Waiting in the Pasaje Esotérico, Feb. 14, 2011. Photo by Mayte Tojim

(click images below to enlarge with translation)

14 February 2011

It was Valentine’s Day and sunny outside. I was a little sad anticipating a day indoors at the mall. A car filled with helium balloons passed us just before the highway exit.

The Pasaje Esotérico (Esoteric Passage) opened at 11AM. When I arrived at 11:20AM, most of the booths were still closed.  I set up my minimal collages on top of purple mylar paper in a weak attempt to blend with the environment. For most of the morning, the area remained desolate with green curtains covering the merchandise.

A tall man with wavy, long black hair was striding by when he paused at my anagram posters. He asked a woman nearby what the posters were about; his brow was furrowed. I interjected  ”jugo de las palabras” (juice of words).  I intended “juego de palabras” (word games). He seemed puzzled and serious. He looked at me intently, long seconds passed. He introduced himself as Brally Sol before disappearing to his booth in a partition underneath fiberglass dolphins.

The woman whom he had spoken to, Gilda, took me under her wing for the day. She gave me Brally’s card and told me he was a famous mentalist with a program on television. I found him on You Tube later and saw him on a trailer for a television show where he goes to an abandoned house and looks for spirits. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4ghix6fsI)

While we waited for people to arrive, Gilda treated me to a coffee from an automated vending machine in the mall. She was friendly and told me about herself and I listened. She told me that she and her girlfriends were independent of men. She had been on many vacations on her own, such as one to Costa Rica. Gilda said she had been working in the Esoteric Passage for thirteen years. The photos surrounding us on the walls were pictures of her mother, Margarita A. VLA. Her mother looked very old in the photos, often her eyes were heavily made up and only half open. Compared to the ageless, smiling celebrities she was posed with, she seemed rather tired. While I was reading a resin-coated newspaper article about her, she called Gilda to check in. Gilda no longer seemed invincible. I looked up Margarita A. VLA when I got home and noticed she prefers to type in all caps on her Facebook page.

Finally at 1PM, two hours after opening, the ringing of tiny bells could be heard as consultants removed the green veils from their booths and consecrated their merchandise in hopes of many sales.

Esmeralda, an older woman who rented the booth next to Gilda appeared. Her silence and blank stare were intimidating.  I explained my project to her and she was expressionless (most likley because I  didn’t make sense, and partly because her face was puffy from what I assumed to be Botox and Restylane injections).

Esmeralda picked up one of the posters and waved it in the air – it read “Caga Mal Ni” (Shit not bad).  She seemed offended. I hid this one behind the others as if she was a small child who would think it magically disappeared. I tried to avoid her the rest of the day even though she later invited me to eat chicken soup.

I offered my seat to clients who were waiting for readings. Margarita (not Margartita A. VLA but a friend of Gilda’s with the same first name) and Gilda insisted I stay seated. The new clients had to sit on the miniature stools at the round table in the dolphin-decorated area and stare at my posters.

I watched the people coming and going and noticed many techniques I had not previously been aware of. While one client’s friend tapped away on her pink blackberry and waited, I could see Gilda in the background aggressively scratching messages in candles with her fingernails and then wrapping them in brown paper for her client to take home. It was like she was text messaging the spirits.

When I told Gilda that my posters were not for sale and that I was an artist, she assumed martial artist – apparently she is a practitioner in karate in addition to card reading. I clarified “artes plasticas” (visual artist). Throughout the day a few people asked “Cuanto cuesta?” (How much?). I don’t think they were considering buying anything but asked in an effort to understand what the posters were.

At the end of the day, Esmeralda strutted over and I noticed her black t-shirt had the word “Spoiled” rhinestone-d across the chest. She told me I better hurry if I want to make some sales.  I replied “no se vende” (not for sale). She shrugged and walked away.

A group of people in their twenties took turns getting their cards read. It was close to closing time. They looked at the anagram posters while they waited and finally one of the women asked me what they were about. I gave the word games explanation again and she seemed to understand. Then she asked me “why?” In my limited Spanish vocabulary I told her that “la gente va el pasaje en busca de respuestas… yo pienso que es más interesante para presentar preguntas.”   (People visit the Esoteric Passage seeking answers and I thought it would be interesting to present questions.)

The Art & Law Residency > Exhibition and Symposium
Maccarone > 630 Greenwich Street > New York, NY 10014

Exhibition Dates:  August 16- August 27
Gallery Hours:  Monday-Friday 11 am-6 pm
Artists: > Eric Doeringer > Alicia Grullón > Charles Gute > Nate Harrison > Bettina Johae > Miguel Luciano > Benjamin Tiven > Angie Waller > > Admission is Free.

Information about my work that is included:
http://angiewaller.com/books/originality-cases-and-materials/
http://angiewaller.com/video/beauty-for-ashes-2/

Doors open at 6pm. Free event. BYOB.

The panel, Crossing the Line, brings together working artists who look to other media for inspiration and sustainability. What’s gained by looking to other traditions? What’s lost? And how do different disciplines come together in the first place?

I will be presenting my data mining work along with:
Christian Johnston, a New York based photographer, has studied at International Center of Photography, Fashion Institute of Technology and TCC’s Visual Arts Center. He is a regular contributor to the New York Post where he does feature work. Some of his other clients include: Yale Magazine, ESPN, Sun Microsystems, Bank of America and MTV. His work has been exhibited at the T.C.C’s Visual Arts Center in Virginia, the Hudson Guild Gallery in NYC and at Portlock Galleries in SoNo Chesapeake, VA.

Shamar Hill graduated from the M.F.A. writing program at New York University, where he received a fellowship. He is the 2009 recipient of the JP Morgan Chase Foundation Award for fiction; 2008 Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance Award in fiction and the 2006- 2007 New York Foundation for the Arts Award in fiction. He teaches at Cooper Union School of Art.

Jon Stancato is Producing Artistic Director of Stolen Chair Theatre Company.

As an homage, I made a movie of some of my favorite searches using the new google search engine movie maker.

A street in the Uptown Tenderloin district.Thor Swift for The New York Times

San Francisco Detours Into Reality Tourism published April 11 in The New York Times describes a new area for San Francisco tourism: the Uptown Tenderloin. Includes walking tours of “the world’s largest collection of historic single-room occupancy hotels.” Just like the tenement museum in New York — except people are living there NOW! Instead of the bus tours like south central Los Angeles mentioned in the previous post, it seems like these tours avoid night time meanderings, when the “drunken people collapsed on streets and others furtively smoking pipes in doorways.”

Previous post: Slum Tourism in the U.S.

Influenced by my medium, my source materials and subject matter became historical, “dead” things- quite literally. I chose to research séances at the White House, which happens to be a subject matter rich with material.

I discovered a New York Times archive where Harry Houdini was the key “prosecutor” in a hearing to regulate clairvoyants. Houdini’s assistant testified in court that a spiritualist by the name of Mrs. Jane Coates had told her privately that she held séances with President Coolidge’s family as well as four senators on Capitol Hill.

I decided to letterpress the headline in a style as close to the original format as my beginner stages would take me.

I have found many more leads to the séance subject matter including the Lincolns, the Reagans, the Clintons. Ironically, after he proclaimed in court that all séances were gimmicks, Houdini’s wife held séances at his grave, confirming my suspicions he was jealous of their market share.

• Paul Chan will have his dvd “Sade for Fonts Sake” available as well as some of his new designer baby onesies.
• Angie Waller will be selling her books, dvds, digital paintings, candy-filled mugs and Hip-Hop Snowmen Designer Christmas sweaters.
• Ben Coonley will feature his Adorable Stocking Stuffers for all ages and levels of intelligence.
• Marianna Ellenberg’s will present her customized American Apparel T-shirts give STDs a cool retro style.
• Matthew Mottel and Blanka Amezkua will be presenting ephemera of multiple mediums.

and just announced… Arthur Jones will be drawing personalized caricatures throughout the event. Want to see yourself on a tandem bike with Sylvester Stallone? – he can do it! Bring photos of your loved ones for caricature gifts.