Archive for the ‘Art’ Category

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Art, damn it, obit! watch: June 19, 2012.

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Barton Lidice Benes died on May 30th, but his obit shows up in today’s NYT.

Mr. Benes was a sculptor “who worked in materials that he called artifacts of everyday life”. For example, he did sculptures using shredded cash. He also did a series of sculptures called “Flood”, using damaged property donated by victims of the 1997 North Dakota floods.

When friends started dying of AIDS, and Mr. Benes himself tested HIV-positive, he began working in everyday materials of the epidemic — pills and capsules, intravenous tubes, HIV-infected blood and cremated human remains.

One of the interesting aspects of this obit is the detail that Mr. Benes, who lived in Greenwich Village, apparently had a close relationship with the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks. NDMA exhibited his work in the 1990s, and…

…plans to build a replica of his apartment and furnish it exactly as Mr. Benes left it. Among its objects, many of them macabre, are a blackened human toe; a giant hourglass holding the mingled ashes of two of Mr. Benes’s friends, partners who died of AIDS; a gall stone removed from his friend Larry Hagman, the actor; and a stuffed giraffe’s head.

I’m curious how the relationship between Mr. Benes and NDMA developed. It just seems odd that he’d be that close to an art museum in what New Yorkers consider “flyover country”. It also seems odd that he had so much trouble exhibiting his “transgressive” art in NYC.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

Random notes: June 11, 2012.

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Two stories by way of Lawrence:

This odd one about a scientist who works for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas trying to stop approval of a $20 million dollar grant to Rice University and M.D. Anderson. Lawrence sent it to me and asked if I could make heads or tails out of it; I think I can, but it seems to me to be one of those HouChron stories that’s like a puzzle with half the pieces missing.

I’m not sure if this has been on FARK yet, but since Lawrence sent it to me, I’m linking to it anyway as part of the “Art, damn it! Art!” watch: a 200-foot-long knitted rabbit on the side of an Italian mountain.

The NYT has a story I find kind of odd about the NYPD Accident Investigations Squad.  Basically, the AIS investigates traffic accidents: “But they do so only in cases of death or when a victim is deemed likely to die.”
The problem, according to the NYT, is that AIS sometimes doesn’t investigate accidents where the victim is not immediately dead; if the person dies days later, evidence may be “lost”.

I have two problems with this, both related to the incident the NYT cites:

  1. “That delay, Mr. Stevens said, meant that most of the evidence from the crash — skid marks and surveillance video, witness accounts, and alcohol in the driver’s bloodstream — had been lost.” How was it lost? The way I read that sentence, the AIS started to collect the data, then stopped because the victim was still alive (she died three days later). Did they throw away what they had already collected? That seems like an…odd choice, to say the least.
  2. Reinforcing point 1 is the fact that the NYT is able to report that the driver in the accident had a 0.07 BAC. So at least some evidence was preserved. “Felony charges were considered…” What felony charges? 0.07 is below the legal limit, as far as I know. And “those charges were dropped because the police testing equipment had not been properly calibrated”. Uh-huh. That’s certainly interesting, and I wish the NYT had gone into more detail on the calibration issue.

Edited to add: It occurs to me that some folks might be as confused as I was by the NYT references to the Highway Patrol and the NYPD. The state of New York does have a state police agency, the New York State Police (whose website is currently broken, it seems). There is also a group within the NYPD called the Highway Patrol “primarily responsible for patrolling and maintaining traffic safety on limited-access highways within New York City.” So it isn’t a statewide police agency in the Broderick Crawford sense, but a confusingly named NYPD division. Got it.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Cops, Geek, Law | 1 Comment »

Important safety tip. (#12 in a series)

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

This one’s a quickie: if you’re going to steal a car, you probably shouldn’t steal an art car.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law, Safety | 2 Comments »

Art, damn it, art! watch (#29 in a series).

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

Sol LeWitt was a conceptual artist. (He passed away in 2007.)

One of his works was “Wall Drawing #448″. This work has two parts. Part one is a list of instructions on how to create a wall drawing. Part two is an example of what that drawing would look like.

In 2008, the owner of the work consigned it to a gallery in Chicago.

The gallery lost the instructions. The owner is suing, claiming that the instructions are basically a certificate of authenticity:

“The unique nature of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings renders their accompanying certificates of authenticity critical to the works’ value,” the complaint reads, noting that every certificate says: “This certification is the signature for the wall drawing and must accompany the wall drawing if it is sold or otherwise transferred.”

The gallery says their insurance won’t cover the loss (I’d really like to know why) and apparently tried to settle with the owner. The owner is asking for a minimum of $350,000.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Obit watch: May 30, 2012.

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Noted guitarist Doc Watson.

Leo Dillon. Leo and his wife Diane won two Caldecott medals back to back for their work as illustrators. They also worked on many SF books during the “New Wave” era, including doing illustrations for many of Harlan Ellison’s works.

Posted in Art, Books, Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

Primary colors.

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Over at Tam’s place, she asks the musical question: “What is a man’s favorite color for a gun?”

I thought I’d answer over here, since the comments there are kind of cluttered, and I want to see if there’s anyone out there that feels the same way I do.

Here’s the thing: I don’t like shiny guns. There’s a part of me that says I have tacticool ninja reasons for that: “O. M. G. The reflected sunlight off of my nickel plated Model 29 might give my position away!” But I think my reasons go deeper than that, though I can’t really articulate them beyond: shiny guns don’t look right to me.

That goes for stainless steel, too: I acknowledge the practicality of stainless, and can see good reasons for owning something like a Kit Gun in stainless. But it still doesn’t look right or feel right to me.

Make mine blued.

I think that has something to do with my upbringing. My dad didn’t own anything in nickel or stainless, I don’t think my grandfather on his side of the family did, and I want to say the same thing goes for at least one of my uncles on that side as well. I guess I didn’t grow up with an appreciation for shiny finishes, or with a practical need for stainless steel.

How about some of you other gun bloggers? If you’re a big nickel or stainless steel fan, do you think part of it may be your upbringing? Did you have a father or uncle or aunt who carried a nickel plated gun in the line of duty? Did you grow up on one of the coasts, or around water, where stainless steel was the most practical thing to own?

Posted in Art, Guns | 4 Comments »

Administrative note.

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Graduation is over. Back on your heads.

More seriously, the time for introspection has passed. (Also the time for action.) Expect a return to snark, guns, snark, cops, snark, pop culture, snark, art, and snark.

I still have a few things to finish up: thank you notes are being written and mailed, and I need to go through the photos and pull some out for posting.

In the meantime, frankly, things have been kind of slow. I’m not finding a lot of blog fodder; FARK has picked up most of the good stuff, including some “Art, damn it, art!” fodder.

Lawrence did send me an intriguing link yesterday about Rielle Hunter, equestrian, and how her father paid a hit man to kill one of her horses. That William Nack story rings a bell with me, like I’ve read it before, but I don’t remember where. Setting aside the John Edwards angle, it is a fascinating crime story. It reminds me of Skip Hollandsworth’s “The Killing of Alydar”, which was anthologized in one of the The Best American Crime Writing volumes, and which I also commend to your attention. (I believe the BugMeNot link on the side will let you read the full version of the story online, but BugMeNot is blocked at the office, so I can’t verify that.)

I would also like to add one final note, for the record: I will put my family, friends, and coworkers up against any other group of people for sheer concentrated awesomeness. Thanks, gang.

Posted in Admin, Art, Horses, Law, Politics, School, Thanks | Comments Closed

Random notes: May 3, 2012.

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Obit watch: Junior Seau, former linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots.

And the Kennedy assassination conspiracy has claimed another victim: Earl Rose, the Dallas County medical examiner who wanted to autopsy Kennedy but was overruled. Dr. Rose also did the autopsies on J.D. Tippit (the police officer Oswald shot), on Oswald himself, and on Jack Ruby.

I am aware of the rumors that I was the winning bidder on Munch’s “The Scream”. At this time, I have no comment.

Posted in Art, Clippings, Law, NFL, Obits, Sarcasm | Comments Closed

Academic update: Spring 2012, part I: The Final Countdown.

Friday, April 27th, 2012

I’m still waiting for the grade on my big final “Capstone” paper. And, no, I’m not hitting “refresh” every 30 seconds on the university’s website. I’ve managed to limit myself to checking every few hours.

In the meantime, though, my “Implementing Network Systems and Security” professor has graded all of my assignments; he hasn’t plugged the final grade into the university’s reporting system, but the numeric grades for all the assignments are there.

And…?

(more…)

Posted in Art, Geek, School | Comments Closed

Obit watch: April 8, 2012.

Sunday, April 8th, 2012

These have been well covered elsewhere, but for the record and since people have emailed me about them:

Mike Wallace.

Thomas Kinkade.

Posted in Art, Clippings, TV | Comments Closed

Art, damn it, art! watch. (#28 in a series)

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

Not really anything new, but by way of the Statesman, we learn that Damien Hirst is having a retrospective exhibition, opening on Wednesday at the Tate Modern.

You may remember Mr. Hirst as one of WCD’s favorite modern artists, responsible for such works as “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”:

Yeah, that one. I believe last time we touched on Mr. Hirst’s work, he was making wheel covers for 4x4s.

According to the exhibition’s website, the shark will be there.  Which raises some questions: last we heard, the shark was not in the best of shape. (EtA: I forgot about the NYT article stating that they were replacing the shark.) And how do you move a tank full of formaldehyde with a shark suspended in it? (Answer: “Very carefully.” Thank you, I’ll be here all week.)

Art critic Julian Spalding recently called Hirst’s creations “worthless as works of art” and advised anyone who owns them to sell now, before the artificially inflated market collapses.

My other favorite quote:

“People don’t like contemporary art,” Hirst said Monday as reporters swarmed over the exhibition like — well, like flies over a cow’s head in a Damien Hirst installation.

“like flies over a cow’s head in a Damien Hirst installation” is my new favorite analogy, replacing “The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.” I encourage people to join me in making frequent use of this turn of phrase.

Posted in Art, Clippings | 1 Comment »

Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways…

Monday, March 12th, 2012

The rock arrived safely at LACMA.

And the LAT has collected a bunch (but I don’t think all) of their coverage here. Just in case you want to relive the story from the beginning.

Posted in Art, Clippings | Comments Closed

Rock, rock, baby, baby.

Friday, March 9th, 2012

The LAT is still covering the LACMA boulder.

An estimated 20,000 people came to Atlantic Avenue for what became a street festival in honor of the rock. Local artists painted renderings. Onlookers said they had taken vacation days from work to be there. The party lasted five hours longer than planned; community organizers had to beg a disc jockey to stick around.

And (ahem):

The installation, “Levitated Mass,” is so highly abstract that some question whether it is art at all.

The rock is on schedule to arrive at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art early Saturday morning, barring technical difficulties.

Posted in Art, Clippings | Comments Closed

Art, damn it, art! watch (#27 in a series)

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

There’s a market in everything. But did you know there was a substantial market in paintings of dogs?

“Dejeuner,” a painting that shows dogs and cats eating from a large dish, set a record for the artist, William Henry Hamilton Trood (1860-1899), when it sold for $194,500, Fausel said. That record was broken an hour later when Trood’s “Hounds in a Kennel,” showing a half-dozen dogs staring at a bird outside their cage, sold for $212,500.

There’s even a dog painting specific auction (which takes place after the Westminster Dog Show, and where the above sales took place) and a dog painting specific gallery in Manhattan. (That’s one thing I love about New York; say what you will about the city, but no matter how esoteric and specific your interest is, there’s almost certainly a store in the city catering specifically to it.)

Cutting off the punchlines…

American painter Cassius Marcellus Coolidge (1884-1934) was known for his whimsical, cartoonlike images of dogs playing poker. The Doyle Auction House in New York sold one of them in 2008 for $602,500. But while Coolidge’s paintings and prints of gambling hounds have their devoted fans, they are not considered part of the canine art market, Secord said, because they are not realistic.

And in case you were wondering, Lawrence, Labradors and golden retrievers are apparently the most popular dog painting subjects today. Personally, I’m wondering how anyone gets a golden retriever to sit still long enough for a painting, but perhaps that’s just me.

Posted in Art, Clippings | Comments Closed

Art, damn it, art! watch (#26 in a series)

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

A 340-ton boulder is expected to begin its difficult trek Tuesday night from a Riverside County quarry, rolling to a stop 11 days later in a new art exhibit at LACMA.

I’m sure folks have all sorts of questions, including: how do you move a 340-ton rock? The LAT story includes a nifty interactive graphic that shows how the transport works.

During the day, the rock — expected to be shrink-wrapped for protection — will have to park in “the middle of the road, the only place big enough,” Rick Albrecht, the project’s logistics supervisor, told The Times last year.

“shrink-wrapped for protection”? Protection from what? It’s a rock!

At LACMA, the granite will be placed on its new home, resting atop a ramp-like slot in the ground through which visitors will pass, making it appear that the rock levitates above them. It will form the center of artist Michael Heizer’s enormous sculpture “Levitated Mass.”

Other questions you may be wondering about: the total cost of the project, including the rock moving, is estimated at “up to $10 million” according to the LAT.

Other questions you may not be wondering about: the rock has a Twitter feed, and is currently following 235 people. That kind of sounds like a bad horror movie, doesn’t it? “I’m being followed by a 340-ton rock that’s moving at 5 MPH.”

Posted in Art, Clippings, Geek | Comments Closed

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