John Allen Barker

(Abstract courtesy of seventenbishop.com) Art is not created by the satisfied. The satisfied look out on the morning and accept the world as it is thus negating the desire for judgement. Like a sniper at a turd parade Daniel Joshua Nagelberg has the ills of his world in the crosshairs. Part scrutiny, part reticence, part fable, part rant, "Man Falling Backwards Down Stairs" is an outstanding exposition of a dissatisfied urban life. Daniel Joshua Nagelberg is at an imaginary bar with Bukowski on one side and Algren on the other quietly observing the rest of the villians have their way with each other. In the present climate of suspicion and fear, "Man Falling Backwards Down Stairs" is a welcome window of honest dynamic emotions. Much like Rumi's treaties of lust, debauchery and understanding through intoxication Daniel Joshua Nagelberg's visions of a wicked world gone wild are engaging, startling and often terrifying in their familiarity.