I opened my eyes and there was a face, a spirit face, hovering inches above my face. It had no body, per se. Just a face and a long tail of spiritual essence that trailed off into nothingness. So, in the late 1970s I became fascinated with the work of the poet Robert Graves. This […]
A visitation on East 7th Street, by Stephen DiLauro Read More »
Cecily Brown’s work is in the order of delicious maximalism and has by no means ever been an easy read. Indeed, certain passages in her paintings are busy beyond perception, and one may even ask after a long standing view are they occluded indecipherable visual entities, or rather, rapturous musical movements akin to a Joan
Revisiting Reubens and Breughel and more, by Lee Klein Read More »
Susan Swartz’s exhibition is enjoying an extended stay at Georges Berges Gallery in SoHo. Visitors will be able to view the vibrant, intriguing works now on display until November 20. Both a nature and abstract painter, in the same compositions, Swartz’s work is provoking discussion worthy of a major talent, which she is. The curator
Seeing great art free in downtown Manhattan, by Stephen DiLauro Read More »
Something in 4/4 time. Late last year, Robert Fripp—the lynchpin between ambient music and prog rock—appeared on an episode of Daryl Hall’s home cooking and barn jam show Live From Daryl’s House. The series has been airing intermittently since 2007 and is generally a pleasure. (All of the episodes can be found on YouTube.) The
Moral panics have been around long before Socrates was forced to commit suicide for corrupting the youth of Athens. Since civilization began, there’s been an endless cycle of social/political/artistic change provoking reaction from those who are fearful of any change whatsoever, or even, in Mencken’s immortal words, “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be
Authors sometimes see renewed interest in their old work, especially if they’ve made a name for themselves. These older titles may not be as good as their most popular books (though occasionally, they’re better). Yet it’s always interesting to dip into an author’s back catalog to see how they’ve evolved. Early attempts often have a
Author Nelson Algren wrote in 1951 about Chicago that, “once you’ve come to this particular patch, you’ll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real.” That sentiment could also apply to the Brighton Beach neighborhood filmmakers Carol Stein and Susan
It was in September, sitting in the big auditorium at BAM, packed with people, watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 sci-fi masterpiece Solaris. Near the beginning of the film is a shot of rain dropping into a pond, the water rippling out into green shards of wetland flora — nothing special, necessarily, but the kind of pastoral
