Neke Carson is one of America's most important key figures in New York Underground Art and Culture. He has smoothly moved forward with his art, floating years ahead the current trends and hype, not letting anyone Rain on His Parade. As a matter of fact, in the 70's he would do before hand scheduled sing and dance performances (singing this song) with his daughter in all the right galleries in SOHO, back when SOHO was the place for all the right galleries. Except the gallery owners would not know about it. Neither did they know that he sold out their shows--as a performance--by sticking red dots on all the price tags next to the still not dry art, fresh out of the Warhol Factory, and so on and so forth. The above portrait of Neke was done by his favourite chinese artist in Central Park.
The above portrait of Andy Warhol was done by Neke in 1972, with his brushed firmly planted in his bum. This new style of painting was called Rectal Realism and a sublime (?!) comment on the artworld. It was documented by Anton Perich, who is still one of Neke's best freinds, that at the time was the in-house photographer at max's kansas city. Warhol--delighted by the fact of what was going on right in front of him--documented Neke painting him with his polaroid camera. These images are also on exhibit at Neke's current installation at The Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. See below.
You might look at the Warhol portrait and notice that you can barely see any eyes in Andy's face. This exhibition is called Eyeball Portraits and beyond. Neke's brown eye painted Warhol (almost without eyes) who was the ultimate voyeur and of course loved to have his portrait painted by a handsome young man that was known at The Factory to have a unusually large Banana. Edie Sedwick was one of Neke's friends and gave him a stuffed Swan, seen in the below picture. One would like to think that it was a premonition of this exhibition, where Neke--not that he in any way have ever looked like an ugly duckling--swims out in the pond with the other swans at The Warhol Museum.
The above images with the swan, the eyes, the kiss and the water eye.
Neke's development into a digital photographer came about during the days when he was a location scout for the New York based TV show "Law and Order". He daily walked the streets of New York City to find the ultimate locations for scenes in the show. During the same time he also started producing his weekly live show at The Gershwin Hotel's Living Room. At The Gershwin Hotel, Neke also had a space together with Anton Perich and NIGH Magazine (that Neke also writes for) New York City office. Around this time Neke developed his concept for creating floating in the air 3D moving sculptures that he called Apparitions. At the same time he developed the idea that he wanted to be a jazz pianist. In the same way he went about wanting to be a Horse Jockey, he started to work hard at it. A little the same way Andy Kaufman had an alterego as a lounge singer named Tony Clifton, that could go out amongst the masses and abuse them with the anger that Kaufman needed to have an outlet for, Neke does the opposite. He spreads love in locations all around New York City with his lovely personal abstract jazzy versions of lounge and jazz classics.
The above image can be found here
Neke Carson writes in his artist statement to the exhibition: "I ended up going into bookstores and taking portraits of some of my favorite pages in the books I found there. Through reading I also lay witness to the fact that there is a world of information that can be accessed when one chooses to close the eyes as well. Not that I would ask you to look at my work in that manner, but just imagine how much information would have been lost if the great sleeping prophet Edgar Cayce refused to close his eyes for his afternoon nap as he gave out thousands of readings on medicine, science and the future of life on this planet. It would be a tragedy more stunning than any of his world ending predictions. So as I close my eyes at night I take comfort in the fact that beyond every dream there is someone who is sleepy."
The Andy Warhol Museum | ||
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