Cindy Sherman’s Office Killer

If you haven’t seen Office Killer, you should. Carol Kane plays a doormat secretary who accidentally starts enacting revenge on those who have treated her badly. The photography is extraordinary as you would expect from Cindy Sherman. I also love it when my favorite character actors get to play the lead — in this case [...]

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I love the Russians

Such a passionate people. It’s like reading Dostoevsky. The Louvre Museum says a Russian visitor hurled an empty terra cotta mug at the Mona Lisa. A museum spokesman says the canvas of the Da Vinci masterpiece was undamaged in the attack last week, though the mug shattered. He said Tuesday small cracks appeared in the [...]

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What are these?

With nothing better to blog about, I give you this picture that I took in Venice Beach in February this year.

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Charles Joseph Minard’s famous graph…

…showing the decreasing size of the Grande Armée as it marches to Moscow and back with the size of the army equal to the width of the line. Temperature is plotted on the lower graph for the return journey (Multiply Réaumur temperatures by 1¼ to get Celsius, e.g. −30°R = −37.5 °C) I thought Jake [...]

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A sucker is born every minute

There is so much going on in this story; it’s hard to keep track. An art collector is suing Louis Vitton and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art for selling him what he thought was original art, but was actually leftover material from LV handbags. If he knew that the $6,000 he paid for [...]

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The Huntington Library

I didn’t photograph any paintings or books, but here are some nice photos nonetheless. Info on the Huntington Library, here. 1. A taste of the European Art Gallery rooms. More photos after the jump.

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The Getty Center Los Angeles

Wow! What a day. 1. From one of the many balconies. 2. Another wow moment. 3. Interesting cactus. 4. The garden. 5. This one feels so Escher to me. 6. I took this while lying on my back on some grass.

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My favorite Christmas carol

This was one of my first blog posts ever while guest blogging for the Chawed Rosin. I recycle it here. The other day my boss asked me if I had heard of the carol “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabelle.” I had not heard that there was an English version but it was my favorite carol [...]

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Michelangelo’s David in trouble

Michelangelo’s famous statue of David could collapse because of its exposure to mass tourism, Italian experts say. They say the massive statue of the naked boy-warrior is in danger because of its size, shape and the weakness of the marble from which it was carved. But they warn that the greatest risk comes from the [...]

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Vincent Moon

Being a fan of The Arcade Fire, I was interested to read about this new filmmaker who learned his trade from working with his favorite band. Here’s an example of his work. It’s a long video but worth it once it gets going. Under the name Vincent Moon, he’s gone from a fan begging for [...]

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Back in Seattle

I think it’s fairly appropriate that I return to 60 degree weather and rain. Seattle, I hardly missed you. A lot of people who come to Seattle say that people here are not as friendly as other places. I’m from California and I’ve never really noticed this observation, but I must say that people in [...]

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Favorite Images from the Art Institute of Chicago

Judith – Jan Sanders van Hemessen – 1540 More after the jump.

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Suicide Food

I’ve known about Suicide Food for some time. Suicide Food shows art of animals that desire to be eaten. This is a photo I took in Japan. Is the pig working out for your tasting pleasure?

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The Last Polar Bear

The Last Polar Bear: Facing the Truth of a Warming World is an exhibition at the Burke Museum in Seattle of Steven Kazlowski‘s amazing photography. The polar bear — a charismatic icon in the struggle against climate change — faces a precarious future along with other ice dependent species as its Arctic habitat rapidly continues [...]

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The Lost Art of Dancing

I get sad when I think about all the great things of the past that are dying out. Like dancing. Can the formation dancing of Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake really ever compare with Fred Astaire?

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Musee des Beaux Arts W.H. Auden

About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially [...]

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The Art of Coffee

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The Joys of Marriage

Today I found this excerpt on a Nara National Museum information flyer from my trip to Japan. I thought you might enjoy it. * The service for man and wife. Every month 22nd is “The day of man and wife”. Admission is half price when you come to our museum together as man and wife [...]

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More Kaii Higashiyma Paintings

Sometimes you feel like you just need to get away from it all. So to calm my mind, I’m showing more Kaii Higashiyama examples. Enjoy: Evening Quiet, 1974 Summer Day, from the “Journey into Tohoku and Shinshu” series 1940-45 Pagoda in the Evening, from the “Spring and Autumn in Yamato” series 1973-85 All the above [...]

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Kaii Higashiyama Paintings

These are some paintings by artist Kaii Higashiyama. We missed a special exhibit of his work in The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo by one day. Vibrant Greens 1982 Forest With a White Horse 1972 Luminous Cherry Blossoms 1964-66 All pictures courtesy of http://www.pref.nagano.jp/seikan/seibun/english/art/art_2/higashi.htm

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Tokyo Folk Art

On this small market street near our Ryokan there are signs for businesses which remind me of American Folk Art. In America, these were popular because immigrants often could not read English so businesses used images to convey what their wares were. In Japan, these come in handy for tourists like me. Can you guess [...]

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