All Photos By Gail
Do you enjoy the fabulous Op Art images of legendary British painter Bridget Riley? I sure do. Bridget Riley is so cool, the retro-pop project Death By Chocolate even wrote a song about her. Fabulous. Bridget is 84 now, but still rocking a paintbrush, and I got to meet her recently at the opening reception for her current exhibit over at David Zwirner. You need to check it out.
All Photos by Gail
In my own words, I would describe German artist Michael Riedel’s Powerpoint as repetitive, minimalist geometric designs on large canvases, mounted on wallpaper mimicking the same design. As far as how he came up with these specific images, however, and what it all “means,” I admit I couldn’t really get my head around it. Here’s an explanation from the show’s press release:
“Since the late 1990s, Michael Riedel has advanced his own model of a self-sustaining artistic production, continuously using reproductions as a means to “reintroduce the system of art into the art system.”
Continue reading Michael Riedel’s Powerpoint at David Zwirner Gallery
Yesterday’s sudden news that director/screenwriter John Hughes had passed away from a heart attack at age 59 shocked and saddened me. I was already in my twenties when Hughes’ films – my favorites being the brilliant and hilarious Sixteen Candles, and the staggering work of genius that is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – were exploding all over the universe and creating pop culture memes and buzz phrases that we still perpetuate today. While I loved and was highly entertained by his movies, they didn’t have the life-changing effect on me that many of his films had on teenagers. Just a glance at the countless comments flooding my Face Book news feed since last evening say that much. I think that the pop-culture paradigm shift initiated by Hughes is perhaps best illustrated in this touching and uniquely personal remembrance, Sincerely, John Hughes by Alison Byrne Fields from her blog, We’ll Know When We Get There. Please have some tissues handy. I would like to close this post with one of my favorite lines from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Cameron is so uptight, if you shoved a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you would have a diamond.” Farewell John Hughes, rest in peace.
Joan Jett with the new Gibson Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker
(Personal aside: I was introduced to Joan Jett once in the upstairs bar / VIP lounge at NYC’s Webster Hall. It was during a press event and Joan was playing a set while also promoting a crappy band on her label (Blackheart Records, yeah I didn’t know she had a record label either) called The Eyeliners. This band sucked more you could even possibly imagine. But anyway, what I recall most about my “Hi, how’s it going” style introduction to Joan was that she was really tiny and pretty, and that she told me that what annoyed her most was always being introduced to people as “Joan Jett” and never just “Joan.” So, keep that in mind in case you ever find yourself in the position to be making introductions between “Joan” and anybody else.) Continue reading Gibson Guitar Announces Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker Guitar