The scene was Shalom Neuman’s exhibit at Art Expo on Pier 36 last month. Anyone aware of the ongoing art history that began in the East Village in the 1980s knows that Shalom is a major figure, an artistic visionary with the drive to explore and realize that vision while generously sharing the bounty that has resulted from his relentless creativity and focus. On top of that he’s a true bohemian. He was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. However, his family was forced to flee the repressive communist ideology that ruled there for too long.
How many poets, writers and other visual artists have benefitted from Shalom’s support and largesse? It’s difficult to say. But dozens for sure. Ron Kolm, the poet, was present that evening at Art Expo. He has benefitted from Shalom’s patronage, as have other prominent downtown artists and poets.
Bret Roberts came by and hung out with us. If something keeps Bret Roberts hanging around, you know it’s artistic and real. He, like Shalom—though younger—ranks among the world class artistic spirits treading the bohemian pathways. Roberts is a painter, a poet, a clothing designer, a filmmaker, and a musician. He was there that night with his acting agent Marius Bargielski. Roberts has appeared in some 75 movies, including as the romantic lead in Nine Full Moons, a Best Picture nominee at Sundance. He also directed three features shot in Italy and has served as producer on more than a dozen indie features. He divides his time between NYC, his home state of Alaska, and Europe—mainly Italy, but also Poland.
I’ve known Shalom Neuman since the 1980s and Bret Roberts for more than ten years. They both always amaze me.
Antonia Papatzanaki also came by Shalom’s exhibit. She is a light sculptor who is highly regarded in her native Greece, and well-respected here in the Chelsea art scene. Juan Carlos Pinto, the MetroCard artist, also dropped in for a while. It was that sort of evening.
Shalom’s exhibit was the most exciting offering at Art Expo this year. There was a steady stream of people coming by and snapping selfies with his grouping of pieces titled Everybody’s Talking, and everybody was; as were all the pieces. Shalom creates zany, often interactive, multimedia assemblage that are a commentary on American consumer culture. The sound of all the pieces speaking at once reminded me of the crowd sounds of a baseball game heard over a transistor radio on a summer night, which gave me a feeling of nostalgia—though I can’t imagine the cacophony of Everybody’s Talking as a steady diet. “It can drive you crazy after a while,” Shalom said.
Bret Roberts, who despite his thriving international showbiz career and other interests, considers himself a painter first and foremost. He comes from a line of paint slingers going back a couple of centuries in England. As you read this, an exhibition of his latest work is one of the central events of the pre-Biennale in Venice, Italy.
The nonstop sounds emanating from Shalom’s grouping, activated by the endless stream of Expo guests fascinated by the work, led me to make a quirky connection: Bret Roberts paintings on canvas are of crowds. The figures, which are multitudinous in the compositions, vary in style of dress from painting to painting but have a consistency, in much the same way that every one of Shalom’s pieces is unique but stylistically alike. Shalom has done more than a thousand of his assemblage works, collectively titled Mini America. I’m not sure how many of the large crowd paintings Roberts has done, but I’ve viewed dozens.
I used to think that Roberts’s crowd paintings were related to his showbiz career. But on this particular evening, with the babble of Shalom’s pieces sounding like the crowd at a sporting event, it occurred to me that Roberts’s crowd scenes might hark back to his days as an athlete. He was first-string quarterback in college and subsequently played quarterback professionally in a Scandinavian football league. “I got tackled so hard one time toward the end of a game that I decided right then I was through playing football. I finished the season and that was it for me. Next stop Hollywood.” Clearly, a good move.
Shalom Neuman, an internationally acclaimed master artist at the height of his powers—winner of the Galileo Prize in Florence, Italy and the subject of numerous exhibitions throughout Europe, and the United States—and mid-career artist Bret Roberts met in the bohemian continuum. It felt like a historic moment.
UPCOMING
Leemour Pelli’s exhibit Crowa and God in Upheaval runs from May 1-28 at Leonovich Gallery, 520 West 24th St. in Chelsea. This exhibition was curated by legendary gallerist Annina Nosei, best known for exhibiting Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger, Robert Longo, Shirin Neshat, among many other renowned artists. There’s a reception from 6-8 p.m. on May 14.
At 7 p.m. on May 2, at the Filmmakers CoOp, 475 Park Ave. South, the provocative and irrepressible Barbara Rosenthal will screen her video Barbara Rosenthal Contemplates Suicide. She appears nude throughout this riff on Hamlet. It is a rare opportunity to see this piece from 20 years ago, as it is effectively banned online. Laurie Anderson and others will also be presenting cinematic offerings.
Linda Kleinbub, poet, downtown poetry publisher and impresario, will be offering volumes from her Pink Trees Press at the Gold Coast Book Fair. Mets baseball legend Mookie Wilson will be there as well, giving a talk on Saturday morning. Following that, Wilson and his family will be serving up South Carolina barbeque to introduce their mobile catering business. Books, baseball, and BBQ. It’s all happening on Long Island in downtown Oyster Bay, Saturday and Sunday May 16 and 17.
Enjoy frolicking in the merry month of May!
