Tag: art

art

Museum Madness

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On a semi-recent flight to Las Vegas, I read an article in Delta’s Sky Mag that talked about the world’s must-visit museums (note this is not “the best” but “must-see” – a subtle difference but an important one none the less). To quote the article:
“The Ancient Greeks brought us the word museum; a place dedicated to the muses. Today, museums exist in countless interpretations in all corners of the world. They celebrate a single artist or pay tribute to a single topic. Museums as showcases for modern architecture has rewritten the global skyline and grabbed the world’s attention. But perhaps it is the looming world-class repositories of stunning collections we most associate with the classic idea of a museum: The Prados, Louvres and Mets of the world.
You could spend many lifetimes seeing just a fraction of the museums, great and humble, the world offers.”
Because their mag exists online only in some dumb ass virtual magazine form, where you need a special reader to “turn” the pages, I’ve taken the time to type out Delta’s list. The ones that have been italicized are ones to which I’ve been.



  1. Musee du quai Branly, Paris
  2. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
  3. de Young Museum, San Francisco
  4. La Fondation Maeght, Sanit-Paul-de Vence, France
  5. National Archaeological Museum, Naples
  6. The City Museum, St. Louis
  7. The Field Museum, Chicago
  8. The International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C.
  9. Kariye Museum, Istanbul
  10. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  11. Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao
  12. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
  13. The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
  14. The Frederick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids, Michigan
  15. National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
  16. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, Illinois
  17. National Palace Museum, Taipei
  18. The Getty Center, Los Angeles
  19. The Uffizi Gallery, Florance
  20. Museum of Modern Art, New York City
  21. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
  22. High Museum of Art, Atlanta
  23. American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
  24. British Museum, London
  25. Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo
  26. Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo
  27. Vatican Museums, Rome
  28. Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
  29. Museum of Latin American Art, Buenos Aires
  30. Botero Museum, Bogota
art

Who is Ana?

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I have been staring out my office window at a billboard that says “See the World Through Ana’s Eyes” for the past few weeks and had no clue who Ana was, what world she was looking at and what the billboard was advertising. A search on the Net only brought up Flickr albums of people either named Ana or people who know an Ana who thought the billboards were cool. I spammed my company asking “Does anyone know the meaning / purpose behind these billboards?” and got a lot of inspired but in the end incorrect responses.
Finally, bored and starting at the billboard last Friday I tried one more web search and found a link to a tweet (that is a Twitter message for those not in the know – if you don’t know what Twitter is, well, then you are even less in the know) that informed me it was an ad for Ana Tzarev who is opening a gallery of her work in November. I contacted the PR firm Fitz & Co. who is representing Ana and spoke to Bethanie Brady who confirmed that yes, the Ana in the ad is Ana Tzarev. She said,

the text-only black and white campaign will give way to a city wide public art exhibition of colorful large-scale (some 4-stories tall) reproductions of the artist, Ana Tzarev¹s work. In anticipation of their November opening, Ana Tzarev Gallery has worked with New York based cultural marketing firm LaPlaca Cohen to create this campaign to share Ana Tzarev¹s work with all of New York.

The billboard across the way has already changed over and I’ll try to update this post with before and after pics soon. In the meantime, kudos go to all who worked on the campaign as they were able to keep it’s message under wraps for quite some time. My co-workers are all very Net savvy and no one could figure out what the billboard meant. Sure, that pissed some people off but in the end, if you are advertising something, you want people to be talking about that something.
Now, where Ana gets the money to open a gallery and purchase all of these billboard ads is another question altogether…

television

Don't Stop

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The Sopranos are dead. Long live the Sopranos. I am sad, yet exhilarated that the show ended the way it did. After watching the Sopranos finale titled “Made in America,” you will find yourself in 1 of 2 camps, you loved it or hated it, and it’s all because of those last 5 minutes in the diner.
I for one loved it. I think it’s because I’m a writer and one who believes the show is more art than entertainment. Who are we to makes demands of an artist? To me, David Chase created art that was displayed on a television screen. Who am I to argue with his vision? Who am I to tell him how his story should end? As an aside, during the episode we see a “Twilight Zone” episode and Little Miss Sunshine playing on background TVs. I think its Chase saying, “Look – writing is important. Its the story that makes the show.
In keeping with that thought, here is a great quote from the Chase. He said,

“I don’t think art should give answers. I think art should only pose questions. And art should not fill in blanks for people, or I think that’s what’s called propaganda. I think art should only raise questions, a lot of which may be even dissonant and you don’t even know you’re being asked a question, but that it creates some kind of tension inside you.”

For all those that want (and demand) closure, go find Da Vinci and ask him why the Mona Lisa is smiling. Oh wait, he’s dead. I guess you’re going to make up a reason….
Getting back to the show itself, there are 2 major theories and 1 dark horse theory about what happened. They are: Tony was killed, Tony was not killed, the audience was killed.
If you want to read more on first 2, The NY Times has 2 great posts in its Lede blog about them. I would read this post and then read this post to get a good sense of what is what.
I am in the “Tony wasn’t killed” camp because for 5 minutes, we get inside of Tony’s head. We get to know, and feel if your heart was thumping like mine was, what it is like to be Tony, where every second everything needs to be analyzed like it’s a threat. He is never safe, never truly happy, even at “happy times.” Sure, its possible that he died, that the Members Only guy is supposed to be Nicky Leotardo and that he kills Tony when he comes out of the bathroom but that is the beauty of this final episode: we just don’t know. That being said, the Nicky Leotardo theory has been slammed due to it having some huge semi-sized holes in it.
Here is another theory, more of a dark horse theory, but one I am now in love with it because its a combo of the one that I agree with (a.ka. Tony wasn’t killed): WE were whacked. WE didn’t see it coming. WE don’t see anything or hear any music because WE just died. You can read more about the “WE got whacked” theory here. Basically, the idea is that the show goes on, like life after we are dead, except we aren’t around to see what happens.
Lets talk about the music now. For a show that was so musical, the lack of music was telling. Steven Van Zandt said on Yes Network’s Centerstage the show featured the best music in any TV show ever. If you can, watch this interview on repeats. He is very smart, very artistic and very, very cool. In fact, I made as background noise for the dinner party we threw in honor of the show ending a music mix that only featured music used in a Sopranos episode. I couldn’t wait to hear what song they used as the last song so the silence to me was shocking and in the end awesome.
If you are on the fence about Tony not dying or about us being the ones “whacked,” think of the words in the Journey song: Oh, the movie never ends – It goes on and on and on and on – Don’t stop believin’ Even the band name is telling as many people say that life is a journey and we should enjoy the trip, not the destination you hope to reach. If that is the case, this is more weight behind the “Tony wasn’t killed” theories…
Adieu to a fantastic show. TV will never be the same again.

art

From the Stolen and Found Department

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“The Scream” can scream publically again in Oslo and every Nowegian can breath a sigh of relief. Not to slight the country but they don’t have that many famous people and Munch is at the top of the list. I read about the heist in the New Yorker and let me tell you, those guards were some incompetant bastards. It was a blackeye on the whole country but all’s well that ends well. After jump, read all about it.
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Police recovered two paintings they believe are the Edvard Munch masterpieces ”The Scream” and ”Madonna,” two years after masked gunmen seized the priceless artworks from an Oslo museum in a bold, daylight raid, authorities announced Thursday.
Both paintings, stolen from the Munch Museum in August 2004, were in better-than-expected condition, police said at a news conference.
”The pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action,” said Iver Stensrud, head of the police investigation. ”All that remains is an expert examination to confirm with 100 percent certainty, that these are the original paintings. We believe these are the originals,” Stensrud said.
“I saw the paintings myself today, and there was far from the damage that could have been feared,” he said.
They were recovered following the conviction of three suspects in the case in May, an international police hunt and the offer of a nearly $300,000 reward by the City of Oslo, which owns the artworks.
During the hunt for the paintings, Norwegian news media reported that they might have been burned to get rid of evidence.
Stensrud said it was not possible for the news media, or the public, to see the paintings yet. He also refused to discuss the methods or details of the search that led to the stolen artworks.
Munch’s emotionally charged painting style became a major influence in the birth of the 20th-century expressionist movement.
The two paintings recovered Thursday were part of his ”Frieze of Life” series, focusing on sickness, death, anxiety and love. ”The Scream,” which shows a waif-like figure apparently screaming or hearing a scream, has become a modern icon of human anxiety. There are three other versions of the painting.
Munch died in 1944 at the age of 80.

art

George DeStefano Jersey City Art Show

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George DeStefano’s fantastic art will be shown all December long at the Love Is The Message Gallery in Jersey City, NJ. This Saturday night, 12/10 is the Art Opening Party which starts at 7:00 PM. It’s located right by the Grove Street PATH stop and it’s super easy to get to from Manhattan. Stop by on Saturday or at any other time during the month, check out in person what I’ve been raving about for years now and and grab a few pieces for your walls before he gets too famous and they cost way too much.

art

The DeStefano Mona Show

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In the middle of last Tuesday’s show, I snapped a picture of George DeStefano (right) talking to close friend Gary Drewes (left) about the mythic corner paintings.

Go to Flickr and check out the rest of my photos from George DeStefano’s recent NYC art exhibition.

art

George DeStefano: NYC Art Show

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A few months back I posted about George DeStefano, one of my favorite up-and-coming artists. I am very happy to announce that he finally is showing his work in NYC.

The show is tomorrow night, Tuesday September 27th at Mona, a bar/lounge located on 988 Amsterdam Avenue (109th St) from 7:00 – 11:00 pm. I will definitely be there and cannot wait to see what new masterpieces he has put down on canvas/wood and whatever else he uses.

Please join me and/or tell a friend – this is just the start of a what should be a stellar career. As art’s an investment, it’s always good to get in on the ground floor. Not sure if he’s the real deal that I say he is? Well, stop by Mona tomorrow night and see for yourself.

art

Union Square Clock Mystery Solved

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The digital clock part of the “Union Square Clock,” which is actually an art installation by Kristin Jones & Andrew Ginzel entitled Metronome is called The Passage.

The Passage is a digital timepiece composed of 76,800 light emitting diodes in 15 panels (each approximately five feet in height) behind a clear glass curtain wall. The numerals indicate with atomic precision the time since midnight and counting down in hours, minutes, seconds until the midnight to come – the sum and balance of the day. For example, at precisely twelve noon, The Passage will read 120000000000012.

Lately it has changed: now instead of displaying the ascending and descending time, it is counting down to some event which thanks to Grubby Kid I know is the time when the 2012 Olympic Bid is decided.

Thanks Neu