This last Saturday night, Halloween to those of you who have an ability to break down sugar in their bodies and don't have a jaded view of the whole "trick or treat" game, was the opening of Jux founder Robert Williams' first solo exhibition in over a half decade at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. That meant a whole new body of work, with a few very big surprises in the offering to those who braced the cold rain and headed to the Chelsea neighborhood for a 31st evening.

Manhattan on a Halloween is a mad house. I couldn't believe how many people were dressed up and ready for full-on debauchery. I was just glad I had the gallery show and then a nice Tony hosted dinner at Mr Chow afterward. I was taken care of for the evening.

Our publisher, Gwynn Vitello and myself made the opening. I took a lot of photos because well, I had camera in hand and a over 2 1/2 hours of gallery time to experience.  

First things first, this is Karl Meyer from Gentle Giant Studios, who had a big hand in the show's surprises, and someone I interviewed the morning of for a future issue of Juxtapoz. I got myself out of bed at the Ace Hotel, got me some Stumptown, headed over to the Essex House and met Karl for a bit. The Essex House used to have this amazing old bar, with all this dark wood and dark lighting, and I had a few Baileys from time to time when I was a younger lad, but now it has been renovated and doesn't have the same old school vibe to it. Still a great place, though. 

 A car line-up out front of the Shafrazi Gallery, set the atmosphere right. 

All cleaned and looking nice. 

And then you walk up the stairs, through the gallery opening, and boom, a huge Robert Williams canvas greets you on the way in. The mixture of the piece and the Robert-designed wallpaper made for quite the entrance. It made it sort of a "Top This" statement.

Speed Dating with more wallpaper.

And then... wait for it... 

 Getting closer....

And here was one of two centerpieces to the show, the Robert Williams x Gentle Giant Studios sculptures that dominated the room. And when I say dominated, I mean 9-feet tall dominated. The dramatic, ironic, and flawless pieces stole the show. Breathtaking really...

I like this angle. 

 And here is Robert, signing books for about two hours. I think the evening was a perfect celebration to the man. 

 And here is Mr Tony Shafrazi, who I would like to thank for the dinner and drinks afterward.

 There's Ron English.

And here is Mr Jonathan LeVine and our publisher Gwynn Vitello. Jonathan was passing out Clark bars, a very underrated candy bar, and somewhere I lost the photos of his entourage, Malena Seldin of his gallery, and the artist and all around good guy, Nicola Verlato. 

Mr Joshua Liner and me, in suit. Talking about art I think. Maybe tennis. I want to apologize to anyone who thought I was near-sleep at the gallery, my contact lenses were killing me. KILLING me. 

Mark Parker, Mr Nike, and Suzanne Williams. 

A sketch and layout of  . . . 

 Sculpture #2, "A Diamond in a Goats' Ass."

 Again, how dramatic and sweet is this thing?

Again, just dominated the space. An amazing sculpture. Gentle Giant, and Robert, really made this thing come to life. 

 Our cover of the November 2009 issue of Juxtapoz, this time in real life with real oil paint.

Wallpaper #1.

More wallpaper. Sort of hypnotizing. 

I like this piece. Very simple. Will make a good tee-shirt when ours that we did comes out. 

That's Joe Coleman of 2x Juxtapoz cover fame on the left, and Billy Leroy of Billy's Antiques and Props on East Houston Street. Good dudes both of them. 

A little bit of art royalty in Mr Shafrazi and Mr Jeffrey Deitch. 

And, the last of my pics, a really nice shot of one of the coolest pieces in the show, mixed with that amazing wallpaper.

All in all, it was a great night out, I got to catch up with old friends and colleagues, Robert's work looked stunning in the gallery, and it was a real treat to spend the evening with him and some of his friends. 

Thanks to Karl Meyer's son for teaching me how to hold a fork properly. I hold it sort of right. 

And to the waiter at Mr Chow's and his "why not!" isms....