... constantly working out the details...

... constantly working out the details...

Monday, February 27, 2006

Whippersnappers

The Conner Contemporary ( http://www.connercontemporary.com/ ) is Hosting Whippersnappers, who in their own words are "young, Bright, culturally astute artists who, in our opinion, rock."
These "rockstars" (Fatima Hoang, Michael Magnan, Maki Maruyama, Annie Schap, Zach Storm, Matthew Sutton) provide a curious assortment of unconventional contemporary pieces, from collage to conceptual. Highlights for me included, Fatima Hoangs video pieces of Air guitar edited to fit songs by artists Guns and roses, Creed, and Jay-Z, and to a lesser extent, 'ASPHYNCTERSAYSMEOW' , Video by Annie Schap. I am not sure what the Cultural theme this exhibit was, but none of the pieces had a solid common bond, (with the exception of Corcoran school of art and design Degrees) other than irony. Remember when people said that 9/11 was going to be the death of irony? It wasn't, but that is irrelevant. Zach Storm and his imaginary book covers, really scream out,"Irony is in fact not dead! If These Books were real, and not made up, It would be alive and thriving in print! Long Live Wes Anderson! Long live Magic Markers! Also the Inventory of CVS recalled from memory, by Matthew Sutton is impressive in its very existence.

In summary, the show is genuinely funny at times, and tragically sad at the same time, lukewarm overall, but still a good way to spend an hour if you are in the District.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

What sound does a color make.

From Jan 27 through May 7 2006 The travelling exhibition "What Sound does a Color Make" Will be on the campus of UMBC in the Center for Arts and visual culture. The Exhibition features mostly video installation, focuing on the concept of synthesia, the idea of one sense stimulating another and vice versa in a cycle.

Self-Portrait of Paul (DeMarinis), by Jim Cambell, is my pick of the show, which recycles, amplifies, transforms and records sound through a system of LED lights. Other works range from interactive video which Tracks movement, recycles The information and presents it to the observer visually and audibly (Bondage, Atau Tanaka), to the standard dark room, projection/monitor and sound effects environmental installation. Rounding things out were a few older pieces, Full circle (formerly ring modulation), and Beatles Electroniques, which dispite thier age were some of my favorites.

For the most part, this show delivers what it promises, as all of the work blends and makes you aware of the connections between the senses. It also stands firm as a cohesive body of work.

What sound does a color make.

From Jan 27 through May 7 2006 The travelling exhibition "What Sound does a Color Make" Will be on the campus of UMBC in the Center for Arts and visual culture. The Exhibition features mostly video installation, focuing on the concept of synthesia, the idea of one sense stimulating another and vice versa in a cycle.

Self-Portrait of Paul (DeMarinis), by Jim Cambell, is my pick of the show, which recycles, amplifies, transforms and records sound through a system of LED lights. Other works range from interactive video which Tracks movement, recycles The information and presents it to the observer visually and audibly (Bondage, Atau Tanaka), to the standard dark room, projection/monitor and sound effects environmental installation. Rounding things out were a few older pieces, Full circle (formerly ring modulation), and Beatles Electroniques, which dispite thier age were some of my favorites.

For the most part, this show delivers what it promises, as all of the work blends and makes you aware of the connections between the senses. It also stands firm as a cohesive body of work.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Super Bowl, bowl cuts, super cuts

The Goodyear blimp is gone. But I think Budweiser might be stepping up to fill the shoes. The superbowl an incredible marketing scheme. People tune in just for the commercials... That is even a Scene worthy excuse for watching the game in some circles. It even has advertisements for itself. It is near 6 hours of A over romanticizing a garish sport (comparing it to chess, or art) and cleverly separating you from your money. At the end the coach was crying over the trophy. The last time I cried over a trophy I was no older than six. The last time I cried over something stupid was a haircut when I was around twelve. I had been trying to grow it out long like Kurt Kobain, but My mom made me go to the super cuts. I sat in the chair and cried like a chickenshit as the hairdresser lopped off my sweet sweet bowl cut. She thought that something was wrong with me. That week I shaved my head as a result of a bet and realized that bowl cuts were nowhere near as cool as I thought they were.