Friday, April 26, 2013

RIP: George Jones

George Jones... The Race Is On (1965, Flash Video 01:58) and Walk Through This World With Me (1967, Flash Video 02:05). RIP: George Jones. The Greatest.

Světová grafická avantgarda


Světová grafická avantgarda at galerie art svìtlana a luboš jelínkovi (cz). "...Pokračování volného cyklu výstav světové grafické avantgardy uvádí světové grafiky s hvězdnými jmény i ty méně známé umělce, kteří tvořili po jejich boku, či byli jejich následovníky. Většina z nich formovala moderní výtvarné umění a z jejich práce čerpali téměř všichni umělci 20. století. Někteří byli součástí uměleckých stylů (Glarner, Guiramand), jiní "ismy" vytvářeli (Picasso, Braque) a pár z nich se nezařaditelně stalo samostatným stylem (Miró, Chagall). Dnes, po více než sto letech od počátků jejich tvorby je vidět, jak významně všichni ovlivnili dějiny umění i designu. Zároveň je zajímavé sledovat současné nejmladší autory, kteří díla "klasiků" nemohou nechat bez povšimnutí. Prodejní výstava v chrudimské Galerii ART představuje 40 grafických listů provedených většinou v technikách litografie a dřevorytu."

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Calle de Luz: Photographs by Duane Monczewski

Calle de Luz: Photographs by Duane Monczewski at Soulcatcher Gallery. "...Calle de Luz (Street of Light), was produced over the last three decades, largely in the American Southwest and Mexico. Monczewski's subject matter often consists of deteriorating urban surfaces, hand-made signage, the odd juxtaposition, fragments of information. The incidental decorative impulse, as well as the evidence of the human hand, is celebrated in the work. Monczewski states, 'I enjoy the decorative quality of the final photographic print as well.'"

Philippe Zoummeroff Collection of May 1968

Philippe Zoummeroff Collection of May 1968 at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library. "...244 posters and ephemera documenting the explosion of protests that swept across France."

The Cassville Photographs of Frank W. Feiker

The Cassville Photographs of Frank W. Feiker at the WHS. "...Around 1905 photographer Frank W. Feiker moved from Milwaukee to Cassville, Wisconsin, and for the next half-century he documented the daily life of that typical Mississippi River town. In this gallery we've brought together 147 of his best photographs. They range from intimate portraits to sprawling landscapes, and their subjects include everything from subterranean mineshafts to aerial views from bluff tops. Many images bear his signature "Souvenir" mark, denoting that the image was used on a postcard. The Feiker collection provides a rich visual record of Cassville over several decades and exhibits the work of a typical early 20th-century, small-town photographer."

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Anemic Cinema

Marcel Duchamp... Anemic Cinema (1926). "...Anemic Cinema (various versions were made in 1920, 1923 and, finally, in 1926). Essentially a film by Duchamp with help from Man Ray. Calvin Tomkins: 'Duchamp used the initial payment on his inheritance to make a film and to go into the art business. The film, shot in Man Ray's studio with the help of cinematographer Marc Allégret, was a seven-minute animation of nine punning phrases by Rrose Sélavy. These had been pasted, letter by letter, in a spiral pattern on round black discs that were then glued to phonograph records; the slowly revolving texts alternate with shots of Duchamp's Discs Bearing Spirals, ten abstract designs whose turning makes them appear to move backward and forward in an erotic rhythm. The little film, which Duchamp called Anemic Cinema, had its premiere that August at a private screening room in Paris.'"

Friday, April 19, 2013

Alexander Rodtschenko - Photography

Alexander Rodtschenko - Photography at Galerie Berinson in Berlin.

Secrets Behind The Wall


Secrets Behind The Wall - movie excerpt (Flash Video 01:27) 1965, directed by Koji Wakamatsu.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Frieke Janssens: Smoking Kids

Frieke Janssens: Smoking Kids at Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...Frieke Janssens embarked on Smoking Kids in response to seeing a video of a chain-smoking toddler in Indonesia who became a tourist attraction. Alarmed by this reality, she decided to show people what the act of smoking looks like through the posturing of four to nine year old children. Working with modeling agencies, volunteers and family friends, Janssens tackled the issue of glamour often associated with smoking. Both irreverent and stunning, Janssens' photographs challenge our perceptions of smoking and the attitudes often defined by it." More... Works by Frieke Janssens at her personal site.

Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol (1971-76)

Michel Auder... Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol (1971-76) at UbuWeb Film & Video. "...In 1969 Michel Auder began a series of video diaries that chronicled the art scene in downtown New York. In Chelsea Girls with Andy Warhol, Auder captures revealing moments in Warhol's public and private life: the opening of the 1970 Whitney Museum retrospective, a party held at John Lennon and Yoko Ono's home, a heated telephone conversation between Warhol, Viva and Brigid Berlin, and an illuminating interview conducted with Larry Rivers, the grandfather of Pop Art, following the publication of The Philosophy of Andy Warhol in 1975. The issue of money is a consistent topic of conversation with Viva, who after departing the Factory in 1969 sent Warhol a series of threatening letters demanding money."

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Kaysen Railroad Maps

Kaysen Railroad Maps at the WHS. "...Logging historians, railroad buffs and everyone who vacations in Wisconsin's northern forests will enjoy a major new addition to the Society's online map collection. Some 1,200 topographic maps annotated by railroad historian James P. Kaysen to show defunct logging railroads and describe the lumber companies that owned them are streaming into the Society's online maps and atlas collection this month."

Repo Man: A Lattice of Coincidence

Repo Man: A Lattice of Coincidence by Sam McPheeters. "...Repo Man, released in early 1984, was the first feature film by a twenty- nine-year-old British UCLA film school graduate named Alex Cox. Even now, the film’s existence seems implausible. It is an apocalypse tale with no doomsday, a punk movie with no concert, a science fiction story with less than ten seconds of aliens. Most of its now classic music was on the far, far edge of American society in 1984. It mines a world of drugs, crime, and capitalist peril for absurdist yuks (when Cox showed the film to his contacts in the real world of Los Angeles auto repossession, they found it to be a diluted version of their much more terrifying jobs). The project, originally envisioned at one-tenth of its final budget, was picked up by Universal Studios. That backing launched the green director into the unfamiliar universe of teamsters and lawyers and the watchful eyes of a studio that could smoosh the project with one phone call."

Friday, April 12, 2013

1979 Johnathan Winters Wendy's Commercial


1979 Johnathan Winters Wendy's Commercial (Flash Video 00:29). RIP: Johnathan Winters.

Alma Lavenson

Alma Lavenson at Gitterman Gallery in New York, NY. "...Alma Lavenson was born in San Francisco in 1897 and after the 1906 earthquake she and her family relocated across the Bay to Oakland, where she lived for the rest of her life. Lavenson took up photography around 1918 and received a degree in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1919. Her earliest photographs are emblematic of the pictorialist style of the time. In 1930 a family friend presented Lavenson with letters of introduction to Imogen Cunningham, who became a life-long friend and her greatest influence, and to Edward Weston, who encouraged her to switch from a soft-focus to a sharp focus lens."

Stencil Art Norway

Stencil Art Norway - A historical look at the art of cutting and spraying in Norway at Reed Projects.

51

Today is the 25th anniversary of my 26th birthday.

Friday, April 05, 2013

Ray at Hofstra

Ray Johnson... Ray at Hofstra (1987) at UbuWeb Film and Video. "...Days after discussing videotaping to Ray at the Islip Museum Director Madeline Burnside’s New Yearʼs Party, Ray, Nadine and I got together at Hofstra University where I was teaching at the time. We began with the recording of Rayʼs artworks. Ray was immediately interested in the video process. Events led to recording Rayʼs performances and his telling of interesting information. His recollection of Guy Trebay’s Village Voice article stands out. At the end of the afternoon we were enthusiastic about doing future recordings." More... Works by Ray Johnson at the Ray Johnson Estate.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Vampir-Cuadecuc, 1970


Trailer for Vampir-Cuadecuc (Flash Video 03:16) - 1970, directed by Pere Portabella. Filmed on the set of Jess Franco's Count Dracula, starring Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Soledad Miranda, and Jack Taylor.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

The Diabolical Mr. Franco

The Diabolical Mr. Franco - The Films of Jess Franco (Part One, Flash Video 11:17). RIP Jesús "Jess" Franco.