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Super Bowl LII? Sure, why not
Longtime repeat visitors to this space have probably noticed the ambivalent attitude we at Decon Central have toward pro sports in general, and in particular toward the American bacchanalia that is the Super Bowl. Opinions vary, and this probably puts … Continue reading
Connecting with an ancient artform
One of the most important unifying threads in art, in any art, is that of connection. It is that momentary removal of time and distance between observer and creator, when they become of one mind. Intent is key here, and … Continue reading
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Tagged Art, Art history, cave art, cave paintings, culture, Genevieve von Petzinger, TEDTalks, Vincent Van Gogh
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Vote like your world depends on it
Pro forma apologies to any committed partisans in the audience, but I’m firmly convinced that the advent of political parties in general, and our sycophantic two-party system in particular, has brought about the incremental ruination of the great American experiment … Continue reading
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Tagged climate change, environment, Environmental Voter Project, George Washington, partisanship, politics
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Elegy for an extinction – sculptures bid farewell to a forest
The eastern hemlock was once one of the most ubiquitous conifers on this continent. By 2030 it will likely be gone forever. Sometime in the 1950s an invasive parasitic insect, the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), was accidentally imported from east … Continue reading
Golden Globes as presidential auditions?
All due respect to Oprah, but haven’t we learned a little bit about the fitness of media personalities for high(est) office? Assuming the underneath of your rock receives decent broadcast signals, you probably know that Oprah Winfrey accepted the Cecil … Continue reading
Resolution Revolution
, In the small amount of informal surveying I’ve done (friends and family, mostly; so perhaps not a representative demographic but surely an awesome one), I’ve found that most of us don’t muck about with New Years resolutions. And perhaps … Continue reading
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Tagged Happy New Year, I culture you, PSA, resistance, resolutions
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Creative resistance
At the time it sure felt like 2016 was the culmination of the old “May you live in interesting times” hex. But just as the new climate-change normal leads us to designate each year as the hottest on record—but only … Continue reading
That you, Banksy?
I – It’s probably a little more common to snap a credible picture of Nessie than it is to catch the world’s most elusive street artist in action. But a British tourist in Bethlehem thinks that’s just what he’s done. … Continue reading
The kid stays in the picture – Met declines to censor 1938 painting
Given recent cultural shockwaves around the eternally fraught subject of sexual politics, no one should be terribly surprised that a painting which appears to depict a suggestively posed prepubescent girl is now in the spotlight, and in the cross-hairs. Those … Continue reading
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Tagged Art, Balthus, Metropolitan Museum, The Met, Therese Dreaming, What is art? censorship
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RIP David Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – Nov. 21, 2017)
A little bit of the seventies died yesterday. Rest in peace, Keith P.
#ItsOnUs – This mess is our mess, fellas
The change in dynamic has been palpable and unstoppable, ever since Harvey Weinstein was outed as a sexual predator. Sure, there’d been naming and shaming before that, with varying level of impacts—Cosby acquitted, Fox News gutted. But the Weinstein story … Continue reading
This Van Gogh has been hiding a secret
Call it a hazard of painting plein air (or maybe call it, “stilled life”). Vincent Van Gogh, mostly known for his sweetly tragic tenure, is nearly as celebrated for his extraordinary oil-painting technique and masterful interpretation of nature. Like the … Continue reading
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Tagged Art, Art history, entomology, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Olive Trees, Vincent Van Gogh
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The heir of the sea
The Air of the sea, said the heir of the sea– burrows its way in your bones. r It whispers a plea one of gilt mystery and of seeding the depths with unknowns. r The heir of the sea took … Continue reading
Too sexy for the Louvre – censorship in 2017
It’s hard to say wherein lies the headline here: Is it that a 40-foot tall architectural sculpture can be so unexpectedly suggestive? Or that any sculpture can be suggestive enough to be banned by the Louvre? Domestikator by the Dutch … Continue reading
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Tagged Art, Atelier Van Lieshout, censorship, Domestikator, Jean-Luc Martinez, The Louvre, What is art?
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RIP Hef (April 9 1926 – Sept. 27, 2017)
Opinions may vary and we might disagree as to the scope of his contributions, but it’s hard to argue that Hugh Hefner, founder of the Playboy empire (he launched the magazine in 1953 with a borrowed $1000 investment) wasn’t a … Continue reading
