Movements & Madmen
Researching the extraordinary and sometimes bizarre theories and techniques that make art what it is today.
“Who the #$&%…?” Revisted
I decided to do some follow-up research on an article I posted awhile back about the possible Jackson Pollock painting featured in the 2006 documentary Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? Retired truck driver Teri Horton purchased the work for five dollars at a California thrift store in 1992. After enduring more than a... »
Saskia Sassen — A Short Essay on Visibility, Globalism, Art, and Sprawl in Atlanta
Sociologist Saskia Sassen’s studies on urban space and globalization have a great deal to offer the arts community. At her recent lecture for ART PAPERS Live!, Sassen stated that the city is no longer a clearly defined self-contained nucleus, but has evolved into multiple interconnected systems of meaning. Each part symbolizes several... »
From Atlanta to LA: Slow ‘Death by Graffiti’
Following a lead in a column of Artillery magazine’s March/April print edition, “The sad, slow death of LA’s freeway murals,” I spent some time today researching the street battle between LA taggers and muralists—and the courtroom battle between artist Frank Romero and the state authorities of CalTrans. To tell you the truth, I’ve given up... »
Porcelain Obsession in Bruce Chatwin’s Utz
Utz, the eponymous main character of Bruce Chatwin’s final novel, is a Jewish collector who risks his life in Czechoslovakia during its period of Soviet rule under Stalin. Although he has multiple opportunities to leave the country, he cannot bear to separate himself from his Meissen porcelain. Intriguing in his own right, Utz also... »
Our Favorite Things: 2008
Burn Away asked 10 Atlanta artists, curators, and reviewers to describe their “most inspiring” local art exhibition or event of the year. Contributors include Emily Amy, Mike Germon, Matt Haffner, Jerry Cullum, Robert Cheatham, Michi, Dosa Kim, Jason Parker, Stephanie Dowda, and Cinqué Hicks. »
Mall Alternatives Aren’t Just for Black Friday
A fascination with paradox explains, at least in part, my fondness for the horror genre—”ecstatic with fright” is one of my favorite emotional states. Throw the living dead into the mix and add some art, and I enter a state of nirvana. Thus my excitement when I happened upon the plot summary for Dying to... »
Hey! Isn’t That Fingerprint a Pollock?
The painting above—a possible Jackson Pollock purchased by retired truck driver Teri Horton for five dollars in 1992—recently made headlines again: Gallery Delisle in Toronto, Canada, is now offering it for 50 million U.S. dollars. »
Joan Fontcuberta, Author of Ficciones*
When I arrived at last week’s Art Papers lecture at Emory, I didn’t realize I was already familiar with the work of photographer Joan Fontcuberta. He spoke of his career as an art world jester who—without informing his audiences of his duplicity—stages completely fake exhibitions. »
Man Ray: Rayograph vs. Photogram
Although commonly dubbed as the photogram today, there’s a pleasant science-fiction flavor to Man Ray’s original coinage, the Rayograph. It’s basically a photograph, although one created without the use of a camera. A Rayograph is created by placing objects directly onto a chemically “sensitized” surface and then exposing them to light. »
Kirsten Anderson and Robert Williams on Pop Surrealism
Robert Williams is the founder of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, the premiere magazine of the Pop Surrealism movement. Kirsten Anderson is the author of Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art. She’s also the owner and curator of Roq La Rue Gallery, one of the oldest and most well-known spaces devoted... »
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