May 2008 Archives

I want to post ---as a blog --- a comment I put up over on Bad at Sports. I know most, yet not ALL of our two publics overlap. I was very enthused by the roundtable discussion Duncan MacKenzie and Lori Waxman had with Kathryn Hixson and James Yood.

They brought up some very important points, as did several commenters including Pedro Velez and our own Shark. ...

Historic Blockbuster Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past

Figures for a Darkroom Voice was written by Noah Eli Gordon and Joshua Marie Wilkinson with artwork by Noah Saterstrom , and published by Tarpaulin Sky in 2007. To read selections from Figures for a Darkroom Voice and bios, please hit continue.

1995: A year in the life of artist Eugene J. Martin. Part I.



The widow of the late US artist Eugene J. Martin, Suzanne Fredericq, has put up a beautiful series of videos dedicated to the paintings and drawings of her husband.

This is Part I of a 2-part series showing abstract paintings (acrylics on canvas) created by visual artist Eugene James Martin in 1995 in Washington D.C. Video clip montage by S. Fredericq, filmed in Lafayette, Louisiana (LA).

Finally, an important critic takes a clear stance on "Event Art." Will the Consensus Curatorial World that feeds on such events be analyzed soon too?

Christopher Knight of the LA Times dissected Matthew Barney's 'REN' in a recent article.

"The first mistake Matthew Barney made in his corny two-hour performance, "REN," at a Santa Fe Springs car lot Sunday night, was in the choice of starring automobile. The 1967 Chrysler Imperial had obvious meanings."

Read the rest here.

Meta-Toons: Details O' De Tales, Mark Staff Brandl



A series of four abstract cartoons.

As many of you know who read my posts and articles, or have heard me speak, I was greatly influenced by a remarkable, painterly adventure comic artist, Gene Colan. I am saddened to announce that at age 85 he has liver failure.

Dawoud Bey has an excellent blog here. I particularly recopmmend a recent article addressing a great unspoken sin of the Chicago artworld --- racism. As the feminist theorist from the Netherlands, Anna Meulenbelt, expressed it so well, the destructive agents in our cultures at present are like the skin of an onion: racism, sexism and classism. We will not be able to detroy any of these without also attacking the others. Let's start, as best as always, at home in our "little artworld."

Continue reading this post here.

Image: Carl Pope, "The Bad Air Smelled of Roses" (detail)

Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times Reports that "Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died on Monday night at his home on Captiva Island, Fla. He was 82."

More...

I'm not sure what to make of this, but if it's real, it doesn't sound good.
(UPDATE from MSB: see comment below. These Bills are INDEED VERY REAL and VERY DANGEROUS for visual artists.)

Peggy Munson's book Pathogenesis is out from Switchback Books, 2008. Munson is the author of the novel, Origami Striptease, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards. She also edited the anthology, Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She has also been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, the Ragdale Foundation, and Cottages at Hedgebrook. A native of Normal, IL, she now lives in Massachusetts.

Sleeping on the Edge of the Prairie

I am sure the panic grass has a language of gestures.
I am sure the wild horses of forced surrenders

Modern Art Obsession, a blog well worth visiting and reading, is written by a dedicated collector of photography (Mike, a "youngish NYC Art Collector, working on Wall Street by day, and a total art fanatic by night and weekend" as he describes himself). It does, however, occasionally feature other media as well. He recently wrote about visiting Art Chicago

"Possibly the best thing about going to Art Chicago this year for MAO, was the VIP program, and getting to see the Richard and Ellen Sandor Art Collection. These events were mostly very well organized drinking events, but they also included several amazing collection visits. By total luck.. MAO got to visit possibly the nations most impressive historic photography collection..at the Chicago gold coast home of Ellen and Richard Sandor. (Yes .. we know, it's hard to believe this collection is actually West of the Hudson River !) ..."

Surfing With A Great White Shark - Watch more free videos

Photo credit: Dana Johnson

Joe Fyfe painting


Felix Lehner and Hans Josephsohn

I've been meaning to write about this for some time, but kept getting sidetracked by other events. Last summer, I met the very interesting painter and "writer on art" Joe Fyfe.