By STEVE AISHMAN August is the cruellest month. The doldrums of the art world where half of the galleries are closed or not showing new work. Most of the artists are at the beach. August is an annual promise of…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman Dear movie industry liars, Why have you decided that it is easier to make a bad movie with good advertising than to just make a good movie? You should hire the guys…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman I pull over into a gas station that has a fruit stand set-up in the parking lot. You know, one of those stands under a tent with a huge hand painted sign…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman “Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.” – Marshall McLuhan For a lot of people, myself included, summer has always been…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman I don’t know a single artist who if you ask them why they make art will say that their primary goal is for people to say nice things about them and their…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman The recent economic slow down has hit the entire global arts community extremely hard, but strangely, I have not seen many artists using the current state of affairs as the central dialog…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman Why I love abstract art and think it is getting better. “The eye is the natural master of pattern recognition. The eye demands satisfaction by invoking in us strong feelings of…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By STEVE AISHMAN Print this article Southern Double Feature First: artist and media theorist Serene Al-Kawas and I have a dialog about the exhibition “Atatürk” by Mike Mandel and Chantal Zakari at Kennesaw State…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman So, this is the problem with language. I went to a party the other day where I really only knew the host, everyone else was a stranger. This is how my conversation…
By Steve Aishman A collection of art news from around the globe over the past few years: 1. In 2008, Paul McCarthy’s “Complex Shit”, a giant inflatable dog turd, broke free, destroyed some power lines, and then crashed into a children’s…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman When I travel, one of my favorite things to do is to visit smaller, less well-known museums. The reason why I love to visit smaller museums is that I can really enjoy…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman “In a creative argument both parties are more interested in finding the truth or solving the problem than in being right. ” Michael A. Gilbert In philosophy, an argument is a claim…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman So I’ve almost stopped reading articles. In print, on-line… whatever. All I look for is how many comments have been made. The comment section of an article says far more about an…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman “It’s easy to make contemporary art sound stupid— just describe it literally.” – Bill Arning Bill Arning is right about most things and in this case, you can apply the same logic…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman A crossword puzzle for some of the Boston Art scene. Click on it and then print it. Most of the answers can be found using Google. The solution will be available on…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman When I was little, I remember watching “The Terminator” with my father and saying “Wow, that guy was really strong.” My father replied, “Well, that’s one type of strength. There are many…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman So I was giving a talk other day and when I was done, I heard someone in the audience say under their breath: “That’s not the way a real artist talks …”…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman Our toys were our first art collections. I still have all of my Star Wars figures, lined-up in their “Action Display Stand” just the way I liked to show them when…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman The Reverence Of Looking The Zuni have used clay figures for thousands of years. Buddhists; mandalas. A clinical psychologists may suggest a candle. Christians may use the cross. Cultures from around the…
A REPORT FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE By Steve Aishman Night of the Living Dead (1968) Halloween (1978) Dawn of the Dead (1978) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Day of the Dead (1985) Creepshow 2 (1987) Monkey Shines (1988) They…