Back to Blogging in 2010

Blogging is a challenge, but determined to get back into it in 2010.

What's been great since my last post five years ago...

This, which my wife saw. Holy shit. Love that he commemorates the 41 shots on such an occasion. Plus, this is even better. Obama may not have earned it, but he's got potential and loved his this speech. Worth watching many times.

And this, which I highly recommend. No shows yet for 2010, but watch this space.

And a lot of this, even if I am embarrassed to admit that.

Mostly just this and this, however. Both have enhanced my life greatly.

Dying to see this in 2010.

Art’s Own Kind

Very excited to see this exhibit tomorrow, Art's Own Kind - Afrobeat and the Art of Lemi Ghariokwu, which is on at Rich Mix in London for the next month.

There's even a blog to teach me something before I go...

Bamako...and Samuel Bosso

Strolling through the streets of Barcelona, and what do I see? A photo exhibit of African artists entitled Bamako. (There seems to be a common theme here...) Of all the amazing images, I was most surprised by the story and work of Samuel Bosso, who has lived and worked in Bangui, Central African Republic since leaving Nigeria at the age of 10 as a result of the Biafran War. He opened his own photo shop at 13 and would send his maternal grandmother photos to let her know he was OK.

"He used scraps of film to photograph himself posing disguised and playing different roles. He sent the pictures to his family in Nigeria. For thirty years, he has been making self-portraits, which express a reflection about identify, otherness, unspeakableness, and correctness."


Little did I know he was the iconic image on the 2005 Africa Remix CD, which I own. (I need to pay better attention!)

With this photo, I wanted to say to westerners, 'Look, we had our own democracy before you came, we had our own rulers, our own presidents, but it was our ruler that you came and got rid of, and in his place, you set up your hierarchies, your systems.' It's about the things they did in the past, and the things that they continue to do. On the surface they cover it up, but beneath the surface it's the same as ever.

Great 2002 article in the Guardian.

Sorry I missed the full story when he was here...and when I was in Bangui. But never to late to learn more. This book has these images and many of the other amazing work from the show in it.

Who to vote for?!?

In the Face of History

The Barbican is my new favorite London spot, again. Great photo exhibit on now through January, In the Face of History. Really loved the slide show by Annelies Strba, which was a series of photos from her family over four generations. Makes me want to do a collage with all the out-of-focus, over-exposed photos that I have tucked away in my attic at home.

The Strba show is actually online here, but not the same as the exhibit at the Barbican, which had three projectors and music. It felt like I was watching someone's dreams. Not the same on the computer.

Not art!

I went to go see the five-story slide last weekend. Clearly I was a moron for going on Sunday afternoon as I had to stand in line for 1.5 hours for the small slide. There were more kids in the Tate Modern than I had ever seen before, but there should been a mandatory trip through one of the galleries before they could go down the slide. Yeah, that’s a good idea! Force them to see art before play on the slides!

Friday's NPR piece, while trying to be objective, shows that nobody sees the artist value except the woman who is promoting it, thus validating my initial concern that it is just a playground in an art museum. Looks cool and will increase sales in the cafes and shops, but it didn't do as much for me as those white boxes by Rachel Whiteread. Now that was art.

Save yourself waiting in line and just checkout NPR's videos going down each slide. How did they sneak that camera in? Clearly a violation of Tate rules, those cheeky NPR bastards.