Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Last Show at CSAW?

With wild and somewhat true rumors flying, the fate of CSAW lies in the hands of its residents. If anyone knows Maggi Battalino personally, I would recommend asking her what she plans on doing. For now it is in the courts, and the collective identity of the artists there hangs in the balance. From 1988, when Wesley Hicks asked Mark Flood to gather artists for a show in the cavernous space to Ten X Ten, December's exhibit, that may be all she wrote.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
all of those were in the first gallery- although I am not sure of the artist...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
some crazy lady accosted me...
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
and shoved pills in my hand...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
then I saw that she was with this guy
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
and figured out it was Chloe Stewart's dresses/ performance/ wacky shit

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
'Woody' Golden

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Emily Sloan

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Dennis Harper

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
ditto... it walked back and forth,
Dennis asked me to yell at it and it went- sure did move when I yelled GO!
but the silly bastard had the remote in his hand the whole time...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Hi Dennis!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Nancy Douthey

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
writing pages of stories about friends she knew in elementary school...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Keijiro Suzuki framed the page I annotated for him... I didn't know he was gonna do that...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Keijiro Suzuki

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Chuy Benitez

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Woody

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
burgerhotdogappleslicechickenbone
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket



Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Joanne Park in the Project Space

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
hippopotamus war!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
can you see the hippos?

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
J. Hill with an itch

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Jabari and Pruitt were waiting for a performance artist from Austin,
but his car was stolen and then he was in a car wreck the next day in his rental car
before he even got out of town...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Commerce Street




from the website

CSAW is grateful to Mrs. Elva Kalb Dumas and her family
for almost three decades of the gift of space preserved for artists.

It has been an awesome opportunity. Thank you.

CSAW board and members


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Art collectives and spaces come and go and are always intertwined with the real estate market. CSAW is no different. Its demise will make room for new spaces in other places that will follow a similar trajectory.

New exciting work will be made in these spaces and it will attract other artists, new ventures, and ultimately more investment. Property values will increase and the artists will be squeezed out and move elsewhere. It has happened in Shoreditch in London, Chelsea and the lower east side, hell, it even happened in Soho although its hard to remember that far back.

The strategic mistake (if there was one) made by the collective known as CSAW was obvious. Unfortunately, the collective (CSAW) did not have a single master lease with the owner and so it really was no more than an apartment building with an ad-hoc tenant organization. Sadly, this does not really mean anything in the eyes of the law.

In future endeavors, a group like CSAW would be wise to find a landlord and have the organization lease the building and then allocate space/leases and manage as the organization sees fit.

You might not like her, but Maggie works for the building’s owner and manages the property as she sees fit. Her overriding concern, and rightfully so - is protecting their rent roles – period. Its her job, no different from any other job.

My guess – only a guess rumor mongers - is she is currently incented by the owners to clear the building out by a certain date for new owners. In watching this whole thing unfold, it seems obvious there have been other efforts to do this very thing under different guises (remember the guy setting up a foundation – what exactly was he doing again??? Who exactly was he working for again??? Come on folks!)

Its too bad about CSAW but the possibilities of new spaces in new places with new work being made is exciting and that’s what I will be watching for.

b.s. said...

THAT is what I want to hear.

Anonymous said...

Agreed... thank GOd for that anonymous post... Anyway, these UH Sculpture students are doing some AMAZING things right now!!! WOW... I'm excited

Le FunBun said...

Hahaha! I'm so glad I wasn't the only one Dennis duped!