February 20, 2010
The Color of the Gods
I took the train to Alcal? de Henares to see El Color De Los Dioses, an exhibition investigating the original color of painted sculpture of Ancient Greece and Rome. Super, super cool.
February 18, 2010
Cigala at Teatro Circo Price
I read about a flamenco festival here in Madrid in Iberia Airlines in flight magazine, so I dropped in to Teatro Circo Price to see if I could catch anything interesting. When I bought the ticket, I was dimly aware that I was about to hear a favorite singer, Diego La Cigala. (The video above includes Bebo Valdes, who as not part of the act last night... however Cigala's accompanying quintet was fantastic.) I had thought at the moment when purchasing the ticket: "...maybe there are many Cigalas out there? I couldn't be this lucky tonight, could I?"
February 17, 2010
Pop EU
Here's a sample of pop music here in the EU, pulled from a German music video channel in my Madrid hotel room tv.
Andrew Hahn at WPA
WPA is at 510 Bernard Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 | +1 213-503-5762, the gallery is open 12-6pm, Thursday - Sunday or by appointment.
Phil Wagner and Henry Taylor at Rental NYC
If you're in NYC this week, be sure to check out Phil Wagner and Henry Taylor's show at Rental Gallery.
February 16, 2010
Zona Cero
A popular program in Spain, Zona Cero seems to be a sociological, sexy, fashionable and skeptical look at contemporary Iberian culture. (Click on the video to go to YouTube and you'll find links to all six parts of A Fonda Zona.)
February 15, 2010
February 9, 2010
Something's Happening
I'm flying out to the EU to see friends, my galleries, and take in the fair in Madrid, ARCO.
Here's the itinerary:
-Fly in and out of Amsterdam.
-Visit my gallery Tanya Rumpff and friends in Haarlem.
-Visit my friends in Tossa and Barcelona, & check up on our house.
-Visit ARCO, where Miguel Marcos will have some of last summer's work up in the fair in Madrid.
-Visit friends in Berlin and my gallery Andr? Buchmann near CheckPoint Charlie.
-Visit Javier Tapia in Copenhagen.
It'll be a whirlwind, a fun one.
Studio Audio Guernica
I've been listening to audiobooks in the studio for some time now. This is the latest...
On April 26, 1937, in the late afternoon of a busy market day in the Basque town of Gernika in northern Spain, the German Luftwaffe began the relentless bombing and machine-gunning of businesses, homes and villagers to test a new type of warfare waged from the air at the request of General Francisco Franco and his rebel forces. Three-and-a-half hours later, the village lay in ruins, its population decimated. This act of terror and unspeakable crueltythe first intentional, large-scale attack against a nonmilitary target in modern warfareoutraged the world, and compelled a Spanish painter to respond with artistic fury. Pablo Picasso, an expatriate living in Paris, reacted immediately to the devastation in his homeland by beginning work on the canvas that would become his testament against the horrors of war.One of the audiobooks that I listened to over the weekend was Picasso's War by Russell Martin. I had a general idea of what happened, I had seen the great painting several times at the Reina Sophia in Madrid. But there were a few aspects that I was unaware of that this book brought to my attention:
-That not only was the attack an early exercise in blitzkrieg, but that it was initially meant to be a joint attack with Franco's rebel forces... and the spanish fascists were a no-show.
-Not only that, but Franco's faction denied their involvement initially, and deep into the evolution of the war.
-That this was Picasso's only politically pointed nonverbal artistic statement, more powerful and pointed for it all. This may be just my opinion, and I would be interested in considering someone's rebuttal.
-That after traveling to and fro, and after being in the hands of the Guggenheim for some time, that there was a controversy about whether it should travel to Bilbao or not. And after the hand grenades were planted in Jeff Koon's flowery puppy, much wind fell off the sail of the Basque argument. I think that such a statement of protest of war atrocity is best showcased in the capital of the city that carries the burden of responsibility for it.
(Blogpost in progress)
FYI: Don't Sing Out of Tune
The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling ?My Way? in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the ?My Way Killings.?The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country?s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?
Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country?s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver?s ?Take Me Home, Country Roads.? Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay?s ?Yellow? after criticizing his version.
Half a dozen killings in ten years is a slender thread to hang a theory on, but perhaps this story originated in the Philippines itself... which, if so, would be an indication of some soul searching... for what, I'm not entirely sure.
February 7, 2010
February 1, 2010
But I want you to want me too...
Seems appropriate during our art fair here in LA last week.
Oh, the great and tragic Marvin Gaye.
For the sake of irony and interest, here he is with his dad in better times:
Revolver: Art LA Contemporary 2010
(I shot this on my iPhone, and I had a surprise with the formatting. I'll puzzle it out soon enough.)
A Meta Tour de Force
Check it out (via Instapundit). It's a meta tour de force as described by Gates of Vienna, simultaneously wound tight and supple.
The comments keep up the spirit of the post for over 20 pages at this count.