Artifact or Fiction?

“Fabricated” souvenirs by Bay Area artists

Michael Arcega and Stephanie Syjuco

Last chance to see “As Real As it Gets,” an exhibit organized by consumption connoisseur, Rob Walker that looks at the history of consumer fictions. It’s at Apexart in Tribeca and closes December 22.

The show features fictitious products, made-up brands, and subversive real-world behaviors relating to consumerism. Along with Shawn Wolf’s "Removerinstaller," Matt Brown’s “Bathtub Synth" and “shopdropped”(opposite of shoplifted) products, are the made-up brands found in movies about the dystopian future. But alas, the satire itself has been subverted and the dystopian present and future are already here. Dunder Mifflin Paper, the fictional brand of the show The Office is now available for purchase, as is Brawndo, the electrolyte-based water-substitute of Idiocracy (both are represented in the show). 

 The line between fact and fiction has been so effectively blurred, that it’s hard to imagine what the future of consumer satire, as a genre, will be going forward. Clear, “fashion” eyeglasses sit completely straight-faced on shelves alongside corrective lenses. Half of the packaged remedies by Dana Wyse, like “Feel Relaxed in any Situation” or “Discover Your True Purpose in Life,” have counterpart industries in the real world. Our elevated tolerance for fiction-supplanted reality extended all the way to this year’s presidential race when Mitt Romney’s campaign announced "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers." For real!

While the golden age of fake products might seem as vintage as a Wacky Pack, our on-demand-anything-is-possible-DIY-24/7 technology has perhaps introduced a slightly more insidious twist.  Somehow, the realness of the Steve Jobs Novena Prayer Candle and the plastic jars of dot.com bubbles, had me scanning my mental gift list. I know I could have crossed off a bunch of names with them, and I was slightly disappointed to learn that they were not for sale. So take a break from reality Christmas shopping and head over to “As Real As it Gets.”

Matt Brown’s “Bathtub Synth" 

Shawn Wolf's "Removerinstaller"

From Dana Wyse's "Jesus Had a Sister Productions"

Apexart is at 291 Church Street, New York, NY 10013 (ph: 212 431 5270)

Goodbye Columbus

Tatzu Nishi’s “Discovering Columbus” is one of those unique New York “art” experiences I tend to avoid because of the crowds, but then end up kicking myself for missing. I actually made it over there recently. Turned out, the crowds weren’t so bad and it’s really nice for a change, to not be walking around with self-inflicted welts.

Six-flights up a scaffolding lands you in a temporary living room constructed around the statue, which stands in the center, on the coffee table.

In addition to the big guy, there's plenty to see. Every detail was carefully considered.

The books ...

The art ...

The wallpaper ...

The huge TV tuned to CNN ...

The killer views ...

And the tourists.

The exhibit ended yesterday.

Edible Cage

Wild Edible Drawing # 6

Mulberry, burdock, hibiscus stems, barley,

hijiki, and clover, 1990, 17 x 12"

John Cage (1912-1992) made a few series of “Edible Drawings” toward the end of his life. They are handmade paper created from specific groups of vegetation—foods on his macrobiotic diet, Chinatown herbs, plants from a local forest. It appealed to Cage that the paper could, theoretically, be recycled as food.

Art critic, Francine Koslow Miller shares this anecdote:

Michael Silver, who was at the time the head chef at the Gardner Museum Cafe as well as a practicing photographer, purchased one of Cage's Edible drawings and kept it framed next to his menu at the Gardner Cafe. When the Cafe was taken over by an outside company, Silver celebrated his departure by 'cooking' his Cage drawing. He boiled the paper and turned it into soup, and served it to his friends at the Gardner. I love that he truly understood Cage's holistic view of drawing.

I’m not quite sure whether Cage is to be considered a “generative technology,” or simply hyper-interactive. For however much work across all media Cage himself is directly responsible, there is no way to even begin calculating the output he has spawned by way of collaboration, homage, inspiration, and association.

An Autobiographical Statement delivered by Cage in 1990, two years before his death, concludes with, “There is no end to life.” The plan is for the site to become a rich multimedia repository, linking to text, images, video, animation, etc. and “infinitely expand.”

In celebration of the composer/artist/writer’s centennial (today, Sept. 5), The John Cage Trust has issued the Prepared Piano App. With it, you can play and record sampled sounds that were recreated with the actual bits of hardware Cage used to alter a piano for his Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48). Sort of an open-source Cage.

And on it goes …

Wild Edible Drawing # 8

Milkweed, cattail, saffron, pokeweed,

and hijiki, 1990, 17 x 12"

Edible Drawing #3


Kale, turnip, herbs and mushrooms,


1990, 9 x 11-1/2″

John Cage's "Edible Drawing"

cooked and eaten - August 31, 1995

in the Gardner Museum's cafe 

1995, Chef Michael Silver

Sources: MoMA (2), Margarete Roeder Gallery, Fogg Museum