The Western Woods

i am the silencing machine....



















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My Show at Jack The Pelican Pressents - Sept. 11th

My work will be in a show at Jack The Pelican Presents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It runs from September 11th through October 11th. The opening is Friday September 11th. They have alcohol, you don't have to pay to get in, deal with Ticketbastard, Line Drama or camp out, but I promise it will still be fun.

This is the offiical press release:

“She Who Destroys the Light" is Carol ‘Riot’ Kane’s gothic cathedral of an exhibition, with rock stars as saints. The aritst is a diehard fan of Nine Inch Nails. You don’t have to be a fan yourself (Jack the Pelican most certainly isn’t) to realize that this art rocks. Fandom is usually insipid. Here, it's a monumental cosmology, fully realized.





Works in progress
NIN may be the inspiration. But it's not the reality. At the end of the day, this is Carol Riot Kane improvising a band that maybe could have been. Since 2001, she has been weaving a complex mythology inspired by her experiences following NIN. The larger than life characters featured in her work are all inspired by other fans, and the complex relationships within the band’s community.

Among the works on display is her epic tome about the band, years in the making. It's inspired by the band’s 20-year musical odyssey, but takes great liberties to go off on its own highly imaginative path. Riot transforms the fans into heroic figures, in the likes of Odysseus and Hercules. Rock Star himself is transformed into a rebellious Greek God, named Celestial, who is marked for death due to his alleged Hubris.




As her bio notes: “Riot is the gun toting, plaster casting, ass kicking, punk rock version of the Greek poet Homer, brilliantly translating pre-existing legends of the band she follows into truly epic works of art.” She does this, she explains, to give outsiders a sense of just how epic it is to be a fan

The focal points of the exhibition are two monumental statues—one of a ghostlike Celestial draped across a harp and the other of a towering female creator/destroyer figure, in her own signature purple. The moment depicted is a mythic struggle between Riot’s devotion to the Rock Star, and her desire to destroy all that she feels has become corrupt in the band.

She conjures a version of Rock Star in the last moment she felt respect for him. She must decide weather to burn away all that she was — or to keep the faith, and do all that she can to keep the fan community together in the absence of their hero. The sculptures take on a sublime, otherworldly presence, combining the verisimilitude of masterful wax portraiture with the gorgeous naturalism of Classical Greek marbles and the pale, deathly aura of Romantic and Pre-Raphaelite painting.

Riot presents a further series of framed drawings as votive shrines, with candles. Each vignette depicts a pivotal moment in the history of her mythology, giving us a unique view into her vision. "She Who Destroys the Light " speaks to the collective emotional experience of all fans who feel so strongly about a band.

On August 24, The New York Times did a story on one of NIN’s final NYC appearances. There, in the accompanying image, front and center among the fans, is Riot, long red hair streaked with purple. Riot attends as many shows as she can, and she treats each with intensity, as though it were that her first or her last. She has even designed a signature NIN concert-ware dress, for which she is well known. Like many who have visibly and actively attended so many shows, she has acquired a level of infamy.

The fan community has been notorious for its online spats, but they are in the end a very tightly knit community, extremely devoted. It is one massive extended family, with Reznor acting as Guardian over his fans. This bond that leads fans to follow the band is what inspires Riot to bring us her wild vision of the world.

For those who have followed NIN for years, Riot among them, the show is timely. The final date on their Wave Goodbye tour is Labor Day, September 6—five days before the opening of this show. This is a difficult and uncertain time. The exhibition marks a turning point.

Riot has shown at the Tate Britain, The Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and 31Grand Gallery. She was the recipient of special project Grant at Scope New York in 2005. Her work was also featured on the cover of the New York Times in 2006. Riot attended FIT where she took an independent study in sculpture. She received her Masters in 2004 from SVA.


SHE WHO DESTROYS THE LIGHT
Carol Riot Kane

September 11 - October 11, 2009
Opening: Friday, Sept 11, 7–9pm
Location: 487 Driggs Ave, bet N. 9 and N. 10
Directions
Hours: Thurs–Mon, 12–6pm
Contact: info@JackthePelicanPresents.com 718-782-0183

New York Times - Webster Hall

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/arts/music/25nin.html

Webster Hall.

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It happened. Normally - I post my shows in order - just really slow - I have to break now - we all just saw the greatest Nine Inch Nails show of all time.

The Legendary Nine Inch Nails Show Webster Hall

No Joke, That will forever be The Legendary Webster Hall Show years from now people will still be talking about it....

Camden

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while…I’ve been really busy with stuff! Anyways – here’s Camden:


I woke up the morning after the Mansfield Meet & Greet Situation on a Mission…


Babes & Billy asked me to make a sculpture for something that they wanted to do…. I was so honored that they asked me…. I wanted to do a good job. I didn’t have a lot of time either, so I got to work as soon as I could… I worked on it while waiting for a lot of the shows, it was a really fun way to wait out. =)


Still waitin for the train….


My little guy rode around my backpack while I walked around NYC….


I walked around while I waited for Jen and Jonathan. I was a little sad that day. I’ll spare everyone the details, but even on NIN Tour life isn’t perfect….


I go from day to day, I know….


I know where the care is parked…


At least my little person got to see a lot of China Town.


Waitin for more buses….




Jen’s plan to get a better seat on the buss. Best shot of the tour.




More crazy bus rides…


And because it was This Tour…. Monsoon on the bus ride to Lukas’s.


TIGERS OMG!! This store had cool stuff, like, These Tigers, and these Magic Bouncing Glitter Balls, but sadly for Jen, no Richard Gere Movies…


And then we were at Lukas’s – he really wanted to go to bed…


Jen didn’t want to go to bed cuz – she and Jonathan had this funny NIN DVD they wanted to watch.


Oh Richard Patrick. Oh Chris Vrenna talking about steam heat and stippin to his undies with TR in the Old Days. OK – that’s where I draw the line…. I’m going to bed too much information Vrenna… not that TR don’t volunteer such information himself whenever the opportunity arises to mention he’s walking around his house in his underpants….. but we digress. Boys.


So the next morning, we got up, we drove to the Camden Venue – and like – Huh, wait, it’s Daylight, I mean, Granted it was raining – of course it was raining – it’s This Tour… but like why are we first? Really? Really…. OK so accidentally we were first. So, we waited out under the over hang, it wasn’t bad. I worked on my little wire people… some guy came out of the venue and gave Jonathan a NIN Drum Head. So the day was going pretty OK…





And then THIS Jawn showed up…


Alex came and we were all chillin….waiting…


Takin silly pictures to pass the time. Same Shit, different venue.


Same shit – different part of the venue. Jonathan fell asleep. Mandatory Funny Sleeping Photo!!!


Abby and I once had a funny moment here. I called her to tell her, cuz yeah - this time, totally not like last time we all went to Camden Venue, she’s also missing in action. Actually a lot of people were missing…




Getting ready to film the show. “Why are you still making movies Heather? “ “Because it’s all I have left!” “You gonna write us a happy ending?”

(I’m still trying...)


Jen takes better care of her camera.


It is more then a band. It’s an AWESOME band. Fucking 100 Little Curses is cool and so is the other one I really like!!!


Everyone else really likes it too.




Oh Tom.


Oh TR… This was a special show for me. I filmed the whole thing from the rail. It’s something I really wanted to do on this tour, especially since soon it will all be….. you know. I wanted to have my own video of what it looked like for us. I even filmed the first 10 minutes before the show started. All the little things I don’t want to forget…. US, talking about silly shit….watching Todd leap about and tape own random things…. The all too familiar house music….the energy just before it starts – the sonic surge from the crowd at every blast of smoke…. And then of course the show itself – yes with the security guards in the way. Yes with Crowd Surfers flying overhead…. That’s how we’ll always remember… that’s what I don’t ever want to forget…


So of course all these photos were taken with my left hand while my right filmed. Forgive how few there are… I was multitasking….






We survived for once until Jane’s. We are always so emotionally distraught, we can never really take in Jane’s. They are so great live and we loved watching them…. Even now, we keep saying we wished we could have seen them more…. But, looking back, all the Emotional Trauma… it’s a wonder we survived at all!!

I took a lot of Jane’s Pics. I was free to take photos by then =)




















Awww!! Jane Says!!!

After that… we went back to Lukas’s and passed out.


Thanks for reading, I’ll try to post more soon.