Even if you are not a totem pole fancier, it’s wonderful to see Hall and Glascock retrieve model totem poles from souvenirial obscurity. Besides showing numerous examples of great work, the book names the artists, tracks the evolution of the genre both artistically and socially, and identifies tribal and regional styles. And they don’t scoff at the souvenirs either, reflecting a sensibility forged by decades of engagement with regional, folk, self-taught and popular-craft art.
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“Sukiyaki”: The Sweetest Song Ever?
Four your consideration, 62 (now 118) YouTube videos of “the Sukiyaki song,” actually Ue o Muite Aruko?,” or “I Look Up As I Walk,” originally sung by Japanese pop singer Kyu Sakamoto. I first remember Japan’s only #1 international pop hit ever, called Sukiyaki in the West, as my brother’s “favorite song.” He does not, I suspect, share that recollection, but it quickly became my own favorite song back in 1963, listening on a tinny transistor radio, itself a Japanese product. It’s not clear who exactly attached the name Sukiyaki to the song for English-language purposes, but the logic seems
Continue readingReview: Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands, 1325-1515
Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands, 1325-1515 by Anne van Buren My rating: 5 of 5 stars I can’t say I could explain the difference between a houpeland and a cotehardie, but now I roughly know what they are. This culmination of a lfe’s work is a truly amazing book, tracing the evolution of late medieval high fashion over two centuries. Van Buren systematically analyzed the clothing In every image she could firmly date for her period. The illustrations are beautiful and the text’s illuminations bring a new dimension to pictures that might sometimes
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Review: American Ruins
American Ruins by Camilo José Vergara My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ruin porn with redeeming social value. Vergara doesn’t just exploit decayed and collapsing buildings for their sad beauty. He gets to know them, and sometimes their denizens and neighbors, complementing his lovely photos with engaging, and often depressing, stories. View all my reviews
Continue readingConnections
Best thought from today’s Salesforce.com keynote: Customer connectivity demands responsive companies. Companies that don’t connect back to their customers as actively as customers themselves are connecting will systematically miss opportunities and disappoint.
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Book Review: Great and Mighty Things: Outsider Art
“Great and Mighty Things: Outsider Art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection,” Edited by Ann Percy with Cara Zimmerman; With contributions by Francesco Clemente, Lynne Cooke, Joanne Cubbs, Bernard L. Herman, Ann Percy, Colin Rhodes, and Cara Zimmerman, Yale University Press, 288 pages, 245 color illustrations and 1 b/w, 2013. ISBN 978-0-3001-9175-2. Hard cover $60 This is a blockbuster catalog for a blockbuster exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, yet like a parade of similar volumes it is built around samples of work by mostly well-known artists, each equipped with a one- to two-page biography, followed by essays
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Continue readingReview: Building Stories
Building Stories by Chris Ware My rating: 5 of 5 stars For some perverse reason I actually find comics hard to read, and Chris Wares’ — brilliant though they be — are among the hardest. Building Stories, despite its complicated and aggressively creative packaging, is a wonderful read. It displays Ware’s depth and sensitivity, and the main characters are compelling enough to pull you through the books’ disparate pieces despite Ware’s trademark twists and turns. View all my reviews
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