by Sandy | Feb 26, 2011 | Art, Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Creativity, Exhibits, Museums
“Abstract Expressionist New York” at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC highlights work from some of the most influential artists of the 40’s thru the 60’s that gravitated to one spot with “…a merger of ideas and styles called abstract expressionism and made New York the center of the art world…”
The MoMA presentation is “a vibrant, energizing show that’s far more than a greatest-hits collection. Sure, you’ll recognize some of the 250 or so works here — Pollock’s drip paintings, Louise Nevelson’s black boxes, Barnett Newman’s stripes. But with them are works by less familiar artists (William Baziotes, Bradley Walker Tomlin) plus early pieces by the masters we know.”
“Abstract Expressionist New York” – Until April 2011
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
(Images: “Number 1A” , 1948 Jackson Pollock and “Woman”, 1950 Willem de Kooning)
by Sandy | Feb 5, 2011 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Directors, Film, Movies
The 20 year anniversary of Spike Lee’s terrific film, “Do The Right Thing”, is celebrated with a special 2 disc DVD package containing extra footage, interviews, and new commentary by the director.
Director Lee has made so many films since 1989, but, “Do” is his most celebrated film so far – it came in # 96 in the 2007 American Film Institute list of the 100 best movies of all time.
The film tells the story of a hot day in Brooklyn’s Bed’Stuy, when pent up anger and resentment exploded into violence in a matter of minutes. The stellar cast includes Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence (film debuts for both Rosie and Martin).
What was the “right” thing?
“Do the Right Thing” (20th Anniversary Edition)
by Sandy | Jan 17, 2011 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
Another San Francisco de Young Museum exhibit focusing on Post Impressionist work from the Paris’ Musée d’Orsay opens 9/25/10. Includes artists: “Monet and Renoir, followed by the more individualistic styles of the early modern masters including Cézanne, Gauguin, Lautrec and van Gogh, and the Nabis painters, Bonnard and Vuillard. The exhibition will also provide a unique look at the Orsay’s spectacular collection of Pointillist painters including work by Seurat and Signac.”
Some of the 100 paintings to see:
A Dance in the Country, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883)
The Circus, George Seurat (1891)
Self Portrait, Vincent van Gogh (1887)
Starry Night over the Rhone, Vincent van Gogh (1888)
The Artist’s Bedroom at Arles, Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Portrait of the Artist with the Yellow Christ, Paul Gauguin (1889)
Tahitian Women, On the Beach, Paul Gauguin (1891)
Still Life with Onions, Paul Cézanne (1895)
The Snake Charmer, Henri Rousseau (1907)
“Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay” until January 2011
de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA
by Sandy | Jan 10, 2011 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Culture, Movies
Shakespeare’s Macbeth is my favorite.
I know, if I wish to impress, I should say – Hamlet, King Lear, etc.
They may be “deeper”, but, they’re not as much fun.
Macbeth has witches (3) it has ghosts (8 plus), (Hamlet only has a flickering dad). The play has a “moving” forest and a man with a questionable birth. This is drama! 
You are grabbed with the first scene and it won’t let you go until that pesky forest starts to inch forward, (I hope I haven’t given too much away)
I’ve seen Macbeth on stage once – the witches were in Japanese white Butoh masks(interesting). I have relied on an occasional reread and film rentals to revisit this story of power and madness. There are several British color versions from the 70’s and 80’s, but, the Orson Welles version is my favorite. He starred in and directed a stark, black & white minimalist film (read low budget with paper-mache sets, and cardboard crowns) in 1948.
Welles, as Macbeth, and Jeanette Nolan, as Lady M, bring the play to life. They, and the rest of the spirited cast, proceed to climb the scenery, without there being much to climb. (The sets are pretty bare). All underlying ambition and greed of the passionate duo is uncovered, They eventually embrace their baser nature with relish and self destruct. Sound familiar?
Wm. Shakespeare’s flawed characters transcend centuries and we can still relate.
Love it.
by Sandy | Nov 29, 2010 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Museums
The de Young Museum in San Francisco, CA has recently added “Migration” to its “America” collection. It was painted by Jacob Lawrence in the 1940’s as part of his series with a recurring theme of African Americans moving from South to North between the World Wars.
Lawrence, 1917–2000, called his colorful, distinctive style “dynamic cubism”.
de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA
by Bob Martin | Nov 20, 2010 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Exhibits, Museums
It is 2010 and there is still a lot to learn about Mexico and our relationship with it’s people and their country. I’ve never been to Mexico and feel there is a lot that I don’t understand. I am tired of the fear spin in the media and by our politicians.
Paul Strand Mexico
Art gives us the opportunity to learn a truth.
A Century of Revolution: Mexican Art since 1910 Arkansas Arts Center – ends November 21, 2010
Paul Strand in Mexico APERTURE GALLERY
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“Abstract Expressionist New York” at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC highlights work from some of the most influential artists of the 40’s thru the 60’s that gravitated to one spot with “…a merger of ideas and styles called abstract expressionism and made New York the center of the art world…”
