THE DANZIG EXHIBITION

FUNHOUSE GALLERY DETROIT OCT 14TH & 15TH

DANZIG. Yeah, that’s right. I said Danzig. 

I’m going to do my best to give a short mock-up of our installation, but really, you cannot, and should not put this thing into words.  These are my final afterthoughts, and after this, it should probably never be spoken of ever again. So, here’s how it all began. It all revolves around this AMAZING IM conversation between some dude and Danzig’s neighbour. It goes like this:

Danzig is just Cleaning up his Mother Fucking Bricks

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Metalsucks.com for posting this in March earlier this year. Changed my life. Not really, but seriously, it gets me every time.  Obviously, this whole thing could be total bullshit….but it’s DANZIG. It has to be true, right? RIGHT??? You just can’t make this stuff up….

On October 14th and 15th, 2011, my colleague and I were given the opportunity to fill Funhouse Detroit, a “fun art” gallery located in the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit.  It’s located right down the hall from my own studio. Mind you, in between Funhouse and our studio space, is a Detroit icon, the granddaddy of Rock N Roll poster art: Mark Arminski.  Surely, we would never do anything to embarrass ourselves.  Nahhhhhhh.

During my time at the RIC, my studio has become known as the “Danzig Room.”  A drunken stupor of meself stumbled outside of my studio one evening, and painted the word “Danzig” on the door. The joke has now spun completely and utterly out of control.

Instead of showing my work (which was conveniently displayed right down the hall in its own vicinity) I thought it would be more interesting (heh) to do something different. Something no one has seen yet. Surprise everyone, ya know…

Everything we needed for the installation was handed to us, like it was meant to be.  I even had a convenient pile of bricks in my yard-I’m sure it was very similar to what Danzig had in his own. They were right there, just staring at me….telling me to take everyone for a ride and give them what they least expected: A Danzig Exhibition.  The wheel barrel was found/stolen elsewhere. This thing was hilarious, too.  Like, a total piece of shit-flat tire and all.  The IM conversation above was made into a stencil, and spray painted directly on the wall. On the opposing side of Danzig’s Pile of Bricks, we had the infamous video (cut down, and muted) of Danzig being punched in the face on a continuous loop. Like, four straight hours of Danzig getting punched in the face…over, and over, and over… Yeah, we’re assholes. But at least we’re funny assholes.

I had last minute doubts an hour before show time, but then I looked over at the barrel, all carefully lit in the middle of the room….and its stupid flat tire. It looked so sad.  I laughed, and said to myself: “No. This is happening.”

The flat tire. The simplest, yet, most important detail.

Of course, I had Danzig and Misfits playing the whole time. Mixed reaction from the crowd. I heard side splitting laughter from those who “got it” and silence from those who did not. After seeing the display in FUNHOUSE, I would advise people to check out my real work in the “Danzig” room right down the hall.  (Remember, the word Danzig is painted on my door).  Most people had fun with it and gave me second chance….

People looked confused; some tried to find a deeper meaning or a metaphor beyond the deteriorating barrel and the dramatically lit pile of bricks that layered the top. Nope, I mean, knock yourself out…we just did it because we thought it was funny. Some people really got a kick out of it, and that’s all that matters.  You’re going to get that with any kind of art.

Being an artist is about being bold, and taking chances, even if it revolves around something like Glenn Danzig. Don’t get me wrong…I’m a HUGE fan of Danzig Misfits…but seriously…What happened to that guy, anyway? He used to be the KING of EVIL, now he’s just a “poor homeowner” bringing property value down in his neighborhood.  It’s just…so easy to laugh at him.

Highlight of the weekend: A guy named “Donzig” showed up.  He didn’t know who Danzig was. Well, now he does.

Donzig reading about Danzig

Now, I’m thinking about the finale: Driving to L.A. and dumping the bricks off on his lawn so I can have another story for my next expo.

Thanks to Mike Kelly and Funhouse Gallery for letting us have fun with this. He actually knew nothing about it, and I was super interesting in getting his reaction.  An hour before show-time, he came in, looked around, looked at the wheel barrel full of bricks, looked around again, and said, “Aren’t you going to hang up any of your other things?” I smiled coolly, and said, “Uhhh, errr…no. Just Danzig.  Anything else would obstruct the pile of the bricks. “

I can only assume that the long and winding career of myself trying to be an artist can only go downhill from here. This is it. This was the peak. It all led up to Danzig.  I only wish he showed up to see it. That jackass.