art

Broken Porcelain Lady Figurines

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Jessica Harrison takes old ceramic statues of fancily-dressed women and disembowels them. These found porcelain figures, that are typically seen occupying a special place your grandmother’s credenza, are reimagined in the most gory of ways. The juxtaposition of the prim statuettes displaying their decapitated heads and freshly opened throats without changing their demure expressions is striking. Despite having appeared to have been subjected to an awful violence (perhaps their own), the Georgian and Victorian-era figures remain decorous figures. The results are gory and macabre while also being kitsch and playful.

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There is a great interview with Harrison about the meaning behind her work on The Skinny. Many of these images can be purchased as signed and numbered prints on Harrison’s website.

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Pretty/Dirty

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This weekend I visited the Marilyn Minter retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA). All the work was captivating in beautiful and disgusting way. Her juxtaposition of glamor and grit, of the revealing and the disturbing, and of the intimate and the amplified shown throughout the entire show. The title Pretty/Dirty couldn’t have been more apt. A great review of the exhibit can be found at Hyperallergic.

Pretty Dirty 2“Pop Rocks” by Marilyn Minter

I was more impressed with her paintings than her photographs or videos. Above is a full-sized photo of Minter’s painting “Pop Rocks”. It’s a gigantic 9 feet by 15 feet. Outside of their sheer size and incredible detail, I’m fascinated by the process used to create them. The paintings start as heavily mixed and manipulated Photoshop negatives taken from earlier photo shoots. This new image is then turned into paintings created through multiple layers of translucent enamel paint on aluminum giving a rich hallucinatory look.

The final layer is applied with fingertips to create a softening of the paintbrush lines. And when you look closely you can see evidence of fingerprints and smudges all over her works. Below is a detail of the condensation from “Pop Rocks”

Pretty Dirty 5Detail of “Pop Rocks” by Marilyn Minter

The Marilyn Minter retrospective will be showing at MCA through the month so hurry up and go see it while you can. You can find a few more of my photos from the exhibit below.

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Picasso’s Guernica In 3D

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This haunting video is an exploration of Pablo Picasso’s massive 1937 painting “Guernica” The movie’s creator, Lena Gieseke, isolates each of the major subjects in the painting, renders them in 3D and uses the camera to explore the scene.

It provides the unusual opportunity to view the painting from a unique perspective, revealing aspects that would normally stay hidden from the casual viewer. When we discern the original painting in this three-dimensional reproduction, we recognize which features most significantly constitute the painting. Consequently this three-dimensional exploration of Picasso’s Guernica is an innovative technique for comprehending and appreciating the original masterpiece.

Doo Ba Dih Bee Dwee Doo Daah

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The Lick

Referred to simply as The Lick this melodic element can be found in nearly all genres of music and played by all kinds of instruments. It has somehow managed to seed itself everywhere. It can be found as early as Stravinsky’s “Firebird” (1910). Player’s “Baby Come Back” and Santana’s “Oye Como Va” are based on variations of The Lick. Although the origins of The Lick are unknown, it has propagated throughout the entire musical kingdom as you can see from the two videos below.

I have come down hard on artists who use clichés too much. But I think The Lick proves itself as something greater than a musical cliché, something more like a musical meme. The best art copies, reconstructs, personalizes, mutates and owns up to other great artworks that came before it. Viva La Lick!

The Silent Sky Project#

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Artist Rob Sweere has been inviting participants to take part in an original, traveling social project titled Silent Sky Project#. Since 2004 Sweere has asked people around the world to take 30 minutes out of their day to lay in silence amongst one another and contemplate the sky in complete silence. Currently there have been 65 Silent Sky occurrences with between 3 and 2000 participants. It all sounds very therapeutic.


All images via Rob Sweere

Unedited Footage Of A Bear (Sponsored by Claridryl)

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On the heels of “Too Many Cooks”, comes Adult Swim’s horrifying, disturbing and genius “Unedited Footage Of a Bear”. It begins with candid footage of a bear, as promised in the title. The bear footage is interrupted by a fake infomercial for a side-effect-prone nasal spray called Claridryl. It then rapidly devolves into chaotic violence. It aired for the first time on Adult Swim this week in their 4am infomercial slot. It’s dark, uncomfortable and brilliant.

The video’s “Skip Ad” button will take you to the promotional website for Claridryl. Let the website play all the way through or click the house about 10 times. The video was directed by Alan Resnik of Alan Tutorial fame and Memime fame.

Some side effects effects may may occur. If side effects occur occur please form a second opinion. Your inside affects your outside side effects; Claridryl affects your insides effects on your outside. Please choose sides before consulting Claridryl. Claridryl is not responsible for switched sides, insides or out. What were you thinking? Claridryl is not related to that.

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