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VISIONARY PRIMITIVE
"Certainly more than a little intimidating"
by BFisch
Photos by Andrew Blackstein
From the February 2007 issue of PRICK Magazine.
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A group exhibition featuring Guy Aitchison, Michele Wortman, Joe
Capobianco, Jon Clue, Cory Kruger, James Kern, Jon Jon, Jarrett
Demartino, Zachariah, Christian Masot, Dan Craft, and Alex Grey.
Original and collaborative art created by the visionary minds of
modern day tattoo masters.
On the fourth floor of an old warehouse, nestled
sweetly between the chaos of West 27th Street’s
obnoxious drunken club scene, sits a tranquil and
serene gallery and art space belonging to Alex Grey, the master
of psychedelic visionary art. Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred
Mirrors and Microcosm Gallery is one of the most soothing
places around, but on this particular night – made evident by the
bounce of the floorboards – the tattoo world was there to party.
This weekend was dedicated to Visionary Primitive, a journey
through 21st century body modification.The show featured
some of America's modern day tattoo masters, with art enthusiasts
traveling from all over. Jon Jon, Holly Lane, and the Cutting
Edge Crew were having a blast and making sure everyone there
did the same.
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 Alex Grey in front of one of his paintings |
 Alex Grey working on a painting |
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The event kicked off around 2pm on Saturday with a live
tattoo and art demonstration. Six of the country’s top tattoo
artists worked with uninterrupted fervor to produce some very
detailed tattoos while six others worked on canvas. PRICK had
the great pleasure to talk with Michele Wortman, who was
pouring all of her positive energy into a piece described as
“unconditional love,” about the event and what it was like to
paint in Alex Grey’s studio. As she hammered away with her
undeniable radiance and flower power, she spoke about the
incredible inspiration she was feeling in the Yankee Stadium of
Art, and the admiration she has for Alex and Allyson Grey.
Speaking for her and Guy Aitchison, she said that, “Alex and
Allyson are two of our art heroes and it was a magical and
incredibly inspiring experience to share the connective and creative
energy during the live painting presentation.” Aitchison also
mentioned how “Alex has always represented, to me, a sort of
gold standard in terms of vision, ambition, and high-powered
creativity.After working so many tattoo conventions, it's nice to
be able to be part of such an unusual, offbeat tattoo event where
we could expose our art to a new audience.”
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 (L-R) James Kern, Cory Kruger, Guy Aitchison and Michele Wortman |
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After a short dinner recess, festivities were back in full
swing at midnight, literally. Joe Amato and CoRE’s Steve Joyner
treated the attendees to a live body modification performance,
with Spliff and Jiji from DisGraceLanD suspending from the ceiling
on an 8-foot long seesaw and brass knuckle rig. Not your traditional
Okeepa ceremony, but these two are warriors for sure.
Once everyone had their feet back on the ground, it was
time to get their heads far into the clouds with Ethnocentric
Salon, a full-on, high class rave with DJs spinning trance accompanied
by all sorts of psychedelic projections covering the walls.
The main attraction of the night was a live painting exhibition
that featured Alex and Allyson Grey, Jon Clue, Cory Kruger,
Michele Wortman, Guy Aitchison, and James Kern. The
party continued until about 5am, at which point everyone
needed to indulge in some late night Gray’s Papaya hotdogs
and get some sleep before tomorrow’s big day.
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 Joe Capobianco at work |
 Guy Aitchison working on Thad Minick |
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Sunday kicked off with a special screening of Modify,
followed by a brief lecture before moving on to the official
opening of the Visionary Primitive Gallery. This unique
exhibition included original artwork specifically for the
event as well as the live paintings that were done the previous
night. The artists were personally selected in an
attempt to achieve something “that you can’t get everyday.”
All of the paintings from the live event will be on display
at Cutting Edge Body Arts, which is located on West
8th street between 5th street and 6th street.All the work
is for sale at extremely reasonable prices, with half of the
proceeds going to CoSM, a non-profit organization dedicated
to promoting the movement of Visionary Art and
recognizing the divine within.
Thanks very much to the sponsors: Eddie Kolo’s
H2Ocean and Unimax NYC for holding it down all weekend,
and Jon Jon and his wife for their incredibly gracious
hosting throughout the event. PRICK looks forward to seeing
how they top this in years to come. A special thanks
goes out to the Greys for all of their help and the incredible
inspiration to all of the artists.
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 Cory Kruger tattooed Jessica Landers for over seven hours |
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 James Kern at work |
 James Kern working on a painting |
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 Michele Wortman working on a painting |
 Michele Wortman tattooed Jennifer for almost seven hours |
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Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
MicroCoSM Gallery
540 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10001
(212) 594-8841
MicroCoSM Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm.
For more information go to www.microcosmgallery.com or www.cosm.org.
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