It’s to be expected that when America’s greatest living poet publishes a translation of one of the greatest and — to borrow a phrase from the titles of old forgotten anthologies — best-loved poets of world modernity, readers would take notice. And they have, so maybe I should think twice before adding more kudos to the pile. But it’s surprising that people haven’t been more surprised by John Ashbery’s decision to undertake a translation of Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations.
January 2012
Posted inArt
Everything Is Fine
What does it mean to be “Perfectly Happy, Even Without Happy Endings”?
Early this week, The New York Times published an article under that title by longtime Philadelphia Inquirer film critic (and former Village Voice art critic) Carrie Rickey. It told the story of an independent film producer named Lindsay Doran, whom Rickey describes in the third paragraph as “a missionary for mood-elevating films.”
It seems as if Doran became enamored of a book by a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, Martin E. P. Seligman, and “began rewatching films through the lens of what Dr. Seligman identifies as the five essential elements of well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. (He refers to these elements collectively as perma.)”
Posted inOpinion
Required Reading
This week, an unfinished masterpiece, artists on Facebook, Guggenheim’s free online catalogues, Okwui Enwezor lectures on art and civic imagination, Russian space, nasty ancient graffiti and much more …
Posted inArt
The Immaculate Conception of Damien Hirst
“You do know, don’t you, that even well-meaning people are pawns for the powerful, and when it comes right down to it, humans are best thought of as oversized prawns waiting to be plucked from their beds of ice? Personally, I like to methodically squeeze the plumpest and pinkest ones between my thumb and forefinger, really smooth them out, before swallowing them whole.”
I dreamt that I met the famous and powerful Hollywood gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper. She was tired of lying around in Rose Hill Permanent Rest Stop and wondered if she could get her old job back.
Posted inPoetry
They Always Ask for Water
1.
Today was unseasonably warm
There were mountains in the distance, and disaster was coming. I heard it on the evening news.
…
Posted inArt
Mirror, Mirror
What do we see when we look at art? What do we want to see? Answers come readily and are various: we seek beauty; enlightenment; pleasure; escape from ourselves; insight into those same selves.
Posted inOpinion
Reports from Last Night’s Bushwick Panel
Last night’s “Confronting Bushwick” was attended by roughly 120 people and there are already two excellent reports published online about the event … not to mention the tweets.
Posted inArt
Rembrandt in America
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA — The Rembrandt in America show at the North Carolina Museum of Art is the largest Rembrandt show ever staged in America, containing 47 works.
Posted inArt
Lewd Monkey Goddesses, Luminous Death and Sequined Birth
Monica Cook’s Volley features a full cast of blemished bedazzled half-human, half-monkey sculptures. When I asked one viewer what he thought his response was, “It’s pretty dark, I mean, this ain’t no Winnie the Pooh you know …”
Posted inNews
As Whitney Biennial Approaches, Museum’s Art Handlers Face Potential Labor Dispute [UPDATED]
First Sotheby’s, and now the Whitney. While the Teamsters of Local 814 have been fighting with Sotheby’s since August for a better contract, a new labor dispute has cropped up for the art handlers of Local 966 that work at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Posted inNews
Occupy Museums Writes Letter to MoMA, Demands Stand on Sotheby’s Lockout
On the heels of their rally at the Museum of Modern Art last Friday, the following focused and powerful letter arrived in our inbox 15 minutes ago from Occupy Museums.
Posted inArt
Livestreaming the City Through Police Radio
LOS ANGELES — Drawing inspiration from Robin Rimbaud and the lovely Mission Control site by soma.fm, artist Eric Eberhardt decided to turn police chatter and online radio into a media landscape.