As a long-time reader and would-be patron of Austin Kleon and his blackout poems, I was glad to see his work featured on Jen Bekman’s 20×200. I bought How It Works last week. This afternoon I came home and saw that I had received a parcel.
I made my way inside for a better camera and [...]
I love this post about measuring whether an artist is under- or over-valued. The method is pretty cool, basically comparing the Human Accomplishment ranking and the available Amazon music inventory, and making a rough P/E ratio. This post focuses on notable composers and it looks like Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque composers get shorted, while late [...]
The AJC has some really nice photos from the premiere of Gone with the Wind. I never knew there was a motorcade, teeming crowds, etc. Even has a nice playbill.
Igor Stravinsky (↑, one of my favorite composers) is probably best known for his collaboration with Serge Diaghilev on the The Rite of Spring ballet and its scandalous premiere. But a few years after that, with Diaghilev’s prodding, he brought out another ballet score with older, more conservative roots, Pulcinella.
What made Pulcinella different was [...]
The fifth issue of Ahhhhh Mega-Zine is ready for your enjoyment. I really liked Javan Makhmali’s photos in this one.
From an interview with Lynda Barry:
There isn’t much of a difference in the experience of painting a picture, writing a novel, making a comic strip, reading a poem or listening to a song. The containers are different, but the lively thing at the center is what I’m interested in.
[via austin kleon]
Alex Ross is coming to speak at Kennesaw State University before an eighth blackbird concert, just a short drive away. OMG. This might be the first time I get to be that guy that shows up to get his book signed.
Is it Art?, an essay on videogames.
A common criticism of video games made by non-gamers is that they are pointless and escapist, but a more valid observation might be that the bulk of games are nowhere near escapist enough. A persuasive recent essay by the games theorist Steven Poole made the strong argument that the [...]
One day backstage in the ’30s, Larry, Shemp, and Moe were playing cards. Shemp accused Larry of cheating. After a heated argument, Shemp reached over and stuck his fingers in Larry’s eyes. Moe, watching, thought it was hilarious … and that’s how the famous poke-in-the-eyes routine was born.
The origin of the Three Stooges. [via marginal [...]
The History of Visual Communication. Plenty of good stuff here. I like the care taken in the further readings & references at the bottom of each section.
Reason Magazine has a great illustrated flowchart showing how hard it is to immigrate to the United States.
Mike Clelland’s illustrations are relentlessly cheerful. The lines are so relaxed but precise and I love the heavy use of arrows and labels:
Perfume is the art for your sense of smell, just as music is for hearing and art for your eyes and cuisine is for taste. This past weekend at the Decatur Book Festival, my favorite author to hear, by far, was Chandler Burr. Chandler Burr currently writes about perfume for the New York Times. He [...]
A Day in the Life of a Musician by Erik Satie:
An artist must regulate his life.
Here is a time-table of my daily acts. I rise at 7.18; am inspired from 10.23 to 11.47. I lunch at 12.11 and leave the table at 12.14. A healthy ride on horse-back round my domain follows from 1.19 pm [...]
Sculptor Richard Serra gave the 2008 commencement speech at Williams College. I like his comments about thinking, obsession, and play:
If it’s not broken, break it. One way of coming to terms with the prevailing language of a cultural orthodoxy is to reject it. It may be necessary to invent tools and methods about which you [...]
Medical students who study art develop better observation skills and make better diagnoses.
I’ve been flipping through The Collected Prose of Robert Frost and came across this marvelous bit:
No one given to looking under-ground in spring can have failed to notice how a bean starts its growth from the seed. Now the manner of a poet’s germination is less like that of a bean in the ground than [...]
When you are outside drawing a tree, YOU are choosing what is in focus, what is not—there is an exchange between subject and viewer. That is the art. To be present in that moment.
[thanks, austin]
Public sculpture can be hit or miss, but I think the Sibelius Monument is pretty sweet.
Really impressive linocuts + lithographs. See more of Edward Bawden’s artwork at BiblioOdyssey.
The Singing, Ringing Tree is a sculpture in Lancashire, England that makes wooooing and oooooohhhhing sounds as the wind blows over the hilltop.
The Brooklyn Museum has some great photos on Flickr. Currently in the commons are a great set of old lantern slides in Egypt, and a lot of images from the 1900 Paris Exposition.
In the Paris set, it’s cool how the primitive coloring job kind of flattens the images. They look almost like paper cut-outs or [...]
I like the idea of a corporate artist in residence. Surely a few companies would buy into it?
I watched Old Joy last week (trailer, Ebert) and recommend that you do the same. It’s based on a short story by Jonathan Raymond and uses its 70-something minutes very well.
In 1800s America, Shakespeare productions had juggling and singing amidst the acts, and theatergoers would cheer the heroes, boo the villains, shout out lines along with the actors, even walk about on the stage. Opera divas would sing “Yankee Doodle,” “Home Sweet Home,” Irish ballads and other folk songs, and take requests from the audience. [...]
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