savvy rumble

bigelow

this is awesome. the first woman to win an oscar for best director just landed a retrospective at MoMA. suck it, james cameron.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/moma-calls-action-on-kathryn-bigelow-retrospective/?partner=rss&emc=rss

paradise of fools

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/movies/radical-light-alternative-film-in-san-francisco-area.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Place like San Francisco and Brooklyn get all the credit for being so cutting edge avant garde. I'm excited for the day when people start recognizing Baltimore as one of those cultural hot spots. Baltimore has such a sprawling underground art scene- its the seat of the High Zero international experimental music festival, the 14 Karat Cabaret, the Transmodern Festival, countless burlesque troops and circus acts, and dozens more oddities I've yet to discover. Baltimore's Station North was in the Time's weekend travel section a few months ago. Bmore is Brooklyn 30 years ago. It's about to explode.

Spirituality #5

KANE KWEI
Born in 1922 in Teshie, Ghana.
Died in 1992, Teshie.

Aged eight, Kane Kwei left Teshie for Asamankese, one of the farms of his clan. In Ga language, "Kane" means light. He returned there aged fourteen and settled with his eldest brother, Kane Adjetei who taught him carpentry for 6 years. Kane Kwei showed little interest in furniture making or roofing, but showed great talent for wood carving that he practiced for pleasure with a minimum of tools. In 1937, Kane Kwei undertook the journey, that meant the end of his training. He worked for some ten years in the Ashanti forests, in the center of the country, where he got to know the different kinds of woods and their characteristics. In 1951 Kane Kwei opened his workshop in the old part of Teshie. He built a first coffin, in the shape of a dugout, for one of his uncles, a fisherman who owned a whole flotilla of them. He dedicated himself from then on to this new funerary art and worked, secluded, almost exclusively for the elders of his clan. The second coffin was a Mercedes car. The day of the funeral, it was paraded throughout the city and was a huge success. Kane Kwei started reproducing the symbols of earthly success and social status that the Ga asked him for. Since then, the wealthiest families have buried their dead in coffins of the most varied shapes. These coffins honor the dead, and show their achievements and those of their clan. Huge sums of money are spent on them. These extravagant coffins are chosen by the deceased's family, most often according to their social background or their profession. A lion for a traditional chieftain, a Mercedes for the boss of a fleet of taxis. Carving hens, onions, houses, shoes, tools, he constantly improved his technique as a sculptor and painter, and turned out works that were realistic, colorful and highly skilled. Over the last twenty years, his sculptures, very popular in Ghana, have made a special and original contribution to the tradition of funerary cults in Western Africa. ~caacart.com

Kwei is a carpenter in Ghana who creates fantasy coffins for human burial. His work borders on kitsch, justifiable for an outsider artist. I suppose clients order these shapes for their funerals.

These are spiritual objects in the sense that they actively negate the normal spiritual constructs of funerary rites and rituals by making these traditionally sacred objects highly commercial. Interestingly, these objects are much more personal than a standard coffin; they express the interests and personalities  of the departed.

Spirituality #4

Joseph Beuys (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈbɔʏs]; May 12, 1921 – January 23, 1986), was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist andpedagogue of art.

His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy andanthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social sculpture as a gesamtkunstwerk, for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics. His career was characterized by passionate, even acrimonious public debate, but he is now regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.^{[1][2] ~Wiki}

I saw these two piano pieces in person (one in Centre Pompidou, the other in Venice), and they were really very striking. The images cannot communicate the feeling that they emitted. The one above felt so warm and comforting somehow. I remember talking with someone about the swiss cross on its side, a nod toward first aid kits.

Below, the viewer must crawl into the padded room to view the piano. There was no audible resonances within the space because of its acoustic qualities. It created a very claustrophobic and dense sense of place, nearly opposite the other piano.

The guitar in the case also looks like a first aid kit, implying "Break in case of emergency." Maybe music is spiritually healing.

I understand that Beuys did several performances included rooming with a coyte for a period of time. Interesting.

Spirituality #3

Bill Viola (born January 25, 1951) is a contemporary video artist. He is considered a leading figure in the generation of artists whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in New Media.^[1] His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, death and aspects of consciousness.^[2] ~Wiki

Viola creates highly conceptual videos, usually incorporating traditional religious and spiritual symbols such as water, fire, baptism, pulpit, pieta, life, and death. His abstract explorations communicate the overwhelming spiritual elements of suffering and catharsis.

Spirituality #2

Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter". ~Wiki

My experience with Rothko is that the giant paintings he creates dealing with color field. I understand that the viewer is supposed to sit in front of the painting in a meditative state, allowing the feeling of the color to permeate personal emotion.

Rothko creates a spiritual environment through his subtle use of color.

Spirituality #1

Kiki Smith (born January 18, 1954, in Nuremberg, Germany) is an American artist classified as a feminist artist, a movement with beginnings in the twentieth century. Her Body Art is imbued with political significance, undermining the traditional erotic representations of women by male artists, and often exposes the inner biological systems of females as a metaphor for hidden social issues. Her work also often includes the themes of birth and regeneration, as well as sustenance, and frequently has Catholicallusions. Smith has also been active in debate over controversies such as AIDS,gender, race, and battered women. ~Wiki

Kiki's work deals with themes of paganism and wiccan culture. 

Most of these pieces deal with the maternal quality of nature and the human interaction with the natural environment through a feministic and spiritual lens.