Construction Site, Yolo County, California
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Damn Yankees
Franz Kline and Ludwig Sander at baseball game, ca. 1950-1
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
VIA The Parrish Art Museum
Today marks the beginning of that dark span of months widely known as the Major League Baseball off-season. In the meantime: hockey.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
The Responsive Eye
This is too good to be true. Experience the 1965 Op Art exhibit, The Responsive Eye, with none other than Mike Wallace. WEIRD. Also note Parts II and III. VIA MINUS SPACE.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Train (1964) is an excellent film that you can currently watch for free on Hulu (or simply by clicking the embedded video above). In many ways, it can be seen as a prototype of the generic action thrillers that became popular in the 1970's and continue to dominate at the box office today. The excessive explosions, Nazi antagonists, and distressed damsels are all there. However, these tropes merely serve to enhance an already-good, entertaining film.
The story is a mostly-fictive take on the art theft that occurred within Nazi-occupied France. As the opening credits unwind, we see Nazi henchmen carefully packing and crating various stolen treasures of the French state. Here is a crate of stolen Seurat masterpieces:
The sets throughout the movie are beautiful and anyone who likes the sights and sounds of trains and rail yards will not be disappointed. It is, of course, no surprise when the downtrodden heroes foil the Nazi's plan to steal a train full of French masterpieces. However, the battle is won by a sequence of unexpected French trickery, and ultimately the good guys prevail by doing what they do best: painting. To make matters even more strange, "the glory of France" is saved as a result of some frenzied, Jackson Pollock-style action painting. Sometimes fiction is stranger than truth, and this movie makes efficient use of both.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
John Baldessari: A Print Retrospective
“Throwing Three Balls in the Air to Get a Straight Line (Best of 36 Attempts)”
1973
Two enthusiastic, three-dimensional thumbs-up for the Baldessari show currently on display at San Francisco's Legion of Honor (through November 8, 2009). Composed of over 100 prints from his "post-painting" period, the exhibit provides a puzzling and colorful experience. Baldessari's imagery and ideas generate a stark sense of contrast as one walks through the basement galleries beneath the Legion's exquisite vaults. The upstairs chambers, lined chronologically with old masterworks, become stoic showrooms to the L.A. guru's mischievous visual laboratory below. What results is a clever and thoroughly satisfying curatorial provocation that enhances both ends of an art historical spectrum.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Dig, Digging, Doug
Here's an interesting video from one of the more confounding people I know, Doug Williams.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Last week I had a nice chat with John Casey over at the BayVan launching soiree. John is a phenom when it comes to drawing, and a very friendly guy to boot. If you see him around town, he will probably give you a really cool sticker.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Dr. Simon Ingram is an artist from New Zealand who makes paintings with machines made from rudimentary electronics and Legos.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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