younger artist: Doug Aitken—no one else has come to my attention. Favorite gallery: I really hate going to Chelsea. Still House did a show in a popup gallery that’s in a space that’s going to be a demolished. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Life’s too easy.
Jack Greer
Age: 22. Hometown: Los Angeles. Currently resides: Chinatown. Medium: Sculpture, drawing, and video. I’ve been working on something you could call a zine, since it’s so lofi. I’m trying to make a book as a video, in the sense that even if you turn pages, it’s not narrative and not made up of individual documents. Favorite younger artist: Patrick Griffin. I have some of his zines, which I superlove. He makes paintings of oversize buttons—he has one right above the doorway in his apartment that says, “Same shit, different day.” If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Turn that frown upside down. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene isa place to look back and laugh at. I think everyone is still young enough, and all of their parents have enough money, that it facilitates a lot of bad ideas. It’s a lot of kids partying like art stars.
Jack Siegel
Age: 22. Hometown: San Francisco. Where do you live in the city? East Village. Medium: Photography. I’m working on an untitled series of pictures of my friends asleep in bed at sunrise. As the weather warms up, I plan to go upstate to take it outdoors. It signifies the start of something new, and it’s interesting to see people in a different light, in between worlds. Artist hero: My favorite photograph is by Ed Ruscha. It’s of the New York skyline from the Staten Island Ferry. It’s like being an eternal visitor. Favorite younger artist: When I was a freshman in high school I bought Ryan McGinley’s self-published book, The Kids are Alright, which inspired me to take pictures of my friends. He inspired me to start shooting. Most of my books are about energy and I guess it came from that book. It’s interesting to look at young people. Favorite gallery: Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills. I saw the Taryn Simon show “An American Index” there. It’s a nice space for photography. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? Nothing. It’s an interesting time to be a young artist. I think the art world is embracing that more than anything. Complete the sentence: The young New York art scene is hustlin’. If the question were asked to me last year, I would have said that something needed to change. But I think the recession is going to make art look a lot different.
Jordan Robin
Age: 21. Hometown: I was born in Honolulu and moved to L.A. when I was 10. I lived in Beverly Glen Canyon, and I liked it because there were deer behind my house. Currently resides: I live in actual East Williamsburg, east of the BQE—not the Craigslist Williamsburg. Medium: Everything. I draw and make books. I’m also a tambourine musician. My band is called Cheap Champagne. I’m currently working on a volume of zines with my friend Aiya. I make drawings that are really much more like collages because I love putting things together on different kinds of paper. They’re geometric, and I use pastel and red ink because it reminds me of a heartbeat. what’s your Dream project? I just want to share my music with people. I really want to master the Omnichord. It’s an autoharp that creates tones using a touch pad. Artist hero: Maybe Yoko Ono. She reveals so much of herself. I think I connect to that because I try to expose myself too. I don’t know her, but I feel like I have a sense of who she is. Favorite younger artist: I fell in love with Rita Ackermann’s work when I went to her studio to drop off a V magazine a year and a half ago and she pulled out this really simple pencil drawing of all of these heads—ones that kind of look like her. I just thought there was something really lowart, graphicnovel about it, but then she inserts those little guys into big collages with glass and they are elevated. Favorite Gallery: The Journal Gallery in Brooklyn. I intern there. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is a massive collaboration. It’s much more than people—it’s a space where creative people can find each other and fuse their energy and make explosions. But instead of nitrate and hydrogen, it’s with paints, cameras, scanners, tambourines . . . you name it.
Juan Antonio Olivares
Age: 20. Hometown: Mexico City. Currently resides: Harlem. I go to Columbia. Medium: Photography, sculpture, Photoshop. I’m doing photographs of beautiful guys at dawn. I think it’s a good test to see how that person really is. I’m also painting things people have whispered to me. Artist hero: Courbet. He was a narcissist and a genius without ever forgetting his manners. Favorite younger artist: Terence Koh. He reaches the essence of love in his work. Favorite Gallery: Bortolami. I like Thilo Heinzmann, who exhibited there recently, and I liked Richard Aldrich’s last show there. Day job: I work for designer Garrick Gott in the studio he shares with Koh. I assemble books and take photos of the work I assist on. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? More of me. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is a beehive. It’s a good sting. If you’re allergic, it doesn’t matter.
Kyle Thurman
Age: 22. Hometown: West Chester, Pennsylvania. Currently resides: East Village. Medium: Mostly painting and sculpture. I have always used photography, and recently I’ve even started to make some videos. Right now I’m making works that deal with creating an archive or collection. It’s very autobiographical. I’m working with the theme of Unsolved Mysteries, which is a show I used to watch as a kid with my dad. I’ve made a few videos with my dad recently and have more in the works. I also just curated a group show called “New Deal” with my friend Matt Moravec. The show was comprised of young artists from New York City. We hope it worked as a platform for younger artists. What’s yourstudio like? It’s really small. My studio is my apartment. There are a lot of Xerox copies, books, canvases, photos . . . I work best alone. I just kind of live with my work. Artist hero: MartinKippenberger. He worked in all mediums and never really had a single style. His work makes me laugh, which is a good thing. Favorite younger artist: Urs Fischer, particularly his last show at Gavin Brown where he made work out of the gallery space rather than work for the gallery walls. I love his sculptures that decay or disappear.hobbies: Surfing. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is currently emerging during a time of change without too much to lose. It’s important that the artists help each other out.
Kyle Tregurtha
Age: 23. Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently resides: West Village. I lived on the Upper East Side for four years, rentfree. Then I got kicked out. But my friend has an actor friend who is 80 years old—he owns a duplex in the West Village and lets me live there for $300 per month. Medium: Film. I’m working on a documentary called 111. My friend and I hitchhiked from Seattle to New York and 111 is the number of cars we took. what’s your Dream project? I’d love to do a biopic of the guy who invented LSD, Albert Hofmann. What’s your studio like? Right now, I work out of 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. It’s amazing to be around all these people making things all day. Artist hero: Keith Haring, because you can use him in any format. In Stuyvesant Town,Haring’s work is in the kids’ playrooms. Favorite gallery: The walls in a friend’s living space. hobbies: I like reading biographies. I like to learn about new people and stalk them, basically. I try to find out as much about them as I can. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? That no one talks to each other. It’s really difficult to break through to people. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is about to change. There needs to be more communication between people.
Lucien Marc Smith
Age: 20. Hometown: I was born in L.A., but raised in New York. Currently resides:Chinatown—in the building that Agathe Snow and Rita Ackermann once lived in on Forsyth Street. Medium: Mainly oils and found sculpture. A lot of sculptures that I make are put together with found materials. I was always afraid of oils, but I worked with Dan Colen about a year ago when I was a freshman [at The Cooper Union], and he showed me how to use them. Right now, though, I’m doing canvases with stretched linen. I’m basically creating shapes with canvases in all different tones of blue. What’s your studio like? It’s my house. It’s a giant wall where I mount the paintings and a glass table which I use as an easel. Artist hero: David Hammons. He’s just the real deal. He’s not bullshit—he just is. Favorite younger artist: Aaron Bobrow. He’s a really good, smart kid. He’s 23. I can’t even explain it. His work is in between sculpture and appropriation. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is a bunch of beautifullosers. Or at least they think so.
Michael Bilsborough
Age: 30. Hometown: The desert in California. Currently resides: Chelsea. But I spend all my time in Chinatown. Medium: Drawing. I have a solo show that’s running until June 21 atInvisibleExports, and it’s a group of drawings about bacchanal parties and mysterious rituals. The figures I draw correspond to biological ideals, while the spaces they inhabit belong to geometric ideals. What’s your Dream project? Well, the Sistine Chapel is taken. What’s your studio like? My bedroom is my studio. I’m there as much as possible. I aspire to be a hermit. And while usually it’s immaculate, it’s currently a mess. Artist hero: Director Pier Paolo Pasolini, because he smoothly roped together politics and erotics with an eradefining aesthetic. Favorite younger artist: K8 Hardy is the perfect example of an artist at the epicenter of multiple art scenes. Much of her art is based on events that bring together communities of artists. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? The art world already changes often, so if I’m unhappy, I can just wait till the bad stuff passes. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is trembling. Because we are facing such economic challenges. But we’re also gleefully oblivious because it doesn’t matter. We’re going to keep making art anyway.
Mikaela Bradbury
Age: 22. Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently resides: In my cousin’s apartment on the Bowery. Medium: Film, painting, writing. I am currently editing and storyboarding a film about suicide that takes place in the afterlife. I’ve been brought on to make it funny and accessible, which is proving to be slightly challenging. I am also working on a series of semiabstract paintings on plywood that uses the wood grain as a guide for landscapes. Artist hero: Francis Bacon. Favorite younger artist: My friend Dale Jimenez. His work is funny and beautiful, and he finds the most amazing material—purple cardboard packing from some food market or amazing glittery fabric scraps from Dumpsters—and creates entirely new universes or creatures. His latest project was creating a giant meatball. Favorite gallery: I like art that perverts everyday interactions. I think galleries already have such a set choreography that they don’t really generate new musclememory. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? That it wouldn’t take itself so seriously. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is apolitical. It’s very wrapped up in fashion and media. But, to be honest, I don’t have a developed opinion either.
Natasha Ghosn
Age: 22. Hometown: Houston, Texas. Currently resides: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I don’t want to talk about it. That’s where my friends are. Medium: Currently it’s Tshirts,Photoshop, and collecting old images . . . collage, but I wouldn’t call it that. I am working on my Tshirt line called Mondo Mondo. What’s your studio like? I work in my bedroom because that’s where I’ve always worked—on my bed, although recently I’ve moved onto the desk. Because you don’t have a real closet in New York, my closet is all over the walls. Artist hero: Guiseppe Arcimboldo. He did the 16thcentury food and vegetable faces. They’re insanely surreal. Favorite younger artist: AIDS3D, who I’ve known forever from my freshman dorm. They make more than anyone else. They can make art and party their brains out. Their energy is really insane and terrifying. hobbies: I collect perfume. Day job: I work at Bess, a store in Nolita that puts studs on everything. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? To eliminate the desire for fame. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is not the world I live in.
Oskar Agnes Tarplee
Age: 29. Hometown: St. Simons Island,Georgia. Currently resides: Flatbush, Brooklyn. Medium: Music, sculpture, painting, and performance art. Right now I’m working on a secret new band. I also perform with MaryJordan’s performance group, Parthenogenesis. I’m doing a new painting series and a book and research for developing my treehouse project. That’s my answer to the problems facing a nomadic art tribe. It will consist of several properties in strategic locations which artists run and develop with local communities like selfsustainable hubs. We could be a moving community, like gypsies, but with property. What’s your studio like? My studio is a collection of science experiments and oddities—paints, canvases, wires, saws, drills, keyboards, and trumpets . . . random boots with cans screwed to the soles in case of a bit of tap dancing. Artist hero: Egon Schiele. He basically did street art himself, painting without making much money. He drew anyone who would let him, like prostitutes. He caught this sense of life that anyone can identify with. Day job: I perform at The Box and at parties and events, although that’s more of a night job. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is needing a jumpstart. Let’s dance, people!
Poppie Van Herwerden
Age: 22. Hometown: I was born in London and raised in Los Angeles. Currently resides:Chinatown. Medium: All mediums. I do design and I particularly like collage. I’m working on a book—a visual essay I’m calling Times, because I’ve been collecting issues ofthe Financial Times. And there is, of course, the famous Dickens line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I think that describes what our generation is going through now, just how fragile every day is. What’s your dreamproject? I used to want my own magazine, but I’m not going for that anymore. What’s yourstudio like? It’s my apartment, which is nice. Lots of light, and I have a huge wall of books. I like to surround myself with things that inspire me. Artist hero: Louise Bourgeois, because she’spowerful, strong, and feminine. Favorite gallery: I like the American Folk Art Museum. Day job: I’m a design assistant at Buero New York. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? I wish it weren’t so pretentious. I wish people would let down their barriers and share, instead of putting people on pedestals. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is flying high.
Pozsi B. Kolors
Age: 24. Hometown: Okinawa City, Japan.Currently resides: ProspectLeffertsGardens, Brooklyn. Medium: Clothing design, music, graphic art. I’m currently working on my new album under the name TecnikolorBanshie. I also DJ from time to time at a queer dance party called Judy. What’s yourstudio like? As of right now, it’s a small, graffitisprayed brick room in a basement near Prospect Park. I work there late into the night until sunrise. Artist hero: Björk. She’s a love me or leave me type of artist. Favorite younger artist: Aubrey Adams. She’s a clothing designer and modela ctress. She’s only 19 and would give her last dollar to someone in need, which is rare. Favorite gallery: The Smoking Tortoise, a small warehouse gallery in Asheville, North Carolina. Day job: Besides working on my neckwear line—Neklusters—I’m blowing up as a hairstylist. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? That more artists of color would stop being overlooked because their white counterparts have a betterselling look and feel. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is missing me. I’m bright and multitalented.
Richie Adomako
Age: 24. Hometown: I was born in Ghana and grew up in New York City. Currently resides: Near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Medium: I paint and make sculpture. I’ve done music videos and short films. I’ve written five screenplays. Anything that plays with the visual. I’m currently making an installation of photographs of things I see every day. And I’ve also been shopping around my first novel. I’m thinking about publishing it independently. What’s your dream project? I’d like to take a cargo plane into the air with ballerinas performing or a band playing. It’s about playing against resistance, the resistance of the wind. Artist hero: Leonardo da Vinci. One of the important things about art is not putting a tag on what an artist does. He was an inventor. This guy was designing submarines and helicopters. Favorite younger artist: Damian Loeb and Damien Hirst. The ’90s were a great time for young artists. Upcoming project: “Cult in the Desert.” For the performance, we go to exclusive art events as a group, and we give out invitations in nice envelopes to a later secret event. The idea is that we are all a cult in the desert—no matter how crowded the city is, we’re alone. Fill in the blank: The Young New York art scene is changing. Big artists who had collectors now have to change their ways of selling—they have to find their roots.
Ryan McNamara
Age: 30. Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona. Currently resides: SoHo. I have a theory that if you live in New York long enough, you get one apartment deal. This is my time. Medium: Video and performance. I recently had a show at APF Lab that’s a collaboration with a magician named Bernie the Magic Lady. Bernie is in his seventies. He’s a Cuban drag magician and we made a video together. Now we’re working on an installation and performance piece. What’s your dream project? To make a Broadway musical. What’s your studio like? It has lots of clothes, props, prosthetic limbs, liquid latex, and colored smokebombs. Today I set off the smoke detector while photographing the smoke bombs. Artist hero: Merce Cunningham. It’s amazing that he’s been dedicated to the project of human movement for 90 years. hobbies: I volunteer at Sage, a social services for gay and lesbian senior citizens. In fact, Bernie the Magic Lady performed there. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is disparate. Geographically, there’s no there.
Scott Schneider
Age: 22. Hometown: Valatie, New York, south of Albany. Currently resides: BedStuy,Brooklyn. Medium: I use a lot of ink, but mostly I work on the computer, doing graphic design. I also play in a band called Ford & Fitzroy. I write the songs with my older brother and play bass. What’s your Dream project? Doing CD package design. Or maybe working on some reissues, like some awesome Joy Division reissues. What’s your studio like? It’s just my room, and I’m surrounded by CDs. I usually pull allnighters. It makes my brain go crazy. Always with a can of Coke. Artist hero: Saul Bass. It’s because of his posters for Hitchcock films that I wanted to be in design. Favorite youngerartist: Stephen O’Malley. He’s a designer who plays in a band called Sunn O))). He gets to design all the albums and is also in charge of the record label. Day job: I work at my brother’s bar in the Lower East Side. The best part is that I get to do all the design for the bar, like the menus and the storefront. If you could change one thing about the art world, what would it be? I left school at Pratt after three and a half years. I’d definitely change how schools handle kids. It can bring you down if you’re in a huge class. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is motivating. In the past two years I’ve gotten to see so many of my friends in gallery shows.
Tarynn Wiehahn
Age: 24. Hometown: Born in Pretoria and raised in other parts of South Africa. Currently resides: Stuyvesant Town; Fort Greene,Brooklyn; and Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Medium: Film. I’m working on a documentary about Burning Man called As the Dust Settles. I’m in it with 11 other people who documented their experiences there. What’s your dreamproject? To film one of my dreams. I had this insane dream last night where these jumping fish were trying to bite me. What’s yourstudio like? Clothes all over the floor—disorderly. When I look at my space, I think it’s what is going on in my brain. Favorite younger artist: Kids. I like how unaware they are about their art. When we grow up, we become tooconscious. Favorite gallery: The Burning Man project in Nevada. It’s full of art. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is unknown to me. I’m not aware of it, really. I’m a believer in it, but I’m not a follower.
Thomas Ahlgren
Age: 26. Hometown: Born in Stockholm. Raised in Stockholm and San Francisco. Currently resides: Chinatown. I left Stockholm and moved to New York because of a broken heart. Medium: Currently abstract photography. I’m interested in studying artificial light and texture and constructivistinspired shapes and forms. Artist hero: Kasmir Malevich. He made me see the light. Favorite younger artist: Jac Debra Flaskö. She made me see the dark. hobbies: Sleeping, freeloading, going to dinners, drinking, and making out with girls. Day job: I’ve worked at a number of galleries. Since I moved here I’ve worked as much as I can as an artist’s assistant. I work shortterm as a “consultant” at Daniel Reich Gallery. I also answer telephones and do arthandling. Fill in the blank: The young New York art scene is a class I take on Tuesday evenings. After a year in New York I still feel like I just got here and I don’t know what it’s about. It’s something that I’m learning about every day.
