20010413 nytimes:
Steve DiBenedetto
Baumgartner
Steve DiBenedetto makes splendidly gnarly, infernally incandescent paintings. The six medium- size, semiabstract canvases in this excellent show may be appreciated purely as rich essays in painterly improvisation.
Brushing, troweling, scraping, scumbling and gouging, the artist creates topographies of nonstop tactile and chromatic intrigue. Areas of thick, striated impasto border on sections of translucent color; patterns of woven or braided lines incised into the paint are irradiated by crepuscular light. In places, fine doodling looks like the work of an obsessive madman, while other areas suggest a formalist experimentalism like that of Terry Winters or Thomas Nozkowski.
Emerging to varying degrees of visibility are Ferris wheels, helicopters and octopuses. A Jungian analyst might view these round, spoked images as mandala-form archetypes of wholeness and unity. The first two, however, are manmade, mechanical objects — emblems of rational, Apollonian order wrested from the Dionysian depths where the octopus lives. The last, a sinuous, luxuriantly painted beast, clings to a web of brown lines against a background like hot, yellow sunlight in "Psychoptor." In "The Greedy Hippie," mudslides of murky doodling engulf from above and below a luminous, rainbow- hued Ferris wheel.
The id and the intellect, then: the octopus gives Mr. DiBenedetto's painting its sensuous, instinctual flow; the Ferris wheel its playful formal wit.
KEN JOHNSON
Steve DiBenedetto
Baumgartner
Steve DiBenedetto makes splendidly gnarly, infernally incandescent paintings. The six medium- size, semiabstract canvases in this excellent show may be appreciated purely as rich essays in painterly improvisation.
Brushing, troweling, scraping, scumbling and gouging, the artist creates topographies of nonstop tactile and chromatic intrigue. Areas of thick, striated impasto border on sections of translucent color; patterns of woven or braided lines incised into the paint are irradiated by crepuscular light. In places, fine doodling looks like the work of an obsessive madman, while other areas suggest a formalist experimentalism like that of Terry Winters or Thomas Nozkowski.
Emerging to varying degrees of visibility are Ferris wheels, helicopters and octopuses. A Jungian analyst might view these round, spoked images as mandala-form archetypes of wholeness and unity. The first two, however, are manmade, mechanical objects — emblems of rational, Apollonian order wrested from the Dionysian depths where the octopus lives. The last, a sinuous, luxuriantly painted beast, clings to a web of brown lines against a background like hot, yellow sunlight in "Psychoptor." In "The Greedy Hippie," mudslides of murky doodling engulf from above and below a luminous, rainbow- hued Ferris wheel.
The id and the intellect, then: the octopus gives Mr. DiBenedetto's painting its sensuous, instinctual flow; the Ferris wheel its playful formal wit.
KEN JOHNSON
In following Bill's billiken link I was not entirely suprised to find that one of my favorite childhood places, Seattle's Ye Olde Cruiosity Shop had a role in clarifying the origin of the good luck charm.
The site is a bit goofy on my browser because of all the Java but some may find it worth the poke around.
Especially you James Ensor fans, this is the sort of souvenir shop he lived and worked in.
The site is a bit goofy on my browser because of all the Java but some may find it worth the poke around.
Especially you James Ensor fans, this is the sort of souvenir shop he lived and worked in.
favorite charity at this moment
camera obscura rooms
Our friend Ruth Root has a show opening tonight at Andrew Kreps gallery 518 West 20th Street.
La revue art-language
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Art & Language Press a été fondé à Coventry en Angleterre, en novembre 1968 par Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin et Harold Hurrell. Le premier numéro de la revue est auto publié en mai
1969. Il comprend la participation de Sol Lewitt, Dan Graham et Lawrence Weiner.
De 1969 à 1985 : la revue est composée de cinq volumes chacun de 4 numéros sauf pour le dernier (trois) . Une nouvelle série d'art-language est publiée depuis 1994.
La revue fonde l'identité d'Art & language par de là les conflits individuels.
Elle rend compte d'un principe initial et initié pendant environ 25 ans, l'autocritique. Il en découle rétrospectivement une logique de déploiement.
Le champ référentiel est la philosophie analytique.
La relation entre l'art et la théorie. Qu'est ce qu'un objet théorique ? qu'est ce qu'une méta théorie ? Qu'est ce qu'une pratique de second type ?.
"
"
Art & Language Press a été fondé à Coventry en Angleterre, en novembre 1968 par Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin et Harold Hurrell. Le premier numéro de la revue est auto publié en mai
1969. Il comprend la participation de Sol Lewitt, Dan Graham et Lawrence Weiner.
De 1969 à 1985 : la revue est composée de cinq volumes chacun de 4 numéros sauf pour le dernier (trois) . Une nouvelle série d'art-language est publiée depuis 1994.
La revue fonde l'identité d'Art & language par de là les conflits individuels.
Elle rend compte d'un principe initial et initié pendant environ 25 ans, l'autocritique. Il en découle rétrospectivement une logique de déploiement.
Le champ référentiel est la philosophie analytique.
La relation entre l'art et la théorie. Qu'est ce qu'un objet théorique ? qu'est ce qu'une méta théorie ? Qu'est ce qu'une pratique de second type ?.
"
Robert Smithson
i should be happy i get to go to French Guiana for two weeks but i cant help but think of how in some whys it will be a sad trip--taking a river (tourist) cruise to visit some indian tribes (they dont let you all the way into the deep interior), seeing first hand thier lost of ancient ways--maybe its because i finished "Tales of the Shaman's Apprentice" or that i spent much time in the early 80's partying in Venezuala just a few 100 miles away instead of seeing first hand one of the last holdout's of ???? (the first McDonald's arrived this year) well there is a Creole/Amerindian etc food fest in one town while i am there:>)
Seems to me like the posting frequency is going up a little bit around here. Remember, if you are signed in, and the new post tracking system is driving you nuts because you can't or don't want to keep up - you can turn it off for certain pages in your preferences (link on the left of the home page - and I'll add my standard disclaimer about the interface being horrible and also how much better it will be very soon.) Also, if you like the tracking, but just want to get caught up in a single swoop, just go to clear.php3 and it will zero all the counters for you.
I Live In Weird New Jersey.
I had not heard too much about the upcoming mega-movie AI (Kubricks last project, now taken over by Spielberg) until a few days ago. Now the hype machine is being severely cranked up, and it appears to be one of the more delicate, involved, and downright clever hype machines in movie history. This is making the Blair Witch stuff look positively old school.
Apparently, if you download the movie trailer, and watch it way too close, you might "notice the second frame of credits is 'Sentient Machine Therapist-Jeanine Salla'. Searching for this on google.com leads to a plethora of pages seemingly outlining some fictional murder mystery having to do with robots." Except all of these pages are part of the promo machine. Some seem like real corporate pages, some seem like very personal sites, some seem like, well... see for yourself (click on that google search and start digging.) It's a whole world. Very very nice.
For the very lazy, just go here, where Ain't It Cool News wrecks the fun by pointing you to the highlights.
Apparently, if you download the movie trailer, and watch it way too close, you might "notice the second frame of credits is 'Sentient Machine Therapist-Jeanine Salla'. Searching for this on google.com leads to a plethora of pages seemingly outlining some fictional murder mystery having to do with robots." Except all of these pages are part of the promo machine. Some seem like real corporate pages, some seem like very personal sites, some seem like, well... see for yourself (click on that google search and start digging.) It's a whole world. Very very nice.
For the very lazy, just go here, where Ain't It Cool News wrecks the fun by pointing you to the highlights.
The Origin of the Billiken
Zig-Zag Man
Zap Splitz Story
From today's New York Times:
"Richard Evans Schultes, a swashbuckling scientist and influential Harvard University educator who was widely considered the preeminent authority on hallucinogenic and medicinal plants, died on Tuesday in Boston. He was 86 and lived in Waltham, a Boston suburb.
WFMU's most self satisfied
Douglas Wolk
