Carter Todd

Works by Carter Todd at Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee, WI. "...Carter Todd started drawing about 1980 when, in his thirty-third year, he entered a center for alcohol treatment. Lacking the ability to read, and weary of the offerings on television, Todd began drawing to overcome boredom. As he explains it: 'One day I asked a center worker for a pencil and some paper. Once I started drawing, I didn't want to stop. It calms me. It makes me feel good.'"

Casualties of Convenience

Casualties of Convenience - New Paintings and Drawings by Andrew Schoultz, January 14 - February 15, 2006 at GR2 Giant Robot in Los Angeles, CA. More Works by Andrew Schoultz at his personal site.

The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918

The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 - The Worst Flu Season in Wisconsin History. "...Between September and the end of December 1918, more than 8,400 Wisconsin residents died of influenza. Declared by the State Board of Health as the most 'disastrous calamity that has ever been visited upon the people of Wisconsin,' the Spanish flu had swept across America in under seven days, infecting more than 100,000 people in Wisconsin alone. These newspaper articles from September and October 1918 capture some of the fear that gripped communities stricken by the flu."

Gallery of Demonic Tots and Deeply Disturbing Cuisine

Bread's better 'cause it's fresher in Cellophane (1954). From the Gallery of Demonic Tots and Deeply Disturbing Cuisine at Plan59 - The Museum of Mid-Century Illustration.

Last (First) Night in Japan

Seeing as this is my last night in Japan, I'd like to talk about my first - the evening of July 4, 1987. My girlfriend Tristan and I had flown from LAX to Narita on a JAL flight - had our photos taken with the captain in the cock-pit (that's not done anymore) because a flight attendant was impressed by Tristan's Japanese. We went throught customs in Narita and caught our connecting flight to Osaka International Airport in Itami. From there we caught an airport bus to Umeda in downtown Osaka. We had a load of luggage, including an impossibly heavy WWII-era trunk (mine). We had to more or less take baggage piece by piece up and down an unGodly number of stairs as we plugged along to our destination. We took the Mido-suji Line (Red) from Umeda to Yodoyabashi where we caught a Keihan semi-express train to Kuzuha Station in Hirakata - a suburb of Osaka. There we spent the night with Tristan's old host family. What I'll never forget is lugging that damn trunk in the July heat.

Here's where I lived in Japan:

Mentori-cho, Hirakata City
One week with Tristan's old host family.

Guest House Kyoto
Kita-ku, Kyoto City
Social living in North Kyoto at the foot of Mt. Daimonji - walking distance from Kinkaku-ji and Ryouan-ji (my favourite temple in Japan).

6-mat 1 room apt in America Mura
Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City
In the heart of the Minami entertainment district. Comparable to living in Times Square NYC.

1 room apt
Suminoe-ku, Osaka City
Near Suminoe Station on the Nankai Main Line. Large window faced the south and really cooked the place in the summer.

2ldk apt
Suminoe-ku, Osaka City
A 'heights' type apartment; new when we moved in. Was here during the big earthquake in January of '95. Far from the epicenter but, boy, did we shake. Near Abikomichi Station on the Hankai Streetcar Line.

House in Yao
Akebono-cho, Yao City
Upon moving to Yao I stated teaching students privately. Between JR Shiki and JR Yao Station on the JR Yamatoji Line.

2ldk apt
Yasunaka-cho, Yao City
Near JR Yao Station.

Miss Van

Miss Van will have a solo show at Galerie Magda Danysz in Paris this coming April. "...Miss Van started wall-painting in the streets at the age of 18, in the early 1990's, initiating the feminine movement in street art. She is now exhibiting all around the world from NY to LA, in Europe (France, Spain, Italy, UK) as in Asia."

Tim Roda Photographs

Tim Roda... Untitled #79 (2005, black and white photograph printed on fiber matte paper). From Tim Roda Photographs, January 5 - February 11, 2006 at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA.

RIP: Janette Carter

RIP: Janette Carter - daughter of A.P. and Sara, keeper of The Carter Family Fold, and last surviving child of members of the original Carter Family.

The Downtown Show

The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene, 1974-1984 at the Grey Art Gallery at NYU. "...For over 150 years, Downtown New York has been an epicenter of creative ferment. Indeed, for New Yorkers and just about everyone else, Downtown is synonymous with experimentation. This exhibition examines the rich cross-section of artists and activities that coexisted and often overlapped in Lower Manhattan between 1974 and 1984. Emerging out of the deflated optimism of the Summer of Love and energized by the enactment of the Loft Law—which made it legal for artists to live in SoHo's industrial spaces—the Downtown scene attracted painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, performers, filmmakers, and writers who could afford the then-low rents of SoHo lofts and Lower East Side tenements. Downtown artists violated the gap between high art and mass culture, removed the production and reception of avant-garde art from isolation in elite circles, and directly confronted social and political concerns."

Rachel Weeks: Autoerotica

Rachel Weeks: Autoerotica. "...Rachel Weeks' series Autoerotica presents sexually charged self-portraits of the artist in the poses and photographic style of Victorian erotica. Weeks portrays herself as an object of sexual desire to explore the conflict of her longing to be seen with her own shyness. By the artist claming this privileged position, an empowering action done for the purpose of the artist’s personal gratification and pleasure, the inclination to see women as victims and the object of the male gaze is challenged. The artist employs the 19th century wet collodion process to create small prints that mimic the photographic conventions of the time." Part of the exhibition 'Three New Photographers' - January 4 - February 11, 2006 at Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

Lady Snowblood

The original Japanese theatrical trailers for... Lady Snowblood: Blizzard of the Netherworld (Toho Pictures 1973, wmv video 02:46) and... Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance (Toho Pictures 1974, wmv video 02:24).

Poison Strawberry

Suehiro Maruo... Poison Strawberry. "...We're happy to post the first of three chapters of Suehiro Maruo's 'Poison Strawberry.' Please visit the links at the bottom of the post to read the next two chapters. Evan did a radical job on the lettering and touch-up, and it's the comic we're most proud of to date." From Same Hat! Same Hat!

Je ne suis là pour personne

Françoise Hardy... Je ne suis là pour personne (1966, RealAudio 02:58).

Je ne suis là pour personne
Mon coeur est pris
Pris par le vôtre ou personne
Dites-lui qu'il n'a pas tort
Que vous l'aimez assez fort
Pour ne pas le blesser

Hatuey and Rey de Tablistas

The Hormonauts... Hatuey (.mp3 audio 03:11). And... from Valencia, Spain, Way y los Arrrghs... Rey de Tablistas (mp3 audio 03:13). A fuzzed up, whigged out, Spanish cover of The Trashmen's 'King of the Surf.' Great!

Fare Thee Well Blues

Joe Callicott... Fare Thee Well Blues (.mp3 audio 04:02). Recorded by George Mitchell in 1967. Excerpt from liner notes by George Mitchell, 1968... "Callicott, 67, lives with his wife and sister in Nesbit, his birthplace. He learned to play guitar when he was 15. 'I'd stand around and look, you know,' he recalls. 'Just look at 'em and listen and go ahead on like I'm not paying 'em no attention. I'd catch it. I'd come home to my box and play it.'" From Fat Possum Records.

Robert Craig

Robert Craig... Gigantor (Tetsujin 28 Go, acrylic on board). From The Art of Robert Craig.

Yard Pics 2K5

Adrian Crestani... Master Tapes in Bunny Lee's Studio (July 2005, Kingston, Jamaica). From Yard Pics 2K5. Photographs from Jamaica by Adrian Crestani — Firehouse selector and ex-Greensleeves staffer.

Heading back to the USA - gmtPlus9 (-15)

I'm heading back to the USA after over 18 years in Japan ...heading back to my home state of Wisconsin - The Roadside Genius State. When I arrived in Japan on July 4, 1987 I never dreamed that my stay would be this long. It's been, shall we say, an experience.

Le jardin de Gabriel

Le jardin de Gabriel. A new photo-album at Animula Vagula - rives et dérives de l'art brut. Bravo! (fr)

Little Marcy at Fudgeland

Fudgeland has done the world a great service by making available for download a fantastic, if twisted, Little Marcy Video. "...I've got a new program that captures video, so I've encoded a VCD-quality clip of Little Marcy and her friends. This is from the extremely rare 'Learning To Do God's Work' video, and it is a sight to behold."

Jean Ballon

Jean Ballon... a3_2005 (2005, Acrylique sur carton sans acide). From Works by Jean Ballon. "...Etudes aux Beaux-Arts de Paris de 1985 à 1991. Travaille la peinture à l'huile, l'acrylique, et les techniques naturelles. La sculpture, le film expérimental. Expositions en France et à l'étranger, salons, galerie, musée, monument, rue. Création et réalisation de projet pédagogique." (fr)

Gyula Fazakas: Night Flower Scent

Gyula Fazakas: Night Flower Scent at Origo Galéria in Budapest, Hungary. "...I enter a wonderful oneiric castle. This wonderful building is Gyula Fazakas's imaginary world, woven of fairy threads and painted by a magic brush, made up of elements of the past, present and future of his personal reality. Curiosity and anxiety are luring me deeper and deeper and eventually I am captivated by the castle. It is not me opening the doors of the castle; flood gates open up by themselves in my soul. Being vulnerable and unsheltered gives one a trembling feeling. The storyteller reopens my old wounds. Influence by his memories, feelings, and sentiments; dreams, desires, carefully treasured pictures driven into the obscurity of oblivion deep inside seem to wake up. The stories have lost their beginnings or endings, they have become boundless. It is not my eyes I see with, my questions do not require answers. However, the rational shell will be broken into tiny pieces by the possibility of boundless freedom - and I take the risk."

Single Girl, Married Girl

The Carter Family... Single Girl, Married Girl (.mp3 audio 02:44). Recorded on August 2, 1927 in Bristol, TN.

Single girl, oh single girl
She goes to the store and buys
Oh goes to the store and buys
Married girl, oh, married girl
She rocks the cradle and cries
Oh, rocks the cradle and cries

Dangerous Dance in Japan

Dangerous Dance in Japan (Flash Video 01:39). "...A Japanese girl dressed in a kimono performs a a dreamlike Japanese dance in the middle of Osaka's busiest street, with cars and buses nearly hitting her. An excerpt from the short-film 'Yuwaku 1' by Roger Walch." I recognize the intersection. It's outside JR Osaka Station heading towards Hankyu Umeda. It's insanely busy.

The Tin Drum

"...Today Oskar says simply: The moth drummed. I have heard rabbits, foxes, and dormice drumming. Frogs can drum up a storm. Woodpeckers are said to drum worms out of their hiding places. And men beat on basins, tin pans, bass drums, and kettledrums. We speak of drumfire, drumhead courts; we drum up, drum out, drum into. There are drummer boys and drum majors. There are composers who write concerti for strings and percussion. I might even mention Oskar's own efforts on the drum; but all this is nothing beside the orgy of drumming carried on by that moth in the hour of my birth, with no other instrument than two ordinary sixty-watt bulbs. Perhaps there are Negroes in darkest Africa and others in America who have not yet forgotten Africa who, with their well-known gift of rhythm, might succeed, in imitation of African moths - which are known to be larger and more beautiful than those of eastern Europe - in drumming with such disciplined passion; I can only go by my Eastern European standards and praise that medium-sized powdery-brown moth of the hour of my birth; that moth was Oskar's master." Study guide and summary for The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel, 1959) by Günter Grass - our case for the greatest novel ever written.

Su-en Wong

Works by Su-en Wong. "...Wong's paintings depict her own personal Shangri-La: a tropical fairy-tale in which nude images of herself happily cavort hand-in-hand. Amongst exotic plants and lagoons, the young women picnic and sunbathe alongside frogs and snakes. Evoking the colors of the tropics, the theme is further reflected in the titles, 'Eve Green,' 'Return to Paradise,' and 'Fairy Tale Blue.' Wong's work interprets 'a very private and personal haven' in which her real self co-mingles with her fantasy other. Her paintings also explore the duality between the 'frivolity of adolescence' and the adult bittersweet longing for such simple pleasures."

There Goes the Neighborhood

Elizabeth Huey... The Neighbor's Orange Door (2005, Acrylic on paper). From the exhibition There Goes the Neighborhood at SIXSPACE in Culver City, CA. "...There Goes the Neighborhood marks the full arrival of sixspace in our new gallery home of Culver City. As an introduction and celebration, we are featuring the work of five artists in this exhibition who are new to the gallery: Wendy Heldmann, Sean Higgins, Elizabeth Huey, Jacob Magraw, and D'nell Larson who has an installation in the project room. Appropriately, though the artists differ stylistically, they all share an interest in exploring ideas of the landscape and environment."

Protest: Lower Ormeau Road

Gerry Casey... Protest: Lower Ormeau Road (July 1996). "...RUC Land Rovers form a barricade outside the offices of the Lower Ormeau Residents Action Group, to enable an Orange Order parade to pass unobstructed through the mainly nationalist lower Ormeau area of South Belfast against the wishes of residents." From the Archive at Belfast Exposed Photography.

Václav Zeman: Faces

Václav Zeman: Faces - 32 Personalities Portraits at Art Gallery - Svetlana & Lubos Jelinek in Chrudim, The Czech Republic. "...Vaclav Zeman, Karel Svolinsky's disciple, became famous for his film posters at the end of the 1960's. Later on he was engaged in commercial graphic art. He also devoted some time to painting which was characterized by subtle imaginative paintwork and motifs as imaginary portraits and natural elements. Especially for ART Gallery he has created a series of 32 personalities. This collection is a meeting of painters, composers, writers, actors and actresses. They altogether represent a motley crowd of unique personalities taken from world as well as Czech cultural life. It can be considered as an artist's confession, and at the same time as a representation of quality portrait painting, which has been slowly fading away."

Asian Girls with Guns

Asian Girls with Guns. "...Girls with Guns in Japanese B movies. Female assassin, Female spy, Female executioner, Lady cop, and more images from violence movies."

Mouneer Al-Shaárani

Contortions Performance

Harvey Wang... Contortions Performance (James Chance, Kristian Hoffman, Pat Place, Anya Phillips, 1979). From Club 57 Where Are You? - Photographs of the Legendary East Village Club 1979-1983 by Harvey Wang, Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, July 9-31, 2005. "...On display for the first time, this selection of photographs gives 21st century New Yorkers a glimpse of an artistic and cultural watershed moment in the city's storied past: the East Village New Wave scene of the 1980's. Club 57 was one of the venues at the epicenter of that scene, which now takes on a certain mystique due to the virtual extinction of true counter-culture in New York City today. At Club 57, an eclectic mix of artists, performers, fashion designers, musicians, and eccentrics celebrated absurdity and pure creativity within a completely non-commercial and uninhibited social milieu that was unique in the city's history." Also... Anya Phillips' Guest List for the December 28, 1979 James White and the Flaming Demonics in Hell concert at the Squat Theatre in New York. Looks like they had one hell of a party upstairs. Also... a nice 1980 Publicity Photo of James Chance and Anya Phillips for a Ze Records event.

Gallery of Life-Size Japanese Idol Cut-Outs

Gallery of Life-Size Japanese Idol Cut-Outs. Good, clean fun. (jp)

Down and Dirty

James Chance... Down and Dirty (.mpg Video 08:37). Live at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, September 25, 2003. James Chance is our hero... the coolest person ever born in Wisconsin and our favourite alto saxophone player on earth. I'd say the greatest concert I ever attended was James White and the Blacks at Duffy's (long since gone) in Minneapolis in the early '80s. He and his band literally blew the plaster off the walls. God love him. JC says, "...the song 'Down and Dirty' was kind of inspired by a scene in The Man With The Golden Arm where Frank Sinatra deals the cards and says, 'Here they come now, down and dirty.'"

Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey

Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey. A film directed and produced by Irving Saraf and Allie Light (1982). "...Grandma Tressa Prisbrey built her first bottle house to hold her 17,000 pencils. This was the beginning of The Bottle Village in Simi Valley, Calif. At 84, Grandma Prisbrey is a vivacious guide to her brilliant houses crammed with objects scavenged from the county dump. At her wittiest-she sings, jokes with her older sister, and combs through the dump. The film is an exploration of Grandma Prisbrey's creativity, pizzazz and sense of the absurd. The film lovingly documents the interiors of 15 of her houses, including Cleopatra's Bedroom, The Round House, as well as the marvelous sidewalk mosaics - all masterpieces of assemblage art and tapestries of artifacts from the first half of the 20th century."

Female Streaker Scores!

Female Streaker Scores! (.wmv Video 00:23). A fabulous shot on goal assisted by a slick, no-look, back heel pass. In Spain?

Ilija! His First American Exhibtion

Ilija Bosilj Basicevic... On Ilijada: Birds with Winged Friend (1963, Gouache on heavy paper). From Ilija! His First American Exhibtion, January 17 to March 18, 2006 at Galerie St. Etienne in New York, NY. "...The artist now known simply as Ilija is one of the most enigmatic painters to emerge from the land formerly known as Yugoslavia. Born Ilija Basicevic in 1895, he received international acclaim in the 1960s and '70s under the pseudonym Ilija Bosilj. Despite his impressive exhibition and publication history, however, the Serbian-born Ilija was at the time somewhat overshadowed by the more heavily promoted 'naives' from the Yugoslav republic of Croatia. Indeed, his work stands in sharp contrast to the Croatians' crisply rendered scenes of idyllic peasant life and farmland. Ilija's subject matter depicts no recognizable world, but rather a nearly abstract parallel universe concocted by the artist from an amalgam of local history, myths, Biblical tales and imagination. Beyond the arena of squabbling 'naives,' 'outsiders' and 'folk' artists, Ilija stands alone, as puzzling as he is compelling."

TREM 124

TREM 124 (Train 124). "...In November 2005, São Paulo artists Os Gêmeos, Nina, Ise, Coió, Nunca, and Porto Alegre artist Trampo were invited to paint the first (authorized) WHOLETRAIN in Brazil. TRAIN 124 runs daily from Porto Alegre to São Leopoldo (Rio Grande do Sul state)." Fantastic! From Lost Art.

Seonna Hong: People in the City

Seonna Hong... Self Portrait (2005, Oil and cel vinyl on wood). From the exhibition Seonna Hong: People in the City at SIXSPACE in Culver City, CA. "...Exemplifying the sense of connectedness in People in the City is Seonna Hong's first series of representational portraits. Painted during live-sessions with sixteen people (including one self-portrait), the 8x10 inch portraits with visible brushstrokes and an earth-tone palette provide an intimate look at the expression of the sitter. And though who they are to the viewer is not important, they are simply friends and relatives to the artist, the relationship between the subject and the artist became crucial as the process afforded Hong the rare luxury of spending quality, uninterrupted time with those close to her."

Rock Lobster

The b-52's... Rock Lobster (US Network TV Appearance, 1980, Flash Video 03:59). Yeah, I know. Rock Lobster. It's just that I would like to direct your ears and eyes to the late Ricky Wilson - one extremely inventive, and... dare we say, underrated guitarist. Tune out the filler and focus on the GROOVE. Plus... he's jamming on a Mosrite - the only electric guitar to own.

New Work by Gabrielle de Montmollin

New Work by Gabrielle de Montmollin. Gabrielle is one of our favourite contemporary photographers on the planet. She's having a solo exhibition at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Bondeno (Ferrara) in Italy from January 28 to February 26, 2006. Bondeno is about 40 km north of Bologna. Good luck, Gabrielle.

One Year In Pictures

One Year In Pictures. Photographs by Louise Chin and Ignacio Aronovich of Lost Art in São Paulo, Brasil. "...2005 passou voando! Começamos a trabalhar dia 2 de janeiro e não paramos até o final de dezembro. Somos gratos por continuarmos viajando muito e trabalhando ainda mais. Viajar engrandece a alma e faz bem para o espírito. Tentamos, da melhor forma possivel, conciliar os trabalhos (editoriais e publicitários) com os nossos projetos pessoais, sem deixar de lado os nossos queridos (família, amigos, e este site)." (br)