by Bob Martin | Oct 25, 2011 | Art, Exhibits, Galleries
Until February 12, 2012, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC presents an exhibit of 76 works of art by 31 artists (“The truth is, because we do collect right up to the last minute before a show, there are actually 31 artists in “30 Americans.” —Rubell Family, November, 2008”) who may or may not be African-Americans. I am not understanding the spin on the show and don’t think it is worth trying to figure it out.
Let the work speak for itself and let us know what you experienced.
Mickalene Thomas, Baby I Am Ready Now
by Sandy | Oct 20, 2011 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, dvd, Museums
A few years ago, I watched an entertaining documentary called “Herb & Dorothy” as part of the PBS “Independent Lens” series. I just noticed that its now on DVD!
Herb & Dorothy Vogel collected art – it was their passion. These 2 acquired so many canvases and sculptures that they ran out of room in their NYC apartment. Not only was there no more wall space, but there was no room under the bed, in the bath room or in the closets.
From the 1960s through the 1990s, they collected over 4,000 items, even though as government workers they didn’t have lots of money to buy. They loved art and artists, found painters and sculptors before they became famous (and expensive) and bought what they liked. Eventually the collection was moved to a gallery at the National Museum of Art in Washington, DC with a speculated worth of millions. Is this what “having an eye” means?
Herb & Dorothy Vogel- glad I met them.
(BTW: The “Herb & Dorothy” DVD, directed by Megumi Sasaki, was released at the end of December 2009)
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by Sandy | Oct 1, 2011 | Actors, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Dance, Dancers, dvd, Film, Movies
If you like the theater and/or you dance sing, act – you know about the audition process and how nerve wracking it can be.
“Every Little Step” is a very entertaining documentary about that very same weeding out process – whittling from thousands, down to the very few special people who were chosen for the final tryouts to be in the 2006 revival of “A Chorus Line”. This legendary 1975 Broadway musical about dancers and their lives was conceived and directed by the late Michael Bennett. (Although in order to make the final cut, these young hopefuls had to be triple threat material – dancer/singer/actor.)
The film gets the viewer involved and invested early on so that you start to root for them all to win the few prized spots in the show.Their passion and hard work is awe inspiring.These performers love what they do regardless of the disappointments. As one young lady said, “If you don’t have something to ‘fall back on’ you won’t fall back – you just keep going.”
“Every Little Step” – Excellent!
“What I did For Love” (by Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Lawrence Kleban):
“Kiss the day goodbye
Point me t’ward tomorrow
We did what we had to do.
Won’t forget, can’t regret
What I did for love…”
by Sandy | Sep 28, 2011 | Art, Blogroll, Events, Exhibits, Galleries
We all know Mr. Dylan is a master song writer/singer – he received an honorary Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” But did you know that he also paints?
You can see some of them at The Gagosian Gallery in New York City until 10/22/11:
“The Asia Series, a visual reflection on his travels in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea, comprises people, street scenes, architecture, and landscapes, which can be clearly identified by title and specific cultural details, such as Mae Ling, Cockfight, The Bridge, and Hunan Province. Conversely, there are more cryptic paintings of personalities and situations, such Big Brother and Opium, or LeBelle Cascade, which looks like a riff on Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe but which is, in fact, a scenographic tourist photo-opportunity in a Tokyo amusement arcade.”
The Asia Series * Until October 22, 2011
Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, New York
by Sandy | Sep 26, 2011 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Film, Movies
This movie was on broadcast TV over the weekend – couldn’t resist watching – and I noticed all the cuts. Between the commercials and the deleted scenes, a lot of the momentum, and energy was lost. Watch it on DVD for the full experience.
The brothers Affleck – Ben directs, and Casey stars – are responsible for this turbulent film. Based on a Dennis Lehane book, “Gone Baby Gone” starts as a child abduction case – a little girl goes missing in Boston, can she be found in enough time? (The longer a child is missing, the higher the possibility that the situation will end badly: child never found or child deceased.)
The actors, led by the thin, wavery voiced Casey Affleck as the private eye,Morgan Freeman, and Ed Harris as the cops and Amy Ryan as the mother of the missing child, are terrific.
The movie unfolds with the unfortunately familiar process – a massive search for the 4 year old involving police, family members, tons of press camped outside the home, etc. Then, one of the relatives of the missing child hires a private detective to question neighbors, thinking that those who would rather not talk to the police may talk to him. The drama escalates, the mystery widens and becomes complex as the layers are peeled and we are introduced to the over the top, out of control characters who may or may not be involved in what happened, including the little girl’s foul mouthed mother.
The plot thickens and morphs into a compound mystery. The “who” changes to “what” and back again to “who dunnit” like a pin ball careening around. So many twists and turns that at times I did have to ask “Hunh? What just happened here?” Certain events may have been added and made obscure on purpose (“Red Herrings”) just to heighten the mystery, but it works. I was entertained thru all the surprises until the sad ending. (“Sad”, but not for the reasons you might expect.)
“Doing the right thing” – what it is/what it isn’t – is such a personal thing, as it should be, since we have to live with our choices. But, the results of our choices/ decisions often radiate outward and cause repercussions for others.
by Bob Martin | Sep 23, 2011 | Art, Galleries, Museums, Photograhy
Children with Doll - Gordon Parks
It is a common practice to revise history or at least the telling of it (Michele Bachmann on slavery) so that it justifies the needs of the powerful. To understand the prominence of the United States of America in the world it is necessary to understand the history of the African in America, their contribution to the wealth of the nation and its cost. Preserving the truth, artists (through their work) have left us images and stories that invite wonder.
James VanDerZee, Gordon Parks and Roy DeCarava are just a few artists who left us with incredible imagery that grabs our attention about the past and correctly makes no prediction about the future.
Until November 6, 2011, at the Norton Photography Gallery – Phoenix Museum of Art, Gordon Parks’ “Bare Witness”, a record of the 20th-century and the “unfulfilled promise of equality for African-Americans” will be on view. Much of the pain of the 20th century still exists, this exhibit and others like it serve to educate and lessen the hurt.
by Sandy | Sep 21, 2011 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, dvd, Film, Movies
I kept noticing this “Tattoo” book that stayed on the Bay Area paperback best seller list last year forever. I got curiouser and curiouser. Rather than read it, I cheated and watched “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” on DVD first and then bought the books – yes, plural. I was so hooked on the main characters and their adventures that reading the whole trilogy by Swedish writer Stieg Larson was the only option. I had such a great time! 
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
The books are cleverly dense with detail, suspense, intrigue and double dealing. The screen writer was selective in what was included in the 3 subsequent movies, but they are well done (I think “Tattoo” was the best). I love a mystery – who disappeared, who was betrayed, who covered up. The 2 main characters, fearless, antisocial “Lisbeth Salander”, fiercely brought to life by Noomi Rapace and investigative journalist “Michael Blomkvist”, played by Michael Nyqvist, were great, but I must say that everyone was. Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, they did a super job.
The action takes place in Sweden – I marvel at the similarities and the differences to American life. A conspiracy is a conspiracy, politics is politics, muckraking is muckraking regardless of the language. The methods to uncover evil machinations are now global with the blanket use of the internet. Hacking has never seemed so exciting. A warming – some scenes are violent, but, they do give insight as to why our “Girl” behaves as she does.
Of course I’m sorry Mr. Larson passed away in 2004, especially since after reading the final book and watching the DVD (“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” ), I got the distinct impression that our non-heroine/heroine, Ms Salander, was not finished – there was more to do, more to reveal and dig up, more people to disturb. Sigh… (Hope that didn’t sound too callous?)
I don’t know why, but there is an American remake due out this Fall – David Fincher as Director (He did Social Network), David Craig (the most recent actor to play James Bond) and relative newcomer Rooney Mara as the tattooed girl. It better be good!
by Sandy | Sep 19, 2011 | Art, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Exhibits, Museums
MAM, Museum of Art Miami, located in the heart of downtown, has an ongoing exhibit called BETWEEN HERE AND THERE which displays its collection of Modern and Contemporary Art. 
“This presentation represents the first long-term installation of Miami Art Museum’s permanent collection, which was established in 1996. …Miami is a crossroad for people and ideas from different parts of the world, a city defined by a complex interplay between international issues and local perspectives. It strives for a collective language through which the diverse experiences of its population can be expressed and understood. This tension between many individual circumstances and a common, civic vision gives Miami its rich and unique texture, while also paralleling broader patterns of globalization in 20th- and 21st-century culture.”
BETWEEN HERE AND THERE
Miami Art Museum / MAM, 101 West Flagler Street, Miami, Florida (in the Philip Johnson-designed Miami-Dade Cultural Center)
(Image: “Regard the Class Struggle as a Main Link in the Chain”, Kehinde Wiley, 2007
Oil and enamel on canvas, 96 x 72 inches)
by Bob Martin | Sep 16, 2011 | Art, Exhibits, Galleries
©David Byrne, courtesy The Pace Gallery and Pace/MacGill
One of my many beliefs is that interesting art is a representation of where we are now. What interests or upsets people now, what do we laugh at or recognize in ourselves?
David Byrne’s work as a recording artist, producer and visual artist has always given me unexpected joy. GottaGo is delightfully funny.
Apps for our smart phones, pads and computers are all the talk and are destined to make our lives obsolete, by taking complete control of our thinking and shielding us from our humanity. Which is funny in a way.
Lets be honest with ourselves, only an app can consistently say anything worth saying in 140 characters less.
David Byrne: Tight Spot at the Pace Gallery
Sep 16, 2011 – Oct 1, 2011
by Bob Martin | Sep 14, 2011 | Art, Exhibits, Museums
Arizona is home to a number of great art collections, art museums and artists, which is in contrast, in my mind, to the state’s public and political persona. Its almost as if we are at war with ourselves.
Mexican Modernism from the Blaisten Collection through Sept 25th at the Phoenix Museum of Art:
Painting by Fernando Castillo
Modern Mexican art transformed painting and printmaking in the western hemisphere during the first half of the 20th century. Not only did it represent the cosmopolitanism of Mexican masters, but it directly influenced the art of South America and the United States. Led by Diego Rivera, scores of Mexican artists reached out across borders, and other artists reached back to Mexicans at home. This generation of artists, to this day, profoundly affected Mexican culture and art and that of its neighbors.
Mexican Modernism from the Blaisten Collection is drawn from the world’s most important private collection of Mexican modernism. The exhibition includes paintings created by many of Mexico’s leading artists working between 1910 and 1950. Organized around seven themes, the exhibition presents a visually stunning, definitive look at Mexican art of the period. Phx. Museum of Art.
