BIG ART, BIG HEART: BIG ART SHOW ROCKS THE GALLERY WORLD

My first encounter with Yavarone was on Halloween of 2001. In town just a month, I donned my Slinky costume and headed to the late, lamented BE Gallery on Cookman Ave, seeking adventure and kindered spirits (also spirits in general). The former were supplied by BE, as costumed revelers enjoyed a mixture visual art and live rock – sort of a culture vulture’s Reese Cup; the latter I found in the alley behind BE when a smiling figure in a Sponge Bob costume walked up and introduced himself to me as Paul. We bonded – briefly but significantly – in that special way that only grown men out in public dressed up as giant toys can. I went home that night encouraged by the events, spaces and people in my new home town.

Fast forward to Summer, 2004. BE is now defunct, but I am drawn to the marooned spaceship that passes as the Boardwalk Hojo’s, partly by the ingenious simplicity of a sign proclaiming Big Art Show, partly due to an invite from a cute BAS volunteer named Veronica. I find to my surprise that the inside of the Hojo’s has been transformed into a functional gallery, with an area dilineated as the “stage” where 4 good bands will provide the musical entertainment. Déjà vu threatens when I see that the head honcho is none other than my old pal Sponge Bob. But this is no ordinary art show; this is a commando mission with a vengeance. Realizing Andy Warhol’s prediction that the border between spectator and art would one day dissolve, Paul Yavarone – with some help from his friends -- has gone from audience to impressario … and Asbury Park is a far more interesting place because of it.

“Big Art Show is our banner, the guise in which we dream of somethging cool, something real, something unspoiled by money and politics”. With this simple mission statement, a core team of dedicated individuals led by Paul Yavarone, Tom Phillips and Rachel Ade have kicked open the sticky doors of the art gallery and let some fresh air – and fresh art – in. Their six Summer-Fall events (seven as of the Hibernation Show on Nov. 13) have been guerilla-style raids on the entrenched and often highly politicized system of who gets to hang their work on gallery walls (and how much ass they have to kiss to do so). Each show has been more interesting than the previous one, or perhaps it just seems that way because the group constantly refines the organization and presentation of each event. This evolutionary aspect of the BAS team’s approach make their shows all the more interesting; much like living in today’s Asbuty Park, participants, whether musicians, artists or audience, enjoy the heady sense of participating in a work in progress.

This is DIY with a vengeance. BAS is not the kind of organization to sit on its’ hands -- in fact, it’s a bit difficult to pin down just what type of organization it is, mainly because the one overrriding trait the three principals share (beside their selfless commitment to the dream of art unsullied by “filthy lucre”) is a lack of the humongous egos so common in the visual art world. That world might best be illuminated by the joke “Q: How does an artist change a lightbulb? A: He holds the bulb in the socket and the whole world revolves around him. ” Rachel, Tom and Paul are the kind of individuals rarely found in the visual art universe: they are the first to grab the ladder and start to turn it, and the first to step back out of the light cast by theur efforts. Such refreshing humility is one reason their featured artists clearly feel both comfortable and confident hanging their work in a place better known for frozen fried clams than hot local art.

Restoring suppleness to the uptright limbs of the Gallery scene has meant rattlingthe calcified bones of that cranky beast, and it takes more than humilty to do it. Big Art have put their time energy and assets into the effort, and whether it’s Tom and Rachel taking their sole day off to spend a windy Sunday hanging flyers in Red Bank or Paul using personal funds that he knows he’ll never recoup to bring a great show together, one thing is very clear: Big Art takes Big Heart – and Big Work. Nights are often spent trolling clubs from NYC to Philly for talent – after all it takes some effort to put four or five good bands on every show, especially when they are being held at the breakneck pace of two a month (BAS presentations alternate with Big Rock Show, sibling events which feature the bands without the art). But these guys clearly enjoy what they do, and it’s that marriage of commitment and fun that attracts volunteers to their cause. Watching the BAS team turn a few hundred board feet of 2x4’s, some borrowed sound gear and a jumble of electrical cables into a bonafied (and genuinely comfortable) gallery show is poetry in motion; the setup itself is practically performance art. Perhaps this is no surprise, considering that all three principals are artists in their own right, and that both Tom and Rachel are musicians as well.

Artists are a bit easier to find, although given the group’s open door exhibition policy the quality of the shown work is consistently high. Among those whose work has been shown at BAS are: [LIST]

At present the Big Art Team is moving towrds applying for nonprofit status, but will gratefully accept donations before that. Cash, lighting and audio equipment, printing and advertising are needs that you can help fill. Since noone gets paid, volunteers are also welcome with open arms, and clever ideas for future show venues always meet with enthusiastic response. After the November 13 Hibernation Show, BAS will kick back and begin to work and plan for the next Spring’s events; you can keep abreast of their plans and contact Paul and company at www.bigartshow.com.

-- Joe Harvard