HANNE'S ART AND CULTURE BLOG

Remember MrChiCity3? If not, refresh your memory below. I am definitely getting one of these. Either a t shirt or a cup. Go there!

Look closely at that picture! It's my blog in a real art museum! My blog and I got invited to participate in an art museum show in Aarhus, Denmark. I have my own "kiosk" in the "net art" section. Cool or what? If you want more details on the show (check out the "avatars"!) and the museum, then you can go here.

Artist biography:

"Boonmee is a male elephant born in 1996 at Bureerum, Thailand. He is strong and has good figure. He is the male elephant without tusk. Boonmee is the only elephant who can draw various kinds of pictures – flowers, trees, heart shape, letters writing, or even draw the picture of himself. The art made by him have been distributed more than 500 pictures around the world. His most famous pictures are trees and flowers. Boonmee has a friend named Thongsri Lohapoam, His instructor is Put Udom. He is the sole artist in Samutprakarn Crocodile Farm and Zoo, Thailand".

Starting at $ 49.99! Go here to bid!

..... Dispatch, where I work sometimes, is having an opening. Be there, or be square! More info here.

ERICA BAUM
The Naked Eye
Feb 15 - Mar 22 2009
Opening reception for the artist: Feb 15, 3 - 7 p.m.

Upcoming Special Event:
Reading by Kenneth Goldsmith of The Weather: Mar 15, 4 p.m.
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The Naked Eye is a solo exhibition of new work by photographer Erica Baum. Part of an evolving body of work over the past decade employing found image and language constructions, the works in this new series are comprised of photographs of printed material — capturing cross-sections, slices of images, and interrupted text strings in her compositions of fanned paperback pages.

Having worked with subject matter from art historical indexes to esoteric printed parlor games, Baum’s works depict the way language and signs are structured on a page or picture plane, developing an in-depth group of works around her given subject. By framing images and capturing details, she manages to uncover serendipitous combinations of words and forms outside the logic inherent in her subjects’ structures.

In this new series, myriad colors outline the page edges of Baum’s chosen subject: paperback books. Baum steps outside of her practice of black and white photography to create lush c-prints of fanned-out soft-cover books — disposable novels, slapdash movie adaptations, and celebrity biographies. Like her earlier work with card catalogues, three-dimensional space is flattened, and pages are compressed, foreshortened and cropped by the camera’s lens. Green, yellow and red strokes of dye file up like folds of a curtain framing a stage. The images, letters and words that emerge are presented in a new framework: stories unrelated to the books’ original plots unfold. A precise, economical storyteller, Baum draws elegant chance encounters and found poetry with few depicted signifiers.

"In my work, the tie between source and product is loosened if not altogether severed. The books are nonfiction, but my photographs of them are fiction. The stories are conveyed abstractly in a kind of portrait of the idea of a book without being a specific book. This approach shows that a book can have more than one life — more than a conventional beginning-to-end narrative would have us believe. Coherence is dislodged and replaced by and with The Naked Eye." –EB

DISPATCH GALLERY HOURS: Thursday - Sunday 1 - 6 p.m. and by appointment

Upcoming:
Indian Ocean
Free Association, No Input, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, and Jason Kakoyiannis: A tool for duplicating fragrances
March 29 - May 10 2009

DISPATCH
127 Henry Street New York NY 10002
www.dispatchbureau.com
Tel/Fax: 1 212 227 2783
Howie Chen - Gabrielle Giattino

If you have $ 1500.... go here.

"I am like a puddle on the floor after seeing this picture of a fireman giving some water to a parched koala bear. Look at the koala's little tongue! And the koala's paw on the fireman's hand! The koala is so polite and so thankful! Like a little person! This makes me want to truckjack a Sparklett's water truck and drive through the ocean to Australia".
Read the rest over at Dlisted. UPDATE!: Video here. Thanks Jamie.

I knew there was something missing in my apartment, and I just figured it out: I need to brand my light switches and outlets. Of course! And Ralph Lauren is just perfect for that. These Ralph Lauren Polo Bear light switches and outlets are only $ 8.99, which unfortunately take away some of that high living feeling that I was looking for.... Go here to upgrade your living space.

Ebay seller's quote: "HERE IS A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF OPRAH HISTORY. THIS COLORFUL, 1980'S POP-ART STYLE CERAMIC COFFEE MUG COMES FROM "THE ECCENTRIC", A CHICAGO RESTAURANT CREATED BY RICHARD MELMAN AND HIS PARTNER, OPRAH WINFREY. THE RESTAURANT OPENED IN 1989 AND LASTED UNTIL 1995. THIS MUG IS IN GREAT CONDITION WITH NO CHIPS, CRACKS, OR SCRATCHES. IT HAS BEEN STORED IN A CARDBOARD BOX SINCE 1990!" Don't miss out on this! Go here to bid.

I would like to take the two hand sculptures in the background with me to my apartment.

This quote of the day is also one of my favorite quotes of all times. Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock.

Now this is art. Straight on my wish list. Too bad they don't have my size. Go here to buy.

While people were throwing shoes at Bush, peoples are giving shoes to Obama:

"PHOENIX — What's the ideal gift for a basketball-obsessed president? Try a size 23 sneaker personally autographed by Shaquille O'Neal.

The Phoenix Suns center couldn't be around himself when President Barack Obama arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport Tuesday afternoon. So when the president stepped off of Air Force One, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's son Jake made the presentation at the foot of the stairs.

The orange-and-white sneaker made a big impression.

Obama set it on the ground next to his own, much smaller shoe, and grinned as photographers captured the moment. Then Obama scooped it up and took it with him as he stepped into the presidential limo.

In Sunday's NBA All-Star game, O'Neal shared MVP honors with Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers".

"The Pollock & Pollock Gossip Show, which began in 1985, was arguably the most controversial, most watched and most discussed of the Videon shows. After this unclassifiable program was abruptly cancelled in 1989, reports of its strangeness grew and grew, eventually taking on legendary proportions.

Basically, "Rockin' Ronnie" Pollock would spin tunes while his sister "Nifty Natalie" would indulge in what might possibly be described as interpretive dance. "Anyone can come and join us," Ronnie announced during one show promo, and he wasn't kidding. Along with stray guests the Pollocks picked up on the street or at the mall, this shambolic program might feature Liberace song stylings from a tone-deaf cross-dresser, a dance routine from a shuffling, half-nude elderly man, or an appearance by two giggly, tongue-tied, high-school girls." For more information and videos, go to The Pollock and Pollock website!

I'm participating in an exhibition entitled The Real Thing, curated by Vvork, opening on February 27 at Mu, Eindhoven, Netherlands. I will be showing two works, one video and one installation. More information here.

I have been very sad since the news came out that Mickey Rourke's dog Loki died. She had been with Mickey for 18 years! But now he's gotten a new best friend, and that's great! The name is Jaws. Also, for some serious fashion inspiration, check below. Everybody should wear slippers like Mickey Rourke's (here with Loki), outside.

I guess that East 17 was a European phenomenon. Now I wonder how I could ever have taken these guys seriously. Prepare for some serious fashion inspiration in the clip above.