Feud for Thought

Performance artist Ryan Avery and photographer Wayne Michael Reich used to get along about as well as Israel and Hamas. Around four years ago, the downtown artists engaged in quite the scenester spat: The ultra-serious Reich argued that the kooky 22-year-old’s goofy drawings and disruptive performances had no artistic merit...

By Benjamin Leatherman

January 15, 2009

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Performance artist Ryan Avery and photographer Wayne Michael Reich used to get along about as well as Israel and Hamas. Around four years ago, the downtown artists engaged in quite the scenester spat: The ultra-serious Reich argued that the kooky 22-year-old’s goofy drawings and disruptive performances had no artistic merit. While a truce has been called in recent years, Avery decided to lampoon his one-time foe by silk-screening Reich’s face onto sheets of colored copier paper. The prints are included in the dual “Do You See the Rose in the Trash?” exhibit at Trunk Space. In addition to an 80-pound ball of ugly ties Avery collected during his recent Mormon mission, the exhibition features colorfully DIY sound generators by local musician Corey Busboom. Built from cast-off toys and vintage electronics, the funky devices are currently the property of Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh, who bought them from Busboom before the show even hung.
Fri., Jan. 16, 6-9 p.m.; Fri., Feb. 6, 6-9 p.m., 2009

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Benjamin Leatherman is a staff writer for Phoenix New Times where he focuses primarily on arts, culture, music, and nightlife. He began writing for New Times in 2003 and joined the staff full-time in 2005. Prior to that, he contributed to magazines such as Tips & Tricks and The Wrestler. Benjamin has earned multiple awards from the Arizona Press Club including an award for sports enterprise reporting in 2009 and an award for statewide arts reporting in 2014. He holds a bachelor’s of arts in journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Contact: Benjamin Leatherman

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