never gets old

America, you concern me

Glenn Beck made his way to DC and gave his version of the I Have a Dream Speech (on the same day as MLK’s speech on the Lincoln Memorial steps) to a crowd of scary conservative supporters.
“This day is a day that we can start the heart of America again and it has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with God, everything turning our face back to the values and the principals that made us great.”

What. The. Fuck. Everything to do with God? What ever happened to a separation of church and state? I love Right Wing people that are so fearful of losing ‘individual rights’ and turning into a ‘socialist society’ (I just heard that more than a half of Americans now believe Obama is socialist), citing the Constitution to prove their point, but then go directly against it when their personal moral/religious views come into play. Feel free to think whatever you want, but stop watching Fox “News” and get facts straight. This is why I think the Left and Right cannot even have a discussion. People are uninformed and stubborn.

Dena Schuckit

Abstract painting can be tough to master; I actually think it's one of the hardest forms of art to create because it can look messy, but oftentimes each line, scratch, and splatter is carefully thought out and positioned, waiting for the viewer to 'get it.'
Anyways, I like this work by Dena Schuckit. Her poetic compositions are images derived from plane crashes, automobile accidents, war, fire, and the aftermath of severe weather culled from online news sources. Color, chaos, civilization and nature. I only found her stuff today and was impressed.

pink boobies

This month's subscriber cover story is an article I wrote on London artist INSA. The chosen cover image was too racy to put on the newsstand cover, because I guess Christian moms in Kansas don't want their kids buying mags with boobs covered in dripping pink paint at Borders, so we put in on the subscriber edition.
INSA was a very cool guy to meet and got me thinking about female representation in the media. It was nice to hear that he had a cohesive and pointed message behind his sexual imagery, as I think a lot of people (our readership included) might dismiss his work as fetish or even porn. But really most of it, ironically, is far more tame than the cover image.
It's still been great to have to attach a 'disclaimer' to the cover when sending my dad the new issue to read.

Miami x Art Basel vid

This made me smile today. BooksIIII sent me over this awesome video they just released of last year's Primary Flight in Miami during Art Basel in anticipation of this year's. The video is so good and took me back to a great 4 days with these guys last December.
BooksIIII is such a good guy and seriously renews my faith in nice people and art on the regular.

I'm wondering why

I haven't already written about Wendy MacNaughton. Her work knocked my socks off today. my new favorite artist for the time being.
I wrote about her here.

“contemporary art hates you.” by John Waters

I love John Waters' interview in our current issue.


Noel Nocciolo: In rewatching Pecker, I especially loved the part, with regards to art and noticing things, of Shelly (Christina Ricci) saying to Pecker (Edward Furlong), “You’re crazy, you see art when there’s nothing there!” Has that been a blueprint for your life?

John Waters: Art is exactly when there’s nothing there and only you can see it. Art’s magic. If you go to art galleries all day and you really learn to see, when you walk home, at least for a couple hours, you’ll see something on the street that will remind you of art. It fades; you have to go back to galleries. But then everything you see will look like art, if you learn to not have contempt about what contemporary art asks you to do, which is usually see things that regular people can’t.

I did a piece once that said, “contemporary art hates you.” It does. It hates you, if you’re the kind that walks in and says, “my kid could do that,” or “that’s ridiculous,” because you aren’t giving it a chance, because you aren’t seeing it in a different way. If you can’t see it in a different way, it hates you. You have to stop, and not have contempt before investigation, which most people have about contemporary art as they walk through the door of a gallery. That’s why galleries don’t care if they’re in out of the way neighborhoods; they don’t want people to walk in off the street, because they will hate it. They want people that want to go there; that’s why Chelsea started.

Run free

This new-ish piece by artist friend Skinner spoke to me this morning. I'm feeling his more monochromatic, simpler works.

Gary Shteyngart: Finding 'Love' In A Dismal Future

Gary Shteyngart's speaking my language in the most engaging interview I've listened to in a long time with my girl Terry Gross. It's about his new book, Super Sad True Love Story, is a black comedy set in America at some point in the near future.