It’s Neo Day at Google
This must be my day. Not only has Obama turned into a neo-neocon, but Google has decided to honor me. And it’s about time. Here’s the graphic you get when you do a Google search today: You say that perhaps … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Painting, sculpture, photography
She left her jello in San Francisco
In my continuing quest to bring you the best (and worst) of jello, I offer more of the artwork of Liz Hickok, who makes cities out of the substance. It may sound like a joke, but it’s not.
Continue reading →Memorial sculpture and its discontents: outsourcing Martin Luther King
Folks are not happy about this. Martin Luther King is about to earn his place on Washington DC’s Mall with a 28-foot high memorial statue that is likely to dwarf those of nearby Lincoln and Jefferson. But that’s not the … Continue reading →
More fun with jello molds: a 50s twofer
In my continuing quest to bring you the best of the jello molds, here’s a 50s twofer to help you while away those leisure hours spent without the cocktail parties and get-togethers of yesteryear: It combines two crazes whose decline … Continue reading →
Human plasticity: left/right front/back brain
Dichotomies such as left brain vs. right brain are understood to be interesting concepts, but too simplistic in describing what is an unbelievably complicated and still very mysterious organ: the brain. Of course, it’s the brain itself doing the studying, … Continue reading →
The art of politics
Gerard Vanderleun has called our attention to a campaign poster of Obama, created by graphic artist Shepard Fairey in his characteristic retro-Soviet style: It’s really got it all, hasn’t it? The iconic angle of the fearless idealized leader as seen … Continue reading →
Thanksgiving in New York: ogling the Guggenheim
I’m in New York for Thanksgiving, and yesterday I visited the Guggenheim. The nice thing about the Guggenheim is that even when the exhibits are awful the Frank Lloyd Wright building is still fun: And in this case the exhibit … Continue reading →
The chocolate Jesus and “Sensation” for sensation’s sake: art, culture, religion, and politics
The news that a sculpture entitled “My Sweet Lord” (after the Beatles song, no doubt, crossed with Tom Waits)—due to debut at a New York Hotel and consisting of a six-foot tall anatomically correct chocolate Jesus—has been canceled, conjures up … Continue reading →
Pictorial propaganda: Part III–Kitsch and politics
The last post of mine (number two in this series) generated so many exceptional comments that I was thinking of just reproducing a few of them and calling it a day. Here‘s one by grackle: One problem with Rockwell for … Continue reading →
Pictorial propaganda: Part II–Norman Rockwell and Soviet art
[Part I here.] Now, who doesn’t like Norman Rockwell? Yeah, he’s corny as all get out. But breathes there the man (or woman) with soul so dead who wouldn’t be touched by this picture, and a host of others by … Continue reading →
Pictorial propaganda (Part I–Norman Rockwell and the Four Freedoms)
Those of you who read here regularly have probably noticed I’ve been mulling over the uses of propaganda lately, especially here, and again (at least to a certain degree) here . At some point it occurred to me that nearly … Continue reading →
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe: and now it’s time for a little art history
No, I’m not becoming a Dean Esmay stalker, or tailgater, or whatever the expression might be, although today’s post was sparked by one of Dean’s, once again. The subject? Female nudity in popular magazines: to wit, the following cover of … Continue reading →