"The Opening" at Reena Spaulings Is a Show About Nobody

Art shows are back in swing now which means catching up with the folks that we were hiding from all summer (JK!). I went to a beautifully disastrous opening last weekend at Reena Spaulings. There were people smoking on the fire escape, trying to uncork a champagne bottle with teeth, and hanging out and not really looking at art... that is until some guy started splattering buckets of black paint all over the blank canvases on the wall, creating a huge mess on the floor and writing sarcastic messages like "Relax It's Only a Crap Reena Spaulings Show" in a sloppy handwriting. Then he walked out of the room and everyone went back to drinking, smoking and blabbering. Well, that "some guy" was the artist Merlin Carpenter and the show was simply and facetiously called "The Opening." I loved this rude "happening" and the general battitude that was all around -- coming from both the artist and the spectators. It was, how shall I put it... very downtown. O.K., so Reena Spaulings, IS very downtown (it's on the corner of East Broadway and Essex -- it really doesn't get much lower than that), but you know what I mean. Maybe it's just that I was coming off of a socially-challenging summer and happy to see my friends again, but being at this show that celebrated nobody in particular felt very festive.

Artist Rob Pruitt (center) & RS's co-owner Emily Sundblad (right)