Jeff Nichols - Shotgun Stories (2008, 10.3MB, 1:50) Shotgun Stories tells the tale of two families with the same father. One, in which the children are named Kid, Boy, and Son, came before dad sobered up and found Jesus. The second, his marriage to a beautiful woman who had four more boys, was his do-over. After his death, an explosive feud breaks out between the grown half-siblings. It opened to rave reviews, and from the chilling trailer alone, I can see why.... [more]

Sorry I didn't post yesterday about your eagerly anticipated weekend activities, I was out looking at art. But today's YSL (not to be confused with a famous French designer brand) won't take you look at too much art. Because, you know what? It's way too hot this weekend to go gallery-hopping in decent-watering-holes-deprived Chinatown and Culver City. Yes, I know about The Mountain Bar, The [more]

Writer Daniel H. Pink took a cue from the East in creating his Johnny Bunko character. While the Japanese comic format, manga, is generally left for children and a fringe group of aficionados in America, it's omnipresent in Japan. In fact, a full 22 percent of all printed material is manga. With this in mind, Pink decided to target American adults with his manga creation, "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need." (Click the image for more detail.) Far from child... [more]

When all is fails bring in the artists. You know Gap, RVCA's been pimping artists for a while now with great success.... [more]

(Image: Tom Moody) LoVid will be doing a performance/screening/presentation at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan this coming Monday, May 19. They will be showing single channel work and performances including a new performance called Video Fingerprints that uses the electrical signals from several people's bodies to create live video and sound. we're quite excited to include signals from friends (listed below) who we expect to have interesting electricity flowing in them. LoVid: Wirefull M... [more]

We asked SAAM's Patrick Martin, to write a post about a new Web initiative from our museum’s Education department: Superhighway Scholars. Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii If you listen closely, you can hear it. It’s that time of year. No, it isn’t the birds chirping, people like me sneezing, or lawnmowers coming out of hibernation. It is the rasp of no. 2 pencils being sharpened, the zip of boxes of booklets being sliced open, and the h... [more]

The other night Larry and I attended a meeting of the GWNC (Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council) in one of the meeting rooms at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. The building is really beautiful, even though it could use a sprucing up. The Ebell is on Wilshire Boulevard at Lucerne Avenue in Windsor Park. It was founded in 1894 as a service group. We walked thru the building a bit to see the layout. There's lots of beautiful paneling, historic paintings, wonderful high and decorative ceilings, p... [more]

.by jeff blind.... [more]

Because life doesn’t have any other possibility, everyone can be measured by his adaptability to change. ... [more]

I see Omar Sommereyns around town pretty often and, Saturday night he asked me if I had the latest copy of MAP. No, I didn't. MAP is using the lot next to Snitzer Gallery to pick up copies and sample café cubano with temporary seating and a nice crowd. Omar has ventured into a number of projects and, I do support his efforts. So should you. MAP magazine: "Finally, a local magazine that does it right. This is the 4th (quarterly) issue of Map magazine, and the quality has been consistently great, so I’m finally lettin... [more]

"This paint is really more that you can think, It was created for a very special purpose many will say I am crazy because the price of it but the truth is that in this world every single thing has a meaning big or little." (Reddit) Portrait competition, anyone? Edmund Sullivan makes a clay maquette for a Madonna and Child in marble, to opera. Very pleasant. Wall mural animation. (Andrew) Rilke on a sculpture. Audio slide show for Lynda Barry's What It Is, mentioned on Monday. I may pu... [more]

The Groundswell Blog: Groundswell Talks: Jesse Graves I began using mud as my stencil medium to solve the problem of how to create a stencil without using spray paint. Spray paint is very toxic and can cause brain damage if frequently ingested. It is also difficult to remove from buildings. I have no interest in creating art that damages property or is unwanted. If someone does not like my stencils they can easily wash them off. I also asked a few local businesses if I could put a stencil on th... [more]

I'll be back Monday with some thoughts on Robert Rauschenberg and some thoughts on the most disappointing aspect of the media coverage of his death. Until then, enjoy taking the market at commerce off of your computer screen...Also, I'm now on Facebook. Not sure what I'll do with it, but I'm open to suggestions. [more]

Iron Man is the fulfillment of all the computer-integrated movies were ever meant to be, and by computer-integrated, I mean just that: beyond the technical wizardry of special effects, this is a film in which the computer is incorporated, like a cast member, into the development of the plot itself. [more]

This one's a bit wobbly...feel free to dissect...Even as I hoped it was all just bluster, back in the rhetoric-filled days of 2002, there was a part of me that knew George W. Bush was going to march the country to war in Iraq. I had concluded years ago that each set of generations will repeat the same cycle of ambition - accomplishment - arrogance - entitlement - excess - horror - awakening - corrections - forgetfulness - ambition again, etc. If you study history you'll see it play itself out ag... [more]

We're looking forward to seeing everyone in Beacon, NY for Electric Windows. More info here. [more]

The New York Times [more]

Early Look PeekHere's another early peek at another student whose work I've selected for the "Early Look" student exhibition at the Long View Gallery in DC next month.Her name is Lauren Albert and she's a senior at Moore College of Art & Design in Philly. Below is an animated video which will be in the show. See some of her 2D artwork here.The show opens at Long View Gallery DC on June 7 from 5-8PM.... [more]

The “el Botón�- MANGO Fashion Awards offer young designers throughout the world the opportunity to participate in an international Fashion Design competition. The competition, which takes place every 18 months, has the support of five of the most important Fashion... [more]

"Steven, your show will be October 20 - November 15 in the Thorndike Gallery. Your reception date is October 23, 2008"Sorry. If you "think ego and individualism makes art less interesting", and that "mining the individual self for meaning is, first and foremost, a total fucking bore in our confessional, therapeutic (I would say Sextonesque) culture" (source) then you probably don't frequent this blog anyhoo. But I must say again, sorry. I've got a new goal. I've got twelve new surfaces that... [more]

The sad news of Robert Rauschenberg's death this week also means the end of one of the two lawsuits he recently filed over the sale of objects pulled from his trash. The Southwest Florida News-Press's Mary Wozniak reports:"Rauschenberg's death will nullify the federal lawsuit he filed against Naples artist Robert Fontaine under the Visual Artists Rights Act, said Lawrence H. Kolin of Orlando, Rauschenberg's attorney in the case. ... Kolin said that he has asked Yale T. Freeman, Fontaine's attorney, to consent to dismissal of the case. But Kolin likely w... [more]

Sothebys latest Market Review, issued last night, strikes a slightly defensive but none-the-less optimistic tone, using two key arguments to support their optimism. The first is their contention that the market of today is unlikely to suffer a crash and sustained down period similar to that of the 1990s. They base this view on the not unreasonable statement that there are more sources of buyers than was the case when Japan was the source of new money bidding up markets in the 1980s. At that t... [more]

The paintings that were in Chicago still haven't returned so i phoned For Freight Now and by mistake, my paintings were redirected to New Jersey! It's not really a problem since they aren't going to be in a show any time soon. But, i am going out of town next week and don't want to miss the delivery. It weighs over 250 lbs! [more]

May 17-June 16 . 2008 Glowlab’s Christina Ray curates video work by artists CutUp, Molly Schwartz and Lee Walton for presentation in Galerie Vanessa Quang’s ”Co-Curated By”  video series. Galerie Vanessa Quang 7 rue des Filles du calvaire 75003 Paris - France tel.:+33144549215   ... [more]

for Aidric... [more]

This morning I went to the New York Women's Foundation breakfast, which was awe-inspiring. I attended with Maya Nussbaum, executive director of Girls Write Now, and we sat with our friend Hali Lee and the Asian Women Giving Circle. CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour spoke eloquently to the hundreds of attendees and I couldn't see straight I was so starstruck. I was also very moved by the Ugandan activists who pooled their funds to raise $1000 for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And Nevada L... [more]

Francis BaconTriptych78"x58" oil and pastel on canvas 1976 "The picture surely treats of sexual love – that 'crime' as Baudelaire put it, in which one is fated to have an accomplice – and the suffering it frequently sets in motion...The themes of crime, guilt and punishment are all strongly represented in this magnificent work....From this stasis no outcome is possible, no purging of the turbulent passions, almost as if, in his deep seated masochism, the artist had chosen constant pain o... [more]

Hello Shadowy Creatures of the Night, As you know, on June 8th, Sunday, at 7:30 Life in a Blender will be playing at Joe’s Pub in New York City with a contorted new horn section that recalls the bugles of Appomatox. I consider them each brave warriors. The U.S. mint should issue a coin with all their faces somewhere on it. So I suggest you rummage around in your desk drawer for that Sharpie–give it a little sniff–go ahead–and mark June 8th with a big X. Now pop a danish in the microwave,... [more]

Robert Rauschenberg died at his home on Captiva Island, Florida on May 12, 2008, at the age of 82. Unquestionably there will be many eulogies written about the iconoclastic artist, and there’s not much that I can add in noting his accomplishments or his passing - save for the following. Rauschenberg always impressed me as being one of the more significant artists associated with the Pop Art [more]

My primary blog has 4 posts that were on the front page of Digg between September and November of 2007. Digg obviously sends a significant rush of traffic to popular posts, and for that reason many bloggers place most of their social media optimization and marketing efforts on reaching the front page of Digg. StumbleUpon is of course known for sending traffic over a longer period of time, whereas the Digg traffic dries up pretty quickly. I thought it would be interesting to compare the traffic fr... [more]

A reader passes on some stuff about the Urban Verbs, a band who sounded like Public Image back before there was a Public Image. They've reunited after a long absence from the scene; David Malitz enjoyed an early look... [more]

The evil Chicago foie gras ban has been overturned! I only mention it now as it’s been discussed here before. The thing that really irritates me about these foie gras bans is that the true food demons in our culture — large factory farms — have too much clout for animal activists to have any affect. So they end up picking on small, artisanal farmers creating a relatively rare delicacy.... [more]

Robert Rauschenberg, Art Pioneer, dead at 82 Charles Stuckey once wrote that Robert Rauschenberg considered art a gift. In Italy in 1953, Rauschenberg took the great artist Alberto Burri one of his works as a present. He gave gifts to his friends – there one infamous but lovely story where Rauschenberg repainted a black painting he had given John Cage because the composer was a few minutes late [more]

Private View tonight: 14th May 6.30 – midnight Exhibition runs through June 14th 2008 Rhythm Factory 16-18 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1EW [more]

Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times Reports that "Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died on Monday night at his home on Captiva Island, Fla. He was 82." More...... [more]

via MICHAEL KIMMELMAN for the New York Times: Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died on Monday night at his home on Captiva Island, Fla. He was 82. The cause was heart failure, said Arne Glimcher, chairman of PaceWildenstein, the Manhattan gallery that represents Mr. Rauschenberg. Mr. Rauschenberg’s work gave new meaning to sculpture. “Canyon,� for instance, consisted of a stuffed bald eagle at... [more]

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Administrator’s Note: Andrej Ujhazy is a BFA major at Corcoran College of Art + Design. He sent me the following essay via email and I post it here with my reply. Dear Mark,I am opting to once again form my essay into that of an email. Looking beyond the novelty of it, I find it to be a more accurate form of communication for my intentions. The voice is unambiguously mine, and the audience is also quite specific. Quite simply, it's easier for me to write to you without the anxiety of impl... [more]

no hands harvard.Seventeen people, and not a single hand... maybe the photographer directed them to do that?Diagnosis: Weirdos. [more]

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We have been consistently annoyed at the mainstream media's enthusiastic spinning of white voters' support for Hillary Clinton as attributable to the racism of working class white men, with mostly only the blogosphere and Hillary's supporters arguing that Barack Obama's popularity is attributable to voters' sexism (not least the sexism of young "post-feminist" women). Both arguments are cynical and unproven (though perhaps not entirely false), but the mainstream media's preference for one narrativ... [more]

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mailin their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.-----Email Message-----Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 11:29 PMSubject: in response to a mother's day post secretthe day before my grandmother died, she wrote her name and mine on a piece of paper. it makes me happy that she held on to that one memory even when others were gone.i still have the piece of paper. reading that person's secret motivated me to go out and get it framed. -----Email Message-----Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 3... [more]

While in Europe I've been working on this project called Check-In Architecture (making videos, writing essays, conducting interviews, maintaining a second blog, travelling incessantly, etc), I've been a bit lazy about posting the details but I'll get to that sometime in the next couple of days.In the meantime, I did an interview with an artist I found really compelling at the Berlin Biennial named Ahmet Ögüt. Ahmet himself goes into a lot of the background information about his projects and pr... [more]

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Monday, May 5th wasn't exactly a typical Cinco de Mayo celebration, but there was dancing and singing...and drinks weren't absent from the scene either. My roommate and I headed out to the Staples Center (7th/Metro Red Line Station is just a few blocks north) to see the Alicia Keys' "As I Am" concert. The tour has been in the press lately because of one vocal incident or another - first Jordin ... [more]

Apparently unfortunate juxtapositions like this occur when online ads are somehow keyword driven. It's unfortunate and disturbing yet very telling. Click the image to view my original screenshot. CET is currently in Japan and was in London during last summer's catastrophe in Myanmar. We are hopeful that her family is safe in Rangoon. ... [more]

Forces in nature impact our very existence from moment to moment, yet most are beyond our awareness. Thermal dynamics, gravity, electromagnetism, vibration, growth, love and emotions are some of the unseen forces that will be represented in this upcoming show. The Master Designer, Nature, is our mentor and inspiration. Our challenge as artists is to make the invisible visible, and the intangible tangible through the rigors of the creative process. It is our intention to have our creative endeavors... [more]

The first of three MFA shows from the Department of Visual Art at the University of Chicago opened Thursday. This Saturday an event by Joe Miller centered around his ongoing social/graffiti/art/work/experimentation at the Empty Bottle takes place. Look for more info on the MFA shows at the bottom of this post.> BOTTLE Gordon Matta-ClarkThe Gordon Matta-Clark retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art closes this Sunday. So make sure you stop by for this excellent exhibition if you havenâ�... [more]

Read more... (http://www.perpetualartmachine.com/content/view/470/48/lang,en/) [more]

Over 600 complete mtDNA genomes from indigenous populations across the continent were analyzed and the data provided surprising insights into the early demographic history of human populations before they moved out of Africa. The extensive data analysis revealed that early human populations were small and isolated from each other for many tens of thousands of years. Originally from ScienceDaily: Latest Science News, ReBlogged by GOOD on Apr 25, 2008 at 02:32 AM ... [more]