Aikido is a modern Japanese martial art that focuses primarily on self-defense and avoiding injury to oneself and one’s opponent. Unlike other martial arts, aikido techniques do not rely on striking or kicking to defeat an opponent. Instead, aikido uses throwing, joint locking, and pinning techniques to neutralize attacks.
Continue reading Is There Any Sword Fighting Involved in Aikido?
Photo By Gail
Just when you think you’ve seen every piece of art by Andy Warhol, you discover that the Brooklyn Museum has an exhibit called Revelation, where I saw a bunch of stuff I had no idea even existed — and for Warhol completist like me, that is saying something. This expansive exhibit (on through June 19th, 2022) examines themes in Warhol’s body of work such as life and death, power and desire, the role and representation of women, Renaissance imagery, family and immigrant traditions and rituals, depictions and duplications of Christ, and the Catholic body and queer desire. It’s a must-see for any Warhol fan, for sure. This painting of Pink Knives shares a gallery with many colorful and (of course) repetitive depictions of Knives, Guns and Crosses. Very fun!
Photo By Gail
For his mixed media assemblage, Koh-i-Noor (2005) Hew Locke (Scottish, born 1959) arranged thousands of cheap plastic toys and trinkets — disposable products of the new global economy — into one edition of a series of portraits of Queen Elizabeth II (entitled the House of Windsor Series), one of which was among the most extraordinary works in the Museum’s exhibition, Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art (2007). Locke, born in Scotland but raised in Guyana, created these works in response to ethnic tensions within contemporary British society, often growing out of Great Britain’s colonial history, with that history now brought home to Britain. Continue reading Hew Locke, Koh-i-Noor, Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II
Book 4, 1962: Book with Pins, Table Knife, Scissors, Razor Blade, Metal Foil, Piece of Glass and Plastic Rod (All Photos By Gail)
From MoMA:
In 1960 Samaras began a series of Surrealist-inspired boxes filled with personal materials that he encrusted in needles, mirrors, shards of glass, and brightly colored beads. The boxes were followed by room–sized installations and subversive Polaroid self–portraits. Like Samaras’s boxes, Book is a multifaceted object and a miniature world in itself. Although it includes eight fictional narratives written by the artist between 1959 and 1967, it is not a storybook.
Continue reading Modern Art Monday Presents: Lucas Samaras, Book 4
Manly!