The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by building an “objective correlative”; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events, such that when the external facts, which must terminate in a sensory experience, are given, the emotion is immediately evoked. –T.S. Elliot in “Hamlet and [...]
Roberta’s Rule of Thumb
Jun 15, ’11
3:15 PM
“A useful rule of thumb in judging art is how much is left once you remove all the received ideas and influences. Is there anything left?” –Roberta Smith in her review of Joana Vasconcelos’ “Contamination” at the Venice Biennale For the record I think the piece is wonderful. Judge for yourself:
Get The Weekend started Right X
May 13, ’11
1:15 PM
I’m reading “How To Wreck A Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop”. The author, Dave Tomkins, speaks in tongues: a highly caffeinated, over-educated, culture-at-the-margins, A.D.D. kind of language… He gets a gold medal for knowing cool stuff. With that in mind I’ve been in a Miami Bass state of mind. Start [...]
Lisa Oppenheim / Killed Walker Evans
May 5, ’11
7:09 PM
You know that feeling when a Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, or Russell Lee photograph isn’t up to snuff and you take a hole punch to the negative? No? Me neither, but Roy Stryker did when he ran the Works Progress Administration (check out this interview with Mr. Stryker). Artist Lisa Oppenheim’s series of worked based [...]
What I Learned From Herb Ritts
Mar 7, ’11
6:07 PM
Need career advice? I do. (I’m pretty sure Steve Jobs doesn’t read this blog which means everyone else should answer accordingly.) I took advantage of my proximity to the Brooklyn Public Library, checked out some books, and dove right into Charles Churchward’s “Herb Ritts: The Golden Hour” to see what I could learn from Herb. [...]
Talent to Burn
Dec 28, ’10
4:39 PM
Amelia Bauer is kicking my ass. I came across her photo work but her found wood sculptures are even more compelling. Check out the veneer work on this piece: In an interview for the Cairo Blog she states: “One of the most consistent themes in the decorative arts (and to me the most compelling) is [...]
Free your Inner Art Critic
Aug 5, ’10
4:43 PM
From Jerry Saltz in the comments page of New York Magazine’s site about his favorite paintings in New York City: Dear Readers, Thanks for reading this column about my favorite paintings in New York museums. Do you have an inner art-critic dying to get out and get published? Maybe I can help. I’m expanding this [...]
New Pic for Ladies of Castor & Pollux – Justine Birbil
Jun 24, ’10
7:11 PM
There is a new picture in The Ladies of Castor & Pollux series over at the Loving Blog. Hanging out with Justine Birbil was a pretty fun. She’s a hoot and her answers are good! Head over to Loving to check them out. Her father, Greg Birbil, has a great blog called An Ad Man [...]
Ye Olde Light
Jun 17, ’10
11:07 PM
“My real job description is to light a set and the ideas all come from a 300-400 year period of painting during the Renaissance throughout 15th, 16th, 17th century in northern Europe. All ideas about how to create images that are expressive and use light as the metaphor for understanding a meaning of what the [...]
New Alessandra Sanguinetti
Jun 15, ’10
4:33 PM
I’m pretty excited that Alessandra Sanguinetti‘s “The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and the Enigmatic Meaning of their Dreams” is finally coming out. I’ve been hoping to find an inexpensive copy of Light Work’s Contact Sheet 120 for a while. This body of work was first published there as far as I know. There is [...]