Shahzia Sikander

The Illustrated Page Series #1, 2005-6
"Sikander specializes in Indian and Persian miniature painting, a traditional style that is both highly stylized and disciplined. While becoming an expert in this technique-driven, often impersonal art form, she imbued it with a personal context and history, blending the Eastern focus on precision and methodology with a Western emphasis on creative, subjective expression. In doing so, Sikander transported miniature painting into the realm of contemporary art."
PBS, Shahzia Sikander, Cooper Hewitt

One From The Archives: Sir X

"Sir X has just launched his website. You can check it out here."
Wooster Collective

Grunge

Grunge texture #1174
Wikipedia - "Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared to other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics."
Wikipedia, Abrams, YouTube, (1)

Calvin and Hobbes

Wikipedia - "Calvin and Hobbes was a syndicated comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative six-year old boy, and Hobbes, his energetic and sardonic stuffed tiger. The pair are named after John Calvin, a 16th-century French Reformation theologian, and Thomas Hobbes, a 17th-century English political philosopher."
Wikipedia, Go Comics, Google, Progressive Boink

Khosrow Hassanzadeh

Faneshe / Prostitutes, 2002
Wikipedia - "Khosrow Hassanzadeh (born 1963 in Tehran) is an Iranian painter. He is known for his 'Terrorist' collection. Hassanzadeh lives and works in Tehran, where he works as an actor and visual artist. His work featured in many exhibitions in Europe and the Middle East. Hassanzadeh works primarily with painting, silkscreen and mixed media. His works often deal with issues that are considered sensitive in Iranian society and therefore he is frequently referred to as a 'political' artist."
Wikipedai, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Google, artnet, Lightstalkers

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster

"This, it seems to me, also nicely sums up what Gonzalez-Foerster achieves in her solo filmic experiments, which are some times displayed in dark theaters on a screen but just as often branch out to envelop architecture, public space, and even whole cities--be they the artist's native Paris or distant metropolises in Asia or Latin America."
BNET, Dia, TimesOnline, ada

Khaled

Wikipedia - "Khaled Hadj Brahim (Arabic: خالد حاج ابراهيم‎, born 29 February 1960), better known as Khaled, is a raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Sidi-El-Houari in Oran Province of Algeria."
Wikipedia, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Felipe Jesus Consalvos

The End of the Beginning, c. 1920-50
Wikipedia - "Felipe Jesus Consalvos (1891 – c. 1960) was a Cuban-American cigar roller and artist, known for his posthumously-discovered body of art work based on the vernacular tradition of cigar band collage."
Wikipedia, artnet, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery

Mike Stilkey

"Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales."
Mike Stilkey, Fecal Face, Rice Gallery

Riot grrrl

Wikipedia -"Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement that started in the early 1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism (it is sometimes seen as its starting point). However, riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave."
Wikipedia

Dock Ellis

"Former Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis says he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres."
Dock Ellis Says He Pitched 1970 No-Hitter Under The Influence of LSD, YouTube - No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden

300,000 birds

"Dear Straight Dope: I'm curious as to how certain flocks of birds seem to turn en masse simultaneously. All of them. In unison. I guess I've witnessed this for years, but only recently started really noticing and subsequently wondering. ..."
Straight Dope, environmental graffiti, Scientific American, YouTune - 300,000 birds

Sam the Sham

Wikipedia - "Sam the Sham is the stage name of rock 'n' roll singer Domingo 'Sam' Samudio (born 1937) from Dallas, Texas, USA. Sam the Sham was known for his camp robe and turban (inspiring Norton Records' 1994 Turban Renewal) and hauling his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse with maroon velvet curtains. As the front man for the Pharaohs, he sang on a half dozen Top 40 hits in the mid-1960s, notably 'Wooly Bully'."
Wikipedia, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, YouTube, (1)

Fresh Stuff From Priest in New Orleans

"this house was destroyed during construction when hurricane katrina hit. like most of the city all that was left was a skeleton of what once was. someone clearly started gutting it and then eventually stopped. the water line was evident on the outside of the house and when i asked my friend where the levee broke he took three steps outside the house and pointed to the top of the road."
Wooster Collective

Carillon

25-bell carillon
Wikipedia - "A carillon ... is a musical instrument that is usually housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord."
Wikipedia, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

4 American Composers - Peter Greenaway, Meredith Monk, Robert Ashley, John Cage, Philip Glass, Tom Phillips

"Based on London performances under the aegis of the New York/Almeida Festival, this set of four one-hour documentaries, originally produced in 1983, introduced these avant-garde composers and their music to general British audiences. It is a tribute to the filmmakers' accomplishment (and a sorry comment on how we honor our own prophets) that the set provides no less valuable an introduction for American audiences a full decade later."
Ubu

Allora & Calzadilla

"By drawing historical, cultural, and political metaphors out of basic materials, Allora & Calzadilla’s works explore the complex associations between an object and its meaning."
pbs, YouTube

John Collier, Jr.

Fort Kent, Aroostook County, Maine, 1942
"John Collier, Jr. was born in 1913, the youngest son of Lucy Wood Collier and John Collier, Sr. His father was a social activist who later served as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1933 to 1945 and, because of this work, the family maintained ties to the area around Taos, New Mexico."
American Image

Etienne Chambaud

Le Comble, 2007
Wikipedia - "Etienne Chambaud is a French artist based in Paris. He was born in France in 1980."
Wikipedia, Courtesy of the Artists, Carefully Aimed Darts, Museo Magazine

Lee "Scratch" Perry

Wiukipedia - "Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry, on 20 March 1936, in Kendal, Jamaica) is a musician, who has been highly influential in the development and acceptance of reggae and dub music in Jamaica and overseas. He employs numerous pseudonyms, such as Pipecock Jackxon and The Upsetter."
Wikipedia, MySpace, Lee Perry, Perfect Sound Forever, last.fm, Roots World, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

The Fantastic Tavern: The Tbilisi Avant-Garde

"The Fantastic Tavern: The Tbilisi Avant-Garde is an exhibition about a highly significant yet overlooked period in art history. During Georgia’s short independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918-1921, Tbilisi became the 'Paris' of the East, where an inspired community of artists not only developed unprecedented creative practices but also collaborated to produce astonishing works of art."
Georgian Daily, Casey Kaplan Gallery

William Kentridge

Wikipedia - "Kentridge is perhaps best known for his animated films. These are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two seconds' screen time. A single drawing will be altered and filmed this way until the end of a scene. These drawings are later displayed along with the films as finished pieces of art."
Wikipedia, William Kentridge, Greg Kucera, artnet, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4)

Wings of Desire

Wikipedia - "Wings of Desire is a 1987 film by the German director Wim Wenders. Its original German title is Der Himmel über Berlin, which can be translated as The Sky (or Heaven) over Berlin. Rainer Maria Rilke's poetry partially inspired the movie; Wenders claimed angels seemed to dwell in Rilke's poetry."
Wikipedia, Wim Wenders, Cinematical, Film, YouTube, (1), (2)

Fortune cookie

Wikipedia - "A fortune cookie is a crisp Asian American cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a 'fortune' wrapped inside. A 'fortune' is a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy."
Wikipedia

Bent Larsen

Wikipedia - "Jørgen Bent Larsen (born March 4, 1935, Thisted) is a Danish chess Grandmaster. He has been a six-time Danish champion, and a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on four occasions: 1965, 1968, 1971, and 1977. He won three Interzonal tournaments: Amsterdam 1964, Sousse 1967, and Biel 1976."
Wikipedia, Chess Games, YouTube, (1), (2)

Stealing Home: The Case of Contemporary Cuban Baseball

"In the debate over Cuban Baseball, so much is a matter of subject position. Often point of view and geographic location are inextricably tied and knowing what to think is like navigating the impossible medieval labyrinth. Browse what the various interested parties have said on a range of topics critical to forming an educated opinion about Cuban baseball."
PBS, NYT, (1), Time, Vanity Fair

Erick Beltrán

"Erick Beltrán’s practice work reveals his interest in language and the systems in which information is dispersed. He often inserts his work as ‘viruses’ into conventional communication systems, questioning the economic and political motives driving the circulation of information in the public realm."
SCAPE, 28 Bienal sao paulo, MDE07, Google

Antonin Artaud

Wikipedia - "Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (September 4, 1896, in Marseille – March 4, 1948 in Paris) was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director. Antonin is a diminutive form of Antoine (little Anthony), and was among a long list of names which Artaud used throughout his life.(September 4, 1896, in Marseille – March 4, 1948 in Paris) was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director. Antonin is a diminutive form of Antoine (little Anthony), and was among a long list of names which Artaud used throughout his life."
Wikipedia, Antonin Artaud, Levity

Anselm Kiefer: Karfunkelfee and The Fertile Crescent

Aschkelon, 2009
"The new work continues to confront the violence and paradoxes of human history, its endless cycle of creation and destruction. The paintings are allusive, not illustrative, with an emphatic material and spiritual presence. They seem almost sensuously painted but are the result of a long process during which both the artist and the elements have attacked the canvas."
White Cube

PJ Harvey

Wikiedia - "Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. Raised in Corscombe, Dorset, Harvey formed the band (calling it PJ Harvey) as a teenager with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Ian Olliver, who was replaced with Steve Vaughan."
Wikipedia, PJ Harvey, MySpace, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

Agrippa (a book of the dead) - William Gibson

Wikipedia - "Agrippa (a book of the dead) is a work of art created by speculative fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992. The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical electronic poem by Gibson, embedded in an artist's book by Ashbaugh. Gibson's text focused on the ethereal nature of memories (the title is taken from a photo album)."
Wikipedia, Agrippa (a book of the dead) - William Gibson, UC Santa Barbara, William Gibson aleph, Cyber

Downtown music

Wikipedia - "Downtown music is a subdivision of American music, closely related experimental music. The scene the term describes began in 1960, when Yoko Ono—one of the Fluxus artists, at that time still seven years away from meeting John Lennon—opened her loft at 112 Chambers Street to be used as a noise music performance space for a series curated by La Monte Young and Richard Maxfield."
Wikipedia

YouTube

"Over the last few years YouTube has become the very epitome of digital culture. With more than 70 million unique users each month and approximately 100 million videos online, this brand-name video distribution platform holds the richest repository of popular culture on the Internet."
YouTube, YouTube Reader

Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés

Etant donnés, 1946-66
"Marcel Duchamp’s enigmatic assemblage Étant donnés: 1. La chute d’eau, 2. Le gaz d’éclairage (Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas) has been described by the artist Jasper Johns as “the strangest work of art in any museum.” Permanently installed at the Museum since 1969, this three-dimensional environmental tableau offers an unforgettable and untranslatable experience to those who peer through the two small holes in the solid wooden door."
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Duchamp's Secret Masterpiece, Fresh Widow

Living Decay (fairy tales in the middle on nowhere)

"In the summer of 2008 Dolk and Pøbel, two talented Norwegian street artists, took on the challenge of Lofoten Islands countryside in Norway to create large-scale murales on the faces of abandoned houses which are about to be demolished. 'Living Decay' is suggestive daily log that narrates through 4 tales, the making of these huge paintings inside the unique northern landscape."
Wooster Collective

Ennio Morricone

Wikipedia - "Ennio Morricone, OMRI (born November 10, 1928), is an Italian composer and conductor. He has composed and arranged scores for more than 500 film and television productions. Morricone is considered as one of the most influential film composers since the late 1950s."
Wikipedia, Ennio Morricone, IMDb, last.fm, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2009 November 5
"Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer."
Astronomy Picture of the Day

Poems-for-All, Сибирский Левша, 2-inch books

"They're scattered around town -- on buses, trains, cabs, in restrooms, bars, left along with the tip; stuffed into a stranger's back pocket. Whatever. Wherever. Small poems in small booklets half the size of a business card. A project of the 24th street irregular press, which cranks them out to be taken by the handful and scattered like seeds by those who want to see poetry grow in a barren cultural landscape."
Poems-for-All, "Сибирский Левша", 2 inch book and print

Chicago house

Wikipedia - "Chicago house is the earliest style of house music. The term "House music" is thought to have originated in North America at a Chicago, USA, nightclub called The Warehouse. While the origins of the name are unclear, one of the most popular beliefs is that the term can be traced to the name of that club."
Wikipedia, Global Darkness, YouTube, (1), (2), (3)

Richard Mosse

"NPR, The Bryant Park Project - Traveling along the Mexico border on a drive from San Diego, photographer Richard Mosse spotted a rucksack lying by the side of the road. Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked inside. He found clothes, jewelry and cards for learning English. description."
Richard Mosse< BLDGBLOG, NYT

Laura Keeble

"laura keeble is a london based artist who produces traditional works as well as street art interventions. her work is subversive and often references consumerism, brands and the contemporary art market."
designboom, Laura Keeble

John Cale

Wikipedia - "John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground."
Wikipedia, MySpace, last.fm, Fear Is A Man's Best Friend, YouTube, (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Jinoos Taghizadeh

"Rock, paper, scissors and a hard place. David’s picture of Marat - the murdered journalist and hero of the French Revolution - contrasts with a report that the Iranian press, censored under the shah, was to be free under the new regime."
Guardian, (1), Jinoos Taghizadeh, Aaran Gallery

Satchel Paige

Wikipedia - "Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, the first player to be inducted from the Negro leagues."
Wikipedia, Satchel Paige, Baseball Almanac, ESPN, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, YouTube: Satchel Paige, (2). YouTube

Romance comics

Wikipedia - "Romance comics was a genre of American comic books that featured dramatic scripts and art about love, domestic strife and heartache."
Wikipedia, (1), (2), The Golden Age Romance Comics Archive

NYC Grid

4th St between Layfatte and Mercer from NYC Grid
"NYC Grid is a photo blog dedicated to exploring and discovering The City of New York block by block and corner by corner. Updated every weekday, each post covers a new block with a focus on the mundane and ephemeral."
NYC Grid

The Rascals

Wikipedia - "The Rascals (known initially as The Young Rascals) were an American soul and rock musical team of the 1960s."
Wikipedia, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, YouTube, (1)

Mark Bloch

Wikipedia - "Mark Bloch (born January 23, 1956), also known as Pan, P.A.N., Panman, Panpost and the Post Art Network, is an American multi-media artist from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Since 1982 he has lived in New York City. He is a conceptual artist in the tradition of Dada, the Surrealists, Marcel Duchamp, the Fluxus group and Ray Johnson."
Wikipedia, panmodern, Matthew Rose Paris

Shoah

Wikipedia - "Shoah is a nine-hour film completed by Claude Lanzmann in 1985 about the Holocaust (or Shoah). Though Shoah is conventionally classified as a documentary film, director Lanzmann considers it to fall outside of that genre, as, unlike most historical documentaries, the film does not feature reenactments or historical footage; instead it consists of interviews with people who were involved in various ways in the Holocaust, and visits to different places they discuss."
Wikipedia, NYT, Institute for Historical Review, Guardian, SHOAH'S ABSENCE, YouTube, (1), (2) - Raul Hilberg

Kyle Gann - PostClassic

"So classical music is dead, they say. Well, well. This blog will set out to consider that dubious factoid with equanimity, if not downright enthusiasm.... "
Arts Journal, Wikipedia, Kyle Gann