Watching Jerry Springer

After a solo exhibition at the Power Plant Gallery, Toronto, Annie Pootoogook turned preconceptions of Inuit art on their proverbial ears. Her meticulous, yet minimal, drawings capture glimpses of life in Cape Dorset. Some are inspired by intimate or emotionally charged moments from Pootoogook's own life, others show scenes from the everyday, like waiting in line for an ATM on a sidewalk of permafrost, or watching Jerry Springer (above). Her work can now be seen at the the documenta art festival in Kassel, Germany.

Read Pootoogook's profile atDorset Fine Arts.

From, the Beat Museum, San Francisco.

Oupeinpo

The most prominent Ou-X-Po group is undoubtedly the OuLiPo, but there are some other mediums that have a concentration of artists concerned with the "potential" (a term best described as the use of reusable constraints to create works). Although Guiseppe Acrimboldo predated to OuPienPo by about 4 centuries, his work using two obvious constraints (still life composition of vegitables / different visual relationships depending on direction) is a good example of OuPienPo painting.



Guiseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593), Tête réversible avec une bassine de légumes

Real Estate

July 2007: Le Monde Diplomatique publishes an aritcle called "Individualisme de masse en Californie: Le Conformisme, c'est la transgression" by Christian Ghasarian, an Anthropoligist at the Swiss university of Neuchâtel. He asserts -

Assertion I: Counter-Culture (in terms of physical appearance and "identity") has become wideley accepted, even the norm, in Northern California cities such as Berkeley and San Francisco

Assertion II (going further): Conformity is becoming less and less acceptable

Assertion/Fact III: It has a histroy. FSM (beat culture too, though Ghasarian doesn't mention it).

Assertion IV: This is a good kind of environment for kids to grow up in. Generation Next will have healthily open minds.

[Tangent, but worth noting: "Une contre-culture institutionnalisée demeure-t-elle une contre culture ?" "Does an institutionalized counter-culture remain a counter culture?" It depends on the frame of reference, of course. Counter national culture? Counter local culture?]

Sounds to me like the start of a San Francisco Renaissance. Depending on the '08 election, the Bay Area might become a haven for creative expats who read articles like this one in academic periodicals. A San Francisco Rennaisance? Wouldn't that be nice.

I Have Since Learned That You Like Tomato Soup

Imagine a corporation sending a letter like this to an artist today. See the latest issue of Paper Magazine for Kim's insights (and a copy of this letter).

Richard Kalvar: Anti-Photojournalist

June third marked the close of "Terriens" at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, a view of photos from Kelvar's book.

The Paris Review also ran a feature in the current issue, no.180: Spring 2007. (Not to mention some great fiction and an interview with Oulipian Harry Mathews)

Kalvar is called an anti-photojournalist because he makes photographs that capture the ironic and the absurd within contexts of banalities. No, there is no photoshop involved. Kelvar lives and works in Paris and is associated with Magnum Photos.

By the way, Magnum Festival '07 is on this month in NYC, so check the special events calendar and see what interests you. Werner Herzog aside, rumors are flying of possible Helmut Lang involvement in the festival. (!)

Palais de Tokyo Now Has a Magazine

It's a quarterly bilingual publication with contributions from "art critics or philosophers, writers, footballers, artists, etc." marketed as "an essential tool for mapping the territories of contemporary art" (un complément essentiel pour saisir les enjeux de l'art contemporain). The Palais de Tokyo is known for its cutting-edge curation, and if PALAIS's editorials are on par with the museum itself, the magazine should be a worthwhile read.

The third issue to be released June 12 is dedicated to the oeuvre of Steven Parrino, whose work is currently on display at the museum.

A feature called "Pirate Spectrality" addresses the modern image of a pirate (in a context not limited to the theater of the open seas) and the resurgence of skull and crossbones motifs in fashion. Razmig Keucheyan writes, "Could this reemergence be regarded as a symptom of a transition phase and a new hegemonic decline?" Oh my.


Palais Magazine

What has this world become??

Today, I was looking at telescopes. On one box, I read: "It Finds Things For You!"

Remind me, why, then, am I taking an Astronomy class next year?

The Poetry of Jean-Luc Godard

Nouvelle Vague
-Jean-Luc Godard
(tiré de l'introduction de la première partie d'enregistrement sonore. ECM Records)

Dans un premier temps
- l'ancien testament -
un être humain
(un homme)
est sauvé de la chute
par un autre être humain
(une femme).

Dans un deuxième temps
- l nouveau testament -
un être humain
(une femme)
(la même)
est sauvé de la chute
par un être humain
(un autre homme).

Mais la femme découvre que l'autre homme
est aussi le même que le premier
que le deuxième est
(encore et toujours)
le même que le premier.

C'est donc un révélation.
Et si l'homme a dit le mystère,
la femme a révélé le secret.

Nouvelle Vague
by Jean-Luc Godard
(Taken from the introduction to the audio release of the film on ECM records)

In the first era
- the old testament -
a human being
(a man)
is saved from the fall
by another human being
(a woman).

In the second era
-the new testament-
a human being
(a woman)
(the same)
is saved from the fall
by a human being
(another man).

But the woman discovers that the other man
is the same as the first
that the second is
(still as before)
the same as the first.

This is a revelation.
And if the man asserts the mystery,
the woman revealed the secret.

(I'm sorry if my translation isn't very good. It just doesn't have the same ring as it does in french)

I Know, I Know, Everyone's Heard Enough: Helvetica

This clip from HELVETICA mentions "automatic" and/or visceral responses in relation to typefaces. Our associations with the font, and, I think to some extent, its formal blance and simplicity does just the opposite of triggering "automatic negative response" (see below).

We all love helvetica. I use it on my portfolio page, kithalvorsen.com.



Well, actually not everyone loves helvetica. love/hate:BBC

Ultimately, the target is communication, and font is secondary to content. This debate is silly.