The Pancakes & Booze Art Show Brings Powerful Works to NYC

Today is the last day you can have your (pan)cake and eat it too at NYC’s incarnation of the traveling Pancakes & Booze Art Show, which popped into Soho’s M1-5 Lounge at 52 Walker Street yesterday and will be in action once more tonight (10/12) starting at 7 pm this evening.

If you weren’t already sold on the title’s promise of alcohol and syrupy goodness, then you can take our word for it—because last night, we checked it out ourselves! We promise there were no stuffy, boring, hoity-toity galleries to be found.

Instead, going inside was like teleporting to a hyper-cool, surreal dream world. Empty alcohol bottles hung from the ceiling in a gleaming display—underneath them, a portly naked man stood clad in blue body paint and a see-through speedo as an artist added green flourishes to his skin.

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All around us were seemingly endless walls of posters and paintings, many completely original and awestriking mixtures of colors and shapes. In others, familiar cultural figures were represented in new and exciting ways. Bugs Bunny slaps Lola Bunny’s butt. Marilyn Monroe is formed from isolated blocks of color. A unicorn is getting its brain blown out. Menacing clowns stalk through dark landscapes. Donald Trump’s face materializes on an orange.

Things were as electric as they were eclectic, with the DJ putting on hip-hop vibes and a graffiti artist inking up personalized hats on the spot. With recent shows in London, Phoenix, and Chicago, this on-the-move exhibit is dedicated to showcasing the talents of local, emerging artists in a festive casual atmosphere.

An inspiring diversity of cultures and styles was indeed evident in the artists and works represented, as well as in the audience attracted; some of the outfits of our fellow partygoers rivaled the works themselves!

We came across a broad cross-section of NYC artists—some were experienced veterans of their craft, while others, like Flatbush resident Derek Sacerdote, were newbies to the scene.

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“What's more cliche than a middle-aged guy suddenly deciding he's a part-time artist?” He wryly describes. “One who uses completely unconventional material and tries to make a cheesy political statement.”

This material is, literally speaking, garbage. His day job as a mover, junk man, and all-purpose fix-it guy provided most of the elements here reconfigured into captivating collages and one of a kind sculptures.

He views his work as encouraging viewers to make use of what they can find rather than complain about not being able to afford things, as well as reflecting ironically on his own tendencies toward hoarding—the common rationalization of “I could use that someday” brought to invigorating life.

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Finally, we can see the desire for booze to keep the spirits up, the cash flowing, and the good times rollin’. But why the pancakes?

These, it turns out, came about because of founder Tom Kirlin’s college realization that this breakfast food is the perfect hangover cure, itself related to the fact that Ihop was the only place open at 3 am when he and his gang were finishing up their nights.

The breakfast food itself, which could be ordered plain or with yummy add-ins like chocolate chips and bananas and topped with the traditional syrup or more glamorous additions of fruit, Nutella, or whipped cream, totes lived up to the hype!

Pretty much all of the art on display is for sale, so maybe you’ll find the living room think-piece of your dreams. Many artists offered reasonably priced prints and small pieces even if the higher-end stuff is out of your price range. We ended up going happily home with some fuzzy cherry earrings. Either way, you’re in for an unforgettable time!

[Feature Image Courtesy Instagram] 




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