A Glass of Water and A Lottery Ticket are Examples of Jim Joe’s “Art,” at the Hole (All Photos By Gail)

Jim Joe (real name and identity unknown) is a NYC tagger/street artist who writes his name, and an occasional saying, on buildings around the various NYC boroughs and, The Hole Gallery would have us believe, apparently wants to be taken seriously as an artist. OK, whatever. I like to keep an open mind about what constitutes “Art” in a contemporary sense, but this exhibit takes even the James Franco School of The Emperors New Clothes Phenomena to a new level of bullshit.

Opening on New Year’s Day, 2014 and running through the month of January, the January 2014 show will expand daily as The Hole adds to the exhibit each day with new works by Jim Joe. We dropped in on Saturday, January 4th to find the works you see in this post on display and constituting the exhibit in its entirety to-date.  Yawn City.

There were two other pieces that I declined to photograph: one that looked like a sheet of newsprint and a black, half-loop-squiggle spray-painted directly onto the gallery wall. Trust me, you’re not missing anything.

I found this little Santa Claus plush toy discarded in one corner of the gallery floor. It is unclear whether this is meant to be part of January 2104, perhaps as a found object commentary on the Commercialism of the Holiday Season. Who Knows.

We do have more than three full weeks left in the month of January, so this exhibit could take a turn for the better, say, in the next week or so. But from what I saw not it’s not worth the bother of checking out unless you want to see for yourself how much of a joke it is. Or, you could also see Adam Green & Friends Hot Chicks group show, which runs concurrently in The Hole’s rear gallery.

It’s crap like this that gives Contemporary Art a bad name. Color me not impressed.