PICTURE THIS!
Things were hopping at Joe’s garage as artist extraordinaire Joe DiVincenzo went off the wall with his latest collection of picture boxes. The garage is one of several artists’ studios tucked away on an unpretentious corner of Cross Creek. Nobu catered the splashy bash dishing out equally artistic morsels of yellow tuna, eel, shrimp tempura and black cod with miso served in those cute little lettuce cups. They were drinking keifer lime martinis while deejays cranked out the best of the ’80s. Garb was high-end beach chic-a mix of vintage Hawaiian shirts, standard issue baseball caps, fabulous Fendi bags and colorful Cavalli prints. There were aging hippies with Leon Russell ponytails, Lenny Kravitz look-alikes and bouncy surf bunnies mixing with the likes of Gayle Pritchett, Paul Mantee and shutterbug Robert Weingarten. But it was smokin’ Joe who stole the show with one-of-a-kind creations that gave us all something to talk about.
His mixed-media picture boxes are cobbled together using everything but the kitchen sink, including plastic forks, old bones, chopsticks, fish hooks and even a rubber bass. One called “Sailing” featured a bark and driftwood boat floating atop a sea of glass shards.
“Oh, and look at this-I love this,” gushed Robin Groth, pointing to a series called “What to Wear 1-6.” The series was a collection of various mini-vestments set up on clothes hangers. “They are so elegant,” she exclaimed. “And I love the three-dimentional aspect of it.”
One of the more interesting offerings draws its inspiration from a local dive favored by drinkers. “Cocktail Explanations” is made of crumpled-up green and white paper napkins, the obvious result of many long hours of study. The creations are wadded up in what the artists describes as follows: the space shuttle Atlantis, a candy wrapper, the Lochness Monster, a vampire bat, a nuclear missile, a super computer, a fast car and Halley’s Comet. “That’s not fair,” whined Rich Fox. “He should be buying me drinks. He can write it off. He’s working.”
The Cocktail creations are not to be confused with another masterwork glorifying the establishment’s men’s room called “Latrine Meditations.” This thought-provoking endeavor features a gentleman’s POV whilst positioned in front of a urinal with images of a cross, a nuclear bomb, an angel and a trout dancing high above the flusher.
In any case, it was the perfect mix of music, raw fish and merriment.
With the party still going strong five hours into the evening, it was clear that when it comes to a good time, these art lovers don’t mind thinking inside the box.