And it's safe in moderation

I know, I've been a terrible blogger lately. Honestly, it's because my insights, such as they are, have been boring even me to sobs, so it's hard to justify putting them in front of other people. Until I become more motivated or start having thoughts worth sharing again, here's something that's been cracking me up this past week, courtesy of BHP:

The original propaganda piece:


The hilarious parody:

Those wacky atheists

I generally try not to re-post stuff on my blog that I've seen on other blogs, but this video (called "If Atheists Ruled the World") which I saw on Joe My God earlier in the week had me laughing out loud:

Armrory-less Part II

This cracks me up, & it's kinda distressing how plausible it seems as a new reality show (on Fox, for instance):



My Big Plan to visit the Armory Show & accompanying exhibits last weekend failed for the 2nd year in a row. This, that & the other thing came up, & the plan evaporated like so much 401(k) value. In my defense, it's not easy to get to the west side piers from Jersey City, even though they're just across the Hudson (when, oh when, will someone build a foot bridge?), & also the admission cost was $30, which is prohibitive if you ask me.

Anyway, I did make it to the Bridge Art Fair, which was a relative bargain at $15. As always, plenty to yawn over, but there were a few worthwhile things to check out. The most compelling photo I saw was this one by Sean Fader, which I left & came back to at least 3 times:



I've been checking out his refreshingly spartan site, & this is part of a whole series of him trying on other people's bodies. Really interesting concept & well executed. Check it out.

The most ambitious (&, oddly, also the most successful) piece had to have been Hungarian artist Andrea Dezso's "Extremely History," an installation that took up the entire Extremely Hungary booth. It consisted of small-scale sets (one very large, a few very small) that had been used for stop-motion films the artist had made about the fall of Communism. The films were projected on the walls & were difficult to see in the fully lit venue, but here's one from youtube (with a couple figures that were in the exhibit):



Like pretty much every artist I mention on my blog, I've never heard of her, but she's apparently a quite prolific artist & even has an embroidery series, so of course I'm an instant fan.

Lastly, I really enjoyed Hugo Lugo's paintings at Mexico's Ginocchio Galeria. On large pieces of paper & canvases, he re-created notebook paper (complete with light blue grid lines and either perforation or 3 holes on the left) & painted enigmatic little figures in sparse environments, like this:




More proof, if I needed any, that some of the best art being made today is coming from Mexico. I gotta plan that trip to Acapulco. I have no idea if there's any good art there, but it seems a good place to start looking.

NEW

A (still kinda) new year...



A new president...



A new apartment...



And a new computer...



Yes, I've been awful about blogging lately, but somehow I've been awful about everything that requires time lately. That picture above of my new apartment was taken over a month ago, on the day I moved in, and it basically still looks like that...lol. I didn't realize that the condo-buying contract I signed in November was actually signing the next 3 months of my life away, but hopefully this will be my last move for many years. (This was #21 for those of you keeping count.)

Anyway, I'm making it my mission for the day to avoid the so-called holiday (yes, I've managed to escape being snatched up for yet another year), so I'm hoping later to make it to the Met later today to check out the mouth-watering Painting in Italian Choir Books exhibit. If I wasn't too obsessed with illuminated manuscripts before, then reading Orhan Pamuk's My Name Is Red recently certainly sealed the deal.

I did make it to Chelsea this past Thursday for a round of gallery openings. Didn't see anything too mind blowing, but I did enjoy Tony Ingrisano's large, obsessive graphite drawings at Serrano Contemporary (perhaps the most remote gallery in Chelsea). I also liked Australian artist Elizabeth Gower's surprisingly compelling paper plate cut-outs at AC [Institute Direct Chapel]. I can't put my finger on exactly what makes these rise above the level of grade-school art project, but it just goes to show that any craft, done well, can transcend the mundane. Gower's bio, btw, references a line from Pythagoras that I really responded to: "Limit gives form to the limitless." That one's going on my cork board.

Thanks for your patience during these hectic winter months. I'll be making more of a blogging effort now that things are calming down a bit. Happy Valen -- oh, never mind....

a sprig of holly

...from French & Saunders (& Moyet):



The fact that these 3 know (& seemingly like) one another gives the whole world a bit more hope, if you ask me. Merry This & a Happy That!

evil yoga

A week or so ago, a Muslim group in Malaysia recommended against (read: banned) yoga for local yogis who also happen to practice Islam. It reminded me of the micro-controversy last year when a couple of UK churches banned children's exercise classes because they incorporated "un-Christian" yoga. In between these bans, I learned about the existence (& apparent popularity) of "Christian Yoga." How this differs from "yoga" I really don't know first hand, but it's intriguing to me that something in a not-necessarily-religious practice inspires people to found their own faith-based alternatives.

With that in mind, here are some poses that I think might be part of the problem...



Namaste, & if anyone has trouble seeing the full horizontal scope of this one, as with my last cartoon blog, please remember that this is a jpeg image & can be downloaded with a right click. I made this one smaller, though, so hopefully it won't be an issue....

Obamabration

My 2nd favorite thing about election night was all the spontaneous street celebrations that seem to have popped up all over the country (but not, alas, where I was -- it was pretty quiet outside around here). My friend David took this incredible footage starting right outside his apartment in D.C. Really amazing to see. I certainly don't remember a reaction like this to an election within my lifetime (but then again I grew up in Phoenix). Check it out:

Emiliano Granado

I read about this photographer, Emiliano Granado, in Dwell recently & have been checking out his work online tonight. Not all amazing, but his good stuff is very good. A few samples below, but you should also check out his Miss Taxi series in its entirety. If there's a bad way to photograph a beauty pageant, I've yet to see it, & even so, these really shine. Some other goodies:





And my computer's new wallpaper...

Montreal

I started my new job this past week, & the week before I took a last-minute trip to Montreal. (See photos here.) Here are my...



A few paintings by Marc-Aurele Fortin.

Don't forget to view the pics.

Au revoir!

--UPDATE--

A couple people have had trouble seeing the entire cartoon in this entry. I'm not sure why Blogger isn't letting readers scroll vertically, but if you've already got your browser screen maximized & find the right side of the image cut off, do this: right click the image (CTRL+click for Macs), download it to your computer, open the downloaded jpeg. This should let you see the whole thing. (Then of course you can delete the file so it's not cluttering up your hard drive.) If that doesn't do the trick, let me know....

A respectful send-off

This is a cartoon I started before I took off for Montreal (more on that soon). I've been thinking of a way to pay tribute to our lame duck president artistically before his regime -- I mean, term -- ends. I think this li'l charcoal & pastel ditty sums up my feelings nicely, combining my love of medieval painting with my love of George W. Bush. I call it Saint Dubya Ascends Bodily unto Heaven, Guided by the Souls of Dead Iraqi Babies (2008). (If you like it, please forward!)