More impressive press, if you find not swearing impressive

ORIGINAL LINK!!!!!:

http://www.fluentcollab.org/mbg/index.php/reviews/review/148/248

 

David Lukowski and Scott Penkava

Sala Diaz, San Antonio

Closed May 10, 2010

by Allison Myers

David Lukowski and Scott Penkava
Installation view of Git a Rope
2010
Courtesy of the artists
View Gallery

David Lukowski and Scott Penkava
Installation view of Git a Rope
View Slideshow

We’ve all seen them – those plastic testicles that dangle from the rear ends of F-150s across America. Thoughtfully referred to as Truck Nuts, these “vehicle ornaments” have become icons of down home virility and rural machismo. They’re also the centerpiece of Sala Diaz’s gregarious exhibition John Wayne and Paul Rubens. Guest curated by Katy Siegel, New York-based artists David Lukowski and Scott Penkava transformed the San Antonio artist-run space into a Texas-style party house, with John Wayne and Paul Rubens, aka Pee Wee Herman, as the guests of honor.
Since the gallery is itself a house on a quiet residential street, the transformation comes off especially well. The installation is a meticulously planned haphazard array that seems born out of the minds of punk rock frat boys. 70's used furniture, blow up cacti, lone star and long horns fill the house along with a spray painted green cardboard jukebox and two rocking horses (one a rhino, the other a tractor) done up tug-of-war style. The walls are painted in a Rauschenberg-esque style of messy abstraction and the space is literally covered in hand-cast Truck Nuts. Some are neon-colored, some are actually soap on a rope, while still others have the drippy appearance of melting under the Texas sun. Their number and quality are supposed to hit you in the face. The first thing you see in the yard, for instance, is a large pink pair positioned just under a rubber chicken that can only be read as (ahem) cock and balls. The soul of the installation lies in the opening night party where Lukowski and Penkava grilled sausages on home-made keg grills while dressed in Texas-themed costumes. Tug of war and cactus blowing contests were the featured events and added a healthy dose of manly competition.
The obvious schtick of the show is a packaged, cowboy-up style of Texas dudeliness. Or more accurately, the “Texas myth,” as gallery director Hills Snyder put it. This character-type is carried through by the presence of John Wayne, who appears as a wall-size photo mural in a scene from McLintock!, a comedy-western that plays off Wayne’s misogynist brand of masculinity. In the scene, The Duke, shovel in hand, spanks a scowling Maureen O’Hara over his knee in front of a laughing, jeering crowd of onlookers - a mildly disturbing scene to juxtapose against so many ball sacks.
It’s not the spanking itself that’s bothersome – that sentiment is as old as sexism itself. It’s the laughable spectacle of the scene that turns a degrading and demoralizing act into the stuff of jokes. This is exactly the kind of effect that makes me a little nervous about Lukowski and Pankova’s exhibition. At base, it’s a good-natured, fun-loving show that turns the Texas cowboy mythology into a spectacle. But that jovial self-consciousness often loses its critical edge in the aftermath, leaving the door open for a simple fond remembrance of all those crazy Truck Nuts.
The only place of mediation comes with the addition of Pee Wee Herman, an archetype of the non-masculine who affects dainty, child-like mannerisms. He is pictured wall size, dancing on a bar, in a scene from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (the one where he goes to the Alamo, get it?). More significantly, he also appears in doll form, smiling and spanking a Barbie doll bent over his knee. A pile of toothpicks, one of the few cowboy approved accessories, right beside him. Pee Wee’s pose, unlike the Duke’s, comes off as completely disturbed, a strange anomaly in an otherwise casually male environment. Though the show is in some ways just a fun-time, this clash between the casual mythology and the overblown spectacle makes the installation interesting.
Discussing the totemic symbolism of the phallus, or the post-feminist appropriation of blah blah, however, would miss the point. Lukowski and Penkava deal with some deep issues here. Contemporary masculinity and performing gender, to name two. But they do this in such an off-hand, in your face way that you can’t help but laughingly call them pigs. And I think that’s the point. Though I would have liked to see something more than just another riff on the Texas cowboy image, these darker undertones and complications make the installation worthwhile.
The show is over, unfortunately. But for those of you who’ve missed out, the artists set up an extensive Facebook page documenting the space, the opening, and their trip from Brooklyn to San Antonio. Check it out here.
Allison Myers is a freelance writer based in Austin. She received her M.A. in art history from The University of Texas at Austin.

I run a few newspapers

click on this:
http://nicholashay.wordpress.com/2010/04/10/testicular-mayhem-at-sala-diaz/
it's a link to a fucking review we got:

Testicular Mayhem at Sala Diaz!

Posted in Uncategorized by nicholashay on April 10, 2010

Yuko and I found out about a couple of shows in San Antonio and decided to check them out this evening.  Up first was Lawrence Markey Gallery’s exhibition of a bunch of Wayne Thiebaud’s drawings from the late sixties/early seventies.  If it weren’t for all of the fucking rich people shooting the shit and schmoozing all over each others faces then I would say that it was a pretty fucking good show.  All of the drawings were either graphite or charcoal on paper.  It looked like simple subject matters of things sitting around the studio, but they were pretty fucking interesting.  They kind of reminded me of some of Vija Celmin’s paintings of objects from her studio – from the early sixties.  Usually Markey Gallery has these really fucking bad-ass cheese swirl twists appetizers, but I couldn’t find them today.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of this event because as soon as I walked in and saw all of the fucking people I freaked out slightly and was ready to leave.  The show was good, but the people were freaks.

Up next was the slinky balls over at Sala Diaz.  To tell you the truth I wasn’t really expecting for either one of the shows to be that awesome.  I was really just looking for a reason to get the fuck out of San Marcos for the evening.  However, both turned out to be pretty fucking good.  Lawrence Markey had a lot more drawings than I was expecting to see.  Normally they put out like two or three and leave a bunch of fucking space everywhere, but this time the walls were almost packed.  As for Sala Diaz, well I wasn’t really expecting anything at except for what I read on a website that announces upcoming shows in major Texas cities, but for some reason was not interested in posting mine last week.  The website mentioned something about a conceptual conversation between John Wayne and Pee Wee Herman.  I don’t really know what the fuck that was all about, but I do know that there was a lot of this shit:


Slinkies in jelly nutsacks.  There were a few of these but mostly just jelly nutsacks.




There was also a fucking cornucopia of golden nut sacks.  I am guessing that this was some kind of statement on explicit masculinity or some bullshit like that.  But it doesn’t totally make any fucking sense to me.  If someone was interested in explaining it to me I am not even sure if I would be interested in listening.  It is just something that needs to be felt out.




At first I thought that it was pretty fucking stupid, but after seeing the nut sacks again and again I started to really like it more and more.




I understand what John Wayne has to do with the nut sacks, but I didn’t really get the Pee Wee Herman reference except for the fact that he got caught playing with his dick that one time in the theater.  I like to think that there is something more to it than a cheap ass shot like that but maybe I am over thinking it and it is just one big fucking joke.



If it is just a fucking joke then at least it is fucking funny.  I have seen a lot of art jokes lately in some San Antonio galleries.  Some of them weren’t very funny and some were just fucking jokes, but this seems like something more.  I have no fucking idea what the toothpicks are for but some guy in a clown outfit was cooking bar-b-que when we got there.




Try to find all of the fucking nut sacks in this blurry image.




I assume that this guy was eventually part of some performance later on in the evening, but I wasn’t really interested in sticking around to see.  I am sure that if there was a performance it was a little self-indulgent and probably smelled like Lone Star.  I liked the work as it was and didn’t need to see some asshole goof around to convince me it was good.




I think that Yuko really fucking loved this show.  Either that or I photographed her totally off guard while she was trying to maneuver her way around this inflatable cactus and at the same time trying not to touch it for fear of what she might contract.  Either way she is a weirdo.




As I mentioned previously, I didn’t really totally understand everything that was going on.



There was also this projected video of some old guy tinkering around with something.




Okay Mountain left their fucking toys in the front yard.




I guess this is fucking cock and balls.  Laugh out loud if you fucking want.  In the end I think that I really like the show.  I might think that it was fucking stupid when I wake up tomorrow.  I know I thought it was stupid when I saw this thing, but for now I think that it was pretty fucking cool and I would highly suggest some other mother fuckers to come down and make their own decisions.  By the way, I don’t know who the fucking artist was that was responsible for this shit.  Nor am I interested in looking that shit up.  I’m not a fucking journalist, just a fan.  I wish I could have gotten some of that bar-b-que, but I wasn’t about to eat something that some mother fucker in clown make-up was cooking.

Lawyers, Guns and Money

here's what/who the show was all about, our boys pee-wee and john, they guided us through, inspired our long days and nights, and in the end, due to a clerical error with the press release, took credit for the entire show.

here is the aforementioned press release:

An interview with two major collaborators towards the show, John Wayne and Paul Reubens:

Interviewer: The sheer odds against us finding the two of you on one sheet of paper are stupendous. 
John Wayne: Well, I don't favor talkin to vermin but i'll talk to you just this once.
I: I welcome the honor. 
Paul Reubens: Well, here's the thing. I totally, during interviews, a lot of the time, lie. I make stuff up.
I: Perfect. So where do we begin? Perhaps your subject. Where do you come from and how do you work?
JW: I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing...I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble. (pours himself a whiskey)

PR: I love that story.

I: What I enjoy about reading and viewing your work is that you have the ability to connect with the common man in a way that we can understand it.
JW: I made up my mind that I was going to play a real man to the best of my ability. I felt many of the western stars of the twenties and thirties were too goddamn perfect. They never drank or smoked. They never wanted to go to bed with a beautiful girl. They never had a fight. A heavy might throw a chair at them, and they just looked surprised and didn`t fight in this spirit. They were too goddamn sweet and pure to be dirty fighters. Well, I wanted to be a dirty fighter if that was the only way to fight back. If someone throws a chair at you, hell, you pick up a chair and belt him right back. I was trying to play a man who gets dirty, who sweats sometimes, who enjoys kissing a gal he likes, who gets angry, who fights clean whenever possible but will fight dirty if he has to. You could say I made the western hero a roughneck. Maybe I can give some poor bastard a little hope by being honest.
PR: I love that story, too. For me, I really think it's the same for me as it is for them. I've always felt like a kid, and I still feel like a kid, and I've never had any problem tapping into my childhood, and my kid side. And I think that's a very universal thing, I don't think it's unique to me at all. People I've talked to in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s have all told me "You know, I still feel 20." So I don't expect that I'm going to be any different.

I: What is the contrast between the intent of your work and the perception of your work?

JW: I can't help this stupid look. I couldn't hit a wall with a sixgun, but I can twirl one. It looks good.

PR: I model myself after a Jimmy Cagney sort of role. That's pretty much what I'm closest to. Spencer Tracy maybe. I was a serious actor in the James Dean kind of school. 

I: That's funny because your image is not that right now.

PR: Well I had a different image and I had a different image of myself. 

I: You seem to have a great sense of humor.

PR: I seem to, yes.
JW: Get off your horse and drink your milk. I never trust a man that doesn't drink.
I: Are you a romantic?
JW: I wouldn't make it a habit, calling me that, son. I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser--that's my nature. I don't act. I react.
I: Well, we all react every day to thousands of images, inundated to the point that we have become visually ambivalent. How do you break through the numbness and complacency?
JW: Well, I don`t care much about images...(sip) I couldn't hit a wall with a sixgun, but I can twirl one. It looks good.
I: Can you give us some insight into what to expect for your upcoming exhibition?
JW: Well, we do exactly what we started out to do. So, you have something in it - you have action and you have scenic shots that you can split up the scenes. You give them action, you give them a scene, give them some scenery, give them some action, give them a scene. And there's less monotony. Let's face it, if there's monotony in everything and particularly if you have to explain a story, there has to be a lot of narration. So, all these things help to make a show more entertaining.
PR: Don't you love that story? I worked with some amazing people. It's just one of those things that happens every once in a while, and it's a lot of fun, because you're working with great people and it's very casual and relaxed. You don't put the makeup on, and you don't worry about what you look like. It was a really remarkable situation—they were completely open to what we were trying to do. They liked what we were doing, and understood it, and they'd go along with almost anything. But to answer your question, I never viewed the adult “version” of the show as solely for adults. I tried to make it so that the act carried over. And if a kid had seen the original version and caught something, he might be able to laugh at something dirty because he caught the reference. And if a kid didn’t know, it flew right over his head. I always designed things to be dou ble entendres so it could be appreciated either way. I never really viewed it as, “Oh, this is the adult version, and this is the kid’s version.” In fact, when we were doing the adult version, I tried to make it for kids. And as soon as we had a kids’ show, I tried to add enough stuff to make adults remain interested in it. I think the show we are working on for this is much more geared for adults.
I: How do you feel about people’s reaction to your work?
PR: My sister was so freaked that she burst into tears right before the show and she had to be like put in an isolation booth. She didn't make it, but I did. I was like, after this drive? You gotta be kidding. Try to axe me from the show. Forget it.
I: How would you define the type of atmosphere and experience you are trying to create for the viewer/participant?
JW: If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.
PR: I meant to do that.

How does, or should, the word “passion” relate to an artist?
JW: God damn! I'm the stuff men are made of! Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful!

I: What do you feel is the most important element of your pictures? Is it your subjects, is it the process or is it your vision and concepts?
JW: You talk too much, think too much...too much...Where did you find these peckerwoods? (stomps off)
PR: I'd like to have a little informal chat with you, okay? Now look, you guys know that I really like you, right? Good, and I'm sure you'll understand what I'm about to say. The show is a place where we can all play. Now you know that you're welcome to come over and play any time that you want... but, for now, I think that the best thing for each of you to do is to go home, and reflect... on what I just told you.

My Glorious Cock (with David Lukowski)

the masthead from my show this summer with david lukowski at sala diaz in sunny san antonio.

it's beautiful, like derek zoolander.

(ps this video isn't sideways, your monitor is, turn that shit 90 degrees to the left)

now if you will be so kind as to rotate your computer 180 degrees you can enjoy this view of my cock