Strangers and neighbors leave bolts of fabric at Danny Mansmith’s doorstep. His storefront studio, with its door welcomingly ajar, and its street-level display window stuffed with fabric figurines, has been an unusual sight on this residential strip of North Damen Avenue, but now kids run in and point to the hanging pieces, and fabric scraps like small offerings are gifted. Danny is an incessant maker and a whiz with the sewing machine. Take a trip to his studio and your eyes will be crawling all over the art-saturated space. With fabric artworks hanging like flags from the ceiling and seamstress dolls crowding the corners, it feels a bit like a childhood visit to grandmother’s walk-in closet—which isn’t such a stretch since Danny easily recalls the clothes that his grandmother did make for him when he was a kid. A homemade terry-cloth sweater caused no embarrassment for little Danny, who wore the towel with pride until it fell apart. Perhaps this early comfort with homespun artistry spawned his experimental nature (Danny dropped out of art school rather quickly): sewn drawings; androgynous Adam and Eve sculptures; clothing with rival feminine and masculine connotations.
As a self-taught artist, Danny found his own taste and style as a fashion designer, and there’s crossover between his wearable garments and his drawings. These resemble the waif-like and stylized illustrations form fashion magazines, with smeary makeup faces protruding like masks. Many figures are slightly contorted, as if caught in the act. Their clothes or skin or surroundings swirl like wind pattern maps. Colors bleed from a gash. The garments act as bandage, binding emotional charges with cloth.
Danny is no friend to minimalism, and he wears his individualism on his sleeve—in fact he likely made the sleeve in his workshop, and hand-stitched the hem and added some subtle detailing, all in a day when ten other things were also made. http://scrap-dannymansmith.squarespace.com/
[…] an article in Chicago’s NewCity this week called Breakout Artists 2009: Chicago’s next generation of image makers. And who is one of these breakout artists? Moi. Does it matter that I’m not much of an image […]
in_disbelief
13 years ago
I’m curious… what part of the boystown parade is licentious? Having attended the Boystown Halloween parade for years now I can only safely assume that it is “licentious” in the eyes of both the writer and the artist because it takes place in a location historically known as being populated by homosexuals, queers, bi-sexuals and trans-gendered people. And as such, this parade must be a breeding ground for the sort of behavior commonly associated with deviants, perverts, sex-crazed trash and their ilk. Occasionally I dream of a day when white straight male artists of a certain class (and those who… Read more »
Dear James, Thank you for your response. It’s clear that you care about this topic very much so I’m going to answer you with due seriousness. The word “licentious” means “Disregarding commonly accepted rules” (Oxford English Dictionary). In my article, I describe parades as celebrating “a legal or moral order by poking holes in it.” The Halloween parade is not the Pride parade, mind you. Halloween is a chance to engage the spooky and dark side as a way to celebrate life, and liveliness. (Note in many of the artist’s photographs from that night, the audience is smiling). The gay… Read more »
in_disbelief
13 years ago
Hey Jason Thanks for letting me know you responded… Having emerged out of queer theory and out of a radical activist background that is disinterested and against normativity in homosexuality/the queer/and the faggot it’s hard for me to swallow your response. I don’t support the current gay agenda, their interest in gay marriage, in equality or in the “rainbow flag” that coyly masks conservative rhetoric and an agenda of normalization. I don’t need to be informed of what is and is not “queer 101″…. and to be perfectly honest, the project that Ben presents here is not one that even… Read more »
I think it’s fine that we disagree. You say that you’re not the rainbow flag waving type, and I know in some gay sub-sub-cultures being morally disreputable is a point of strength. But that may all even be beside the point because the rat city parade is not just about gay culture (as it’s not just gays who attend the parade). Licentious was used here not as a judgmental word but as an adjective to describe a parade. And clearly it’s provocative. If Ben had simply painted a picture of rats and hung it in a gallery in Boystown it… Read more »
in_disbelief
13 years ago
You’re right, as a painting, this idea of the “rat” within us would be an idea that falls flat/short of the mark and as a performance it is certainly a far stronger work/concept. I merely wanted some clarity Jason on your position and relationship to this work. While not being one to wave the rainbow flag, I’m also not one who works towards being “morally disreputable”…. Not being in support of “flag-waving” doesn’t automatically equate to having an agenda of being, “morally disreputable” let’s be honest…. I think this isn’t so hard to comprehend. For examples of contemporary scholars who… Read more »
Again, it’s fine that we disagree, but as a point of clarification, I don’t believe that gays are only either rainbow-waving or self-loathing. I meant only to say that there’s a wide range of perspectives. Also, I do think Ben/performers are implicated in the question of rat-hood; they were wearing the costumes.
secretgeeksociety
13 years ago
I am a Boston based artiste named Shana East. Recently on an excursion with a Mr. Michael Bancroft to the Boston ICA retrospective on Shepard Fairey, I took several so-called “touristy” photos of him alongside Mr. Fairey’s art, while Mr. Bancroft in fact, took none. While the idea of us “selling” these images was that of Mr. Bancroft’s, the idea for the “lemonade stand” was mine. I would like Mr. Bancroft (the artist) to know that if he appropriates even a pixel of my photographs without my permission, or if he sells ANYTHING at any sort of stand in the… Read more »
benfain
13 years ago
I have to say I am surprised by your reaction (in_disbelief) and I am really sorry you feel this way. I do want clarify a couple things. Below is a list of some parade themes from recent North Halsted Halloween Parades, courtesy of Tom Laporte (one of the parade organizers since 2002) 2003 Theme: Evil Clowns. 2005 Theme: Alien Space Invasion. 2006 Theme: Seventies Disco Zombies. 2007 Theme: Dragons. 2008 Theme: Rats. In this context, to me, rats don’t really feel all that out of place. Also, for the record, the following texts are taken from the 12th Annual North… Read more »
[…] an article in Chicago’s NewCity this week called Breakout Artists 2009: Chicago’s next generation of image makers. And who is one of these breakout artists? Moi. Does it matter that I’m not much of an image […]
I’m curious… what part of the boystown parade is licentious? Having attended the Boystown Halloween parade for years now I can only safely assume that it is “licentious” in the eyes of both the writer and the artist because it takes place in a location historically known as being populated by homosexuals, queers, bi-sexuals and trans-gendered people. And as such, this parade must be a breeding ground for the sort of behavior commonly associated with deviants, perverts, sex-crazed trash and their ilk. Occasionally I dream of a day when white straight male artists of a certain class (and those who… Read more »
Dear James, Thank you for your response. It’s clear that you care about this topic very much so I’m going to answer you with due seriousness. The word “licentious” means “Disregarding commonly accepted rules” (Oxford English Dictionary). In my article, I describe parades as celebrating “a legal or moral order by poking holes in it.” The Halloween parade is not the Pride parade, mind you. Halloween is a chance to engage the spooky and dark side as a way to celebrate life, and liveliness. (Note in many of the artist’s photographs from that night, the audience is smiling). The gay… Read more »
Hey Jason Thanks for letting me know you responded… Having emerged out of queer theory and out of a radical activist background that is disinterested and against normativity in homosexuality/the queer/and the faggot it’s hard for me to swallow your response. I don’t support the current gay agenda, their interest in gay marriage, in equality or in the “rainbow flag” that coyly masks conservative rhetoric and an agenda of normalization. I don’t need to be informed of what is and is not “queer 101″…. and to be perfectly honest, the project that Ben presents here is not one that even… Read more »
I think it’s fine that we disagree. You say that you’re not the rainbow flag waving type, and I know in some gay sub-sub-cultures being morally disreputable is a point of strength. But that may all even be beside the point because the rat city parade is not just about gay culture (as it’s not just gays who attend the parade). Licentious was used here not as a judgmental word but as an adjective to describe a parade. And clearly it’s provocative. If Ben had simply painted a picture of rats and hung it in a gallery in Boystown it… Read more »
You’re right, as a painting, this idea of the “rat” within us would be an idea that falls flat/short of the mark and as a performance it is certainly a far stronger work/concept. I merely wanted some clarity Jason on your position and relationship to this work. While not being one to wave the rainbow flag, I’m also not one who works towards being “morally disreputable”…. Not being in support of “flag-waving” doesn’t automatically equate to having an agenda of being, “morally disreputable” let’s be honest…. I think this isn’t so hard to comprehend. For examples of contemporary scholars who… Read more »
Again, it’s fine that we disagree, but as a point of clarification, I don’t believe that gays are only either rainbow-waving or self-loathing. I meant only to say that there’s a wide range of perspectives. Also, I do think Ben/performers are implicated in the question of rat-hood; they were wearing the costumes.
I am a Boston based artiste named Shana East. Recently on an excursion with a Mr. Michael Bancroft to the Boston ICA retrospective on Shepard Fairey, I took several so-called “touristy” photos of him alongside Mr. Fairey’s art, while Mr. Bancroft in fact, took none. While the idea of us “selling” these images was that of Mr. Bancroft’s, the idea for the “lemonade stand” was mine. I would like Mr. Bancroft (the artist) to know that if he appropriates even a pixel of my photographs without my permission, or if he sells ANYTHING at any sort of stand in the… Read more »
I have to say I am surprised by your reaction (in_disbelief) and I am really sorry you feel this way. I do want clarify a couple things. Below is a list of some parade themes from recent North Halsted Halloween Parades, courtesy of Tom Laporte (one of the parade organizers since 2002) 2003 Theme: Evil Clowns. 2005 Theme: Alien Space Invasion. 2006 Theme: Seventies Disco Zombies. 2007 Theme: Dragons. 2008 Theme: Rats. In this context, to me, rats don’t really feel all that out of place. Also, for the record, the following texts are taken from the 12th Annual North… Read more »