Rhymes With Syphilis

Literature: Charles Bukowski

2010-11-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

All the Assholes in the World Plus Mine, Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live With Beasts
http://lib.ru/INPROZ/BUKOWSKI/soutnort.txt

Just a sneak peek of what’s coming up in a couple of days…

Eye candy: Bill Cosby sweaters

2010-11-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

Various Google image search results for “Bill Cosby sweater”

Related search: “coogi sweater”

People dressed as Frida

2010-11-03T21:37:00.001-07:00

A post-Halloween special

Children dressed as Frida

Women dressed as Frida

Props to the last two for the monkey and for the moustache.

Very white women dressed as Frida

Claudia Schiffer Frida

Sans-unibrow-Frida

Man dressed as Frida

And props to this man, a true original.

Eye candy: American magazine covers

2010-11-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

1969

From http://www.coverbrowser.com
1969, meet 2002.

From http://www.coverbrowser.com
Top: 1969, 1986. Bottom: 1968, 1998.

From http://www.coverbrowser.com
R.I.P Sex Revolution (1969-1984).

Last but not least, an amazing relic from the ‘80s:

Artist: Edward Gorey

2010-10-31T06:02:00.000-07:00

Good morning, everybody! Glad to see that some of you decided not to skip out on class today even though it’s Halloween – not to mention a Sunday. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you for very long.

Today, we will be talking about Edward Gorey.

Edward Gorey was best-known for writing and illustrating short books. At a glance some of them might appear to be geared towards children, but it doesn’t take much time to notice the dark humour inherent to his work.

From The Listing Attic, a collection of limericks.

Gorey himself was quite the eccentric, known for harbouring obsessions for things such as tennis shoes, fur coats, soap operas and ballet – for many years, he religiously attended all performances of the New York City Ballet (Wikipedia).

His writing is riddled with wordplay; and his art was often executed exclusively in black and white, with tedious use of cross-hatching and other mark-making techniques.

The following description of Edward Gorey’s first publication, The Unstrung Harp, is telling of his style:

The ratio of text to drawing in The Unstrung Harp is higher than in most of Gorey’s subsequent books, but otherwise it already embodies everything that has become synonymous with his name: painstaking drawings with an eloquent orchestration of hatchings and tickings, marvelous period details of costume and setting, a narrative that leapfrogs from the precise to the unexplained, a tone of vague melancholy, and an author who manifestly delights in both visual and linguistic oddities.

As Gorey tends to flirt with macabre subject matter and Victorian aesthetics, it is unsurprising that he has developed a cult following within the goth subculture. Gorey himself insisted that he was never that interested in the Gothic and macabre, but “that was just the way it came out” and has said in an interview that “the whole theory of [surrealism] comes closer to my philosophy than almost anything” (The World of Edward Gorey).

From The Willowdale Handcar or The Return of the Black Doll

From The Listing Attic

Left from The Doubtful Guest, right from The Object-Lesson
The above images (with the exception of the first one, the photograph of Gorey) are taken from a collection of Gorey’s books, Amphigorey. I apologize for the poor quality, it really detracts from the work.

The Throbblefoot Aquarium - Edward Gorey tribute by Perry Bible Fellowship writer, Nicholas Gurewitch

Artist: Philip Guston

2010-10-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon class, today you're going to be learning a bit about Philip Guston. He's a really cool guy.

Sidney B. Felsen - Philip Guston in his studio in Woodstock, New York, April 1980

He became famous in the Abstract Expressionist scene (featuring artists like Pollock and De Kooning)

...and then, around 1970, got fed up with abstraction, developing a crazy style inspired by comic book art.

Philip Guston – Ancient Wall

He was widely ridiculed by the art world for his new style, dropped by his gallery, and even lost a close friend over it.

Philip Guston - Thing?

The painter Philip Guston was Morton Feldman's best friend. In 1970, Guston abandoned the abstract expressionist style he had been closely associated with, and began painting cartoonish figures that often included shoes, disembodied eyeballs, and hooded figures. To say Feldman was shocked would be an understatement. As someone recently told me the story (heard from someone else who was there), Feldman came to the initial exhibition and Guston came up to ask him what he thought. For several minutes, Feldman simply couldn't speak, and Guston slowly and sadly got the point. Finally Feldman just turned away and left, and the two parted ways for years. And Feldman wasn't the only one. "It was as though I had left the church," Guston later recalled; "I was excommunicated for awhile." (PostClassic)

In 1978, Guston painted “Friend - To M.F." [left] - a portrait of Feldman in profile, his head turned away: "an image of their mutually regretted estrangement" (Source)

Philip Guston – Painting, Smoking, Eating

In 1984, 4 years after Guston's death, Morton Feldman dedicated a work to him (4-hour-long experimental music piece)

Philip Guston – Untitled (Cherry)

Guston moved from New York to Woodstock to get some distance from the art world, continuing to work in his representational style for the rest of his life. He died in Woodstock in 1980.

Philip Guston – The Studio

He has come to be recognized as an influential artist,
Today, it's not uncommon to see a Guston piece -- whether abstract or representational -- sell for $1,000,000 or more.