If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.
— Tallulah Bankhead

Having a personal philosophy is like having a pet marmoset, because it may be very attractive when you acquire it, but there may be situations when it will not come in handy at all.
— Lemony Snicket

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it—always.
— Mahatma Gandhi

You'd better beat it. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.
— Groucho Marx


What Will Happen, Maybe


Because I’m a Canadian living in Buffalo, my American friends ask me who I think will win the Presidential election because I’m Canadian and my Canadian friends ask me who I think will win the Presidential election because I live in America. Speaking to a Canadian friend last weekend, he gave me props for predicting, four month ago, that Joe Biden was the natural choice for Vice President. I had said either that or he becomes Secretary of State. Let’s skip the specifics and jump to a big picture prediction—2008 will prove to be the fulcrum for long-term change. Just as the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 ushered in a generation-long skew toward conservatism, January of 2009 will be the beginning of a long swing into progressive politics.

This election is actually a thrilling moment, historic and compelling despite its often-lunatic tangents. And we've become so used to the ubiquity of the candidates that it's worth reminding ourselves of the paradigm shift within which we may be ensconsed. When the race began, I kept seeing clips of Senator Obama in shirtsleeves, getting a crowd roused up and it took me a while to realize that he reminded me exactly of Tony Robbins. Tall, lanky, burning with enthusiasm, and not willing to let you give No for an answer—a motivational speaker! Republicans are prone to criticize this quality, but what was Ronald Reagan if not an exceptional motivational speaker? If the tumbling dice land a certain way, there may be an untold number of intangibles that cannot yet be predicted even by the most dogged of prognosticators. Unknown can be good because in Unknown, all remains possible. Thrilling may prove to be a woefully inadequate designation.

But Prolonged Hacking and Gnawing is not a political blog, I can’t vote or give contributions to political candidates, and it is the Bush-Cheney Justice Department that has allowed me to work in this country. But being an art-blog, questions of perception always come into play, which makes it salient to salute the entity most-revered, most-covered, most-slavishly reported on during this pivotal, dramatic moment in time. My nomination for “Person” of the Year must unquestionably go to, drum roll please…The Red Herring.



Red herrings, fish with a strong odor, were historically used to train hunting dogs by being dragged across a scent the dogs were following. It was a means of training the dogs to not be distracted by the scent of the herring and learn to follow their original trail. In literature, a red herring is a narrative device to distract the reader from a more important element of the plot, setting the reader up for a more dramatic ending. The Red Herring persists as the most omnivorous species in the Presidential race because that other egregious species, The Media Beast, is even more omnivorous. It never sleeps or rests or pauses. And it needs to be fed. All the time. And its favorite morsels are…well, whatever is the most innocuous and stupid minutia of the moment. Arrogance. Weakness. Age. Race. Emails to Scarlett Johanssen. A giddy surplus of homes.



In term of my earlier guesswork, I don’t have any evidence whatsoever, but I do have an anecdote. Back in February, I was getting my hair cut by Chuck, the old Italian barber who’s had his shop for forty years on Buffalo’s West Side and another man came in to wait for a cut. He was pure, blue-collar Buffalo. Sensible shoes, jeans, denim shirt, vest, trucker cap, gray hair but otherwise trim and fit. After a few minutes, I thought, Hell, I’m in a barbershop, might as well get some unfiltered feedback.

“So…who do you guys like in the primaries?” I asked them both.

The barber, like a bartender, isn’t getting involved. He squirms his head and makes a noncommittal grunt, but doesn’t ake the bait and keeps on cutting. The waiting patron said Well, he didn’t mind Hillary, thought she was experienced and prepared for the job. Then he said he found Obama really interesting, but was concerned because he was Muslim.

“He’s not a Muslim!” I groaned, “They’re just trying to make you think that.”

“Well, I don’t know,” he said, unconvinced, “maybe. Still, I’m impressed that he was brought up by his mother and grandparents. That can’t have been easy. And he managed to turn himself into a black man, not a nigger.”

I waited for moment to make sure Chuck hadn’t slid the scissors into my eardrum. Now, this will sound very hokey—and let’s be clear, Canada has its own issues of racism—but I had never the n-word in real life until I moved to the Empire. Counting Hard Core Joe in the barbershop, I’ve only heard it twice, believe it or not (the other was a Buffalo cabbie.). And both times, perhaps because of the rarity, it felt like someone slapped me.

After digesting this backhanded compliment, I ventured back into the conversation and started to ask, “So, what about McCa—“

He cut me off abruptly, actually shaking his head and waving his outstretched hand, “Oh no, not another Republican!”

That’s my ambiguous evidence and it’s stale-dated by about six months, so take it in the ambiguous spirit in which it’s offered. I wish both Senators McCain and Obama the best of all the luck they have earned—no less and no more. I'm no pundit, I was just a curator getting a haircut. Back to you, Red.


And Just In Case You Missed It



@ HW thru TOMORROW
Karma Cab Boa
Hallwalls 2008 Members Exhibition
gallery hours: tues to Fri 11am to 6pm, Sat 1 to 4pm

with works by:
DAVID ANDREE • MOLLIE ATKINSON • RITA ARGEN AUERBACH • KATE BAE • DIANE BAKER • RACHAEL BALDANZA • MICHAEL BEAM • MARY BEGLEY • DENNIS BERTRAM • AMANDA BESL • ALAN BIGELOW • PRISCILLA BOWEN • NELSON BRADLEY •


BRADLEY BUTLER (above) •


SCOTT BYE (above) • ATTILIO CELOTTO • IAN CHRYSTAL • VIKTORIA CIOSTEK • OREEN COHEN • LUKIA COSTELLO •


JAX DELUCA (above) • MARIELY DOWNEY • LIZ DRUMM & CHRISTOPHER VEREL • VAL DUNNE • EDOLLIA • JACKIE FELIX • DOROTHY FITZGERALD • JOAN FITZGERALD • JENNIFER GOTTDIENER • ZEV GOTTDIENER •


AMY GREENAN (above) • JODY HANSON • PATTI HARRIS • PHIL HENDRICKSON • ROBERT HOLLAND • TOM HOLT • A.J. HUARANCA • BILLY HUGGINS • DALE INGLETT • ANITA L. JOHNSON • JOHN KENNEDY • LAWRENCE KINNEY • FELICE KOENIG • MATT KRUBACK • JAMIE KUBALA • MARK LAVATELLI • ZOE LAVATELLI • ELIZABETH LEADER • STACEY LECHEVET • GERALDINE LIQUIDANO •


POLLY LITTLE & TED PELTON (above) • SANDY LUDWIG • ROSEMARY K. LYONS • NAOMI MARINE • MAUREEN MATTHEWS • SCOTT McCARNEY • CHRIS McGEE • KURT McGHEE • MARK McLOUGHLIN • GERALD MEAD • R.J. MELNYK • DIANE MENCHETTI • LILLIAN MÉNDEZ •


CONI MINNECI (above) • ERIK MINTER • BERNARD P. MULLANE • KARA NEWBAUER • FRANK O'CONNOR • BOB OHRUM • MARY GRACE OHRUM •


CATHY PARDIKE • NANCY J. PARISI • KATE S. PARZYCH • JAMES PAULSEN • REBEKKAH PALOV • ELENA RALSTON • JEAN-MICHEL REED • RENA REISMAN • THOMAS ROJEK •


SALVATORE SCRIVO (above) • GARY SCZERBANIEWICZ • KATIE SEHR • VICTOR SHANCHUK JR. • KATHLEEN SHERIN • JOANNE SLOAN • BENJAMIN SPENCER • CATHERINE LINDER SPENCER • NATHANIEL SPENCER • NORINE SPURLING • DEBRA STECKLER • KURT TREEBY • CHRIS VESPER • KURT VON VOETSCH • ALFONSO VOLO • GENEVIEVE WALLER • MARY WEIG • JACQUELINE WELCH • SUSAN WILKE • JANET WINKIE • GARY L. WOLFE • SUNG HE YOON • DIANE YUNQUE • and BRUCE ADAMS, listed last because in the world of Buffalo group shows, he always gets listed first.


Opening September 13



Opening Elsewhere
• Carnegie Art Center Members Exhibition op Sat, Sept 13, 7-9pm (thru Oct 17)
• Catherine Linder Spencer at Daemon College talk Thurs Sept 4, 4:30, op Fri, Sept 5, 7-9pm (thru Sept 28)
• Gerald Mead at Studio Hart op Fri, Sept 5, 6—8pm (thru Oct 11)
• Mary Begley @ Chow Chocolat op Fri, Aug 22, 5—9pm (thru Sept 25)
• Michael Goldberg @ Anderson Gallery op Sat, Sept 13, 6:30—8:30pm (thru Jan 18)
• Erik Minter @ 4444 Main Street, Sat Aug 30—MOn Sept 1, 1—5
• Adam Zyglis @ Canisius College op Fri, Aug 29, 5—7pm
• Laura Bochet, Katie Coyle @ Sp@ce 224 (Allen St) op Thrus SEpt 4, 5-7pm
• Dr. Greg's Summer Autopsy closes @ Guerilla (1115 Elmwood) Sat, Aug 30, 7-11pm


In Her Eyes
Opening Aug 30 @ Hardware
Sat, Aug 30, 7-11pm (thru Sept 25)

w/ Jeannine Swallow, Caitlyn Ohlson, Victoria Clostek, Amanda Giczkowski


Artists Like Food
@ the Kenan Center
op Fri, Aug 29, 7-9pm (thru Oct 5)

w/ Rita Argen Auerbach, Stefani Bardin, Priscilla Bowen, Doreen DeBoth, Marion Faller, Jackie Felix, AJ Fries, Courtney Grim, Katherine Gullo, Biff Henrich, Thomas Kegler, Kevin Charles Kline, Ryan Legassicke, Coni Minecci, Michael Morgulis, Barbara Murak, Nancy Pelosi, James Paulsen, John Pfahl, Christy Rupp, Noreen Spurling, Christopher Stangler, John Yerger


Alicia Ross @ Black & White

Alicia Ross Website


Lyle Ashton Harris
opening at UB Art Gallery
Thurs, Sept 5, 5pm
Lecture Mon, Sept 15, 6:30pm




Joel Lewitsky @ Betty's
op Mon, Sept 8, 6-9pm (thru Nov 9)



Monsters Redux

Fri, Sept. 5, Albright Knox (outside, rear), 6pm SHARP

"The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is presenting a performance by a multi media, flexible lineup, consortium of artists. The performance, entitled Monsters of Nature and Design II, will play on the format of a ritual sacrifice in tribal societies with undercurrent themes of colonialism, globalism, transformation, and transcendence. It will include painting, sculpture, performance and music all wrapped into one event. In other words, some pianos will be ritually destroyed to the accompaniment of an original musical score. This is a follow up performance to one done in April 2007, at Hallwalls, in Buffalo. The event will be no longer than 30 minutes."

Monsters @ HW, April 2007

A Teenage Thriller

"[Buffalo artist]Joan Fitzgerald's fifth children's book, a Young Adult novel called "Merry-Go-Round" has just been published by Marble House Editions, New York City. The cover design is by Anita Johnson....Fifteen year-old Sherrie Lasker is tired of her parents being so over protective! She wants to get an after-school job, go out with her friends, and have fun like other kids do. When the county fair comes to town, her mom and dad say she and her friend can only go if they are with adults. Sherrie knows her parents have good intentions, but when will they let her grow up? What Sherrie doesn’t know, though, is that she is being watched by someone with bad intentions. She comes close to danger more than once, but makes a narrow escape, thanks to surprise rescuer.”
Marble House Editions


Continuing Elsewhere
• OP Art Revisited at the Albright thru Jan 25
• Michael Veit at the Castellani thru Sept 14
• Mark Weld at Market Street Art Center (Lockport) thru Sept 14
• Robert Burley, Avalanche Collective, Ryan Boatright, Jim DeLucia, Bingyi Huang at the Rochester Contemporary thru Sept 21
• Brian Dickinson at Hardware thru Aug 28
• Monica Angle, Georgia Trimper, Barbara Baird @ Springville Center for the Arts thru Sept 20
• Buffalo Flickr Photographers at Betty's thru Sept 7
• Biff Henrich at the Buffalo Museum of Science thru Aug 31
• Kara Daving at the Niagara Aquarium thru Aug
• Marc Burgess at College Street Gallery thru Aug 30
• Joe Whalen at Market Street Gallery (Lockport) thru Sept 8
• Aasta Deth at Three Rivers Art Gallery, Pittsburgh thru Aug 28
• Max Streicher: Metamorphosis at the Castellani op Fri, Oct 5
• Dianne Baker at Kouros Gallery (NYC) thru Aug 29
• Rick Steinberg at Quaker Bonnet thru Aug 29
• Tom Hughes @ 218 Grant St by appt. Tom@autocrat-art.org Buff News preview Eisenberg
• Buffalo Flickr Photographers at Betty's thru Sept 7
• Writing With Light at CEPA thru Aug 27
• Lukia Costello at The Rabbit Room thru Nov 1
• Will West at El Museo thru August 31
• Diane Baker at The Mansion on Delaware (indefinitely)


El Museo Call for Work

El Museo is holding its 11th Annual Altars Exhibit opening

October 31 on view through November 29 2008. Any one interested in building an altar for our annual Day of the Dead Celebration please send a letter of intent with your contact information to 91 Allen Buffalo NY 14202 or to elmuseobuffalo@aol.com or you can call 884-9693.


Reply to the Olympics Controversy

artnet Cai Guo-Qiang


"Arthur’s recent but rising dyspepsia concerning what he was seeing in the galleries owed mostly to his feeling old and increasingly out of touch with the postmodern art world."

artnet Plagens


"Listening to Richard Serra talk about sculpture is like listening to Russell Crowe talk about acting: after a while you feel you’re either in the presence of genius or the victim of an elaborate con."

NY Times


"What they have collected separately and together over the last 30 years will be exhibited in a new space in the suburb of Gurgaon, what will be, in effect, India’s first contemporary art museum."

NY Times


"The snake oil, the romantic promise of every Beatles hit and Sinatra croon, seeps through each hour of Kramer’s desperate middle age, not just his love life."

artnet Finch


"Let me confess that there’s a scene in this film in which Margaret Kilgallen and Barry McGee sit at a kitchen table, each reading a copy of Most Art Sucks, a scene which left me honored, humbled, and feeling kinda stupid. "

artnet Finch


"Certain artists may do their best work in the public arena. The Kapoor Bean’s giant, mercurylike dollop of brilliantly polished steel gives the phrase plop art robust new life and converts this artist’s sometimes glib involvement with reflective surfaces into an enveloping experience both humorous and almost sublime."

NY Times Smith


"Favorite sounds: Mafalda Favero singing “The Last Rose of Summer,” New York City at night, geese overhead, Joe’s voice, the cat’s purr, silence. Silence is the tough one, all but impossible to find."

NY Times


"Not since Don Quixote have so many windmills presented such an orgy of illusion..."

When I was waxing on last week about the windmills rocking the shore of Lake Erie in Buffalo, I hadn't yet seen this NY Times article. And while I was waxing on, a friend in Canada responded by waxing off and sent me a link to this other NY Times article about the more desultory edge to the windmills of our minds. This latter article focuses on issues of noise and political corruption and, at least as far as noise goes, the issue is moot here. Buffalo's windmills are located on land not used for anything else, between the highway and the lake and beside a slag heap, which may not become desirable condo ground for decades yet.


"He won a devoted readership for his literate style, his capacity for passionate appreciation and the breadth of his interests."

NY Times obit


"George Deem, a painter who admired master painters so much that he spent his own career re-painting their works, albeit with clever alterations, died on Aug. 11 at home in Manhattan."

NY Times Weber


Something I listened to this week...

You know, it still sounds pretty good. I was 14 when the album was first released, perhaps the best possible age to absorb this insane but somehow brilliant record and it's been an awfully long time since I listened to it. Maybe I like it for different reasons now. I'm much more cognizant now of its blatant theatricality and am far more appreciative of Meat Loaf's magnificent, self-conscious absurdity. A veteran of live theater when he recorded this, it remains one of the most interesting vocal performances of the late 1970s. I was aware of its preposterous quality then, but when you're 14, it sounds a lot less like melodrama and a lot more like the exaggerated sensation with which you experience life as a teenager. The epic grandeur of all those hormones and emotions and growing pains. I can remember acutely going with my parents to visit some friends and while the grownups commiserated in the kitchen, us youngsters were sprawled across the living room listening to the album from start to finish. The family we were visiting were the kind who would regularly have priests from our church over for food and drinks and somewhere in the middle of the album, one of the visiting priests popped into the living room. He was the new young buck of the parish, a skinny young priest they had obviously hired to make the church seem hip, in a devout sort of way. He stood there, somewhat sheepish, bobbing his head a little to demonstrate his cool, not quite realizing that he was grooving to the ultimate teenage fuck opera. He asked us what we were listening to and we felt equally sheepish having to tell this awkward padre that we were enjoying something called Bat Out Of Hell. He stayed just long enough to figure he'd established his street cred to us and retired back to the kitchen.




image courtesy of Simpleposie


Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow