Goya and other treasures at UMMA

This weekend while I was enjoying some downtime, I decided to check out the Los Caprichos exhibit at the University of Michigan Art Museum. No surprise that the prints were great- the museum just added the entirety of an original set to their collection. The aquatint is seriously breathtaking (The Wikipedia entry for aquatint makes a reference to this very set by Goya). The prints were a bit cramped, and I haven't decided whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, it gives you the feeling that they're all less important the other works which get some breathing room and on the other, they are all from the same set. However, I think a tiny bit more space might have really allowed the pieces to come at the viewer with their full force. Some of the prints are really humorous, some horrid, some just plain weird, and when they're all smashed together, the impact of each one starts to blur.

Nevertheless, they're some great prints in the set by one of the greatest artists, so if you're in the area, it'd be worth your while to swing by and check them out before they come down on August 30th.

Also check out my post on the VRC blog about some of UMMA's efforts to engage the patron.

Titling Home Movies circa 1950...

I just finished reading a short Baseline Magazine article on amateur movie titling (you can download a pdf of the article from Heller's Books, here). You'll have to check the article out because in my quest to find out more on the web I turned up next to nothing. Basically, people in the 50s used to use these kits of paper or clay letters to create titles on photographs or drawings. Then they would film the little set-up and splice the film together. What a wonderfully nostalgic piece of film history!

Amateur film maker Charles Anderson, photographer Bill Eppridge 1968 copyright Life Magazine

Sunday Sundry...

I've knit a gift or two in my day, but don't be expecting this for Christmas [via Oddity Central]

Brooklyn Museum's Lady Hor isn't much of a lady afterall. Check out the cool pics and videos from the Twitter feed. [via C Monster]

Just about the most amazing thing I've seen all week. I'm not sure whether to run or laugh. [via Pink Tentacle]

A great photo series by Adam Panczuk on Foster Families. [via Toxico Cultura]

A History of Lace in seven portraits. [via Venetian Red]

A great essay that just somehow feels just right at the beginning of summer in the NYT Review of Books [via 2 Coats of Paint]

Make it Work or Pack your Knives?

If you know me at all, you'll know I'm all about working for community inclusiveness in the art world, but as for the idea of American Artist as a reality TV show, I'm more than a tad skeptical. I'll admit that among my guilty pleasures are snuggling with my dog during an episode of Project Runway or Top Chef, but I'm not so sure a visual arts competition will translate into quick-paced competitions as well as the culinary and fashion arts do. While I don't think Project Runway or Top Chef really give full credit to the talents and time involved in creating a line of clothing or a menu, the spirit of the shows seems to mirror the demands of cooking for a restaurant or working under a demanding designer. The parallels at least make the shows marginally believable tests of talent. Though I can see parallels in the visual arts to this style of competition, i.e. show deadlines, studio visits, etc, it just doesn't seem to hold the same believability quotient for me. Only certain types of work could be made in a day or two, and a really great artist is unlikely to be skilled in all forms of production. And you can't really blame a sculptor for not knowing how to make a lithograph, while a chef would certainly need to know how to cook fish as well as lamb.
There's a nice post on the topic at the Art21 blog post. Sharon Butler has some good ideas for what would make a better and more 'reality' based show. While I agree that a lot of art institutions, instructors and even artists themselves alienate the public (Bless you for trying to combat this Brooklyn Museum), I'm not sure some overly dramatic one-off of a reality show is really going to do it. At best, it might introduce the public to terms and new ways of seeing, but I fear it would just seek to reinforce stereotypes of the 'artistic type' already held by many in this country.

The return of the flying book-statistician-programmer-crazymoving lady...

Sometimes you get so busy, you forget you have a blog. Sometimes you willingly forget, and then other times, you find fantastic stuff and remember all about it. I've blogged over at the VRC about the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institute. There's a lot of really great stuff there, but until recently much of it was only available on micofiche (for you younguns, check the Wikipedia). According to 16 Miles of String and a little subsequent perusing of my own, the AAA (not to be confused with the one that fixes flats) has been hard at work digitizing the archives of the artists, critics, and dealers you love/loathe the most. You'll have to check it out for yourself.

Hotel Fox...

As promised, here is the first video from our Denmark trip. It's from the ever so lovely Hotel Fox, a small Copenhagen hotel that decided to make its mark through design. Twenty-one designers and artists worked on 60 rooms. Each one is a unique experience in itself ranging from pure design to flashy opulence. Our room was 308 Guerro Sound System by the Venezuelan artist, MASA.

P.S. Sorry to post, take down and post again. Vimeo is apparently forcing you to download 1 video a week in HD and not allowing you to embed it. So sad because I really like Vimeo, but that has to be the most annoying feature ever.

Correspondence Soon!

I've been in Denmark, then Brooklyn, then an apartment with no internet. I'll report soon!