Bash Compactor: From Nothing, Radical
Last Thursday morning, Ari Spool made her way by subway from Greenpoint to Chelsea, one arm wrapped around a 25-pound box of LPs. Shed been taking delivery of vinyl from independent record labels for the better part of a month.
The records were for a pop-up record shop and art show at Rare Gallery on West 27th Street. Thursday was the launch party for the extremely un-Chelsea show, Psychedelic Summer, curated by Seattle design and music collective CMRTYZ. Featuring the work of artists dedicated to the resurgence of lo-fi music and art, the show opened with a reception and raucous performances by The Beets and The Babies. With the visual work of New Yorks Cassie Ramone and Matt Volz, Seattles Carlos Ruiz and Columbus, Ohios John Malta, the gallery was transformed into a neon-scribbled space with the record shop built inside.
Volz, of The Beets, had some worries. I was in here to hang my stuff up, he said, motioning to his hand-drawn T-shirts and tapestries, and they just had all these pallets. I was just like shit.
Rares owner, Pete Surace, echoed the sentiment. Two days ago this place looked like a war zone. But it came together and they built it from experience. And thats what Rare Gallery is all aboutthe experience of the artist.
If thats so, Psychedelic Summer is the art born of doodles, of daydreams and an obsession with youth; drawings of cheeseburgers, pizza, Mickey Mouse, unicorns, Nintendos, a dessert empanada going for a shred; the kind of painting and drawing that comes out of summer-school doldrums. Its brutally honest. In that way, the art and music mirrored each other.
Malta, wearing jean shorts and an orange ball cap, hadnt shown in New York before. Its awesome being taken more seriously. We all come from doing house shows and that gritty, punk aesthetic and the contrast between that and Chelsea is part of what makes this so great.
Downstairs, The Beets set was a loud dont-give-a-fuck wonder, with Volz sitting on the ground and playing recorder. A huge portion of the crowd knew every word. The Babies got even wilder. The suggestion of a circle pit by frontman Kevin Morby went only somewhat ignored. There was plenty of bodily thrashing going on; people dangled from pipes; a half-gallon of paint was spilled over one unfortunate young woman.
Im just so excited to be here, Ramone told me, her parents examining her art nearby. It culminates all my interests into one.