User:MarkAllen5/sandbox

The Good/Bad Art Collective were a group of artists based in Denton, Texas from 1993-2001, and also in Brooklyn, New York from 1999-2001. The group (also sometimes known as G/BAC or Good/Bad) consisted mainly of students from the Arts Program at The University of North Texas who found the conceptual art curriculum at the school's graduate level too restrictive. Using Fluxus/Dada-inspired, non-traditional multi-media and non-gallery performance-based art work as its jumping-off point in 1993, they continued to explore this type of work until 2001. Their primary method was the "One Night Only Event." The collective was self-sustaining, organizing themselves from the ground-up, and created works as a cohesive whole. They worked out of a building they rented in the industrial section of Denton, and supported their actives through fundraising. The group reportedly included over 200 working members and volunteers during its existence, and created almost 200 individual works. Contrasted with the group's small town surroundings, the spectacle of the collective's often public work, combined with their meticulous approach and prolific output--as well as their ability to organize--garnered immediate attention from art communities in larger, surrounding Texas cities. The group eventually staged solo exhibits in major galleries and museums in Dallas, Arlington and Houston. The group eventually got attention from the national art world, and a few of its members would continue on to internationally successful art careers. Amidst the collective's success, many of Good/Bad's core members split from the group in 1999, leaving for the New York art world and establishing Good/Bad Brooklyn. Both Good/Bad Brooklyn and Good/Bad Denton ended in 2001.

Good/Bad Denton (1993-2001) Headquarters at 120 Exposition Street in Denton, Texas.

Good/Bad Brooklyn (1999-2001) Headquarters in Williamburg, Brooklyn, New York.

Good/Bad Art Collective's One Night Only Policy:
"Since 1993, Good/Bad Art Collective in Denton has been holding one-night-events as the principal means of exposure for the individuals associated with the space. Originally the one-night-event functioned out of necessity: the financial and geographic restraints on the volunteers and contributors were enough to limit the duration of activities at the space. Six years and over one-hundred and fifty events later these restraints have evolved into an effective model of presentation. The success of many of the functions at Good/Bad can be derived not only from the relevance of the work displayed and performed, but the social and individual obligations and interactions that result from the one-night concept. For most gallery patrons the art opening has evolved into a blend of cliches and punch-drunk socialization. The tired observer sees little relevance in dividing attention between the "things" at the opening and socialization with other patrons. In some cases the gallery visitors passivity cannot be blamed on ineffective work. Perhaps the patron is complacent because it is assumed that the art will exist beyond its introduction. Good/Bad has, with great success, created an obligation for the patron to look, even as the inevitable socialization occurs, because the work displayed will disappear after its initial presentation. It is the intention of Good/Bad to reject passivity on the part of the visitor to the space. Because of this, individuals associated with Good/Bad have created works that under the one-night restraint flourish because of the needed interactivity that the evening's atmosphere causes. Because of this, the one-night-event best qualifies as a vehicle for certain tendencies in contemporary art and is justifiable and interesting (albeit not new) pursuit in communication." - taken from G/BAC's website in 1999

Chronological Timeline of Major Works

Overdue Paintings: Art on Reserve
December 12, 1993
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Each member of the collective were loaned “works of art” from the Emily Fowler Public Library in Denton (at the time, the local Denton library had the unusual service of allowing patrons to check out reproductions of famous and local artworks that were stored and displayed in the main foyer of the library). The twenty odd works ranged from reproductions of well-known paintings or sculpture to original works donated by local artists. Each was displayed at Good/ Bad with information giving the Dewey Decimal number of the work and the individual member who checked the artwork out of the library.

Glitches Be Damned!
December 3, 1994
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Instigated by Good/Bad collaborator David Austin, this was a one-day video festival where all the screened works were shot and presented on the same day. Participants met at Good/Bad at 6:30AM and returned with their finished video at 9:00PM for the public screening. It's been debated that this was the first competition of it's type, which became a late-90's trend at Dallas and Austin film festivals.

Beat the Heat
Publication date: September 4, 1995
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Two thousand flyers were circulated in the Denton Record Chronicle asking the citizens of Denton to “Beat the Heat” of Summer by turning their air-conditioning on at full power and to open all the doors and windows in their home in an attempt to cool off the city of Denton. Good/Bad’s faux “hotline” received over fifty confused phone calls in the proceeding days.

Radio Night: The Broadcasts of Karl Conrad
March 9, 1996
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Using an FM radio transmitter, Good/Bad member Conrad attempted to broadcast illegally from the Good/Bad space in Denton. These broadcasts were to include live interviews with artists Jim Shaw and Jeffrey Vallance, as well as pre-recorded material. Guests to this event were encouraged to listen in on their car stereos outside the space, or listen from a group of two-dozen headphones available in the gallery. After the unfortunate loss of the broadcast signal due to technical difficulties late on the day of the event, Conrad hurriedly patched in the Good/Bad office phone lines to a PA system in the main gallery, called a suicide hotline, and for three hours sat cloistered in the office of Good/Bad discussing his failure with a suicide counselor for all the visitors and patrons to hear.

id, it, et al – Schell Taylor
April 5 & 6, 1996
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Member Schell Taylor’s installation of white Styrofoam packing peanuts filling the back gallery of the Good/Bad space. Guests were encouraged to jump, play, and interact in the material. Because of demand this event was extended to a two-day event. On the first day of the event there was a freak April snowstorm in Denton.

Gay Art
Various dates
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Gay Art/Vato Auto (June 22, 1996)
Gay Art/Straight Play (February 28, 1997)
It’s a Peeece in Itself (Gay Art) (February 7, 1998)
Fandango: Gay Art (March 6, 1998)
The annual Gay Art events appealed to participants to create without regard to their own embarrassment or lack of talent. The Gay Art method ridiculed the techniques of contemporary art making and embraced the humor of a simultaneously smart and stupid idea. Gay Art events asked patrons to contribute to the evening with artwork, costumes, performances, and abhorrent behavior all designed to dissolve issues of quality and content in association with art making. Inspired from legendary California curator Walter Hopp’s open exhibition “Thirty-Six Hours” at the Museum of Temporary Art in Washington (where all contributed artworks were accepted and displayed for a thirty-six hour period.)

Isolation Chamber
November 6-9, 1996
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Good/Bad member’s Dave Seiden, Erick Swenson, and Chris Weber were sealed in the back gallery of Good/Bad wearing only white boxer shorts. In the gallery turned chamber were three large loaves of bread, bottled water, and a seesaw. The men were required to keep this see-saw moving at all times, and if for any reason the apparatus stopped moving, a loud air horn sounded until the seesaw motion was reestablished. For three days the men were monitored via closed circuit cameras by collective members, outside volunteers, and the public. The men were encouraged to defecate in the empty bags containing their bread and urinate in the empty bottles previously containing water. The Good/Bad building was left open to the public for the duration of this event. After three days the three men were released during the closing reception of the event to be greeted by a crowd of attendees.

Nothing’s Happening at Good/Bad Art Collective
December 14, 1996
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Press releases, flyers, posters and advertisements were created for the non-event occurring on a Saturday evening in December. Good/Bad members took the weekend off and were required to not visit the Good/ Bad space that weekend. There is no record of whom, if anyone, attended.

Art With Cats – Bill Davenport
March 14, 1997
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Houston artist Bill Davenport’s one-night exhibition featured artworks inspired and enabled by housecats. Visitors to the exhibition were encouraged to bring their cats from home. A dozen felines were present for this chaotic and stressful event.

One Person Show Featuring
April 3, 1997
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
This installment of our bi-monthly Good/Bad member’s show was noteworthy for the inclusion of members Will Robison and Richie Budd’s piece “Hey Guy”, in which three fraternity boys from the local college volunteered to be sealed in a small space with a keg and magic markers. Visitors to the gallery could view the boys getting progressively drunk and unruly through a glass window.

Hotel BBQ: California Bus Ride
April 5, 1997
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
In conjunction with the Arlington Museum of Art’s exhibition of “Hotel California”, Good/Bad hosted the two dozen visiting California artists in town for the exhibition by renting a large tour bus and presenting an unusual driving tour of North Texas.

Red Rover Issues
July 4, 1997
Revolution Summer (Houston, Texas)
In 1982, California truck driver Larry Walters piloted a lawn chair attached to forty-two helium filled weather balloons 16, 000 feet (3 miles) above Long Beach, California. Spotted by a Delta Airlines pilot, Walters was able to safely descend to earth after shooting out many of the balloons with his on-board pellet gun. Inspired by Walter’s bravery and independence, Good/Bad attempted to simulate Walter’s flight on July 4th 1997, at Revolution Summer Art Space in Houston, Texas. “Hanging high above the three story Revolution Summer building, Good/ Bad member Richie Budd sits, wearing only one tennis shoe, in his lawn chair attached to 45 helium filled weather balloons. Attached to Richie’s single shoe is a shoelace (tied school boy prank style) that spans down from Richie’s hanging feet, through the roof, and into the Revolution Summer building. Following the impossibly long shoelace inside, you find Richie’s missing shoe pulling hard against the ceiling, anchoring Richie, and preventing him from flying high into space...“ - Original proposal for Red Rover Issues. After eighteen hours of continuous work creating elaborate safety rigging and filing weather balloons with helium, the collective was unable to provide the proper lift for Richie to be held independently aloft.

Very Fake, But Real
September 6, 1997
DiverseWorks Artspace (Houston, Texas)
From Noon until Midnight on Saturday, September 6th 1997, Good/Bad invaded DiverseWorks Artspace in Houston, Texas. The collective transformed DiverseWorks into a functional roller skating rink centered around a scale-reproduction of the then Good/Bad headquarters in Denton, Texas. Guests to the event were offered all the applicable details of a working roller-skating rink, including a skate check, snack bar, deejay, dance lighting, and safety railing. Every available area of DiverseWorks was adapted to function as exhibition space for the artwork of individual collective members. In the main theater and performance space, videos documenting past Good/Bad experiments were screened, and throughout the evening musicians associated with the collective would perform for tired skaters. True to its one-night-only preference, the group removed all traces of the Very Fake, But Real project by 5:00PM the next day.

Strange Loops
November 14, 1997
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Group exhibition organized by member Sean Slattery. Of note is member Erick Swenson’s “Via Horizontal Satellite (with Blue Island)”, a specially constructed jogging track that intersected the Good/Bad gallery space. This jogging course was created for a group of runners to travel through downtown Denton (complete with water bottle stations) running the race through the gallery at regular intervals, and eventually ending at the Good/Bad building at the close of the evening’s event.

Welcome to Important Town
February 21, 1998
Conduit Gallery Annex (Dallas, Texas)
A collaborative exhibition featuring four artworks created by the collective. Satellite Dumpster - a duplicate of the garbage dumpster found outside of the collective’s Texas building scaled down seventy- five percent. Satellite Dumpster functioned as a receptacle for any refuse produced during the opening reception for Welcome To Important Town. This refuse remained in the dumpster the duration of the exhibition. Après Ski (After Ski) - A large, billboard sized vinyl portrait of the 1998 membership of the collective dressed in ski attire and sitting in a ski lodge. The right leg of each member has a cast on it, indicating that each individual has a broken leg. Leaning against this image is a thirty-foot-long, single, right foot ski broken into three separate pieces. The ski has enough bindings (the clamp for the foot) for all the collective members featured in the portrait, implying that this is the single ski of a pair that the members wear together, at the same time, skiing as a group. Titanic - While James Cameron’s blockbuster film ‘Titanic’ was still in theaters, and months before its Best Picture Oscar, the collective presented a perpetual screening of a pirated copy of Cameron’s epic for Welcome To Important Town. With the title text ‘TITANIC’ looming above, the film was presented as a loop on a three-inch portable monitor. The collective also edited the pirated film for television, and added commercials where appropriate. Good/Bad representatives signed a waiver accepting full responsibility for any legal action. Jukebox - a functional, freestanding jukebox housing twenty-one individual compositions by the 1998 members of Good/Bad Art Collective. Members were asked to design original album art for their audio contribution, which was burned onto a compact disc and installed into the jukebox. Visitors had the option to select a specific audio work, or wait for the piece to play during the jukeboxes random play mode.

Just a Minute, Wait a Minute
April 10, 1998
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Curated and organized by member Eric Graham, this group show was available for public viewing for two minutes at an undetermined time within a three-hour waiting period. Security was assigned to ensure that the two-minute time limit was enforced. The event included a traditional one-minute long opening reception.

Good/Bad Burns
April 9, 1998
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Celebrating the collective’s fifth anniversary by simulating the Good/ Bad buildings destruction by fire.

We Sorry.
Publication date: September 5, 1998
Artlies Issue 19, Fall1998
In response to inaccuracies and criticism in the Texas arts publication Artlies regarding previous projects in Houston (Red Rover Issues and Very Fake, But Real), the collective placed a full-page ad in an issue of Artlies under the headline “We Sorry.”. The ad featured twenty photographs of the collective members with individual toll- free numbers beneath each portrait. The ad offers the reader a live, personal apology from whatever collective member pictured they choose to call. (Note: Inspired by the Alan Bridge’s “Apology Line” .)

120X (Marks the Spot)
December 12, 1998
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
Conceived by Good/Bad member Marshall Garth Thompson, 120X (Marks the Spot) asked patrons to search the city of Denton for hidden artworks placed in locked metal containers. Participants were given a three- hour window to locate the objects using a map provided by the collective. As artworks were returned to the gallery, they were removed from their containers and displayed in the main gallery of Good/Bad. At the end of the evening the artworks were given to the individuals who located them. (Note: The name “120X” is a riff on the Dallas gallery 500X, the oldest cooperative gallery in Texas. Good/Bad was located at 120 Exposition Street in Denton, while 500X was located at 500 Exposition Street in Dallas.)

We’re On Our Way to Dinner, But We Have to Pick Up Something First
Arlington Museum of Art (Arlington, Texas)
In conjunction with the Arlington Museum of Art’s ‘True Stories’ photography and video exhibition, Good/Bad constructed the Péna Heights apartment complex on the Péna Heights apartment complex on the second floor mezzanine of the museum. Péna Heights functioned as a set, or background for a series of photos and videos incorporating select visitors to the museum on the evening of the exhibition’s opening reception. During the opening a Good/Bad volunteer discreetly passed out keys to patrons, vaguely implying “that this is the key to their apartment upstairs”. With key in hand, the patron was greeted on the second floor by a guard stationed at a reception area. The patron’s name was taken, and after a considerable wait the individual was buzzed into the apartment complex. Once the visitor entered the structure, and used the key to access apartment 2B, they were greeted by a personalized surprise party given to them by members of Good/Bad. The individual’s name appeared on a birthday cake and on banners hanging in the apartment. After being given a Péna parking permit as a gift, the patron was rushed out of the surprise party, making the experience inside apartment 2B last no more than twenty seconds. Seventy-five guests to the exhibition that evening received a personalized party. In the kitchen of 2B, Polaroid photographs documenting each visitors experience were displayed on the refrigerator for the duration of the exhibit. In addition, surveillance video of the visitors entering the apartment was screened in the reception area.

Joey on ICU
July 2, 1999
ABC No Rio (New York, New York)
Utilizing the combined talents of forty Texas and New York artists, filmmakers, and musicians, Joey on ICU incorporated digital imaging, video, robotics, performance, sculpture, and music in a narrative installation that was at once obvious and mysterious. Joey’s story was a subjective experience of fabricated coincidences and capricious melodrama measured in the fleeting moments of a hot July evening at ABC No Rio in Manhattan. The story... Falling in and out of consciousness, an orphaned baby kangaroo named Joey relates a hallucinatory tale of neglect, suffering, and rescue. Through this narration, the viewer is given vague explanations of the objects and images on display in the main gallery, backyard, and basement of ABC No Rio. Joey tells his tale from a tiny hospital room surrounded by heart monitors, pressure machines, IV units, and other scaled down equipment. Searching for his lost, drug dealing mother (whose pouch, filled with marijuana, no longer held room for Joey) the abandoned baby kangaroo set out on his stagecoach (The Orphan’s Cradle) pulled by his best friend, a jackrabbit named Maple. Joey’s sad quest is abruptly interrupted by an attack by the ‘Rondo Indians’. The ‘Rondos’, a tribe of violent, soda fueled natives, use their rocket launchers to destroy Joey’s coach, injure Joey, and kill his best friend Maple. In an ironic twist, the attack is stopped and Joey is saved by the “Knights of the Drum Circle”; a band of pot-smoking knights, and regular customers of Joey’s pusher-mom. Saved by the knights, Joey is placed in intensive care to recover from his injuries. Brain sick and confused, Joey dreams of a lonely 49er (Martin Iles) who sells hot dog balls in an abandoned Southern fireworks stand floating in space. The dream comforts Joey, the 49er’s isolation and pathetic search for customers correspond with Joey’s loneliness and pursuit for his mother.

Sweet Movie
September 4, 1999
University of Texas at Dallas (Dallas, Texas)
Sweet Movie’ Using a social gathering as a central theme, Sweet Movie consisted of eleven video monitors screening the results of a weekend of celebration, consumption, and expulsion documented from a set constructed at the collective’s Texas headquarters. Incorporated into the installation were the props and dessert food used in the production of the individual videos. These desserts were served to guests at the Sweet Movie opening reception. (Note: Inspired by the then unseen by us, film “Sweet Movie” by Yugoslav filmmaker Dusan Makavejev.)

Homebound/Forget Anything Happened (For Cliff)/!!!!!!!!
May 5, 2001
Good/Bad Art Collective (Denton, Texas)
The final event at the rotting Good/Bad building in Denton was divided into three stages. The first, “Homebound” was developed by Good/Bad members in NYC. “Homebound” featured a Good/Bad event staff member dangling from the window outside of the office of the Good/Bad building. Working door duty, this staff person stamped patrons hands with the word “Homebound” as they entered the grounds of Good/Bad. During the course of the evening visitors were invited to enter the office of the Good/Bad building and discover that the lower half of the staff member’s body was attached to a giant ball sack and a closed- circuit video projection of the patrons hands being stamped was projected onto the giant scrotum. The second stage, titled “Forget Anything Happened (For Cliff)” was false tableaux in the form of an elaborate set accrediting the collective’s productions to long-time geriatric neighbor Cliff Barnett. The third and final stage “!!!!!!!!” (eight exclamation points) involved the simultaneous performance of eight Denton bands under a gigantic tent constructed outside the Good/Bad building. Performers included Asphalt the Recorder, The Banes, The Baptist Generals, The Chop-Sakis, Cornhole, The Dutch Treats, Mazinga Phaser, and Little Grizzly. This performance took place in a driving rain and lightning storm. The event ended with a surprise and violent performance by the band EFF in the office of the Good/Bad building.

List of Members

Joe Arts (in 1995)
Dan Bailey (from 1994 - 1996)
Aaron Baker (from 1993 - 1994)
Matt Bagley (from 1993 - 1994)
Kim Bridwell (from 1993 - 1995)
Starr Bryce (from 1997 - 2001)
Richie Budd (from 1995 - 1997)
Bryan Campbell (from 1999 - 2001)
Steven Charles (from 1993 - 1994)
Karl Conrad (in 1996)
M. Shane Culp (from 1997 - 2001) (Website Coordinator 1997 - 2001)
Jeff Dalton (in 1997)
Rob Eager (from 1996 - 1997)
Mike Eudy (from 1995 - 1999)
Curtis Fairman (from 1997 - 1998)
Bill Feeney (from 1993 - 1994)
Brian Fridge (in 1993)
Jennifer Fridge (in 1993)
Greg Frost (from 1998 - 2001)
Heather Grace (from 1996 - 2001)
Eric Graham (from 1997 - 2001)
Aaron Graves (from 1998 - 2001)
Andrew Hahn (from 1993 - 1994)
Tuesdee Halbert (from 1996 - 1997)
Dana Harper (from 1996 - 1998)
Quincy Holloway (from 1996 - 1997)
Jamie Hon (from 1997 - 2001)
Carly Hunter (in 1996)
Jerry Huff (from 1995 - 1996)
Martin Iles (Mfrom 1993 - 2001) (Director 1994 - 2001)
Will Jayroe (in 1994)
Ian Johnson (from 1998 - 2001)
Elliot Johnson (from 1996 - 2001)
Lisa Johnson (from 1996 - 1997)
Tim Kaminski (from 1994 - 2001)
Susan Laswell (from 1996 - 2001)
Kim Lenz (in 1995)
Heather Letzkus (in 1995)
Shelly Long (from 1994 - 1997)
Wendy Lumley (in 1997)
Brad Loving (from 1994 - 1995)
M (from 1998 - 2001)
Jesse Meraz (from 1997 - 2001)
Adam Miller (from 1994 - 1997)
Robert Moore (in 1994)
Stefani Nicolaou (from 1995 - 1997)
John Norris (in 1996)
Rod Northcutt (from 1993 - 1994) (Director 1993 - 1994)
Ray Ortiz (in 1995)
Aaron Penland (in 1994)
Todd Ramsell (from 1993 - 1994)
Darci Ratliff (in 1998)
Lisa Rawlinson (from 1993 - 1997)
Will Robison (from 1994 - 1998)
Marcos Rosales (in 1993)
M. Patience Rose (from 1999 - 2001)
Johnathan Rudak (from 1999 - 2001)
Chris Sanderson (in 1993)
David Seiden (from 1995 - 1997)
Sean Slattery (from 1996 - 2001)
Corbett Sparks (from 1994 - 1997)
Chris Steinbach (from 1997 - 1998)
Kara Sutherlin (from 1994 - 1996)
Chris Swenson (from 1996 - 2001) (Treasurer 1997 - 2001)
Erick Swenson (from 1994 - 2001)
Schell Taylor (from 1996 - 1997)
Marshall Thompson (from 1996 - 2001)
Arlene Waghalter (in 1995)
Chris Weber (from 1996 - 1998) (Music/Benefit Coordinator 1996 - 1997)
Rob Weingart (from 1994 - 1995)
Jeremy Williams (in 1996)
Daniel Yeiser (from 1994 - 1995)