Modern Art Quotes

Is it Just Me? Or is this an Angry World?

2012-01-06T02:37:00.002-06:00

One of the songs on my playlist of late has been Neil Young's 'Angry World' from his album 'Le Noise'. It is a fitting soundtrack for this new year and is a very poignant example of Neil Young's cultural insight. (For reference, I consider Neil Young a prophet of our age, so stop reading now I guess if that's distasteful to you). My favorite part of the song, which kind of gets right to the heart

To be Reticent? or Not to Be...

2011-12-10T01:16:00.000-06:00

Here at Modern Art Quotes we like to honor our dead poets properly, (really it's just my blog, but 'we' sounds more official somehow). And yes Dead Poets Society remains as one of my all time favorite movies, call me a poetry nerd if you want to, that is okay with me. So, in that vein (not that she is a nerd, but she is certainly a dead poet to be celebrated) I would like to present the Emily

Notifications Pending: 1984 in Kansas?

2011-12-08T08:37:00.002-06:00

If you use Facebook you may have noticed some spam-like e-mails in the past couple months or so in your in-box. The subject line is something like 'John Doe You have notifications pending'. Am I the only one that thinks there is something wrong when your social media site is sending you messages akin to what you might see in debt collection notices? It reeks of a spammy e-mail that should

Two Independent Movies Worth Watching: "Special" and "Ink"

2011-10-27T23:26:00.002-05:00

A while back on Netflix streaming (independent movies section) I saw two really great movies, Special, and Ink. Both of these movies reminded me how great a movie can be when unhinibited by large corporate interests. Special is from 2006, written and directed by Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore, starring Michael Rapaport (yes that guy). I really really enjoyed Special on two different levels,

The Yahoo Kid and e.e. cummings' Birthday

2011-10-14T07:26:00.000-05:00

About a couple weeks ago I rode eight airplanes (including connections) in the span of about eight days. Amongst many other things, it was an opportunity to do a lot of people-watching. In my mid thirties now, I remember being fearless and age 18 or 19 years old, also being 10 or 12 and playing so hard everyday outside. Running in from the yard and drinking 4 glasses of water in four seconds,

Mothership: We Lost the Motherboard...

2011-06-10T03:45:00.001-05:00

Woke up one day last week, had some coffee, sat down at the PC and pressed space-bar to initiate from standby mode and,... 'click, ....click .....click ......click' nothing. Many restarts and various plugging and unpluggings later, there is still nothing. Could be the battery but the lights and fans come on, and the motherboard doesn't seem to. Is the PC dead? Maybe so, it's outlived it's

Modern Art Qoutes: Re - Centered

2011-05-19T04:17:00.003-05:00

It has been a long time since I have written anything here at Modern Art Quotes (man I hate posts that begin like that on blogs, and now I am writing one again no less.) So where to begin,.... again? I think after such a long time (about a year) I think it is important to maybe summarize exactly what Modern Art Quotes is all about. My name is Ed Tajchman and I am an artist, this is my blog.

Amsterdam City Center Tour Part Two

2010-11-29T04:32:00.001-06:00

In this post several days ago I started a series detailing my photos of a Sunday morning and afternoon spent in the city of Amsterdam, Holland. Check out that post for an intro and see below for the next entries in this photo series. As always all images are copyright with all rights reserved, email me for terms of use. "de nieuwe kerk" The New Church in Dam Square I am not sure what this

Yes the Hobbit Did Exist!

2010-11-28T00:33:00.001-06:00

One thing that interests me heavily is ancient history. When I say ancient history I mean also pre-history: the Greeks, Egyptians and further back. (Okay, this article is only indirectly art-related, but people often ask an artist his inspirations and this is something that definitely inspires me to think and research, and translates to my art in a primordial way). Homo-Sapiens have been around

The Work of Artist Keith Haring

2010-11-21T05:57:00.005-06:00

One of my recent fascinations in art-history is the New York 1980's artist Keith Haring. I don't mean to identify him first as being from a certain decade or city but that's just how I get into artists sometimes in my art history journey. And in his case unfortunately he was only really active during that decade, he died much too early at the age of 31 in 1990. He started in New York like

Photo Tour of Sunday Morning and Afternoon in Amsterdam, Holland

2010-11-16T05:41:00.001-06:00

I was in Holland earlier this year. Unfortunately this time around I only got to spend an afternoon in Amsterdam before moving on in my journey, but it was a memorable one nonetheless. I took a couple hundred photographs this day, after I arrived early on a Sunday morning and before I left; a couple hours before evening approached. In my header at the top of the page I know I say I share my

Street Chalk Art Fair in Round Rock Texas

2010-10-16T15:12:00.002-05:00

I was recently in Round Rock, Texas (next to Austin) and found myself looking for a place to eat breakfast. In so doing I happened upon a sidewalk chalk art fair, with artists early in the morning filling their 'squares' of the street with various designs using sidewalk chalk. You can see the empty coffee cup in the corner there, haha! Ready to go. I

Is Respect for All People Too Much To Ask? Thoughts on The Ground Zero Mosque Proposal

2010-08-26T02:05:00.003-05:00

I don't like to mix art and politics. Why? We all know that old saying - don't discuss politics or religion if you don't want to fight, or whatever. It's true and can cause an artist to lose some of his support, (never alienate your customers), and can link the art to a place in history, taking away any 'timeless' quality in the work. Yes this is 'just' my blog but still I like to have that

Save the Internet! Get Involved in the Net-Neutrality Battle!

2010-08-07T00:42:00.004-05:00

You might have heard of this issue 'net-neutrality' recently like I have. I am not an expert but will quickly lay out my understanding of it (a dumbed down version because that's how I myself process information sometimes) and explain why you (the reader) should get involved (see links at the bottom). Okay net-neutrality means that right now the internet is neutral so to speak, (the internet

Custom Framing Design Tip: Style Families

2010-07-15T04:40:00.001-05:00

If you have read a few of my past posts you know that I am an experienced picture framer. So here is another nugget of knowledge I gleamed from my days on the sales/design counter. It's a very simple (but important) concept maybe that most of you are familiar with; if not, neither was I too aware of it before I became a picture framer - style families. Maybe I covered this a bit in a past post

Bravo's "Work of Art" is Syrupy Fluff

2010-07-14T23:13:00.007-05:00

I have to admit that I have a few guilty pleasures on my TV agenda. Come on, we all do it, you know when no one else is around you have a show you watch that's nothing more than syrupy fluffy garbage. One of my current guilty pleasures or should I say 'train wreck you can't turn away from' is Bravo TV's Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. Yes yes, the obvious thing is that an art star reality

Two Great Artist Bio Movies: "Frida" and "Basquiat"

2010-07-13T01:25:00.005-05:00

Not too long ago I watched the movie Frida, about the artist Frida Kahlo. The way in which it totally enveloped you into the artist's daily life and surroundings with it's geniune feeling scenery and cast, reminded me of the also great artist-biography movie Basquiat about Jean-Michel Basquait. Two great movies with one word titles about two great artists, one from Mexico active in the 1920's

Good Business is the Best Art

2010-07-08T05:11:00.003-05:00

No, it's not a statement that I necessarily believe in, or one that I believe even Andy Warhol (the artist I am quoting) totally believed in. I came across news of an exhibition ("Andy Warhol Enterprises") at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in October later this year (2010), that features Andy Warhol's work in relation to his commercial art background. A background that carried directly over to

Introducing 'The Artist's Lounge Chatroom'

2010-06-30T08:04:00.001-05:00

I used to have a couple different fun art chat rooms that I used to visit that are now defunct. When I went to look for one to visit again, I was a little amazed that I couldn't find one easily. So I created one here at Modern Art Quotes. Here is the link: The Artist's Lounge Chatroom. Also the link to the chatroom will always be on the sidebar. I look forward to some interesting discussions

The Real Return Of Futurama

2010-06-28T07:25:00.006-05:00

Futurama returns! For real! I am a year late in this breaking story but I just noticed the episodes appearing on Comedy Central. In 2007 four Futurama movies were made - Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, and Into the Wild Green Yonder. They were sold as DVD's and cut up into sixteen 'episodes'. The DVD sales were enough for Comedy Central to order 26 episodes of

Digitized Pencil Self-Portrait

2010-06-24T07:34:00.001-05:00

I don't really like to have my photo posted on the internet (no particular reason) but here is a pencil drawing self-portrait I did a number of years ago. I used some digital tools to alter the photographed pencil drawing, to add that green color amongst other things. ©Ed Tajchman 2010 all rights reserved

My Review of Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus"

2010-06-21T23:49:00.003-05:00

My last few posts have been book and movie reviews. For a long time I wasn't as active in watching movies and reading books as I have been the past several months or so, and you'll probably be seeing some more of these in the near future. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus boasts quite the lineup - it's directed by Terry Gilliam, stars Tom Waits as the devil (or a kind of devil), Christopher

Scorsese Delivers a Masterpiece with "Shutter Island"

2010-06-14T05:37:00.007-05:00

The recent DVD release of Shutter Island reminded me of just how much I enjoyed this movie. I was really surprised at how it grabbed my attention immediately and never let go. Part mystery, part suspense, part detective-movie, part mind-bending thriller; - it entertained me more than I have been by a movie in a long time. Before I watched it I read some people's reviews of Shutter Island around

Book Review: "Anima" by Marie Buchanan

2010-06-07T00:24:00.000-05:00

Anima by Marie Buchanan (or published as "Greenshards" in 1972) is a very creepy book; fascinating in a multitude of odd, subtle ways ( the kind of thing that fascinates me). Well, maybe creepy isn't the right word, eerily mysterious maybe. Anima translates roughly into the spirit, or 'animus' the unconscious mind or the will of the spirit or super-conscious. Anyways in addition to the story

"Paranormal Activity": Paranormally Bad

2010-06-05T04:30:00.002-05:00

I recently finally watched the movie Paranormal Activity. I had high hopes for a good creepy movie seeing as how I am still settling into a new house. The buzz around the movie was tremendous when it came out in theaters several months ago. I am an admitted fan of some of those often lame ghost hunting shows on cable television, one of those guilty pleasures I guess you could say. What I saw with