As book lovers mourn the dematerialization of the printed word, rare booksellers like Heather O’Donnell remain upbeat. She’s part of an ardent group of believers — a new generation flame tenders who are dedicated to keeping books safe in the electronic storm of Kindles and Nooks. For the upcoming Designers & Books Fair 2012 (October 26–28), she has curated an exhibit of stellar printing and binding design over the past three centuries. It makes an eloquent case for the notion that beauty will keep the printed book alive.
October 24, 2012
Posted inArt
Secret Dildo Sculptures and Abstract Neon Erotica
CINCINNATI, Ohio — The doors at the top of the gallery steps swing open with a crash. The touring Broadway show is over at the adjacent performing arts hall, and the matinee crowds pour into the Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery, a massive glass box situated on a busy street corner in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. They’re in a hurry, these Blue Man Group faithful, heading to nearby garages, but many stop for photos and others stay and linger over Taint, a sprawling exhibition by artist Anthony Luensman featuring large-scale sculpture, photography, and video spread over the gallery’s two floors.
Posted inOpinion
Designers Give Us 30 Reasons to Re-elect Obama
As if you needed any more: 30 Reasons is a series of campaign posters presenting arguments for the re-election of our incumbent president created by independent designers from across the United States.
Posted inOpinion
VIDEO: Ai Weiwei Goes Gangnam Style
With this one, the title pretty much says it all. Ai Weiwei’s entire studio has participated in a remake of South Korean rapper PSY’s epic global pop hit “Gangnam Style.”
Posted inOpinion
The Failures (and Some Successes) of Jeffrey Deitch in LA
The insular art world likes its public follies almost as much as Hollywood. We’re constantly looking for the latest slip-up, the misspoken press statement or flubbed exhibition. That’s why the trials and travails of Jeffrey Deitch as the director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art have been so magnetic — it’s an ongoing soap opera, replete with plot twists. But is it time now for rebalance the books of Deitch’s tenure?
Posted inArt
A View from the Easel
Artist studios in California, Colorado, Illinois, Quebec, and Virginia.
Posted inArt
Surreal Sculptures Remixing Nature Provoke Environmentalist Concerns
CHICAGO, Illinois — Walking down an urban Chicago street on a quiet Sunday afternoon, I noticed a gathering of greenery nestled in the crack of a sidewalk jutting up against a cement wall. These small moments of nature poking through the urban landscape reveal themselves when we are not paying attention to anything particular, but rather reveling in what is alive around us. It is in these moments that Chicago-based artist Jenny Kendler’s work situates itself, wrapping around the mind like a vine crawling up the exterior of a 100-year-old brick building.
