Crossing Brooklyn

"Reflecting the rich creative diversity of Brooklyn, Crossing Brooklyn presents work by thirty-five Brooklyn-based artists or collectives. The exhibition and related programming take place in the galleries and on the grounds of the Museum, as well as off-site in the streets, waterways, and other public spaces of the borough. ... The resulting work defies easy categorization, taking on diverse forms that include public and private action, the use of found or collected objects, and interactive and educational events, among others. Alongside the drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, installations, videos, and performances on view are several site-specific works."
Brooklyn Museum
Voice
NY Times: The Artist Next Door
YouTube: Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond

John Gutmann

"Born in Breslau, Germany, Gutmann studied to be a painter under Otto Mueller before turning to photography shortly before he emigrated to the United States, where he became known for his vivid images of popular culture. Gutmann brought a foreigner’s view to the streets of California, where he saw with fresh eyes such astonishing (to him) phenomena as multiracial crowds, drive in movies and restaurants, drum majorettes, car parks and golf links, beauty contests, tattoo parlors, and movie marquees. He was fascinated by the status of the car as an American icon and photographed unusual license plates, decorated dashboards, decals, and hood ornaments. He also took a notable series of New York City in the 1940s."
Lumiere Gallery
John Gutmann Photography Fellowship
W - John Gutmann
NY Times: John Gutmann, 93, Painter Who Became a Photographer
Fraenkel Gallery: My Eyes Were Fresh: John Gutmann (Video)

Becoming Modern

Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882
"People use the term 'modern' in a variety of ways, often very loosely, with a lot of implied associations of new, contemporary, up-to-date, and technological. We know the difference between a modern country and a third world country and it usually has less to do with art and more to do with technology and industrial progress, things like indoor plumbing, easy access to consumer goods, freedom of expression, and voting rights. In the 19th century, however, modernity and its connection with art had certain specific associations that people began recognizing and using as barometers to distinguish themselves and their culture from earlier nineteenth century ways and attitudes."
smarthistory

Pascal Comelade - El pianista del antifaz (2013)

"This page is not the embryo of a site dedicated to Pascal Comelade. It is just intended as a help, so as not to get lost in Pascal Comelade's plethorical and cosmopolitan record production. As for the 20th century, Pascal Comelade has done the task himself, in a magnificent manner, by publishing (in French) his 'Ecrits monophoniques submergés' in december 1999."
the lucidly hoptimistic fanzine
YouTube: El Pianista Del Antifaz, The Skatalan Logicofobism (Live), Sardana Mecanica, I Scream Ice Cream, Ze Crypto-Situ Cow-Boy Rides Again, Friki Serenata, Portrait de l'Artiste avec des Lunettes pour voir les Femmes à Poil, El Bolero Del Raval

2014 June: Pascal Comelade, 2014 September: September Song (2000)

The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball's Forgotten Heroes

"From an award-winning graphic artist and baseball historian comes a strikingly original illustrated history of baseball’s forgotten heroes, including stars of the Negro Leagues, barnstorming teams, semi-pro leagues, foreign leagues, and famous players like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Joe DiMaggio before they achieved notoriety. From a young age, Gary Cieradkowski had a passion for baseball’s unheralded heroes. ... Shining a light into the dark corners of baseball history—from Mickey Mantle’s minor league days to Negro League greats like Josh Gibson and Leon Day; to people that most never knew played the game, such as Frank Sinatra, who had his own ball club in 1940s Hollywood; bank robber John Dillinger, who was a promising shortstop and took time out between robberies to attend Cubs games; and even a few US presidents—this book is a rich, visual tribute to America’s pastime."
amazon
Infinite Card Set

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Wikipedia - "Philip-Lorca diCorcia (born 1951) is an American photographer. ... DiCorcia alternates between informal snapshots and iconic quality staged compositions that often have a baroque theatricality. Using a carefully planned staging, he takes everyday occurrences beyond the realm of banality, trying to inspire in his picture's spectators an awareness of the psychology and emotion contained in real-life situations. His work could be described as documentary photography mixed with the fictional world of cinema and advertising, which creates a powerful link between reality, fantasy and desire."
Wikipedia
Collective Shift
artnet
YouTube: PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA. PHOTOGRAPHS 1975-2012

The Old Woman - Robert Wilson, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe

"Legendary theater maker Robert Wilson returns to the Center with a brand-new theatrical production The Old Woman, based on a story by Russian author Daniil Kharms. A brilliant, slyly political story written in the 1930s, The Old Woman stars world-renowned dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov and film star Willem Dafoe. With echoes of Beckett in its deadpan narrative and humor, The Old Woman is one of the great works of the Russian avant-garde and tells the story of a struggling young writer."
UCLA (Video)
NY Times: A Duo, Dynamism and a Dead Body
Impressions From Paris: Robert Wilson's "The Old Woman" Starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe

2008 April: Robert Wilson, 2010 January: Einstein on the Beach, 2010 July: The CIVIL warS, 2011 May: Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera , 2011 August: Stations (1982), 2012 February: Absolute Wilson, 2012 August: Einstein on the Blog: Christopher Knowles’ Typings, 2013 March: The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin, 2013 April: Death, Destruction and Detroit, 2013 October: crickets audio recording slowed way down, 2013 October: Beached, 2014 January: The Louvre invites Robert Wilson - Living Rooms.

Hi-ARTS Presents JR’s Inside Out Mi Gente / Oyáte kiŋ Photo Art Project — opening this evening in East Harlem

"Opening this evening from 6-9pm at the Hi-Arts Gallery on 304 East 100^th Street is JR’s Inside Out Mi Gente/ Oyáte kiŋ Art Project — focusing on and uniting two communities: NYC’s East Harlem and South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. Here are a few images captured yesterday while visiting the exhibit, curated by Carlos Mare..."
Street Art NYC
Alice Mizrachi (Video)
PART ONE (Enrique Torres)

Entr’Acte: René Clair’s Dadaist Masterpiece (1924)

"René Clair’s 1924 avant-garde masterpiece Entr’Acte opens with a cannon firing into the audience and that’s pretty much a statement of purpose for the whole movie. Clair wanted to shake up the audience, throwing it into a disorienting world of visual bravado and narrative absurdity. You can watch it above. The film was originally designed to be screened between two acts of Francis Picabia’s 1924 opera Relâche."
Open Culture (Video)
W - René Clair
W - Under the Roofs of Paris
Criterion: Under the Roofs of Paris (Video)
[PDF] The Art of Sound - René Clair
YouTube: Paris qui dort (1925)

The Clash: Complete control - Safe european Home - Whats my name

"Well, I just got back an' I wish I never leave now
Who dat Martian arrival at the airport?
How many local dollars for a local anaesthetic?
The Johnny on the corner was a very sympathetic
(Safe European Home)
YouTube: Complete control - Safe european Home - Whats my name

Joe Brainard - Tibor de Nagy Gallery

Untitled (Rogue River Valley Pears) 1976 collage
"The gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of selected works by the artist along with a display of his never before exhibited artist books and manuscripts, in celebration of the publication by The Library of America of The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett, with an introduction by Paul Auster. The exhibition will comprise works on paper including collages, watercolors, and gouaches. Many of the works relate to writing, including images that incorporate text as both thought bubbles as well as compositional elements. The works are humorous and often have a sweetness to them."
Tibor de Nagy Gallery
artnet
Cat Dawson on Joe Brainard

2008 February: Joe Brainard, 2010 November: I Remember, 2011 October: A State of the Flowers Report, 2011 November: Joe Brainard: A Retrospective, 2012 March: Bolinas Journal, 2012 September: I Remember: A Film About Joe Brainard by Matt Wolf (2012).

Fun Maps: NYC Literary Map Highlights Authors of the Upper East Side

"To celebrate the opening of its new location at East 82nd Street and Lexington Avenue, the eyewear company Warby Parker has released an Upper East Side Literary Map and Tour that pairs classic New York authors, stories, and places to their physical locations. On 88th Street and 3rd Avenue we have Elaine’s, an Italian restaurant frequented by artistic greats such as Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Simone de Beauvoir, and Leonard Bernstein. On 87th and West End Avenue one can walk by the brownstones that inspired the home of everyone’s favorite teenage detective Harriet the Spy. "
untapped cities

The Book of Legendary Lands - Umberto Eco

"Celebrated Italian novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary critic, and list-lover Umberto Eco has had a long fascination with the symbolic and the metaphorical, extending all the way back to his vintage semiotic children’s books. Half a century later, he revisits the mesmerism of the metaphorical and the symbolic in The Book of Legendary Lands — an illustrated voyage into history’s greatest imaginary places, with all their fanciful inhabitants and odd customs, on scales as large as the mythic continent Atlantis and as small as the fictional location of Sherlock Holmes’s apartment."
brain pickings
NY Times: Exploring Imaginary Lands With One of Italy’s Masters of Fiction
News Statesman: Umberto Eco and why we still dream of utopia
amazon

10 Things You Might Not Know About Meredith Monk

2010 Meredith Monk Collection
"In 1964 American composer and musician Meredith Monk (2000 Performing Arts) came to New York to begin an incredibly prolific and inspirational career. 50 years later multiple venues and institutions are celebrating her time in New York. Early in Creative Capital’s history, Monk received a grant for her work mercy, a collaboration with Ann Hamilton. As Creative Capital and Meredith Monk both celebrate important anniversary milestones, we thought we would do our part in honoring the artist by presenting 10 things you might not know about her work."
Creative Capital (Video)

2008 March: Meredith Monk, 2009 September: Songs of Ascension - Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton, 2011 February: Meredith Monk: A Voice For All Time, 2011 August: Ellis Island, 2012 December: Turtle Dreams, 2013 February: Quarry: The Rally (Live, 1977).

Living New Deal

John Langley Howard (1934) “California Industrial Scenes” - Coit Tower mural (Detail)
"In the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised the American people a 'New Deal.' Over the decade 1933-43, a constellation of federally sponsored programs put millions of jobless Americans back to work and helped to revive a moribund economy. The result was a rich landscape of public works across the nation, often of outstanding beauty, utility and craftsmanship."
Living New Deal (Video)
W - Living New Deal

Evan Holm

Ghost Umbrella | 2013
"Evan Holm is a kinetic installation artist who utilizes sound and music machinery to make sculptures which speak towards nature, tradition, music, poetry, time, and movement. His work has a poetic quality which is a must see through his beautifully documented videos on his website."
Evan Holm (Video)
vimeo: Submerged Turntable

Nuclear War - Sun Ra (1982)

"Along with Lanquidity, Nuclear War is one of the rarest discs in Sun Ra's enormous catalog. Recorded in 1982, Nuclear War disappeared until 2001 when the Chicago-based Atavistic label made it part of their exceptional 'Unheard Music Series.' Originally Ra was so sure the funky dance track was a hit, he immediately took it to Columbia Records, where they immediately rejected it. Why he thought a song with the repeating chant 'Nuclear War, they're talking about Nuclear War/It's a motherf***er, don't you know/if they push that button, your ass gotta go/and whatcha gonna do without your ass' would be a hit is another puzzle in the Sun Ra myth."
allmusic
All About Jazz
YouTube: Nuclear War, Smile, Sometimes I'm Happy, Celestial Love, Blue Intensity, Drop me off in Harlem, Nameless One Nr. 2

Little Walter - Blue And Lonesome

"I'm blue and lonesome
As a man can be
I'm blue and lonesome
Whoa-oh
As a man can be
I don't have headaches
Over myself
My love is gone away from me"
YouTube: Blue and Lonesome (Chess, Early 50s), Blue and Lonesome (Take 1)

Cézanne: Landscape into Art

"Cézanne is the supreme landscape painter of modernity, and his famous dictum that 'painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations' defines the course of modern painting’s extreme departure from fidelity to reality. Despite or because of this dictum, Cézanne’s marvelously lucid 'sensations' become all the more evident and dazzling when set against images of the locales he painted. Cézanne: Landscape into Art, which reprises and expands the classic 1996 publication by Yale University Press, does precisely this."
artbook
amazon - Pavel Machotka's Cézanne: Landscape into Art

A Harlem Throwback to the Era of Billie Holiday

"Around 8 p.m. on a recent Saturday, a few dozen people were gathered in a narrow, dimly lit Harlem brownstone. Couples smoked in the backyard beneath Christmas lights; a group of Chilean expats sought a corkscrew; a man and his young son searched for seats. From the basement downstairs, Bill Saxton, a bebop saxophonist, could hear the anticipatory chatter. All these people had come to his place. A few minutes later, standing with his band in the tiny parlor, he honked his sax loudly. The track lights dimmed. 'Welcome to Bill’s Place,' he told the crowd. Every Friday and Saturday night, 148 West 133rd Street becomes a B.Y.O.B. jazz club that is perhaps the only underground spot left in a neighborhood that once teemed with them."
NY Times
Bill's Place (Video)
Harlem Place

Just the Thing: Selected Letters of James Schuyler 1951-1991

"On April 10, 1989 James Schuyler wrote a letter to a young poet named Peter Gizzi. Gizzi had solicited poems from Schuyler for Gizzi's magazine O-Blek. In his previous letter to Schuyler, Gizzi must have asked 'What have you been reading?' ... The letter is included in the new collection Just the Thing: Selected Letters of James Schuyler 1951-1991, which [William] Corbett has worked on for the past 13 years."
rain taxi
“Baby Sweetness Blew His Cool Again ... ” - W. S. Di Piero
Ravishing: James Schuyler’s hungry eye
Jacket 29: ‘Simply, Freely, Clearly’
Kiss and tell in the New York poetry world
Notebook (James Schuyler Letter, &c.)

2008 January: James Schuyler, 2009 October: James Schuyler: Six New Recordings Added, 2011 March: Broadway: A Poets and Painters Anthology, 2011 December: An Anthology of New York Poets, 2012 July: A Schuyler of urgent concern, 2013 July: In Fairfield Porter / James Schuyler country: Penobscot Bay, Maine.

The Islamic State Versus Lebanon

"As the Islamic State massacred its way throughout Iraq and Syria this summer, a separate battle took place in neighboring Lebanon, as IS fighters invaded the Lebanese border town of Arsal, beheading captured soldiers and unleashing waves of lethal car bombs. Hezbollah, one of the world's strongest guerrilla armies, has also become involved—the group is either defending Lebanon or making things worse, depending on who you ask. VICE News traveled to Lebanon to explore the battle being waged by one of the world's fiercest militant groups against one of the Middle East's smallest and most fragile nations."
VICE (Video)
Guardian: Tackling Islamic State: a message from Lebanon

Bagel

Wikipedia - "A bagel (also spelled beigel) is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy or sesame seeds. Some also may have salt sprinkled on their surface, and there are also a number of different dough types such as whole-grain or rye."
Wikipedia
W - Montreal-style bagel
W - Bialy
Slate: A Short History of the Bagel
NY Times: Was Life Better When Bagels Were Smaller?
YouTube: Hot Bagels, St. Viateur Bagel Shop ~Montreal

Albert Camus: Soccer Goalie

"Albert Camus, born 101 years ago today, once said, 'After many years in which the world has afforded me many experiences, what I know most surely in the long run about morality and obligations, I owe to football.' He was referring to his college days when he played goalie for the Racing Universitaire Algerios (RUA) junior team. Camus was a decent player, though not the great player that legend later made him out to be. For Jim White, author of A Matter of Life and Death: A History of Football in 100 Quotations, soccer perhaps taught Camus a few things about selflessness, cooperation, bravery and resilience."
Open Culture
Telegraph - Albert Camus: thinker, goalkeeper
NY Times: ‘Philosophy Football’ (Video)
Goalkeeper, Philosopher, Outsider: Albert Camus
W - Albert Camus

Karl Addison in Moscow: The Fisherman and the Depleted Sea

"Karl Addison was in Moscow recently for the MOST art festival and based his mural on a Russian fairy tale by Alexander Pushkin entitled The Fisherman & The Fish, written in 1833.  'The mural is a symbol from this folklore showing the Old Man with the Fish and to the corner his Wife as the Sea,' says Addison, 'Each level of the Sea is a darker and dark blue symbolizing the five requests she makes – making the Sea grow darker and violent each time.' Additionally the artist says his mural is a commentary on the modern methods of fishing that are rapidly killing off entire species."
Brooklyn Street Art

Berlin’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Karl-Marx-Allee Block C South, 1951.
"In the late eighties, the German Democratic Republic was bleeding people like money; the Iron Curtain was coming apart at the seams. November 9, 1989, would be the turning point, the evening on which the Socialist party allowed what had once been unimaginable. In Block C South of the Karl-Marx-Allee, Otto Stark sat in the quiet of his apartment, tuning in to the historic national blunder that precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall: one of the few international press conferences in East Germany’s history, with one very ill-prepared party spokesman, Günter Schabowski, at the microphone."
Paris Review - Part 1, Part 2
Atlantic: The Berlin Wall, 25 Years After the Fall


2009 July: The Berlin Wall, 2009 October: Berlin Wall, 2013 March: Berlin East Side Gallery, 2013 September: Stasi Museum.

Jackie Brown (1997)

Wikipedia - "Jackie Brown is a 1997 crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch, the first adaptation from Tarantino, and stars Pam Grier in the title role. The film pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly the films Coffy and Foxy Brown, both of which also starred Grier in the title roles. The film's supporting cast includes Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton. ... Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline, the latest step down for her career as the attendant, since she used to work for larger airlines."
Wikipedia
Roger Ebert
The GQ&A: Pam Grier
amazon: Jackie Brown (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
YouTube: Jackie Brown Official Trailer #1

Paris 1900, The City of Entertainment

Henri Gervex, Une soirée au Pré-Catelan, 1909
"The exhibition ‘Paris 1900, The City of Entertainment’ is an invitation to the public to relive the splendour of the French capital at the time when the Paris Exposition Universelle was heralding the arrival of the 20th century. More than ever before, Paris was seen throughout the world as a sparkling city of luxury with a sophisticated way of life. Over 600 works will plunge visitors to the Petit Palais into the atmosphere of Belle Époque Paris. There will be paintings, objets d’art, costumes, posters, photographs, films, furniture, jewellery and sculptures. The technical inventions, the cultural effervescence, and the sheer elegance of Parisian women will be staged and displayed as representative legends of that Paris whose image has been promoted in literature and the cinema throughout the world."
Petit Palais
Guardian: Paris 1900: the city of entertainment - in pictures
Paris Voice
Paris 1900, an exhibition at the Petit Palais (Video)
YouTube: Paris 1900: The City of Entertainment

Interview with Jem Cohen

"Jem Cohen may be one of the quintessential New York Filmmakers of our era. Peerless in his knack for chronicling urban transformation (decay or otherwise), I was first exposed to Cohen’s work via his 2004 feature Chain – itself a narrative/documentary hybrid and product of Cohen’s contemplative 16mm shooting style, tracing and marking the aesthetic anonymities of America’s ever-proliferating malls and office buildings. It’s a tired trope that a good movie makes its setting as much a character as any flesh and blood actor, but Cohen’s body of work thrives on legitimate ongoing visual, scenographic testimony – a repeat encounter. ..."
The White Review (Video)
vimeo: Gravity Hill Newsreels

2014 January: Jem Cohen, 2014 June: Museum Hours (2012).

Union Square

Wikipedia - "Union Square is an important and historic intersection in Manhattan in New York City, New York, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the Federal union of the United States nor labor unions but rather denotes that 'here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island'. Today, Union Square Park is bounded by 14th Street on the south, Union Square West on the west side, 17th Street on the north, and on the east Union Square East, which links together Broadway and Park Avenue South to Fourth Avenue and the continuation of Broadway."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Walking in Manhattan - Union Square, Union Square Manhattan in Full HD 2011, Chess at Union Square

Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label

"Capsoul, short for 'Capitol City Soul,' was a small independent label from Columbus, OH, that was extant from 1970 to 1974 and rolled out a small number of singles in that time. Columbus may have been the base of operations, but the label's sound existed somewhere in between the many larger independents of the time: Stax, Motown, Brunswick, and Philly International. ... It's a legend to soul collectors, one of those magical moments when parts that shouldn't work together do and the results knock the dust off of even the most jaded ears. Mix together big beat drums, sweet soul strings, bottomless bass, ringing vibraphone, moody electric piano, and a seasoned vocal quartet who turn in a magical ballad performance and you're close to what 'You Can't Blame Me' achieves."
allmusic
W - Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label
NPR - Capsoul: Ohio's Answer to Motown
YouTube: Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label

Habitat - Stéphane Missier

"Habitat is a project initiated by Stéphane Missier and Kris Manchester. Habitat is an instinctive observation of our urban environment, and a celebration of the unpredictable moments and fleeting creativity in everyday life. In December 2013, we had the pleasure to kick-start the quadrilogy at Miami Art Basel, followed by a pop-up exhibition at Espace MASSIVart in Montréal. Both opening nights were great successes as we gathered more than 700 people for each vernissage. In May 2014, 'Habitat' was included as part of C2MTL. And while we are currently prepping-up for the last chapter in Paris in October 2014, the art sits comfortably in Sid Lee’s lobby in their Montréal office."
Stéphane Missier

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Wikipedia - "A Most Wanted Man is a 2014 British espionage-thriller film based on the novel of the same name by John le Carré, directed by Anton Corbijn and written by Andrew Bovell. The film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Daniel Brühl and Nina Hoss. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and competed in the main competition section of the 36th Moscow International Film Festival and the 40th Deauville American Film Festival. It is the last of Hoffman's films released before his death."
Wikipedia
W - A Most Wanted Man
NY Times: A Search and Destroy Thyself Mission (Video)
Slate
YouTube: A Most Wanted Man - Official Trailer

Robert Rauschenberg: Works on Metal

"Rasputin's Revenge Early Winter (Glut)" (1987)
"... [Robert] Rauschenberg’s protean outlook ushered in a new era of postwar American art in the wake of Abstract Expressionism with a free and experimental approach that drew inspiration from conceptual, materialist, and gestural precedents. His inventive use of discarded materials and appropriated images eviscerated distinctions between medium and genre, abstraction and representation, while his 'flatbed picture plane,' which absorbed found objects into the realm of paintings, forever changed the relationship between artwork and viewer."
Gagosian
Widewalls
YouTube: Works on Metal

2008 May: Robert Rauschenberg, 2013 July: Rauschenberg Research Project

Water tower

Wikipedia - "A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water supply system for the distribution of potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. In some places, the term standpipe is used interchangeably to refer to a water tower, especially one with tall and narrow proportions. Water towers often operate in conjunction with underground or surface service reservoirs, which store treated water close to where it will be used. Other types of water towers may only store raw (non-potable) water for fire protection or industrial purposes, and may not necessarily be connected to a public water supply."
Wikipedia