Sol Hashemi and Jason Hirata at the Dirty Shed

A week has passed since I last saw Jason Hirata and Sol Hashemi's work at the Dirty Shed--a DIY gallery at the home of Eric Fredericksen and Betsey Brock, in a more or less empty garage adjoining their back yard. Since I took some notes that night, and it was my second visit, I'm not going to completely forget the experience anytime soon. But, because memory fades--or shifts--as the days go by, I'd better get around to writing something about the show before it starts to be too late.

What would I call these guys? Painters of night? Surgeons of Light? Orchestrators of Fun and Fright? If Hirata and Hashemi's work were a painting, it would be a Neo Rauch. And if it were a T.V. show--Home Improvement. Well, maybe a dream you'd have if you watched a re-run of Home Improvement, looked at a book on Neo Rauch and then fell asleep at a party in a Seattle back yard on a balmy evening.

By now, several other people have written about the show, which is entitled Generally, incidentally, light. They did a much better job than I did of finding out how various elements of the show were made. Rather than duplicate that sort of information here, I prefer to refer you to their pieces, which are accompanied by photos:
Joey Veltkamp: http://joeyveltkamp.blogspot.com/2009/08/generally-incidentally-light.html, Jen Graves: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/in-art-news/Content?oid=1976340, Regina Hackett: http://www.artsjournal.com/anotherbb/2009/08/passing-strange.html.
(Have I missed anyone?) If a critic's job is to write about shows succinctly and incisively, comparing, contrasting, drawing connections between the work at hand and the work or practice of other artists, living or deceased, then I have little chance of becoming a critic. Anyway, this blog was just supposed to be about the Viewpoint and the phases of the moon--and remembering things that have been forgotten.

There's so much to tell about this show, it's hard to know where to begin. Well, at the entrance, I guess. In the driveway leading to the back yard, there was a slab of marble--or was it concrete--tilted backwards somewhat and facing the street, with the words "Dirty Shed" painted on it in roughly-painted blue letters. You walked past this sign, down the driveway, and then you had to open a gate. It took me a second to decide whether to pull it or push it to get in. I'm still not sure I did it the right way. Then you had to walk a few more paces through the remainder of the driveway before entering the back yard. I think I've got that right . On the south side of the yard, near the entrance, was a wheelbarrow full of small slabs of marble of different hues, which looked like they could have been castoffs from someone who engraves headstones. Just beyond this wheelbarrow, you came to a portable basketball hoop.

The back yard, with its various decorations, had a vaguely Japanese-paper-lantern, vaguely German-beer-garden atmosphere--but at the same time was so Seattle. Odd, repetitive music with more or less no melody was playing, Christmas lights of a couple colors were strung up, and many plants were growing in pots and flower beds, and on walls. A number of people, mostly belonging to Seattle's art crowd, were chatting while standing around, or sitting in wooden chairs, which were arranged in a circle around a trough containing logs for making a fire. A table was set up for serving drinks and snacks. And there was something like an electric toy piano to the side of the snacks and drinks area. I'll get to the yard in more detail after I describe the inside of the shed.

The "Dirty Shed," painted gray, is situated on the east side of the property, with its entrance on its west side. In other words, the shed is immediately east of the yard. What follows is a rough inventory of its contents--at least those that were brought in for the show. It was sometimes hard to tell what was a piece by the artists and what was a permanent part of the shed. In the end, it didn't really matter. The entire environment became their work, including all that happened from the beginning of the evening till the end.

Dirty Shed, West Wall, North Half:
A small tinsel piece, colored green, purple and gold--something like a Christmas-tree decoration or party favor. This was tucked into some crevice or crack, I think.

Dirty Shed, North Wall:
A four-pronged pitchfork hung, prongs up, on the wall. Intersecting it were two rows of little rectangular wood plaques with droll vignettes made from stickers on each. These included, but weren't limited to, the following images:
A dog with a cracker box (or did it just say "Crackers" over the dog?)
A werewolf (represented by just its head) with a yellow-glitter-centered white flower in its hair
A Tyranosaurus Rex skeleton with a red and white target superimposed on it.
A rake with a flashlight hung from its handle.
A giant diamond ring behind a cordon.
Three gold coins, labeled "25 cents," "50 cents" and "$5," dropping from above onto a maroon gurney.
A dog with a shopping list. (Was this dog a collie?)
A solemn figure, or figurine, (of the Pope, or a cardinal???) on a pedestal surrounded by something with three-sections--a mirror or screen, I think.
A camera with glasses
A rifle with a gold snowflake (and a glass?) over it.
A red car (a Chevy?) with camping supplies and a campfire on top of it

To the right (east) of this was a video of the highway as seen through the rear window of a truck, or SUV. Spare tire on right. (Reading Regina Hackett's review, I learned that this is a video of Hashemi and Hirata on their way to the Dirty Shed with neon light bulbs.
A silver computer tower with a Secure-A-Pen on top of it.
Photo of composite images of stained concrete, with an off-white trapezoid form painted on top of it.
A vertically placed piece of marble with a sticker towards the top reading:
HORROR
MOVIE NIGHT
In the corner: a fluorescent light bulb.

Dirty Shed, East wall:
A piece of marble with a red sticker leaned against the wall. The text of the sticker read:
RETURN
OF THE KILLER
GUITAR

A photo, unframed, of a chocolate birthday cake with big flakes of shaved chocolate on it and different-colored trick candles with a connecting strip in back. (I've forgotten the name for these candles.) A black plastic cake holder underneath the cake. A human hand (of a male?) holding an orange BIC lighter coming in from the top of the right side. The photo was pinned with clear plastic push-pins, just at the top.

Another marble piece, with a sticky at the top.

A photo in a plastic container, placed high on the wall. The photo said in black letters at the bottom: "Surprise." The image was of a little boy with somewhat spikey blond hair lying on a brown bench with three slats for a back. He was wearing a shirt with black stripes around the torso and red stripes around long sleeves. He had a red suspender showing on his left side. Or was it the strap of a bag he had over his shoulder? A tawny-colored dog was asleep on the floor in front of him, its head facing toward the right side of the photo. To the left of the boy on the bench was a large potted plant on a pedestal. Swedish ivy and red philodendrons were jumbled together.

Dirty Shed, South Wall:
As you rounded the bend to the south wall, you came to a piece of black plastic. This was there for utilitarian purposes, it was explained to me.
Four drawings pinned to the wall. Roughly drawn geometric figures in blue paint on white paper. Underneath them another small slab of marble with an inscription at the top: "EEK!"--in red letters, I believe, although I forgot to record it.
A leaning piece - cut glass. A chandelier ball at tend of silver beaded chain, suspended over mini-flashlight illuminating pointed upwards balanced on a large, mostly red with blue and yellow matchbox with a flame logo and the inscription, "FRED MEYER Matches for Camp and Kitchen."

Dirty Shed, West Wall, South Half:
On a piece of pegboard, painted white:
Two vertical rows of miniature beer cans, a gold bungee cord, a miniature red ax with a silver rim and another ax, higher up. A black reel of light blue nylon fishing line. A necklace--or a section of a necklace--with linked gold rings -- in each of them a little white dove.

Sliding Door (Door of the Shed):
A drawing, adhered to the inside of the door, of a sunrise (or sunset?) over the sea, in pale tones, with three silver quasi-geometric asteroids in the air. (See my description, below, of the photo on the side of the house. These two pieces were somewhat similar.)

Actions by Hirata and Hashemi Within the Shed:
At times, both Hashemi and Hirata wore gloves, but most of the time Hashemi had his off. The two artists talked back and forth, asking for each other's opinion on what they should do next, etc.
Three-way neon piece.
Lifting floorboard in back. Inserting light fixture.
Domino effect with lifted floorboards adjacent to south wall of shed.
Light fixture upside down _______. (I've forgotten something here.)
Lifting up other floorboards exposed broken-up concrete.
Crawl space underneath with dried and live weeds, grass and cobwebs.
An operation with a three-pronged neon light bulb that ended up getting broken. It's still not clear to me whether this was accidental or intentional.
Little blue elephant with flashlight at rear end: It wandered.
Two balanced fixtures of two neon bulbs each with a chain with another faceted crystal ball at the end.
Three more neon bulb fixture pieces.
One balancing piece between a computer monitor and what looked like a white/gray marble tombstone with no inscriptions.
Lots of power extension cords connecting to a central four-switch, 2 x 4 plug outlet.
Suede gloves.

Outside the Garage:
As I exited the garage, I noticed that just outside the garage door, to the north, was a little slab of marble with a a design painted on it. It was a pattern of concentric circles, broken by radials at 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, six o'clock and nine o'clock. The outer circles were pinkish red and orange. The inner circles were blue and purple. I guess you could say it was something like a rainbow of concentric circles.

Next I noticed a red humming bird feeder, hung from the eaves of the Dirty Shed, to the north of the door. My notes say something about yellow or white flowers. I believe this refers to a flower pattern on the humming bird feeder.

There was another piece of very tangible artwork outside the garage. This was a photo against the east side of the house. In my notes I've described this as a "mechanical hardware asteroid with bungee cords on a light blue/aqua background, with white borders, adhered to the wall with strapping tape in four places." I remember this piece, but not well enough to decipher the phrase "mechanical hardware asteroid." I do recall thinking for a second, when I saw it, of Magritte's floating rocks (http://www.walkongrass.com/xperimental/projects_new%20atlantis/new_atlantis.htm).

On the north side of the back yard: beans--or no, maybe a clematis plant--on a trellis against a white garage. Artichokes in bloom: purple flowers. Tomatoes? No--potatoes, I believe. Tall cabbage plants, corn and something like chard. A little fruit tree. Cedar seedlings. Cosmos. Orange nasturtiums. Red flowers somewhat resembling African daisies, but not exactly. Two more little fruit trees.

Fire in a metal trough. Made me think of pigs. Christmas lights: one string of pink and white illuminated one tradiational at garage entrance not. The white lights were draped from the house to--I think--the white garage with the trellis. Four wooden chairs and one matching stool. "Stereophonic sound maker," also labeled "Optigan," which is the official name of this instrument, if I'm not mistaken. Many of us took turns playing a ditty or two on the Optigan, but for much of the evening, it was played by means of stones set down on its keys for long periods. This instrument is sort of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang equivalent of a piano--or Wurlitzer.

I enjoyed conversations around the fire with several acquaintances, old and new. I had a sparkling lemonade or something and ate a number of fortune cookies. Most of them were ones where the dough never got folded. But there were three that were folded. The fortunes were:

Great fortune is coming your way.
You will be enlightened today.
You will find some money.

This time, unlike the previous time, they didn't run the generator. Although it was an interesting idea, since I'm allergic to it, I wasn't disappointed.

Towards the end of the evening, our attention turned to the walnut tree (a black walnut?) in the southeast corner of the yard. Hashemi had suspended chairs upside down from its limbs somewhere above, and these fell, one by one, at various times. And then, suddenly, we were graced by the presence of a surprise guest.