tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83676016035787380812024-03-07T03:41:39.730-05:00Random Thoughts About ArtSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-30383242539914032952010-03-26T19:40:00.009-04:002010-03-26T21:14:11.060-04:00Art Roulette: ClevelandI can't find a whole lot that's interesting from my usual sources this week, so I'm trying something new: Art Roulette! I'll pick an random city, Google its name next to the word "art," and choose something interesting from the results.This week, Cleveland! The Cleve; the Forest City; the butt of so many 30 Rock jokes. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (best newspaper name ever, by the way)Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-57569261026047087312010-03-24T19:41:00.010-04:002010-03-24T20:16:40.593-04:00Child's PlayMy trusty Vulture feed informed me today that there is a three-year-old named Ruby Ellenby with her own gallery show in San Francisco (profiled here in the San Francisco Chronicle; above photo by Ms. Ellenby herself). And I screamed (internally, of course): Where is my frickin' gallery show? I'm 28! And my photos are so much better than hers!Also, my assessment is that these pictures could have Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-25183406356686902912010-03-23T00:52:00.004-04:002010-03-24T19:50:10.901-04:00How many Elvises can dance on the head of a pin?The CBS Sunday Morning show: not just for old people anymore! This past Sunday, Mark Strassman profiled British "micro-sculptor" Willard Wigan, who makes art so tiny he once accidentally inhaled it. You can't see most of his art without a microscope. His pedestals are the eye of a needle or the head of a pin; his paintbrush is hair of a dead fly. Behold: Tiny Elvis! YES!!!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-39659307505982815512010-03-23T00:31:00.008-04:002010-03-24T19:49:35.798-04:00Reverse trompe l'oeil is cool; creeps me outAlexa Meade doesn't paint canvases. She paints real, live people to look like canvases. And while I think this is amazing and sooo unique, I gotta say that seeing this in person would scare the bejeezus out of me, especially if I just happened to run into this guy on the subway on my way to work:Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-45075972358146382652010-03-23T00:22:00.035-04:002010-03-25T23:32:34.478-04:00New Post! Wooo!Hello, 2010! After skipping a year of life, I have officially quit grad school, and thus I am resuscitating my blog. (Now with less inane commentary! More posts that way!)With March comes Spring rain, pretty flowers, and potholes. And some British dude named Pete Dungey (who clearly needs to pay the Bay State roadways a visit) has been prettying up potholes with tiny guerilla gardens. Which, Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-17162853427178300072008-05-05T00:46:00.016-04:002008-05-05T23:46:49.358-04:00On a dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets...It's time to come clean: I'm an NPR junkie. I download "This American Life" podcasts and sing the Be-Bop-A-Re-Bop Rhubarb Pie song whenever I'm feeling out of sorts. My mornings begin with "The Writer's Almanac," and my work days often end with "All Things Considered." I own a tote bag. Okay, I own several.So this past Saturday, when "A Prairie Home Companion" was broadcast live from the Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-74349150613874180882008-05-01T20:40:00.010-04:002008-05-04T01:41:36.484-04:00Hip-Hop + Baseball ÷ Fat Guys = AwesomeAs far as I can tell, Kanye has blogged about this just yet, so here goes:Something very exciting is happening in the world of dance. No, it's not Big Boi's collaboration with the Atlanta Ballet (though it definitely deserves an honorable mention). The Florida Marlins, whose stripped-down lineup (besides Hanley Ramirez) surely needs some cheerleading this year, have assembled a troupe of Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-21270631437580174332008-05-01T14:00:00.007-04:002008-05-01T16:04:20.097-04:00Excuses, excusesI've been trying to think of a good explanation for letting my blog lapse for the entire month of April. I was going to go with the requisite, "I'm a grad student. Blerrghh." But I use that excuse for everything. And the real reason (which I'll refer to simply as "personal issues") is too confessional for a blog about art. I could conveniently claim that I've been doing a bunch of academic Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-22417690737427474692008-03-23T16:05:00.008-04:002008-03-23T17:29:33.759-04:00Good, Clean FunAnd just like that, it's springtime in Boston. And yesterday was the perfect day for a pillow fight.March 22nd was International Pillow Fight Day, and thanks to urban playground group Banditos Misteriosos, an estimated 500 Bostonians gathered in Copley Square at 2pm and whacked each other with pillows. The rules were as follows: Before the fight begins, act natural. Bring a soft pillow. Don't Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-6151472763637799042008-03-20T00:11:00.005-04:002008-03-20T01:08:17.959-04:00Dim SumThis week's roundup of art news I happen to find interesting:-The Boston Ballet has announced that it is cutting nearly 20% of the dancers in its company. Times are tough, sure. I get that. But, boo. Just, boo.-Isaac thinks redneck sports in Maine are kind of like Dadaism. I think he has a point, but a true redneck would probably call him an "overeducated owta-stateah" and send him down the Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-79569495249223134052008-03-12T19:53:00.006-04:002008-05-05T00:23:53.530-04:00"Eye-Ass Coordination"Neke Carson painted this portrait of his friend Andy Warhol in 1972, and "Page Six" reports that it's soon going on exhibit at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, its first public showing in 28 years. It looks pretty common, right? Kind of lopsided and cartoonish, but a pretty accurate likeness nonetheless. Not especially subversive material for that particular moment in artistic culture. So why Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-72418417874496932112008-03-08T00:29:00.007-05:002008-03-14T12:53:31.252-04:00The house needs new siding; pass me another!A Man's 6-Pack Can Serve as His Castle (NY Times)Besides being environmentally friendly, the Beer Can House in Houston, Texas may or may not be the coolest thing ever to result from one man's love of cheap beer. (Hint: it is.) The folk art monument, which opens to the public today, was the twenty-year-long project of late furniture upholsterer John Milkovisch. The house underwent a seven-year, $Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-25522415791978193152008-03-07T15:18:00.009-05:002008-03-07T23:03:45.430-05:00George W. Bush, "Art Critic"George W. Bush has a favorite painting, W.H.D. Koerner's A Charge to Keep (1916), and it hangs prominently in the Oval Office. He claims to have acquired it after becoming a born-again Christian. But the painting doesn't depict what he thinks it does. I try not to be overtly political on these here pages out of respect for my Conservative readers (I think there are two of you?), but I just Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-35139187288210339462008-03-06T18:40:00.007-05:002008-03-07T16:51:30.704-05:00Mikhail Baryshnikov is taking over the art world...but being nice about it.This recent article in the New York Observer officially begs the question: Great Muppity Odin, is there any kind of art Mikhail Baryshnikov doesn't do? Dancing, of course...then acting, and now guitar and photography? Apparently once he masters one art form, he simply moves on to another, all the while acting pleasantly self-deprecating about his abilities. As if he could fool us into Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-47321216405279059452008-02-28T19:10:00.018-05:002008-03-05T02:34:20.019-05:00Ocular TortureI'm doing a lot of things lately that I've always wanted to do since moving to Boston, but never got around to until now. Like going ice skating on the Frog Pond, seeing a Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway (April 13th, baby!), and going for a run on the Esplanade. Boston is a beautiful place, and living here makes me happy.But for a moment, I'd like to celebrate my city's ugliness. The Museum of Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-71849941254576628702008-02-26T23:24:00.008-05:002008-02-26T23:43:29.718-05:00Frank Lloyd Wright would be so pissedChinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang is having a mid-career retrospective, entitled "I Want To Believe," at the Guggenheim this month. I'll be honest, I've never actually heard of him before. But I have to say that his installation in the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda is pretty much the coolest thing ever. It's a bunch of cars tumbling (well, suspended) down seven stories, stop motion Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-51465485024704839232008-02-26T17:36:00.007-05:002008-03-02T12:59:35.619-05:00The Gates: Tonight on HBOIf you're one of those very lucky people who has HBO, you should strongly consider turning on your TV tonight at 10pm and watching the TV premiere of The Gates. It follows artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in their 26-year campaign to convince the City of New York to allow them to create a massive installation in Central Park, from their first request in 1979 to the realization of The Gates in Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-6311899718029530922008-02-26T01:08:00.007-05:002008-02-26T01:42:06.650-05:00Oscars ReduxHaving TiVo-ed through the Oscars 24 hours after it aired (the only way to do it, in my opinion), I can only say this of the results: everything is as it should be. Jon Stewart was funny enough to earn himself another hosting gig next year. The Coen Brothers have taken up their rightful place in cinematic history (and are, appropriately, off to the races on another couple of comedies). Javier Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-25245810365435831642008-02-21T01:32:00.007-05:002008-02-28T00:53:51.878-05:00"Criminal Masterminds"Two instances of bizarre breakings and enterings caught my attention recently. Apparently Whitey Bulger is the only person who can pull of a decent art theft these days.On Feb. 9th, three masked men walked into the E. G. Bührle Collection in Zurich and walked out with a Cézanne, a Degas, a van Gogh, and a Monet. That's it: they walked in, grabbed, the paintings, walked out, and sped off in a vanSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-76767220639382485792008-02-14T21:53:00.012-05:002008-02-15T23:17:30.541-05:00WGA Victorious; AMPTP Still Kind Of WeaselyI've been so busy reading old issues of Playboy magazine these past few days (for research, seriously!) that I completely forgot to celebrate the fact that the writer's strike is officially over, as of Tuesday night. While I'm not totally convinced the AMPTP aren't still a bunch of ugly fascist weasels, I'm going to allow myself to be optimistic about the future of screenwriting. So here are Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-22105295752816355772008-02-13T22:27:00.006-05:002008-02-14T12:09:40.212-05:00More kisses! Did I stop them, when a million seemed so few?In my (relatively) new single life, I'm enjoying each day's exciting new possibilities and learning to love meeting new people and putting myself in unfamiliar social situations. And lately, I'm obsessed with this poem by Robert Browning, about the opera composer Baldassarre Galuppi and parties in eighteenth century Venice. So on Valentine's Day (or thereabouts), I'd like to post this poem as aSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-18579005397435525862008-02-09T15:07:00.001-05:002008-02-13T00:50:45.498-05:00Please don't laughRoad song without a tuneCome ride with me, my darlingCome and watch the sun go downWe will leave this ghostly cityWe will leave this sorry townWe'll roll past this endless winterOver asphalt, under snowWe will flee the rest and ride out westAlong the Morse code of the roadYou're riding shotgun right beside meAnd that's just fine with me for nowBut I might take off next time we stopSo find Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-75307083216183070912008-02-08T13:13:00.002-05:002008-02-15T02:11:54.704-05:00Amazing. Simply amazing.I'm about to tip the topical balance of this blog decidedly in favor of the dance genre. But I'm ahead of my game for once, so I wanted to post that if you live in the Boston area, you ought to consider seeing Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater this weekend at the Wang. Tickets are a little bit pricey, but students can score $20 rush tickets (cash only) at the box office an hour and a half Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-317206684616029852008-02-04T18:10:00.000-05:002008-02-04T23:17:18.486-05:00A reality show I'd actually watchSarah Jessica Parker is developing a new reality show where a dozen artists compete with one another in a series of creative challenges, Project Runway-style. Each week would require the contestants to create within a different medium: painting, sculpture, industrial art, interior design, etc. They would be judged by "the world's top art critics" (no word yet on who that includes). The winnerSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8367601603578738081.post-345554340308362812008-01-24T20:23:00.000-05:002008-01-27T12:02:06.156-05:00Burton Norval Hatlen, 1936-2008University of Maine English professor Burt Hatlen passed away this past Monday at the age of 71. Anyone who's attended the University of Maine in the past forty years will remember him as a literary giant, a patient teacher, and an infinitely kind man. He was an accomplished scholar whose expertise was of that rare variety that spans many time periods, cultures, and media, from modern poetry toSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10654824886345258146noreply@blogger.com0