“Wearing white pajamas and a yellow gnomelike cap, Brâncuşi today hobbles about his studio tenderly caring for and communing with the silent host of fish, birds, heads, and endless columns which he created.”
— Life magazine, 1956 on sculptor Constantin Brâncuşi in retirement
via tinfoiltigers
Vue de l’atelier Brancusi, reconstitué par Renzo Piano, 1997
Wow—Brancusi’s work takes on a whole new dimension when grouped like it is here. Rhythmic and inhabitable.
On view at the Centre Pompidou until 25 January 2010.
More at but does it float.
“For many years, a card of this photograph of Versailles taken in 1985 by Luigi Ghirri has been pinned up above my desk. I love the scale, the color, the formality, and the relationship to painting. It also looks like it would be a large Gursky size print but in reality the original is snapshot size, which adds to the intrigue.”
Maybe I was just sleepy, but watching the little wooden skiers go round and round was strangely hypnotic. (Spotted at Goochem in Amsterdam.)
The Art of Noise / Legs
And then (1985) they traded in the chainsaws for cut-and-paste video techniques and acid-washed Miami colours. (Best viewed fullscreen with sound hooked up to real speakers.)
To be in England in the summertime with my love
Or on the High Line in the eighties, with a chainsaw and a punk child. The video for Close by The Art of Noise was shot on the High Line back in 1984. (Hey!)
For the past 10 years, Jesus Leonardo has been cleaning up at an OTB parlor in Midtown Manhattan, cashing in, by his own count, nearly half a million dollars’ worth of winning tickets from wagers on thoroughbred races across the country.
During his glorious run, Mr. Leonardo, 57, has not placed a single bet.
“It is literally found money,” he said on a recent night from his private winner’s circle. He spends more than 10 hours a day there, feeding thousands of discarded betting slips through a ticket scanner in a never-ending search for someone else’s lost treasure.
via nytimes.com
![Mossi mask
Mossi (sing. Moaaga) are a people in central Burkina Faso, living mostly in the villages of the Volta River Basin. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, constituting 40% of the population, or about 6.2 million people. The Mossi were able to conquer a vast amounts of territory thanks to their mastering of the horse, and created a prosperous empire and kept peace in the region until the beginning of colonialism. […] Masks occupy an important position in Mossi culture and are often considered holy. (wiki)
I have cousins in Burkina Faso and know that they’re skilled riders, but I never realized there was a historical tie to horses—just ignorantly assumed that equestrianism was introduced by European colonists.
The mask, meanwhile, is stunning. The sheer scale of it (145 cm / 57 in), and such an elegant shape—that long, forward-leaning curve slit down the middle. Looks inspired by the horns of an oryx.
image source](http://17.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kuaqtcmEgt1qz5buqo1_500.jpg)
Mossi mask
Mossi (sing. Moaaga) are a people in central Burkina Faso, living mostly in the villages of the Volta River Basin. The Mossi are the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso, constituting 40% of the population, or about 6.2 million people. The Mossi were able to conquer a vast amounts of territory thanks to their mastering of the horse, and created a prosperous empire and kept peace in the region until the beginning of colonialism. […] Masks occupy an important position in Mossi culture and are often considered holy. (wiki)
I have cousins in Burkina Faso and know that they’re skilled riders, but I never realized there was a historical tie to horses—just ignorantly assumed that equestrianism was introduced by European colonists.
The mask, meanwhile, is stunning. The sheer scale of it (145 cm / 57 in), and such an elegant shape—that long, forward-leaning curve slit down the middle. Looks inspired by the horns of an oryx.
HARRY CALLAHAN (1912-1999)
Eleanor and Barbara, 1953
Must be nice to spend an afternoon at Christie’s buying photographs… This one would be on my list. I’m not familiar with Callahan’s work, but love this—the contrasts between the clearcut frame and fleshy curves, and between the dark, almost monochromatic tones and the light window. From Wikipedia: “His technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day’s best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year.”
