Roundup
Post #1048 • September 7, 2007, 6:37 PM • 19 Comments
"Upon discovering that Edward Gorey was a Star Trek fanatic, Shaenon Garrity imagines what might have been."
"The residents of this town on the shore of Lake Garda - in northern Italy, between Venice and Milan - realized that a minute before midnight on Nov. 24, 2004, when an earthquake registering 5.2 damaged hundreds of buildings. Since then Mauro Biasin, an architect, has been overseeing the restoration of nearly 300 damaged churches and monasteries. Many are still closed and carry signs saying, 'Closed because of earthquake damage.' There were no deaths, but Mr. Biasin points out that had it struck exactly one month later, the churches would have been filled for Christmas Eve."
Ten Zen Monkeys interviews Perry Bible Fellowship. (Waxy)
Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting. (DT)
New in the Must Reads: Pictures for Sad Children. (Drawn!)
"Traditionally, artists understood beauty as bringing some aspect of the divine to earth and the material. It is a long way from that to Cage's love of traffic noise, which is typical of the egotism and materialism of 20th century art, especially from 1980 on. Every art school, and every art magazine emphasized the importance of theory. Glorifying intellectualism and the the ego, they gravely weakened the connection to the transcendent."
Could Eudora Welty Get Published Today? Virginia Postrel on a question that bears on the art world.
Department of Skills: Frippertronics.
Update: Theo Jansen at TED.
2.
September 8, 2007, 4:37 PM
Not that anybody cares, or should, but the start today of the new local art season finds me almost entirely uninterested. The thought of the trendy, see-and-be-seen crowds milling about (and making parking a hassle) is enough to keep me home. Can't be bothered.
Been there, done that, and got precious little for it. It's no longer worth my time and energy. The whole business is too much of a game, too plastic and contrived to allow the suspension of disbelief, not to mention disgust. Some pangs of longing and regret remain, but I'm not willing to keep beating my head against the wall. I'm basically over it.
The current art scene, or what passes for it, is a mutant realm, adapted to a species to which I don't belong or can't relate. I suppose it was foolish not to see that long ago. It's not as if the rich idiots, poseurs and attendant opportunists were ever anything but blatantly obvious.
3.
September 8, 2007, 7:45 PM
Lego Hawking ----One of the funniest thing i've seen made out of legos---you find the funniest pictures ever!!! lol
4.
September 8, 2007, 8:30 PM
Re: Eudora Welty- "looksism" (is there another, better word for it?) isn't confined to the arts. Politics is another arena where it shouldn't make a damn bit of difference what one looks like. But do you think Taft or even Lincoln could elected today? I don't. Unfortunately, it matters too much to most people.
5.
September 9, 2007, 9:52 PM
awe Jack some of us really try to ignore all that and just do the best we can do
6.
September 10, 2007, 4:56 AM
Lotsa luck, JS.
7.
September 10, 2007, 8:01 AM
Far as I know, Welty never applied for a job. She stayed at home and wrote all her life. She wouldn't even go to receive an honorary degree.
8.
September 10, 2007, 9:35 AM
Jack
#2 Not that anybody cares....
I am glad you wrote that Jack
I feel the same way
I said alot of the same things to friends Sat night after going to several openings here in Miami. Although I found looking at the people more interesting then some of the art on the walls. Totally uninspiring.
sorry if that sounded to negative
9.
September 10, 2007, 10:06 AM
Yeah, Jack may not be exactly a laugh riot but this mutual back-scratching art world of ours needs regular shots of true negativity.
10.
September 10, 2007, 10:46 AM
Pray tell what would a good art scene look like then?
11.
September 10, 2007, 11:23 AM
JS
For me it is not a matter of a good or bad "Art Scene" When I go to openings all I see are the same people who could care less of what is showing. All those trendy Miami look at me, look alike people get tiring after a while. I think I will in the future go after the openings so will be able to focus on the art and not the crowds.
12.
September 10, 2007, 5:12 PM
A "good art scene" might be one that has good art, and, probably as a consequence, a lot less art, fewer artists and less "scene".
There have been a few.
13.
September 10, 2007, 7:26 PM
You got it, OP. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein's "There's not enough there there," there's way too much scene in the art scene now. So much, in fact, that sometimes, in a sense, it's obscene.
14.
September 11, 2007, 7:36 AM
Art scenes have been around for a long time guys , what are you talking about? It is just not "your" scene. If you were part of the scene it would be different. Your scene is staying home and not being part of this one. I sense paranoia.
15.
September 11, 2007, 12:04 PM
Paranoia? That doesn't even make sense, certainly not in my case, since I'm neither an artist nor in any way art-world dependent. The nature of the art scene, whatever it might be, has no effect on my career, livelihood, status or anything of the kind.
What this is about is repeated disappointment, frustration, disgust and, by now, disdain. If I were to continue overlooking that and persist in wasting my time and energy, my problem would be masochism. I hear some people like that sort of thing, but I'm not one of them.
16.
September 11, 2007, 3:47 PM
jack it sounds like your not getting enough attention. let me give ya some more. you whine too much rather than actually going to these openings and talking to others about what you are so disgusted about. instead you choose to isolate yourself and then expect to have others such as artist themselves happy to see such activity and attention given to the CRAZY IDEA THAT ARTIST LIVE AND WORK IN MIAMI expressed in the wynwood second saturdays, to give a HOOT about your self-indulgent fantasy that you are some kind of connoisseur.
give me a break and make some art yourself for therapy. take a class somewhere. stop being a "bitter bob" the truth is you'd probably feel the same in any art scene.
HOOOORRRAAAYYYY FOR THE MORE PEOPLE OF MIAMI GETTING IN THEIR CARS AND DRIVING TO WYNWOOD DURING THE SECOND SATURDAY!!!! IT IS NEVER TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED BUT TO BE NURTURED FIRST!!!!!!!
17.
September 11, 2007, 3:47 PM
jack it sounds like your not getting enough attention. let me give ya some more. you whine too much rather than actually going to these openings and talking to others about what you are so disgusted about. instead you choose to isolate yourself and then expect to have others such as artist themselves happy to see such activity and attention given to the CRAZY IDEA THAT ARTIST LIVE AND WORK IN MIAMI expressed in the wynwood second saturdays, to give a HOOT about your self-indulgent fantasy that you are some kind of connoisseur.
give me a break and make some art yourself for therapy. take a class somewhere. stop being a "bitter bob" the truth is you'd probably feel the same in any art scene.
HOOOORRRAAAYYYY FOR THE MORE PEOPLE OF MIAMI GETTING IN THEIR CARS AND DRIVING TO WYNWOOD DURING THE SECOND SATURDAY!!!! IT IS NEVER TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED BUT TO BE NURTURED FIRST!!!!!!!
18.
September 11, 2007, 5:49 PM
Dear cheerleader, I mean cafe:
I don't go see art to get attention any more than I go to the opera to show off my new mink wrap or my fabulous multi-carat rocks. You're confusing me with the people I object to, who are most definitely after attention (and various other things which have little or nothing to do with art as such). If you like them, they're all yours. No doubt they'd like you, too.
As for going to openings and such, as I said, been there, done that. I more than put in my time, religiously, for much too long. I used to feel a weird obligation or need to go see practically everything, even when I suspected it'd be a waste. You'll have to excuse me if I decline to keep doing so.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing, but really, don't bother about me. I certainly wouldn't dream of bothering about you. You have places to go and people to see. Knock yourself out.
Oh, and don't forget the pom-poms and megaphone. Go, team!
19.
September 12, 2007, 10:47 AM
I agree the night of the opening is not the time to really look at the art.
1.
Joanie San Chirico
September 8, 2007, 7:48 AM
Ah, Edward Gorey.. I miss seeing him at our favorite breakfast place. Be sure to visit his house, and all it's wonderfully eccentric furnishings and more if you're in Yarmouthport, MA (where I'm lucky to say, my parents live).
http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/
No affilation, but the museum runs on a shoestring, so the more visitors they get, the better.