gmtPlus9 (-15)

One Summer Day

2009-07-18T19:26:00.004-05:00

Chu Ishikawa... One Summer Day (.mp3 audio 03:52). From the original soundtrack for A Snake Of June (2003, Wilddisk WDD-003). Also... the Trailer for A Snake Of June (Flash Video 01:50) at Nippon Cinema.

Claude Closky: Town And Country

2009-07-18T19:08:00.003-05:00

Claude Closky: Town And Country at Mitterrand + Sanz Contemporary in Zurich. "...Town and Country is a collage series. Each of the photographs that have been cut out of magazines comprise at least one human figure and are accompanied by the artist’s hand-written commentary in the style of a title. This added commentary halts our gaze on those glossy images that we have become so used to seeing pass before our eyes at such speed. He makes them talk outside their commercial and reassuring discourse. The written text brilliantly ignores the 'message' instilled in the easily decodable 'visuals' and introduces an element of uncertainty into their reading.
All the texts in Town and Country speak about death as if it were the subject of the series. However, the work is more complex. Claude Closky never presents his audience with a 'picture' of reality; instead he is more interested in what his cultural background and his imagination urge him to impose on this reality. In other words: Closky focuses his work on those modalities of representation, which give reality its form. The verb 'to die' introduces a framework for each collage in the Town and Country series: to die in the street, on the beach, at a masked ball... Closky writes 'To die barefoot', or 'To die in the kitchen' as if wearing shoes or cooking could kill. Nothing can prevent us from losing our lives on the road, or lying on the grass, or barefoot, or on horseback. But these circumstances are not enough to die from. They are indifferent to the event, unique and unrepresentable, of dying."

Exquisite Bodies: Or the curious and grotesque story of the anatomical model

2009-07-17T15:34:00.001-05:00

Exquisite Bodies: Or the curious and grotesque story of the anatomical model at the Wellcome Collection. "...In the 19th century, despite the best efforts of body snatchers, the demand from medical schools for fresh cadavers far outstripped the supply. One solution to this gruesome problem came in the form of lifelike wax models. These models often took the form of alluring female figures that could be stripped and split into different sections. Other models were more macabre, showing the body ravaged by 'social diseases' such as venereal disease, tuberculosis and alcohol and drug addiction." Via Morbid Anatomy.

Halo Que Tal

2009-07-16T19:10:00.003-05:00

Los Rockin Devils... Halo Que Tal (.mp3 audio 02:01). From the album Los Rockin Devil's: Esos Fueron Los Dias (1969, Orfeon LP-12-638).

Bruce Conner: The White Rose

2009-07-16T18:35:00.002-05:00

Bruce Conner: The White Rose (1967, Flash Video 07:29). "...documents the removal of fellow artist Jay DeFeo's magnum opus from her San Francisco apartment, with Miles Davis' 'Sketches of Spain' as the soundtrack." DeFeo's 'The Rose' is currently at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India

2009-07-16T18:24:00.000-05:00

Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India. "...This illustrated manuscript made in southern India in 1837 consists of 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of the various castes and religious and ethnic groups found in Madura, India at that time. Each drawing was made on mica, a transparent, flaky mineral which splits into thin, transparent sheets. As indicated on the presentation page, the album was compiled by the Indian writing master at an English school established by American missionaries in Madura, and given to the Reverend William Twining."

Ansel Adams: Trees

2009-07-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

Ansel Adams: Trees. From the David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams at Andrew Smith Gallery.

Trailblazers and Trendsetters - Art of the Stamp

2009-07-16T18:10:00.000-05:00

Trailblazers and Trendsetters - Art of the Stamp at the National Postal Museum. "...Stylistically, U.S. postage stamps have become quite diverse in the last 50 years, primarily due to advances in printing technology. Stamp artists can now capture an ever-expanding array of subjects more dynamically, from history to fantasy, from social concerns to our favorite pastimes. Today, the look of stamps ranges from black-and-white scratchboard to full-color photography, from formal portraits to portraits with vignettes that provide context and mood. Circling the globe in editions of millions, stamp art has taken flight."

Call Me Burroughs

2009-07-16T18:01:00.001-05:00

William S. Burroughs... Call Me Burroughs (1965, ESP-Disk 1050) at UbuWeb Sound. "...Originally released in 1965, this spoken word record was the first foray into the recording industry by Beat legend William S. Burroughs. Subsequently Burroughs recorded a number of solo projects, in addition to collaborating with everyone from John Cale and Laurie Anderson to Tom Waits and Kurt Cobain. The CD booklet contains a wealth of information about Burroughs, the manner in which these recordings were made, and about the Beat community in Paris in the 50's and 60's, as well as including the liner notes of original 1965 edition of the album."

J And A

2009-07-15T19:15:00.003-05:00

The Cougars... J And A (.mp3 audio 02:55). From the album GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands Of The 1960s (Big Beat, CDWIKD 15).

1000 Frames of Hitchcock

2009-07-15T19:00:00.002-05:00

1000 Frames of Hitchcock. "...1000 Frames of Hitchcock is an attempt to reduce each of the 52 available major Hitchcock films down to just 1000 frames. The aim of the project is to create a library of images which can be used to illustrate blog posts, web articles and reviews, etc."

Karambolage (Smash-up)

2009-07-15T18:53:00.001-05:00

Lens Culture... Karambolage (Smash-up) - photographs by Arnold Odermatt. "...Unlike the photographs of, say, Weegee or Mell Kilpatrick, in which stoic cops and horrified bystanders are pictured dealing in different ways with the reality of sudden injury or death, Odermatt empties the image of everything but the forlorn wreck and the landscape in which it came to rest: a crumpled car floats in a glassy lake beneath the Alps; a couple of abandoned shells tenderly touch bumpers on a charming wintry lane; an upturned VW Beetle reclines on the edges of a still river."

Your Gold Teeth II

2009-07-15T18:37:00.002-05:00

Jean-Michel Basquiat... Untitled (1982, Oilstick on paper). From the exhibition Your Gold Teeth II at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. "...These artists have an affinity for the controlled yet significant gesture, the performed essence, a result of concentrated internal selection from a vast repertoire of expressive options. This stripped down approach to craft often obscures a wider technical command than is immediately apparent. If you're looking for order, you will find it. But even when these artists systematically subvert themselves for the devious pleasure of it, they still maintain a level of control where they strange can be made familiar - and vice versa. By eschewing displays of obvious virtuosity, the artist gains the advantage of a kind of mystery."

Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900

2009-07-15T18:33:00.001-05:00

Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900 at the NYPL Digital Gallery. "...Illustrated zoologies are both scientific documents and repositories of examples of reproductive printmaking before photomechanical processes became the primary method of producing book illustrations. These woodcuts and wood engravings, metal plate engravings, and lithographs constitute an enormous body of art. With the exception of the colorful prints of artists such as John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, and John Gould, this art is familiar mostly to specialists. Gross's bibliography was devoted to a selection of 201 of the most important and interesting titles, representing only a very small percentage of the Library's total holdings in natural history."

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here

2009-07-15T13:56:00.002-05:00

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here (directed by Takahiko Iimura, 1971, 17:50). "...A document of Yoko Ono solo exhibition This Is Not Here at at the Eberson Museum, New York, 1971."

Queen Of The House

2009-07-14T20:08:00.002-05:00

Jody Miller... Queen Of The House (1965, Capitol 5402 .mp3 audio 02:17). Brilliant response song to Roger Miller's 'King Of The Road.'

Mama (German Version)

2009-07-14T19:04:00.002-05:00

Roy Orbison... Mama (German Version) (.mp3 audio 02:54). From the album Rare Orbison II (1989, Monument 466696 2).

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya

2009-07-14T18:57:00.003-05:00

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya. "...In 1971, at Papunya, a government-established Aboriginal relief camp in the Central Australian desert, the Sydney school teacher Geoffrey Bardon provided a group of ranking Aboriginal men with the tools and the encouragement to paint. The resulting works became the first paintings ever to systematically transfer the imagery of their culture to a permanent surface.
This exhibition will be the first to focus on this founding moment, presenting some of the finest examples from the period drawn from the collection of John Wilkerson (Cornell PhD Class of 1970) and Barbara Wilkerson, never before exhibited as a group. The collection includes important works by such great names in the history of late twentieth-century Australian art as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Uta Uta Tjangala, Charlie Tarawa (Tjaruru) Tjungurrayi, and Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, and many others. The exhibition's centerpiece is Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula's staggering Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa of 1972, whose visual intricacy has been likened to a page in a medieval illumination manuscript; this work twice made Australian national headlines when it achieved world-record auction prices in 1996 and 2000."

New Works by Mr. Hooper

2009-07-14T18:48:00.001-05:00

New Works by Mr. Hooper at Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle, WA. "...Tim "Mr Hooper" Hooper is from Nashville, TN, and his work is heavily influenced by American folk art, outsider art, graffiti and tattoo art. Mr. Hooper's art is an amalgamation of pop icons, cartoon characters, dirty streets and urban decay. The pieces are usually detailed narratives interlaced with Hooper's singular wit and unique style. While Mr. Hooper's art is sometimes categorized as folk or outsider art, we prefer to call it Pop Folk, as Mr Hooper is one of a handful of young Southern (mostly) self-taught artists working in this exciting new sub-genre."

Interview with Hiroyo Kaneko

2009-07-14T18:39:00.000-05:00

Japan Exposures... Interview with Hiroyo Kaneko. "...When I was in Meiji Gakuin, I took some classes about the visual arts and film. That was because the period that I was studying within French Literature was early to mid 20th century, a time when all the cultural movements interacted each other. I was interested in the relationship between writers, visual artists and filmmakers, such as Andre Breton, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Luis Bunuel.
I was also into French New Wave films, especially Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut as well as Japanese film makers, like Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Seijun Suzuki. All those visual experiences got me involved in a filmmaking circle and I made a few 8mm films with my classmates. However, after we graduated it became difficult to get together to continue the activity, and then I gradually shifted to photography which I could do on my own."

Punk Perestroika 80

2009-07-14T18:33:00.001-05:00

Punk Perestroika 80, Gare Saint-Sauveur – Boulevard Jean-Baptiste Lebas – 59 000 Lille. Presented by Moscow House of Photography.

Robinet Aviatore

2009-07-14T18:14:00.000-05:00

Robinet Aviatore (Tweedledum, Aviator, 1911, directed by Luigi Maggi) at Europa Film Treasures. "...The enthusiastic and creative Tweedledum made his mad idea to fly come true. Cheered on by the crowd, he climbed aboard his strange machine, curiously inspired by the flying fish. But his trip soon turned to disaster since, equipped with an anchor, his plane destroyed steeples and watchtowers before crashing. Tweedledum, who left a hero, provoked an angry response from a population fed up with his escapades and he ended up in prison."

Alabam

2009-07-13T22:49:00.000-05:00

Cowboy Copas... Alabam (1960, Starday 45-501 .mp3 audio 02:20).

Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons

2009-07-13T22:16:00.003-05:00

Gustav Klutsis... The USSR is the Stakhanovite brigade of the world's proletariat (1931, Lithograph). From the exhibition Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University. "...Views and Re-Views includes posters, cartoons, photomontages, and postcards spanning more than six decades, from the time of the Russian Civil War (1918–21) into the late Soviet period. The exhibition includes well-known Soviet graphic works, by such artists as Viktor Deni, Dmitri Moor, El Lissitsky, and Gustav Klutsis, as well as lesser-known, but equally compelling works by the Kukryniksy (a three-artist collaborative), Alexander Zhitomirsky, and others. Drawn from an extensive private collection of Soviet propaganda, the exhibition includes more than 160 images."

Peavine Mountain Arborglyphs

2009-07-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

Peavine Mountain Arborglyphs. "...Peavine Mountain is the smallest mountain range in Nevada. Now a popular recreation area that is almost entirely surrounded by the neighborhoods of Greater Reno, it once served as a summer home for sheep and their herders. Arborglyph researcher Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe has thoroughly studied the five aspen groves on Peavine, documenting and interpreting carvings on more than 500 trees by 105 herders. The oldest date he found on a tree was 1901 and the most recent carving by a sheepherder was dated 1989. His database, available in this exhibit, provides access by dates as well as the herders' names, languages, countries, and hometowns."