all or nothing #13 - how old are you?
table of contents
1.events 2.words 3.missed connections 4.horoscope 5.listen 6.watch
»looking back
+the fastest route to the holiest place+
Illuminated by the warmth of a familiar shade of home, worshippers, alchemists, and conjurers visited the East Village gallery in service of a greater calling: art. The duo exhibition by painter Henry McEachern and sculptor Claudia Corujo investigated the intersection of mystery and creativity through a lens of divinity. Images from the exhibition can be seen all around us.
Transformation. Reflection. Community. Through intentional design and inventive thinking by multimedia artist Lau, our Chinatown location (119 Hester St) became not quite a home or an office but something between the two. Not only existing but thriving in these margins allowed for moments to grow into memories and conversations into connections, leaving a lasting mark on the very essence of the gallery’s walls.
»looking forward
+chaos theory opening reception+
What does chaos look like to you? Can you visualize it? Is it just a mass of colors or a cacophony of unrecognizable symbols, or are the feelings too abstract to turn into a tangible image? Well, allow the artists of the group exhibition Chaos Theory: spectrum of black abstraction to be your translators. The exhibition will be on view for the month of February with an opening reception on the 2nd from 6-9pm at our East Village location (77 East Third Street).
+gary’s comedy kickback+
There’s a rumor going around that apparently you hate comedy, which of course means you hate laughter, which then means you hate joy? I know that’s a pretty crazy concept, but now that I think about it, I’ve never seen you at any of our past comedy shows so maybe the rumors are true. I guess the only way to disprove the gossip is to pull up for Gary Simon’s second comedy Kickback at All Street’s Chinatown location (119 Hester St) at 7pm. Get tix here!
words
+ retro by casper+
Growing up, I never understood why high school movies and television shows were so pervasive in popular media. From the perspective of a child who eventually became a high school student and later an adult, the fascination always seemed odd, considering it was only four years in a process that, for the most part, was extremely boring. When contextualizing an entire life of experiences, high school is a relatively insignificant amount of time. Further, the actual daily slog of high school is anything but interesting. You literally do the same thing every day. The daily variation is so minimal that your schedule only significantly changes when preparing for tests and exams. But like most people, I was exposed to the media, so I consumed it. As a child, I digested the propaganda-like-programming with eager anticipation for my own quintessential American high school experiences. By middle school, however, my excitement morphed into dread as I got a taste of the academic rigor that was expected from me on a daily basis. Yet school wasn’t necessarily hard (it was actually pretty easy for the most part), but it was entirely uninteresting and required a dedication of time that seemed imbalanced for happiness. The beginning of middle school marked my first existential crisis as I stared down the barrel of a long life with the internalized knowledge that I would be dead one day. While this is not a unique feeling and most people have experienced a similar feeling in the past and will, unfortunately, feel it again, middle school is not the best time for it. I calculated the time I spent in school, commuting to and from school, doing homework for school, and sleeping in preparation to wake up early for school, and I found that my life was extremely unbalanced. Paired with church, chores, and sports, the vast majority of my life was spent doing stuff I didn’t really enjoy or particularly want to do. Considering any of our lives could end at any moment, I just couldn’t understand the time breakdown. Why was it normal for me to be either extremely unhappy or completely zoned out 80% percent of my time? I soon realized that high school had to be even worse, considering the stakes were raised with college admittance looming. I shifted the structure of my life a bit, and adopted a bare minimum mindset; just do enough to get by. People definitely noticed and weren’t happy with me, but I was stubborn and angsty; I was committed and – knowing that we’d all be dead soonish – I didn’t really care. In the process of my withdrawal from most things, I let down family, friends, coaches, teammates, teachers, and even the occasional acquaintance. There was some delinquent behavior and bad choices were made, which I’d get into but that’d be a whole tangent, but for the most part I was just indifferent, detached, and generally aloof. At least on the surface. Internally, I had plans. Big, big plans. If they lied about high school then, of course, they were lying about college, so I put all my hopes and dreams and time into “preparing” for being an adult. I knew I wasn’t particularly unique or a precocious talent, so I figured I had to be pretty similar to at least 75% of the general population. Considering there is a very robust and ever-growing population of adults, I expected the feelings I had as a youth would have to pass, otherwise mass suicide would be decimating humankind. So while most people considered high school either as an opportunity to prepare for college, or to make fun memories, I used it to plan my prison-break from childhood by focusing on the two things I deemed the core tenants of being an adult: money and power. I was a scholarship kid at a school of gross wealth and privilege, so my worldview was definitely a bit skewed, but through various (admittedly not so great) ways I figured out the money part. Power was far more elusive, but I created an illusion of power for myself that allowed me to get by. Despite my best efforts, I did eventually make it to college. Between my biological programming not to let my family down and the lack of a logical argument against a free education, my hands were tied. And considering I knew how many members of my family would have killed for a similar opportunity and me already being branded the douchey private school kid, I couldn’t confirm the bias further. I figured I had to at least give it the old college try. So I went across the country and pretty immediately dropped out after one semester and, with extremely ignorant glee, got my first legal full time job. The time imbalance I once complained about as a youth was not great, but I chalked it up to society's lack of understanding of skills and ability versus a measly diploma, so I readjusted my plans and redefined college as a necessary evil. I went back and graduated and decided to do a little more just for, you know, extra measure. I really had my bases covered. After all the hoopla, I essentially got the same job I had when I dropped out, just with a slightly better title and, even more surprisingly, a pretty inconsequential salary bump. The time imbalance hadn’t changed. How I felt inside certainly hadn’t changed. After all this time hoping and expecting for a light at the end of a long tunnel of growing up, there was nothing but more tunnel and less light. The flicker of a hopeful future eventually dimmed into complete darkness and I was lost. So at my lowest hour I made the obvious decision: I quit my job to become an artist and all my problems were solved, immediately.
missed connections
+sunday salon (1.28)
You: more than a concept
Me: a thinker
Description:
I don’t know if you’re real or not, but I hope you are.
+the fastest route to the holiest place opening reception
You: a flame
Me: a moth
Description:
I see light in your face. It obscures my vision, but I not only keep staring. I can’t seem to look away. I feel it in the very fabric of my being, you calling to me, you ushering me forward and your commands. I must follow.
+a third place experiment reception
You: looked like a digital phantom under the fuzzy glow of the projector
Me: a metaphorical ghostbuster
Description:
I swear the electricity between us could have merged the metaphysical plane of forgotten existence with our own immediate earthly realm of flesh and substance. Perhaps you were conjured from my imagination, or perhaps I was conjured from yours?
horoscopes
+Aries+
They say youth is wasted on the young, but, in actuality, wisdom is wasted on the old because they’ll probably just forget to be wise anyway. Wisdom is just a myth propagated by AARP to keep medicare. But without old people that means no grandparents and with no grandparents that means no birthday money, so respect your elders. Without them, you’d be even more broke.
+Taurus+
Are you technically on the cusp of two generations? Everyone sees you as a zoomer but you identify as a millennial. Well the truth is, you’re neither. A label can’t and won’t define you. No matter how many answers you seek, or the meaning you attach to made up words, you’ll never understand why you behave the way you do.
+Gemini+
It’s that time again. You already know what you need to do. Hit the block and scour the streets for a single penny that’s face up on the sidewalk. Pick it up and slip it in your pocket, but make sure no one sees you do this. Once in private, check the year on the penny, write the year down on a piece of paper and put the paper in your wallet. Go to Grand Central station and find the next departing train. Write the time of departure down on your saved piece of paper, then whip out your phone and ask the last person who texted you what day they were born. Write that number down on the paper. Add up all the numbers and multiply them by your current age. That number is your true age based on the length of all your past lives.
+Cancer+
Age may just be a number, but eyesight, hearing, and mobility are very real. So you can lie about your age, but you’ll only really be lying to yourself and you already do that enough.
+Leo+
There’s a reason every stubborn old person in the history of time has eventually died. Resisting change won’t stop or even slow it and will likely have an inverse effect, stoking the flames of progress to burn even faster. And trust, you’ll have enough time to ponder fire in hell. In the meantime, be chill and open to the changes around you.
+Virgo+
Every 7 years, your body undergoes a transformation. According to science, all your cells regenerate, essentially birthing a new you. If you’re basically a new you, why are you still doing all the annoying things the old you did?
+Libra+
Wrinkles are the pathways of a soul well traveled, a map to the past branded with the physical manifestations of where one’s been, but, more importantly, proof of where they will continue to go. Or it’s your body slowly rotting away. Either way, though, no matter how much miracle moisturizer you slather all over your face, wrinkles are coming for you.
+Scorpio+
If you never forget, then you could never remember, and what's a life without memories? Death. So be thankful for the ability to forget because otherwise, the present would collapse into the past, and you’d experience everything everywhere all at once, leaving you as a bloated lump of skin and blood burdened by a brain heavy with regret and anxiety over every dumb thing you’ve ever said or done. So remember to forget.
+Sagittarius+
The fact that every decision in your life has led you to this exact moment where you’re now taking the time to read this little newsletter is an actual miracle. Or maybe it’s a curse. Only time will tell.
+Capricorn+
While death is final, age is constantly changing, a state of permanent flux, second to second. Once your brain has permanently powered down, your physical matter will exist in some form or another and will continue to amass time. So getting older can be scary, but it’s also the only true path towards immortality; as long as you age, you exist.
+Aquarius+
Are birthday wishes a pagan tradition we encourage our children to participate in? Essentially, it's a fire ritual where we make a secret coven with an unknown, all-powerful force that has the ability to make any wish come true.Think about it: what's the difference between birthday wishes and prayer? Perhaps the world’s most practiced display of faith is really the birthday party.
+Pisces+
Some people gain perspective when they age, others don't. You’re others.
playlist
video
+Send us your writing, ideas, notes, observations or anything you want to gallery@allstnyc.com to be considered for future editions of all or nothing+