eMusings

October: here is a harvest of fine sites for you:

The Peninsula Museum of Art has produced a series of four You Tube videos of conversations between Whitaker and DeWitt Cheng, Curator of the "No Rules" exhibit of Whitaker's work. The pieces, with new ones added, are now on exhibit at Stanford University in Palo Alto as part of Stanford Art Spaces. They will be on view at the CIS (Center for Integrated Systems)/Paul Allen Building through November 19.

The New Yorker magazine has brought back several articles by Hilton Als on key figures in art and culture. This one reflects upon Ntozake Shange's art. The next article draws our attention to the incisive vision of Kara Walker; and a third, titled "A Pryor Love" takes us through the rise and fall of Richard Pryor's comedic genius.

Frank Stella is being shown at the new home of the Whitney Museum in New York City. Moving from Madison Avenue to the Chelsea district in Manhattan, the Whitney has selected Stella to open the premises, beginning October 30. Stella comments on the shiny objects of Jeff Koons, "It's for very wealthy people with no taste". He does admit to an admiration for Kara Walker (see above). After some strenuous persuasion by Adam D. Weinberg, the curator and friend of the artist. Stella has agreed to let the exhibition cover his entire body of work.

Artist Richard Clar has devised a two-part project celebrating the moon. "Giant Step" honors astronaut Neil Armstrong's historic first step on the moon in 1969. The second phase, called "Lune sur la Lune", will bounce radio signals off of the moon right before the September 27 - 28 Rare Blood Moon event. The signals will come from a radio dish in Italy, while their reception will be at the Dwingeloo Radio Observatory in the Netherlands.

Harold Cohen first produced his historic work and subsequent book called simply "Aaron" in 1969. It was extolled as a project using computer as artist: in Cohen's words, "trying to get a computer program to do what only rather talented human beings can do". Gradually, however, Cohen began to have doubts about the project. Aaron was beginning to show some notable limitations, and at the same time indicating some independence. Although Aaron was adventuresome in the use of color, Cohen felt that it could never be truly innovative. Today, Aaron is assigned the job of drawing, while Mr. Cohen does the painting, digitally of course.

A gigantic aerial sculpture has been projected over the city of Boston by artist Janet Echelman. Called "As If It Were Already Here", it floats 600 feet above traffic and parks. The sculpture is composed of half a million nodes of rope and knitting twine, soaring around the hard edges of the surrounding architecture. Its fibers are said to be 15 times stronger than steel, yet it responds to changes in wind and weather. You can see more of Echelman's aerial projects at her website.

Another artist fascinated by light and perception, Joanie LeMercier plays with immersive audio-visual projections on walls, floors and ceilings. Be sure to watch her "proposals for dream projects" as well.

"Women in 3D Printing: Featuring Leading Women in the 3D Printing Industry" has just printed an article on Whitaker's experience with 3D printing.

Since I tend to deal with the futuristic and the imaginative, sometimes with rather dour prognostications and yet an underlying optimism, the future that I see projected by artist Paul Laffoley fascinates me. His is a precisely mapped-out vision, including specific instructions for creating this new universe. Much more mathematical, certainly more symmetrical than most of my explorations, he has nonetheless dedicated considerable energy and talent to this vision, which he calls "The Force Structure of the Mystical Experience". Spend some time exploring his site: there is much to absorb here. You might also want to read more about him at the Kent Gallery website.

You might be interested to see some pictures of the new Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Although the collection has been criticized for its overemphasis on artists like Jeff Coons, it is worth seeing the architecture as well as some early works by Cindy Sherman.

Resonance at 104.4 fm is promoted as the world's first radio art station. Currently featured is "Making Conversations", a talk on creating digital material and some of the people who are intimately involved in the process.

The Financial Times offers us a podcast on "The Life of a Song: Night Train", in which we get an illuminating history of the iconic tune through the decades.

A rare form of speaking called "Bird Language" exists in a remote coastal village in Northern Turkey. Known as a whistled language, it is quickly becoming extinct although scientists feel that it might be a form of therapy for some stroke victims. It appears to utilize both hemispheres of the brain. At this site, you will hear a conversation conducted in whistled Turkish.

The graphic designs of Jamie Hayon cover a wide range of media, but they are characterized by a playful immediacy. A green chicken, for example, becomes a rocking chair. Tables, masks and scooters come alive with color and imagination. Hayon seems to feel that everyday objects can be fun and he fills his spaces with them.

The Washington Post takes us on a visual journey to a galaxy two million light years away with photographs that will whet your curiosity and your imagination.

Put this in the "now I've heard it all" category. It seems that art can't protest, even in the U.K., even in the most gentle of ways. The exhibition was called "Passion for Freedom", and was shown at London's Mall Galleries. Mimsy had produced a series of seven light boxes with satirical tableaux called Isis Threaten Sylvania. Gallery management called the police, who were concerned with the "potentially inflammatory context" of the art. As a consequence, the works were removed. While you are at the site, be sure to check out Jamie McCartney's "The Great Wall of Vagina".

c. Corinne Whitaker 2015