Friday, February 22, 2013

Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders

Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art. "...The Bikeriders features more than 30 photographs by Danny Lyon, one of the most important documentary photographers and filmmakers to come of age in the 1960s, and chronicles the activities of the Chicago Outlaws motorcycle club from 1963 to 1967. Lyon became a member of the Outlaws and documented the daily lives of its members from the seat of his Triumph motorcycle, equipped with a Nikon, a Rolleiflex and a seven- pound portable tape recorder. In 1968, his photographs were published in the landmark book, The Bikeriders, which not only launched his career, but also introduced motorcycle counterculture to mainstream America, paving the way for the film Easy Rider."

Natalie Merchant - Verdi Cries


Natalie Merchant - Verdi Cries (Flash Video 04:16).

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Lady Vampire

Trailer (Flash Video 02:59) for Lady Vampire (Onna Kyuketsuki, 1958, directed by Nobuo Nakagawa).

Into the Shintoho Mind Warp: Girls, Guns, & Ghosts

Into the Shintoho Mind Warp: Girls, Guns, & Ghosts at the Japan Society. "...a retrospective of rarely shown films produced from the late 1950s to the early 1960s by mercurial, pioneering Japanese film studio Shintoho. Founded in 1947 by employees of the Tokyo-based Toho Company during strike action (its name means "New Toho"), Shintoho promptly established itself as one of the major studios of the second golden age of Japanese cinema, specializing in low- (or no-) budget productions that have become absolute cult classics. Shintoho produced over 500 features during a 14-year period, spanning a wide variety of genres from crime-thriller series to the youth films and exploitation films known as ero-guro (erotic grotesque)."

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat at Gagosian Gallery in New York, NY. ...Featuring over fifty works from public and private collections, the exhibition spans Basquiat’s brief but meteoric career, which ended with his death at the age of twenty-seven. Thirty years after Larry Gagosian first presented his work in Los Angeles, twenty years after the first posthumous survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1992–93), and eight years after the Brooklyn Museum of Art retrospective (2005), viewers will have a fresh opportunity to consider Basquiat’s central role in his artistic generation as a lightning rod and a bridge between cultures."

Friday, February 15, 2013

The Films of Keiichi Tanaami (1971-1975)

The Films of Keiichi Tanaami (1971-1975) at UbuWeb Film & Video. "...Similar to the Pop sensibility of Tadanori Yokoo or Peter Max, Tanaami's cartoon animations are precursors to today's Japanese pop artists such as Takashi Murakami. With soundtracks ranging from John Lennon to musique concrete. Included here are Good-by Marilyn (1971), Good-by Elvis and USA (1971), The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (1975), Crayon Angel (1975) and Sweet Friday (1975)." More works by Keiichi Tanaami at Nanzuka in Tokyo and Galerie Gebr. Lehmann in Dresden.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Everyday America: Photographs from the Berman Collection

Christian Patterson... Skateland, Memphis (July, 2003, Chromogenic Dye Coupler Print on Kodak Endura Paper, printed ca. 2003, edition 1/10). From the exhibition Everyday America: Photographs from the Berman Collection at Steven Kasher Gallery.

The History of Valentine's Day

The History of Valentine's Day at the WHS. "...Every February 14th, gifts, candy, loved ones exchange cards and flowers, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this Valentine fellow, and why do we celebrate his holiday? Historically, February has long been a month associated with romance, and St. Valentine's Day, as we call it today, contains elements of both Christian and Roman traditions. Its patron saint, however, remains shrouded in a bit of mystery."

Thursday, February 07, 2013

The Wisconsin Project

The Wisconsin Project by J. Shimon and J. Lindemann. "...The project contemplates the rooted-ness and identity resulting from inhabiting a single place, our native Wisconsin, over a long period of time. Through critiquing postcard views both made and found we learn a great deal about past and present Wisonsin. We began making postcard views of the places immediately around our studio and on our drives around Wisconsin." More works and projects by J. Shimon and J. Lindemann at their personal site.

Kazuo Sumida - Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle


Kazuo Sumida... Untitled (Gelatin silver print). From the exhibition Kazuo Sumida - Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle at Laurence Miller Gallery. "... Notes from Underground: Memories of My Uncle records Sumida’s personal journey into darkness, from the death of his father in 1984 until the death of his uncle in 1990. Born in 1952, Sumida has spent most of his life in Kochi Prefecture, originally called Tosa, in southern Japan. Upon his father’s death, Sumida suffered a period of depression and frustration. He sought refuge in the night. To avoid ongoing turf wars between yakuza gangs, and easily angered patrons of Kochi’s pleasure district, he began shooting with infrared film and a filtered strobe flash, unseen by the human eye. He later photographed in Nobara, a downtown gay bar. There for the first time he met his uncle, his mother’s brother, who was a performer at the bar. With the protection of his uncle, who died of alcoholism at the age of 56, Sumida photographed extensively at Nobara." More... Works by Kazuo Sumida at his personal site.