How about that stock market? In two days the Dow
Jones Industrial Average rocketed higher by over 500
points. On Wednesday alone it added 330 points, or 2.55
percent. That same wonderful day, the tech-heavy
Nasdaq rose by 3.18 percent, and the broader Standard
and Poor’s 500 index increased by 2.86 percent.

The catalyst for this explosive rise in prices came from
the comments made by Donald Kohn, Vice Chairman of
the Federal Reserve. Apparently, the Fed must be
“nimble” at moments such as this one, when the financial
markets are shaking with fear, and the economy teeters
on the brink of doom. And, nimble means being ready to
lower the cost of credit to the nation’s financial institutions
and legions of reckless gamblers.

This was the signal that was so desperately needed
by the battered financial markets. Before the Vice
Chairman’s call to flood the market with liquidity,
the major stock market averages were down 10
percent from their recent giddy peaks. And the
shares of banks and brokerages were sinking even
faster into oblivion.

Yes, it seems that lower interest rates will be the
magic elixir for the increasingly delusional stock
market bulls. As for the rest of us, lowering short-term
rates will do nothing to cure a sinking housing market;
it will not reverse the surge in oil prices, and it will do
little to restore eroding consumer and business confidence.

To top it all off, America’s once respected financial
industry has behaved in an almost incomprehensibly
reckless fashion. They are now suffering staggering losses
on countless billions of bad subprime mortgage loans and
over-leveraged trading bets that have soured. And, the
credit crunch that is occurring is due to the simple fact that
they do not trust each other any more- can you blame
them?

So, the Fed’s announcement that it stands ready to prime
the credit pumps- followed up by the soothing words of
Chairman Bernanke today- will amount to nothing more
than last call on the Titanic. Cheap drinks will deaden the
pain of the chilly waters that lie in wait.

© Greg Strid 2007

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This beautiful, sumptuously adorned frame is currently being offered at $600; it retails for $1,200. I came across this enormous, yet unique piece a week ago while on a mission for my employer. If you are interested in giving this frame a proper home, please send a note to: splendidmarbles@gmail.com

(The outside dimensions are 74 x 54 inches, and the face of the frame is 6 inches wide. The frame is located in Midtown Manhattan. If you would like to take a serious look at it, we can set up an appointment immediately.)

Perception of Pattern – an art exhibit presented by ICAP Services North America LLC, conceived and coordinated by Greg Strid, produced by Unpainted Emporium Productions LLC, featuring the art of Megan Klim, David Poppie and Ev Stone.

The art was arranged with the help of Michele Brace, ICAP’s Director of Travel and Entertainment, and her husband, Alan Brace, who has contributed his efforts to several “Art in the Office” exhibits at ICAP’s offices that were coordinated by ProArts of Jersey City.

Photos of the exhibit, which features the work of Megan Klim, David Poppie and Ev Stone, are posted below. Perception of Pattern will be on display until December 14, 2007.

David Poppie’s “Sequence”, “Clouded” and “Ghost” (left to right)

Megan Klim’s “Untitled” 2006 and “Seam #2″ (left to right)

Another shot of David Poppie’s “Sequence”, “Clouded” and “Ghost” (left to right)

David Poppie’s “Facade”, on loan from the collection of Greg Strid

One final view of David Poppie’s “Sequence”, “Clouded” and “Ghost” (left to right)

Ev Stone’s “Flowers Breed Discontent”

Megan Klim’s “Untitled” 2006

Another view of Megan Klim’s “Untitled” 2006 and “Seam #2″ (left to right)

David Poppie’s Teabag and Mixed Media pieces on the trading floor.

Ev Stone’s “Totem”

Megan Klim’s “Fog”

Ev Stone’s Mixed Media Collage

Megan Klim’s “Untitled” 2006, a 10ft. drawing overlooking the trading floor.

Perception of Pattern – an art exhibit presented by ICAP Services North America LLC, conceived and coordinated by Greg Strid, produced by Unpainted Emporium Productions LLC, featuring the art of Megan Klim, David Poppie and Ev Stone.

Patterns can be seen all around us, everyday. And, we all adhere to patterns of behavior. This is how we create order from the chaos that surrounds us each day. Look at the desks that are arranged on the trading floor, the prices that flash on the screen, the cars in the parking lot below, etc. Imagine what your world would be without patterns, and how that would affect your ability function.

The artists displaying their work today have deliberately created patterns to test the perceptions that most people have of what constitutes the world around them. Through rearranging found objects and shapes intentionally created by line, these artists are challenging you to reconsider what you normally take for granted.

David Poppie is currently represented by Pavel Zoubok Gallery, located on 23rd Street in Manhattan, and his latest work will be displayed at PULSE Miami, the international contemporary art fair scheduled for this December. David is quickly gaining the attention of collectors from around the country, selling close to a dozen pieces through Pavel Zoubek Gallery this year, and is scheduled for a solo show next year.

Megan Klim and Ev Stone have shown their work extensively in Hudson County, and will be participating in Art Basel Miami, the high profile international art show that runs December 6-9 of this year. Perception of Pattern will be on display at ICAP Securities 12th floor offices from November 15, 2007 until December 14, 2007.

Artist Statement- Megan Klim

This work takes on an obsessive quality. They are built with repeated shapes- in most cases circles. Each circle is different –some connected, some overlapping, some are joined to others, some are alone. This work is about gesture vs. structure, transparent vs. opaque. I view these as states of being that can reference the many aspects of the human condition

Megan Klim- Gridded, 2007 (Charcoal, Pencil, Ink on Wax on Wood) 11 x 12 inches

Artist Statement- David Poppie
My recent work involves the reclaiming disposable objects in mass to create two and three dimensional works. Pieces can involve tea bags, matchbook strikes, plastic cutlery, etc. These items are generally disregarded and ignored by the everyday person. Through the gathering of the discards of contemporary culture, I ask the viewer to reconsider the function and value of these objects. I also reassign their value by re-contextualizing them by creating a piece of art from them. Besides utilizing the formal issues that interest me, based in the Minimalist school, I also am making a commentary on the disposable nature of contemporary culture.

David’s work can be seen on the web at:

davidpoppie.com

David Poppie- Façade, 1997 (Teabags, Mixed Media) 21 x 28 inches. On loan from Greg Strid

Artist Statement- Ev Stone

My art has evolved from a time in my childhood when I played in the woods along the Wabash River in Indiana. With my sister’s help I constructed a series of stick forts, lean-to’s and hideaways. We created dramatic imaginary tableaux- clashes on horseback, sharpened stick battles, peacetime trading posts- and used yellow creek pebbles as money. I strive to create the objects that would have filled my life if I could have stayed in that imaginary world of childhood. I try to build in the simplest manner, using as little technology as possible. In the process, I am still trying to elevate these found objects to an ordered, ordained and iconic status. This transformation of the ‘mundane’ to the ‘aesthetic’ is fundamental to understanding these pieces. Within these structures I look to find a balance between the tribal or primitive and the man-made or technological, and perhaps between the spiritual and the intellectual. I create spaces to reflect and consider. The collages are reflections of over-stimulus, an all-over explosion to the senses of the too much, too fast media. Responding to the overload of visual information, I recombine the images in a rhythmic way that makes more sense to me, creating a unique object from a mass-produced image.

Ev Stone Flowers Breed Discontent, 2005 (Mixed Media Collage) 35 x 24 x 4 inches

I read a distressing tale in the Star Ledger yesterday.
The article discussed the price-slashing that Red Bank,
New Jersey-based homebuilder Hovnanian engaged in
during its “Deal of the Century” blow-out sale in October.
It is common knowledge that the real estate market is
in a slump, and Hovnanian slashed prices on its cavernous
homes by as much as $100,000 to boost sagging sales.

The Armageddon-style sale appeared to work- over
2,100 contracts were signed during the three day
span. But, this flashy stunt did not save Hovnanian
from reporting a 10 percent drop in quarterly new
home orders. The Star Ledger reported that more
than half of the recent quarter’s orders came from
this one long super-sale weekend. And, cancellations
have been on the rise. Company officials attribute
this to the tightening of mortgage lending standards.

The significance of this story lies in the fact that
homebuilders like Hovnanian have over-built, over-
borrowed and are in a mad rush to liquidate excess
inventory. They are now facing increasingly hostile
market conditions at the worst possible time.

Just as homebuilders are attempting desperate
measures to restore order to inventory levels, the
mortgage lenders- having been burned by souring
subprime loans- are sobering-up and requiring
more than just a pulse in order to qualify for a loan.

The nation-wide inventory of unsold homes now
represents 13 months of supply at current sales
levels. (This is up significantly from 7 months in
March and 10 months in August.). As inventory
levels rise, and homebuilders are reduced to ever
more desperate price-slashing measures, the market
value of existing homes will fall as well. And, this has
caused the power to set prices to shift from seller to
buyer.

The cycle of boom is turning to bust. Over-investment
has spawned reckless levels of debt among homebuilders
and the general public. It also created a level of supply
that the market cannot support. Tougher lending standards
are now becoming a hurdle that many prospective buyers
cannot surmount. And, qualified buyers now know that all
they have to do is wait.

© Greg Strid 2007

What exactly constitutes a staggering loss these days?
Just today, Morgan Stanley announced that it lost $3.7
billion on subprime mortgage-linked securities in the past
two months- whoops.

These are actually write-downs of existing investments,
and the company mentioned that their exposure to these
toxic turds has been cut to a mere $6 billion. This means
that this figure represents the maximum amount of loss
they could suffer if the entire portfolio of mortgages
defaulted.

Compared to the other investment banks- Merrill Lynch
wrote-down $7.9 billion and Citigroup $11 billion- Morgan
Stanley’s blunder seems rather modest.

There is a slight difference between Morgan Stanley’s losses
and those of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. The latter two under-
wrote huge amounts of subprime mortgage securities- too
much for a souring market to digest. As a result, they
couldn’t peddle these worthless securities and had to bear
the losses themselves. Morgan Stanley just engaged in
enormous subprime trading bets that went bust.

It really doesn’t matter exactly how they lost such
enormous amounts of other people’s money (all ousted
executives receive kingly exit packages at the expense
of shareholders). These firms are supposed to be run
by responsible financial professionals. They are constantly
telling us- through the countless millions spent on
television, internet and print ads- that they know best,
and that they will safeguard our financial futures.
Honestly, I would feel better entrusting my portfolio
to my houseplant.

© Greg Strid 2007