Bettie Page - R.I.P.

Sometimes The New York Times really does take you by surprise! I was sitting at home Saturday morning reading all the bad news in the paper when I got to the Arts section and va-voom ... this was the front page they had put together to report on the passing of Bettie Page!

Bettie Page was not generally known in the 1950s when this picture was taken. She came into pop-cultural consciousness in the late sixties as a symbol of the hypocrisy of the previous decade. But as often noted, it was her ability to appear wholesome while being photographed in all manner of S&M poses that was the source of her appeal. Counter to this notion and in the context of the great American pin-up, she was probably the first person of any name recognition to hint at the possibility of something pleasing and erotic in the unconventional. Sadly, she never seemed to have had much happiness in her life, but her pictures gave a great many people pleasure including, apparently, whoever at The Times was responsible for this layout!

Photo by Paula Klaw

Weekend Video - Obama/Hendrix mash

Obama/Hendrix Mash-up from michael murphy on Vimeo.

Michael Murphy has just released a mash-up video combining Barack Obama's acceptance speech with Jimi Hendrix's 1969 Woodstock rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Done in rotoscopic style, Murphy has synced up both video clips without altering either time code. A viewing note - wait to let it load.

An Unexpected Visit

Dijkstra by Danziger

As you can see, I had the unexpected pleasure of a visit from Rineke Dijkstra today, in town for the Marlene Dumas show at MoMA, and coming in to see the "Sander's Children" exhibition. (That's her picture in the back on the right and an August Sander she was particularly drawn to on the left.)

Sander, left; Dijkstra, right.

It's always an interesting experience to go round a show with any photographer and other than the Sanders, Rineke's favorites seemed to be the Tubkes, The Sartorialist pictures, and the Avedon of Dylan. When I told her that Sart's pictures were digital she was completely intrigued, going so far as to write down the name of his camera (the Canon 5D).

While I usually feel it's intrusive to take a famous visitor's picture, at this point (and for the sake of the blog) I asked if I could take her picture and then she wanted to see my camera, the Panasonic DMC L-1. But as you'll see from her picture of me, my decision to stop shaving for a couple of days and pull out a shirt from the bottom of the drawer were not in my best photographic interest. Oh well, there's always photoshop.

Danziger by Dijkstra

Lastly, as recommended, I went to the opening of Jorg Colberg's show "Bare" last night where my favorite picture was one that is surprisingly not included on the Mazzeo Gallery website. It's from Jennifer Loeber's series of Brooklyn nudes and aside from the obvious beauty of the subject it's a wonderfully luminous shot.

Jennifer Loeber. Williamsburg #6

Mark Your Calendars

Reka Reisinger

How's this for a concept - a show that opens and closes on the same day! The show, called "Naivete" features 14 different artists and takes place this Friday between 8 and 10 p.m. at 286 Mulberry Street in New York City. Among my favorite pieces, a Yosemite picture from Reka Reisinger's series of photographs of her cut out self-portrait shot in different environments, and this silly tower by Michael Marcelle.

Michael Marcelle

Also not to be missed, my fellow blogger Jorg Colberg's sophomore curatorial exercise - the show "Bare" opening tonight at Michael Mazzeo Gallery at 526 West 26th Street.

Josh Quigley. From "Bare".

Claus (not Clause)

Sadly, after 28 years in a coma, Sunny Von Bulow passed away this week.

Her husband, Claus Von Bulow, was always a dandy, but at the time of his trial (where he was first found guilty of intentionally overdosing his wife with insulin, but subsequently acquitted) he had a smarmy quality that made him quite repellent. Now, however, as this picture in The New York Post shows, he has aged into a fashion plate that I imagine my friend The Sartorialist would love to photograph.

This post is clearly about style, not justice - the point being that news pictures can grab you for all kinds of reason. In this case it's the tilt of the hat, the cut of the coat, the one glove on/one glove off, the cane - more accessory than crutch, even the white beard. But while it's nearly Christmas, remember this is Claus, not Clause!

Sweet - part deux

After an art fair, there are always the questions - what did you like best; what stuck with you? And of course it's usually things that are different than what you see every day, so it's not surprising that for me it's often paintings. But this time it was also little gems that stood out. I read Roberta Smith, The New York Times chief art critic's piece, and apparently what stood out for her was a multi-story installation that was a re-creation of a meth (as in the drug) lab - a messy, sprawling, journey to the dark side. Well, take away my press credentials. One of the standouts for me was this little Wayne Thiebaud at John Berggruen of a group of doughnuts! A beautifully executed, mouth-watering, life affirming piece of color pop.

My favorite photograph was a repeat from last year - this couple dancing by Malick Sidibe. Again, the gesture and the moment are just so sweet - her bare feet, the way their heads are almost touching, the formality of their clothes - to me it's a picture of young people in the act of falling in love.

And for my last pick, this drawing titled "Ice-cream Girl" by Will Cotton seen at the Glenn Horowitz room at AQUA. For those who don't know his work, Cotton is a highly skilled figurative painter whose works combine fantasy images of women and desserts! He shows at Mary Boone, so a contemporary aura surrounds his work, but I love the old master quality of this drawing, the red pastel it's done in, and in particular the confectionary swirl of the subject's hair. Sweet!

Weekend Video - Sia, and The Killers

Sometimes you hear the best music on t.v.. I fell asleep watching David Letterman and woke up at the very end of the show to hear this lovely new song by Sia. But watch for her reaction at the end of the song when Dave comes onstage. So sweet!

I couldn't find a clip of The Killers performing "Human" on Saturday Night Live last week, which really turned me on to the song, and most of the YouTube clips are disabled so you'll have to settle for this (and ignore the second song on this clip). By the way, in the great lyric debate I'm on the side of "Are we human, or are we denser?" and not "...or are we dancers?".