Category Archives: New Post

Culture of oppression: Moscow gallery forced to close after benefit for political prisoners

Posted on October 30, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

The Marat Guelman Gallery, a nexus of the Moscow art scene since before the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, has been evicted following an October 18th art auction to benefit twelve anti-Putin protesters imprisoned since 2012. Gallery … Continue reading →

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Happy little trees on demand: Bob Ross on YouTube

Posted on October 26, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

From January 1983 to May 1994 the face of oil-painting pedagogy was surmounted by a ginger ‘fro, and the voice of the same was as calm and soothing as bottled Zen. Bob Ross came to PBS to share The Joy … Continue reading →

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Rage against Renoir

Posted on October 19, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

You just don’t see many arts-related popular movements these days, least of all ones that inspire partisans to man the barricades. But there’s one a-brew right now, replete with picket lines forming outside New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and … Continue reading →

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Babylonian tree-hugger: The lost verses of Gilgamesh

Posted on October 4, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Gilgamesh of Uruk, great king and itinerant seeker, priest of Kullab and bosom-friend of Enkidu, we thought we knew ye. Well, we should have figured. The Epic of Gilgamesh, history’s first great narrative poem and mankind’s inaugural piece of literature, … Continue reading →

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Artists at work (that we never thought we’d see)

Posted on September 26, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Sydney professor John Hall is to be heartily commended (hat tip also to Huffington Post’s Priscilla Frank for spreading the word) for helping to preserve some amazing century-old glimpses of artistic giants at work. Ever seen (or ever imagine you … Continue reading →

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Upcycling writ large: Dutch designer clears the air

Posted on September 16, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Upcycling is perhaps our most progressive response to ecological mismanagement. It is, in every sense of the term, turning trash into treasure; by rescuing and repurposing material otherwise bound for the trash-heap, upcyclers are at the vanguard of resource preservation—which … Continue reading →

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Strandbeests – The Uncanny Valley isn’t just for androids anymore

Posted on August 31, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Theo Jansen is a kinetic sculptor—yet that seemingly innocuous title hardly does credit to his signature creation, the Strandbeest. A Strandbeest—literally, a “beach animal”—has an organic appearance only with the most liberal stretch of the imagination. They’re an amalgam of … Continue reading →

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Detroit is your playground – artist misplaces his tiger in the Packard Plant ruins

Posted on August 19, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

If you think it’s cool to play fast and loose as an urban artiste in the ruins of a once great American city–where, by the way, people still have to live–then you might be an elitist jackass. British photographer David Yarrow defines himself … Continue reading →

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Earth Overshoot Day – we’re in ecological debt

Posted on August 13, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

2015 is 255 days old – less than 2/3 complete. And yet as of today, August 13th, we  as a global species have already used up one year’s worth of our planet’s resources. This means that as far as renewables—plants and … Continue reading →

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World’s oldest art manual now available for your review

Posted on August 10, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Kudos and thanks going out to the Cambridge University Library for inviting us all to enjoy a 17th-century Chinese manual for artists and calligraphers, which had previously been deemed too fragile to open. The book has now been fully digitized, … Continue reading →

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Subway Love – poetry in the age of viral media

Posted on August 4, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

If you’ve been wondering where in hell poetry fits in with our efflorescing twenty-first century digital artforms (I sure have), then maybe, just maybe, Brooklynite balladeer Max Stossel has your answer. Verse and video? It can work, and it can go viral. … Continue reading →

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City in the desert

Posted on July 26, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Since 1972, one of the most colossal works of art ever sculpted has been rising from the sands in Lincoln County, Nevada. It is not yet complete. Encompassing an area more than a mile long and a quarter mile wide, … Continue reading →

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Mona Lisa, uncanny valley

Posted on July 19, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Just because you can do something doesn’t, by any means, mean you should. The Manhattan Project scientists, just prior to setting off the world’s first atomic device at Trinity Test Site, New Mexico, in July of 1945, were taking tongue-in-check … Continue reading →

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Doctor Gonzo is displeased

Posted on July 13, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

Hunter S. Thompson, man of letters and vices, checked out of this vale of weirdness and discontent on his own terms, just over a decade ago. But through the grace of serendipity or his own careful planning (either explanation is … Continue reading →

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The prose of Independence – Happy Fourth of July

Posted on July 4, 2015 by editor, facilitator, decider

When in the Course of human events…. It must have been decreed somewhere, by someone, that if you are writing your manifesto, you must purple up your prose. Self-consciousness infects the pen, and the desire to inveigh into and against … Continue reading →

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