Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Trailer for Stranded

Trailer (QuickTime Video) for Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (2008, Zeitgeist Films, directed by Gonzalo Arijon).

Lee Friedlander: New Mexico

Lee Friedlander: New Mexico at Andrew Smith Gallery. "...The exhibit features photographs taken in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Gallup, Chimayo, and Diablo Canyon between 1995 and 2005. Friedlander's fondness for urban and wilderness areas in disarray is evident in this plethora of scenes that will be familiar to any New Mexico resident. Scraggly back yards, sun baked streets studded with poles and signs, makeshift hovelsand historic buildings, juniper dotted hillsides, and ubiquitous pickup trucks are all packed together in a befuddling mixture of order and chaos, warmth and alienation, freedom and restraint, nature and commercialism. 'The same nosy, curious eye is at work, poking through thickets and chain link fences, playing its usual Cubist game of figure and ground.'"

Story Come To Bump

Story Come To Bump Prince Jazzbo... Story Come To Bump (.mp3 audio 03:12). From the album Ital Corner (1976, Clocktower Records, produced by Lee Perry). PJ cuts loose over Perry's "Long Long Time" rhythm.

Monday, September 29, 2008

If You Were Mine

Honey Boy Martin... If You Were Mine (.mp3 audio 02:56). Cover of the Ray Charles song, produced by Clancy Eccles.

The MacKinney Collection of Medieval Medical Illustrations

L’estampe japonaise - Images d’un monde éphémère

Hokusai... Série dite des Grandes Fleurs Volubilis et rainette (10 planches, vers 1830-1834). From the exhibition L’estampe japonaise - Images d’un monde éphémère at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. (fr)

Elephants We Must Never Forget: New Paintings Drawings and Prints by Sue Coe

Sue Coe... Blind Children Feel an Elephant (2008, Oil on canvas, Signed and dated, lower right, and titled, lower left). From the exhibition Elephants We Must Never Forget: New Paintings Drawings and Prints by Sue Coe, October 14 - December 20, 2008 at Galerie St. Etienne in New York, NY. "...Mystery and ambiguity lie at the heart of all great art. It is not, in the end, what we know about the elephants that gives Coe's latest paintings their haunting power, but what we can never know about these grand but alien creatures. Nonetheless, the paintings reflect Coe's belief that we humans have a community of interest with the elephants and that we and they share a common fate. Indeed, our very survival as a species may depend on recognizing our interconnectedness with all living beings, and abandoning our attempts to coerce nature into compliance with our whims." Also... Footage of Topsy (Flash Video 00:24) being electrocuted in 1903.

Stereoviews of the French Second Empire, ca. 1855-1870

Stereoviews of the French Second Empire, ca. 1855-1870. "...From 1848-1870 the French government was headed by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, first as President of the Republic and then as the Emperor Napoleon III. To the astonishment of many (and to the dismay of some) he succeeded in reestablishing the political system of his uncle, the first Napoleon. During this period, known as the Second Empire, there were many changes in France and in French society. Some of these, particularly the more concrete examples, are documented in the stereoviews produced during that time. The rebuilding of Paris is one of the major projects mirrored in these images."

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

You

You
Au Pairs... You (1979, 021 Records OTO 2, .mp3 audio 02:50).

Works by Esther Pearl Watson

Esther Pearl Watson... Clothes from the Future (acrylic on panel, 8" X 10"). From Works by Esther Pearl Watson. Angels and UFOs.

Wanda Jackson: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice

Wanda Jackson: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice - a film by Joanne Fish and Vincent Kralyevich. WJ is once more a nominee for the rock and roll hall of fame. Here's hoping she finally gets voted in.

Kattia García: The Wedding

Kattia García: The Wedding - 15 b/w photographs at Zone Zero. "...In Cuba, the fifteen-year birthday parties (the equivalent of the sweet sixteen party in the USA) and the weddings often are lavish. Projecting an image of high social and economic status seems more important than the sheer joy of a celebration in the company of friends and loved ones. These events imitate a lifestyle dictated by mass media that is well off the household’s means. Evidently, the cultural level, motivations and aspirations of the protagonists also play an important part."

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Goin' To The Hop

Polk Brothers... Goin' To The Hop (1959, FLAG F-117 .mp3 audio 02:09).

Nan Goldin: l'heure magique

Nan Goldin... Nikki flying, NYC (2007, Cibachrome marouflé sur dibond). From the exhibition Nan Goldin: l'heure magique (The Magic Hour) at Galerie Guy Bärtschi in Geneva.

Pat Service: Valleys

Pat Service: Valleys at Diane Farris Gallery in Vancouver. "...Valleys is a series of colourful, pastoral paintings of the Fraser Valley, Okanagan Valley and Nicola River Valley. With deft and confident brushwork, Service captures the panoramic expanses of farmland, the vast skies and strong contrasts of light and dark between mountains and meadows."

Olivier Blanckart: MoMA Don’t Preach

Olivier Blanckart: MoMA Don’t Preach at P.P.O.W. "...Blanckart, born in Belgium, creates life sized figures of pop idols and high culture icons, referencing well-known photographs. They are made from diverted packaging and retail shop materials: adhesive tape, cardboard, Kraft paper. Through these basic materials he constructs figures with exaggerated characteristics, making revelations about their personas and what they represent."

Monday, September 22, 2008

Design To Kill

The Contortions... Design To Kill (.mp3 audio 02:48). From the album Buy (1979, Ze Records).

Works by Josef Breitenbach

Night, Paris Josef Breitenbach... Night, Paris (Edith Schultze-Westrum (c. 1935, Vintage gelatin silver print collage). From an exhibition of Works by Josef Breitenbach at Gitterman Gallery in New York, NY. "...This exhibition will highlight Josef Breitenbach’s avant-garde work from the 1930s and 40s. His use of vibrant color as an expressive tool sets him apart from his contemporaries and earns him a place in the history of art of this period. Breitenbach colored elements of his photographs using complex processes of bleaching, toning and pigment printing. He shared a similar visual vocabulary with the Surrealists, employing techniques such as montage, solarization, the photogram and superimpression."

Wayne F. Miller: 1940's

Wayne F. Miller: 1940's at Higher Pictures.

Namio Harukawa - Callipyge and Ecstasy Under Her

Namio Harukawa: Callipyge. New from United Dead Artists. (fr) See also the exhibition... Namio Harukawa: Ecstasy Under Her at the Museum of Female Domination Art.

Světová grafická avantgarda V

Světová grafická avantgarda V - World Graphic Avantgarde V at Art Gallery, Svetlana & Lubos Jelinek. (cz)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Photographs

Michael and Christopher with American Flag Ralph Eugene Meatyard... Michael and Christopher with American Flag (1960, Gelatin silver print, printed 2001 by Christopher Meatyard). From Photographs - Including Photographs from the Collection of Lisa Lyon at Phillips de Pury & Company in New York.

Picturing the Beltline: Recent Photographs by Meryl Truett

Meryl Truett... Ice Cream Nails (ultrachrome ink on watercolor paper). From the exhibition Picturing the Beltline: Recent Photographs by Meryl Truett at Barbara Archer Gallery in Atlanta, GA. "...With an eye for the subtle beauty of abandoned places, photographer Meryl Truett documents the BeltLine, a loop of tracks that encircled Atlanta in its early years. Truett captures what remains of this important landmark, now slated for re-development, while contemplating the intersection of nature, community and the city."

Bruce Wrighton: Through an Open Window

Bruce Wrighton: Through an Open Window at Laurence Miller Gallery in New York, NY. "...the first comprehensive overview of Wrighton’s important yet relatively unknown career as a documentary photographer. This exhibition features fifty color photographs selected from three projects made in the mid-1980's with an 8 x 10" camera in the vicinity of his home in Binghamton, New York: Street Portraits, Dinosaurs and Dreamboats, and St. George and the Dragon."

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Fade Away

Fade Away New Age Steppers... Fade Away (1980, On-U Sound ON-U S 01 .mp3 audio 05:33). Produced by Adrian Sherwood. Cover of the Junior Byles song.

Censorship!

Gerd Arntz... Het derde rijk (The Third Reich, 1936). "...In this cartoon Nazis are depicted as capitalists, with Hitler on top. The cartoon became famous. Under German pressure an enlarged version of it was removed from the exhibition 'De Olympiade onder Dictatuur' [The Olympiad under dictatorship] in 1936 in Amsterdam." From the exhibition Censorship! at the IISG. More works by Gerd Arntz at the Gerd Arntz Web Archive.

Interview with Yoshihiko Matsui

Interview with Yoshihiko Matsui at Midnight Eye. "...From his 8mm debut Rusty Empty Can in 1979, Yoshihiko Matsui emerged as one of the towering figures of the 80s jishu eiga underground scene, alongside other familiar names including his early collaborator Sogo Ishii. His masterpiece cult movie The Noisy Requiem (Tsuito no Zawameki) is an epic 3-hour trawl through the daily lives and sexual peccadilloes of the misfits and outcasts who inhabit Osaka's Kamagasaki district. Described by its new DVD distributor as "a soulful hardcore fantasy", it was one of the most talked about titles of its day. And then its director disappeared from audience view for almost a quarter of a century. Now he's back with a new film entitled Where Are We Going? (Doko ni Iku no?), which candidly and un-sensationalistically portrays a burgeoning romance between a transsexual bar hostess and a gay shop assistant."

Guido Castagnoli: Provincial Japan

Guido Castagnoli: Provincial Japan. Photographs by Guido Castagnoli at Sasha Wolf Gallery in New York.

Marlene Dumas: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Marlene Dumas... Blue Movie (2008, oil on canvas). From the exhibition Marlene Dumas: For Whom the Bell Tolls at Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp. Additional Works at Zeno X Storage.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Hot Rod Lincoln

Hot Rod Lincoln Charlie Ryan and the Timberline Riders... Hot Rod Lincoln (1959, 4 Star 1733x45 .mp3 audio 02:33). Posting this because I saw Bill Kirchen last night.

Gabrielle de Montmollin: Elle était si belle

Gabrielle de Montmollin: Elle était si belle - a new series by one of our favourite photographers.

Michael Kenna: New York City and Mont St. Michel

Michael Kenna: New York City and Mont St. Michel at Joseph Bellows Gallery in La Jolla, CA. "...Few places have been photographed as frequently as New York City. Journalists and tourists, amateurs and master photographers have often rendered the city as it is, a bustling, frenetic, energizing metropolis. New York is "the city that never sleeps." However, Kenna's exquisite black and white photographs capture a calm, restful, and strangely tranquil New York. Iconic structures such as the Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge rise above the city like quiet, sleeping giants. "Homage to Kertesz" reveals a snowy Gramercy Park garden to be vacant and silent. Kenna's formal, restrained compositions establish visual order in an otherwise chaotic environment, while his often dramatic perspectives and high contrast describe the energy, tension, and mystery characteristic of New York City."

Works by Jason Jägel

Works by Jason Jägel at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.

Films by Stan VanDerBeek

Films by Stan VanDerBeek at UBUWEB Film. "...A pioneer in the development of experimental film and live-action animation techniques, Stan VanDerBeek achieved widespread recognition in the American avant-garde cinema. An advocate of the application of a utopian fusion of art and technology, he began making films in 1955. In the 1960s, he produced theatrical, multimedia pieces and computer animation, often working in collaboration with Bell Telephone Laboratories. In the 1970s, he constructed a 'Movie Drome' in Stony Point, New York, which was an audiovisual laboratory for the projection of film, dance, magic theater, sound and other visual effects. His multimedia experiments included movie murals, projection systems, planetarium events and the exploration of early computer graphics and image-processing systems."

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile

Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile PingMag... Space Invader: The World Shall Be My Mosaic Tile by Aroldo Cardoso Jr. "...French artist Space Invader, or simply Invader, loves vintage video games so much that he uses their famous characters as motifs — for the mosaic tiles he puts up in the streets. Tiles? ...an interesting twist in street art, we dare to say. Especially since he has been physically mapping the world’s cities with his pixelated art for nearly the last ten years or so. But wait! When he starts deconstructing the good old Rubik’s cubes for his artworks."

Faith47

Faith47 - graffiti and more from South Africa.

Viktor Akhlomov, Retrospective Exhibition

Viktor Akhlomov, Retrospective Exhibition at the Moscow House of Photography.

O My Soul

Big Star... O My Soul (.mp3 audio 05:35). From the album Radio City (1974, Ardent 2806).

Monday, September 08, 2008

Camille Rose Garcia: Ambien Somnambulants

Little Purple Pill Popper Camille Rose Garcia... Little Purple Pill Popper (Acrylic, Silver Leaf and Glitter on Wood Panel). From the exhibition Camille Rose Garcia: Ambien Somnambulants at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. "...In Ambien Somnambulants, tragic sleepwalkers wander along beautifully bleak post-apocalyptic dreamscapes, inspiring dissent from a dire dystopia. Garcia’s stunningly subversive images expand upon her signature style of elaborate socio-political narratives, hidden beneath layers of fairy-tale charm. The artist creates human and animal characters, influenced by a vintage animation aesthetic, which aid in her epic visual storytelling, rendered in a palette of psychedelic color, glitter, and glazed-over collaged wallpaper. Her use of bright color serves as a visual distraction from painful realities, while her use of silver leaf as a decorative element, references an age of abundance and opulence, slightly tarnished to represent the twilight years of our civilization."

Phyllis Galembo: Masquerade, a Decade

Phyllis Galembo: Masquerade, a Decade at Steven Kasher Gallery in New York, NY. "...Since 1997 Galembo has been photographing masked revelers in ritual performances. The exhibition will include 18 color prints, and will feature Galembo’s full-size prints, at 60 x 60 inches. This is the first exhibition of Phyllis Galembo’s full-scale photographic prints in an art gallery context."

Florian Bohm: Wait for Walk

Florian Bohm: Wait for Walk at Cohen Amador Gallery. "...Born into the tradition of post-war German photography, Bohm tenaciously grasps the objective formalizing methodologies of his predecessors and reworks their techniques through the socially engaged photographic styles of the conceptual, American, post-modern epoch. In the series, Bohm's temerity manifests itself in photographs of New Yorkers literally waiting for the walk signal to cross the street. A process of such banality, it casually escapes the attention of those waiting."

I Against I

Bad Brains... I Against I (.mp3 audio 02:53). From the EP The Omega Sessions (1997, Victory Records).

Jah Love

Bad Brains... Jah Love (.mp3 audio 04:49). From the album I & I Survived (Dub) (2002, Reggae Lounge).

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Going Wrong

The Apple-Glass Cyndrom... Going Wrong (1969, Column 691, produced by Norman Petty .mp3 audio 03:08).

Works by Michael Hernandez de Luna

Michael Hernandez de Luna... X-Men (1998, Perforated Digital Print and Envelope with Machine Cancellation). From Works by Michael Hernandez de Luna at Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...Michael Hernandez de Luna uses the largely inept mechanism of an American institution, namely the U.S. Postal Service, to serve as co-conspirator in his tour de force antics. Creating beautifully and seamlessly realistic looking stamp pages on a computer, Hernandez de Luna then affixes one of the stamps to an appropriately selected recycled envelope, and, addressing it to himself, sends the envelope with newly minted stamp to any number of willing collaborators around the world to be posted and sent back to its maker, all bearing the cancellation marks of the country/countries from which and the hands through which it has traveled. Aside from the artist’s mastery evidenced in one’s visual perception of the creative process, Hernandez de Luna’s artistry enters completely and successfully into the realm of performance."

Colorfilm

Standish Lawder... Colorfilm (1971) at UBUWEB. "...Colorfilm is a work Lawder made while trying to make a minimalist, 'pure color' film. Using spliced-together strips of colored film leader in white, yellow, blue, red, green, etc., Lawder ran the film through a projector and found the results to be quite boring. While he was running the film, though, he noticed how beautiful the colored strips of film looked as they ran through the projector. So, he turned a camera on the projector and filmed the colored film gorgeously winding its way through the projector's machinery."

Invasion 68 Prague

Invasion 68 Prague - works by Josef Koudelka at Pace McGill Gallery in New York.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen: Step by Step

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen: Step by Step. "...Extensive documentation of a dancing school in North Shields, in the North East of England, developed in the mid-1980s, exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters and between school and community." Also by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen... Byker. "...The seminal documentation of a threatened and eventually demolished working class, terraced house community in Newcastle upon Tyne’s East End."

Polixeni Papapetrou: Games of Consequence

Polixeni Papapetrou: Games of Consequence at Foley Gallery in New York. "...With the variant, looming contours of rural Australia to serve as scenery, photographer Polixeni Papapetrou sets her adolescent models into a potent series of reminiscent yet equivocal scenes of childhood play. Her prowess in and predilection for polished composition yields Papapetrou the crisp, cinematic stills of 'Games of Consequence.' It is intently, the flawless articulation of these exacted elements: the leer of a black river, the pair of cardinal-red stockings, and coiled skipping rope in Papapetrou’s photographs that beguile us into enchanted memories of a near forgotten past." More Works by Polixeni Papapetrou at her personal site.

Behind the Pink Curtain - The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema

Midnight Eye... Behind the Pink Curtain - The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. "...In 416 lavishly illustrated pages, Behind the Pink Curtain focuses on the art and industry of one of the most notorious sectors of Japanese filmmaking, the erotic Pink Film, or pinku eiga genre, and the closely related Roman Porno films produced by Nikkatsu studios from 1971 to 1988. A phenomenon distinct from the cheaply-produced hardcore Adult Video (AV) market, from the early '60s onwards major Japanese film studios and independent producers alike have kept up a conveyor belt level of output of pornographic features intended purely for cinema release. Still today, just short of 100 such titles are shot on 35mm every year intended for screening in a specialist network of adult cinema across the nation. In recent years, many have found themselves released on DVD in the West or screened at international film festivals, while many of Japan's most noted filmmakers today have cut their teeth in this industry."