Rock-N-Bones

Elroy Dietzel And The Rhythm Bandits... Rock-N-Bones (1957, Bo-Kay K-103 .mp3 audio 01:57).

Carlos Jiménez Cahua: Lima

Carlos Jiménez Cahua: Lima at Anastasia Photo in New York. "...In the 'Lima' series, as in all of Jiménez Cahua's photography, man's development of the earth is revealed as culture integrated with geography. Here in the pueblos jóvenes, the poorest of Lima's poor population build their homes in an unforgiving, impoverished environment. The results, unplanned and haphazard, create visual patterns that are both haunting and strangely beautiful." More... Works by Carlos Jiménez Cahua at his personal site.

Official Trailer For Indonesian Slasher MACABRE

Official Trailer For Indonesian Slasher MACABRE at Twitch Film. "...We’ve had a couple false alarms on this one but this is it: the final, authorized trailer for Indonesian slasher Macabre, all buffed and polished and ready for your perusal."

I Am an Old Smoking, Moving Indian Movie Star

Henri Plaat... I Am an Old Smoking, Moving Indian Movie Star (1968) at UbuWeb Film & Video. "...Visual artist Henri Plaat got an Eumig-camera in 1966, then he started making experimental short films, 'an exploded hobby'.
Plaat traveled a lot, to Greece, the Middle-East, India, South-America et cet., where his fascination began for 'places of the past', charactersized by decay and destruction. What he saw got registered on film and silenced fragments got edited into pure visual cinema. Like his drawings, montages, and paintings Plaat's 8 and 16mm films blends imagination with reality. Plaat describes them as 'atmospheric movies, often photomontages with mixes of war sounds, airplane rumble, Zarah Leander's voice, Wagner's music... All fragments, leading to amazing effects.'"

When I Get The Blues

The Runabouts... When I Get The Blues (aka The Strangeness In Me, 1961, Co & Wi C-114 .mp3 audio 02:42). One of our favourite tunes of all time. Love the guitar breaks.

Adam Pańczuk: Actors

Lens Culture... Adam Pańczuk: Actors. "...The Actors series shows amateur actors from the folk theater company 'Czeladonka' based in Lubenka (near the border of Poland and Belarus). They perform scenes based on old customs and rituals passed down through generations. The actors are farmers, who work in the fields during the day, only working on the plays in the evening. Often a show is performed by a whole family – sometimes three generations of actors take part in a single performance. The plays are staged outdoors in different parts of the village. The audience follows the actors as they move along with their stage. In the end, the actors and the spectators join together for a feast." More... Works by Adam Pańczuk at his personal site.

World's Largest

Chatty Bell - the huge talking cow in Neillsville, WI. From World's Largest - A documentary about small towns with BIG THINGS. "...Hundreds of small towns across the country boast the 'world's largest' something. The rural American landscape is peppered with these claims to fame, from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants. Odd, funny and sometimes beautiful, the statues stand as testaments to the uniqueness and importance the largeness that all people feel, and need to feel, about their communities and their own existence. World's Largest, a feature documentary, visits 58 such sites as it follows the story of Soap Lake, Washington, and their five-year struggle to build the World's Largest Lava Lamp."

The Sadist

The Sadist (1963, directed by James Landis) starring Arch Hall Jr. "...This is believed to be the first feature film based on real life serial killers Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate. Mainstream Hollywood would not produce films inspired by the pair until a decade after this one. A number of films were inspired by the duo (some very loosely) and included such major examples as Terrence Malick's Badlands and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers."

The Big Stuff Project

Bongards Cow from The Big Stuff Project - a flickr set. "...My wife and I are on a mission to visit and take photographic evidence of all the large statues and such throughout Minnesota. And perhaps some extra ones along the way." More at The Big Stuff Project Weblog.

The Special AKA Vs The Selecter

The Special AKA... Gangsters (.mp3 audio 02:47) b/w The Selecter... The Selecter (.mp3 audio 02:59). 1979, 2 Tone TT1/TT2. Released 30 years ago today.

Yann Gross: Kitintale Skates

Yann Gross: Kitintale Skates (2008-09). "...A story about the first skateboarders in Uganda, how some youngsters were influenced by a game they saw on TV and decided to construct themselves the only skatepark of East Africa in Kitintale, a working class suburb of Kampala, since there wasn’t any concrete around. With no assistance from government or large NGO’s, kids from Uganda took significant steps to overcome boredom and poverty through skateboarding. Built from the bottom up, the grassroots construction of the first skatepark engenders a sense of pride and empowerment in the community of Kitintale." From Yann Gross Photography. Also... more information and photos at the Uganda Skateboard Union.

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition at the University of Washington Digital Collections. "...In the summer of 1909, a world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, took place on the grounds of the University of Washington. The fair shaped the campus in ways that are visible today, creating Rainier Vista and Drumheller Fountain. For many years, some of the former fair buildings were used by the University; today only Architecture Hall and Cunningham Hall remain. Landscaping for the fair was done by the famous firm of Olmsted Brothers, whose plan influenced all later designs for the campus."

Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library

Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library at the Nasher Museum of Art. "...features more than 80 original photographs, films, personal artifacts and rare published portfolios, many of which will be on view for the first time. The exhibition includes photographic material from the 1860s to the present, selected from Duke's Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library."

Lost In The Grand Bazzar

Lost In The Grand Bazzar, Istanbul, Turkey. Photographs by Louise Chin and Ig Aronovich of Lost Art.

Little Hero

Jimmy Dawson (aka Dixie Drifter)... Little Hero (1964, Cuca 1186 .mp3 audio 02:01).

Susan Anderson: High Glitz

Susan Anderson: High Glitz. "...High Glitz is a documentary portrait series that looks into the US subculture of child beauty pageants and, more particularly, into the 'High Glitz' genre, which name refers to the young competitors’ couture costumes embellished with glitter. The ‘glitzy’ appearance of the girls is further perfected with a broad array of cosmetic preparations that go from glamour makeup to lacquered hairstyle and flippers (false front teeth veneers). Anderson’s camera records in graphic detail the result of this time-consuming transformation process."

Telling Tales - Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design

Telling Tales - Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design at the V&A Museum. "...This exhibition explores the recent trend among European designers for unique or limited edition pieces that push the boundaries between art and design. It showcases furniture, lighting and ceramics, designed by a new generation of international designers, including Tord Boontje, Maarten Baas, Jurgen Bey and Studio Job, who are all inspired by the spirit of story-telling. Each tells a tale through their use of decorative devices, historical allusions or choice of materials, sharing common themes such as fantasy, parody and a concern with mortality."

To Kick A Wind To - Chris Hipkiss

To Kick A Wind To - Chris Hipkiss from United Dead Artists. "...La première publication consacrée au fascinant travail du dessinateur britannique autodidacte !!!" (fr) More Works by Chris Hipkiss at his personal site.

Hot Rod Race

Arkie Shibley & His Mountain Dew Boys... Hot Rod Race (1950, Mt. Dew 45-MD-101 .mp3 audio 02:28). The inspiration for Charlie Ryan and the Timberline Riders' answer... Hot Rod Lincoln.

Nick Olson: Evolution Of A Landscape

Nick Olson: Evolution Of A Landscape. From Contemporary Collodion Photography by Nick Olson. "...I use alternative processes, because I am dissatisfied with the digital medium. Digital imaging is the dominant photographic medium of contemporary society because of its speed, and ability to mass reproduce experience, creating an exact likeness of the world. My interests are exactly the opposite of those embodied by contemporary culture and digital imaging. My work is aimed at creating unique objects, which create a new perspective on the subject and involve me viscerally in the process of creation."

Tears At The Grand Ole Opry

Wanda Jackson... Tears At The Grand Ole Opry (1955, DECCA 9-29514 .mp3 audio 02:23). From WFMU's On The Download.

Asian Horror Movies

Watch Tokyo Gore Police (2008, directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura) and Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972, directed by Shunya Ito) at Asian Horror Movies. Yes!

Some Things Last A Long Time

Daniel Johnston... Some Things Last A Long Time (.mp3 audio 04:43). From the album 1990 (1993, Shimmy Disc).

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

Our favourite director unveils Tetsuo: The Bullet Man at ComicCon. YES!

Projeto Ypê Nakashima

Projeto Ypê Nakashima. Documentary about and works by Japanese Brazilian animator Ypê Nakashima. (br)

Trailer for Macabre

Trailer for Macabre by the Mo Brothers at Twitch Film. "...Fresh off the film’s main villain scooping an award for Best Actress at PiFan I took a quick spin by the website of Macabre‘s Singaporean producers Gorylah and - lo and behold - a new trailer for the Indonesian slasher has arrived. We ran the first trailer for this one a while back but that version wasn’t quite done and we were asked to pull it down after a few days. This one’s a little more polished and more than a little bloody."

Mule Skinner Blues

The Fendermen... Mule Skinner Blues (Original Cuca Version, 1960, Cuca 1003 .mp3 audio 02:21).

Slough

Jessica Craig Martin... Pink Lady: AmFar Benefit, Cannes 2008 (2008, digital C-Print, Edition 1/5). From the exhibition Slough at David Nolan Gallery in New York, NY. "...The impetus behind this exhibition is the flexibility of the word slough, which has various interpretations. Pronounced slew, slough can describe a bog-like, swampy, dark, primordial and somewhat mysterious realm. The alternate and less used, but maybe also appropriate interpretation, is a state of moral degradation or spiritual dejection that one cannot extract oneself from. Pronounced sluff, slough refers to that which has been cast aside or shed off, like a skin. It can also describe the manner in which material tends to accumulate at the edges of a performed task, such as the accumulation of dust on the rim of a fan, snow on the edge of a shovel, or trash in the breakdown lane of a highway."

After Color

After Color at Bose Pacia. "...After Color examines how artists employ conceptual black-and-white photography to strengthen their ideas and how such usage comments on the dominance of large-scale, color photography as seen in the contemporary art world over the last 25 years."

Prairieland Interiors

Dave Jordano... Prairieland Interiors (2005). From Dave Jordano Photography.

Barrel

Chu Ishikawa... Barrel (.mp3 audio 03:17). From the original soundtrack to Bullet Ballet (2000, Culture Publishers Inc. CPC8 3027).

Bill Vaccaro: Roadside Attractions

Bill Vaccaro... Roadmaster (2007, Archival pigment, Edition of 25). From Roadside Attractions by Bill Vaccaro.

Michael Donnor: Silent Moan

Michael Donnor: Silent Moan. "...The process begins with the negative; the decision of how to destroy it and decay it is about looking further than when the shutter was released. Many techniques are used to further convey the concept in each image, freezing, melting, scratching, and cutting are a few. Once the negative is finished, the control of depth of field is done through the enlarger, allowing the choice in each print of where the focus will be. The prints are silver gelatin; archivally toned in tea and selenium, they are signed, dated, titled and editioned. The edges are then burned and encaustic is applied in layers, finishing each piece from conception to print."

Babar, Harry Potter et Compagnie: Livres d’enfants d’hier et d’aujourd’hui

Babar, Harry Potter et Compagnie: Livres d’enfants d’hier et d’aujourd’hui. "...Cette exposition se présente comme un large panorama du livre pour enfants en France depuis le XVIIe siècle jusqu’à nos jours et s’adresse à toutes les générations. Retrouver ses émotions d’enfance tout en découvrant des richesses méconnues ou oubliées, voilà ce que les grands et les petits pourront observer à travers un parcours autour de figures héroïques qui ont traversé les générations. Une histoire du livre pour enfants à travers des œuvres phares est aussi offerte, aux spécialistes comme aux néophytes, ce qui ouvrira le regard vers l’évolution des textes et images."

Zidlicky 1970–2007

Lens Culture... Zidlicky 1970–2007 - photographs by Vladimir Zidlicky. "...Famed Czech photographer Vladimir Zidlicky began his artistic career in the 1970s as a painter, but soon established a signature style that blurred the distinction between painting and photography.
His rich and complex images often begin with nude figures (dancing, intertwined, floating, piled up like heaps, painted with light), which he then distresses with surface scratches, cross-hatching, drawing, puncturing and ripping. The images are radically transformed with these often violent and aggressive gestures that seem to encase the figures and suspend them in space. As choreographer of his creations, he expertly captures motion and frenzy in multiple exposures and time-lapsed blurring. In the darkroom, he continues to make each piece unique, with expressive toning and further manipulation." More Works by Vladimir Zidlicky at his portfolio site.

Works by Basil Wolverton

Works by Basil Wolverton at Gladstone Gallery in New York, NY.

Vica Nazi Propaganda Comics

Vica Nazi Propaganda Comics at Duke University Digital Collections. "...The Nazi-controlled government in German-occupied France produced the Vica comic during World War II as a propaganda tool against the Allied forces. The comics represent Nazi influence and perspective within French society. The three issues are Vica au Paradis de l’U.R.S.S, Vica contre le service secret anglais, and Vica défie l’Oncle Sam. The author, Vincent Krassousky (also known as Vica), disappeared in the late 1940s."

Dash Snow: Poloroids

Dash Snow: Poloroids at Tiny Vices. RIP: Dash Snow.

Walking On The Moon

The Police... Walking On The Moon (.mp3 audio 04:57).

One Summer Day

Chu Ishikawa... One Summer Day (.mp3 audio 03:52). From the original soundtrack for A Snake Of June (2003, Wilddisk WDD-003). Also... the Trailer for A Snake Of June (Flash Video 01:50) at Nippon Cinema.

Claude Closky: Town And Country

Claude Closky: Town And Country at Mitterrand + Sanz Contemporary in Zurich. "...Town and Country is a collage series. Each of the photographs that have been cut out of magazines comprise at least one human figure and are accompanied by the artist’s hand-written commentary in the style of a title. This added commentary halts our gaze on those glossy images that we have become so used to seeing pass before our eyes at such speed. He makes them talk outside their commercial and reassuring discourse. The written text brilliantly ignores the 'message' instilled in the easily decodable 'visuals' and introduces an element of uncertainty into their reading.
All the texts in Town and Country speak about death as if it were the subject of the series. However, the work is more complex. Claude Closky never presents his audience with a 'picture' of reality; instead he is more interested in what his cultural background and his imagination urge him to impose on this reality. In other words: Closky focuses his work on those modalities of representation, which give reality its form. The verb 'to die' introduces a framework for each collage in the Town and Country series: to die in the street, on the beach, at a masked ball... Closky writes 'To die barefoot', or 'To die in the kitchen' as if wearing shoes or cooking could kill. Nothing can prevent us from losing our lives on the road, or lying on the grass, or barefoot, or on horseback. But these circumstances are not enough to die from. They are indifferent to the event, unique and unrepresentable, of dying."

Exquisite Bodies: Or the curious and grotesque story of the anatomical model

Exquisite Bodies: Or the curious and grotesque story of the anatomical model at the Wellcome Collection. "...In the 19th century, despite the best efforts of body snatchers, the demand from medical schools for fresh cadavers far outstripped the supply. One solution to this gruesome problem came in the form of lifelike wax models. These models often took the form of alluring female figures that could be stripped and split into different sections. Other models were more macabre, showing the body ravaged by 'social diseases' such as venereal disease, tuberculosis and alcohol and drug addiction." Via Morbid Anatomy.

Halo Que Tal

Los Rockin Devils... Halo Que Tal (.mp3 audio 02:01). From the album Los Rockin Devil's: Esos Fueron Los Dias (1969, Orfeon LP-12-638).

Bruce Conner: The White Rose

Bruce Conner: The White Rose (1967, Flash Video 07:29). "...documents the removal of fellow artist Jay DeFeo's magnum opus from her San Francisco apartment, with Miles Davis' 'Sketches of Spain' as the soundtrack." DeFeo's 'The Rose' is currently at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India

Seventy-two Specimens of Castes in India. "...This illustrated manuscript made in southern India in 1837 consists of 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of the various castes and religious and ethnic groups found in Madura, India at that time. Each drawing was made on mica, a transparent, flaky mineral which splits into thin, transparent sheets. As indicated on the presentation page, the album was compiled by the Indian writing master at an English school established by American missionaries in Madura, and given to the Reverend William Twining."

Ansel Adams: Trees

Ansel Adams: Trees. From the David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams at Andrew Smith Gallery.

Trailblazers and Trendsetters - Art of the Stamp

Trailblazers and Trendsetters - Art of the Stamp at the National Postal Museum. "...Stylistically, U.S. postage stamps have become quite diverse in the last 50 years, primarily due to advances in printing technology. Stamp artists can now capture an ever-expanding array of subjects more dynamically, from history to fantasy, from social concerns to our favorite pastimes. Today, the look of stamps ranges from black-and-white scratchboard to full-color photography, from formal portraits to portraits with vignettes that provide context and mood. Circling the globe in editions of millions, stamp art has taken flight."

Call Me Burroughs

William S. Burroughs... Call Me Burroughs (1965, ESP-Disk 1050) at UbuWeb Sound. "...Originally released in 1965, this spoken word record was the first foray into the recording industry by Beat legend William S. Burroughs. Subsequently Burroughs recorded a number of solo projects, in addition to collaborating with everyone from John Cale and Laurie Anderson to Tom Waits and Kurt Cobain. The CD booklet contains a wealth of information about Burroughs, the manner in which these recordings were made, and about the Beat community in Paris in the 50's and 60's, as well as including the liner notes of original 1965 edition of the album."

J And A

The Cougars... J And A (.mp3 audio 02:55). From the album GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands Of The 1960s (Big Beat, CDWIKD 15).

1000 Frames of Hitchcock

1000 Frames of Hitchcock. "...1000 Frames of Hitchcock is an attempt to reduce each of the 52 available major Hitchcock films down to just 1000 frames. The aim of the project is to create a library of images which can be used to illustrate blog posts, web articles and reviews, etc."

Karambolage (Smash-up)

Lens Culture... Karambolage (Smash-up) - photographs by Arnold Odermatt. "...Unlike the photographs of, say, Weegee or Mell Kilpatrick, in which stoic cops and horrified bystanders are pictured dealing in different ways with the reality of sudden injury or death, Odermatt empties the image of everything but the forlorn wreck and the landscape in which it came to rest: a crumpled car floats in a glassy lake beneath the Alps; a couple of abandoned shells tenderly touch bumpers on a charming wintry lane; an upturned VW Beetle reclines on the edges of a still river."

Your Gold Teeth II

Jean-Michel Basquiat... Untitled (1982, Oilstick on paper). From the exhibition Your Gold Teeth II at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York. "...These artists have an affinity for the controlled yet significant gesture, the performed essence, a result of concentrated internal selection from a vast repertoire of expressive options. This stripped down approach to craft often obscures a wider technical command than is immediately apparent. If you're looking for order, you will find it. But even when these artists systematically subvert themselves for the devious pleasure of it, they still maintain a level of control where they strange can be made familiar - and vice versa. By eschewing displays of obvious virtuosity, the artist gains the advantage of a kind of mystery."

Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900

Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works, 1550-1900 at the NYPL Digital Gallery. "...Illustrated zoologies are both scientific documents and repositories of examples of reproductive printmaking before photomechanical processes became the primary method of producing book illustrations. These woodcuts and wood engravings, metal plate engravings, and lithographs constitute an enormous body of art. With the exception of the colorful prints of artists such as John James Audubon, Mark Catesby, and John Gould, this art is familiar mostly to specialists. Gross's bibliography was devoted to a selection of 201 of the most important and interesting titles, representing only a very small percentage of the Library's total holdings in natural history."

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here

Yoko Ono: This Is Not Here (directed by Takahiko Iimura, 1971, 17:50). "...A document of Yoko Ono solo exhibition This Is Not Here at at the Eberson Museum, New York, 1971."

Queen Of The House

Jody Miller... Queen Of The House (1965, Capitol 5402 .mp3 audio 02:17). Brilliant response song to Roger Miller's 'King Of The Road.'

Mama (German Version)

Roy Orbison... Mama (German Version) (.mp3 audio 02:54). From the album Rare Orbison II (1989, Monument 466696 2).

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya. "...In 1971, at Papunya, a government-established Aboriginal relief camp in the Central Australian desert, the Sydney school teacher Geoffrey Bardon provided a group of ranking Aboriginal men with the tools and the encouragement to paint. The resulting works became the first paintings ever to systematically transfer the imagery of their culture to a permanent surface.
This exhibition will be the first to focus on this founding moment, presenting some of the finest examples from the period drawn from the collection of John Wilkerson (Cornell PhD Class of 1970) and Barbara Wilkerson, never before exhibited as a group. The collection includes important works by such great names in the history of late twentieth-century Australian art as Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Mbitjana Tjampitjinpa, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, Uta Uta Tjangala, Charlie Tarawa (Tjaruru) Tjungurrayi, and Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi, and many others. The exhibition's centerpiece is Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula's staggering Water Dreaming at Kalipinypa of 1972, whose visual intricacy has been likened to a page in a medieval illumination manuscript; this work twice made Australian national headlines when it achieved world-record auction prices in 1996 and 2000."

New Works by Mr. Hooper

New Works by Mr. Hooper at Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle, WA. "...Tim "Mr Hooper" Hooper is from Nashville, TN, and his work is heavily influenced by American folk art, outsider art, graffiti and tattoo art. Mr. Hooper's art is an amalgamation of pop icons, cartoon characters, dirty streets and urban decay. The pieces are usually detailed narratives interlaced with Hooper's singular wit and unique style. While Mr. Hooper's art is sometimes categorized as folk or outsider art, we prefer to call it Pop Folk, as Mr Hooper is one of a handful of young Southern (mostly) self-taught artists working in this exciting new sub-genre."

Interview with Hiroyo Kaneko

Japan Exposures... Interview with Hiroyo Kaneko. "...When I was in Meiji Gakuin, I took some classes about the visual arts and film. That was because the period that I was studying within French Literature was early to mid 20th century, a time when all the cultural movements interacted each other. I was interested in the relationship between writers, visual artists and filmmakers, such as Andre Breton, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Luis Bunuel.
I was also into French New Wave films, especially Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut as well as Japanese film makers, like Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Seijun Suzuki. All those visual experiences got me involved in a filmmaking circle and I made a few 8mm films with my classmates. However, after we graduated it became difficult to get together to continue the activity, and then I gradually shifted to photography which I could do on my own."

Punk Perestroika 80

Punk Perestroika 80, Gare Saint-Sauveur – Boulevard Jean-Baptiste Lebas – 59 000 Lille. Presented by Moscow House of Photography.

Robinet Aviatore

Robinet Aviatore (Tweedledum, Aviator, 1911, directed by Luigi Maggi) at Europa Film Treasures. "...The enthusiastic and creative Tweedledum made his mad idea to fly come true. Cheered on by the crowd, he climbed aboard his strange machine, curiously inspired by the flying fish. But his trip soon turned to disaster since, equipped with an anchor, his plane destroyed steeples and watchtowers before crashing. Tweedledum, who left a hero, provoked an angry response from a population fed up with his escapades and he ended up in prison."

Alabam

Cowboy Copas... Alabam (1960, Starday 45-501 .mp3 audio 02:20).

Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons

Gustav Klutsis... The USSR is the Stakhanovite brigade of the world's proletariat (1931, Lithograph). From the exhibition Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University. "...Views and Re-Views includes posters, cartoons, photomontages, and postcards spanning more than six decades, from the time of the Russian Civil War (1918–21) into the late Soviet period. The exhibition includes well-known Soviet graphic works, by such artists as Viktor Deni, Dmitri Moor, El Lissitsky, and Gustav Klutsis, as well as lesser-known, but equally compelling works by the Kukryniksy (a three-artist collaborative), Alexander Zhitomirsky, and others. Drawn from an extensive private collection of Soviet propaganda, the exhibition includes more than 160 images."

Peavine Mountain Arborglyphs

Peavine Mountain Arborglyphs. "...Peavine Mountain is the smallest mountain range in Nevada. Now a popular recreation area that is almost entirely surrounded by the neighborhoods of Greater Reno, it once served as a summer home for sheep and their herders. Arborglyph researcher Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe has thoroughly studied the five aspen groves on Peavine, documenting and interpreting carvings on more than 500 trees by 105 herders. The oldest date he found on a tree was 1901 and the most recent carving by a sheepherder was dated 1989. His database, available in this exhibit, provides access by dates as well as the herders' names, languages, countries, and hometowns."

Loose Women In Tights: Images of Femininity in Early Burlesque Performance

Loose Women In Tights: Images of Femininity in Early Burlesque Performance. "...The Collection of Exotic Dance from Burlesque to Clubs, donated to the Lawrence and Lee Institute by Dr. McCaghy, contains a wide variety of materials – including books, photographs, periodicals, sound recordings, promotional materials, videos, personal notes and interviews, and other assorted memorabilia – spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, and exploring all aspects of striptease in performance. This exhibit is meant to provide just a sampling of some of the earlier materials in the collection, contextualized within the historical and theoretical discourses surrounding burlesque."

Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome

The International Submarine Band... Do You Know How It Feels To Be Lonesome (.mp3 audio 03:34). From the album Safe At Home (1968, LHI S12001).

Heather Cantrell - A Study in Portraiture: Act 1

Heather Cantrell - A Study in Portraiture: Act 1 at Kinkead Contemporary in Culver City, CA. "...A Study in Portraiture deals with the subversion and altering of identity through portraiture and how those issues manifest themselves through Heather Cantrell's exploration of tribes and subcultures, specifically those of the art world. The project explores her usage of theatricality and references to historical artworks within her chosen medium of photography to document the performative. Involving much more than mere photography, Cantrell's artistic practice entails a conceptual strategy that incorporates performance, theater, painting, sculpture, and sociology. The resulting photographic image represents this in one captured moment with all its beautiful ambiguity and intrigue - it is a 'play-still.'"

Olaf Martens: Blockschokolade

Olaf Martens: Blockschokolade at Galerie für Fotografie - f5,6 - München. "...Gallery f5.6, Munich, is very proud to present for the first time ever, Olaf Martens DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) works from 1979-1989. This represents the 10-year time span prior to unification of the two German states. In the last months Olaf Martens has been going through his archive for the first time in 20 years. The result is an extensive but very personal view of the DDR, not seen before. At the same time these early works shed a completely new light on - and root his more well known later and recent staged works in a very different manner."

Works by Bénédicte Peyrat

Works by Bénédicte Peyrat at Galleria Paolo Curti / Annamaria Gambuzzi & Co. in Milan. "...In her paintings, Peyrat evokes the expressive power and poetics of many Italian and European artists of the great tradition of painting, from the 1500s to the early 1900s, interpreting the language of the past in a personal, original and innovative style. The female nudes, in their fleshy physicality, remind us of the French realism of Gustave Courbet, but also of the deformation of bodies in Lucian Freud. The arcadian landscape, free of space-time coordinates, echoes the naturalism of Giorgione, that unity of man and nature that reflects internal movements, as well as the evocative power of Titian, unleashed amidst the reflection of ancient things and formal elegance."

Holly Roberts: Recent Work

Holly Roberts: Recent Work at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, IL. "... Holly Roberts grew up and still resides in New Mexico, a region surrounded by desert. Known for its Native American heritage, New Mexico is a place where indigenous ideology and Western beliefs merge, creating a magical area filled with a sense of history and spirituality -- elements essential to Roberts and her work. In 1980, while living on a Zuni reservation in New Mexico, Roberts quietly painted on photographs she had taken of her husband, children, animals and friends. The results of her efforts was startling, as her work was embraced across the country for its innovative style and psychological dramas which confront the anguish, joy, challenges and complexities involved in daily life."

Jake and Dinos Chapman: F*cking Hell

Jake and Dinos Chapman... F*cking Hell. Whoa! More... Works by Jake and Dinos Chapman at White Cube in London.

A Moment's Notice: Photographs by Robert Hecht

A Moment's Notice: Photographs by Robert Hecht at Soulcatcher Studio. "...The philosophical underpinning of Robert Hecht's work is Zen Buddhism, a simple practice in which a great deal of attention is paid to the present moment and to the quiet beauty around us. None of these images has been premeditated or arranged; the subject matter is most often mundane material encountered during his day to day life and then photographed exactly as it was found. Part of his conscious discipline as a photographer is to follow the subtle shifts of light, shadows and reflections, and to remain open to a variety of subject matter that may not appear beautiful at first blush but rather may emerge upon careful looking."

Kassopia Open

Rikki Kasso... Tokyo Undressed: Yoyogi Park Vol. 1 (2005-2007). From Kassopia Open. More works by Rikki Kasso at Tokyo Undressed.

Why? Why? Why? (Is It So Hard?)

Paul Revere & The Raiders... Why? Why? Why? (Is It So Hard?) (.mp3 audio 03:00). RIP: Drake Levin.

The People Band Wagon (Hitch Hike)

Dave Collins... The People Band Wagon (Hitch Hike) (.mp3 audio 02:20). From the album Larry Ethnic Meets Wailers With Various Artiste (1975, EMW, produced by Larry Lawrence). Thank you DMc.

Jonah Samson: Pleasantville

Jonah Samson... Grave Digger (2008). From Pleasantville by Jonah Samson.

Everyday Miracles: Medical Imagery in Ex-Votos

Everyday Miracles: Medical Imagery in Ex-Votos. "...The expression of our relationship with illness is wonderfully illustrated in the ex-voto, a devotional painting giving thanks to a saint or deity for a miraculous healing or a blessing. The faithful have always used prayer to invoke the aid of saints as a means to heal the sick and end one's suffering. These devotional paintings are an individual's expression of thanks for the intercession of the divine in a crisis, a snapshot in time of illness and healing. They offer a rare opportunity to view health, healing, and illness through the hearts and minds of the ordinary person.
From its beginnings in 15th century Italy through its spread to the New World in the 16th century, ex-votos have played a role in the daily lives of the faithful especially in Mexico. They continued to be a popular expression of faith and healing into the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the most prolific period of ex-voto production. Although the ex-voto experienced a decline in the 20th century, the faithful still continue to commission artists to create them today. Most remain a personalized expression of thanks for a healing or a restoration of health, but their purpose has expanded to include the commemoration of a special event or to address a concern in an individual's life. Ex-votos continue to be a reflection of a tradition where faith and healing play a vital role in daily life."

Women

Annelise Kretschmer... Untitled (1920s, vintage silver print, mounted on cardboard, 30,5 x 39,1 cm). From the exhibition Women, 27 June - 1 September 2009 at Galerie Priska Pasquer in Cologne. "...The opening credits to George Cukor's 1939 film 'The Women', which features no male actors whatsoever, announce that: 'It's all about men'. The exhibition entitled 'Women' spans a wide arc from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. It is not only about faces and bodies, but shows different, predominantly male interpretations of femininity and gender roles, including surprising alternatives – while also giving a brief overview of photographic styles from Symbolism to New Vision, documentary style and conceptual photographic art."

Bandwagon

Dave & Ansel Collins... Bandwagon (1973, Trojan TR 7891 .mp3 audio 02:07). Thank you DMc.

Burk Uzzle: Woodstock 40th Anniversary

Burk Uzzle: Woodstock 40th Anniversary at Laurence Miller Gallery in New York. "...Burk Uzzle shot the festival from the vantage point of a participant. In one particularly telling photograph, a sea of humanity as dense as a carpet of wildflowers in a meadow spills over a hillside; in another, a young hippie couple standing in a tender embrace under a grandmother’s quilt became the icon of a generation. Rather than document the music, Uzzle chose to focus on details of living, existence, and enjoyment over that three day period. In so doing, he captured the spirit of the festival and ultimately an era."

Haley Jane Samuelson: Another Room

Haley Jane Samuelson: Another Room at Hous Projects in New York. More... Works by Haley Jane Samuelson at her personal site.

Dylan Nyoukis / Blood Stereo - A Retrospective

Dylan Nyoukis / Blood Stereo - A Retrospective (2000-09) at UbuWeb Sound. "...Dylan Nyoukis's work exists on the fringe of contemporary avant garde art and underground DIY insurrection. He founded the Chocolate Monk label in 1993, an early experimental music imprint that combined hi-jacks of outmoded media - cassette, CD-R, pen and paper - with cutting edge investigations of the limits of form, while functioning as a home for Nyoukis's own projects, Prick Decay, Decaer Pinga, Ceylon Mange, Blood Stereo and countless one-off collaborations. The Blood Stereo tracks included here explore hand-cranked 20th century technology in combination with epiglottal gymnastics and free music modes inherited as much from punk rock's mutilated aesthetic as utopian art styles. Over the years he has collaborated with artists as diverse Carlos Giffoni, Alvarius B, Jaap Blonk as Ludo Mich, Chris Corsano, Thurston Moore, Adam Bohman, Sun City Girls, Bill Nace, Anla Courtis, Heather Leigh Murray, Phil Minton, Neil Campbell, Usurper and Wolf Eyes. Many tracks on this UbuWeb compilation are from Nyoukis's record label Chocolate Monk; also inlcuded are many live tracks from festivals such as Instal, All Tomorrow's Parties, The Colour Out Of Space Festival, and No Fun."

Sophie Gerrard: E-wasteland

Sophie Gerrard: E-wasteland. "...Each year, thousands of tons of old computers, mobile phones, batteries, cables, old cameras and other e-waste are dumped in landfill or burned. Thousands more are shipped, illegally, from Europe, the UK and the USA to India and other developing countries for 'recycling'. Some is sent as scrap, some as charity donations.
India has become one of the world’s largest dumping grounds for e--waste. E-waste is highly toxic. It contains lead, cadmium, mercury, tin, gold, copper, PVC and brominated, chlorinated and phosphorus based flame retardants. Many of these heavy metals and contaminants are extremely harmful to humans as well as to animals and plants." From Sophie Gerrard Photography. Thank you, SS.

The Prince

Madness... The Prince (1979, 2 Tone CHS TT3 .mp3 audio 02:31).

Typeface

Typeface is a film in progress. "...In rural Wisconsin, a lone employee waits in a cavernous old museum for visitors to come. A few individuals straggle in every few days and then, come Friday, the museum fills with life. Machines hum, presses print, artists buzz about. One weekend each month, the quiet of Two Rivers is interrupted as carloads of artisans drive in from across the Midwest. The place comes alive as printmaking workshops led by, and filled with, some of the nation’s top design talent descend on the sleepy enclave.
In a time when people can carry computers in their pockets and watch TV while walking down the street, Typeface dares to explore the twilight of an analog craft that is freshly inspiring artists in a digital age. The Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, WI personifies cultural preservation, rural re-birth and the lineage of American graphic design. At Hamilton, international artisans meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique. But the Museum’s days are numbered. What is the responsibility of artists and historians to preserve a dying craft?"

Neon Boneyard Vegas

Laura Domela... Neon Boneyard Vegas. Yes! From Laura Domela Photography.

Silêncio

François-Jacques Ossang... Silêncio (2007, 19:45 music: Throbbing Gristle). "...I had the opportunity to go back to Portugal with a 16mm camera nearly 10 years after my previous movie. I don’t like to work with video. And I filmed a little at random, with a particular interest in windmills. I couldn’t quite figure out how to make a movie out of these images. Then I was invited to mix music one evening in an event called 'the Cinema of Poets' at the Cinémathèque with Lydia Lynch, and I put on 'Convincing People' by Throbbing Gristle. And coming back home and thinking about it, I understood that TG’s shamanistic industrial music would fit perfectly."

Monsieur Fantômas

Ernst Moerman... Monsieur Fantômas (1937) at UbuWeb Film & Video. "...Ernst Moerman was an ardent fan of Souvestre and Allain's character Fantômas, whom he dubbed "the demoralizing gentleman", he made him the emblematic hero of his medium-length silent film, Monsieur Fantômas. Shot on a shoestring budget on a beach and in an old cloister, the style of this scathing surrealist satire is immediately recognizable as that of the Feuillade serials. In top hat and tails, the Master of Crime (played by the future father of French singer Johnny Hallyday) tours the world in pursuit of the beautiful Elvire, punctuating his travels with mischief and acts to offend proper decency. The film encompasses amour fou, the meanders of dreams, fanatical anti-clericalism and a plea for subversion and adventure in 'a world where nothing is impossible, where the miracle is the shortest route from our uncertainty to mystery'"

I Want You Back

Finger 5... I Want You Back (.mp3 audio 02:47). From the album First Album (1973, Philips FX-8083). Japan's answer to the Jackson 5 - one more for MJ.

Alice Wheeler: Women Are Beautiful

Alice Wheeler... Collins Ave., Miami, Florida 2007 (2009, Chromogenic prints). From the exhibition Alice Wheeler: Women Are Beautiful at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, WA. "...My generation was taught about the male gaze, how images of women were created for the enjoyment of men. Garry Winogrand’s images of women from the 1960s and 70s present them enjoying the freedom of their newfound public sexuality. Some of the women he photographed seemed unaware of his presence, or appear to be hostile to him. He seems like he’s playing the role of a predator, one who is aware of the concept of the male gaze and is exploring it in his own way."

The Tree

Yayoi Kusama... Flower XL (1993, Silkscreen). From the exhibition The Tree at James Cohan Gallery in Shanghai. "...The Tree offers both whimsical as well as poetic perspectives by such artists as Francesco Clemente, whose extraordinary watercolor depicts human forms as boughs and branches within a tree that could, at any moment, become a cloud. Or in the work by Philip Taaffe, from his Composite Nature series, where the underlying patterns and structures of the natural world have been central to his work during the past decade. More atmospheric views are found in April Gornik's charcoal drawing, a darkened meadow of trees, and in the paintings by Yuko Murata and Joan Nelson, whose works take us on a journey to serene and melancholic forests."

James Ensor

James Ensor at MoMA. "...James Ensor (1860–1949) was a major figure in the Belgian avant-garde of the late nineteenth century and an important precursor to the development of Expressionism in the early twentieth. In both respects he has influenced generations of later artists. This exhibition presents approximately 120 works, examining Ensor's contribution to modernity, his innovative and allegorical use of light, his prominent use of satire, his deep interest in carnival and performance, and his own self-fashioning and use of masking, travesty, and role-playing."

Alex Hornest at Galeria Thomas Cohn

Lost Art... Alex Hornest at Galeria Thomas Cohn in São Paulo, Brasil.

Gone For Good

Morphine... Gone For Good (.mp3 audio 02:52). From the album Yes (1995, Rykodisc RCD 10320). Mark Sandman died 10 years ago today.

Life After Death: The Legacy Of Mark Sandman And Morphine

Life After Death: The Legacy Of Mark Sandman And Morphine (Tony Sachs, The Huffington Post, July 3, 2009). "...Mark Sandman, frontman of the Boston-based alternative rock band Morphine, died ten years ago today, on July 3, 1999. It was the kind of death from which rock legends are born - he was onstage, at the height of his powers, with the most ambitious album of his career having just been completed. Morphine were signed to a powerful record label, and if they weren't a household name in the music world, they had a large cult following that enabled them to pack large clubs and theaters worldwide."

Laurence Gonry: Space Paf Paf

Laurence Gonry: Space Paf Paf. "...Laurence Gonry a suivi un parcours formatif important qui lui permet de jouer avec beaucoup d’aisance avec les possibilités de l’image : 3 ans d’études en arts graphiques à Saint-Luc Liège, 5 ans en gravure et illustration du livre à la Cambre et enfin, elle étudie la sérigraphie à l’Académie de Watermael-Boitsfort.
Elle est capable de sortir la gravure sur bois des ornières séculaires que s’est forgé l’art de l’estampe. Graphiquement, elle possède ce « petit quelque chose » qui fait franchir les barrières. Un mélange détonnant de techniques (gravure sur bois, gravures sur métal, gravure sur gomme, sérigraphie…) et de manipulations de l’image (agrandissement, surimpression, insertion de textes courts ou de mots) qui donnent à voir un monde grave teinté d’humour décalé." (be)

André Cypriano: Rocinha, An Orphan's Town

André Cypriano: Rocinha, An Orphan's Town (37 black & white photographs) at Zone Zero. "...Rocinha is the largest 'favela', or shantytown in Brazil. It spreads from the top to the bottom of a mountain. Ironically, it is surrounded by wealth. Because the 2,500 residents of this neighborhood have been neglected by the government, they have set up their own survival system, one ruled by drug-trafficking. What makes this community so captivating to document is how clearly this criminal system both terrorizes and supports the people of the slum." More... Works by André Cypriano at his personal site.

Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain

Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain. "...This collection contains over four thousand color slides and black and white photographs of medieval Spain taken by the late Eugene Casselman (1912-1996) during his thirty years of travel throughout the Iberian peninsula. The images span over one thousand years of architectural history, from the seventh to the seventeenth century. The majority of the slides focus on the Mudejar style, an ornate court style largely inspired by Spanish Islamic architecture that was shared among Islamic, Jewish, and Christian cultures during the later Middle Ages in Spain. He even began writing a book-length manuscript on Mudejar architecture, which he never completed."

When They Found The Atomic Power

Hawkshaw Hawkins... When They Found The Atomic Power (1947, King 611 .mp3 audio 02:48). From the album Atomic Platters: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security (2005, Bear Family Records, BCD 16065).

When the Lord held out His mighty hand
So that others in this world might understand
That wars could never be and this world it must be free
When they found the mighty, mighty Atomic Power

Bruce of Los Angeles

Bruce of Los Angeles at Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art. "...Born Bruce Bellas in 1909, he was a chemistry professor from Nebraska who would wind up in Los Angeles as the top 'Beefcake' photographer of the 1950's. He started out there in the 1940's, shooting bodybuilding contests and met many of his models while working for Joe Weider's muscle magazine empire, which chronicled the physical culture movement sweeping across America following WWII. Bellas photographed some of the most important figures of this era; bodybuilders Steve Reeves, Ed Fury, and George Eiferman, as well as models such as Joe Dallesandro, Mark Nixon, and Brian Idol. By the 1960s had succeeded in publishing his own magazine, The Male Figure, which allowed clients to order prints of their favorite models."

Nicolai Howalt: Car Crash Studies

Nicolai Howalt: Car Crash Studies. From Nicolai Howalt Photography.

Discoveries: A special selection of extraordinary photographs from the gallery's private inventory

Discoveries: A special selection of extraordinary photographs from the gallery's private inventory at Bruce Silverstein Gallery.

Nobody Spoil My Fun

The Seeds... Nobody Spoil My Fun (.mp3 audio 03:54). From the album The Seeds (1966, GNP Crescendo GNP 2023)

Invader Top 10

Invader... Rubik London Calling by The Clash (400 Rubik's cubes on Perspex panel). From the exhibition Invader: Top 10 at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. "...Top 10 introduces a new series of original two and three-dimensional works featuring the artist’s signature pixel-based aesthetic, created in mediums such as mosaic tile and rubik’s cubes, which clearly translate the concept of pixilation (the division of visual information in digital format). Invader is the first artist to bring pixels to life, both in the physical world and in the art world. Echoing the neo-Impressionist painting technique of pointillism, with a contemporary voice, his evolved methods bring the composite image concept into the digital age. The show title Top 10 references popular music, as the artist has selected what he believes are the top ten album covers of his generation as subjects for re-interpretation using his own innovative technique of Rubikcubism."

The Female Gaze: Women Look At Women

The Female Gaze: Women Look At Women at Cheim & Read. "...a group exhibition of women artists depicting the female form. With this premise, the show seeks to present a collection of works which reclaim the traditional domination of the 'male gaze' and reorient the significance of the female figure to allow for more varied interpretations. A variety of mediums will be shown —sculpture, photography, video, painting and installation—and several different women artists represented, including: Berenice Abbott, Marina Abramovic, Ghada Amer, Diane Arbus, Vanessa Beecroft, Lynda Benglis, Louise Bourgeois, Kathe Burkhart, Julia Margaret Cameron, Victoria Civera, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Anh Duong, Judith Eisler, Tracey Emin, Ellen Gallagher, Nan Goldin, Katy Grannan, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Chantal Joffe, Deborah Kass, Maria Lassnig, Zoe Leonard, Sally Mann, Marilyn Minter, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Shirin Neshat, Collier Schorr, Joan Semmel, Cindy Sherman, Mickalene Thomas, Hannah van Bart, Hellen van Meene, Kara Walker, Francesca Woodman and Lisa Yuskavage."

David Schalliol: Isolated Building Studies

David Schalliol: Isolated Building Studies. "...The Isolated Building Studies are the visual confluence of my interests in urban dynamism, socioeconomic inequality and photography. By using uniform composition in photographs of buildings with no neighboring structures, I hope to draw attention to new ways of seeing the common impact of divergent investment processes on urban communities." From David Schalliol Photography. Also... Works by David Schalliol at Flickr.

Desert Light

Desert Light at Throckmorton Fine Art in New York. "...The exhibit includes the work of a number of photographers who have been attracted to deserts: Edward, Brett, and Cole Weston, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Martin Chambi, Lucien Clergue, Elisabeth Sunday, Dirk McDonnell, and Marilyn Bridges. Photographs in the exhibit range from the early part of the twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Despite the variety of images included in the exhibit, they are united by more than their setting in the deserts of North and South America, and North Africa. The powerful light of the desert makes for bold contrasts, giving every photograph, even those of the human figure, an abstract quality - and so an aura of modernism."

mini-tofu no.3

mini-tofu no.3 - Nikkatsu, Pink is the color of sex (Flash).