Young, 35, a conceptual artist and sculptor, first began talking with the Art Production Fund about the piece last December at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair. "We didn't think we could do this in New York," Villareal said. "It required a large space with the audience watching the performance from above."
But as soon as she and Remen heard that the armory was seeking art projects, they met with Robertson. "Her reaction was, 'Bring it on,'" Villareal said.
Working at minimum wage, gallery assistants and students from Barnard and Columbia spent three days last week painting the panels. "It was like camp," Remen said.
Thursday evening's smoke experiment was one of many trials and rehearsals. To ensure that motorcycle exhaust will not endanger the audience, the glass has been removed from the 28 windows high in the rafters of the drill hall. Still, guests were warned in small letters on the bottom of the performance invitation: "A ventilation system has been installed to reduce the smoke and exhaust. Earplugs will be provided for the noise. If you are sensitive to either, please request a protected viewing space." In addition to a glassed-in room for warier viewers, the Art Production Fund furnished the audience with masks.
Young said that given the challenges of the synchronization and the safety concerns, nothing had been left to chance. A month ago he did tests in an empty parking lot in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium.
To inspire the riders involved in Greeting Card, he gave each a photocopy of the Pollock painting. "The spiral motion is the template," he said. The 10 bikers - five stunt riders from Team G Unit along with five friends - will each have a designated 7m by 13m area on which to perform zigzags, power slides and circles. The neon lights on the bottom of each bike allowed the audience to follow the movements through the smoky haze. "I want it lit like a boxing rink, very hard-edged," Young said.
"Hopefully this will appeal to people who know nothing about motorcycles or about art," he said as he examined shreds of tire rubber embedded in some of the wood panels, a by-product of Wink's brief motorcycle whirl.
Although Young does not ride himself, it is not his first artistic encounter with motorcycles. In 2000, as a student at the San Francisco Art Institute, he created a piece called High Performance, enlisting a group of cyclists he met at a local motorcycle bar called the Zeitgeist. The riders performed burnouts in a studio that was once used by Diego Rivera. The result was a video that was eventually acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.
When it is time for the 288 panels to leave the armory, Young plans to select about 20 of them to sell through the Art Production Fund. He and the fund will split the proceeds. Before the panels are sold, he plans to seal each one with a coat of clear resin.
"That way it will keep the hot melted rubber fixed," he said. Even though the ride itself will last only seven minutes, he said, the panels will be "archival."
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