With Maier, like Henry Darger, it’s hard to separate the work from the story What does it take to be a successful artist? More often than not: 1. Exceptional talent 2. Obsessive production 3. Savvy promotion 4. Great luck Vivian Maier, the “nanny photographer,” eventually checked all these boxes, even if
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Book Review: Singular Spaces: From the Eccentric to the Extraordinary in Spanish Art Environments
Jo Farb Hernandez’s study of Spanish art environments is so epic that even a large-format volume of nearly 600 pages can’t get the job done, so a bonus CD adds thousands more thumbnail pictures and hundreds more pages of text. If creating a world-class art environment requires obsessive devotion, Hernandez is a match for the creators she studies. Her devotion demonstrates Spain is a match for the rest of the world, even if its environments have not received the same attention as the great sites in France or Wisconsin.
Continue readingThe Art of Street Food
The National Mall, which stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol and features most of the Smithsonian museums, is lined with hot dog wagons and food trucks, at least in better times. When last I saw them many of these trucks were extravaganzas of hand-painted signs promoting colorful snacks and refreshments. I fear photographed images are overtaking the paintings, but that’s life on the roadside, and at least they remain exuberantly colorful. Here are images from this portable, spontaneous art environment, August 2009 and July 2014. Update The last gasp of hand-painted signs on the National Mall food trucks,
Continue readingShort Review: The True Gospel Preached Here
The True Gospel Preached Here by Bruce West My rating: 5 of 5 stars Lots of people stumbled onto Margaret’s Grocery by accident, taking the cutoff from Highway 61 into Vicksburg, Miss. It was an incredible site and its maker, the Rev. H.D. Dennis, was just as incredible (and voluble). Bruce West not only stopped, he developed a continuing relationship with Dennis and his wife, the site’s eponymous Margaret. The book documents the evolution of the environment, from his early encounter to its decay after the couple had died. West’s photos and text gives the site, and the couple, their
Continue readingThings and Stuff: Consider the Implications
Advertising for one of my all-time favorite store names and a charter member of the Grog and Groc Hall of Fame. Of course, “Stuff and Such” gives it a run for its money. Plus my in-person photo.
Continue readingReview: Carvings and Commerce: Model Totem Poles, 1880-2010
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.
Continue reading“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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