This for me is a lead-in to this story about who controls the art (market) world.

“…recent economic research has established a direct connection between skyrocketing art prices and income inequality, showing that ‘a one percentage point increase in the share of total income earned by the top 0.1% triggers an increase in art prices of about 14 percent.’”

I dunno if I want to be working for the same people Newt Gingrich is working for.

(I was going to include a picture with this post but I already showed a Damien Hirst dot painting only recently.)

So I’m sitting on the deck outside the big yurt this evening and it’s a moment. I pull out my iPhone and shoot the included video.

But what I’m thinking is, jeez, remember Sony Porta Paks? They were the most exciting thing in the art world back in the early ’70s. PORTABLE VIDEO! The difference was that Porta Paks were these suitcase-sized things you lugged around with a shoulder strap. And that wasn’t even the camera, which was attached to the suitcase with multiple cords for sound, video recording and electricity. The camera was roughly the size of a shoe box with a lens attached. (Don’t let this picture of the model fool you. It was hard work hauling one of these “portable” things around.)

In addition to the thousand-pound batteries, the suitcase incorporated a reel-to-reel video recorder. Did I mention it recorded in grainy black-and-white? Or more accurately, grainy dark-gray and light-gray.

AND WE LOVED IT!!!

And now I’m whipping out a telephone smaller than half-a-pack of cards and shooting a full-color low-light video with Star Wars credits and stereo sound. Sheesh. I’m my own grandpa.

I have a box of half-inch black-and-white reel-to-reel video tapes from back in that day. Not sure there’s even a machine left to play them.

So, in addition to dedicating this video to global warming and it’s role in waking the peepers much earlier than usual, I dedicate it to the Sony Porta Pak and a time when you had to get your butt up out of your Adirondack chair and work if you were ever gonna shoot portable video.

Almost got through the entire winter without any snow, and what we got last night is melting as I type, but the snow combined with streaks of morning light did create some nice moments earlier.

[Show as slideshow]

This is too cool. After suffering through a lifetime of parodies and re-creations, I come across a picture of the original models (Grant Wood’s sister and his dentist) for “American Gothic.” Yowser. Visit kottke.org and see a picture of the house that appears in the background as well.

If I’d have been there the day this picture was taken, I would have looked at his sister and said, “I like what you’ve done with your hair.”

Whether we’re talking socially or politically I much prefer a bourbon tasting to a tea party. It just seems more civilized, and dare I say, fun. So it was with much delight that I came across this recipe for Bourbon Chai on the Saveur website courtesy of thekitchn.com. Not that I’d ever go to the trouble of making a pot of chai to dilute my bourbon, but if you’re one of those good folks who, upon my arrival, says “I was just about to make some chai, would you like some?” Maybe you could add this recipe to your repertoire.

Here’s the deal. A week or two ago I blog-posted about a Yayoi Kusama artwork that involved a lot of spots. I posted a photo, but it was a “process piece” so if you didn’t follow the link to “This is What Happens When You Give Thousands of Stickers to Thousands of Kids” you should because the photo I posted was just a moment in time. But if that’s asking too much, here’s another photo of the artwork later in its development.

While it’s entirely possible that both photos were staged, it’s interesting to consider what the human interaction reveals. In the top photo a woman silently contemplates, well, what exactly? Profundity? In the bottom photo a child is playing, or perhaps just banging on a piano.

I learned about the Kusama piece through the blogisphere. I didn’t see any MSM mentions.

So exactly what are the MSM talking about and what is the photo at the beginning of this post?

This is the BIG show right now in the art world, and I do mean the art WORLD. This is the current Damien Hirst show “The Complete Spot Paintings, 1986-2011″ that’s being presented in all eleven Larry Gagosian galleries including “three in New York; two in London; and one each in Paris, Geneva, Rome, Athens, Hong Kong, and Beverly Hills.” Swimming pools, movie stars.

Consider the difference between the two dot art pieces. Kusama creates an environment as blank canvas and gives thousands of kids the freedom to participate in something that evolves into an incredible visual delight. Hirst dictates the parameters of each painting and pays lackeys to do the work for thousands of paintings, each of which figuratively says “sucker.” Kusama’s piece was likely grant funded but made lots of people very happy. Hirst has accumulated a personal fortune selling this work while the public shakes its collective head in disbelief.

I want to rant but it’s such a waste of time. You know what I’m talking about. Here’s the critic from Newsweek carrying water for Gagosian. Here, with at least some perspective is Peter Schjeldahl from the New Yorker:

“I can enjoy looking at one for a while, but to like them would entail identifying with the artist’s cynicism, as herds of collectors, worldwide, evidently do. Hirst will go down in history as a peculiarly cold-blooded pet of millennial excess wealth.”

A “pet of millennial excess wealth.” I like that image. A lapdog to hedge-fund managers. Indulging the ignorance of the one percent. No wonder rank-and-file citizens think the arts are a waste.

Bottom line is it’s hard to hate on Hirst given that he’s basically exposing the one percenters as fools. I smirk at the thought that they have to live with that crap in their living rooms. But I do hate the fact that a smart, talented person would devote themselves to such cynicism for money. I wish he’d treat his critique as a righteous cause, but instead it’s just about playing the system by its own rules. Seems like he’s becoming what he despises most.

Since I first started doing art about 400 years ago, it seems like every year or so I learn about another amazing Yayoi Kusama artwork that makes me think, whoa! In her 80s now, here’s a new time-based work called “Obliteration Room.” Check out this series of images and a description at this blog. In some circles she’s famous, but she should be famous-er.

dog skull with mastodon bone in mouth

Here’s some possible evidence that dogs were domesticated more than 30,000 years ago, which is about 15,000 years earlier than previously thought. This dog skull was discovered in the Czech Republic by Archeologist by Mietje Germonpré, of Belgium’s Museum of Natural History and is considered by Archeology magazine to be one of the Top 10 Discoveries of 2011. For me the best part is that the dog was buried with a mastodon bone in its mouth. Have to wonder if it was a final treat or a spoil of battle. (via Boing Boing)

Charring oak barrels for bourbon (from the NY Times)

There’s an interesting article in the New York Times online Christmas Day edition about the growing popularity of bourbon and some great pix of the bourbon-making process. For starters there’s this Manhattan recipe by Karla Ramsey that won a recent drink-mixing contest:

2 ounces Woodford Reserve Bourbon

1 ounce each of apple brandy and sweet vermouth

2 splashes bitters

1 red apple slice and 1 cinnamon stick, for garnish

Shake the liquid with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the apple slice and the cinnamon stick. Light the cinnamon on fire!

Yes. “Light the cinnamon on fire!”

On the other hand, and a slight cause for alarm from my perspective, the article tells how the various bourbon distillers are putting more and more effort into creating flavored bourbons, those boutique-esque concoctions they put front and center in liquor stores to try to win women over to the world of whiskey. Bourbon-and-honey, bourbon-and-cinnamon, etc. Oh well.

What I’m curious about is how did it ever come about that someone decided that whiskey would taste better if it was stored in a burned barrel? I just don’t see two guys sitting around tasting their latest brew…

Guy #1: Tastes pretty good but it needs something.

Guy #2: Maybe if we added some molasses it would give it a slight caramel flavor and color.

Guy #1: Instead, let’s try burning the inside of the barrels.

Guy #2: Why would that work?

Guy #1: Haven’t you ever tasted a burnt stick?

Guy #2: Oh. Top me off, would you.

There’s one special set I came up with for folks like me who think the best way to decorate a home is to come up with things that don’t show dirt. The set features four images of dirt. You can’t camouflage a mess any better than that!

They’re 16 inches by 12 inches and come in sets of four. It’s a mat textured vinyl so it’s not slippery. Come on out to the Saxapahaw Holiday Market and get yours, or, I’ve just put up an Etsy store so you can order them through the mail. Click here to check it out.

Click the thumbnails below to see the sets.