blog

MEMBER SIGN-IN

We're sorry, we can't find the username and password combination you've submitted. Please try resubmitting your information. Please note, username and password are not case sensitive.

Not a Style.com member? Join now, it's free and easy.

USERNAME PASSWORD

Remember me next time

forgot Sign-In Information?

submit

NOT A MEMBER?

Join Style.com to get full access to our special features and community. It's fast and free.

join now

JOIN NOW

We're sorry, but we could not accept your request. Incomplete/incorrect fields are highlighted in the form below with a ! symbol. Please fill out these fields and click submit.

To access this feature, fill in the fields below and click "Submit." To get full access to Style.com's special features and community, join now

USERNAME

PASSWORD

E-MAIL ADDRESS

CONFIRM PASSWORD

Please send me occasional e-mail updates about new features and special offers from Style.com.

Yes No

I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Mobile Terms and Conditions.

SUBMIT

Blasblog: Downtown Divas, Delusional and Otherwise

January 12, 2009 4:47 pm

“This is low-budget art life support,” teased Yvonne Force Villareal on Friday night, standing in a small gallery space on the lower half of Wooster Street—the new venue for her and partner Doreen Remen’s Art Production Fund called APF Lab. “Look, there’s not even a handle on the front door,” she pointed out. True, there might have been some jerry-rigging when it came to the entrance, but this part of town should be used to creativity on a shoestring—or at least have a faint memory of when artists were struggling in Soho. Force Villareal was working Wooster Street for the debut APF’s newest collaboration called Delusional Downtown Divas. The five-part video piece features three self-described art brats—young people with high-powered art-world parents—who grow up and realize that they’re going to have to find a way to stay relevant in this creative community. And so we’re treated to footage (a still is pictured here) of Isabel Halley, Joana d’Avillez, and Lena Dunham posing really hard at gallery parties, dancing really hard at Beatrice Inn, and trying really hard to get in with hot young artists like Nate Lowman. (In the episode I saw, two of the girls break into a gallery, get Nate’s number, and attempt to seduce him under the guise that they’re seeking art for an upcoming fair.) “The story is basically about three young girls who, because they grew up in the world they did, never had to try hard to impress people,” explained Force Villareal. “They grew up in the art world, which will take anyone. Now they have to figure it out for themselves.” Of course, Force Villareal is an expert at doing just that. Her new budget-sensitive gallery APF Lab is a donated space that she is happily filling with events for the next five years. (This particular installation, which is set up to look like one brat’s Tribeca lair, is up through this week.) “If you have any good ideas, we’ll take them here,” Force Villareal was overheard telling a fellow art world-er. “I will literally give you the keys.” Presumably by then there will be a door knob.