it ain't exactly prison @Rusalon in Greenpoint Brooklyn

                      "a blessing come from heaven,
                      i was healed, and my heart was at ease"
                      Bodega bags, cigarette pack foil, glue, tape 2011

 

                         "it ain't exactly prison"
                          Motor, wax, wood, paint, aluminum, hardware 2011 

                          "it doesn't matter how you worship"
                          Dartboard, lights, paint. 2011

                         "i'm broken from bending..."
                         Xmas lights, 2011

@ Sala Diaz: Git a Rope: TOP PICKS APRIL 7-14, 2010.... more press

JOHN WAYNE AND PAUL RUBENS

fri 9 Art Opening

Sometimes, when we open press releases, we're pleasantly surprised to find all of the pertinent details, typed in a sensible font, accompanied by a to-the-point description of what to expect from the event. I love that story. Other times folks use ALL CAPS to demand that we list their appearance THIS FRIDAY at some place they failed to mention. In this particular case all we have to go on is an imaginary, joint interview with John Wayne and Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman). Sala Diaz's Hills Snyder encouraged us to "take what we could" from the press release and avoid relying on gossip leaks and sneaky research. OK, imagine for a moment the life-sized cardboard cutouts of "major collaborators" Reubens and Wayne watching two bad-boy artists (from out of town) using whatever's lying around to make "8th grade reading level conceptual art" in the type of disaster area that would give any parent a serious panic attack. (Wayne to Reubens) "Look Pee-wee! That varmint's making a tower out of sliced bread." (Reubens to Wayne) "Cool, John! It kind of looks like a pecker!" Or, of course, the exhibition could have that ever-popular "theme" that complicates sending out a logical press release: we-haven't-made-anything-yet. Free, 7-11pm, Sala Diaz, 517 Stieren, (210) 852-4492

I promise you we had nothing to do with this cover, but we wish we did:

For Woody Guthrie on My Birthday

@ Sala Diaz: Git a Rope: Drawings!!!! basically by all dave lukowski

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: Sunscreen is important kids

here is what happens when you leave your ballz in the sun for a month

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: Positive Influnces and Good Decision Making: Part 2

you remember this: http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/reviews/potters-stick/index.shtml

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: Positive Influnces and Good Decision Making: The Ball Dance

There is simply nothing more to be said.

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: Richter

The finest painting i will ever make:

@ Basement Gallery: Things Not to Say in Moments of Social Consequence w/ Lynn Gufeld

 Things Not to Say in Moments of Social Consequence
              February 2nd, 2007 - February 23rd, 2007         
 Two Person Exhibition     Lynn Gufeld & Scott Penkava

             

Lynn Gufeld
                                                            

                                                                                                

Scott Penkava

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: Player Piano/Jukebox Hybrid

According to a few, one of the highlights of the show was this cardboard player piano/jukebox hybrid, to get the full experience, get a shitty radio, tune it to the local country station, and then knock it out of tune to the place where the reception is fine if you stand in this spot, but cuts out if you stand two steps to the left. yep, the quality is built right in.

@ Gavin Brown's Enterprise: The Living and the Dead: Untitled (Felix in New York)

My Felix Gonzalez-Torres tribute piece from the summer show at GBE in '09

From FGT's journal: "i don't necessarily know how these pieces are best displayed. i don't have all of the answers--you decide how you want it done.whatever you want to do, try it.this is not some minimalist art work that has to be exactly two inches to the left and six inches down. play with it, please.have fun. give yourself that freedom.  put my creativity into question, minimize the preciousness of the piece."

 Bonus points if you can name the kid in this photo.

and now, some links to some press:
http://artobserved.com/2009/07/ao-on-site-gavin-browns-enterprise-wednesday-july-1st-the-living-and-the-dead/




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@ Artist's Space: Salad Days 3: I never asked for anything, please don't let me down again

This is the essay that Teneille Haggard wrote about me in the catalog for the summer show in '08 at Artist's Space.

I met Scott Penkava at his MFA exhibition at Hunter College. In the gallery I awkwardly
climbed onto his work which was –a life- sized, slanted, shingled roof- top, where we
played pool. I lost. The work reminded me of my ranch- style childhood home:, the
same roof, the same pool table, the same depressed lighting and sense of unease and
disorientation. Scott is very tall. I am very short. We look quite funny together. No
more funny than learning that we had groewn just up a few miles and a few years apart,
many miles away from New York. Outside of his studio, he Scott showed me a grocery
cart of filled with bricks he had picked up from scavenging around the city streets. He proposed assembling a wishing well of sorts for this exhibition.

The traditions of Chistoph Büchel, Mike Kelley, and Rirkrit Tiravanija are evident in his
Scott’s use of found objects, his site-specific installations, and his social engagement, and
site specific installations. The works’ formalism present in the works is overridden by
his a sense of theatricality and inclusion of performance. When Scott proposed building
a wishing well, a scene from Goonies came to my mind, in which. In the movie the
character Mouth decides to take back the his coins and reclaim his the wishes that never
came true. There is something both wondrous and disturbing about the act of exchanging
tokens exchanged for wishes. Scott incorporates a deadpan wit and sense play in this
work, but ultimately creatinges an experiment without predictability, conclusion, or end.

@Sala DiaZ: Git a Rope: Panoramic view of the front room as if you were standing right inside the front door.

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: BLUTO!!!!

 here he is, BLUTO our revolutionary dinosaur with a mohawk, one of our many mascots on this adventure, he belonged at this show about as much as anything else, which is of course to say, perfectly. moonshine, cowboy boots, bandoleers and prehistoric killing machines, that's about as natural as dogs wearing sweaters.

@ Sala DiaZ: Git A Rope: MY GRILLZ

 When you come to a Penkava/Lukowski joint, expect that we will come hungry and  take the time to  make ourselves a  snack, and if you're really lucky then you'll be able to hop on board with us. We decided to keep it real for this particular adventure, summertime, yards, hedonism, sawzalls, empty beer kegs... it's time to grill.