...more recent posts
My friend David Szafranski sent this link for a minimal-music movement (or rather, "loose grouping") called lowercase sound. Dave notes: "Interesting web design based on the Mac System 6 operating system
circa 1989, the one that fits entirely on a single floppy disk."
I've seen her around the neighborhood before, although I admit I had no idea she was a certifiable genius. Seems weird enough that one of you guys must know her. Anyway, she's clearly a marketing genius. The site, sadly, doesn't touch on her more visionary pursuits, but it does offer over a thousand pairs of elf panties for sale. Oh wait, maybe that is the work. From the site:
Unfortunately, art stardom is one of the least lucrative career paths a gal can take. Despite the fact that I'm a creative genius, I have a lot of trouble making ends meet because I'm wrapped up in my visionary artistic pursuits. Not only that, I have so many pairs of panties, I don't know what to do with them. So I thought it would be both altruistic and profitable to open up a superstore, so to speak, filled with my panties. To make matters worse I am a compulsive shopper. At last count, I had 1,172 pairs of panties, and my collection just keeps on growing. By purchasing apair of my "gently worn" panties, not only will you get to enjoy unfathomnable sensory pleasures, you will be supporting the avant-garde and contributing to the course of art history as we know it.(via. boing boing)
I found Peter Schjeldahl's New Yorker piece on Brice Marden interesting, not so much because I like Marden (which I do), but for its evocation of the days when "abstract painting used to be the prow of art history", and of "how much people used to care" about it. I think I was talking to Jim about this, after viewing Diti's paintings. I was reminiscing about the days when her work, which treads a line between representation and non-objectivity, would have been objectionable in some ideological camps. I don't think these battle lines matter much any more. I was in art school during the waning years of that era, which ultimately came to an end in the 80s, under a tide of Expressionism, Europeanism, and self-consciously dumb art. I can still remember the sheer thrill of commitment; the pride one took in adhering to the most obscure and obdurate argument, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that some people rebelled against the intellectual pressure that was applied. It was like having the Inquisition sit you down in front of two virtually identical monochrome paintings and you had to explain why one was great and the other was not just bad, but a moral abomination.
As a student, most of this came down to me in an oblique manner, but I did have one great teacher, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe, who talked about this sort of thing straightforwardly. He was a rakish Brit who came on like William F. Buckley doing Oscar Wilde. He wrote an Art Forum cover piece on Marden, comparing his monochromes to Cézanne, which was a notable brick in the edifice of both their reputations. He really made ideas exciting, and if he used his caustic wit to trash something you liked, the ego damage could be severe. A few times he brought in his friend, the poet David Shapiro. He was also a formidable intellectual, but of a more tolerant sort. He argued convincingly for "pluralism", which to me meant giving full and fair consideration to all sorts of art (through actual experience), before coming to any final judgements. But we weren't going to just suspend judgement.
Today we have multiculturalism and political correctness, which may be corrective, but too often dispense with the intellectual underpinnings which should allow a pluralist to make a few judgements here and there. The art world is a duller and dumber place than it was in the 70s, albeit more tolerant. I'd say tolerance is a good thing, but it depends on what you're tolerating.
Anyway, Jeremy is still out there, though his voice is not heard so widely. He was purged from Parsons before my senior year, because all his students stopped painting still lives and started painting squares. Betraying his mentors and sleeping with the coeds didn't help either. I think he ended up in California where he has influenced new generations of student seekers. For all his hard-ass intellectualism, he has a great take on the subversive uses of pleasure and beauty, which continues to influence me, in epicurian as well as aesthetic matters. You can get an idea of his style from these two excerpts, and here's a hilarious review featuring a knock-out of Jerry Saltz. Gotta pick up his latest.
Oh, and Schjeldahl should know that Ryman tops Marden. I mean, you might rather look at a Marden, but that's hardly the point. As for Olitski, he's just the American extension of Western Imperialism, and obviously a moral abomination. (Just kidding; I'm a pluralist, honest…)
Artist Niki de Saint Phalle has died.
Audubon on view; catch the show, 'cause the website took up too much bandwidth.
I went to see Gary Wilson (front row center) last Wednesday at Joe's Pub and also caught a set recorded last tuesday for broadcasted on Scott William's show last night (Friday May 17th 8-10 pm) on 91.1 wfmu.
Check the above link to the archive for a relisten. He had one shoe on and one shoe off, flour on his face and black stuff on his lips, an oversized blazer with no shirt and two pairs of criss-crossing glasses / 3-D and regular cat style sunglasses. There were two sexy manacins
on stage that he rolled around with while a guy sprinkeled flour all over them and the stage. There was also a video moniter that showed old video proformances projects from the 70's of similar and even more over the top behavior (which is somthing else to look into). It was high proformance art with a brilliant musical aspect. His band back in the 70's was called The Blind Dates.
A google search on for GW and the BD's provides this solitary and pathetic account of them opening for the Tom Robinson Band back in the day:
"I still remember sitting in the theatre in the near dark waiting almost and hour for the opening act a horrible synthesizer band called Gary Wilson and the Blind Dates. They came out with flour sprinkled all over themselves and played with a dim blue light on. Very depressing. Finally they cleared off the stage and roadies hauled away their gear. More waiting."
This year's Summerstage schedule.
I've seen some good shows here, though they can also be a pain if too crowded. You have to go early if you want a decent seat to see the stage from, but it can be pleasant to just sit on the grass outside and let the music mingle with the rest of the Park. Most shows are free, though goodies like Lucinda Williams are ticketed "benefits". Now they've even got "suggested donation" benefits, like a Paradise Garage 25th anniversary show. Looks like less hiphop and more techno this year. Beth Orton, Sonic Youth, Dave Brubeck, Conershop, more…
yossi lemel -- israeli poster artist
do it
catch our friend steve dib in cremaster 3
50 uncoolest records of all time
And if he doesn't want a Max Bill wristwatch, get him that robot spider kit he's always dreamed of...
Adding to the games of May, our friend Michelle Segre has a show opening at Murray Guy on 5/11. Unfortunately, I don't have the browser to view the site, but here's a drawing. I think this show will be full-blown sculpture. In the past she's created oversize renderings of things you might find in a dark corner: mushrooms; moldy bread; chicken bones, with a sort of natural history museum flavor. Not sure what's up this time, but it ought to be interesting.
anybody familiar with eric drooker?
Thousands more cute pictures like this one await you at the VCL Anthropomorphic Image Library. The image I selected is Mulonica, a dragon created by Krystal Ishida (aka Mystica), which reminds me of Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy. I have to say, as an artist, Krystal has got it goin' on. (Check out her page at VCL here.) She works in Paintshop Pro, and I love the "watercolor" textures she uses, in combination with her pixelated line. Her drawings of Pokemon and other anime-type characters have real punch and verve, and she sneaks in a lot of autobiography under the guise of these cuddly critters (VCL guidelines dictate that drawings be "furry/anthropomorphic"). If she wants a character to look angry, it looks angry. Ditto sad, lonely, sprightly... In other words, she's a "natural," and it's quite unfair to read her post that "my dad said that if my art was for sale, no one would buy it off me any way." Dad, you are so wrong!
