Art in One Form or Another

WonderRoot

I had the good fortune last weekend to meet Alex West. A 26-year old who, along with two buddies, saw a need (and actually did something about it) for an organization to bridge a wide gap between Atlanta's community and its art scene. Enter WonderRoot. In 2004, the organization was built on the foundation or uniting artists and community advocacy as musicians, writers, photographers and anyone else creative has the power to create positive social change. I'm going to leave it at that and ask that you take the jump to their website because it's simply interesting and a model that other cities should study.

Damn, Flavin

This week will likely feature a range of Houston-inspired posts as I just returned from a great trip there with an awesome group of people. Among my many 2010 goals, I want to buy a fluorescent glowing piece of art. So, that made our visit to the Menil Collection's Dan Flavin exhibit that much more exciting. Richmond Hall's space features three great rooms of Flavin's work including this one with a rainbow of bright lights. Something I could easily live with. Bottom line: Get to Houston, ASAP!

NYC: Just Ask the Locals

Great video presented by 92 Street Y featuring Janeane Garofolo, David Cross, Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Kroll, Paul Dinello, Dave Hill, Julie Klausner, Sklar Brothers and Brett Gelman.

Houston Art Trip

Off to Houston today for a weekend trip with the team at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. I don't know too much about the art scene there, but from the look of our packed schedule, Houston seems like a great art community.

Here's some of the places we'll be checking out:

• Menil Collection including Twombly Museum
• Rothko Chapel
• Diverseworks Art Space 
• Contemporary Art Museum Houston (CAMH)
• Museum of Fine Arts Sculpture Garden
• Galleries including Betty Moody, Hiram Butler, Inman Gallery.
• Project Row House
• Beer Can House

If I'm missing anything, let me know!
 

Creative + Capitalism at its Best!

Everybody has a product idea and Ben Kaufman's mission is to help bring (at least some of) them to life. Ben and his team are doing it through his brainchild, Quirky. They crowd source an idea and have the community help to create the product as a team. Oh yeah, if your opinion gets included in the process, you earn a % of sales.

Unexpected Celebrities

David LaChapelle is no stranger to photographing celebrities, but after going through his site (which is fantastic, BTW) there's a ton of unexpected celebrities who stand in front of DL's lens. Among them are Daniel Day Lewis, Dolly Parton, James VanderBeek, Sofia Copolla, Heather Graham and JLo (as Jennifer Biels in Flashdance!). Take a look!

Marilyn Minter Hits Austin

Minter is popping up around the country. First in Cincinnati, now in Austin. As part of the University of Texas Blanton Museum's show on Desire, Marilyn Minter's Crystal Swallow (2006) is on display alongside some other great artists. The show is a study on how contemporary artists portray desire, a complex human emotion.

High Museum Puts Permanent Collection in Your Hands

It's all about teamwork as Atlanta's High Museum of Art decorative arts and design curator Ron Labaco attempted to persuade patrons to vote in favor of the museum acquiring some very au courant furniture, a chair and a table from Stockholm’s Front Design.

He and six fellow High curators have taken their campaigns viral on behalf of particular works they’re hoping to get added to the museum’s permanent collection. Each of the High’s seven curators presented a work of art as a potential new acquisition for their collection. Guests were able to cast their votes and the High will purchase the work of art that receives the most votes. Looking forward to seeing which piece won out.

Filling The Sartorialist's Shoes

Tommy Ton is quite simply a great photographer. He  took over Scott Schuham's job at Style.com which says a lot. If you don't follow his blog, Jak and Jil, you need to.

iPad = iMisrach!

While all of the talk of the talk of the iPad (for better or worse) was about it's functionality, design and evolution of the iPhone, it was the background of the screen that rocked my world. Watching the news conference via Engadget's site, I was thrilled to see my favorite photographer's, Richard Misrach, image (Pyaramide Lake, at night, taken in 2004) as the desktop of Steve Jobs' iPad. I'm sure not many people realized that (I'm guessing about 10), but that got me more excited than the new release from Apple.

The Red Book Dialogues

Why am I just learning about this? Following the Rubin Museum of Art's exhibition of The Red Book of C.G. Jung, personalities from different walks of life are put onstage with a psychoanalyst and are asked to interpret interpret pieces from Jung's Red Book. Guests include David Byrne, Marina Abramovic (who I wrote about two weeks ago), Smashing Pumpkins' Bill Corgan among others.

Art Museum Super Bowl Bet is On

The art world has caught Super Bowl fever. A proposed bet between the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art is heating up as NOMA director E. John Bullard is throwing down for his Saints betting the three-month loan of its $4 million Renoir painting, Seamstress at Window, circa 1908, which is currently in the big Renoir exhibitionin Paris. Will Indy up the ante? (via MAN).

Woman Falls, Rips Picasso!

In news related to one of my biggest fears (about my depth perception-impaired wife), a significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into "The Actor" and tore it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art said. Yikes!

New Banksy Site

With all the Sundance buzz this weekend, I'm on a Bansky roll! Not sure when this site went live, but it's new to me and it's a great resource for all things about the troublemaker.

Banksy Around Utah!

Banksy is popping up all around Sundance. Check it out!