Jan 20, 2009

'tis true

Art exists right under the nose.
It resides in my everyday experiences:
In my husband’s sleepy smile,
In the reassuring clutter of my house,
laundry gathering on the bedroom floor,
a mountain of junk mail,
a greeting from my cat at the door.
- Harumi Abe describing her series of works "under observation"

While I'm not completely convinced by her work, I do agree wholeheartedly with the above made observation. Lately I've been pushing to live my life more and more with this in mind.

One of her works will be on display at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood's Abracadabra Exhibition/Raffle Fund-raiser.

Jan 13, 2009

2008 winners and losers














Gus Van Sant
. . . (Paranoid Park and Milk) making 2008 not suck as bad as it could of otherwise.
















Clint Eastwood
. . . (Changeling and Gran Torino) nearly making me forget all of Van Sant's hard work. Better luck next year "old guy."



Jan 9, 2009

eyes vs. size

Like meeting a celebrity or coming across a famous piece of architecture, it's always a surprise (to me) how famous works of art look immensely different in person. The size of an artwork can deceivingly seem more monumental or (the opposite effect) un-impressively small in photos, textbooks, and on the internet compared to the real thing. Nearly always I'm struck at how drastically a works impact can change when seen in person and I try to document the most extreme cases. . .

Artwork: Roy Lichtenstein's Pop Art classic
Drowning Girl

Where: Museum of Modern Art, NY


In-person effect: This was a case in which I imagined a much larger, more monumental original, perhaps because of the work's imposing figure (the titular girl drowning) and overall composition or perhaps because of the impression previously left by Warhol's similar yet much larger works. Lictenstein is still a genius in my eyes, simply a more subtle one.


Original: