Impossible Love

Daniel Johnston... Impossible Love (.mp3 audio 02:56).

OZ Magazine Covers

OZ #18 - Fingerlickin' Good! (February 1969). From OZ Magazine Covers (UK, issues 1-48, 1967-73). Also... the full copy of OZ Magazine Issue 18 at OZ Trading.

Virtual Tour of Steve's Weird House

Virtual Tour of Steve's Weird House. "...Stephen resides in a Victorian home that is a cluttered combination of museum, library and art gallery, decorated with that old-world Addam's Family charm. Not only is every inch of every wall covered with art, but all the ceilings are also decorated."

3100 Gallon "Bright Beer" Tank

3100 Gallon "Bright Beer" Tank ("Bright beer" storage tank made by Dunck Tank Works of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, c. 1910 and used by the Stevens Point Brewery, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, c. 1915-1995). "...Made from oak around 1910, the tank was acquired by the Stevens Point Brewery of Stevens Point, Wisconsin soon after. For eighty years, this tank was the last stop in the brewing process before its contents filled bottles and kegs for public consumption."

I Vibrate (From My Head to My Feet)

Conway Twitty... I Vibrate (From My Head to My Feet) (.mp3 audio 01:55). From the It's Only Make Believe EP (1958, MGM X1623).

Colour Before Color

Colour Before Color - 1970's European Color Photography at Hasted Hunt Gallery. "...Martin Parr, the British photographer famous for color work that both relishes and skewers contemporary vulgarity, is ever so politely miffed that William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Joel Meyerowitz, and other Americans tend to get all the credit for introducing color to the black-and-white world of art photography in the seventies. To counter this notion, Parr has organized 'Colour Before Color,' a savvy, pointedly argumentative show at Hasted Hunt that rounds up six European photographers — Luigi Ghirri, Ed Van der Elsken, Carlos Pérez Siquier, Keld Helmer-Petersen, John Hinde, and Peter Mitchell — whose achievements in color have gone largely unnoticed."

Mikiko Hara: Blind Letter

Mikiko Hara... Untitled (1998, C Print, Edition of 10). From the exhibition Mikiko Hara: Blind Letter, June 6 – July 21, 2007 at Cohen Amador Gallery. "...Though stylized along the lines of the, now, well established snapshot aesthetic that arose after the second World War, Hara’s photographs remain contemporary and fresh. They simultaneously present the non-threatening surface of things while keenly alluding to the underlying tensions that exist just below these superficial realities, unnerving us and often unnerving the subjects in the photographs. Unlike the often humorous sentimental stylings of earlier snapshot masters, Hara lets her subjects’ body language and expressions speak as much as their surroundings. In one image, girls at the beach look surprisingly sullen considering their location. The sky and sand, both baize, come to frame the pastels of their garb and heighten the discomfort in their faces. They could be fearing an unsure future or just as easily frowning from the discomfort of their now wet clothes, or - as Hara would have us believe - both."

Rock This Town

Daniel Johnston... Rock This Town (QuickTime Video).

The 16-Page Splasher Manifesto

The 16-Page Splasher Manifesto. And... As Street Art Goes Commercial, a Resistance Raises a Real Stink (New York Times, June 28, 2007). "...The covert campaign targeting street art began about seven months ago, with blobs of paint that appeared overnight, obscuring murals and wheat-pasted art on walls in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Arcane messages were pasted at the sites, but it was difficult to ask for an explanation. The author was never identified."

QRX 2007

QRX 2007 - Quatro Rodas Experience at Lost Art. (br)

Stephen Gill: Billboards

Stephen Gill: Billboards. From Works by Stephen Gill.

The Desperate Bicycles Complete Anthology

The Desperate Bicycles... I Am Nine (.mp3 audio 03:37). From the album Remorse Code (1979, Refill Records #6). From The Desperate Bicycles Complete Anthology.

Picturing the New World: The Hand-Colored De Bry Engravings of 1590

Picturing the New World: The Hand-Colored De Bry Engravings of 1590. "...Theodore De Bry's engravings of North America provided many Europeans with their first glimpse of the New World. De Bry's illustrated edition of A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, containing engravings that were based on the watercolors of John White, was published in 1590. The images shown on this site are from a rare hand-colored edition of the book in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

Bloodshot Eyes (Calypso)

The Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians... Bloodshot Eyes (.mp3 audio 02:44). Previous versions of "Bloodshot Eyes" are Here, and Here. Also... Lord Lebby, lead singer of The Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians at Mento Music.

RIP: Bernd Becher

RIP: Bernd Becher. "...Bernd Becher, known with his wife, Hilla, for photographing relics of industry in the changing urban landscapes of late-20th-century Europe and the United States, died on Friday in Rostock, Germany. He was 75.
In 2004, the Bechers received a Hasselblad Award, one of the highest international honors in photography. The award citation called the couple 'among the most influential artists of our time,' noting that 'their systematic photography of functionalist architecture, often organizing their pictures in grids, brought them recognition as conceptual artists as well as photographers.'
The Hasselblad Foundation also said that as the founders of what became known as the Becher school, they influenced 'generations of documentary photographers and artists.'" A Portfolio of Works by Bernd and Hilla Becher at Masters of Photography.

Shepard Fairey: E Pluribus Venom

Shepard Fairey: E Pluribus Venom, June 23 - July 21, 2007 at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. "...E Pluribus Venom entails a two-fold metaphor: referring to the poison in the American system and the individuals who are motivated by venom and have anger towards this system.
The exhibition is comprised of artworks designed to scrutinize the dichotomy of symbols and methods associated with ideologies of the American Dream. Fairey’s artwork comments on underpinnings of the capitalist machine, critiquing those who support blind nationalism and war. Fairey addresses monolithic institutional authority, the role of counter culture, and independent individuals who question the cultural paradigm. Utilizing currency motifs and a Norman Rockwell aesthetic, Fairey employs the graphic language of the subjects they critique. Blending Art Nouveau, hippie, and revolutionary propaganda styles, he celebrates subjects advocating peace. His works blur the perceived barriers between propaganda and escapist decoration, political responsibility and humor with the intent of stimulating both viscerally and intellectually."

I'm Going To Have My Way (with The 5,6,7,8's)

Coffin Lids... I'm Going To Have My Way (with The 5,6,7,8's) (.mp3 audio 03:16).

Trespass

File Magazine... Trespass. "...Trespass is a selection of photographs of an abandoned car dealership by Vancouver photographer Heather S. Logan. Of the project, she says, 'Urban exploring, abandoned spaces, decaying infrastructure - these have always held a certain fascination for me. When presented with the opportunity to explore an abandoned car dealership, one which had been a fixture in my home town for most of my life, I jumped at it. An open fence, a broken door, a year's worth of decay and destruction, all captured during that magic hour before sunset. It's surprising how quickly nature starts to reclaim our urban spaces; vines crawling over anything stationary; grasses sprouting up through the smallest crack in the concrete. It's almost as surprising as how much beauty there can be in that decay.'"

Ruin-Japan Blog

Ruin-Japan Blog. (jp)

Behind Forgotten Eyes

Behind Forgotten Eyes - a film by Anthony Gilmore. "...Narrated by 'LOST's' Yunjin Kim, Behind Forgotten Eyes presents the stories of a few brave women who came forward and broke the silence protecting a past that some want to stay buried. What are these stories that were hidden for so long? Whilst Korea groaned under the harsh colonial rule of Imperial Japan, the Japanese military coerced, tricked, and forced the women of Korea into a brutal and systematic form of sexual slavery on an unimaginable scale. During colonial Japan's wars, the Japanese military procured more than 200,000 Korean girls and women to serve as sexual slaves. Forbidden to leave the rickety shacks hastily constructed near the front lines of Imperial Japan's aggressive wars, often with a blanket as the room's only 'furniture,' they were forced to have sex with some 30-40 men every day."

Carl Mydans: Photographs, 1935-1958

Carl Mydans: Photographs, 1935-1958 at Duke University Libraries. "...Carl Mydans began his photographic career with the Farm Security Administration in 1935, and was quickly hired away by Life magazine in 1936. Mydans photographed national stories until 1939, when Life sent Carl and his wife Shelley Smith Mydans to cover the war in Europe as the first husband and wife photo-journalist team. From Europe, the couple was re-assigned to the Pacific theater. In 1941 they were captured by Japanese forces in the Philippines and held as prisoners of war until 1943. Mydans returned to the war alone in 1944 to cover the Italian front, while his wife and partner remained behind in the United States. The bulk of this exhibit and of the library's Mydans collection focuses on his work as a war photographer."

Zig Zag Wanderer

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band... Zig Zag Wanderer (.mp3 audio 02:40). From the album Safe As Milk (1967, Buddah BDS 5001).

Peter Fischli and David Weiss: Equilibres

Peter Fischli and David Weiss... Ben Hur (1984-85, gelatin-silver print). From the exhibition Peter Fischli and David Weiss: Equilibres at Matthew Marks Gallery. "...The Equilibres photographs are images of household objects and studio detritus arranged to form tenuously-balanced assemblages, and it is from this moment of passing equilibrium that the series takes its name. The group includes both color and black & white photographs and takes as its subtitle the phrase, 'Balance is most beautiful just before it collapses.' To this end, the emphasis in these works is on the beautiful, playful, transitory arrangement of the objects in space, where chairs and brooms, cheesegraters and wine bottles are choreographed into moments of delicate suspension. The assemblages do not simply look temporary; once photographed, they were disassembled, and today these photographs are the only record of their existence."

Donna Ferrato: Works from the 70s and 80s

Donna Ferrato: Works from the 70s and 80s, May 25 - June 29, 2007 at Higher Pictures in New York. "...Higher Pictures presents the first New York solo gallery exhibition of American photographer Donna Ferrato. Focusing on pieces made between 1975-1989, the exhibition begins on the dance floor of San Francisco’s Manhole disco, travels to New York’s Plato’s Retreat, and finally delves into the domestic life of a wealthy New Jersey family and its cocaine fueled binges and dark dramas.
Ferrato's approach is powerful, personal and driven by her intuition. Once she gets behind closed doors, Ferrato captures a rare level of intimacy and a truely revealing photograph." Also... Love, Donna - photographs by Donna Ferrato at the digital journalist and Works by Donna Ferrato at her personal site.

X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours 7″

X Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours 7″ at Killed By Death Records. Yes!

David Lynch's Wacky Cigarette Ad

David Lynch's Wacky Cigarette Ad (Flash Video 00:59). Smoke'um if you got'um.

Niki in the Garden

Niki in the Garden - sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle, May 4 – October 31, 2007 in the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, IL. "...Featuring over 30 extraordinarily colorful and whimsical outdoor sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle, this spectacular exhibition will grace the breathtaking Garfield Park Conservatory inside and out. Bejeweled with mosaics, stones, glass, mirrors and semi-precious materials, the pieces displayed include animals, mythical figures, sports and music heroes, and of course, Nanas."

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth - Works from Ed "Big Daddy" Roth Studios at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. "...Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth did what he did best. He followed his heart & became a pied piper to loads of weird kids in the 60's that turned into weird adults in the 80's & 90's. Roth created "weirdo" characters for fun. People loved these drawings so Roth painted 'em on t-shirts. He became a grease-monkey Andy Warhol, employing incredible artists like Ed Newton & Robert Williams to do his art for him, which he signed and mass produced. Like Warhol, he fathered an art movement; lowbrow/pop-surrealism, quite similar in many ways to the pop-art movement."

Works by Linder Sterling

Works by Linder Sterling at Galerie LH in Paris. "...Artiste plasticienne et musicienne issue de la scène rock de Manchester, Linder Sterling alias Linder est connue pour son travail de collage et de photographie (notamment pour la pochette d’ «Orgasm Addict» des Buzzcoks , 1977 ou bien «Your Arsenal» de Morrissey, 1992) et pour ses performances (The Working Class Goes To Paradise) mêlant musique expérimentale et danse mystique." (fr). Also... Embracing Many Mediums to Focus on the Message (New York Times, June 21, 2007) - Linder at the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center.

Let's Elope Baby

Janis Martin... Let's Elope Baby (.mp3 audio 02:04). B-side to "Barefoot Baby" (1956, RCA VICTOR 47-6744). Chet Atkins on guitar.

Chipstone and Longridge Collections

Mark Catesby... Fruitex and Anguis Annulatus ('The Chain Snake,' 1731/1734, Engraving, Originally published as part of Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands). From the Chipstone and Longridge Collections at the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture at the University of Wisconsin.

Orange Blossom Special

The Rouse Brothers... Orange Blossom Special (.mp3 audio 02:49). The original version from 1939.

Kaitai shinsho

Johann Adam Kulmus... Kaitai shinsho (Tōbu [Edo]: Suharaya Ichibē shi, An'ei 3 [1774]). "...Kaitai shinsho is considered to be the first Western book published in Japan in the Japanese language. It was also a large step in the development of European medicine in Japan, mainly because it called into question the Chinese anatomical theories of Japan's kampō medicine.
While the majority of the woodcut illustrations are from Kulmus' work, a few are from different sources. The introductory illustration featuring Adam and Eve is taken from the title page of Juan Valverde de Amusco's Vivae imagines partium corporis humani, published by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp in 1572. The final four images showing the tendons of the hands and feet are taken from Govand Bidloo's Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams, published in Amsterdam in 1690." From Historical Anatomies on the Web at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Photographies de Coiffures (Tressages) Années 50-60

African Loxo... Photographies de Coiffures (Tressages) Années 50-60. (fr)

Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years

Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years at MoMA. "...One of the preeminent sculptors of our era, Richard Serra (American, b. 1939) has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work, which emphasizes materiality and an engagement between the viewer, the site, and the work. In the early 1960s, Serra and the Minimalist artists of his generation turned to unconventional, industrial materials and began to accentuate the physical properties of their art. Over the years, Serra has expanded his spatial and temporal approach to sculpture and has focused primarily on large-scale work, including many site-specific works that engage with a particular architectural, urban, or landscape setting."

Plastic Cameras, and Toying with Creativity

Lens Culture... Plastic Cameras, and Toying with Creativity - Holga photos by photographer, teacher and author Michelle Bates. "...Michelle Bates has been making serious (and fun) photographs with inexpensive plastic Holga cameras since 1991, when she discovered them at The Maine Photographic Workshops. Since then, she has become an expert and well-respected evangelist for Holgas and other "toy" cameras. She has just published a book, and now teaches workshops around the world, including an upcoming stint at the International Center for Photography (ICP) in New York City."

Works by Eugène Atget

Works by Eugène Atget at Zabriskie Gallery in New York. "...in 1898, Atget adopted Paris as his sole subject, sacrificing his established client base for the freedom to concentrate on his primary interest. His work flourished, and he cultivated new patrons by accepting commissions to document Old Paris for public institutions such as the Biblioteque Nationale and the Biblioteque Historique de la Ville de Paris. Despite his reluctance to be considered an artist, Atget found himself in the good favor of Man Ray and the Surrealists. Owing little to the photographer’s espoused goals, Atget’s work gradually came to be highly regarded for its eloquence as fine art."

Saturday Night

Billy Strange... Saturday Night (.mp3 audio 02:06). From the album Mr. Guitar (1964, GNP Crescendo GNP 97).

Summer Wine

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood... Summer Wine (.mp3 audio 03:06). From the album Nancy in London (1966, REPRISE RS-6221). Thank you, DMc.

Eugène Atget: Une rétrospective

Eugène Atget... Cabaret de L'Enfer, boulevard de Clichy (Tirage entre 1910 et 1912 d'après négatif de 1910, Série 'Paris pittoresque, 2e série,' Photographie positive sur papier albuminé, d'après négatif sur verre au gélatino-bromure). From the exhibition Eugène Atget: Une rétrospective at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. (fr)

Works by Domenico Zindato

Works by Domenico Zindato at Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York, NY. "...Zindato makes brilliantly colored pastel-and-pen works that freely combine figures with repetitive abstraction. For sheer joy, it's hard to beat Zindato's meticulously detailed drawings, which have recently leaped in size from rectangles of several inches to several feet. Zindato has managed the new scale beautifully, and it's now even easier to get lost in his work. The large pieces take three months of six-to-eight hour days to complete. His work boogies all over the wall and invites you to come along." Also... Trigger Vision - a recent project by Domenico Zindato.

Virginia Beahan: Cuba Now

Virginia Beahan: Cuba Now at Joseph Bellows Gallery. "...The exhibition will feature photographs from Beahan's series on the social and political landscape of Cuba, and will be on view from June 16 to August 31, 2007. Beahan became interested in Cuba in 1986 while visiting her father who was living in the Miami neighborhood known as 'Little Havana.' She was captivated by the brightly colored housed, the Latin music, and the vivacity of the community. Moved by stories neighbors told of their flights from Castro's Cuba and of families being torn apart, Beahan was equally struck by the anger, as well as the resilience, of those who suffered the effects of the 1959 Revolution."

Works by William Lamson

Works by William Lamson - photographs and video.

Like A Rolling Stone

Jimi Hendrix Experience... Like A Rolling Stone (.mp3 audio 06:48). Live at the Monterey International Pop Festival, JHE's U.S. debut, June 18, 1967 - 40 years ago tomorrow.

Larissa Bates: My Little War Mongers

Larissa Bates... Surprise Attack in Akkadian Fertility Garden (2007, acryla gouache, ink on gesso board). From My Little War Mongers, works by Larissa Bates, June 16 - July 14, 2007 at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. Also... more Works by Larissa Bates at her personal site.

Dance This Mess Around

The B-52's... Dance This Mess Around (.mp3 audio 04:37).

You Shall

Frank Stokes... You Shall (1927 .mp3 audio 02:44). Thank you, DMc.

A Summer Place: Photographs from the Apostle Islands

Hamilton Nelson Ross... Soldier's Rock (1907, one of a collection assembled by Hamilton Nelson Ross as research for his book, "La Pointe: Village Outpost"). From A Summer Place: Photographs from the Apostle Islands at the Wisconsin Historical Society. "...The Apostle Islands are the northernmost location in Wisconsin. Comprised of twenty-two islands, they are located just off the tip of the Bayfield Peninsula in the waters of western Lake Superior. Madeline Island is the largest of the islands and the only island with year-round residents. La Pointe, the only town on Madeline Island, is Wisconsin's oldest permanent settlement. The history of La Pointe is well documented in the book La Pointe: Village Outpost by Hamilton Nelson Ross."

Underwater Sculpture Gallery

Jason Taylor... Underwater Sculpture Gallery Video (QuickTime Video). From the Underwater Sculpture Gallery. "...The Underwater Sculpture Gallery in Grenada, West Indies is a project started in May 2006 by sculptor Jason Taylor, with the support of the Grenadian Ministry of Tourism and Culture. This is a unique artistic enterprise, celebrating Caribbean culture and highlighting environmental processes, such as coral reef re-generation."

Miranda

Adam West... Miranda (.mp3 audio 02:46). From the album Batmania - Songs Inspired by Batman TV Series. From Poptones.

Mirrors - Photographs from the Arkansas State Prison, 1915-1937

Mirrors - Photographs from the Arkansas State Prison, 1915-1937 ...found and printed by Bruce Jackson.

The Home Front - Manitowoc County in World War II

Ray Young... Loggerhead Battle Insignia (1944). "...Color print of the battle insignia for the submarine U.S.S. Loggerhead, a submarine built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in 1944. The design depicts an aggressively-swimming loggerhead turtle with a gun mounted on its back, two torpedoes in its flippers, and a sailor's cap on its head. The original insignia was created as an air brush drawing by Ray Young, a Manitowoc artist who was employed as a designer at the company. Altogether Young created the battle insignia emblems for the last ten of twenty-eight submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company during World War II." From The Home Front - Manitowoc County in World War II.

Brown’s Ferry Blues

The Louvin Brothers... Brown’s Ferry Blues (.mp3 audio 02:54). From the album A Tribute to the Delmore Brothers (1960, Capitol T-1479). From Honey, Where You Been So Long? - pre-war blues.

The Wind That Swept Mexico: The Photographic History of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1942

The Wind That Swept Mexico: The Photographic History of the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1942 (text Anita Brenner; 184 historical photographs assembled by George R. Leighton). "...This book, originally published in hardback by Harper & Brothers in 1943, is once again available, in a 1971 paperback edition from the University of Texas Press. The book is divided in two: Brenner's essay in four sections comes first, but is not included in this on-line reproduction. What is available here is the photographic section of the book: 184 images covering the history of the revolution, each with a caption drawn from Brenner's essay. The photos represent the work of a variety of photographers, assembled by Leighton. His brief essay on the role of photography in documenting the revolution is also included here, as well as the chronology, and credits for photographers where names were known. These images were scanned from the original 1943 edition."

Style Wars

Style Wars - a film by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant (1983, Public Art Films, Inc., 1 hours, 09 minutes, Color). "...The film chronicles an extraordinary epoch of youthful creativity and civic controversy. Teenage graffiti artists made New York City's ramshackle subway system their public playground, battleground, and spectacular artist canvas. Opposing them were Mayor Ed Koch, the police, and the Transit Authority. As MC's and DJs rocked the city with new sounds, street corner B-boy breakdance battles became performance art. The phrase 'New York 1982' (the superimposed title that starts the film) has itself become a code for a legendary time of heroic teenage exploits, a touchstone for successive generations of youth worldwide, many of whom can recite the film's dialogue by heart."

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (Main Theme)

Mo Ho Baroque Ensemble... Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (Main Theme) (.mp3 audio 02:26). From the official soundtrack of Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan geumjassi, 2005, directed by Chan-wook Park).

Gary Lee Boas

Gary Lee Boas at Galerie Edward Mitterrand. "...Once you've started following celebrities , it's difficult to stop, there's always a new batch to chase with all new residual glitter, and your appetite becomes histerical with each generation. It's an addiction to to be around celebrities, they perform for the camera and come alive at the moment a fan says 'I love you.' These people adore being stars as much as we love watching them do so. Adding to their allure, celebrities provide imaginary friends for their fans. 'Don't tell anyone, but a new hairstyle (even if it's just a wig) for Cher can brighten my whole day.'"

Russell Lee: American Mining Communities

Russell Lee: American Mining Communities. "...Russell Lee is probably best known for his work with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) programme in the USA during the 1930s. Along with Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein and others, Lee took photographs that were to encapsulate the hard times of the depression years.
In the 1940s, the Department of Interior commissioned a report on Health & Safety in the mines and Russell Lee was employed to illustrate the 'cold statistics.' As Lee himself has said, 'The work was extensive rather than intensive. We travelled awfully fast... we’d go into a mining camp and we’d be there maybe two or three hours and I had to get some pictures of what was happening and get into the houses and look around and get all these shots. Lee as always, worked hard, as his associate on the project writer Allan Sherman, remembers, He was one of the hardest working men I ever knew. Russell Lee has a great talent for establishing rapport very quickly with people. People simply trust him, and before you know it he is taking pictures which no-one else could possibly have gotten.'"

Funky Czech-In

Funky Czech-In - An introduction to Czech and Slovak pop music from the sixties, seventies and eighties with a touch of funk, soul, disco and jazz.

Guise: Suite of Nineteen Prints

Deborah Oropallo... Red Coat (2007, Pigment print on Hahnemuhle 310g paper, Edition of 10). From Guise: Suite of Nineteen Prints by Deborah Oropallo at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA.

Poiret: King of Fashion

Poiret: King of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "...In the annals of fashion history, Paul Poiret (1879–1944), who called himself the "King of Fashion," is best remembered for freeing women from corsets and further liberating them through pantaloons. However, it was Poiret’s remarkable innovations in the cut and construction of clothing, made all the more remarkable by the fact that he could not sew, that secured his legacy. Working the fabric directly onto the body, Poiret helped to pioneer a radical approach to dressmaking that relied more on the skills of drapery than on those of tailoring."

Skullphone

Skullphone. Works by Skullphone.

Les univers de Bloc

Les univers de Bloc. "...Les univers finis de BLOC se déroulent sur un fil infini qui parcourt les pays colorés ou sombres de tous les milieux de la société mis en valeur ou critiqués avec brio.
Au premier regard on sait en quel patelin on se trouve: ensuite, l’œil part dans toutes les directions, il nous entraîne dans une visite endiablée tant il y a de sujets à découvrir.
On s'en va alors pour un long et beau voyage, on sait aussi qu’on n’est pas près d’arriver au terminus (d’ailleurs, y a-t-il un terminus?) et qu’il ne sera pas question de descendre en marche.
Et si on a oublié le lait sur le feu, peu importe, le tableau admiré prime et le lait n’a qu’à chauffer lentement." (be)

Good Old Mountain Dew

Stringbean... Good Old Mountain Dew (.mp3 audio 01:52).

Easy Rider

Leadbelly... Easy Rider (1940, .mp3 audio 03:12).

One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This

John Waters introduces the Hellfire Club, 28 9th Ave, New York (.mp3 audio 02:19). From One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This at Creativetime. "...marking NYC’s creative history by installing plaques at 33 sites that inspired us over the past three decades. Who cares where Eleanor Roosevelt slept? This is where Gordon Matta-Clark opened his SoHo Restaurant FOOD; where there was a sandy beach in Manhattan for 7 years; and where the Mudd Club once ruled the night! The sites were chosen by a range of artists and writers who have made a mark on NY themselves." Also... New York in the 70s: A Remembrance - photographs by Allan Tannenbaum at the Digital Journalist.

Shi Jinsong

Shi Jinsong... Na Zha's Walker (2005, stainless steel, 54 x 59 x 66 cm) at the Saatchi Gallery. "...Shi Jinsong has branded his stainless steel baby product line Na Zha, a child warrior deity of Chinese folklore celebrated for his bravery and strategy in the battlefield. Befitting its title, this sculptural series consists of a cradle, a carriage, a walker, a toy, needle-tipped pacifiers and pieces of abacus, all outfitted with deadly weapons inside out and evokes the image of Swiss army knives. Also...
Works by Shi Jinsong at Chambers Fine Art in New York, NY.

Jean-Michel Fauquet: Kaïros

Jean-Michel Fauquet: Kaïros at Haim Chanin Fine Art. "...Kaïros, an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment defines a vertical time, a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens, by opposition to chronos, a chronological, horizontal time, with a predictable beginning and end. It is those vertical times that Jean-Michel Fauquet captures in his new exhibition by melding together sculpture, photography and painting into the most fascinating and poetic images.
To create these images, Fauquet first builds imaginary objects and scenes out of cardboard. Once assembled, painted and staged, those objects are photographed one by one. Each print is then painted and waxed, coming out like dark tanned leather, where the light seems imprisoned, manipulated in order to create each time a different scene, a different moment. About his intriguing objects/photos/paintings, Fauquet says: 'They are telluric objects, chaoses, accumulations, in fact, they are scandals. Etymologically, a scandal is something that blocks our route, and to invoke it is a way of neutralizing it.' And those cathartic scandals are brought to the viewer like unsettling shadows and ghosts, at once utterly foreign and strangely familiar, suspended in a time impossible to define, for a use lost to the past or yet to invent."

The Cool and Strange Music Magazine's Thrift Store Compilation

Rudy Burkhalter... Cheeseday in Monroe (.mp3 audio 01:39, 1972, From the 45 single: Sounds of Wisconsin J- 6774). From The Cool and Strange Music Magazine's Thrift Store Compilation by Otis Fodder and Dana Countryman. "...From the years 1996-2003 I published a magazine called COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC MAGAZINE. We concentrated on featuring oddball musicians, from over the past 6 decades. A record label approached me with the idea of compiling a CD compilation that would feature obscure artists, doing mostly original songs that (hopefully) would have never been copyrighted.
Otis Fodder hosted a weekly internet radio show at that time, called FRIENDLY PERSUASION, also specializing in unusual and crazy music. We worked up a partnership, where the magazine sponsored the show, with regular advertising in the magazine and on our web page. Otis was the perfect guy to compile this "Thrift Shop Music Compilation" with, so we paired up, to co-produce it. The idea was that it would feature only obscure artists, whose work you might (only) find in your neighborhood thrift store."

Also... Green County Cheese Days in Monroe, WI.

Mario Giacomelli and Herbert List: Italy

Mario Giacomelli and Herbert List: Italy at Stephen Daiter Gallery. "...Stephen Daiter Gallery presents the work of two photographers who interpreted Italy in the years following World War II. The exhibition contains both literal and metaphoric images from the classically austere compositions of the Munich-born, multi-lingual international traveler, Herbert List (1903–1975) — to those of the less worldly Mario Giacomelli (1925-2000) whose raw descriptions of his native country sometimes border on 1950s American abstract expressionist painting."

The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors

The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors, June 5–September 9, 2007 at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. "...approximately 65 rugs that span the end of the 18th through the mid-20th centuries, including several monumental masterworks, such as the museum’s stunning 13-foot Appliquéd Carpet (c. 1860) and the magnificent Embroidered Carpet (1832–35) by Zeruah H. Guernsey Caswell from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Also... When Home Was Where the Art Was by Roberta Smith (New York Times, June 8, 2007).

RIP: Oswald Tschirtner

RIP: Oswald Tschirtner. "...Oswald Tschirtner fought in the German army during the Second World War, and was institutionalised in 1946. A member of the Haus der Künstler in Gugging, Austria, he was encouraged to begin drawing by the hospital’s psychiatrist, Dr Leo Navratil. Tschirtner worked only after suggestion or encouragement, but from the outset his works have always been different from those of other residents. Using pen and ink, Tschirtner relied on a stark, highly controlled linear style to create repeated motifs." View works by Oswald Tschirtner at Haus der Künstler Gugging and Koelsch Gallery.

Žižkov Television Tower

Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, featuring crawling babies sculptures by Czech artist David Černý. From the tower's official site. Also... More of the Babies and other Works by David Černý.

Betelnut Beauties

Betelnut Beauties at Flickr. "...Betelnut girls (Binlang Xi Shi) are a unique part of Taiwan culture. They sit in brightly-decorated glass booths wearing skimpy outfits, and sell cigarettes, drinks and betelnut to passing drivers. It’s a controversial trade but not actually illegal. The question of whether the girls are exploited is open to debate – certainly their own perception is mostly that they are doing a job like any other, and the less they choose to wear, the more they sell."

Eniac Martínez: Camino Real de Tierra adentro

Eniac Martínez: Camino Real de Tierra adentro at Zone Zero (50 b&w photographs). "...El Camino Real started as a fragile footpath four centuries ago. Spanish explorers etched it deeper during their expeditions northward to claim land and riches for the King or Spain. Thousands of migrants, miners, missionaries, and merchants traveled this very road throughout time. The trail that began as a scratch in the earth is now a bustling highway with cars zipping by and planes flying overhead."

Carlos Aires: A Day Without Sunshine Is Like Night

Carlos Aires: A Day Without Sunshine Is Like Night at Aeroplastics Contemporary in Brussels, Belgium. "...Another monument, one consisting of huge knives (so these objects do exist outside horror films?), on which images cut from archive photographs are engraved, while the empty matrix faces them. What is the meaning of a character suspended in space, if he cannot be placed in the context of a fatal fall? Of a child waving a flag, if he is removed from the Nazi parade he is taking part in? Of a person kneeling, if the crematorium oven over which he is leaning has disappeared? Once again, Carlos Aires plays with what you can see, what you cannot see and what is suggested. The same principle applied to pop culture produces vinyl records (preferably 'love and dance' music) cut out using a digital process to adopt shapes drawn from mages of disasters or pornography."

Ezra Stoller: Buildings of New York

Ezra Stoller: Buildings of New York, June 6 – July 15, 2007 at Danziger Projects in New York. "...Buildings of New York presents a selection of 20 photographs by the renowned architectural photographer Ezra Stoller - all taken in the city he was drawn to both personally and professionally. From the rectangular lines of Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building to the swoops and curves of Saarinen's TWA Terminal, New York was to Stoller the epicenter of modernism and thus his greatest inspiration.

My Daddy Was A Miner

My Daddy Was A Miner - Photographs of Appalachian miners and their communities by Builder Levy.

A Dozen French Revolutionary Songs

A Dozen French Revolutionary Songs. "...Every revolution has its own songs. In France, the birthplace of revolution, the tradition of protest songs has been strongly developed. La Carmagnole, the song of the French Revolution (composed in 1792), emerged at every successive revolution or uprising, with a slight adaptation of the names of villains, heroes, and historic circumstances. Like the Marseillaise and the Internationale, La Carmagnole has become a classic.
Among the many cabarets and honky tonks in Paris, some were decidedly left wing. The 'groupe des poètes et chansonniers révolutionnaires La Muse Rouge' was founded by socialists and anarchists in 1901, and lasted until 1939. This company had a repertoire of classical and self-composed songs that they brought to trade union festivals cooperations, and similar events. The composer and singer Charles d'Avray (1878-1960) completely exemplified an anarchist bard. He had his own cabaret in Monmartre and wandered through the country dressed in a black cape and a flamboyant hat to sing his protest songs and praises for free love."

Not Dark Yet

Ken Rosenthal... Untitled #ch-11/12 (2002, Split toned silver gelatin print, Edition: 25). From the portfolio Not Dark Yet by Ken Rosenthal at Meter Gallery.

D*Face

D*Face... Back Alley Pop Tart. From D*Face in London.

Recent Acquisitions (And Some Thoughts on the Current Art Market)

Paula Modersohn-Becker... Still Life with Pitcher, Peonies and Oranges (May-June 1906, Oil on cardboard). From the exhibiton Recent Acquisitions (And Some Thoughts on the Current Art Market), June 5 - September 28, 2007 at Galerie St. Etienne in New York, NY.

Evanion Collection of Ephemera

Advertisement for Maurice Palmer, Photographer. "...Richard Beard opened England's first commercial photographic portrait studio on the roof of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in Regent Street, London in 1841. However, it was not until the early 1850s, when his patent to the Daguerreotype process expired and Scott Archer introduced a more sensitive wet collodion process, that other photographers were free to set up commercial studios using any method. Success in this venture depended as much on the photographer's ability to attract sufficient custom as his skill in operating the photographic equipment.
In London the number of studios rapidly grew along the main commercial and retail streets - particularly the West End, The City and Westminster. Competition greatly reduced the cost of portraiture. This advertisement of 1870, features one of Maurice Palmer's 'Cabinet portraits'. These large photographs had been popular from the mid 1860s, and usually featured one sitter or a small group." From the Evanion Collection of Ephemera at the British Library. "...Over 1,800 adverts and posters from Victorian daily life, collected by the stage magician and ventriloquist, Henry Evans."

Robin Rhode: Selected Works

Robin Rhode: Selected Works at Perry Rubenstein Gallery in New York, NY. "...For this exhibition, Rhode will combine elements of performance, photography, film, drawing, and sculpture in a unique expansion of his inimitable artistic vocabulary, further proving his unique ability to create narratives with the most basic and accessible materials. Here, Rhode will present four new photographic works that advance key thematic elements such as racism and identity. Particularly unique to this exhibition, Rhode investigates the variable presentation of his photographs, culminating with the unique sculptural installation Table of Contents."

Crescent Moon

The Cowboy Junkies... Crescent Moon (.mp3 audio 05:02).

Michael Wolf: 100 x 100

Michael Wolf: 100 x 100. "...photographs of residents in their flats in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate: 100 rooms, each 100 square feet in size."

Oudry's Painted Menagerie

Oudry's Painted Menagerie at the J. Paul Getty Museum. "...This exhibition is the result of an international collaboration of conservators, curators, and art historians. The project was born in Schwerin, Germany, in 2001, upon the reemergence of two enormous canvases by French artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755) - one depicting a lion, the other a rhinoceros. These paintings, not seen in public for more than 150 years, have been treated in the Getty Museum's Conservation Department over the past several years. Oudry's Painted Menagerie reunites them with a suite of other life-size portraits of exotic animals painted by Oudry and presents a selection of Oudry's drawings as well as contemporary decorative arts."

Photos d'Andy Warhol

Claude Azoulay... Bad Andy (Festival américain de Deauville – 1977). From Photos d'Andy Warhol by Claude Azoulay at Galerie W. in Paris.

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination

Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination at the Peabody Essex Museum. "...American artist Joseph Cornell (1903–1972) has been celebrated internationally for his boxes, collages, and films since the 1930s. His mining of far-flung ideas and traditions and elegant integration of woodworking, painting, papering, and drawing define the innovation and visual poetry associated with his work. Above all, he forever altered the concept of the box—from a time-honored functional container into a new art form, the box construction.
Although Cornell’s exploration of art, culture, and science was highly personal, even spiritual, his goal as an artist was to inspire others to pursue uplifting voyages into the imagination. This exhibition is organized thematically to suggest his understanding of the imagination as an echo chamber where possibilities and connections can be discovered through subtle repetition and variation. Each thematic section mingles the series, media, and time frames in which he worked."