Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Fort Guerin

Fort Guerin... Girl with Beach Ball (2006, acylic on antique paper). One of four works by Fort Guerin that are part of The Summertime Show at Judy A. Saslow Gallery in Chicago, IL. More Works by Fort Guerin at Barbara Archer Gallery in Atlanta, GA.

Rudolf Schwarzkogler: Aktion

Rudolf Schwarzkogler: Aktion Rudolf Schwarzkogler: Aktion (1965). Vintage b/w and color prints at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna. (at)

Palace of Fine Arts at the Columbian Exposition

Palace of Fine Arts at the Columbian Exposition - Dome | Exterior (1893, Chicago, IL. Burnham & Root) photographed just prior to being rebuilt as the Museum of Science and Industry. From Historic Architectural Projects at the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Works by Ken Kagami

Ken Kagami... Pig Girl (2005, mixed media). From Works by Ken Kagami - drawings and sculpture.

Works by Jan Van Oost

Jan Van Oost... Untitled (2003, Mixed media on paper). From Works by Jan Van Oost at Galerie Piece Unique. "...The works of Jan Van Oost, in the attempt to escape from the apocalypse of virtuality and artificiality, cultivates and feeds the idea of an original humanism based on the qualities of singularity, on its virtues, accompanied by the right to the individual freedom and the exercise of this prerogative in the society. The Flemish artist, who finds in the symbolism of Wirtz, Spilliard and Ensor his own linguistic antecedents, lives the pressing presence of Death and represents it, specially in his first works, through conceptually minimal metaphors, so the coffins, covered with mirrors which hold the memory of the past, exhibited with large mourning strips."

British Public Information Films, 1945-2006

Play Safe – Frisbee (Duration: 1 min., Release Date: 1979, Sponsor: Central Office of Information for Department of Transport). "...Part of the 'Play Safe' campaign, 'Frisbee' was one of a number of films that used chilling electronic music and frightening sound effects to highlight the potentially fatal combinations of electricity pylons and kites, fishing rods and radio-controlled planes." From British Public Information Films, 1945-2006 at the National Archives. "...a selection of some of the most memorable and influential Central Office of Information (COI) public information films that cover some fasinating events from Britain’s post-war history."

Monday, May 29, 2006

The Acorn

The Acorn... Blankets (.mp3 audio 05:07) and Plates & Saucers (.mp3 audio 03:49). From The Acorn at Kelp Records. The Acorn features Howie Tsui - who we linked to the other day. More at The Acorn | Do you not yearn?

Charles Fréger

Charles Fréger: Itza' and Portraits Photographiques et Uniformes. Photographs by Charles Fréger at Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago, IL. "...Charles Fréger is a graduate of the Rouen Art School. Since receiving his degree he has devoted himself to making portraits of individuals from a variety of social groups: majorettes, Lègionnaires, wrestlers, factory workers, students, gymnasts, guards, youths, and cadets, just to name a few. Many of these projects are ongoing investigations. Fréger's work studies the surfaces of identity: skin, uniforms, ages, colors, shapes, etc., and how these essential elements help define both the individuality of his subjects and their shared character as members of groups. For Fréger appearance shapes the expression of individuality. An appropriate subject for Fréger's first North American exhibition is the first installment of an ongoing, collaborative project on the Itza'. The Itza', a subgroup of the Mayans and the last Mayan tribe to be conquered by the Spanish in the 18th century, survive in small numbers in present-day Guatemala. For two weeks Frèger photographed these Mayan descendents, their community, and the military and civil forces that are a constant presence in today's Guatemala."

7 Years Old

gmtPlus9 is 7 years old... born in late May, 1999.

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Olga Baclanova: The Ultimate Cinemantrap

Olga Baclanova: Paramount Publicity Portraits, 1928-1929 Olga Baclanova: Paramount Publicity Portraits, 1928-1929. From Olga Baclanova: The Ultimate Cinemantrap. "...They called her the Russian Tigress. Olga Baclanova, sultry Russian actress of stage and film, is best known today for her film appearances as Cleopatra, the evil trapeze artist, in the legendary cult film Freaks (1932), and as the seductive Duchess Josiana in the influential Universal silent The Man Who Laughs (1928). Olga's career began with a meteoric rise as a student actress in Russia’s Moscow Art Theatre in the 1910’s, followed by an ascension to the pinnacle of success under the Soviet regime. In 1925, her life was forever changed when she toured America and chose to stay, leaving an increasingly oppressive homeland behind for a gamble at success in America, knowing she would never see her family or homeland again. After performing in the stage spectacle The Miracle, Hollywood began to notice and offer her strong supporting roles in late silents such as The Man Who Laughs and The Docks of New York (1928).

Clips from The Man Who Laughs

Clips from The Man Who Laughs (1928, Universal Pictures, directed by Paul Leni)... Finding Dea (QuickTime Video) and Falling In Love (QuickTime Video).

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Tear It Up

Johnny Burnette and The Rock'n Roll Trio... Tear It Up (.mp3 audio 01:55). Simply the greatest rockabilly single ever, IMHO. Recorded on May 7, 1956 at the Pythian Temple in New York, NY., the single Tear It Up b/w You're Undecided (Coral 9-61651) was released on May 26, 1956 - 50 years ago.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Pretty Africa

Desmond Dekker and the Aces... Pretty Africa (RealAudio 02:32). RIP: Desmond Dekker.

Works by Howie Tsui

Works by Howie Tsui. "...Ho Yan (Howie) Tsui was born on January 19, 1978 in Hong Kong. Several months later, he and his mother rejoined their family in Lagos, Nigeria. During these nascent years, Howie: a) went on safaris in Kenya, b) got a concussion on the London Bridge, c) confronted ghosts in a haunted hotel in Manilla, and d) during a near-fatal high fever, had hallucinations of ceiling-piercing rain that showered upon apparitions of Disney characters. In 1983, his family immigrated to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he began his assimilation into western culture through street hockey and heavy metal music. Tsui's 'suspended adolescent' artistic approach is informed by such experiences. Tsui received his BFA in 2002 from the University of Waterloo and is currently painting and illustrating in Ottawa, Canada."

Bride Of The Monster

Lobo! You were too rough with my patient! (.wmv video 00:54). From Bride Of The Monster (1956, directed by Edward D. Wood Jr, starring Bela Lugosi, Tor Johnson, Tony McCoy, Janet Lawton, and others). "...An expatriated Russian scientist performs radiation experiments on people in an attempt to create a super race of humans that would form into an unstoppable army that would allow him to conquer the world. Will the police, and a spunky reporter named Janet be able to stop his evil plans?"

Zhou Xiaohu: Crowd of Bystanders

Zhou Xiaohu... Clean Off Eroticism (2003-2005, sculpture). From Crowd of Bystanders. "...Crowd of Bystander describes an phenomenon where people, when confronted with an unusual circumstance external to them, do not have any sense of immediate danger for fear. The thematic material of the work comes from the information permeating daily media. The artist uses his own imagination and understanding of our daily lives to develop a narrative, and then transferring it back to screen after screen of 're-presentation.' Through this process of transferal , the work dissolves the ability to judge a certain event, and pushes the event onto a broader scale of relationships to uncover the reality behind these events. 10 scenes are shown: Boxing, clean off eroticism, 9/11, hold a court, assassin, safety instructions, traffic accident, procreate, electrocution, and shrine." Part of the exhibition Building Code Violations at Long March Space.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Ain't What You Do

Fun Boy Three w/ Bananarama... Ain't What You Do (Flash Video 02:47). Thank you, SB.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Gabriëlla Cleuren: Feuilles uniques d'une vie

Effet de la medecine Gabriëlla Cleuren... Effet de la médecine (huile sur toile). From Gabriëlla Cleuren: Feuilles uniques d'une vie. "...Mon oeuvre artistique est un journal qui fixe les traces de ma vie. Ma raison de vivre est l'art, cette partie de mon oeuvre est un ensemble de fragments de la réalité : des visages, des figures, des animaux, des jardins, des paysages mixte (mêlée) avec une réalité virtuelle : des rêves, des pensées en pictogrammes, des visions, des angoisses, tout ça comme une force artistique puissante qui fait preuve  d'une existence. C'est une manière d'explorer le 'Ich - soi même'  et sa relation avec le monde extérieur. Ma peinture est aussi une force physique qui donne naissance à un monde réel virtuel,  comme il existe au 21ème  siècle." (be)

Mystery in the Air: The Marvelous Barastro

Mystery in the Air: The Marvelous Barastro (.mp3 audio 28:59). NBC August 7, 1947. Starring Peter Lorre as Gregor Barastro. Also... Mystery in the Air: The Lodger (.mp3 audio 28:59). NBC August 14, 1947. Starring Peter Lorre and Agnes Moorehead. From Old Time Radio Horror at The Monster Club.

1906 San Francisco Earthquake: Vintage Photographs of Earthquake Sites

1906 San Francisco Earthquake: Vintage Photographs of Earthquake Sites at Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco, CA. "...1906 San Francisco Earthquake: Vintage Photographs of Earthquake Sites presents a collection of photographs of scenes of destruction left in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake taken both during and after the subsequent fire that caused widespread destruction of the city. Noteworthy about this collection is that the photographs are almost exclusively the work of a number of fine professional photographers who were living in the city at the time and speak directly to the high level of individuality and experimentation of photographers working in San Francisco at the turn of the century, a distinction that continues in San Francisco today. These works present signature points of view and confident artistic expressions in addition to serving as documents of historical record."

Monday, May 22, 2006

Vienna Actionist Films, 1967-1970

Otmar Bauer... Zeigt, 1969 (Vomit-Action, QuickTime Video). From Vienna Actionist Films, 1967-1970 at UBUWEB. Twenty-one films by Otto Muehl and Otmar Bauer.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Xue Mo: China Renaissance

Xue Mo... Portrait of Miss Tuya (2006, oil on linen). From the exhibition China Renaissance, works by Xue Mo at Diane Farris Gallery. "...Described as 'Medici-like,' the paintings evoke a universal elegance, a return to pure painting, and a contemporary interpretation of formalism. They portray concepts of 'woman,' 'womanhood,' 'gentlewoman' and possibly self-portraiture. While lending themselves to a meditative contemplation that transcends age and culture, they have a timely appeal as well. Mo's title, China Renaissance, reflects China's rapidly increasing global interaction with Western countries and their cultures, much as international trade and the idea of the individual developed during the European Renaissance of the 14th and 15th centuries."

Youkali Tango

Teresa Stratas... Youkali Tango (.wma audio 06:38). From the album September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Dziga Vertov's The Man with the Movie Camera

Dziga Vertov's The Man with the Movie Camera
Dziga Vertov's The Man with the Movie Camera (1929).

Man with the Movie Camera:
A record in celluloid on 6 reels.
(An excerpt from the diary of a cameraman.)
This film presents an experiment in the cinematic communication of visible events.
Without the aid of intertitles.
(A film without intertitles.)
Without the aid of a scenario.
(A film without a scenario.)
Without the aid of theater.
(A film without sets, actors, etc.)
This experimental work aims at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema based on its total separation from the language of theater and literature.

Man With The Movie Camera - excerpt

Dziga Vertov... Man With The Movie Camera - excerpt (QuickTime Video). Score by The Alloy Orchestra.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Works by Susanne Simonson

Works by Susanne Simonson at Feigen Contemporary. "...Swedish artist Susanne Simonson's psychological portraits register like memories or dream-like longings that hover and disappear into ghostly blurs and soft color fields. Photo-derived images seem to turn away from the viewer in elusive stuttered phases, smeared into the past tense and the realm of quiet contemplation through lyrical, sweeping paint strokes. The moodiness and introspection of the figurative subjects is enhanced by the washes of color that surround them. Simonson's composed and reductive paintings emphasize the fleeting, apparitional quality of thought and experience.

Freaks

Freaks We accept her...Gooble Gobble (.wmv video 01:30). "...The freaks start doing the gooble gobble chant at the wedding reception and freak the hell out of Cleopatra." From Freaks (dir. Tod Browning, 1932, Warner Brothers) at B-Movie Central. "...In the UK this film was banned for 30 years after it was first released. It is also still banned in Sweden to this day as well as being listed as banned in Finland and Ireland. It is still technically illegal to show it in some states and cities in the US, although the archaic laws regarding that are no longer enforced. One of the writers, Edgar Allan Woolf, also co-wrote the screenplay for The Wizard of Oz in 1939. The film's original ending showed Hercules singing soprano in Madame Tetrallini's new sideshow due to the fact that he had been castrated by the freaks, but due to intense reactions of disgust on the part of test audiences, this scene was cut from the final release of the film. The on-screen romance between Hans and Frieda was very subdued because the roles were being played by real life brother and sister Harry and Daisy Earles."

Thursday, May 18, 2006

A Sad Sad Song

Charles Crawford... A Sad Sad Song (HY SIGN 2114, .mp3 audio 04:07). "...This is of course rightly hailed as a deep soul masterpiece. Crawford takes his time to set the scene for his tale of woe over a solo piano, then in his rather Otis Redding flavoured way delivers an emotion filled vocal over a sympathetic backdrop provided by the Shreveport, LA., Sound City regulars led by drummer James Stroud . Southern soul in the classic 6/8 tempo, delivered in the grand manner. This cut should have been just the first of many such singles – but sadly this was not to be. Crawford, who now lives in Dallas and still does a little night-club work every once in a while, only has this 45 to his name." From Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven. Thank you, DMc.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show

The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show (NBC, January 13, 1944, .mp3 audio 24:25). Guest: Peter Lorre. Abbott and Costello visit Lorre's sanitarium.

I Want To Tell You: Reflections About Cerebral Palsy

Enrique Villaseñor... I Want To Tell You: Reflections About Cerebral Palsy. "...This is a documentary project that started in 1980 and was published in December 2004 at the Galeria de Fotoperiodismo Mexico." Also... QUIERO DECIRTE - Reflecciones y testimonios sobre la parálisis cerebral at Fotoperiodismo Mexicano (es).

Mack the Knife

Ella Fitzgerald... Mack the Knife (.mp3 audio 04:56). From the album Ellla & Duke At The Cote D'Azur (1966).

Monday, May 15, 2006

Die Moritat von Mackie Messer

Lotte Lenya... Die Moritat von Mackie Messer (.mp3 audio 03:06) and Die Seeräuber Jenny (.mp3 audio 04:04).

Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.

Automobile Club of Southern California Collection, 1892-1963

Accident at Union and 23rd Sts. (1955). From the Automobile Club of Southern California Collection, 1892-1963 at USC. "...The Automobile Club of Southern California Digital Archive provides documentation on the region's transportation history, expecially Los Angeles from 1892 to 1963, from the Auto Club's Corporate Archives. The Digital Archive includes: a selection of 98 historic strip maps, illustrating the development of major Southern California routes; 498 photographs from the general photograph collection, depicting buildings, businesses, streets, and points of interest; and 650 photographs from engineering notebooks along with searchable transcriptions of the engineers' notes documenting the conditions of streets, highways, bridges, railroads, etc."

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Home Movies by Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang... Tombstone, Arizona (.mpg video 03:14). A home movie shot by Fritz Lang in the 1940's. From Home Movies in the Fritz Lang Papers at the University of Wyoming. "...Twenty motion pictures have been digitized from the Lang Papers. Nineteen of the motion pictures Lang shot on 16mm film from 1938-1953 as he toured around the American Southwest, capturing images of Tombstone Arizona, Death Valley California, a Hopi Native American Village and what is now the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona and the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. All of the films are without sound."

Anne-Karin Furunes

Pictures of Portraits, Finland 1918 Anne-Karin Furunes... Pictures of Portraits, Finland 1918, "...Anne-Karin Furunes is a Norwegian painter known for her works employing perforation technique. Based on photographs, these pieces have a black or white canvas perforated by the artist in imitation of the screen of a photograph. On the one hand, Furunes's works are paintings dwelling in light, while on the other hand they express the authenticity and intensity of early beautiful monochrome photographs. The works of the present exhibition are based on photographs that the artist discovered while studying military archives in Finland. She selected the faces of twelve young women from among thousands of photographs. Closely cropping the images to show only the facial features and the subject's intense gaze. These young women of soft features look like the heroines of silent film, but they are women soldiers who fought on the Red side in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. They were the soldiers of faith of their own time, willing to sacrifice everything, including their lives, for a better world."

Torsten Warmuth

Torsten Warmuth... Später Bus | Late Bus | Bus nocturne (2005, Gelatin silver print, toned). From Works by Torsten Warmuth.

Surabaya Johnny

Ute Lemper... Surabaya Johnny (.mp3 audio 06:04).

Friday, May 12, 2006

Canada - A Collector's Passion: The Peter Winkworth Collection

Nova Scotia Brewery (Halifax, Nova Scotia, ca. 1865-1870, Colour lithograph, Maritime Steam Lithography Company). From Canada - A Collector's Passion: The Peter Winkworth Collection. "...The Peter Winkworth Collection at Library and Archives Canada is a nationally significant, rare, and valuable art collection that documents more than four centuries of Canadian history. This comprehensive collection is the culmination of one person’s passion for early Canadian art and is a testament to his commitment to preserving Canada’s heritage. A Canadian-born collector now residing in Britain, Peter Winkworth began collecting some 45 years ago during which time he amassed one of the largest private collections of Canadiana art. Collecting on this scale requires knowledge and a keen eye, resources, and above all a sustained passion. Mr. Winkworth has all these qualities and attributes, as well as a desire to share his collection with Canadians. Over the years, he has loaned works from his collection to several important exhibitions and contributed to research on early Canadian art."

Le domaine Roger Ouellette

Le domaine Roger Ouellette. Works by Roger Ouellette at Animula Vagula. (fr)

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Marc Chagall: Grafika

Marc Chagall: Grafika Marc Chagall: Grafika. "...Chagallovi bylo 33 let, když ho Ambroise Vollard požádal, aby vytvoøil své první grafické tisky v technice leptu. O tøicet let pozdìji, když bylo Chagallovi 63 let, pøišel k paøížským tiskaøùm bratøím Mourlotùm a zaèal se uèit technice litografie. Do svých 98 let vytvoøil  v grafických technikách monumentální dílo, obsahující nìkolik tisíc mistrovských prací, které dodnes udivují svým rozsahem a jedineèností." (cz)

Dr. Frankenstein

Dr. Frankenstein... Cat's Eyes (.mp3 audio 02:26) and O Cérebro do Morto (.mp3 audio 03:56). From the album The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab at You Are Not Stealing Records. All from the minds of Dr. Frankenstein. "... the maddest Surf|Garage combo from Portugal!"

Mamma Andersson: Rooms Under the Influence

Mamma Andersson... About A Girl (2005, Oil on canvas). From Mamma Andersson: Rooms Under the Influence at David Zwirner Gallery. "...Mamma Andersson’s paintings seem to embody a duality that is central to Swedish culture: the interplay of rural and urban aesthetics and the clash of the bourgeois with the everyday. Inspired by theater sets and period interiors, her dreamlike compositions are populated by ghostly figures, shadows, swirling clouds and distant mountains. Andersson’s use of windows, reflections, and depictions of paintings within the pictorial space is enhanced by the juxtaposition of thick paint and textured washes, creating a setting for vaguely supernatural occurrences. Seemingly pastoral vistas and calm interiors are sometimes violently interrupted by thick black smoke or blocked-out areas – this, coupled with a palette reminiscent of distressed photographs, imbues Andersson’s works with an unpredictability that is equally disturbing and compelling."

Vaqueros, Jades, and Astronauts

The Vaqueros... 80 Foot Wave (.mp3 audio 02:55), Jades... Surfin' Crow (.mp3 audio 02:07), and The Astronauts... Banzai Pipeline (.mp3 audio 02:03).

Monday, May 08, 2006

Weimar – Between Classical Cinema and Avant-Garde

Weimar – Between Classical Cinema and Avant-Garde. "...Along with New German Cinema, the cinema of the Weimar Republic has had an enormous influence on international perceptions of German film. This first German democratic state, which at the end of the First World War succeeded the imperial regime of Kaiser Wilhelm II, enabled film to emerge as a socially significant art form both despite and because of economic, political, and civil crises. An exceptionally high number of German productions from this Golden Age of cinematography have been accepted into the canon of international film history." From filmportal.de

Gallery of German Film, 1903-1945

Peter Lorre Gerda Maurus, Otto Wernicke, Rudolf Schündler, and Peter Lorre in the Gallery of German Film, 1903-1945. "...an extensive biographical collection with pictures and autographs of German film workers from 1903 to 1945."

Stefanie Schneider: Dreams set in Polaroid

Stefanie Schneider: Dreams set in Polaroid. Works by Stefanie Schneider at LUMAS. "...A pool, a chain link fence, a dark car in a dusty parking lot. Most of us have heard enough about cheap porn flick productions to have our ears prick up when we hear “Max by the Pool.” What kind of water games is the scene triggering? This type of girl-woman, decked out with quick temptation’s classic attention-grabbers, suggests a bit of a fantasy film script. The impression is broken through the model’s absent, lost-in-thought bearing. We get this impression not through action but in a moment of calm nearly next to the camera. The out-of-focus, over-exposed snapshot provokes curiosity in its intimacy and raises the question of what happened before and after the shot. Even in a nine-part work with a couple on the beach, Stefanie Schneider doesn’t provide much more information. With a few props, she rouses associations with the glamorous 1950s and the Hollywood dream factory with its goddess-like divas and failed marriages." Also... Instant Dreams - Photographs by Stefanie Schneider.

Friday, May 05, 2006

The Truth Twister

The Truth Twister - A biography of Fritz Lang, whose accounts of his own life lacked the clarity of his films (Stanley Kauffmann, New York Times, July 20, 1997). "...A beast Lang certainly was, in the mythological sense, like a griffin, a creature comprising elements even more sharply contrasting than those in most of us mortals. McGilligan, with ferocious research and a touch of wonder -- throughout, he seems to be shaking his head in fascination -- spreads those elements before us: the quasi-diabolist artist, the sadistic perfectionist with his actors, the fervent devotee of truth, the twister of facts, the elegant immoralist, the indefatigable amorist, the disturbing seer into the giant maladies of his epoch." Also... A Technical Marvel - a film review of 'Metropolis' from 1927.

The Architecture of Pierre Koenig

Pierre Koenig... Stahl House, CSH No.22 (1960, 1636 Woods Dr. Los Angeles, CA). From The Architecture of Pierre Koenig.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Frank Stella: The Polish Village Series

Frank Stella: The Polish Village Series. "...The Polish Village Series is not a memorial. In making his works, Stella was not thinking of the synagogues as artifacts of a murdered community. His starting point was the inventive design of these buildings, which happened to be the religious and communal centers of the now-lost Jewish villages of Poland. He was drawn to the builders of the synagogues as distant peers, not as victims, drawn to the singularity of their accomplishment, not the anonymity of their loss."

Alec Soth: NIAGARA

Alec Soth... Fairway Motor Inn (Chromogenic Print). From Alec Soth: NIAGARA at Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. "...In NIAGARA Soth continues exploring with his 8" x 10" camera, this time photographing along the Canadian and American borders of Niagara Falls. The show will include approximately 25 large-scale, color photographs. Once again, Soth creates a body of work that makes the ordinary extraordinary. In NIAGARA, he takes on motifs of relationships and romance, from newlywed bliss to broken-hearts. His subjects include portraits of couples, hand-written love letters, motels, and all the detritus associated with love and love lost. The content is often tough, but the poetic and lyrical quality of Soth’s images is pervasive."

Graciela Iturbide: Images of the Spirit

Graciela Iturbide: Images of the Spirit at Throckmorton Fine Art. "...Graciela Iturbide has become one of the foremost fine art photographers living in Mexico today. Her work is a mixture of history, lyricism and portraiture. The subtle yet powerful photographs blend the evocative scenes of the cultures of her native Mexico with her own deeply personal vision. In dreamlike encounters with things that at first may appear ordinary, Graciela Iturbide perceives the surreal and extraordinary. The photographs combine the story of a culture in transition with issues of identity, diversity, and selfhood. She has remarkably engaged the workaday life and seasonal celebrations of various communities throughout Mexico for the past 35 years."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (Michael Koller, Sense of Cinema, March 2004). "...With Testament, Lang extends the themes of Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler through the addition of sound. Lang plants details of then recent news items to give credibility to this tale of hypnosis, insanity and mindless mass destruction. The film's incidents of the theft of explosives and poisons from pharmacies, blackmail and a jewel robbery had all been sourced from Berlin's newspapers of the time. Documentary inserts of street-life add a realistic touch, and again, police procedural details abound. Löhmann's discovery of the scratched pane of glass is fully rendered, as is the process for decoding the message that the police photographer uses. However, this realism is counterbalanced by a strong expressionist component that underlines the insanity rampant throughout the film."

Asia and the Pacific Rim in Early Prints and Photographs

Dotombori - a Popular Amusement Quarter in Osaka (ca. 1910, photogravure). From Asia and the Pacific Rim in Early Prints and Photographs at the NYPL Digital Gallery. "...Over 1,000 prints and photographs (mostly albumen, hand-colored albumen and gelatin silver prints) of East, Southeast and South Asia from the 18th century to the early 20th century, drawn from portfolios, photographic albums, photographically illustrated books and archival collections. Subjects include architecture, scenes of daily life, portraits of major political, religious and artistic figures of the time, 'exotica,' staged photographs for the tourist trade and travel postcards."

Michael Light: 100 Suns

Michael Light... 008 Stokes, 19 Kilotons, Nevada 1957 (2003, archival inkjet print). From Michael Light: 100 Suns at Hosfelt Gallery. "...Between 1945 and 1992 the United States detonated 1,149 nuclear test explosions. Until 1962 the tests were conducted in the atmosphere and oceans. 106 of the 216 above-ground blasts were exploded 63 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada. The remaining were detonated at the Enewetak or Bikini Atolls in the Pacific Ocean. The immediate and lasting consequences of these tests were unforeseen."

Monday, May 01, 2006

Original Poster for M

Original Poster for M (Nero-Films, 1931, directed by Fritz Lang, with Peter Lorre as "Hans Beckert", the child-murderer). From The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin (2005, University Press of Kentucky). My next read.

Mugi Takei

Mugi Mugi Mugi Mugi. Works by Mugi Takei. Paintings, comics, and more. We like Mugi.