Newest Features
Philip Guston’s pictography forms an intimate coded narrative. This style (for which he is known) only emerged late is his career and life, and feel sincere and autobiographical. Guston’s appropriation of the style of underground comics is a crude confrontation between high and low art, which is now celebrated, but at the time was roundly lambasted. This style, along with recurrence of specific detritus—piles of shoes, bare light bulbs, clocks, and cigarettes—interweave to create a signature visual vernacular. They are as quintessentially his as the sinister hooded figures and confused masses…
I’ve been listening to The Smiths’ The World Won’t Listen on and off for over a month solely because of Phil Collins and Wellesley College. It’s a bit too emo for my tastes today, but I don’t remember thinking that when I was younger and more morose. Of course, I have no memory of listening to Ragnar Kjartansson’s music when I was younger because he’s the same age as me and wasn’t a child pop music prodigy. It’s probably better that I can’t nail down Kjartansson’s music to an earlier era of…
“Poïesis is etymologically derived from the ancient Greek term ποιέω, which means “to make”. This word, the root of our modern “poetry”, was first a verb, an action that transforms and continues the world. Neither technical production nor creation in the romantic sense, poietic work reconciles thought with matter and time, and man with the world.” (Wikipedia) This is a regular series of poems on the topic of art. Kurt Eidsvig’s column, Poïesis, which appeared in Volume 1 of Big Red & Shiny, brings a poetic twist to our conversation on…
I’m loving these promotional videos by Pacific Standard Time and the Getty Trust celebrating the people, art and architecture of Los Angeles. If you find yourself in the city this spring and summer, don’t miss Pacific Standard Time presents: Modern Architecture in L.A, an initiative by the Getty Trust that examines the city’s greatest post-World War II contribution: modern architecture. This initiative comprises of 11 exhibitions held at various museums in and around the Los Angeles area including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); the Hammer Museum; The Getty Museum;…
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, past Hawaii but before Japan, is a collection of landmasses called the Marshall Islands. When the Europeans finally came calling in the early 16th century on their exploration ships there was trepidation, but having been settled by the natives since the second millennium BC, John Marshall discovered not only a deep understanding of the land but also the water. Traveling only by canoe, the Marshallese would use stick charts to map the 1,156 islands and islets surrounding them. Traditional stick charts not only mark…
Every week, BR&S picks out a series of gallery events/screenings/exhibitions/performances. Here are our choices for you to go & see this week: • Events Tuesday February 19 Café Fixe, 1642 Beacon St Brookline, MA Non-Event presents: KATZE KATZE is the duo that Noell Dorsey (voice and synth) and Morgan Evans-Weiler (violin and electronics). 8 pm / $5 Tuesday February 19* The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge Balagan Films Presents: Breakwater From camera motion inspired by the fluidity of bubbling streams — to the productive potential of organisms residing within –…
[please set the video to full screen] De Lejos (From Afar) implies distance: spatial, geographic, emotional, linguistic. A state of being both somewhere and nowhere; distance as the essential obverse of intimacy. De Lejos works with the notion of the computer screen as canvas. From architecture Rondeau brings a particular interest in the spatial context through which an image is perceived, and has repeatedly explored ideas of space, frame, duration, and distance in her work with projection and video installation. She uses different tactics of disruption and delay to heighten one’s physical…
Living in The United States in the twenty-first century, it is impossible to escape the complexities of the digital body and our rapidly evolving screen culture. Interested in exploring the interface as a place and the challenges and potential that it provides artists working in performance, I traveled to Salem to reconnect with a former collaborator and friend, Bradley Benedetti. Bradley primarily makes work for the Internet under a myriad of aliases. We compared our approaches to navigating the world with creative intentions. We discussed how the truncated attention span many bring…