Niagara Detroit is an American artist associated with the Lowbrow movement. She was the frontperson for the 80s punk band Destroy All Monsters, but now works primarily in the visual arts. Her dominant motif is portraits of sultry, dangerous women.
Link (kinda NSFWish at times. Also with self-starting audio)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Lichtenstein
More known for 'making the scene' than for her astoundingly derivative, if not completely plagiaristic art she makes. Between Lichtenstein ripoffs, she traces and repaints covers from books.
After seeing one of 'her' paintings hanging at Detroit's C-Pop gallery I ran out to my car to get my copy of the Edie Sedgewick biography that she had copied, down to the color palette.
passionate the responses both positive and negative, become. The
fact that Niagara has several High End clothing lines, has been on a
endless world tour for the last 20 years (music & painting is testimony enough about her importance and endurance. What i find amazing is
how limited her many detractors knowledge of art is. Its like they all
are given the same talking points, Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc. True
she did meet those guys, and was influenced by them (who wasn't ?).
Pop art involves taking objects and images from pop culture (yes
books,movies, artists ) and incorporating them into your work. Every
year or so Niagara goes in a different direction; collage, 1920's, 30's
40's, Opium Series, Film Noir, and there is such an outcry from new fans that want to see pure pop....and who else is doing it ? ''So every time she thinks shes out, they keep dragging her back in...'' haha to quote the Sopranos. So go ahead, hit her with your best shot, but remember few monuments are dedicated to critics...and take a look
at your own art work, and your place in art history. Jealousy is potent,
and negative....take that same energy and put it into your art. The world is waiting to see YOUR close-up.
Colonel Galaxy
R N U her HUSBAND?! Oh, no that's right ur her "Bodyguard"!
You're hired to defend her. Someone has to. Do you send her fake fanmail, too?
Where? In her own mind? Bawhawhawhawhawhaw! Well, then put down the cokespoon!
Detroiter says:
November 10, 2008 at 5:30 pm
"Sorry, that woman(Niagara) only had a musical “career” because of who fucked her. How dare you detract from the genius of Mr. RON ASHETON and the MC5 guys and Carey Loren by crediting her as leading those bands!?!?! Just as, how dare Niagara delusionally accuse Debbie Harry, Madonna, and Chrissie amongst others of ripping her off(on her website)?!? And calls herself the “Queen of Detroit”. Being the Queen of Detroit is "about as easy a as shitting your own pants, but not merely as cool". And, why does she need a body guard, anyway?(according to her website)
And you open the article with a line about how “gorgeous” she is. I guess that’s all that really matters, huh?
Speaking of rip off, you call that art? Some of it is cool. But, ever seen a a “Pulp” fiction cover from the 40’s-60s’?
Andy Warhol ring a bell?
As a female rocker, I can adamantly say that the only influence Nigara as ever had on me(as a role model and I had never heard of her until I moved to Detroit)is what not to be: A coke head whore hack whose ego is bigger than her brain.
oh, and 60 year old and claiming to be 32?! WTF!
Wish I had the money to buy myself “legendary status” in both the punk rock and art worlds and to publish my own biography."
BTW, the famous Warhol Marilyn print is from the movie "Niagara". Any coincidence? "No, because I cried a lot as a child..." Is she such an egoist to think people don't catch on to things.
BTW, it was kinda creepy to see how she was the first to cash in on Asheton's death by selling Ron Asheton bumper stickers and pins on her website. Creepy.
Dara I see you didn't even bother to write a new critque, just pasted
that old one again. Well, just to let you know, the proceeds from the
"I Saluted Ron Asheton'' button all go to The Humane Society. There
are no bumper stickers. Thanks for your concern.
Colonel Galaxy
Oh my GOD ! They are right ! It is you ! Look at those log in times!
You are "The Chimp'' too. Oh no....just a coincidence ? Haha... you
are so transparent. Do you spend all your time on line just stalking Niagara ? Glad my ''Colonel's Angels'' told me about this. Yes I think
100 Art Shows: Brazil,England 3 times, Paris 4 times, Tokyo, Germany,
Australia 5 times, New Zealand twice, Hawaii, Rome and Venice LA (25)
NY (15) shows qualifies my ''constant World Tour'' reference. And as far as 'body guard'', no one ever said ''Here comes Niagara..everything
be should calm.'' You are so pitiful that you actually purchase Niagara paintings and then painstakingly copy them ! So which one of your
8 personalities will strike next ? Just have the guts to use your own
name this is so cowardly. ''Chimp'' is unfair to the sweet primates, but "Detroiter'' is just so most transparent. You really need therapy. You
know its funny that Niagara never gets to see these attacks, and prefers
to ''stay above it and leave these 'ambushes' to her body guards'' I'm
more than willing to set the record straight, when these childish comments cross the line and become personal. Niagara never has never ''critiqued'' anyone. She believes the adage, "NO ONE HAS EVER BUILT A MONUMENT FOR A CRITIC." I think Niagara's place in Art history is secure.....
until that time.....
Colonel Galaxy
Body Guard
I am waaayy outside your little dramas, but must write as I am a long-time fan of D.A.M. and an art collector who recently purchased 3 of Niagara's prints and bought her book.
I'm fifty years old, a long-time Seattle resident and was unaware of any hype or the trappings that you all seem so hung up on. She(if memory serves...) didn't even give me head, and I still like her work. Can you believe it?
You may just wish to save your time and not read this tome. Please check out this site. It's for IKON Ltd Contemporary Art Gallery: http://www.ikonltd.com/current/seeing-is-believing.cfm
If the significance of that is lost on you, please just let me know and I'll happily explain it to you.
I've never cared what the fuck others thought about my tastes and these squeaky pissant rants sure as shit aren't going to change my opinion.
I am not a wealthy person, but have always bought or traded for art. Intially, it was from friends and then local artists, and then artists I found through galleries and the internet. I Listen to my own heart/soul/dick/whaddafuct and buy it if I can afford it and it kicks my ass. It's my attitude toward music, visual art, writing & performance. It's turned out pretty well: Maybe my friends were just cooler than yours. I'm not name dropping so you'll think I'm cool- I could give a rat's ass- these individuals share the traights of integrity, passion and posession of a singular driving vision more than commercial or popular success: Buzz from the Melvins;
Matt from Mudhoney; Kurdt of Metal Church; Calvin and Heather of Beat Happening (they played at my wedding reception a couple of years before their first album came out. Bruce Pavitt was the DJ); a couple groovy chicks that ended up running local galleries because they worked their asses off (it's the 21st century- If a chick makes it, why do you assume that she did it on her back or knees?; Steve Fisk; literally scores of others who have created their own jobs & cultures without becoming whining little bitches who air their resentments in anonymous blogs. My art collection includes work by Kathie Olivas; Sue Coe; Camille Rose Garcia; Tim Biskup; Charles Burns; Wrong Wroks; Gary Baseman; Ray Caesar; Shepard Fairey; Peter Brandt; Lisa Petrucci; Swoon; Mark Ryden; Mathew Small; Parskid; Banksy and dozens more.
This is the company her artwork keeps.
You are niave, ignorant and unhinged if you think the scores of gallery owners that show Niagara's work do it for drugs, sex, to get rich or whatever crap you have drowning your brain. Believe Me People=
Wall space is too important a commodity to sell so cheaply: $125 seigraphs aren't going to make you rich and $100 of coke or a $20 blowjobs(sorry, Niagara). And SHIT- people can afford to buy her work.
Is THAT what pisses you snobs off?
I'll end this skree with a few simple thoughts-
1)Why is it that the UNDERGROUND insists on eating it's own? Is it a Big Fish/Little Pond syndrome?
B)Why do you even care about their personal lives?
Seriously, do you buy STAR magazine and The National the Enquirer? I mean, how is your bullshit gossip any different?
3) DON't YOU THINK political and corporate MAINSTREAM HACKS ARE A BIGGER THREAT as they promote their way down our throats and up our assholes? Do you think they are less grandiose, delusional, corrupt or full of shit than Niagara?
Now, remember, Al Gore invented the internet; Gerald Ford assured us that Russians weren't in Eastern Europe and George W admitted "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much." When asked if he was frustrated that Osama bin Laden hadn't yet been captured..
What has the greater effect on your life- Corporations pulling the strings of our dead "leaders" and eating your soul, or Niagara writing a book and making prints?
Are you just more forgiving of the mainstream butt-raping because you've already accepted the proposition that we're all whores?
IV) I hear a lot of chirping about drugs and nepotism: Have you ever done drugs or been given a break because you had a friend that wanted to help you?
SHIT- You should be STONED! (oops...maybe that was the wrong word...Like Mary Magdelan, not Timothy Leary).
5) Lichtenstein used images from Romance Comics. Are you aware of that? Warhol's black and white film stills resemble the work of Man Ray. Microsoft and Apple stole ideas from Xerox's Palo Alto research facility. People appropiate something that has already been established and then make it their own because of how they deviate from the accepted construct.. OOPS> Sorry, Vonskippy for being artsy-fartsy. Please let me make a simple point about language as an instrument for communication: I'll use the vernacular to which you may be more accustomed: If you want to win the Gran Prix, ya better make sure ya got gaS!
For those of you offended by her lack of originality- please promise me you'll never write a rock song in 4/4 time or a story using words. Okay?
six) Finally, I have a challenge- if any of you meatheads are as talented as you say, please contact me and if I like what you do, I would be all too happy to assist you in financing your project.
I'm serious. Are you?
EdG
If you don't like the artist, don't fight so hard to prove them wrong. I'm not about to go post on Picasso's page because I'm not a fan of his work. I, personally, have too much of a life to do that.
Lovies, I would like to remind you that wall space is expensive, and to make it so far as Niagara has, then she would have to give a lot more blowjobs, sell a lot more drugs, and pull a lot more strings then heavenly possible under normal circumstances.
She made art, stuck to it, and got found and became famous. It happens all the time. Someone doesn't nessecarily have to be the best person in the world to get found. Someone just has to like them and promote them so that others like them, and that's what happened with Niagara. It's the way the world works. If it bugs you that much then you are all even more childish then I thought.
Honestly, go work on your own art if you know so much about art.Use your dislike for Niagara as a description, but I find all this argueing so very.. childish.
Just wasting some time. <3
To note, I am a supporter of Niagara, and I intend to look out for her book to buy, and no she will not be sleeping with me to get that purhase.
If you don't like her, her art, her whatever...ignore it!
There will always be haters. Seems to me that, in life, haters are just jealous people who need to find something they're good at to focus on. Get a hobby. Or don't, and shut up!