Tagger Jim Joe Pretends to be an Artist @ The Hole NYC

Let me preface what you're about to read by saying that here at SOLIFESTYLE, we love The Hole NYC.  We think they put on great shows with interesting artists.  We'd also like to make it clear that we rarely write negative things, it's just not our style, but this past weekend after seeing 'artist' (that's in quotes for a reason) Jim Joe hold his 3 day mini exhibit, we were unsure whether to laugh or cry.

The laughing would of course be because all Jim Joe is known for is writing 'Jim Joe' on pieces of trash and walls throughout New York City.  He's certainly a prolific vandal and graffiti writer, but certainly no street artist. Yet, suddenly he became a celebrity artist worthy of a gallery opening? Works on display included a table leg... no, there isn't anything unique or interesting about it, it was just a table leg... on the floor.  A broken glass table (again, nothing special about it) was also on display.  The crying would be because he actually sold some of these works for thousands of dollars at the opening on Friday and throughout the weekend.

Hundreds of people showed up to the Jim Joe reception at The Hole, but I couldn't place if it was because they knew or cared who JJ was, or it was simply because a hipster certainly can't turn down a free can of Budweiser.  Regardless, the Budweiser certainly seemed to distract the masses from hurling insults at the works, which were sometimes no more than a pieces of plywood painted grey or a white canvas with a black line on it.

The whole time I was there I was perplexed (the guy's face below sums up my emotions).  It must have been a sick joke on the innocent people of New York City to display household trash and blank canvases in frames with large price tags attached.  No doubt Jim Joe was probably amongst the people in his exhibit, or at a bar across the street cackling like a James Bond villain. Not cool.

what

A graffiti tagger pretends to be an artist

where

 The Hole NYC

when

 June 1st to June 3rd, 2012 and then hopefully never again.