Nine Inch Bohemian James Stanfield

I found myself at the Zak Smith opening last Wednesday in Chelsea. The art was really boring. I mean put you to sleep boring. The paintings reminded me of high school work – or maybe my first year in art school when all I wanted was to draw my new girlfriend naked.

The opening was packed and many of the guests had really cool died hair-jobs. Part of the crowd was pure Chelsea, but the other part seemed like they had just walked out of a NIN video (circa 89 or 90). I never really liked NIN. 1990-93 was always more about Nirvana or old Minor Threat and Crass records to me. Anyway, the hair-jobs were fun and the crowd made up for the sad pictures.

Ian Pedigo once said that he did not know why the arts are associated with the idea of bohemianism. I've thought about this, and I’m uncertain myself. When one bohemian group becomes a little tired a new set of cool kids appears. I guess that psychedelic kid art – the stuff in that new Deitch book – is on its way out, and here comes an awkward reworking of a strange phase, associated with the music industry, when synthesizers, punk, and goth all met to send industrial music into a perilous downward spiral. Hair-Job.