In March I mentioned that I was looking into this, and I wanted to let people know that we now have a website:

Culture Pundits

and the ability to buy or sell ads on ArtCal plus 9 blogs so far. For ArtCal, it’s only for the banner ad at the top, or a 125×125 button under the left nav. The ad network software isn’t really set up to manage something like the gallery ads on the right at the moment.

I’m sure some of my readers are interested in buying an ad, or signing up as a blogger/publisher. There is a signup link if you wish to serve ads on your site. You also will have the advantage of seeing some of your posts show up on the home page of the newly redesigned ArtCal which launches this month.

Elizabeth Murray in 1998 with one of her New York subway murals, at the 59th Street and Lexington Avenue station in Manhattan. G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times

This is my favorite paragraph of her obituary, written by Roberta Smith, in the New York Times:

Born in Chicago in 1940, Ms. Murray had a hardscrabble childhood that included bouts of homelessness caused in part by the ill health of her father. Ms. Murray traced her interest in art to watching a nursery-school teacher cover a sheet of paper with thick red crayon, an experience that she said gave her an indelible sense of the physicality of color. She drew constantly from an early age, inspired mostly by newspaper comic strips, and once sent a sketchbook to Walt Disney asking for a job as his secretary. By the fifth grade she was selling erotic drawings to classmates for a quarter.

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Good stuff from one of the flickr feeds I follow.

David Rees, the creator of Get Your War On, demolishes Michael Ignatieff’s painfully self-serving essay on “getting Iraq wrong” in the New York Times Magazine_. Ignatieff is one of many slimeballs who were horribly wrong on Iraq, but now say they feel a little bad and are happy that their careers will continue. He is presently Deputy Leader of the Liberal Opposition in Canada. 59363.html">Go read it</a>. Here is a teaser.

“I made some of these mistakes and then a few of my own. The lesson I draw for the future is to be less influenced by the passions of people I admire — Iraqi exiles, for example — and to be less swayed by my emotions. . . .”

And here, finally, is where my skull cracked open, my heart combusted, and a murder of crows flew out of my ass. Michael Ignatieff is drawing lessons for the future. Michael Ignatieff has a future in public policy. Sure, it’s CANADIAN public policy, so it doesn’t really count, but still— it’s like the guy can’t be stopped. You know why? Because he’s at that level where you literally can’t make a big enough mistake to be fired, shunned, or indicted. I’d like to visit that level someday. First thing I’d do is get rip-roarin’ drunk and rob a bank using Richard Perle’s face as a weapon. (JOKE!)

installation view

detail

Hydrangea, 2007
found objects, oil on canvas, acrylic and gold leaf on wall
50 × 58 inches

Love Machine Prototype, Airborne, 2006
acrylic and paper on canvas
24 × 24 inches

Here is more work I spotted and liked last week at the SVA open studios for the Summer Art Residency program.

The artist’s website tells us a bit more about the work.

My artwork depicts organic machinery and hand-crafted nature: tree machines, emotion machines, and sea kites, or byproducts such as factory-generated insects and sunlight circuitry. I think about the meaning of hand-made, machine-made, and nature-made, and I create a world in which all three categories can define a single object. In each case, the mechanism almost works properly. I’m interested in the poignancy of this pure, unattainable goal being earnestly (and naively) sought. I paint about fragility and hope.

The most recent painting series is entitled Love Machine Prototypes. Each is a single scenario from an otherworldly marketing experiment in which the Love Machine Prototype is tested. It is mostly learning how to walk.

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Until Repetition Becomes Endurance, 2007
Modified acrylic polymer, pigment, gesso, rust and alkyd resin on canvas on mounted wood
approx. 19.5 × 19.5 × 3 inches

The Purpose And Function Of Art, 2007
Modified acrylic polymer, pigment, latex house paint, gesso, rust and alkyd resin on canvas on mounted wood panels
approx. 40 × 30 × 24 inches

Duration And Constancy, 2007
Modified acrylic polymer, pigment, gesso, rust and alkyd resin on canvas on mounted wood
approx. 24 × 48 × 3.5 inches

James and I met Gabriel some time ago, but this is the first time we’ve seen the work in person. I like the painting/sculpture combination of these black shiny works. Check out his website for more images, and James’s remarks and photos.

Note: The bluish shine you see is from the lighting, and is not in the work itself.

Here is James Kalm’s video of his visit that night:

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