WOW... what a weekend!
So much work, so much fun... the show COULD NOT have gone better!
Beyond being such a kickass assemblage of great talent/great works, and beyond Jim and Nicole @ FOE being such great people to work with, we were helped by the weirdly mild temperature on Friday night, and the fact that the opening was falling on one of Northampton's monthly Friday Art Walk events. Downtown was packed, as was GARAMANIACAL! People seemed very into the event and the art, and we kept a good crowd turnover going right 'til the end.
It was great to meet Rich, Jaclyn, Sam, Kevin, Kat and Patrick- thanks very much to each of you for coming to the show! Some good friends and family members (my aunt and cousin surprised me (as Garamike) on the street!) of mine also made the trip, and for that I'm quite thankful- awesome to have their support! Also, the band (assembled and led by Dan Hornworm) was great, and totally fit with the night, providing everything from Chirusonian noise-scapes to menacing, King Crimson-esque grooves. Well done, fellas!
My wonderful sister and my wonderful Nicole were also, as always, amazing and a huge help, and I was so glad to have them there... would've been lost w/o 'em!
The first outing as Garamike was, overall, a SMASHING success; had a great time in the suit and hopefully provided all those I came into contact with a memorable experience. I wasn't able to get the feet and tail done in time for the show, but did have the head and hands. When I first arrived in town in full gear, Jim took us over to his friend's vintage shop, Roz's Place, where the owner, Tim, had Garamike try on several different evening-wear options. I settled on a brown polyester suit that must've been the height of fashion in Manila in 1976, and went really well with my Gara-colors. Then I stalked around town for a bit, moving as only a mechanical meteorite monster can (sort of a jerky, high-stepping march (my calves are still burnin' today)), bugging people, invading various galleries and businesses, and croaking about the show to anyone who would listen. Finally entered the gallery around 7:00, to a general hush and some dropped-jaw stares...
6 hours... is a bit too long to be in the suit, though. In addition to being buried under rubber for all that time (the thick silicone of the mask covers/clings to my entire head and shoulders, then the weighty headpiece on top of that), the paint on the headpiece (pigmented rubber cement) had not fully cured yet, so I was breathing some significant fumes all night. By about 8:45, I looked at Nicole and said, "I think I need to get out of this...
RIGHT NOW." One serious sweat-mopping and face-scrubbing later, I felt a
little less strange.
Some gen'l notes on the show:
-Everything that is still for sale should work its way into FOE's webshop over the course of the day tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled.
-Also tomorrow, FOE should be getting in the Grody exclusives (they were a little late in shipping out and didn't make the opening).
-Contest winners, picked at random, were:
Patrick Taylor (Yama Semi-Ningen and Garamon set)
Atom Gray (Buta Gary)
Scott Decoteau (M1-GO Semi-Ningen)
Christopher Gendron (GARAMANIACAL one-off Grody pair, Ojisan & Karakuri)
-PRINTS! The pieces by Jim Groman, Michael Skattum, Street Grapes, Jason Edmiston and zapatoloco are all available or soon-to-be-available as prints. I picked up an Edmiston and a Skattum, both of which are incredible, and I'm on the list for each of the others... as you can be, too, by contacting FOE directly. The Groman Garaball print will be a release by FOE in partnership w/ Manifesto Press and Jim Groman, letter-pressed, signed and numbered, and a portion of the proceeds from each will go to the MSPCC. Don't miss it! The pre-order list will be open for a limited time!
-We raised a nice chunk of funds for the MSPCC already, between contest entry fees and sale of entries on opening night; if anyone still feels like contributing art, feel free to do so for the rest of the show run- your pieces) will be hung for sale to benefit the cause! Also, a portion of the sale proceeds from each of the customs by the following contributors will be donated to the MSPCC:
Prometheum5/Ben Mininberg
Toybot Studios/Kirkland Jue
Robert Decastro
Leecifer (Golden-Taloned Garamon only)
I'll be posting a full show report on Garamania w/ many more pics later tonight... will check in here to let you know it's up... but for now, I just wanted to share some pieces that I was not able to preview before showtime:
Terrific painting by Josh Herbolsheimer:
"Gary Came Back From The Dead" print by Street Grapes:
Gara-PlyModel" by Mark Dabelstein (edition of four; the display model, and three ready-to-build silkscreened kits!):
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/4619 ... 7f03cz.jpghttp://img268.imageshack.us/img268/1223 ... 8c201z.jpg... and two of the three pieces I was able to complete... first, "Garamon Image Limited"... sadly, I didn't take more pics of this one at the show (in this one, it's hanging in our hotel room), after the "custom toy" hang-tag (also done in the generic PiL "album" style) was on the Lydon-Pyg's ankle:
"Osage Orange Sconce" (the Atelier G-1 Pygmon has Neodymium magnets in both feet and can be moved around/spun on his mirrored base by manipulating a magnet on the underside; locks tight to the wall with two keyed hanging-holes on the back):
Whew...Again, my sincere and humble thanks to everyone involved in making this show an awesome success! I'm quite proud and I hope you are, too!
