Momentum 09 was last night, and I was really surprised by the quality and scope and size and attendance of the show. It was packed, the work was 75% good, all stuff I’m not used to seeing in this town, and it filled a freaking warehouse.



There were a lot of big open installations, a lof of big cool paintings, some shit photos (sorry everyone, but the photo showing this year just wasn’t that great, with a few notable exceptions). Hving these clouds right by the entrance set the mood for the place: it was as if someone took a piece of a real art scene out of the air of New York or Santa Fe and stuck it here in oak city, improbably and strangely. So it seemed natural to see a crib full of beer bongs and a whole room of homoerotic black fraternity induction paintings.





Then there was my friend Bobby’s band, playing a pretty rad live set. If they’d had a cd available, I’d have bought one, and that’s not something I do a lot. These kids know how to rock.













Then there was this womblike installation in what used to be a woman’s restroom. It was completely transformed and amazing; all it needed was some giant pillows on the floor and some mild hallucinogenic gas in the air and it would have been perfect.


I didn’t know what to think of the deer. But I like the photo, so sue me.



Some MC, not all that great. Nobody’s perfect, maybe he was havin’ an off night.



Then there was the after after after party, which was really about four people in Jim’s apartment eating cheese and drinking french wine. I’d like to say it was a nice end to the night, but there were a couple fights on the lawn that complicated things. So instead it was kind of a haggard exhausted end to the evening, but at least it was in good company.

Posted by Matt on 2009-03-08T00:00:00Z GMT