Saturday, March 31, 2007

Joe Meek Demos

Joe Meek... Telstar (demo, over backing track 'Try Once More, .mp3 audio 02:23). From Joe Meek Demos at Comfort Stand Records. "...To enjoy Joe Meek's demos does require a sense of humor, and an appreciation of the absurd. Out of these moans and groans came the likes of 'Telstar,' a global chart-topper that also made a pre-Beatles hit in the US. A producer of daring, innovation and sometimes surprising grace, Joe Meek the singer was a different beast entirely. To this Mr. Hyde of pop, I respectfully bow my head, tip my hat, and brace myself for the music we are all about to hear."

Estevan Oriol: Streetlife

Estevan Oriol: Streetlife. From Works by Estevan Oriol. "...Estevan Oriol began his career in the entertainment industry in the late 1980’s as a club bouncer at several of Los Angeles’ most popular Hip Hop clubs and infamous Hollywood hangouts. It was at these clubs that Estevan first linked up with his Soul Assassin brothers from South Gate, Cypress Hill. Eager to expand his knowledge of the business, Estevan took a job as tour manager for the rap group House of Pain in 1992."

Neasden Control Centre: Bar Leandro

Neasden Control Centre... #16 (canvas, record sleeve, marker). From Neasden Control Centre: Bar Leandro at Galerie Heliumcowboy Artspace in Hamburg.

Works by Mel Kadel

What You See From A Tree Mel Kadel... What You See From A Tree (2006, 14 x 14 Inches, Ink and Collage on Paper). From Works by Mel Kadel.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Ready Dub

Ossie All Stars... Ready Dub (.mp3 audio 05:33). From the album Leggo Dub (1978, Cash & Carry). Backed by The Revolutionaries.

Maureen Tucker: Playin' Possum

Maureen 'Moe' Tucker... Bo Diddley (.mp3 audio 03:55). From Maureen Tucker: Playin' Possum (1982, Trash Records) at Dinosaur Gardens. "...Maureen 'Moe' Tucker, the Velvet Underground’s drummer, was notable in that even people who don’t pay a lot of attention to drummer styles can immediately pick her out. Her style — mallets, not sticks; no snares on the drums; very few cymbals; all to a Bo Diddley–influenced beat — was even more vital to the VU’s sound than John Cale’s viola, and it’s no coincidence that the only VU album she wasn’t on, 1970’s Loaded, was also by far their worst.
After the Velvets broke up, she moved to Texas and got a job at Wal-Mart, and concentrated on raising her large family. She finally went back to music in 1981, when she recorded her first album, Playin’ Possum. She recorded it in her living room ('between diaper changes,' she says) over a period of six months, overdubbing every instrument, and the result was quite odd; it doesn’t really sound like anything else." Via PCL LinkDump.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Summertime Blues

Heinz Burt... Summertime Blues (.mp3 audio 02:42).

The Angora Project

The Angora Project The Angora Project. "...In 1965 former Chicago Tribune Berlin correspondent Sigrid Schultz presented her papers to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Among them was a heavy photo album, 15 by 13 inches, with a single word on its gray cover: Angora. More tellingly, the cover also included the runic lightning flashes of the Nazi SS, the large security and military organization of the Nazi Party.
The Angora Project was an SS-administered program to breed rabbits for their soft, warm fur to line the jackets of Luftwaffe pilots. The rabbits were raised in luxury alongside prisoners in all the Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau, and are believed to have served as a constant reminder to prisoners of how little their lives were valued.
The album belonged to Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS and head of its concentration camps. He hid the album in a farmhouse with his other papers near the end of the war. Schultz uncovered the album in the winter of 1944-1945 while helping the American Counter Intelligence Corps search for missing documents. In describing the album, Schultz wrote: 'In the same compound where 800 human beings would be packed into barracks that were barely adequate for 200, the rabbits lived in luxury in their own elegant hutches. In Buchenwald, where tens of thousands of human beings were starved to death, rabbits enjoyed scientifically prepared meals. The SS men who whipped, tortured, and killed prisoners saw to it that the rabbits enjoyed loving care.'"

1935 Stout Scarab

1935 Stout Scarab at Cars at Large. "...The 1935 Stout Scarab was the brainchild of William B. Stout, an aircraft and automobile engineer and writer. Stout, who had risen to fame as the chief engineer and designer of the Ford Tri Motor airplane, decided to go into the automobile business after a tiff with Ford's aviation department in 1932. His company, Stout Engineering Laboratories of Detroit, MI, was charged with the task of designing a building a van-like vehicle very much like the three-wheeled Dymaxion car created by noted inventor Buckminster Fuller."

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: The Original Rat Fink

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: The Original Rat Fink at the Petersen Automobile Museum. "...Born in Beverly Hills in 1932, Roth came of age in post-war Southern California, the cultural epicenter of hot rodding. During the 1960s, Roth was a celebrity, a larger-than-life character with a beatnik beard who spoke in hep-cat lingo and was always hamming it up for the camera. More than his contemporaries Von Dutch and the Barris brothers Sam and George, Roth grasped the marketing potential of the trappings of the custom car counterculture and understood how to promote them to teenagers."

Salon Art

Salon Art. "...Em Raposa, no norte da ilha de São Luis, no Maranhão, encontramos um belissimo exemplar de Salon Art." Fabulous! From Lost Art.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Popeye Twist

The Tornados... Popeye Twist (.mp3 audio 02:28). Flipside of The Tornados' debut single 'Love and Fury' (1962, Decca UK F11449, producted by Joe Meek).

Candy Creatures

The P-40 in Soviet Aviation

The P-40 in Soviet Aviation
The P-40 in Soviet Aviation. "...During World War II, the Soviet Union was actually the second country (after Great Britain) to import the Curtiss P-40 fighter. In all, the USSR received 247 P40C (Tomahawk IIB) and 2,178 P-40E, -K, -L, and -N aircraft from 1941 through 1944, which ranks this type in fourth position (after the P-39, Hurricane, and P-63) among foreign aircraft delivered to the Soviet Union. Deliveries were made by year in the following quantities: 1941-230 Tomahawks and 15 P-40E; 1942-17 Tomahawks and 487 P-40E, E-1, K, and L; 1943-939 P-40E-1, K, L, M, and N; 1944-446 primarily P-40M and. During the war years the P-40 fighter was included in the inventories of the three basic branches of Soviet aviation: VVS Red Army (VVS KA), VVS Navy (VVS VMF), and PVO (national air defense) aviation, and fought practically on all fronts from the Black Sea to the Barents Sea. It is a little known fact that the Tomahawks and Kittyhawks with red stars participated in all the decisive battles: the battle for Moscow, at Stalingrad, the defense of Leningrad, in the Kuban, at the Kursk bulge, and beyond to the liberation of eastern Prussia." From Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan, 1950-1970

Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan, 1950-1970, March 6–June 3, 2007 at the Getty Center, Los Angeles. "...Collaborative, ephemeral, self-reflective, multidisciplinary—the work generated by the rapid series of experimental artistic movements that energized the public sphere in postwar Japan was anything but private, static, or expected, despite the enduring engagement of Japanese artists with Western modernism. For two decades, a small but progressive group of visual artists, musicians, dancers, theater performers, and writers variously confronted the fraught legacy of World War II in Japan, which included occupation by a foreign power, growing economic inequality, and the clash between repressive social mores and an increasingly industrialized, urban, and consumer-oriented culture. Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art offers an introduction to this highly charged and innovative era in Japanese artistic practice."

A History of Sex Education Films in Japan - Part 2: The Post-War Years and the Basukon Eiga

Midnight Eye... A History of Sex Education Films in Japan - Part 2: The Post-War Years and the Basukon Eiga. "...At the end of World War II Japan was confronted with a serious problem of overpopulation. The repatriation of its citizens from the former colonies, a baby boom despite the miserable economic condition of the immediate post-war years and the resulting food shortages led to an intensive discussion of Japan's population problem. 'Surplus population' (kajo jinko) became a media buzzword of the period. Birth control and family planning thus became urgent tasks and sparked the so-called basukon eiga ("birth control films") that will be the topic of Part 2 of the series 'A History of Sex Education Films in Japan.'"

J. John Priola

J. John Priola... Untitled #4 (2006). From Works by J. John Priola. Also... J. John Priola, March 16 - April 28, 2007 at Joseph Bellows Gallery. "...Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by J. John Priola. The gallery will feature selections from Priola's series Paradise, Saved, Residual, and Windows.
In the series Paradise, common objects such a wishbone, a feather, a wooden box, an apple, and a pair of dice are photographed against a deep, black background and printed in perfectly round circles. Ordinary objects, now spotlighted, suddenly become extraordinary. Priola's minimal and formal treatment of these familiar objects allows the viewer to closely examine their formal qualities. Taken out of the context of everyday life and devoid of human presence, the objects are left to the viewer to be imbued with meaning. In doing so, we become aware of the power simple objects have to evoke complex emotions and memories."

Monday, March 26, 2007

Gone But Not Forgotten

P.O.V... Gone But Not Forgotten - Memorial photographs recall a time when death played a more visible role in day-to-day life and provide context to reflect on current attitudes about death in American society. "...Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These photographs were often the only ones taken of their subjects and much pride and artistry went into them. It is astounding that although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, they are largely unseen, and unknown. Today we struggle to avoid the topic of death; as a result we have closed the door on those images, which reflect an American culture in which death and mourning played a visible and active part." From A Family Undertaking - a film by Elizabeth Westrate.

The Museum of Japanese Anesthesia

The Museum of Japanese Anesthesia. "...Welcome to the museum of Japanese anesthesia. We exhibit some pictures of anesthesia tools in Japan."

Sarah Jane Perkins (1916-2002): Southern Folk Art Unseen

Sarah Jane Perkins (1916-2002): Southern Folk Art Unseen at Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle, WA. "...We recently came across a body of work that had never been shown or seen before. Sarah Jane Perkins, from Martinsville, VA, died in 2002 and left behind a precious body of work that just could have easily been discarded and thrown away. We are proud to present the majority of the estate.
Sarah Jane Perkins' delicate drawings depict birds, flowers, and figures. Executed on paper with coloured pencil, the 8 x 11 pieces are a wonderful legacy left behind by a woman we know little about. The drawings themselves are thought to be 'sketches' for a quilt that Sarah Jane wanted to make, and looking at the pieces, you can easily conceive that many of the drawings could be made into quilt patterns.
Sarah Jane lived a hard life, as many African Americans in the rural south did in the early part of the 20th century. Her story is one of hardship, hard work, and simple living, with a passion for drawing and working with her hands."

The First Typewriter

World's First Typist World's First Typist. "...The World's First Typist, Lillian Sholes, daughter of Christopher Sholes, who invented the first successful typewriter. It was during Mr. Sholes' residence in Kenosha (he resided there from 1840-1858) that he invented the typewriter. Mr. Sholes was the founder of Southport Telegraph, and the first paper was issued June 16,1840. Source C.E. Dewey, Kenosha Historical Society." From The First Typewriter - the Sholes & Glidden typewriter at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Souvenirs

FILE Magazine... Souvenirs by Michael Hughes. "...Souvenirs is a selection of travel souvenirs photographed in their real locations by photographer Michael Hughes. Michael explains that the idea was born when "I was doing a job for Helsingin Sanomat (Finnish Daily) on the Loreley...it was December and very gray. Had a postcard in my pocket for my daughter and realized I was standing on the same spot as the photographer. His light was better than mine so I held the picture into the camera and found I could line up all the essential points." Michael's touch with this project is uncondecending, which is one of the things that makes it so delightful and original."

Historical Postcard Collection

Historical Postcard Collection at the Princeton University Library. "...The Historical Postcard Collection documents the buildings and environs of the Princeton University campus in the form of picture postcards. Featuring both monochrome and color postcards , the bulk of the collection ranges in date from 1900 through the 1960s. Both unmarked and canceled postcards exist in the collection. Several postcard makers are represented in these materials."

Death Valley '69

Sonic Youth with Lydia Lunch... Death Valley '69 (.mp3 audio 05:22).

Ion Zupcu

Ion Zupcu... Untitled, July 14 (2003, sepia toned silver print). From Portfolio 3: Portraits by Ion Zupcu at Meter Gallery. "...Bottles are a great subject for meditation,' says Ion Zupcu. 'They're empty inside, and at the same time very strong on the outside.' The bottles in these images all belong to Zupcu's personal collection, and, true to his bent, each one appears to be sturdy and handcrafted, as if it has—and will continue to—stand the test of time. And this robustness is reflected in the images. Though Zupcu balanced and stacked the bottles in poses that should appear precarious, the images are quiet and classically still-life. Which is not to say that they are as inert as glass. Far from it: The bottles become anthropomorphic when posed—the stems inquisitive, the hefty bottles muscular, the outsized bottles indifferent. These containers easily outlived their original purpose, which was fleeting and now forgotten, but the images that bear witness to their second life are far from empty." Also... more Works by Ion Zupcu at his personal site.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Where is Lepos?

Spiderbaby Theme

Ronald Stein & Lon Cheney Jr.... Spiderbaby Theme (1968 .mp3 audio 02:16). Also... from Images Journal... a review of Spider Baby by Gary Johnson. "...In RE/Search's Incredibly Strange Films (an essential book for lovers of strange cinema), Jim Morton describes Spider Baby as 'a television sitcom directed by Luis Buñuel.' That's an apt description, for Spider Baby does indeed have the same efficient, functional lighting and camerawork as classic sitcoms from the 1960s. This visual style has been fused to a twisted sensibility, giving us central characters who suffer a degenerative condition that causes them to regress mentally. As we watch these characters--at once, they're both naïve and murderous--the movie's visual style stands in stark contrast to the subject matter. However, the complacency of the visuals works in the movie's favor, for it suggests a darker side to the blissfully secure visions offered by television comedies." And... Production Photos, Lobby Cards, and a Spider Baby Poster at TCM.

Mario Giacomelli: Earthly Inferno

Mario Giacomelli: Earthly Inferno at Silverstein Photography. "...a survey of photographs by Italy’s most prolific and highly regarded photographer. Already well known for his Young Priests (Pretini) series, and his manicured aerial landscapes that preceded the land art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Earthly Inferno takes the viewer deeper into the artist’s mind, revealing a vision fraught with the passage of time, closing in on death. 'My photos are the mark of my intervention in a given space, my creation; they are a record of what I was thinking while a little of me died, because we’re dying every day.'"

Surfin' Bird

Wade Curtiss & The Rhythm Rockers... Surfin' Bird (.mp3 audio 02:18).

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Cités et Ruines Americaines

Palais Des Nonnes, à Uxmal, façade de l'aile Nord Désiré Charnay... Palais Des Nonnes, à Uxmal, façade de l'aile Nord. From Cités et Ruines Americaines. Atlas. / D. Charnay. (published 1862-1863).

Christian Cravo

Christian Cravo: Mysticism, redemption, water and pilgrimages - A Northeastern Brazilian Drama. "...The religious fanaticism of the Brazilian Northeast is strictly related to the lack of support given to poor and needy populations by the central power.
When the minimum resources necessary to survival are denied to mankind, even in precarious conditions, when isolated over great territorial areas, desertlike or suffering little influence from urban centers or a more modern administrative power which would bring order to the context as a whole, these populations take on, due to abandonment which is very often secular, a form of resistance with characteristics of mysticism, religiosity, and unshakeable fervor. The cyclical pilgrimages are the heartbeat of the coming together again of these lost populations in the immense vastness of Brazil's Northeast.
The Brazilian backlands (sertão) crystallized their hope in religious piety, which had in Christianism its most powerful directional force since the colonization of Brazil in the 16th century." More Works by Christian Cravo at his personal site.

Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture, March 15 - April 14, 2007 at Throckmorton Fine Art in New York, NY. "...Twenty-five never presented before sculptures dating from the Northern Wei (386-534 CE) through Tang Dynasties (618-907 CE) will be on display."

Long Walk Back to San Antone

Junior Brown... Long Walk Back to San Antone (.mp3 audio 03:34). Bend it! Thank you BK.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Gao Brothers

Michel Pellanders: Mexico

Michel Pellanders: Mexico at the IISG's Platform for Photography. "...The photos show how Michel Pellanders' experience of Mexico in 1982 and 1983. Through them, a different Mexico emerges: it is raining in some, and it is not only because they are in black and white that the image is gloomy. The photos are very different from the clichés of Mexico: sombrero - mañana - fiesta. It is the poor Mexico on the eve of the liberalization. It is a land where, at that time, the old solutions of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the party that had already reigned for nearly 60 years, no longer work. There is corruption, and state enterprises waste their subsidies. De la Madrid is the president who began liberalization and privitization, a road that has changed Mexico considerably, but has not been able to make social problems disappear. The Mexico of 1982/83 no longer exists, but we can see a glimmer of it in the strong personal vision of Michel Pellanders."

The Upsetter: The Music and Genius of Lee Scratch Perry

Teaser (QuickTime Video) for the documentary The Upsetter: The Music and Genius of Lee Scratch Perry - a film by Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Happy Birthday Lee 'Scratch' Perry

Lee 'Scratch' Perry "...Since the dawn of recorded music in Jamaica, the man known as Rainford Hugh Lee Perry has been a wellspring of innovation. His influence is evident throughout pre-1980s Jamaican music: as a singer, songwriter, talent scout, dub mixer, producer, and more, his direct musical contribution is enormous. Furthermore, his musical ideas have inspired not only his contemporaries, but musicians to this day, even in genres outside of reggae. With an artist as important as Perry, it is natural to want to document his life's work; unfortunately, the attempt to catalogue his entire musical output is not only a daunting task, but most likely an impossible one." - Upsetters Riddim Shower.

"...I see the studio must be like a living thing, a life itself. The machine must be live and intelligent. Then I put my mind into the machine and the machine perform reality. Invisible thought waves - you put them into the machine by sending them through the controls and the knobs or you jack it into the jack panel. The jack panel is the brain itself, so you got to patch up the brain and make the brain a living man, that the brain can take what you sending into it and live." - Lee Perry at Jahsonic.

Radio Scratch - X-Ray Music

Radio Scratch - X-Ray Music (.mp3 audio 54:35). "...Lee Perry was one of the pioneers of dub, along with King Tubby and Herman Chin Loy. At one point in his career, Lee Perry described dub as 'x-ray music' - and so this is a selection of Scratch's x-ray music from the Black Ark and beyond."

Playlist:
10 Cent Skank - The Upsetters
Living My Life - Keith Rowe
Living Dub - The Upsetters
Cut Throat - The Upsetters
Silent Satta - The Upsetters
Woman's Dub - The Upsetters
Rude Walking - The Upsetters
Happy Dub - The Upsetters
Bo Yarken Dub - The Upsetters
Land Of Dub - The Upsetters
Noah Dub - The Upsetters
Solja Man Dub - The Upsetters
Dub Fe Ya Rights - The Upsetters
Nyambie Dub - The Upsetters

From Eternal Thunder - Lee 'Scratch' Perry On The Wire.

Lee Perry at his Black Ark Studio

Lee Perry at his Black Ark Studio (Flash Video 05:29). From The TUBE: Jools in Jamaica.

Black Panta

Lee Perry and The Upsetters... Black Panta (1973, from the album Blackboard Jungle Dub .mp3 audio 04:33). "...Calling the meek and the humble! Welcome to Blackboard Jungle!"

Monday, March 19, 2007

Far and Wide: The Golden Age of Tavel Posters

Far and Wide: The Golden Age of Tavel Posters at the LAPL. "...The 1920’s and 1930’s ushered in an unprecedented era of travel to exotic and romantic destinations. And nowhere was this more clearly expressed than in the travel posters of that time. The Los Angeles Public Library ’s collection of travel posters perfectly captures this era. With this exhibition, the Library shares its bounty with the public for the first time."

The Wurstminster Dog Show

Japanese Chin Fawn Gehweiler... Japanese Chin (oil and acrylics on canvas). From The Wurstminster Dog Show at The Wurst Gallery. "...Artists were invited to reserve a dog breed on a first come, first served basis. The only requirement was that the artist attempt to capture the look and spirit of their chosen breed in their own unique way."

Beaver

The Mills Brothers... Beaver (1959, Dot 45-15909 .mp3 audio 02:28).

Angelika Rinnhofer: Menschenkunde

Angelika Rinnhofer: Menschenkunde. "...Angelika Rinnhofer’s photographic series Menschenkunde beautifully captures the lighting and composition reminiscent of Renaissance portrait paintings. Rinnhofer’s inspiration comes from Albrecht Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, painters famous for linking beauty and psychological insight. Her most recent projects in the series include Seelensucht and Felsenfest, which have greatly been shaped by a trip to her hometown Nuremberg. She found great inspiration in the Gothic and Baroque churches but particularly within statues and paintings of Christian martyrs of the Renaissance period. She has explored the manner in which Christian martyrs have been portrayed in Renaissance art, quite unique from other religious ideologies and martyrs of differing societies. Portraiture of Christian martyrs quit often depicts tortured saints shown during the extreme moment of agony inflicted upon them to merit their saintly stature. Likewise, the martyr may be depicted in a calm moment after having endured pain and death and are now safe in 'heaven' and suggest martyrdom by using props such as carrying a palm frond or the torture device used to inflict their saintly death." From Works by Angelika Rinnhofer at Paul Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Jakob Tuggener: Ball Nights, 1934-62

Jakob Tuggener: Ball Nights, 1934-62 at Laurence Miller Gallery. "...Jakob Tuggener (1904-1988) was born in Zurich, and began taking photographs in 1926. In 1934 he began a thirty-year project of photographing society and opera balls in Zurich, St. Moritz and Vienna. Unlike other photographers who recorded the balls in a journalistic manner, Tuggener took very personal photographs that reflected his adoration of the elegant women and fascination for nocturnal society life.He wrote: '...it was a fairy tale of feminine beauty and flowing silky radiance.'
Tuggener insisted on a subjective, poetic approach, which he powerfully presented in book maquettes, of which eight completed ball maquettes were found in his estate. Each was assembled from many different ball nights, but poetically arranged into a continuous picture-sequence without text, simulating a single evening at a ball." Also... more Photographs by Jakob Tuggener at Fotostiftung Schweiz - Schweizerische Stiftung für die Photographie. (ch)

Up Above My Head I Hear Music in the Air

Sister Rosetta Tharpe with Madame Marie Knight... Up Above My Head I Hear Music in the Air (Decca 48090 .mp3 audio 02:31). Sister Rosetta Tharpe (vocals, guitar); Marie Knight (vocals); with The Sammy Price Trio: Sammy Price (piano); George "Pops" Foster (bass); Wallace Bishop (drums). Recorded in New York, NY on November 24, 1947.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

The Southern Twist

The Southern Twist
Geroge Darro & The Vi-Kings... The Southern Twist (1962, Nationwide ZTSC-82903/4 .mp3 audio 02:27). Thank you DMc.

Mary Lou Zelazny: Repeating The Habit

Mary Lou Zelazny: Repeating The Habit, March 16 ・April 14, 2007 at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...Mary Lou Zelazny continues practicing her wizardry in the art of mixing painting with collage as demonstrated by her newest body of work. Her skillful injection of popular culture objects into elaborately painted backgrounds of mostly pastel-like colors with both figures and objects continues to act as a viewer’s transport to other worlds and planes of existence. And in the process of being transported, we derive great unexpected satisfaction as she, the artist, incorporates these improbable found pieces/objects seamlessly into a greater whole of dreamlike entities. Her combining the gestural fluidity of paint with the slickness of the clipped photograph/image creates a hybrid form which is both expressive and stimulating."

KEMPELEN: Wolfgang von Kempe­len - Media Art and History Exhibition

KEMPELEN: Wolfgang von Kempe­len - Media Art and History Exhibition. "...The history of the chess-player automaton of Wolfgang von Kempe­len (1734 – 1804) and its legend have engaged artists, scientists and laymen for centuries. Now, more than two hundred years after von Kempelen ’s death, the joint exhibition of C3 Foun­dation and the ZKM in Karlsruhe, setting the two outstanding mecha­nical inventions of the polyhistor – the chess-player automaton and the speaking machine – at the centre, attempts to focus not only on the most en­during memories of his almost unfathomably far-reaching career. Alongside the portrayal of von Kempelen as scientist, engi­neer, artist, showman, civil servant and private individual, the exhibi­tion broadens the picture onto the Court of Maria Theresa and Jo­seph II, the mechanical inventions of the epoch, the invention of the era of invention, the Freemasonry movement, and the Turk- and puppet-mania of the century."

Friday, March 16, 2007

No. 72 - Yasato Elementary School

No. 72 - Yasato Elementary School (2 pages of photographs). Great photographs of an aboandoned elementary school in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. One of the latest selections at Spiral. (jp)

Photos by Hellen van Meene

Separate, But Equal: The Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson

Separate, But Equal: The Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson Separate, But Equal: The Mississippi Photographs of Henry Clay Anderson, March 1 - March 30, 2007 at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York, NY. "...Henry Clay Anderson was a professional photographer who lived and worked in Greenville, Mississippi, establishing Anderson Photo Service in Greenville in 1948. Throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s he was called upon to photograph every aspect of his relatively prosperous African-American community. With great tact and warmth, Anderson recorded the daily lives of the men and women who built the Greenville schools, churches, and hospitals that served their segregated society. He photographed family gatherings, weddings, funerals, sports events, and proms. He photographed nightclub musicians, itinerant entertainers, and a wide range of professionals at work. His work had strong political overtones, especially when he shot events related to the Civil Rights Movement."

Listen To The Teacher

U-Roy... Listen To The Teacher (.mp3 audio 02:34). U-Roy chants over 'Red Bumb Ball' by Lloyd & Devon.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Blonde Redhead

DNA... Blonde Redhead (Flash Video 01:51). From the film Downtown 81.

What Is Your Technique

Ronnie Speeks And His Elrods... What Is Your Technique (1961, King 45-5548 .mp3 audio 02:12). Cool guitar break.

Works by Alexa Horochowski

Alexa Horochowski... Bollywood. From Works by Alexa Horochowski at mnartists.org. "...Alexa Horochowski is Argentinean of Spanish and Ukranian descent, who was raised in remote Patagonia and came to the US as a teenager. She has an MFA in printmaking and photography and is an assistant professor of art at Saint Cloud State University. She has received grants from the Jerome, McKnight and Bush Foundations and is represented by the Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and the Braga Menendez Gallery in Buenos Aires.
Her painting influences include coloring books, fairytale-type illustrations, calligraphy and Japanese wood blocks, and her work often features provocative and ambiguous images of pre-adolescent youths."

István Gaál

István Gaál István Gaál at Origo Galéria. "...'I value my photographs just as pages from a scrapbook as they have no more purpose than a note taken or a mere record to remind.' This consice, summarizing statement comes from István Gaál about his activity as a photographer. These words give a perfect starting point for the researcher to evaluate his work as the researcher can keenly disagree with the author's description of the importance of his work. When I started to pile the achievements of his whole creative work (and let my word be creditworthy enough for the time being for his being as a substantial, high profile photographer as he is known for his being a film director) to make a book summarizing his activity as a photographer I had to realize that my first task would be to convince the creator of the pictures that the photographs taken lightly, notelike, sort of a record, supplementarily have started a new, independent life way beyond the purpose the photographer had intended. It is well worth the effort to process this part of his work too to come to valid conclusions. István Gaál has had photo exhibitions, his pictures have appeared illustrating biographical articles and books before. His slightly apologetic modesty made them appear inferior in achivement for he considered himself more at home in motion picture. The current exhibition was born with my intention to prove that my photohistorian attitude makes me see somewhat differently these pages from the scrapbook."

Been There All The Time

Dinosaur Jr... Been There All The Time (.mp3 audio 03:40). From the album Beyond on Fat Possum Records.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Crossley Sanatorium

Crossley Sanatorium - A Photographic Documentary. "...Opened in March 1905, Crossley Hospital East began life as a tuberculosis sanatorium and remained so for the first half of the twentieth century. From the 1960s onwards Crossley Hospital East would operate as a care home for the elderly, and also spend a brief period as a psychiatric hospital in the 1980s. Crossley Hospital East lived out it's final years as a boarding school. The hospital doors were closed for the final time in 1991."

Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife

Marianne Faithfull and Chris Spedding... Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife (.wma audio 04:23). From the album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (1985 A&M Records).

Manfredi Beninati: Flavio and Palermo (in the summer)

Manfredi Beninati... Untitled (Palermo) (2007, Oil on canvas). From Manfredi Beninati: Flavio and Palermo (in the summer) at James Cohan Gallery in New York, NY. "...Beninati is best known for work that addresses the nostalgia for childhood through the lens of memory. Using the visual vernacular of dreams and fairy tales, Beninati’s work is filled with characters and environments that create a space where the unconscious imagination is rendered visible. His imagery embodies the same slippage between fantasy and reality as can be found in the work of Antonio Ligabue and the writings of Italo Calvino and Lewis Carroll." Also... more Works by Manfredi Beninati at his personal site.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Feel So Good

Denise Darlington... Feel So Good (.mp3 audio 02:39).

Kwaidan

Kwaidan Midnight Eye review... Kwaidan (Kaidan, 1965, director: Masaki Kobayashi). "...Kwaidan harks back to a time when the ghost story was not a vehicle for delivering as many gore-ridden shocks to the audience as possible, but was concerned with creating a dense emotional atmosphere, rich in poignant moments of sadness and a pervasive sense of loss. Like his contemporary Kaneto Shindo, whose films Onibaba and Kuroneko are amongst the most famous of that period's 'kaidan' (the Japanese term for ghost story, the genre from which Kobayashi's film derives its name), Kobayashi uses the supernatural world as a pretext to make a highly poetic foray into the human consciousness. A far cry from the kind of J-horror that is currently being used as a blueprint to revive the horror genre in Hollywood, Kwaidan is set in an ancient world, not so very different from our own in this sense, in which the most horrific thing is often not the ghost, but the human spirit." Also... the Trailer (QuickTime Video) for Eureka Video's 'Masters of Cinema Series' edition of Kwaidan.

Monday, March 12, 2007

We Are The Princesses

Kim Gordon, DJ Olive & Ikue Mori... We Are The Princesses (2000 syr005 .mp3 audio 03:39).

Leni's Rising Star

Fencing from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938, RealVideo 01:56). "...Leni Riefenstahl's depiction of the fencing competition in Olympia is a brilliant example of the use of Light and Shadow on film — if not, indeed, an example of it virtually by definition of the terms. In the first portion of this clip it is the shadows that we see fencing, not the fencers themselves, however, Contrast continues to play an important part in the remainder of this sequence, with the fencers' white outfits set against the dark backdrop of the night sky." From Leni's Rising Star - A Celebration of the Cinematic Spirit of Leni Riefenstahl.

It Only Hurts When I Cry

Donna Loren... It Only Hurts When I Cry (.wmv video 02:13, From Beach Blanket Bingo, 1965, directed by William Asher). From Donna Loren: The Swingin' 60's.

Len Prince: Jessie Mann ‘Self-Possessed’

Len Prince: Jessie Mann ‘Self-Possessed’ at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...Len Prince and Jessie Mann first met in 2001. He was a photographer looking for a muse. She was the well known daughter and frequent subject for her mother, Sally Mann, who felt compelled to explore the creative possibilities of self-fictionalization, or, as she says, "making art by being in art". The pair embarked on a partnership which is about the act of collaboration, carefully creating memorable images that combine theatrics, performance, and ideas.
Inspired by works from mythology, art history and pop-culture, this new series references both public and personal ideologies. In the end, we witness the celebration of a photographer and his muse, committed to reinterpreting the history of art and photography, and the impact of contemporary pop culture on society today."

The Top Two Thousand Kanji

The Top Two Thousand Kanji The Top Two Thousand Kanji. "...This list was produced by scanning over a million kanji on thousands of Japanese web pages and ranking them according to the number of times they were seen. In total, over 3200 distinct characters were encountered. However, in order to eliminate anomalous entries at the lower end of the frequency scale, the list was arbitrarily truncated at 2000 entries.
Each kanji character on this page is linked to its entry in WWWJDIC, an online Japanese dictionary that provides more information about the character and words that use it." Via Coudal Partners.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Straight To The Heathen Head

I-Roy... Straight To The Heathen Head (.mp3 audio 03:22). Tough cut over the 'Talking Blues' rhythm.

Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment

Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment at Labor Arts. "...This indelible work of visual and social history confirms Dorothea Lange’s stature as one of the twentieth century’s greatest American photographers. Presenting 119 images originally censored by the U.S. Army—the majority of which have never been published—Impounded evokes the horror of a community uprooted in the early 1940s and the stark reality of the internment camps. With poignancy and sage insight, nationally known historians Linda Gordon and Gary Okihiro illuminate the saga of Japanese American internment: from life before Executive Order 9066 to the abrupt roundups and the marginal existence in the bleak, sandswept camps. In the tradition of Roman Vishniac’s A Vanished World, Impounded, with the immediacy of its photographs, tells the story of the thousands of lives unalterably shattered by racial hatred brought on by the passions of war."

Saturday, March 10, 2007

She Set Me Free

Charlie Feathers... She Set Me Free (1974, Rollin' Rock 45-025 .mp3 audio 03:12).

Liverpool: The Long Way Home

Pray for Rebels Bernard Fallon... Pray for Rebels. From Liverpool: The Long Way Home. "...Bernard Fallon was born into a large Liverpool Irish family in Crosby, Liverpool in 1949. He pursued his interest in painting and photography at the Liverpool College of Art for four years.
The Long Way Home covers the period between 1967 and 1975, when Fallon was exploring Liverpool and commuting to the Art School. He was fascinated by the changing urban landscape and social environment that he witnessed on his route and he began documenting life around Liverpool. His approach was inspired by the photojournalism and candid style of photographic masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Many of the images were taken during 1969 and 1970, when Fallon was becoming increasingly drawn towards the Scotland Road community. Keen to document the great social changes that were taking place in the area at that time, the photographs formed the basis of his Art School final year assignment. It was during this project that he that he further developed his social realism style, with people central to the subject, photographed at a cooperative distance. Also important was a strong composition and a desire to capture the ‘essential’ moment – the tension between beauty and reality."

Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and the Avant-Garde

Stewart Bale... Double Decker Bus at Edge Lane Depot (1946). From the exhibition Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and the Avant-Garde at Tate Liverpool. "...Centre of the Creative Universe offers a unique account of Liverpool’s art scene over the past fifty years. Moving from the immediate post-war period to the present day, it explores how the city has inspired a diverse range of nationally and internationally renowned artists to create an external view of Liverpool and its people.
Creative Universe recognises Liverpool as a place of myth – both generated by its inventive inhabitants and envisaged from afar. Documenting as well as challenging myths of its creative scene, Liverpool is presented here as a world city with an enduring capacity to ignite imaginations. Alongside artworks that chart Liverpool’s rise as a centre of the 1960s global pop revolution, the exhibition explores how the city has also inspired documentary photography, politically motivated art and played host to avant-garde movements from Pop to Conceptual Art and beyond."

Joseph Redmond Photo Collection

Joseph Redmond Photo Collection at the University of Missouri Digital Library. "...Joseph K. Redmond was a theater manager for the Uptown and Tower theaters in Kansas City, Missouri. He collected material about theaters, both movie and stage, primarily in Kansas City. The photographs in the collection consist of 148 black & white and color images from 1900 to 1982, with the majority dating from 1930 to 1945. The collection is arranged into seven series of images: Kansas City theater images, Fox Theater Group figures and staff, celebrities visiting Kansas City, Kansas City personalities, Kansas City images, film stills and promotional images, and miscellaneous photographs."

Friday, March 09, 2007

I'm Feeling Sorry

Ricky Nelson... I'm Feeling Sorry (1958 Imperial 156 .mp3 audio 02:17).

Works by Rik Meijiers

Rik Meijiers... Bottles (1998-2006, glass, paint, paper, photo, various sizes). From Works by Rik Meijiers.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

My Month in Plastic

Boots (photographer: JR, camera: snappy (diana clone)). From My Month in Plastic. "...We are a small group of part-time photographers with a passion for chemicals and plastic TOY CAMERAS!"

Surely I Love You

Rosco Gordon... Surely I Love You (1960, Vee-Jay 348 .mp3 audio 02:30). Gotta love the suffle beat. Also... a pretty strong case for RG's influence on Jamaican ska. Thank you DMc.

Satellite Rock

Jimmy Copeland & The J-Teens... Satellite Rock (1958, B&K J8OW-1188 .mp3 audio 01:38).

Who Paid the Piper? The Art of Patronage in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

Portrait of Otto Kallir at the Age of Twenty-Five Bohuslav Kokoschka... Portrait of Otto Kallir at the Age of Twenty-Five (1919, Oil on canvas, Signed and dated, upper left). From the exhibition Who Paid the Piper? The Art of Patronage in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, March 8 - May 26, 2007 at Galerie St. Etienne, New York. "...Fin-de-siècle Vienna is widely hailed for the groundbreaking achievements of artists such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka. Less well known, however, are the patrons who supported these artists and thereby made their achievements possible. Vienna in 1900 was a city poised at a crossroads between two collecting paradigms: aristocratic patronage, on the one hand, and the capitalistic art market, on the other. Historically, the Catholic Church and the Imperial Court had been the principal patrons of the arts in Austria, but around 1800, these institutions began to relinquish their hegemony to the emerging bourgeoisie. Over the course of the ensuing century, industrialization multiplied both the number and the fortunes of bourgeois collectors. Increased mobility turned Vienna into a modern metropolis. People representing a broad mix of cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds streamed in from all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire, creating a dynamic, melting-pot society. By 1910, Vienna’s population stood at two million. (It is today 1.6 million.) A late-nineteenth-century building boom gave the city the most advanced infrastructure in all of Europe."

Joseph Mills: Inner City

Joseph Mills: Inner City at the Cohen Amador Gallery in New York City. "... the first solo exhibition of Joseph Mills’ distinctive photographic work in New York City. Inspired by wanderings around the marginalized streets of Washington D.C., Mills’ range of work varies from street based photography to highly skilled photomontages of esotericism. Though diverse, an inquiry into the unknowable links Mills’ methods, simultaneously offering his photographic subjects up for investigation while revealing Mills’ own artistic search and vision of reality.
Though temporally distant from the Surrealist movement of the first half of the twentieth century, Mills’ work stems from a similar fascination with chance, subjectivity and the subconscious. In true surrealist style, Mills’ street photography transforms the seemingly quotidian into a dreamscape of life’s minutiae. Unlike the somewhat ethnographic approach of many surrealist photographers, Mills’ does not distance himself from this world, but rather involves himself deeply in its mysterious and wonderful insanity. A masticated piece of gum stuck on the end of a woman’s curled index finger, the ferociously long nails of a woman passing on the street, these become the elements of a familiar, yet mysterious, dreamscape. Often photographing from oblique angles, holding the camera low by his hip, and without the assistance of the viewfinder, Mills plays with chance, limiting his control of the image, and dispelling the general notion of the photographer as omniscient spectator by situating himself in league with the viewer, as the end result is not entirely known even to him. Mills heightens the impact of his surreal world by printing this series on expired photo paper giving the finished print an almost otherworldly glow. Because of this final chance procedure, each print is different and unique and a further testament to Mills’ own subservience to the process." Also... a few More works by Joseph Mills.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Jonas Dovydėnas: Afganistanas, 1985–2005

Face2Face Project

Face2Face Project. "...The Face2Face project is to make portraits of Palestinians and Israelis doing the same job and to post them face to face, in huge formats, in unavoidable places, on the Israeli and the Palestinian sides."

Russell Lee

Russell Lee at the Digital Journalist. "...Russell Lee's great photographic work did not start with the much-celebrated Farm Security Administration of the late-1930s nor did it stop there. He maintained his consideration of the human condition from first to last."

Photographs by Zdzisław Beksiński

Photographs by Zdzisław Beksiński Photographs by Zdzisław Beksiński at Dmochowski Gallery. "...The second anniversary of Beksiński’s tragic death is coming soon. I would like to commemorate it by acquainting the audience of my virtual gallery with one more form of his creation – the photography. Only now can I publish Beksiński’s photos, although chronologically it is the photography that made him enter the world of art for the first time. This form of art was practiced by Beksiński in the 1950s. Then he became mainly engaged in drawing and sculpting. In the second half of the 1960s he took up oil painting on fibreboard, and in the 90s and 2000s – graphics and computer photomontage. Despite the fact that photography was the first form of contact with art spelled with capital A, he immediately took a prominent position in it, which was reflected in the number of awards that he received at different international exhibitions. What is more, until today his photographs have retained their original character despite all the novelties appearing in this field all over the world since that time. Although from the point of view of the tool they differ from painting, these works foreshadowed his later art, as they were rather formal compositions than successful reports. In these compositions human figures and faces are merely props the arrangement of which, lighting and framing are supposed to directly lead, without any stories, to the gist, that is to the impression of beauty."

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

The University of Delaware Library Postcard Collection

New Castle County Hospital, and Delaware State Hospital for Insane - Postcard Front | Back (1907, color postcard). From The University of Delaware Library Postcard Collection. "...The University of Delaware Library Postcard Collection comprises over two thousand postcards of Delaware and nearby areas. The postcards in the collection date mainly from the very end of the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth, although there are also postcards from throughout the later part of the twentieth century. Most of the cards in the collection were commercially produced and represent well-known Delaware buildings, monuments, and views, such as the State Capitol in Dover, Wilmington’s downtown buildings and historic structures, and Rehoboth’s beaches and boardwalks. A number of the cards, though, document small town life in Delaware, including street scenes and domestic buildings. In addition to documenting the built landscape of Delaware as it existed during the last hundred years, some of these images may not exist in any other format."

I Can't Stand Myself

The Contortions... I Can't Stand Myself (Flash Video 04:17).

Los Angeles Examiner Collection

Narcotics Supplier for Juveniles, 1951 Narcotics Supplier for Juveniles, 1951 (Narcotics supplier for juveniles, June 27, 1951. Daniel Bravo - 21 years). From the Los Angeles Examiner Collection at the USC Digital Archive. "...The Los Angeles Examiner Collection consists of approximately 1.4 million prints and negatives from the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper. Almost every event and individual receiving news coverage in Los Angeles during the period late 1920's to 1961 is represented in the collection. Coverage is broad including crime, sports, society, art, and entertainment. The collection forms part of the Hearst Collection and was a gift from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Division of the Hearst Corporation in 1978."

Sputnik

Big Ray & The Futuras... Sputnik (.mp3 audio 03:16).

Monday, March 05, 2007

Fish Heads

Barnes & Barnes... Fish Heads (.mp3 audio 02:26).

Sam Durant: Scenes from the Pilgrim Story - Myths, Massacres and Monuments

Sam Durant: Scenes from the Pilgrim Story - Myths, Massacres and Monuments at Blum & Poe. "...The works in Scenes from the Pilgrim Story: Myths, Massacres and Monuments are addressed primarily to white, euro-ethnic Americans, although hopefully others will also find them of interest. The project’s central function is to put the mythology of the Pilgrim Story and the interests it serves into a comparative relationship with history. Works set this comparative stage in different ways; by underscoring particularly problematic aspects of the Story, by foregrounding aspects that are normally omitted from the Story, and by representing events as they were experienced and written about by those on other side of this history- namely Native Americans. Beginning with the English Pilgrim’s migration to Holland and subsequent journey to North America in 1620 the works examine the historical record as it’s been constructed by various institutions in and around the town of Plymouth, in particular the Plymouth Rock. Another focus is Indian-settler relations from the landing in New England in 1620 to King Philip’s War in 1675-76. Details of the individual works follow a brief outline of the historical narrative of the Pilgrim Story on which the project is based."

Aline Kominsky Crumb: Need More Love, Drawings & Other Works, 1971-2006

Heeb Aline Kominsky Crumb... Heeb (2006, cover, Collaboration with Robert Crumb, Ink and watercolor on paper). From the exhibition Aline Kominsky Crumb: Need More Love, Drawings & Other Works, 1971-2006 at Adam Baumgold Gallery. "...Since 1971, Crumb has been one of the seminal figures in American comics. She was one of the first contributors to the groundbreaking Wommen’s Comix, and,with Diane Noomin, founded the underground classic comic Twisted Sisters in 1976. She was one of the first artists to do autobiographical comics and develop the graphic novel form.
One of the comic drawings included in the exhibition is the three page story Nose Job, 1989, a typically densely packed and tightly rendered drawing that is filled with the artist’s painfully humorous, self deprecating observations about the advantages a nose job might bring to a teenager growing up 'Jewish' on Long Island in the mid 1960’s. As Crumb says 'Just think... I could‘ve ended up looking like Marlo Thomas instead of Danny, if only I’d had a nose job.'
Aline Kominsky Crumb has also been a longtime collaborator with her husband, famed cartoonist, Robert Crumb, on such comic classics as Dirty Laundry Comics, Weirdo magazine, where Ms. Crumb was also an editor, Self Loathing Comics, and their joint work for several years for The New Yorker."

Photographs by William D. Richardson

Photographs by William D. Richardson, March 7 - May 5, 2007 at Gitterman Gallery in New York, NY. "...Born in Jackson, Michigan in 1876, William Richardson was a chemist and had a passion for nature. Not surprisingly, he embraced photography as a medium of exploration and expression. Educated in Chicago, he served as chief chemist for Swift & Company, and built a rustic country residence in the nearby dunes of Indiana which is now the site of the Richardson Wildlife Sanctuary. His pictorialist photographs of nature were exhibited in numerous salons, from his local Camera Club in Chicago to international venues including London, Paris, and Tokyo. This exhibition presents a rare selection of his photographs of New York City, which he visited in the 1920s. The prints are 16 x 20 inches and printed on matte surface paper from the period."

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Infinity

Dub Is A Weapon... Infinity (.mp3 audio 05:33). From Dub Is A Weapon.

Crime Wave

Roland Alphonso & His Group... Crime Wave (1964, R&B 164 .mp3 audio 02:51).

Brian Oglesbee: Water Series I

Brian Oglesbee... Water Series I. "...The images in this gallery are from the Water Series, a group of over 100 images printed in silver, 20" x 24", signed and numbered in a limited edition of 15; 24" x 30", limited edition of 10; 30" x 40", in a limited edition of 5. All the images are printed from unretouched, unmanipulated large-format negatives. What you see is what the camera 'saw.'" From Brian Oglesbee Studio.

Works by Elena Baca

Elena Baca... Facet (2006, approx. 20 x 28). From Works by Elena Baca.

Miniature à transformations

Miniature à transformations Miniature à transformations. "...Miniature sur cuivre, portrait de jeune fille, dite « à transformation » par la juxtaposition de 16 micas (acc.) qui permettent de la coiffer ou de la déguiser. Dans son étui en cuir gaufré. XVIIe siècle 7 x 5,7 cm). From Folk Collection - Art Populaire - Objets de Curiosité. (fr)

Abelardo Morell: Camera Obscuras, 1991-2006

Abelardo Morell: Camera Obscuras, 1991-2006, March 3 - April 7, 2007 at Danziger Projects in New York, NY. "...For the last 15 years, Abelardo Morell has been quietly building one of the great ongoing photography projects - a view of the world through rooms that have been turned into camera obscuras. At once pictorial and conceptual, these pictures address issues of science, art, topography, landscape, and architecture. Surprisingly, this will be the first New York exhibition devoted exclusively to Morell's Camera Obscura series.
The initial idea for the work came out of Morell's demonstrations to his photography students at the Massachusetts College of Art in the mid-1980s where he turned his classroom into a Camera Obscura. The exercise was designed not only to elicit a sense of awe and wonder, but also to connect students to the precursive roots of the medium. It was not until 1991, however, that Morell decided to document the process on film, and he began by taking pictures in his own house in Brookline, Massachusetts. In order to capture the elusive projections, the exposures had to be about eight hours long, but the initial results charged Morell with possibilities. The play between the inside and outside world, the tension between the right way up and upside down, the surreal contrast of buildings and beds, trees and walls, formed a miraculous and original vision of a magical but still real world."

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Intensified '68 (Music Like Dirt)

Desmond Dekker & The Aces... Intensified '68 (Music Like Dirt) (.mp3 audio 02:44). Voted the number one song in the third Jamaican Festival contest, 1968. Produced by Leslie Kong.

Photographs from the Mütter Museum

Louise Chin & Ignacio Aronovich's Photographs from the Mütter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Still the best on the web.

Igor and Gleb Aleinikov - Five Films (1984-87)

Igor and Gleb Aleinikov - Five Films (1984-87). "...The Brothers Igor and Gleb Aleinikov belonged to the first generation of independent filmmakers in the Soviet Union, who no longer worked within the studio system, but founded the 'Parallel Cinema'. Their films, like Western experimental film in the 60s, deliberately refused to conform to professional standards, and were thus rejected not only officially, but also by many filmmakers. With its dismantling of socialist propaganda, Traktora (Tractors) is part of the reassessment of the past in found footage that took place in the 90s. The voiceover, which grows in intensity from objective description to individual obsession, highlights the emerging individualization of the gaze as opposed to the collective ideology. Knopka (The Button)is a cynical caricature of the apparatchik; it is no longer ideology, but only corruption and stupidity, that creates one catastrophe after the other. The apparatchiks had a lot of time to establish themselves firmly in the country's administrative bodies; and it will probably also take a lot of time for the last of them to disappear." New at UBUWEB.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Auction House Greisen, 28th Auction: Photography

Josef Bartuška... Brothers with a Ball (undated, silver print, 17 × 12 cm, stamped on the reverse, condition: good, provenance: collection in Prague, matted, Estimated value: 3000-5000 CZK, Put-up price: 1000 CZK). From Auction House Greisen, 28th Auction: Photography, March 10th, 2007 in Prague. Some incredible works.

Dress and Fashion: Design and Manufacture

Dress and Fashion: Design and Manufacture Dress and Fashion: Design and Manufacture at the NYPL Digital Gallery. "...Several rare and unusual published resources of interest to students of western dress and fashion from the 19th to the early 20th-century. Includes historical surveys as well as manufacturers' booklets and sample swatch catalogs."

Like Nothing Ever Heard

The Billy Nayer Show... Like Nothing Ever Heard (.mp3 audio 01:36). From the film The American Astronaut.

Young Man

Hardo Gei Razor Ramon HG... Young Man (.mp3 audio 04:20). Ouch! From Hard Gay.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

The Things They Left Behind: Photographs From Poland’s Lost Jews

New York Times... The Things They Left Behind: Photographs From Poland’s Lost Jews. "...They are exquisitely ordinary family snapshots: six young men and women on the beach, playfully arranged in a pyramid; a bourgeois family flaunting its Sabbath best of fur-lined topcoats and rakishly angled hats; a dark-haired Orthodox mother with an infant cradled in her arms and her five children, three barefoot, lined up stiffly in front of a tumbledown shack.
There are dozens of other photographs just as posed and stilted, and strangers scanning them might barely pause for a second glance — except for one fact. Almost all these Polish Jews, rich and poor alike, would be dead within a few years, massacred in the Nazi camps or ghettoes or consumed by the war. One woman in the beach pyramid, a caption says, perished in the Soviet Union, searching for her husband as they fled the Nazis." Also... And I Still See Their Faces: Images of Polish Jews at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance.

Winslow Martin: Armenia

Winslow Martin: Armenia (35 black & white photographs). "...Armenia is a mountainous land of strong, passionate people. In the early part of the Twentieth century Armenians suffered the devastation of genocide and deportations from their ancestral homeland. A global diaspora followed, sending Armenians to establish new communities wherever they went. Foremost amongst them was what became the Soviet Republic of Armenia, situated in the Caucuses, at the cultural and geographic divide between Europe and Asia.
Today, 15 years after the collapse of the USSR, Armenia is an independent, if troubled, nation. The weight of the past and hardships of the present cloud Armenia's future."

Cloud Nine

Carl Dawkins & The Wailers... Cloud Nine (1970 Trojan .mp3 audio 03:09, produced by Lee Perry). Inspired cover of the Temptations' song. Thank you DMc.