24/10/2003
Guy Richards Smit
Satellite, New York
A Message to My Audience. An amped up yet intimate installation of painting and video within a recreation of the bedroom of Maxi Geil!, the rockstar alter-ego of artist Guy Richards Smit. Coupling seemingly incongruent attributes-that of the ego-driven exhibitionist with an intimate and personal portrayal of his band Maxi Geil! & PlayColt-Smit dances a paradoxical line between parody and sincerity. Live Performance: Joe's Pub, Saturday, October 25. The exhibition runs November 1 - December 6, 2003.
"A Message to My Audience"
Satellite is very pleased to present "A Message to My Audience" an amped up
yet intimate installation of painting and video within a recreation of the
bedroom of Maxi Geil!, the rockstar alter-ego of artist Guy Richards Smit.
Coupling seemingly incongruent attributes-that of the ego-driven
exhibitionist with an intimate and personal portrayal of his band Maxi Geil!
& PlayColt-Smit dances a paradoxical line between parody and sincerity.
By making the bedroom of Maxi Geil the setting for this exhibition, Smit
plumbs the depths of the cult of personality, reaching beyond the facade of
fame, and exposing the inner, vulnerable side of his infamous Maxi Geil!
persona. Within this very intimate setting, a place where we imagine sex and
dreams unfolding,
Smit reveals the inner life of rock stars, through sensuous yet quiet
portraits of each of the band members. Not the glitzy, hyped images you
would expect of members of a rock band, Smit presents sensitive depictions
of each band member engaged in deeply personal, introspective moments.
In contrast to this, the full-on star quality of the Maxi Geil! & PlayColt
phenomena is played out on the bedroom's TV set. A broadcast of the
television music program "Countdown Video Klasse!x{201D}-beamed directly from
from the upper reaches of Alpine Switzerland-hypes the band through video
performances of live shows and a staged music video of the hit "Strange
Sensation". Hosted by a Swiss, Deutsch-speaking version of Carson Daly, this
pop television program confirms the expansive international influence of
Maxi Geil! & PlayColt. In the hit video "Strange Sensation" even the
classical art of ballet must reach out to Maxi Geil! & PlayColt in order to
reinvent itself into a relevant contemporary art form.
Guy Richards Smit has previously exhibited his work in, among other venues,
MOMA's MediaScope, La Bienal de Valencia, Havana Biennial, Palm Beach
Istitute of Contemporary Art, Bass Museum of Art, Aeroplastics (Brussels),
G-Module (Paris), and Roebling Hall.
Live Performance: Joe's Pub, Saturday, October 25, 9 PM, $12
Reception Saturday, November 1st, 6-9 PM
Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12-6 PM
November 1 - December 6, 2003
SATELLITE (a division of ROEBLINGHALL)
94 Prince Street
Manhattan NY