Various supersized reflective creations, unusual installations and jumbo sculptures are featured in a retrospective exhibit of Indian born artist Anish Kapoor which opens this week at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. A highlight is a sculpture of a vintage cannon called ”Shooting Into The Corner” that fires bursts of 20 lb. slugs of solid crimson [...]
”What a number of sins does the cheerful, easy good-breeding of the French frequently cover? Many of them want common sense, many more common learning; but in general, they make up so much by their manner, for those defects, that frequently they pass undiscovered: I have often said, and do think, that a Frenchman, who, [...]
The Crazy Horse Cabaret Theatre , near the Champs Elysees has been an institution in Paris since 1951 and is internationally renown for its artistic nude revue. More a nude, semi-nude and erotic dance troupe ,it has developed a distinctive look of stylized movements and choreographed performances. The aesthetic remains sensual and erotic without traces [...]
”All art is exorcism. I paint dreams and visions too; the dreams and visions of my time. Painting is the effort to produce order; order in yourself. There is much chaos in me, much chaos in our time. …As a young man you don’t notice at all that you were, after all, badly affected. For years [...]
Can the realistic expression of trauma ever be considered real in the literal sense? The Hitler Nazi regime destroyed many of Otto Dix’s( 1891-1969 ) paintings after the 1937 exhibition, ”Reflections on Decadence” which in Dix’s case were ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of Weimar society which in particular attacked Germanic national myths which had [...]
” Babylon” ,Psalm 137 is read against the backdrop of the Babylonian exile, often interpreted as a metaphor for personal exile and the search within. The psalm is generally understood as an allegory for sinful thought which is brought into question and forces a reflection on the reader or listener. Don McClean recorded verse 1 [...]
One size fits all art; for a shoe that didn’t fit the crime. The release of Iraqi reporter Muntazar al-Zaidi last week for hurling his size 10 shoes at former President Bush was the closing act in an aggressive display of political footwear passion that began with Soviet premier Nikita Kruschev banging, brandishing and threatening [...]
In baseball, an ejection from the match and disciplinary action usually follows a pitchers actions when throwing behind the head of the batter. Nonetheless these ”pay-back” and revenge pitches are considered part of the game. In the context of Bush in Iraq, and Muntazer Al-Zaidi ,it was a case of political hardball on a hot [...]
The incident of rapper Kanye West seemed to invigorate the MTV awards,and boost ratings for a business model showing signs of fatigue. Was it coincidence that West was to appear the following evening on the new Jay Leno show ?;a prime-time offering which is being skewered by critics for being lame. Everyone seemed to benefit [...]
American Apparel CEO Dov Charny claimed he was exercising his rights as specified under the first amendment. American Apparel claimed that the use of comedian Woody Allen’s image on a billboard was merely satire which is protected as free speech. The image, taken from Allen’s 1977 film, Annie Hall, resulted in a lawsuit against the [...]
