Filthy Lucre – Why We Love Molly Crabapple
The first time time I saw the artwork of Molly Crabapple was in 2008 at Ad Hoc Gallery in Brooklyn. Her artwork must have made an impression on me because all I can remember from that show is marveling at the detail in an allegorical circus scene of hers.
I also wanted to cut new mats for her drawings because they were a little dinged up and I thought they deserved some classy, 8-ply goodness (I was working as a framer at the time).
A few months later, I got to meet Molly at the ABC No Rio Gala and Benefit Auction. We had both donated artwork to the silent auction. While standing in front of her portrait of Buck Angel, we marveled at how OUR artwork was hanging next to the likes of Kiki Smith, Tom Otterness and Yoko Ono – how great it was to help out such an important organization – it was a great night.
In 2011, she again donated artwork for a fundraiser for the same organization.
If you’re sensing a pattern here, it’s because there is one.
Molly donates – her time, her energy, her artwork, her experience.
As I’ve watched her rise up – writing gigs, her Shell Game exhibit, her inclusion in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art – I’ve been rooting for her the whole time. And it’s exciting to see.
Listen: She wrote this article back in June, but I somehow missed it until my wife showed it to me yesterday morning. I’m not going to bother summarizing it. Just read it. It’s really good and really necessary. And she says a lot of things about living as an artist that I’ve never been able to put anywhere near as well as she does here.
