There are certain artists whose visual language is so instantly recognizable that you can spot their work from across the room —or, in this case, across a gallery floor attached to a Land Rover.
I recently stopped by Keith Haring in 3-D at Free Parking, a pop-up exhibition in the West Village dedicated to a lesser-discussed but wildly fun part of Keith Haring’s career: the objects he transformed beyond the canvas. While Haring is most famous for his subway drawings, radiant babies, barking dogs, and dancing figures that helped define downtown New York in the 1980s, this show focused on his three-dimensional works — including two of his rare painted art cars. Continue reading Keith Haring in 3-D: When the Canvas Has Four Wheels→
A guitar’s sound is greatly influenced by the tonewoods used to build it. Each tonewood has a unique sound characteristic. Of the many tonewoods to choose from, mahogany and rosewood stand out as being among the best ones to pick. Continue reading Mahogany Vs Rosewood Guitar: Which One Is Better?→
Chicago has a rich music history. The city is the birthplace of modern jazz, urban blues, gospel, and house music. It’s no wonder many musicians and music enthusiasts travel there every year to hear live performances.
There’s a saying that being older (i.e. Baby Boomer generation) carries perks such as living at a time that allowed you to see all of the really cool bands in concert. I’ll own it. I have many priceless concert memories from the 1970s — like seeing The Who when the ticket price was $12! For me though, the real coupe was seeing Queen live in concert on each of the Night at The Opera, Day at The Races, and News of The World tours, and twice when they toured in support of their 1978 release, Jazz. For this then-teenage Queen fan, my fervent ardor for Freddie Mercury and company moved beyond ‘favorite band’ status to being more like a religion, or a way of life. I wouldn’t trade that time in my life of anything.
In Triumph of Bacchus (1964), Bob Thompson borrowed compositional elements from Renaissance depictions of the Roman god of wine. He rejected descriptive clarity, however, substituting vividly-hued arrangement in which the figures’ identities are left open-ended. In reimagining these historical sources, Thompson painted in a manner akin to jazz musicians’ innovations, where improvisation was based on a thorough understanding of preexisting styles. Saxophonist Steve Lacy, a friend of Thompson’s, referred to the artist as “jazz himself,” explaining that “the way he painted was like jazz — taking liberties with colors.”
