Obzest 2-28-09

I like making mix CDs. Partly because it's nice to have a continuous 80 minutes of good music, and partly because they are like little time capsules. When I was in college I made one just about every week to use for my radio show, so I have tons floating around. They would be new songs I liked, old classics, bizarre songs I thought were funny, or just random things I would pull off Kenster or the demos that record companies would send us. After my show I would give them away or just let them pile up. Now, when I know I'm going to be driving to any distance I grab a few to see what I was listening to at any given weekend (almost all of them are dated). I hadn't made one in a few months, so I figured it was time, especially considering there are a handful of songs out that I really like. I've fallen out of the habit of keeping up with music and tracking down really good bands that nobody has heard of yet. I mostly listen to the radio, and I keep up with a number of bands who have long been favorites. So this weekend I sat down with my digital music library and an iTunes gift card (I really miss Kenster, by the way) and downloaded a handful of songs that have recently been in my head and mixed them with older songs that I already had and am eternally in love with. The end result is 80 minutes of music bliss. I am going to share a few of the highlights with you here, in video form. I think music can be really powerful, and paired with video, even more so. Linking music and images, especially if it is well done, can make me like a song a lot more.
Here are a few great songs with decent to great videos:

MGMT- Kids
This isn't the official video, but it's really well done and a really great song. It's eerie, and you can sing along, and they lyrics are cryptic. Wonderful.

All American Rejects- Give You Hell
Even 15-year-old Colleen would be embarrassed to admit that she likes this band. 23-year-old Colleen is still embarrassed, but over it- she can play it off as ironic if need be. But this song is awesome. It's catchy, it's snarky, and I love a song that stops and lets a huge chorus of people sing the refrain. And the video is great. It's colorful, fun, and hilarious (I'm sorry, a guy playing guitar at night while standing on top of a moving riding lawnmower is really funny to me).

Talking Heads- Burning Down the House

This song has been in rotation on the radio station that I listen to, and every time it comes on I turn it up and sing along. I think the live version from Stop Making Sense is waaaaaaay better than the studio version (which is odd for me, because I usually don't like live recordings as much, but Stop Making Sense is one very important, across the board exception. It's probably one of my top 10- maybe top 5- albums of all time. But now we're getting off topic). It's a classic that I'm sure all of you have heard, and for good reason. If you don't feel like dancing when you hear it, you might not have a soul. Just watch this video: there are probably over 10 people on that stage and they all look like they are having a blast. I would recommend you buy this album, learn all the words to at least this song, and start having a blast yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM

MGMT- Electric Feel
I couldn't embed this video, but please, go you youtube and watch it. I've been really into MGMT lately. I bought the CD, which is the first CD I've bought since November (I am a recovering CD-buying adict). This song should also make you want to dance. I think the vocals are great, and the lyrics are smart and entertaining. As good as the song is (and that little description does NOT do it justice), the video is even better. It's trippy and colorful and fun. If you look close you can see the two kids from the Kids video that I posted above. That video got so popular that they were invited out to the set of this video to be in it. This song just makes me happy. As far as I'm concerned this song secured MGMT's right to be called the second coming of the Scissor Sisters, and that's a good thing. And by the way, if the animatronic looks familiar, its because it is from the Rock-afire Explosion, a.k.a. the animatronic band that played at Showbiz Pizza (now called Chuck-E-Cheese's), where I had my 5th birthday party. Ask my parents about this party and how my sister Katie lost her shoes in the ball pit.

Silversun Pickups- Lazy Eye
To be honest, I can't really put my finger on why I like this song. It's not typically my taste in music, but I really like the vocals. They are sweet and gender ambiguous. This song makes me want to run. Not like, put on sweats and go for a run, but break out into a run- preferably through a field or down the middle of an empty street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUWXcIJC7Q0

Nirvana- Man Who Sold the World
Sorry, I can't embed this one either. It's no secret that I'm a huge David Bowie fan (that's an understatement). When he did this song it was eerie and beautiful, but 25 years later when Nirvana covered it, they took it to a place even more eerie and even more beautiful than Bowie could, and that's really saying something. I really think this song can speak for itself.

So there you go, a small spattering of what is in my CD player right now.

Trinity Fresco- awesome and creepy.

I fully intended to post yesterday, in honor of Ash Wednesday, but when I got to work (where I write most entries) my boss gave me something stupid to do, so alas, it was pushed off a day. Since it's the beginning of Lent, I wanted to do something of a religious nature. Flipping through an old Art History notebook, nothing struck me as overly Lent-y, so I chose a really cool fresco to talk about.

Trinity Fresco, Masaccio, sometime between 1425 and 1428

Fun Fact- Many artists during the Renaissance only went by one name (Giotto, Donatello, Raphael, etc.). Sometimes the name they commonly went by was a nickname, or a diminutive form of their real name. Masaccio's real name was Tommaso Cassai, but the name "masaccio" basically means "big, ugly, clumsy Tom." This was to distinguish him from one of his peers, who was also named Tommaso, and whom we know as Masolino (little delicate Tom). It's kind of like on one of my soccer teams growing up, we had a "Big Megan" and a "Little Megan" because two Megans on one field is too many.

This fresco is in Santa Maria Novella, in Florence (and if I was studying abroad in Florence right now, I would certainly make a point of visiting Sta. Maria Novella because there's lots of cool stuff in there *ahem*Allie*ahem*). It is on the wall, and meant to look like another chapel because it has the illusion of receding into space. Masaccio was one of the first artists to use linear perspective, which is responsible for this illusion, and we can see evidence of it if you look at the vaulting on the pretend ceiling. If you were to extend those lines, they would all converge at a "vanishing point." In this case, our vanishing point would be somewhere right around Christ's knees.

Another big thing during the Italian Renaissance was the pyramidal structure. Artists tended to structure their paintings in a triangular shape for two reasons (that I can think of off the top of my head): a triangular structure would make for a balanced composition, and balance is aesthetically pleasing, and the triangle is related to the trinity, so it would elevate the "holiness" of the work, or at least reflect the subject matter in its form. The pyramidal structure is definitely at work here. If you connect all the people you have a nice, almost equilateral, triangle.

Let's talk about imagery. Obviously, the guy on the cross would be Jesus Christ. The old guy behind him is God the Father. Artists back then were a lot less hinky about painting images of God, and the old bearded guy with a halo is usually what they went with to depict him. The white thing on God's robe isn't a collar, but a dove, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. So we have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit- the whole Trinity, hence the name of the fresco. Underneath Christ is the Virgin Mary on our left, and St. John the Baptist, on our right. The remaining two figures, outside of the fake chapel, or you could say in the viewer's space ("the real world" and out of the holy area) are two members of the Lenzi family. They commissioned Masaccio to paint this fresco, and back then it was not at all uncommon for the patrons of a piece of work to be included in it. Having your portrait associated with an image like this would 1) show how devout you are, and 2) show how wealthy you are; both of which were good things to be in 15th century Florence.

I could talk about how the architecture is classical, but I think that's probably the least interesting part of this fresco.

Here's the most interesting part: Up until 1861, the whole bottom part, underneath the step which the images of the patrons are kneeling on, was behind a stone altar and altarpiece made by Vasari. Then one day someone decided to move it (well, probably a bunch of someones, as I would imagine a stone altar would be pretty heavy), and they found this awesome, creepy part of the work that no one even knew was there! It's a sarcophagus with a skeleton inside it and an inscription that (according to Wikipedia) reads "I Was What You Are And What I Am You Shall Be." Awesome and creepy, right? Apparently it's some kind of ancient warning, but I'm not really sure what that means. The sentiment is familiar, but I've never heard that phrase before; then again, I'm not really up on my ancient warnings. One interpretation is that the skeleton is Adam's skeleton. Another take is that it's a journey to salvation. You start and end as corporeal matter, but with prayer (demonstrated by the patron portraits), and intercession (of the Virgin and Saints), you can make your way up to the Trinity and join the Kingdom of Heaven.

Another way to think of the Stairway to Heaven- baby steps toward eternal salvation.

Well, Shit.

This is Piero Manzoni. I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about him, his ideas, or his work. I just want to share one thing that this crazy Italian accomplished during his short career (unfortunately he died at age 29). He pretty much took Marcel Duchamp's idea of the readymade and ran with it. My personal favorite is this little gem:

Artist's Shit, 1961

Yes, this is exactly what the name implies. Manzoni put 30 grams of his own poop into tins- 90 in all- signed them and numbered them, then sold them off for their current weight in gold. How freaking funny is that? I can't find a source for it, but I remember hearing that in recent years these cans in museums all over the world were succumbing to expanding gasses from the feces inside and exploding. Piero Manzoni may have died over 40 years ago, but he's still giggling from his grave.

Bored tonight?

If you happen to be in the Cincinnati area this evening and are looking for something to do, you should come down to the opening reception at my gallery!!

Here's the press release (which I wrote):

The Art on the Levee Gallery is proud to announce our Black History Month show! Featuring works by Jariel Galloway, Eugenie Goggin, Joanne Honschopp, Judi Parks, Wolfgang Ritschel, Robert Scholl, Paul Vollman, and Zeta Wolf, we have collected over 90 pieces of painting, photography, and other mediums celebrating Africa and the African American Culture.

Join us on February 14th from 4:00 pm-8:00 pm for the opening reception! We will have refreshments, jazz music by local band Ain't From Around Here, two special performances by storyteller and musician Omope Daboiku, and a performance at 5:00 by Step-n-Unity, a step team from Roger Bacon High School.

Come and discover the "Lure of Africa," explore the influence of African American musicians, and consider the African American contribution to American society with these diverse and fascinating works of art! Bring your Valentine to Art on the Levee to see the show, congratulate the artists, and check out what else is new in the gallery!

The show will run from February 2nd through March 15th with the opening reception on February 14th. Please check the website and/or call us for more upcoming events during this exhibit.

Art on the Levee, a unique Art Gallery showing artwork from more than 100 local artists, is located on the Valet Circle at Newport on the Levee between to The Reserve Restaurant & Piano Lounge and Cafe Istanbul. For more information about Art on the Levee Gallery, please visit www.artonthelevee.com and for information on Newport on the Levee, please visit www.newportonthelevee.com.

Gallery Hours January and February:
Monday - Saturday: 11am -8pm
Sun. 12pm-6pm

Also, shout out to the cincinnati imports blog and the huge success of of the first ever Cincinnati Imports happy hour. It was a really great turnout and a lot of fun- there were tons of really cool people there. I even made the CiN Weekly photo gallery!

My Date With Andy Warhol, part 3

The last part of the exhibit were the two staggered rooms. These rooms held more of his art, plus a good number of the films that he made over the years. The films were projected simultaneously on different hanging screens. One room probably had 5 different movies showing, and the other probably had 12. The movies and their set-up was my biggest complaint about the whole exhibit. While some of his films were silent, many of them had sound, so the way the Wexner people set it up (or this could be the way the exhibition travels, I'm not really sure) was that in front of each screen there was an odd-shaped bench/cushion thing that you could sit on and above it was another odd shaped thing (I have no idea what to call it) in which a speaker was put, so that you could hear the movie you were sitting in front of. But, much like the speakers in the first room, the volume on most was much to low to actually make out anything that anybody was saying, and for some of them you could overhear the speakers for the film next to you. On top of that, it was unclear for some which bench matched up with which screen. So, though some of the films were kind of interesting to watch, I found the whole set up too confusing to really enjoy. Maybe this was the point, and if it was, then I'm going to go from confused to annoyed.

A few of my favorite films to watch: Outer and Inner Space, with Edie Sedgewick. This one is meant for a double screen. All it is is Edie Sedgewick sitting there, talking, next to a TV where a pre-recorded profile of Edie Sedgewick was talking. On one screen there was a zoomed in image of this, and the other screen was zoomed out. So there were four Edies and they all looked like they were talking to each other. Even if the volume wasn't so low, you still wouldn't really be able to hear what she was saying because they were all talking at the same time. That was probably my favorite. I also really enjoyed the one where Warhol filmed the Velvet Underground rehearsing, and then being busted in on by the police. Even after the police came in and they stopped playing, the camera kept rolling and you could see people just milling around and Andy talking to the police.

I mentioned that a lot of his other work was in these two rooms. There were tons of silk-screens (probably 20 different soup cans, a few Elvises, a gun), a few drawings, and a few sculptures (the Brillo Pad boxes). But this led to another problem, and what was essentially the main problem with this part of the exhibit. These two rooms were really tall, but thin. Some of his work was hung up so high that you couldn't see it, or you couldn't see it without getting dizzy. It was impossible to go to the far side of the room and look up, because there were screens everywhere. The main problem with the exhibit was that they had too much stuff and not enough space. I understand wanting to get as much as possible in your exhibit, but I think that the overall experience would have improved with maybe 4 or 5 less movies, and either less silkscreens, or putting some of them in other parts of the center (and there was plenty of room where they could have been put to be seen better).
Overall I think they did a really kick- as job, but when I'm in charge, we'll go for quality, not quantity.

On my way out, of course I stopped at the gift shop. I really wanted an exhibition catalogue, and since I got in for free, I figured I could afford it, especially considering everything was 30% off, due to it being the end of the run. But the price of the catalogue was $50! Whoa, no thank you.

Since I was already at OSU and Nick told me not to hurry home on account of his workload, I figured I'd go check out the Art History building, since I applied to grad school there. Hayes Hall. A decent looking red building (I forgot to get a picture of the outside). In the front hall there was a little lounge area with some chairs and two cases of faculty publications. It was quite something.

I walked around and looked into some of the classrooms. Decent sized rooms for small-ish classes. I found this written on the board of a seminar room, which made me smile:

I looked at the doors of the faculty offices, where they had little fliers of the classes they teach. I didn't think so, but it looks like the faculty might match my interests pretty well after all. There seemed to be good representation of the medieval/Italian Renaissance classes.

I passed a pay phone and was amused to see it flashing this:

We didn't have this kind of school spirit at Kenyon.

After my self-tour of the art history building, I walked around the Oval Mall a little bit, but there wasn't a whole lot to see on a Sunday evening. The big library is under construction, slated to be open this summer, so if I did decide on OSU they will have a newly-remodeled library which will probably be pretty sweet. I left campus and walked up and down High Street a bit and decided to grab a quick and cheap dinner at The Flying Pizza

It was a little hole-in-the-wall, pizza by the slice place. It wasn't the most fantastic pizza I've ever had but for two big slices and a pop for $6, I was happy with it.

Since I was parked next to one of the smaller libraries, I decided to check it out and see what OSU students were doing without their main library. This library wasn't exactly small, but with so many freaking students, they were all crammed in together. There's no way I could study if everybody and their brother was at the table with me, so I'm sure they will be just as happy to see the main library re-open as I would be.

Satisfied with my date with Andy Warhol and my tour of Ohio State, I headed back to my car and hit the open road back to Cincinnati.

My Date With Andy Warhol, part 2

After I had fully absorbed the first room (to which I eventually returned to sit in the speaker booths and watch the screen tests some more) I made my way to the ramp. For those of you who haven't been the the Wexner Center, its on an angle:

So one side is a ramp that goes from the first floor to the top, then there's a top area that spans the entire width, and there are two staggered rooms on the other side. On the wall of the ramp there were pictures and quotes from him up high, and 25 or 30 TVs playing clips of the Factory Diaries at eye level. The Factory Diaries are basically home movies from the Factory, there is footage from photo shoots, people hanging out, Andy on the phone, etc. Each TV had two sets of headphones attached so that you could listen in. My favorite, unsurprisingly, was the one where David Bowie and his band were visiting in 1971. He looked pretty uncomfortable when he knew the camera was on him, but later he had a really great conversation with a guy who hung around the Factory (I don't know his name). They were talking about music- Bowie recommended a few artists to the guy, and the guy was telling him about some of his favorite bands. Bowie was really excited that he had recently found a Lenny Bruce record for $2, and then was aghast to hear that British records cost $7 in the States. It was incredibly charming. I found this on youtube, and even though you can't hear anything, you might get a kick out of watching it:

At the top of the ramp, there were four different things. The first was some kind of time capsule which I didn't think was interesting at all. Next to that was this tiny little dark room with a screen on the far wall and speakers mounted inside, where they were showing the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. I had never seen footage of it before, but it was absolutely hypnotizing. The combination of haunting music by the Velvet Underground, and the flashing multi-colored lighting, and the trippy dancing made it seem like they really captured what it felt like to be on shit-tons of drugs in the late 60s.
Here's a clip:

The next installation was a platform with maybe 50 more TVs, with a stool in front of each one of them. Each one was showing episodes from the two cable tv shows he created: Andy Warhol's TV, and Andy Warhol's Fifteen Minutes. I wasn't too terribly interested here, it was mostly interviews, many with now obscure people, but I did watch an episode of Andy Warhol's TV in which he sat at a table with Lisa Robinson, Debbie Harry, and Chris Stein and they tried to explain the music industry to him.

At the top of the building, there was an installation piece called "Silver Clouds." They sectioned off the top of the ramp with ropes hanging from the tall (30 feet?) ceiling, and inside a dozed 4 foot, pillow-shaped, silver mylar balloons that floated around the space, powered by box fans mounted on the ceiling. Viewers were encouraged to touch the "silver clouds", which was particularly entertaining for the little kids that had been dragged along. While I myself didn't play withe them, I enjoyed stepping into the space and watching both kids and adults take part in the capturing and releasing of the silver clouds.

To be continued...

My Date With Andy Warhol, part 1

A few days ago, I realized with shock and awe that it is almost February 15th, which means the closing of "Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms" at the Wexner Center in Columbus is about to come to a close. A huge Warhol exhibition on it's only stop in the U.S., and in my backyard no less, I wasn't about to miss it. Luckily, the stars aligned: Sunday I was off work, Nick had a day's worth of grading to do, and it was beautiful outside- it was the perfect day to hop in the car and drive the vast expanse of I-71 north to Columbus.

This is the most boring drive ever, by the way.

The Wexner Center for the Arts is located on the Ohio State campus, off High Street, which is where you go when you are a Kenyon student and go to Columbus to do something cool like eat ethnic food or get a tattoo (for those particular ventures, I recommend Bento Go-Go for sushi and Evolved for body art). I parked in the familiar parking garage and walked over.

Admission is $8, but I'm not ashamed to pull out my expired student id to get something for free. As I made my way down the stairs to the beginning of the exhibition I had to remind myself to be patient and take it all in. I find that with huge shows I tend to rush through them, but I was determined to absorb this one. I didn't drive two hours to get there and rush through. Photography wasn't allowed, but I'll do some google and youtube searches to give you and idea of what things looked like. The exhibit starts with "A Biography in 42 Pictures," which told the story of Andy Warhol's life through pictures of him as a child, his autographed picture of Shirley Temple (as a child he collected autographs), pictures of the Factory, and Polaroids that he took of himself. It was augmented by little blurbs going along with most of the images. It was a good way to get eased into the exhibit and get acquainted with at least the timeline of his life and his major projects.

The first room of the exhibit was, in my opinion, the best. In the center there were four huge screens onto which were projected his "Screen Tests." They were four minute clips in which he filmed his friends- everyone from Salvador Dali to Lou Reed, to Edie Sedgewick- just sitting and looking at the camera. It may not sound that interesting, but it might have been my favorite part of the room. They reminded me a little bit of how pictures in Harry Potter are just people who sit there. But you looked at them and they stared back at you, and you didn't feel the need to turn away because they were just projected images and not real people. I thought it was really cool that you could just sit there and watch a person's face for minutes at a time without feeling like a social freak. You could watch the little changes that a face makes even when it is seemingly blank- blinking, opening and closing lips, tiny eye movements, the slightest twitch of a nose. These are things that you know happen, but you rarely experience them because we don't typically stare at other people for minutes on end.

Here's a clip of Salvador Dali's screen test. Obviously somebody was filming another screen, so the quality isn't great, but you get the idea.

On one wall in this room were some of his paintings and some of the first issues of Inter/View (now Interview), which he founded. There were also cases of Polaroids, which I thought were the most interesting. There were 20 self-portraits in drag, and tons more of his famous friends. To name just a few: Truman Capote, Mick Jagger, Jean Michel Basquiat, Jimmy Carter, Sean Lennon, Robert Rauchenberg, Jack Nicklaus, Sylvester Stalone, O.J. Simpson, Max Ernst, William S. Burroughs, Liza Minelli, Debbie Harry, and Grace Jones. Talk about a social circle. On the other side of the room were about 12 different booths cut out of the wall that people were sitting in. Once I walked over, I learned that each booth had a speaker in it where you could sit and listen to interviews, conversations, music, and events (like dinner out with friends or brunch at his family's house) that Warhol had recorded. Apparently he carried a tape recorder around with him everywhere, which I didn't know. This was a really cool idea and a unique set up, but the volume was so low! My hearing definitely isn't the keenest of my five senses, but there were some that I couldn't make out a single word and found that standing and leaning just my head in (the speakers were on the ceiling) achieved the best results.

To be continued...