making senses of it all

Art... Maurice Sendak interview

2012-01-03T21:57:00.000Z

Here's a fascinating but brief interview with Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are, 1963) from the TateShots series:

"there's a mystery in there..."

(Thanks to the handful of friends that I've seen post this.)

film - Cosmos Creation in The Tree of Life

2011-06-27T15:56:00.003+01:00

This begins what I hope will be an extended series of thoughts and discussions on this indescribable work of art. Suffice it to say just briefly that this clip reflects the film's overall stellar use of music - perhaps, the single best use of music in any film ever. Enjoy, but please turn your speakers up to 11.

music... Jeff Tweedy philosophizes again

2010-05-10T03:20:00.004+01:00

I recently read a fantastic interview in The Austin Chronicle of Austin, Texas with the Wilco frontman - Jeff Tweedy, who happens to be one of my favorite pop philosophers. Here's one of the best sections:

"AC: Obviously time and civilization move forward, but do you think music has lost anything in never having those mono Motown mixes again?

JT: I don't know. I think things sound good or they don't [laughs]. I think people will always find things that sound good to them. The only valid argument I have as far as the march of time and progress and what we're losing – and I don't think you can go back. I don't think you can turn back the hands of time in terms of what it really must have felt like to listen to records at the time when records were coming out. I'm talking vinyl versus a CD format, and jukeboxes: things that are imperfect that would come packaged with all this added emotion and depth and meaning because they sounded, literally, like they were transmissions from another planet. [Today], you have stuff that's so immediate that all you're doing is wallpapering your current world as opposed to hearing someone shouting across the void that there's another world out there. I don't think you have that anymore. I don't think people have that same perception-altering experience with music and this big moment where they realize they're not alone, and that there's a whole other world trying to communicate with them. I think the pops and scratches and static and all of that stuff communicated that.

AC: I was thinking about the line in "Wilco (the song)" about us all needing a "sonic shoulder to cry on." We all acknowledge the truth of that statement in our culture today, but I think back to the 1920s when they didn't have that. Are we a shallower culture because we need that? Why do we need that?

JT: Because we don't have each other as much as we did in the 1920s. We don't. We've been isolated by television and this idea that the world's expanding and you have to take on the emotions and heartbreak and misery of the entire world whereas in the 1920s people understood their communities and that's about it. Maybe some people would get the news filtered in from the world at large, but most people were pretty much ensconced in their day-to-day with the people they knew and were face to face with. I'm not a historian, but that's got to be a part of it."

...

He continues his observations with these thoughts:

"JT: Yeah. It's [contemporary information and media technologies (e.g. iPods)] mind-boggling. Obviously I spend way too much time philosophizing and intellectualizing all this stuff, but I'm entertained by it [laughs]. But I don't know. There's a lot of questions regarding technology and twittering and the whole culture around people being able to share their opinions before they're even formed has been. I think that's fascinating. What would Freud think? People have an unprecedented ability to communicate without affect. That's crazy [laughs]. And it seems to be really hot! People are buying into it. I can't imagine what the satisfaction is, but it's a way to communicate without having any affect."

You can read the interview in its entirety here.

[Thanks Matt Elia!]

Soft Legs Part II - Episode 1. Nashville

2010-03-16T20:45:00.001Z

for all you sports fans...

2010-02-06T05:45:00.000Z

a reminder...

2009-09-09T22:06:00.001+01:00

and... he gave it away!

2009-08-01T03:36:00.004+01:00

by David Robbins

Read it online here.

Mr. Robbins (artist profile, teaching bio) has generated numerous projects (e.g. Talent, The Ice Cream Social, Lift) that blur the traditional distinctions between art and entertainment and life. Along the way, he has also authored several great books (e.g. The Velvet Grind, The Ice Cream Social, and soon to be published Concrete Comedy). This newest book, High Entertainment, will no doubt excite and amaze as well.

You can expect a review here soon with lots of glowing praise and critical assessment. Until then, read it for yourself.

THANKS, David!

And, of course, you remember:

Ai Weiwei Update

2009-07-28T13:55:00.003+01:00

Check out Ai Weiwei's solo exhibition where curators are describing him as "the most evocative creator in contemporary China":

Ai Weiwei
"According to What?"
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
25 Jul 09 - 8 Nov 09

See press release below:

"Work from 1990 to the present day by the 49-year-old, Beijing-born artist goes on display in this large-scale, solo museum show. His varied practice spans art, architecture, design and printed matter: this show brings together 26 works, of which six are new, including photographs, video, sculpture and site specific installations. Taking its title from a painting by Jasper Johns, one of Ais major artistic influences, the show is arranged thematically in three sections: Fundamental Forms and Volumesí¸‰í³” explores his interest in minimalism; Structure and Craftsmanship focuses on design and architecture; and Reforming and Inheriting Tradition assesses Ais interest in the role of the individual in society.W.O."

An elevatar journey to heaven from hell

2009-07-23T05:45:00.001+01:00

Civilization by Marco Brambilla from CRUSH on Vimeo.

Learn more here.

Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist Threatened by Government

2009-07-21T04:39:00.005+01:00

The Art Newspaper is reporting that internationally-acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is under pressure from the authorities in China for his campaign to uncover the corruption that lead to the death of schoolchildren in the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. Read about this troubling development here.

Ai Weiwei may be best now for his installation piece Bubble (pictured above), which was one of nine works that made up the Art Projects Exhibition at Art Basel Miami Beach 2008. View the installation and hear an interview with the artist here.

This development is highly significant because many voices around the art world have questioned the limits of China's patience with her artists. As pivotal figures like Cai Guo-Qiang and Zhang Huan ascend to new critical heights with their provocative work, more and more Chinese artists will risk retaliation from the government to allow art the role of morality mirror in that society. The fate of Ai Weiwei may indicate the shape of what's to come for a whole generation of Western-influenced, self-aware contemporary artists from China.

Kick the Can't

2009-07-21T03:34:00.004+01:00

From the gallery press release...

Jack the Pelican Presents

487 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Gallery hours: Thursday – Monday, 12-6pm

Kick The Can’t
July 17 – August 2, 2009
Opening reception: Friday, July 17, 6–9 pm

Uri Aran
Max Galyon
Jonathan Paul Gillette
Liz Linden
Jonathan Monk
Isabel Schmiga
Kant Smith

Julia Weist

Curated by Christine Hou and Melinda Braathen

Isabel Schmiga, Slip, 2006, fig leaves, metal, 37 × 32cm.
© Photo: Vahit Tuna

“…if any action can be made out to accord with the rule, then it can also be made out to conflict with it.” – Paolo Virno

Kick The Can’t is a group exhibition featuring the works of international and New York-based artists. The title of the exhibition alludes to the game, Kick the can, in which players are faced with one objective: to kick a guarded can without being tagged. The can sits there tauntingly, beckoning the players to strike. In order not to be caught, the action cannot be predicted; the player must devise a tactic that is both uncharted and perfectly timed. The can facilitates deviations, while each failed attempt draws attention to the uncertainty of the action. Kick the can functions as a metaphor for the joke. Jokes arrive in the threshold between the norm, what should exist, and what actually exists—this slippage is where much humor is generated. Isabel Schmiga’sSLIP is a play on the fig leaf as a common art historical reference used to conceal embarrassment or obscenities. Schmiga upends this commonly used trope by cutting the leaves into the shape of hands, suggesting something other than what was initially intended. In Kick The Can’t, each of the artists use a particular language to build from a conventional known, or as Paolo Virno calls it in Jokes and Innovative Action: For a Logic of Change, "a normal everyday frame of life.” Jonathan Paul Gillette’s upside down rainbow overturns a common symbol along with it is varied meanings, casting inquiry to its form and exhaustive history—in short, a more satisfactory sign.

Jonathan Paul Gillette, Upside Down Rainbow, 2009

Kick The Can’t approaches the joke as being codependent with the norm. The joke grafts itself onto the norm and reforms it, calling to focus humor, questions, and a new mode in which to perceive the everyday.

Yim Yames covers Sir George

2009-07-16T06:52:00.000+01:00

Wilco and Feist

2009-07-16T06:32:00.003+01:00

Review of Wilco (the album) coming soon...

Daniel Siedell on 'Great Culture?'

2009-07-13T18:14:00.005+01:00

I have been following the work of Dan Siedell since first seeing his writing appear on the church and postmodern culture blog but especially since the publication of his book - God in the Gallery. In many ways, he is leading a resurgence of Christian engagement with contemporary art. In his efforts, he is setting a remarkable tone for others with regard to reflection upon new art works and consideration of the prominent critical voices in the artworld discourses.

Follow Dan Siedell's blog

Read Dan's report on the CIVA conference.

Dan gave an extraordinary presentation to the CIVA conference on the question of sacrifice as it relates to leaving a legacy in the arts. His was an extremely sobering word about the true aspirations of Christians in the arts and the reasons why such folk cannot settle for anything less than excellence. I found his talk illuminating and at the same time humbling. I'm elated to report that he has posted the text of his talk on his blog, and I have pasted it here for your consideration. Perhaps, his word about 'great culture?' can spark some quality discussion in the comments here.

Great Culture?

I just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable experience at the CIVA conference hosted by Bethel University. Among my responsibilities was to offer some remarks on the theme of the conference, which was Culture? What follows are the remarks I read.

Most Christian commentary on culture reminds me of the scene in Moliére's Tartuffe when Monsieur Jourdain discovers, much to his delight, that he has been speaking prose all his life and didn't even know it. Yes, we North American Christians have indeed been making culture all along. But is it great culture? What follows are three very short vignettes that may serve as icons for us to contemplate as we reflect on art and culture at this conference.

It was Aleksandr Tvardovsky's habit to lounge about his apartment in his bathrobe while he read from some of the piles of manuscripts that littered his living quarters. As editor of the liberal magazine Novy Mir in the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, Tvardovsky was well known as a poet as well as a staunch defender of his literary magazine's independence. One morning he came upon a manuscript. After reading the first few lines he stopped, put it down, took a shower, shaved, put on his best clothes, and drove to his office, where he finished reading it. What was the manuscript? It was, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who wrote it in secret in the late 1950s.Tvardovsky was so moved by it that he convinced Khrushchev to publish it and it appeared in Novy Mir in serial form in 1962. Due in part to Tvardovsky's support, Solzhenitsyn a few years later will win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

It is easy to see how Solzhenitsyn is the hero of the story. He risked his life, not only by committing his words to paper but sending them out into public. But we must not forget the editor. Tvardovsky recognized the greatness of the manuscript and, at significant personal risk, fought with the State and its censors for its publication. He lived surrounded by culture, by manuscripts written by intelligent and creative writers. Yet it took him just a few minutes to realize that in Solzhenitsyn he was reading something great. We need Solzhenitsyns who will have the courage not merely to write for the dresser drawer, as the Russians called it, but for the public. But we also need Tvardovskys who can recognize great artistic and cultural achievements amidst the clutter of cultured mediocrity that saturates our lives. Are we capable even of recognizing great art, great culture?

Through a particular poem, which has been called a “sixteen line death sentence,” Osip Mandelstam caught the attention of Stalin in the early 1930s, which, on the whole, was never a good thing. As Mandelstam himself once said, the Russians alone take their poets seriously. They kill them. Mandelstam’s devoted wife memorized all of her husband’s poetry in order to preserve it from the death and destruction she feared would be immanent. She would be proved right only a few years later. Her experience and interpretation of the events surrounding her husband’s life and death are recounted in two moving memoirs, Hope against Hope and Hope Abandoned.

Do we have the courage, when we do recognize great culture, and great art, to sacrifice our own careers, our comforts, our own positions of authority and power, much less our very lives to preserve it? As we reflect on art and culture these next few days, we must remind ourselves that there is a cost to producing great art and great culture. Are we, as members of CIVA, content to make “good enough” culture, “fashionable” art in order to further our careers and comfort, content simply to be known as "culture makers," happy to know that we have been producing "culture" all along?"

The production of great culture, great art, cannot be separated from the risk of failure. Most writers, musicians, poets, and artists do not produce great art, great culture, even if they enjoy successful careers. And even those poets, artists, and musicians who have, do not produce it very often. Do we have the courage to fail, to push ourselves to the point of failure, to assume we probably will fail to produce great art, great culture and still try? Or, are we content to publish essays and give talks on beauty and transcendence, yet produce art and culture only good enough to get tenure, only good enough to get published or get work exhibited, only good enough to be invited to speak at conferences like this? In other words, produce culture only good enough to affirm the status quo. Do we have the courage to produce culture that transcends those rules, which perhaps even changes the rules of the game, or render conventions irrelevant?

Herman Melville died convinced that Moby-Dick was a failure. And most of the literary critics of his time agreed with him. As we curry the favor of contemporary critics and book reviewers, bristle at negative reviews or fawn over those who praise us, it would be a useful exercise to read those initial reviews of Moby-Dick. And what should strike us is how profoundly irrelevant and dated they now seem yet how relevant and contemporary Moby-Dick remains. Do we have the courage to try and produce great art, great culture that becomes more powerful in the future, something that might last, something that might increase in value? Do we really want to produce art and culture that twenty years from now will seem so dated, so small, so inconsequential, so "of the period?" The storage rooms of art museums are full of such works. Is that what we should teach our artists to aspire to, having their own corner of a crowded art museum storage room, happy to have been included in this or that museum's permanent collection?

It is the ambition to produce something that will transcend the moment in the face of its improbability that brings great culture, great art. Do we have the courage to die believing we have failed? Melville sacrificed his life for the service of producing a great work of art. And we are the beneficiaries of his sacrifice. Perhaps we have lost the ability to recognize great art and lost the nerve to preserve great culture because, ultimately, we have lost the nerve to risk failure. We have certainly not heeded Samuel Beckett’s advice: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail better.” Perhaps we no longer believe that producing great art, great culture is worth the sacrifice and the risk. And perhaps, even more terrifying, we no longer believe that great art, great culture actually exist. And so we become content with merely getting our bit of notoriety now while we can enjoy it. But Melville certainly was a believer in great art and he believed it was worth the risk, which might be why Christ haunts his novel at every turn, making Moby-Dick one of the most powerfully Christian novels ever written.

This should be of grave concern for those who claim to be a disciple of Christ, for whom the powers of this world and its seductions are to be resisted, not embraced. Let me suggest that neither “Christianity” nor “culture" per se make modern society uncomfortable. It is the self-sacrificial and uncompromising pursuit of greatness and quality in these practices, a life singularly devoted to them, which condemns the virtues of contemporary professional and personal life: compromise, mediocrity, and personal comfort that makes modern society uncomfortable. Be a Christian, but don't take it too seriously or your fellow church members might take you for a narrow-minded fundamentalist, legalist, or "liberal." (The stories of the saints we venerate share a common trait: they seem perpetually in conflict and tension with their contemporary Church.) Be an artist, but don't take it too seriously or your faculty colleagues will chide you for being arrogant, delusional, or not a "team player." (Do we really think that a Solzhenitsyn, a Mandelstam, a Melville could get tenure today in any English department?)

Our Protestant heritage in North America has conditioned us to fear and thus condemn monasticism and asceticism as hopelessly unrealistic in the "real world." Yet such criticism reveals a failure of nerve. We use Luther's slogan, "simultaneously sanctified and sinner," in order to absolve us of the responsibility to be better than a mediocre Christian. Has our pathological fear of being accused of being an anti-intellectual fundamentalist and thus risk being denied a seat at the table of contemporary cultural discourse blinded us to the simple fact that if we take the Gospels seriously at all, we have to admit that we cannot have both Christ and the world? Are we now too sophisticated, too enlightened, too iconoclastic to believe in the myths of great art, great culture, even the possibility of a great life devoted to Christ? We're not humble. We're cowards.

Are we willing to risk our lives, our careers, our reputations within CIVA and outside in the secular world of culture, to be a great disciple of Christ? Are we willing to risk our lives to make great art and culture, even at the expense of our standing in our Christian and secular communities? Let CIVA be the only place in culture where our self-sacrificial devotion to Christ will be the engine that drives our self-sacrificial devotion to produce great art, great culture even if it puts us at odds with the Christian and cultural establishments, with our local churches, art departments, and the like. And it surely will.

Yet we will fail. And fail again. But let us fail here, at CIVA, together. For it is our failures that will be of more use to God than our self-serving “successes” and our self-defined attempts to “redeem culture,” which often amount to little more than professional opportunism. For as the Desert Fathers knew well enough, the greatest work of culture that we can produce, the greatest masterpiece we can make, is our own self as an icon of the living God.

Let me close with a story from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him, 'Abba as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?' then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven. His fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, 'If you will, you can become all flame.'

Mirolsav Volf's essay on 'Soft Difference'

2009-07-13T16:54:00.004+01:00

As promised, here's a bit more reflection on the CIVA conference and specifically it's initial keynote.

Miroslav Volf, director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School, gave the keynote address for the conference and centered his talk on issue of human flourishing. I particularly appreciated the way in which Prof. Volf approached the general topic of cultural understanding and the specific issue of artistic endeavor from a more comprehensive and theologically-enriched perspective: the good of culture and broader human flourishing. Despite his comparisons of art and the exercise of spiritual ascent in the mystical traditions as a lens for understanding the prophetic voice of the church - an unfortuantely easy and problematic comparison, I found his remarks on the relationship between Christians and the culture(s) in which they find themselves to be exceedingly refreshing and full of encouragement for Christians who happen to care about the visual arts.

Much of Prof. Volf's thoughts on culture for his talk came from a 1994 essay he wrote for Ex Auditu entitled "Soft Difference: Theological Reflections on the Relation Between Church and Culture in 1 Peter". The essay attempts to navigate Troelsch's historic dichotomy between a 'church' and a 'sect' and reflect upon the prophetic call of 1 Peter to 'sojourners and exiles' living in a hostile and uncomfortable world. This essay stands out as perhaps the most enlightening reflection on a theological understanding of culture that I have read in a long, long time. In many ways, Prof. Volf responds to some of the time-tested questions about culture and at the same time manages to re-write the terms of the discussion. At once biblically-sound and theologically-astute, this essay is a must read.

My fellow panelists and I had the difficult task of trying to offer a response to Prof. Volf's presentation. We were encouraged to 'translate' the concerns of the presentation into specific fields of artistic inquiry. For my part, I choose to identify practical ways in which a perspective enriched by this concept of 'soft difference' might approach the contemporary artworld afresh. I was particularly interested to see what it might look like to "replace the anger of frustration with the joy of expectation" (Volf's phrase) in our engagment of contemporary art. In what follows here, you can read the expanded notes from which I offered my response.

The Cultural Dynamic of ‘Soft Difference’;

or How to “replace the anger of frustration with the joy of expectation”

I refer to the cultural dynamic of ‘soft difference’ because I think it is a particularly helpful model of thinking and living (a way of life) that encourages mature, gospel discernment in culturally precarious times. My focus has been and remains the multi-faceted, frenetic and perhaps chaotic “world” of contemporary art.

Other Examples of ‘Soft Difference’ can be found in:

- Scripture: teaches ‘soft difference’ or something analogous to it in many places.

- Tradition: demonstrates the lessons of ‘soft difference’; moments of impatience or longsuffering in the history of the church.

Sensibilities:

1. Trust a different approach to power (the power of the gospel).

a. Admitting as many of the ways in which our flourishing is, at least in this life, bound to that of our neighbours.

b. Sacrificing the ‘us versus them’ mentality of merely earthly conflict.

c. Sowing in hope; Sowing with hope.

2. Practicing a specific kind of affirmation and negation.

a. Affirming the good, true and beautiful in what we find through participation and engagement.

b. Negating the worthless through silence and a lack of support. (In other contexts, we are called to openly oppose the destructive and unwholesome, but in the arts, any publicity is good publicity.)

Practicing ‘soft difference’ in the contemporary art world can be frustrating and difficult because the worthwhile and the worthless can sometimes exist side by side or within the same work.

PROBLEM/POSSIBILITY – contemporary art represents a dialectical character of promise and dilemma.

These remain issues in contemporary art that will require a careful negotiation:

1. Historical/Theoretical Issues

a. Observation: As a result of competing historical accounts of the avant-garde (i.e. various modernisms and postmodernisms) and a highly specialized language around art (e.g. analytic philosophy of art, the influence of critical theory and post-structuralist approaches), contemporary art exists in a state of intellectual pluralism.

In Master Narratives and Their Discontents, James Elkins writes: “The revaluation or rejection of the modernist distinction between high art and low art creates a relativized field of art in which the act of privileging one work over another cannot be justified by appealing to values that are taken to be normative. The resulting relativism is compounded by the pluralism of the contemporary art world, which discourages extended comparisons between different works by making all comparisons seem somehow misguided.” 148

b. Example: Provocative art works can emerge in obscurity or sensationalism and then later become touchstones of philosophical discovery (e.g. Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes).

c. Question: Rather than the dissolution of the traditional narrative, can we as Christians see this climate of historical and theoretical pluralism as an opportunity to enrich our intellectual curiosities and evaluate our own assumptions about art?

2. Political Issues

a. Observation: While by no means immune to political posturing and manipulation, contemporary art continues to demonstrate a fortitude that will not allow it to be commandeered by politics.

b. Example: While both politically topical and controversial in it’s day, the work and legacy of Felix Gonzalez-Torres has left a legacy that extends far beyond the political energy it sparked.

Claire Bishop, prominent scholar of relational aesthetics, writes: “This mixed panorama of socially collaborative work arguably forms what avant-garde we have today: artists using social situations to produce dematerialized, antimarket, politically engaged projects that carry on the modernist call to blur art and life.” “Social Collaboration and Its Discontents” Artforum (2006)

c. Question: Similarly convinced that art is larger than politics, what prevents Christians from taking part in this development and pursuing the exploration of social energies that may affect significant change in communities?

3. Economic Issues

a. Observation: When it seems like contemporary art worships money, we can count on either market forces to collapse or prominent voices to cry fowl.

Jerry Saltz writes: “Nothing we say about the market adds up, partly because “the market” isn’t really an autonomous subject. It’s a diversionary tactic—essentially, a blend of economics, history, psychology, stagecraft, and lifestyle; an unregulated field of commerce governed by desire, luck, stupidity, cupidity, personal connections, connoisseurship, intelligence, insecurity, and whatever.”

b. Example: A work like Damien Hirst’s For the Love of God embodies the extreme poles of our cultural moment: ridiculously materialist and profoundly curious for spiritual transcendence.

c. Question: If Christians understand better than anyone the cultural good of art, can’t we expect from those communities an unparalleled level of generosity and a remarkable resilience to the love of money?

4. Globalization Issues

a. Observation: With the growing influence of Western globalization and particularly the rise of developing art markets around the world, contemporary art is experiencing an influx of artists from surprising locals (e.g. Chinese and Islamic artists).

In his recent manifesto, Nicolas Bourriaud – curator of the 2009 Tate Triennial “Altermodern,” writes: “Many signs suggest that the historical period defined by postmodernism is coming to an end: multiculturalism and the discourse of identity is being overtaken by a planetary movement of creolisation; cultural relativism and deconstruction, substituted for modernist universalism, give us no weapons against the twofold threat of uniformity and mass culture and traditionalist, far-right, withdrawal.

The times seem propitious for the recomposition of a modernity in the present, reconfigured according to the specific context within which we live – crucially in the age of globalisation – understood in its economic, political and cultural aspects: an altermodernity.”

b. Example: It seems the post-colonial guilt that makes Chris Ofili’s Virgin Mary work is giving way to more legitimate and less self-conscious endeavours like 2009’s Tate Triennial “Altermodern”.

c. Question: As those who celebrate the diverse expressions of the image of God from around the world, why would Christians not take this opportunity to assist these artists?

5. Religious Issues

a. Observation: Despite the rich traditions of art history and the various intersections of art and the spiritual, contemporary art maintains a tentative, critical and ambiguous – at best, relationship toward religion.

b. Example: Why do lapsed Catholics like Robert Gober make the best religious art today (installations at LA MoCA or Matthew Marks Gallery)?

c. Question: Rather than bemoaning the suspicions of religion among the contemporary art world, why not demonstrate a serious searching and questioning of belief in our art and in the way we discuss the work of sceptical or lapsed artists?

To the degree that we take seriously these issues and make them our own, we may begin to see the cultural dynamic of ‘soft difference’ at work in our relationship to contemporary art.

READ 'SOFT DIFFERENCE'

Rediscovering Roman Candle

2009-07-03T16:57:00.007+01:00

Roman Candle

I'm really happy to report that one of my favorite indie bands is alive and well... with several great new projects on offer.

I first heard Roman Candle on their independent release of 2002 - 'Says Pop,' which was in regular rotation on WFPK in Louisville. I have loved their raw beats and effortless flow ever since. I can heartily recommend their entire catalog. You can actually peruse the entire audio library before downloading their albums and eps at ridiculously generous prices! Listen here.

Roman Candle has recently released their second full-length release with Carnival - 'Oh Tall Tree in the Ear'. Having recently finished a tour with The Deep Vibration, they're working overtime to promote their new one. Check out some of these great appearances!

Roman Candle on Daytrotter (4 free downloads!)

Roman Candle on World Cafe (available as a podcast)

Follow them on Twitter!

Be a facebook fan!

Watch "They Say":

thoughts on the 2009 CIVA Conference "Cutlure?"

2009-07-03T16:38:00.004+01:00

culture?

Though I'm still processing much of what I experienced at the CIVA conference last month, a review of the event here is becoming increasingly overdue.

While I've known about CIVA for years, I'm not a member nor have I ever attended a CIVA event. I've been wanting to make it to the biennial meeting since I learned of a few artists/educators presenting on 'relational aesthetics' at the 2006 conference. This time around my friend Dayton invited me to participate in a panel following the keynote, an opportunity I couldn't miss. Overall, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the experience.

As a kind of outsider to this group, I had my suspicions about more than the sort of welcome I would receive or the general experience. Since my doctoral work has involved a focused analysis of the gap between the critical discourses of contemporary art and the way Protestant theologians of recent years have written on art, I have serious reservations about the very existence of exclusively Christian art guilds and societies. I think, however, from the diversity of people I met at this year's conference that I'm not alone is this reservation.

Like any organization with similar history and charter, CIVA seems to be a group in transition. Uniting the efforts of disparate generations eventually becomes the task of any organization that hopes to last more than a few decades. These, it seems, are the growing pains of forming a legacy. To the credit of CIVA's board and conference committee, they organized their conference around the issues and concerns rather than attempting to avoid them outright. Hence, the broad and ambiguous theme - "culture?"

Despite the unwragglable topic, I think the organizers put together a timely and ambitious plan of attack. The conference began with a keynote presentation on how we perceive 'culture' from internationally-respected theologian Miroslav Volf, director for the Yale Center for Faith and Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology. Following Prof. Volf's talk, some new friends and I gave short responses and provided a panel on his presentation. The next day, a very capable panel of Adrienne Chaplin, Makoto Fujimura and Daniel Siedell addressed the question of engaging culture from their three respective positions. The following day, James Romaine hosted a panel of emerging artists that included Joe Smith, Karen Brummund, Tom Gokey and Lex Thompson. This blend of theorists, critical and creative voices made for a dizzing discourse on culture that never really reached any sort of consensus or definitive positions but happily aired many of the sentiments and concerns represented by such a diversity of perspectives. The group sessions between plenary presentations provided a more intimate arena to explore what was happening on the platform. In all these ways, the conference was a grand success.

Besides meeting and interacting with scholars that I had previously read and already respected, I really enjoyed making new friends and new connections in the current landscape of people who happen to be Christians and also happen to study/make/enjoy contemporary art. As long as CIVA can inspire these sort of connections among their younger generations, I think the organization will endure the growing pains it may feel at present.

I have more posts to follow specifically on Miroslav Volf and Daniel Siedell's contributions... including my response to Prof. Volf's talk. For the time being, check out these great artists and educators that befriended and encouraged me so much.

My good friend and colleague Luke Aleckson made an appearance to discuss curatorial practice.

Dayton Castleman gave me a great welcome and provided a provocative presence for the conference.

Kevin Hamilton, researcher and instructor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, gave an amazing response to Prof. Volf's and represents one of the most important voices of this younger generation. Check out his stuff here: Complex Fields.

Daniel Siedell's blog is a must read. Subscribe now!

Photographer and conceptual artist - Karen Brummund

I was so happy to finally meet the New York crew:

Photographer and educator - John Silvis

Wayne Adams - painter, video artist, and blogger extraordinare

Jay Henderson - artist and gallery assistant

New biography of Flannery...

2009-03-02T05:58:00.004Z

A comprehensive and grand biography of Flannery O'Connor has finally appeared in the form of Brad Gooch's Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor.

Read the first chapter.

Check the NYT's review.

Listen to the NYT interview w/ Brad Gooch

Gary Louris & Mark Olson... back together again!

2009-02-07T04:23:00.003Z

While each has offered so much in their respective solo efforts, it is certainly wonderful to hear them collaborating and harmonizing once more.

Pick up Ready for the Flood.

New West Profile
Myspace

Nicolas Bourriaud's 'Altermodern' Manifesto

2009-01-08T15:19:00.001Z

The 2009 Tate Triennial promises to be one of the most significant moments in the recent history of art.

SF MOMA: The Art of Participation

2008-12-24T23:47:00.007Z

The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
8 November, 2008 - 8 February, 2009

It seems the art world has finally seen its first museum scale exhibition devoted entirely to relational art. A marginalized discourse no more?

Exhibition description:

"Looking back nearly 60 years across a wide spectrum of genres and media, this exhibition examines how artists have engaged members of the public as essential collaborators in the art-making process. Works by more than 40 artists will be on view, from early performance and conceptual pieces by such pioneers as John Cage, Lygia Clark, Dan Graham, and Hans Haacke to contemporary projects by Jochen Gerz, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Lynn Hershman Leeson, and Erwin Wurm, among others. Encompassing restagings of historic installations as well as new commissions that invite your direct participation, the exhibition will change in form and content as you and other visitors contribute — either at the museum or online."

View... and participate in online works of art in the exhibition here.

Take part in the online discussion of the exhibition on the SF MOMA blog.

Visit while you can!

Participating Artists:
Abramović/Ulay

Vito Acconci

Francis Alÿs

John Baldessari

Joseph Beuys

Blank & Jeron and Gerrit Gohlke

George Brecht

Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Mike Bennett

John Cage

c a l c and Johannes Gees

Janet Cardiff

Lygia Clark

Minerva Cuevas

Maria Eichhorn

VALIE EXPORT

Harrell Fletcher and Jon Rubin

Fluxus Collective

Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz

Jochen Gerz

Matthias Gommel

Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Dan Graham
Hans Haacke

Lynn Hershman Leeson

Allan Kaprow

Henning Lohner and Van Carlson

Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier, and Bruce Tomb

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Tom Marioni

MTAA (M.River and T.Whid Art Associates)

Antoni Muntadas

Yoko Ono

Nam June Paik

Dan Phiffer and Mushon Zer-Aviv

Raqs Media Collective

Robert Rauschenberg

Warren Sack

Mieko Shiomi

Torolab

Wolf Vostell

Andy Warhol

Stephen Willats

Erwin Wurm

Bon Iver re-invents...

2008-12-17T04:12:00.004Z

"For Emma":

Bon Iver - "For Emma" from MySpace Transmissions

DOWNLOAD THE FREE SESSION EP

(Thanks MOKB!)

Tino Sehgal in NY Magazine "Best of Art" Rankings

2008-12-10T22:55:00.004Z

For his top ten art shows of 2008, Jerry Saltz selected Tino Sehgal's February 2008 show at Marian Goodman as #1.

This means that RA* might actually get some critical attention in NYC and great European artists and RA* pioneers like Tino Sehgal can look forward to bringing the art and social practice/relational art conversation to the seat of the empire, perhaps.

* RA = 'Relational Aesthetics' also known as 'Relational Art' also known as 'Art and Social Practice'

See Saltz' Top Nine Shows (and One Event) at NY Magazine.com

NY Times Review of the show
Making Senses of It All Review of Sehgal

Harrell Fletcher arrives in Jackson, TN

2008-11-13T16:23:00.004Z

the Lyceum Committee of Union University presents:

HARRELL FLETCHER
lecture november 13th 7:30pm

Hartley Recital Hall located in Jennings Hall
Union University 1050 Union University Drive
jackson. tn 38305 information 731.668.1818

Visit his online projects:

LEARNING TO LOVE YOU MORE

SOME PEOPLE

His professional biography:

Harrell Fletcher has worked collaboratively and individually
on a variety of socially engaged, interdisciplinary projects for
over fifteen years. His work has been shown at SF MoMA,
the de Young Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum, and Yerba
Buena Center For The Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area,
The Drawing Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Sculpture
Center, The Wrong Gallery, and Smackmellon in NYC,
DiverseWorks and Aurora Picture show in Houston, TX, PICA
in Portland, OR, CoCA and The Seattle Art Museum in Seattle,
WA, Signal in Malmo, Sweden, Domain de Kerguehennec
in France, and The Royal College of Art in London.

Fletcher exhibits in San Francisco and Los Angeles with Jack
Hanley Gallery, in NYC with Christine Burgin Gallery, in London
with Laura Bartlett Gallery, and Paris with Gallery In Situ. He was
a participant in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Fletcher has work
in the collections of MoMA, The Whitney Museum, The New
Museum, SFMoMA, The Berkeley Art Museum, The De Young
Museum, and The FRAC Brittany, France. In 2002 Fletcher
started Learning To Love You More, an ongoing participatory
website with Miranda July. A book version LTLYM was published
in 2007 by Prestel. Fletcher is the 2005 recipient of the Alpert
Award in Visual Arts. His exhibition The American War originated
in 2005 at ArtPace in San Antonio, TX, and traveled to Solvent
Space in Richmond, VA, White Columns in NYC, The Center For
Advanced Visual Studies MIT in Boston, MA, PICA in Portland,
OR, and LAXART in Los Angeles among other locations. Fletcher
is a Professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State
University in Portland, Oregon.

Check out his publications:

and others.

ONLINE RESOURCES:

SFAI ARTIST LECTURE: Harrell Fletcher offers an artist lecture at the San Francisco Art Institute. (mp3 download)

MIT STUDIO SEMINAR ON PUBLIC ART: John Malpede with Harrell Fletcher, April 27, 2006 (video download)

ART TALK AM ON THE RADIO: Portland State Radio interview with Harrell Fletcher and Jen Delos Reyes (mp3 download)

OPEN ENGAGEMENT/Art after Aesthetic Distance: Conference on art and social practice with Harrell Fletcher, keynote speaker and guest artist.

Urban Outfitters Review

Try an assignment from LEARNING TO LOVE YOU MORE:
#10 Make a Flier of Your Day

Re-enchantment has arrived!!! ...to booksellers

2008-11-13T15:45:00.003Z

The Re-enchantment volume has finally arrived! Congratulations to its editors James Elkins and David Morgan. It really came together nicely and is the best testament to the diversity and multiplicity of viewpoints on the subject. It will provide unparalleled insights in the field for quite a long time.

Visit Routledge's profile page on the book to learn more.

In addition to the roundtable transcripts and some great introductory readings by Elkins, Morgan, Boris Groys and Thierry de Duve, the volume contains a host of fascinating assessments of the roundtable discussion by a diverse number of prominent international voices on the topic. These include:

David Brown
Chris Parr
Norman Girardot
S. Brent Plate
Sally Promey
William Dyrness
Daniel Siedell
Robin Jensen
Diana Apostolos-Cappadona
Ted Prescott
Graham Howes
Kristin Schwain

with afterwords by
Jojada Verrips
and
Erika Doss

Check it out! Purchase here or here.

in exchange for a pledge to vote...

2008-09-25T02:46:00.003+01:00

In exchange for your pledge to vote in this year's presidential election, Wilco will give you a free download of their cover, accompanied by Fleet Foxes, of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released." Visit their page to make your pledge.

for a limited time only...

2008-09-16T20:23:00.004+01:00

Get a free download of Will Gray's EP!

Auction Day One a big success...

2008-09-16T20:07:00.003+01:00

In the first day of a two day auction at Sotheby's in London, Damien Hirst has already outdone himself. Not only does his little experiment - bypassing the gallery system and going straight to auction with new work - seem a huge success, but he has managed to exceed the already high estimate of $112 million by securing $127.2 million. All this success is achieved in spite of world stock markets reeling from a really bad day yesterday. The auction closes this afternoon, but where will it all stop???

Read the Times coverage of the auction.
See Time Magazine's Photo Essay

my favorite song of all time...

2008-09-05T20:28:00.000+01:00

Concert Review: Bon Iver

2008-08-17T21:19:00.004+01:00

Bon Iver
Exit/In
8.11.08

Everything about Bon Iver's recent Nashville show - from the showcasing of the new song "Blood Bank" to the crowd participation on "The Wolves (Act I and II)" to the encore acoustic version of Sarah Siskind's "Lovin's For Fools" with Sarah Siskind helping out - felt fresh and special, unique and momentary.

In constrast to his often dark and broody music, Justin Vernon seemed the image of youthful exhuberance and proved jovial and amusing yet candid and sincere. I felt like my friends and I had caught the band in the midst of what must be a magical time in their lives. Fresh off opening dates for Wilco and in the middle of a headlining club tour that will soon venture overseas, these guys are having the time of their young lives, and what's really amazing is the fact that their joy has overflowed into the evening's energy and in that brief moment their joy was ours.

Who would have thought that such a remarkable and unique, but fragile and momentary album could be coupled with a similarly original performance?

From the overflow:

Backstage Sessions in Nasville (March '08) - Flume mp3
Backstage Sessions in Nasville (March '08) - Creature Fear mp3
(Thanks to the Backstage Sessions at IT'S HARD TO FIND A FRIEND)

The Siskind Cover - "Lovin's For Fools":

New Wilco Alert!

2008-08-17T20:49:00.004+01:00

I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS - Heather Browne's fantastic and prolific music blog, has just posted 2 live tracks of NEW Wilco tunes!

The tracks - One Wing and Sunny Feeling - exhibit the now characteristic and magnificent blend of maturely alt-pop sensibilities in Tweedy's songwriting and the sparkling highlights of Nels Cline's tone-tasticly jazzy guitar fills and Mikael Jorgensen's tastefully meandering piano. In other words, artistic arrival! They're having so much fun now, and the music is really thriving and developing to the benifit of all their fans. Hopefully, a follow-up to 2007's Sky Blue Sky isn't too far away.

Visit WilcoWorld.net
Wilco's Myspace
Stream a recent show or three from the Roadcase.

(Thanks Heather!)

St. Louis University's MoCRA celebrates 15th Anniversary!

2008-08-17T20:39:00.004+01:00

The Museum of Contemporary Religious Art
St. Louis

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the MoCRA has scheduled two upcoming exhibitions:

Fall 2008
Pursuit of the Spirit
Sept. 21 - Dec. 14, 2008
"Pursuit of the Spirit will set works by over 40 artists in dialogue with each other, exploring broad themes as the Sublime, Mother and Child, Sacred Spaces, and Image and Text."

and

Spring 2009
Good Friday
"Good Friday will present the suffering and death of Jesus as the springboard used by 24 artists to present their own personal reflections on the meaning of suffering, death, compassion, and unconditional love."

the MoCRA
Subscribe to the newsletter

Concert Review: Conor Oberst

2008-08-11T04:45:00.005+01:00

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
8.8.2008

I must preface this review by saying that I was not a particularly ardent Bright Eyes, or Conor Oberst fan. After this show, however, I most certainly am.

I'd caught bits and pieces here and there and really enjoyed his collaborations with M Ward and Jim James (I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS' Monsters of Folk) and 2007's Cassadaga, but I really couldn't call myself a fan... well, not until this weekend's show in Nashville.

Admitting my woeful lack of experience with all things Conor Oberst, I found the fresh batch of songs from his new self-titled album so much more carefully crafted and accessible than anything I had heard from him before. While oft or over-stated, his status as this generation's "Bob Dylan" seems more and more plausible in light of this new material. Though a less than appropriate tag, his credentials as a poet in the order of St. Bob are quite cemented now.

Visit ConorOberst.com.
...and Oberst's myspace.
Stream the album here.
Buy the album at Merge.

Another promising discovery proved to be the songwriting and accompaniment skills of Nik Freitas - the lead guitar player for the Mystic Valley Band, Oberst's support. Apparently, Freitas is a good friend of Oberst's and also some of the talent featured on Team Love Records (also featuring Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, the Felice Brothers, etc.). I enjoyed his live contributions and plan to get his solo work... Sun Down (mp3s available for download).

Visit NikFreitas.com
...and Freitas' myspace

Damien Hirst update...

2008-07-30T19:10:00.005+01:00

BEAUTIFUL INSIDE MY HEAD FOREVER
Sept. 2008
Sotheby's London

Just when you thought that Hirst couldn't up the stakes on a human skull covered in approximately 8,000 flawless diamonds, here he comes again... with The Golden Calf, the truly monumental centrepiece of a new collection of formaldehyde works. Hirst's magnificent show from last summer - "Beyond Belief" created all kinds of new expectations and opportunities for contemporary art, but his recent decision to take a collection of work straight to the auction house (completely by-passing the established gallery system that has handled the sale of artworks for more than century now) has many pundits up in arms. The jury is still out on whether or not Hirst can pull this off. He stands to make, by most accounts, upwards of £65 million. We'll find out if his evil plan actually works in just a couple monthes. Sotheby's is holding the auction and providing unprecedented arrangements for the collection. (Details here.)

Official Press Release

In the meantime, we can listen to the critics make their predictions and oogle over some of the most bizarre specimens of his practice to date.

View some fantastic images from the collection.
Read Maev Kennedy's "Golden calf, bull's heart, a new shark: Hirst's latest works may fetch £65m... Artist bypasses galleries and dealers to go straight to Sotheby's auction".
from THE GUARDIAN

Read Roger Bevan's "Damien Hirst is Rewriting the Rules of the Market, Part I".
Read Sarah Thornton's "Damien Hirst is Rewriting the Rules of the Market, Part II".
both from THE ART NEWSPAPER

Damien Hirst's OTHER CRITERIA

Bon Iver on Daytrotter, while supplies last...

2008-07-23T19:16:00.004+01:00

Bon Iver - Daytrotter Sessions

Hurry over to Daytrotter - one of my favorite online spaces for great indie music - to download (while supplies last) or stream a great four song acoustic set from Bon Iver!

Bon Iver has to be my favorite discovery of the last several years. No kidding; Justin Vernon and company create an amazing and eclectic blend of somber acoustics and stirring neo-soul evocations.

As explained there, the set for Daytrotter demonstrates how much the somber tunes on For Emma, Forever Ago have really evolved and taken shape over their recent time on the road as a touring band. Don't miss it.

Check out 'Skinny Love' from Jools Holland:

Visit the myspace.
Buy it!

Lovely Links!

2008-07-16T15:19:00.009+01:00

Would you like to know where you can get great indie music for free and help artists at the same time?

Go immediately to NoiseTrade and make your selections!

They have a host of great artists on offer including...

Joe Garner's Mourning Birds EP

Joe Garner - They're All Gone

Popular Genius - How to be popular (w/ bonus live tracks)

Popular Genius - Apologize (live acoustic)

Popular Genius - Gravity

and

Umbrella Tree - The Church and the Hospital

Check it out immediately! The Revolution Lives!

film... and fiction: No Country for Old Men

2008-01-25T13:45:00.000Z

No Home Here:
An Unashamedly Obsessed Review of No Country for Old Men

Despite all the recent accolades and the prophesied sweep in the awards, there are not enough great things to say about Ethan and Joel Coen brother's film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel - No Country for Old Men. Ever the avid fan of anything resembling existential cinema, I fell in love with this film the first time I saw it, which was alone in a multiplex theater on New Year's Day at 10pm. It was nearly a moment of personal, existential crisis. And finding that I couldn't escape the narrative world of the film in my thoughts, I took up the book and read.

The filmmakers are quick to point out that the critics recognize this film as one of the truest, most appropriate and altogether closest adaptations of a book for the big screen. They are not wrong to boast about this. The stark and austere visual palette of the film matches so carefully the terse and matter-of-fact nature of McCarthy's fiction. This is a story that could only go down in south Texas; dusty, barren chaparral and all.

Without spoiling any of the bitter tragedy and languid terror of the plot, I have to say that a narrative like this might be the best Christians can hope for in a film. Reminding us that life is often darkly senseless and full of remorse, we might recall the reason we first grasped at hope and found ourselves just looking for a way out. In the face of a nameless evil, what is the sum of all your life and longing? Maybe the great benefit of this story is its aid in helping us remember the questions, once again or perhaps for the first time.

My simple word to you is: See this film. Read this novel. If you need any convincing, consider the scene below. How many deals with the devil do we make each day?

Read a NY Times interview with Cormac McCarthy. (Online subscription required, but it's free.)

music... Joe Garner's 'Mourning Birds' EP

2008-01-11T20:00:00.000Z

Introducing Tennessee artist - Joe Garner and his first EP - Mourning Birds...

Joe Garner - Bury the Hatchet (mp3)

Joe Garner - June and God (mp3)

Recorded at a mountain studio in east Tennessee and released independently, Garner's is a sound definitely grown from the ground. Earthy, honest and plaintive; Mourning Birds beckons back to the folk ballads of a simpler time and at the same time casts a shadow of unease on its own mirth. Compiled with a handful of friends giving sparse and simple accompaniment to his guitar, Garner's first effort includes six tracks that display the enigmatic range of moods that make this burgeoning songwriter and storyteller a haunted soul not soon forgotten.

Songs like 'Bury the Hatchet' and 'June and God' usher the listener into the quiet moments of human longing and the subterranean rage that either break our spirits or make us whole. These stories of squandered love and utter desperation place us as near voyeurs in the midst of lives unraveling and eroding before us. Idiosyncratic yet empathic, the images conjured up by Garner's characters evoke a time and place hauntingly too near. Other songs, like 'They're All Gone', move hesitantly out from the shadows. In his way, Garner captures a glimpse of hope's somber release, the silent joy of discovering that some of life's darker doubts and questions cannot be answered, not yet. For now, let's sit and listen.

Son to a life-long and road-weary Country 'n' Western picker, Garner comes by his music honest. While not too concerned with slaying the forefathers of his genre or recreating the wagon wheel, Joe Garner has been able to move in and inhabit the best sensibilities of a songwriting once known as Country Music, but upon its exit from the country now labeled 'Roots'. May his roots grow deeper; we'll sit and listen.

Visit Joe Garner Music.

introducing... The Society for Critical Imagination

2007-11-22T20:22:00.000Z

Whatever committed readers might frequent this blog deserve an explanation as to why there has been such a recent drought of posts. Well, besides transferring universities, having a child and moving back to the States to take a teaching post, I have applied myself to the development of something altogether new and different. A bit of history is required.

Upon learning that we would return to Jackson, TN and our alma mater Union University I was happy to discover some friends and like-minded partners in the project of cultural engagement modeled in the post posted here. We set to planning a regular meeting time for discussing theology and the arts and actually found that more interest than we expected existed among students. So, we opened up the conversation to anyone and everyone that wanted to take part. This project has been labeled The Society for Critical Imagination.

We are happy to report that this semester has so far seen surprising numbers in attendance at weekly meetings, excellent presentations from faculty, staff and students, and the establishment of a podcast for the society. Maybe more than any of these milestones, we are glad for the spirit of the conversation adhering quite closely to the expectations outlined in our creed. It seems that we have unearthed more questions than answers, and to our minds that constitutes a huge success.

Please feel free to make use of any and all of the resources available through our blog and know that you are always welcome in our meetings. We look forward to finding out where things will go with this initiative, and of course, we would appreciate any support we could receive. I heartily welcome your feedback and input. Thanks for your patience.

music... Introducing Will Gray

2007-07-17T08:54:00.000+01:00

www.willgraymusic.com

www.myspace.com/willgraymusic

Announcing the new EP from Will Gray, along with the launch of a new website and myspace...

At a time when the music industry is facing a crippling moment of self-evaluation, artists have to fight tooth and nail to win an audience. Getting signed by a record label is no longer the given that it once was; sadly, many talented artists are left out in the cold these days. Fortunately, the grassroots ethos of the indie music faithful has created and sustained the voluntary connections that keep the music flowing. Through electronic word of mouth and communal hot spots in the blogosphere, we can still find out about the freshest music being made. In an online culture of perpetual recommendations, I can confidently say that Will Gray has something truly unique to offer.

His music has a gravitas that can't be found anywhere else in hip hop and a certain carefree exuberance that folk music lost a long time ago when it started singing to itself. Will captures all the trauma and drama of rap's prophetic voice with none of the self-defeating irony of those that claim "We Don't Care." While the folksters keep whining about administrations and social ills and religious fundies, Will's moan sounds a good bit more like the scourged man of God in Job when he cries out in prayer "How long?!?" Let the beats draw you in and the soul will bring you back.

Find great pre-order prices on the new EP and lots of other merch at Will's new site.

Also, watch out for upcoming posts from this artist here.

art... Damien Hirst's 'Beyond Belief'

2007-07-06T17:28:00.000+01:00

Damien Hirst
'Beyond Belief'
White Cube, London
3 June - 7 July, 2007

What more can be said about this recent exhibition? Especially the sparkling highlight of the show For the Love of God, Hirst's diamond encrusted, platinum encased human skull?

8,601 VVS to flawless diamonds...

1,106.18 carats in total weight...

In the UK, 2nd in value to the Crown Jewels...

I have to say that the piece is truly stunning and well worth all the hype and media attention it has garnered. Hirst's skull is probably the most remarkable accomplishment of contemporary art. Not to detract from Smithson's Spiral Jetty or Barney's Cremaster Cycle, but this most recent product by Hirst must be the most significant piece of contemporary art to date. Let me qualify that grand compliment.

I am a committed fan of Hirst's work and have an abiding appreciation for the lineage of his practice, especially the earliest works, but I, like others no doubt, have observed a serious decline in the quality of his recent productions. It is almost too obvious to say that Hirst's art has become an international brand, more high class commodity than avant-garde creation, but maybe it should be stated clearly once more. The once refreshingly wry and unrefined sentiments about life’s temporality and death’s perpetual villainy in the form of over-the-top sculptures involving the animal carcasses and life cycles and installations of medical magic have come to possess maybe the greatest monetary value of any art works around but little meaning in the face of their ongoing reproduction. We are beginning to see that we must now take Hirst at his word when he seems to feign that it’s all about the cash.

Despite the glitzy haze surrounding this recent work and the fact that the rest of the exhibition resembles a formulaic museum retrospective and not a very interesting slice of new work, the sheer potency of Hirst’s skull cannot be dismissed. I think the skull will be remembered as his crowning achievement (pun intended!) for the simple fact that it has accomplished his highest aims for art and at the same time embodied consistently the spirit of all his overall body of work.

One of the more attractive features of Hirst’s legacy has been the irrepressible attitude of the common man at work within his practice. Due in no small part to his rather rough, working-class upbringing in Leeds, Hirst brings a simple, often crass perspective to bear on the makings and meanings of contemporary art. None too subtle, he bashes the often vain sophistication of the art world with a deep interest in art that surprises its audience and confronts real life.

With a persistent concentration on the imagery of death, Hirst has pushed aesthetic debates about what can be considered ‘art’ and at the same time leveled biting cultural critiques at the broader society and its specific attempts to escape the realities of death. In this way, he has made name for himself that rivals many international trademarks. Basically, I think that Hirst’s work constitutes a modern appropriation of an interesting and explicitly Christian format from art history—the memento mori. This Latin phrase means ‘Remember that you will die’ and represents a body of art that involves specific symbols of life’s fleeting condition (e.g. flowers, hourglasses, and skulls!) in a tradition of handsomely crafted genre paintings. With this framework, I see three important or overriding categories of death imagery: natural death (i.e. the animals and life cycles), the clinical aesthetic (e.g. the Pharmacy installation), and the death of painting (i.e. the butterfly mosaics, spot and spin paintings).

In this way, Hirst employs the aesthetic of minimalism and a tongue-in-cheek appreciation for the commodity fetish of late capitalism (a posture he learned from Jeff Koons’ philosophy of art as ‘the best that money can buy’) in the service of grand gestures about the most common and elemental features of the human experience: birth, sex and death to name the central core. Thus, For the Love of God must be the natural apex of this sort of practice, for, as the artist himself explains, what could be a grander gesture in the resistance of death than a diamond-encrusted skull smiling back at you?

But of course, the importance of this work does not rest merely on the qualities of the aesthetic object. The fact of the matter, however, is that the atmosphere of pomp and circumstance surrounding the work cannot be explained through the customary language of experiencing art that informs the common fare of art criticism today. As one who has seen the piece, I can say that the experience of viewing the work rehearses the strictures of a medieval pilgrimage to see a holy relic and resembles very little the casual strolls through contemporary museums we usually take. Indeed, the act of assembling with other worshippers outside the gallery and then journeying through the gallery to the dark room where one finally gains that private audience with the skull must awaken latent spiritual sensations in anyone who has ever visited the ruins of an ancient temple or a historic cathedral. For many, the experience of Hirst’s skull may be the most religious event of their lives or the closest to the traditional structure of an officially religious sort of worship.

As Jerry Saltz has pointed out so well, Hirst’s attention to death imagery is devoted to a bold affirmation of life. At the risk of neglecting the complexities of nuance and ambivalence so highly regard by the art world, Hirst intends his work to send audiences home thinking about their own lives and the certain death that awaits us all. So, I happily join the ranks of the worshippers in enjoying the sly irony of the skull, and after all the fun of seeing it, I marvel even more at the gesture represented by the work. Anytime I can get my education about a piece of art from the confident and engaged musings of a security guard, I’m happy. In providing the impetus for so much essential outsider interaction with a piece of contemporary art (i.e. security details around the work, unprecedented media coverage and basically making a gallery show a broadly relevant and entertaining cultural event), Hirst has popped the bubble of art world exclusivity for a moment; hopefully just long enough for an inquisitive elect out of all the uninitiated masses to find something to latch onto inside the discourse and maybe an opportunity consider some important questions in a fresh way. That sort of prospect I can’t resist.

View a brief overview of the show and an interview with the artist here.

Also, check out another interesting interview from a few years ago at a major retrospective in Naples, Italy. See below.

art... Antony Gormley's 'Blind Light'

2007-07-03T22:02:00.000+01:00

Since this was the most I got to see of the Hayward's exhibition of Antony Gormley, I thought I would offer a photo essay instead of the normal fare. Due to enormous queues over Saturday and Sunday, we were unable to actually make it in to see the show. I guess that fact proves the now worn-out accolade that the press continues to circulate about Gormley being the sculpture laureate of the nation. I hope to catch it next time.

film... "Who the #$% is Jackson Pollock?"

2007-06-24T16:39:00.001+01:00

Review of Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?

Maybe you saw a newspaper line from several months ago about a woman who purchased a drip painting at a thrift store and subsequently set out on a quest to prove its authenticity as an original Jackson Pollock. Well, the press about this story, which has been ongoing from many years now, was promoting the release of a film about Teri Horton and her potentially priceless drip painting. This documentary was recently recommended to me because it contained a great demonstration of art world hubris. Specifically, it was supposed to show the insular and deluded character of the art world in relation to the plight of the everyday person/art world outsider. Indeed, the protagonist of this bizarre story does widely represent the interests and values of the average individual in that she has absolutely no knowledge of modern art and even less respect for the complexity of the contemporary art world. Basically, she embodies the sort of commonplace derision that most people direct at art and the unpractical and useless 'nonsense' that operates in that world. Her vitriol is actually a huge step up from the even more popular attitude of complete dismissal, but it is the ire that she conjures up when facing those art world representatives that really makes this film even watchable.

While I don't wish to debate the entertainment value of Horton's rants about the art world (she is quite an endearing character with the ever-popular, odd combination of spunk and nastiness that we can only appreciate in the elderly), I would like to redress the balance a bit on this story. The quirky nature of the story actually cements interest in this documentary despite the really poor efforts of the filmmakers. At many points I felt I was watching a heart-warming interest story on the local news instead of an unbiased and objective effort at documentary film-making. While the lionization of Teri Horton and every other art world derider may draw mass appreciation for this film and its sappy fable, no one actually gets a fair sense of what's at stake in this story.

Despite the fact that it seems the filmmakers intentionally selected the most reproachable comments from the art world representatives sampled here, the film never manages to bring the same level of analysis to bear on the simple, yet crude protagonist. For all her hopes that the amazing find might yield even more amazing dividends, we can find no hint of interest or curiosity for the artist that may in fact generate her millions. Teri Horton, more than possessing a work of art, is indeed quite a piece of art herself, and not in the classically beautiful sense but more in the ironic Haim Steinbach or Jeff Koons sense. Consider, for instance, Horton's endgame should the whole project not work out for her: “Before I let them take advantage of me,” she said, smiling broadly, “I’ll burn that son of a bitch.” (from the NY Times 11.09.06 review). In this way, she offers an excellent starting point for viewing art as pure commodity, and to their shame, those who produced this documentary failed to ever draw attention to this glaring character flaw. If they had, their audience might begin to see that the same hollow pursuit of money and fame that Horton so easily vilifies the art world for is quite at work in herself. Unfortunately, the remarkable and more interesting story of how Horton attempts, however naively, to use this quest to right the wrongs in her own life remains undeveloped and unsatisfactorily explored. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the real victim of project is Jackson Pollock, a character that surely could have appreciated a story about second chances.

The work in question:

music... Ben Gibbard

2007-05-20T19:46:00.000+01:00

Ben Gibbard, one of my favorite contemporary songwriters, is in the midst of what is surely an amazing solo acoustic tour. If you value the subtle poignancy of his lyrics and vocals with his band Death Cab for Cutie, then this is the type of show you will love. I have wanted to discuss their work for a long time but never felt like I had much to offer. Not that I have that now, but I wanted to alert others to a great show that NPR has made available. The show is available to stream and while supplies last, available for download through the All Songs Considered Podcast. David Bazan is supporting Gibbard on this tour, and his set is also available. In other words, it is a tour that should not be missed.

Gibbard offers a great set of music mixing DCFC standards, some key Postal Service numbers and some surprising covers (Most notable was the stunning take on another Seattle band's timeless acoustic gem). He moved back in forth between acoustic guitar and piano and never lost the thrilling dynamic of such an intimate performance. In the process, he fended off lots of belligerent crowd chatter and annoyingly ignorant suggestions. There was, however, one really bizarre moment that stands out. Though Gibbard traversed the hysteria quite deftly, it deserves, I think, some careful reflection.

Even though it has been awhile since I have seen a show in the States, the last I saw before the transatlantic move were on the whole really poor examples of crowd cooperation. I have to say that American audiences could learn a great deal from Brits about respecting the artist at a live show. This outburst, however, transcends the typical fare of crowd idiocy.

Not to spoil the surprise, Gibbard closes his encore with an earnest goodbye, his song "I will follow you into the dark." For those of you that might be unfamiliar, I have included the lyrics below. It is a somber, acoustic tune that basically confronts the whole issue of dying alone. Not exactly a rousing bar tune to be sure.

"I Will Follow You Into the Dark"

Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
To illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
To illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
To illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

Then I'll follow you into the dark

Well, as Gibbard concludes the final verse in the moment just before returning to the promissory chorus once again, he sings "the blackest of rooms" and some really enthused fan screams out: "F*ck Yeah!!!" Gibbard takes the moment in stride, as if something that ridiculous happens often. He pauses on the chord and simply inquires: "F*ck yeah?... That's like the last thing I would yell at that part." Having posed his question and received overwhelming praise from the crowd for the profundity of his query, Gibbard then commences to finish the song unhindered. "What a strange night?" thought the power pop, indie frontman.

I just wonder what it means when even moments like that can be squandered by some crude concert-goer. I mean, who these days is coming to introspective indie rock shows, and acoustic ones at that?!? This is the leader of Death Cab for Cutie were talking about and not the Rage Against the Machine reunion tour. Here, we have maybe the only example of a contemporary pop song that tries to deal carefully with universal anxiety and doubt we all feel about the inevitable moment of death and what sort of solace we can take in facing it, and this guy wants to yell "F*ck yeah!"

I appreciate the honesty of the song and more than that I am really thankful that someone out there making music still has the curiosity to consider such moments. But for anyone that knows Gibbard's songwriting skills, this is yet another powerful moment stolen from everyday life, redeemed with emotional clarity through a pop song and given to us to consider. Would that more elements of pop culture could offer a similar gift.

I have one request for everyone attending a show on this tour. If you're not going to pause to consider the significance behind what Gibbard is singing, please at least pause to ask yourself: "Is this the right moment to scream 'F*ck yeah'?" Thanks.

art... "Re-Enchantment"

2007-04-13T07:47:00.000+01:00

The Art Seminar Roundtable
organized and chaired by
James Elkins
E. C. Chadbourne Professor of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Event Abstract:

One of the most difficult questions in contemporary art and art history is the place of religion and spirituality. Gestures of transcendence are ubiquitous, but they are seldom admitted into serious discourse on art unless the work is critical or religion. Artists who embrace various forms of private spirituality can find places in the art world (eg, Bill Viola, Wolfgang Laib), but those who represent the principal organized religions normally can’t. The gap between artists and critics who talk openly about spirituality or religion, and academic writers who eschew it, is enormous. Meanwhile art history is theorizing transcendence in very interesting ways.

Schedule:
Monday, April 16, 2007; SAIC Auditorium, Columbus Building, 6pm
Why Religion and Contemporary Art are Incompatible, James Elkins, SAIC

Tuesday, April 17, 2007; SAIC Ballroom, Maclean Center, 112 S. Michigan Ave, 10am-4pm
Roundtable: 'Re-Enchantment'

Panelists and Readings:

Gregg Bordowitz, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
"Abstract for You"
"My Postmodernism"

Thierry de Duve, University of Lille-III
"Come on, humans, one more effort if you want to be post-Christians!"
"Mary Warhol/Joseph Duchamp"

Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago
"The Impermanence of Art"

James Elkins, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
"Ch. 4, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art"
"Ch. 5, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art"
"Ch. 7, On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art"

Boris Groys, Academy for Design Karlsruhe, Germany
"Religion as Medium"

Kajri Jain, University of Western Ontario
"from the Conclusion to Gods in the Bazaar"

Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Michigan
"intro from The Invention of World Religions"
"Troubles with Materiality: The Ghost of Fetishism in the Nineteenth Century"
"Return of the What?--or Why Should We Care About the (Mere) Concept of Religion"

David Morgan, Valparaiso University
"Interview with Meg Cranston, co-curator of '100 Artists See God'"
"'100 Artists See God' Exhibition Review"

Taylor Worley, PhD candidate Durham University
"Reparations and Conversations: A Future for Contemporary Art in Theological Reflection"

Brief Review:

Due to the great diversity of research represented by the scholars on the panel, much of the conversation on "Re-Enchantment" centered on essential questions of defining the terms of the debate: contested items such as 'religion', 'belief' and 'faith'. Driven by the antipathies between Western and non-Western perspectives, these issues were not quickly resolved but left hanging around in the interest of discussing art practice more specifically. Appropriating metaphors like 'camouflage' or 'smuggling' for understanding how religion creeps into art practice, the panel debated hotly the intentions or motivations behind artists that allow their work to have a religious or spiritual quality. Apparently, the great suspicion of religion demonstrated by Tim Clark (with his oft-quoted statement: "I will have nothing to do with that Leftist, self-satisfied clap trap about art 'as substitute religion.'") runs deeper than most of us thought. Why is it so difficult to state clearly modernism's opposition to traditional religion and postmodernism's suspicion of 'true believers'? Maybe the contentiousness of the panel over the terms employed represents the true starting point for understanding that the age we live in prizes no one perspective over the other and that the result for art criticism or art history is that there is no authoritative power to keep religion either within or beyond the pale. Most helpful was David Morgan's discussion of different 'ways of seeing,' and hopefully his insights will be further developed and allowed to offer guidance in this subject. With the text of the transcript now in the hands of the participants, we can all look forward to a more focused conversation finding its way into the pages of the book. Details on the publication will be forthcoming.

art... new video posted

2007-03-23T08:00:00.000Z

I came across some interview footage with Damien Hirst for the Gagosian show last summer with Francis Bacon. I have attached it to my review of the show here.

art... Tino Sehgal

2007-03-11T17:38:00.000Z

Tino Seghal
This Success or This Failure
Institute of Contemporary Art, London
29 January - 4 March 2007

Pushing open the large, heavy door to the main gallery I see ten or so children of various ages and one adult dispersed throughout the room. Amid the stark white walls of the gallery and the bare concrete floor, the pulsing shapes of children at play begin to animate the space and dispel its visual emptiness. Besides the occasional effervescent peep or giggle, the hushed mood of the room seems at once disturbed by my obvious intrusion, but I soon learn that the game at hand is Sleeping Lions, a game that depends upon a certain attempt at quiet. Out of instinct I approach the adult, but she seems disinterested by my presence. The children, however, are only too inviting. In the short time since my intrusion, the children seem to have identified a winner, and its time for a new game to begin.

Alright, time for an abrupt change. The new game will be Sleeping Bears instead of Sleeping Lions; both involve the same rules but yield a contrast undecipherable to anyone unable to distinguish the roar of a lion from the roar of a bear. My focused study of the group has generated curiosity among my subjects. They perceive my smile as a subtle request to join them. I am only too willing.

Like the other participants, I lie down on the bare concrete and silently await the hunters. With eyes closed, I listen for the other bears to be awoken by the stealthy hunters as they stalk and startle their prey. Peeking only occasionally to assure myself that I am not the only participant left alone on the floor, I wait to receive the due attention of the hunters. Before long, footsteps creep toward me and the ferocious growl of a child comes down upon me. Elated, I open my eyes to stare face to face with a giddy, smiling seven year old boy. He has played well his part in this game, and I am only too happy to be his prey.

For only a moment, my elation is pure and tangible. Not only am I accepted and included, but I have played an integral role in the joy of others. My participation has added something wholly unique to the moment. The game is a better one for my involvement in it, of this I am at once quite certain.

As I rise from my sleeping posture, I notice the walls of the gallery lined with several more adults, just watching and observing the random play before them. They have crept in unnoticed and remained beyond the boundaries of our game. They sit with blank expressions on their faces and exude a sense of disappointment.

This success or this failure.

Soon a fresh group of children arrives in the room, and those I have played with are gone for a break. I am not surprised to learn that the artwork consists only within this gallery. Like the experience of most of Sehgal's work, I exit with more questions than answers.

Let me say very clearly to the skeptical: this piece is not an experiment. But rather, it was a moment, a completely unrepeatable opportunity. Sehgal has offered each visitor either the chance to redeem a small interval of time or the invitation to lose another moment to distant observation.

Fortunately for us, the general ambiguity of his work and the lack of dictated instruction allows each visitor to internalize the opportunity for maximum effect. Without a prescription for success in this interpersonal puzzle, each person must confront their own fears and anxieties in order to learn what they wish to gain or lose from each experience. Sehgal has placed this type of moment under the microscope of careful reflection by constructing these authentic encounters in the gallery. They feel so real because they are, and they are real so that they might have an actual effect on one's daily life.

How many opportunities like these fill our days without us ever engaging them with such introspection? I would guess quite a few of these moments pass us by each day. Most of us have never taken a moment to consider just how isolated we are as individuals in today's complex web of social specialization. Where is the meaningful contact that we all long for? Could it be just beyond the bubble of one's own perceptions of isolation, alienation and loneliness?

To redeem these moments for all the good that God has hidden within them, one must venture a great risk. I must wager my own vulnerability against the potential effects (both positive and negative) of interaction. What is the good news of Jesus' restoration and reconciliation of sinners to God and to one anther if not a promise of hope for such free and honest exchanges? It has taken the giddy smiles of young faces in Sehgal's relational space to help me recall this great truth; no doubt a providential gift to a father awaiting the arrival of his first child.

In this way, perhaps, Sehgal's This Success or This Failure is a poignant emblem of the choice embedded within the contemporary challenges of engaging art. We all want a meaningful experience of art, but how many of us are willing to extend the personal wager it might require to ensure such an experience? It seems that the climate of contemporary art refuses to accommodate the social specializations that sustain our comfortable isolations, and therefore we may need to adjust our own modes of perception and engagement to find a way through.

This problem or this possibility...

art... Vik Muniz

2007-02-02T18:59:00.000Z

Vik Muniz
Artist's Talk for "Pictures of People"
BALTIC

31 Jan. - 15 April

Self Portrait (Fall No 2), 2005

Marlene Dietrich (Diamond Divas), 2004

Creature from the Black Lagoon (Caviar Monsters), 2004

Bloody Marilyn, 2001

Double Elvis (Pictures of Chocolate), 1999

For this recent show at the BALTIC, Muniz' work has been organised under the category of portraiture; an interesting art-historical claim to be sure. More than play with notions of the portrait, Muniz offers visitors a fun and accessible entry point into the contemporary discipline of visual studies. As a photographer, he remains quite conscious of the visual dilemma of our present culture. In a word, we suffer from saturation, a drowning in the sea of visual stimuli. Under such a burden, it seems the visual image has come to have less and less effect upon its intended target. For his work, Muniz has selected both those tired images of pop culture cliché and the touchstone monuments of art history in order to re-examine the way we interact with the visual image through a curious exploration of unorthodox materials. Freely playing with both scale and perspective in his compositions, he has utilised a host of materials ranging from toys, junk, food, dust, thread and even raw paint pigments. Muniz presents the quizzical masses with quite an eyeful; the question remains, however, can we be helped to actually see what we looking at back in the real world?

Find out more about the artist and view his work here.

books... Art and Theology Sources

2007-02-02T14:33:00.000Z

for Kevin Figgins...

1. Introduction:
Jeremy Begbie, Beholding the Glory: Incarnation through the Arts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001.

Here, Begbie and colleagues discuss various high and popular art forms and the ways in which they might serve a theological end. It is a helpful entry point for thinking about the intersection of art and theology.

2. Cultural Context:
George Steiner, Real Presences: Is there anything in what we say? London: Faber, 1989.

“Where God clings to our culture, to our routines of discourse, He is a phantom of grammar, a fossil embedded in the childhood of rational speech. So Nietzsche (and many after him). This essay argues the reverse.” p. 3

3. Art Critical/Art Historical Perspective:
James Elkins, On the Strange Place of Religion and Contemporary Art. NY; London: Routledge, 2004.

“Sooner or later, if you love art, you will come across a strange fact: there is almost no modern religious art in museums or in books of art history. It is a state of affairs that is at once obvious and odd, known to everyone and yet hardly whispered about. I can’t think of a subject that is harder to get right, more challenging to speak about in a way that will be acceptable to the many viewpoints people bring to bear.” ix

4. Theological Aesthetics:
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1980.

"There is no purpose which art serves, not any which it is intended to serve. Art plays and is meant to play an enormous diversity of roles in human life. Works of art are instruments by which we perform such diverse actions as praising our great mean and expressing our grief, evoking emotion and communicating knowledge. Works of art are objects of such actions as contemplation for the sake of delight. Works of art are accompaniments for such actions as hoeing cotton and rocking infants. Works of art are background for such actions as eating meals and walking through airports." p.4

5. Theological Aesthetics:
Calvin Seerveld, Raindows for the Fallen World: Aesthetic Life and Artistic Task. Toronto: Tuppence, 2005.

“Art is one way for men and women to respond to the Lord’s command to cultivate the earth, to praise his Name. Art is neither more nor less that that.” “Art, christianly conceived, is not something esoteric. Art is no more special (nor less special) than marriage and prayer and fresh strawberries out of season.” p.25

See also the reading lists available from the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts here.

art... Raqib Shaw

2007-01-31T17:53:00.000Z

Art Now: Raqib Shaw
Tate Britain
7 Oct– 17 Dec 2006

Toward the end of his career, the Post-structuralist philosopher and cultural critique Michel Foucault concentrated his efforts on analysing the history of sexuality in the West and proposed a six volume study of that title, from which comes The Will to Knowledge, The Use of Pleasure, and The Care of the Self. Within his treatment of Western cultural traditions on sexuality, the power structures of scientific knowledge again feature prominently. He especially lamented the fact that unlike cultures in the Far East; China, Japan and India for example, the West has not developed its own ars erotica- a repertoire of imagery and artistic sensations that probes the heights and depths of sexual pleasure. In his view, an art tradition devoted to examining the intensity, duration, quality and effects of pleasure upon the human body offered a more accessible and reliable source of knowledge about sexuality than the scientific discourse of religious morality or modern psychology. Foucault sought to demonstrate how the various, historical power structures of the West have dominated the discourse on sexuality by controlling the exchanges and inquiries related to sex. In his view, too much of the discourse on sexuality has taken place either in the confession stall of the church or on the psychoanalyst's couch and not before truly provocative and engaging art.I offer this lens with which to view the work of Raqib Shaw. Not only the elusive references to Eastern mythological imagery but also the sheer sexiness of the work qualifies it as an unavoidable attempt at a modern, Western ars erotica. Incorporating a vibrant palette of industrial paints, gleaming jewels and precious stones, Shaw presents a surface teeming with sexual energy and unfettered Bacchic exuberance. To date, his most impressive and formidable series remains a collection of large canvas' intricately detailed to refine the artist's hedonistic vision, aptly titled Garden of Earthly Delights.

While I admire the virtuosity of this painter's technique and especially the juxtaposition of alternative materials for an impressive painterly surface, I can't help but question the scenes he has offered here as so much eye candy. It seems the longer you look the further you see, and seeing through the work the vision of sexuality becomes darker, less and less inviting. Shaw's work, if taken as an ars erotica, evokes a sexual ethic more dependent upon violence and masochism than pure pleasure. In addition to the work's inherent violence, it lacks any hint of femininity, and in this way, represents something wholly foreign and strange to what meager lineage of eroticism exists in the history of Western art. If this is Shaw's contribution to an ars erotica, many will no doubt reject this vision of sexuality once the effects of his visualisations have worn off.

Watch an interview here.

art... Relational aesthetics alive and well in the Turner Prize!

2006-12-20T17:59:00.000Z

Phil Collins
2006 Turner Prize, Tate Britain

For those that may not know, the Turner Prize is a very prestigious and important award given annually to a particularly promising contemporary artist in Britain. Past winners include Gilbert & George, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Chris Ofili, Martin Creed, etc. The prize offers a hefty cash award and instant notoriety. This year’s winner was Tomma Abts, a German painter now living and working in London (see more about the prize). Despite the committee’s selection, I felt that the work of Phil Collins actually represents the most interesting and engaging potential out of the four candidates short-listed for the award. Admitting my bias, I happily announce that relational aesthetics is alive and well!

Collins’ chosen medium is video, and he has showcased his work internationally, including key exhibits in New York, London, Chicago, Istanbul, etc. The Tate’s press release describes his art practice in this way:

"Phil Collins’s art investigates our ambivalent relationship with the camera as both an instrument of attraction and manipulation, of revelation and shame. He often operates within forms of low-budget television and reportage-style documentary to address the discrepancy between reality and its representations. In his projects, Collins creates unpredictable situations and his irreverent and intimate engagement with his subjects – a process he describes as ‘a cycle of no redemption’ – is as important for his practice as the final presentation in the gallery."

In his recent work, these aims have manifested a driving interest in reality television: talk shows, makeover shows, and reality TV in general. The showcase of his work in the Turner Prize exhibition includes two projects embodying this unique exploration of reality TV. For obvious reasons, visitors to the gallery on the day I was there naturally found Collins’ work the most engaging and were unable to gloss over his work as they had with the others.

Visitors discovered first his 8 hours of documentary footage entitled the return of the real / gercegin geri donusu 2005, originally compiled for last year’s Istanbul Biennial. The footage records eight interviews with various past guests from reality televisions shows in Turkey. The interviewer, a reality TV host himself, dialogues with each person about how they felt about their television appearance and how things in their lives might be different as a result of the appearance. The volunteers were allowed to re-live the experience, once again in front of the camera, for all that opportunity might offer: release, closure or something worse. The grim details had all the agonizing effect of viewing a traffic accident.

In addition to this documentary footage, Collins constructed a fully functioning office space in which to house the work toward his next documentary initiative in Britain. Organised under the name Shady Lane Productions, Collins’ aim is to document the same sort of effects of reality TV in Britain this time. Until the research for this new work is complete, visitors to the Turner Prize exhibition can gain a view of the day in and day out activities of a contemporary artist and his team through the office windows of Shady Lane Productions. In this way, Collins has attempted to broaden the scope of what constitutes appropriate portions of the work to be displayed in the gallery. Homework can be art too!

More fascinating than building an office in an art gallery, however, is the driving impetus behind Collins’ body of work. Enthralled by the complex duality of thrill and horror wrapped up in the public confessions that reality TV thrives upon, he has set to examining the way in which the camera not only documents these highly personal stories but also influences, even changes, them. By his own confession, Collins himself maintains a wicked fascination for the sort of exuberant freedom that seems on offer through reality TV’s strange combination of media spectacle and public confession. Stay tuned to learn what surprising insights this artist’s exploration of human vulnerability might yield.

See and hear interviews with Phil Collins here.

Visit Shady Lane Productions here.

film... The Devil and Daniel Johnston

2006-11-26T18:10:00.000Z

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Though this film is one of the best documentaries I have seen in some time, I feel inclined to persuade you to see this movie more than just discuss its artistic qualities or successes. The best way I can convince you seems to be by sharing with you exactly what I learned through becoming a witness to Daniel’s story. Three things continue to grip me about his story.

First, I don’t think I will ever envy the life of the artist to quite the same degree again. Historians and commentators can argue incessantly about the extent to which artists invite upon themselves the constraints of alienation and isolation that satisfy the tired pattern of the ‘tortured artist.’ In the life of Daniel Johnston, that unfortunate dynamic evolves into a critically dangerous, almost murderous, mechanism. It seems that Daniel’s life was fraught by two mutually harmful adversaries, and I am not suggesting here that Satan was one of them—though he may prove a suitable third. On one side, Daniel’s family provided the consistently narrow-minded and unsupportive atmosphere, just the sort that most artists love to rebel against. On the other side, the ground-breaking intelligentsia of underground music never missed an opportunity to celebrate Daniel’s savage genius to the point of aiding and abetting the mad scientist in too many unfortunate episodes. Why does the artist’s age-old stigma as ‘outsider to normality’ remain both an easy target for some and a campaign banner for others?

Secondly, I don’t want say that the Devil is real anymore and seemingly live like he’s not. It seems clear to me that no Christian person that learns about Daniel’s story can view their own beliefs about Satan with the same passivity. I don’t wish to speculate about the causes or conditions that contributed to the extreme nature of Daniel’s mental breakdowns and grand delusions. His great quest to defeat the Devil, however, may be able to tell us something about the discrepancy between Armageddon as described by Scripture and the way some Christian contingents apply that apocalyptic content toward a particular agenda. I can understand how Daniel would take up his quest in light of the fact that apocalyptic dramas are played out through Sunday sermons in many churches week after week with little effect. Could Daniel Johnston be the most heroic/tragic casualty in the current American culture wars?

Lastly, I don’t want to forget the simple power of happy endings. Daniel’s story is the sort of tragedy that you wish you could turn away from—grimacing as each turn from the better is quickly squandered. But in the end the drama is just too mesmerizing to deny. After the academic appeal of viewing both his artwork and songs as ‘outsider art’ wears off, our attention holds on the intimate connection between the sheer vulnerability of his plaintive ballads and the desperately sad tale of an artist that can now only sing from his heart. Daniel’s story has no happy ending, especially to the degree that he and his family deserves, but there have been small miracles along the way that help to keep his art hopeful. And it is no small miracle that his story has been made available to the rest of us. Without its honesty and authenticity, many people—myself included, would likely never see the wonder in their own stories and lose their hope in what matters most in life. Daniel reminds us so well that “True Love Will Find You in the End.”

Please see this film.

View trailer here.

art... Ron Mueck

2006-10-13T16:18:00.000+01:00

Ron Mueck
Royal Scottish Academy
Edinburgh, Scotland
5 August – 9 October, 2006

Fortunately this late summer blockbuster was held over for an additional week and I didn’t miss out this time. Anyone that remembers Jim Henson’s ‘Muppets’ or the film ‘Labyrinth’ will have an immediate fondness for Mueck’s more recent creations. The hyper-realist sculptor has made a very successful transition from the world of movie and advertising animatronics to the spotlight of contemporary art. As part of the unforgettable exhibition ‘Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection’ that sparked controversy on three separate continents, Mueck has taken the attention he received for his small part in that show and made himself over as a main attraction. While many super star careers arose in the wake of ‘Sensation,’ this recent showcase reveals what could very well be Mueck’s greatest attempt so far at recruiting a new audience for contemporary art. Before we draw conclusions on the significance of this show, let’s consider the work.

While even the most uninitiated spectator can appreciate Mueck’s arduous quest for a pristine naturalism—this patience for representational technique remains thoroughly praiseworthy indeed, many commentators remark extensively on the careful selections that dictate the scale of these works. In my estimation, however, scale merely permits the viewer an otherwise impossible perspective, whether it be seeing that big or this small. I happen to think that Mueck simply takes his audience by the hand to a better vantage point. The more important aspect, however, is the actual site to behold.

His subject matter is at once both exotic and mundane. These models could be found in the everyday if one knew exactly where to look. While these forms are not too alien to our everyday experience, what seems almost other-worldly is Mueck’s choices in posing these creatures. Rather than the idealized forms of ancient or classical sculpture, the artist has isolated and solidified the most chance appearances, looks that punctuate the visual landscape of our experience of others. These are the sort of expressions that you can miss in the real world with a mere glance or blink. They are the looks we would never model.

Contrary to much of the commentary provided in the museum by the show’s organizers, the eerie candour of this work should not be interpreted too plainly or directly. While these forms are very far from idealized, they are quite recognizable. We have seen many of these expressions before… dissatisfaction, fear and frailty. They can’t hide insecurity or inadequacy any better than we.

Interestingly, I found myself and those around me seemingly unable to relate to these sculptures. I know that because it seemed so natural to attempt an empathy for what we saw. I suppose that if we struggle to regard someone appearing desperate on the street we have no hope of feeling compassion for a shrunken or enlarged silicon copy in a museum. Could Mueck’s works speak beyond our spellbound voyeurism to a deeper sense, the feeling of isolation that we all experience a little bit each day? Hopefully, this vast new audience will pause in examining the subtle connections of hair and tissue and the life-like pores on Mueck’s models long enough to consider the thought. As long as most museum visitors prefer twenty foot newborns to a severed cow’s head or a shark in formaldehyde, however, it remains unlikely.

quotes... Christian Aesthetics

2006-09-26T14:34:00.000+01:00

Due to the recent and worthwhile discussion generated by the last entry, I thought it would be a good idea to give a sample of the work of one evangelical philosopher/theologian who has contributed immensely to the conversation about defining art. Consider these thoughts:

There is no purpose which art serves, not any which it is intended to serve. Art plays and is meant to play an enormous diversity of roles in human life. Works of art are instruments by which we perform such diverse actions as praising our great mean and expressing our grief, evoking emotion and communicating knowledge. Works of art are objects of such actions as contemplation for the sake of delight. Works of art are accompaniments for such actions as hoeing cotton and rocking infants. Works of art are background for such actions as eating meals and walking through airports… The purposes of art are the purposes of life.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, Art in Action, 4

and...

Surely it is time for us to break out, to start over, to somehow find a way of approaching art which no longer focuses successively on artist and work and receiver, but instead holds all these in view simultaneously, and does so in such a way as to answer the call, now increasingly heard, to take account of the social embeddedness of whichever of these one has in the center of one’s attention: artist, work, receiver. I suggest that we approach art from the angle of the social practices of art.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, “Philosophy of Art After Analysis and Romanticism,” 158.

music... Derek Webb

2006-09-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

Mockingbird by Derek Webb

Sadly, it seems Derek Webb has lost his faith in the power of art.

From all accounts, the progressive trajectory that characterized Webb’s I See Things Upside Down has diverged from its artistic course and instead proceeded toward pure rhetoric. In this way, Mockingbird could have made excellent source material for a series of magazine editorials, commentary for a bible study, or maybe a book of poetry. But it should not have been recorded as an album. How did it all go so wrong for the most promising Christian singer-songwriter of this generation?

Webb has always worn his influences on his sleeve, and that sort of honesty has worked well for him in the past because he chose superior influences. I would recommend that Webb return quickly to his influences, namely Dylan. A secondary viewing of No Direction Home might reveal for him more clearly the genius behind Dylan’s legacy. In a time when the country was torn in two by conflicting opinions of grave political matters, Dylan refused to let his art be subsumed into the prevalent ethos of topical songwriting. It’s the reason that the world will never forget Bob Dylan and never remember Pete Seeger. Dylan launched a legacy in the 60’s while those around him launched campaigns. Ironically, Dylan’s music unquestionably had the greater impact on society and culture. Webb would do well to follow his mentor’s lead in this area.

By any standard, art should show and not teach, dream and not dictate. Not even the best intentions or the truest sentiments can adequately replace the visionary abilities of art. Unfortunately, this is the untold story of kitsch. Usually thought of purely in terms of overly sweet or saccharine sentimentality, kitsch actually has a dark side as well. You see the earnest convictions of Webb’s newest cd are no different than the sappiest CCM love ballad to God because both rely on pre-digested content. Sadly, political credos do little more than Hallmark slogans in the end. Both are easily dismissed for the simple fact that neither evoke wonder and deepen the questions upon revisiting.

Even in truly difficult times, people still want sermons from their preachers and songs from their artists. Art will not change the world on its own, but it must be allowed to do its individual and unique part. If Webb wants the choir to sing so badly, maybe he should stop preaching to them and start modelling for them a better approach to art-making. We don't need another mockingbird.

art... Francis Bacon and Damien Hirst

2006-08-14T15:57:00.000+01:00

Triptychs:

Francis Bacon

Damien Hirst

GagosianGallery______________________________________________

Britannia Street, London
20 June – 4 August

Interestingly, the Gagosian Gallery’s press release for this dual exhibition carefully points out that in the work of Francis Bacon the artist’s preoccupation with the form of the triptych did not arise from the religious roots of the form, but rather was inspired by the panoramic qualities of the cinema screen. In other words, another traditional religious form is given new life by virtue of modern perspectives seeing a greater depth of meaning in the everyday.

In many ways, the triptych’s form derives its potency not from historically appropriate content but, I would argue, from its unique structure. Three in one has always been a powerful formula. In this way, each individual component simultaneously sets itself apart and draws closer to its companion pieces. The result is an inevitable and attractive tension, which often pulls the viewer into the struggle. In these works by Bacon and Hirst, the formula has been shockingly realized. Brandishing the full effect of this unity within diversity, both artists impose their respective gravitational forces upon the viewer.

The multitude of Bacon’s paintings brought together for this show submerges the viewer under the weight of his emotive rage. His grotesque fascination with the mutilation of beautiful form burdens the work with countless echoes of existential doubt and longing. Maybe he has represented well the harsh emotional realities of the portrait’s subject or the artist himself, but in this way, the very choice of painting, not to mention the texture and style of the medium, merely adds to the larger prostitution of hope within his artistic vision. Ultimately, he does not capture the agony he longs to exhibit but leaves his viewer with a glimpse of the sheer horror within, a horror that cannot find a way out. Looming just beyond the edges of Bacon’s work, death waits with a patience that confounds the horror of life. If Bacon attempts to map the meaninglessness within the heart, Hirst merely pulls back the curtain shielding each life from its grim future. In this way, Hirst shares a great deal with Bacon while at the same time resolving the progression his paintings began.

The trajectory of Bacon's work has reached its terminal velocity in the clinical austerity of Hirst’s call to death. In contrast to the anatomical interest generated by Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds exhibitions, Hirst’s work presents through a characteristically cynical and somber lens life dissected and dismembered. Even the black monochrome triptych Forgive Me Father for I Have Sinned, 2006 captures cleverly the artist’s penchant for interrupting the viewer’s aesthetic experience with subtle reminders of the inevitable. Besides the Bosch-like texture of the triptych’s rough surface, the work preserves the unnerving smell of death beneath the layers of flies mixed in resin. In this way, this work and others incorporate a satire of the mundane into the larger scope of Hirst’s picture of death. With Like Flies Brushed off a Wall We Fall, 2006, Hirst offers his viewer the closest thing to a pretty aesthetic object that may be found in his body of work. Despite the minimalist appeal of the paintings, the viewer cannot ignore the satirical effect rendered by his choice of materials: household gloss, common butterflies and flies. Nothing signifies this mutually clinical and mundane aesthetic better than the early milestone of Hirst’s career A Thousand Years, 1990. For Hirst, death no longer looms just beyond the scope of art; it has taken centre stage.

More than a timely polemic against the pharmaceutical industry or contemporary society’s obsession with medicine, this work contains significant implications for the theologically minded. Despite the grim nature of its presentation, the sentiment is religious at its core. Humanity cannot evade it own eventuality and therefore must face it. Religion is nothing if not a means to that goal, but how hard we work to forget ourselves and our own frailty. In this way, Hirst’s greatest achievement might be the symbolic space he has created between the public’s guilty fascination with his work and their unwitting attempt to distance themselves from its latent reality.

More Bacon images... more Hirst images

music... Jose Gonzalez

2006-07-05T14:40:00.000+01:00

introducing...

josé gonzález

González can boast a truly singular achievementent in the world of contemporary popular music. He is without question both universally recognized and yet utterly nameless. I make that claim based on the fact that multitudes upon multitudes have by now seen the Sony Bravia commercial showcasing the majestic descent of countless, multi-coloured bouncy balls through the banal confines of a random urban landscape. Having glimpsed such a glorious video production, you would also have witnessed the subtly evocative nature of another landscape, the one produced by the vocals and guitar work of José González' "Heartbeats."

If like me, you were left mesmerized by the at once joyous yet yearning quality of the experience, then you must search on for more. To their credit, Sony represented well their balladeer in the way they masterfully wed their footage with his music, for the balance of pensive and blissful evocations within the video can be found again and again in González' debut album- Veneer and the companion EP - Stay in the Shade.

Along with the remarkable opportunity to be featured in the Sony commercial, González has something else few can claim these days... a unique sound. His rare blend of somber vocal arrangements and complex, Latin-influenced guitar voicings - coupled with the sparse production of the albums, allow for a very fresh reconstruction of the singer/songwriter genre. With such an original strategy, most commentators have to reach back nearly thirty years to find an appropriate comparison in Nick Drake's Pink Moon.

While the extraordinarily reworked covers - Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart" and the Knife's "Heartbeats," constitute his most powerful tracks, it seems González has all the talent he needs to find a faithful audience, but time will tell if he can gather the experience and mature craftsmanship to keep it. The initial glimmers of his promise definitely shine through on tracks like "Save Your Day," "Lovestain," and "Crosses." If your interest is sufficiently piqued, check out the following links to discover more about the quiet Swede with the nylon string guitar.

Official Webpage

"Hand on Your Heart" Video (Amazing!)

Live Performance and Interview on World Cafe

one more time... "Heartbeats" Video

quotes... or a word of warning

2006-06-29T12:01:00.000+01:00

In retrospect, it seems quite logical that when we as evangelical students of culture began to emerge from the dusky passageways of fundamentalism, our eyes would be dazzled by the enchanting romantic tradition. Because of its skepticism about the relevance of history and the historical process, because of its desire to assign to art a special separate status, and because of its sense of alienation about both unadorned nature and mass culture, romantic theory has offered an appealing sight to those of us whose aesthetic lenses have been ground, whether we appreciate it or not, in the shop of American fundamentalism.

-Roger Lundin,

"Offspring of an Odd Union: Evangelical Attitudes Toward the Arts"

from Marsden's Evangelicalism and Modern America p.144

art... Gestures

2006-04-26T17:08:00.000+01:00

gestures...

One of the more debilitating hang-ups that Christian audiences have with both modern and contemporary art stems from a basic misunderstanding of 'artistic gestures.' The preference for gestures in works of art, beginning with the modern era of painting and evolving significantly in contemporary times, represent some unique possibilities for what art can be. Before we explore these remarkable trajectories, let me try and explain the significance of the gesture.

It may prove interesting to pause and consider what comes to mind when we think of a 'gesture.' Maybe you recall a hand signal you received on the highway or something you saw on the street in a foreign country. Perhaps, you remember the way your mother always hugs you when she first receives you. Honestly, we all may have very different associations with the term, but we can't ignore the potential depth beneath such everyday practices.

Merriam-Webster defines a gesture in this way: "a movement usually of the body or limbs that expresses or emphasizes an idea, sentiment, or attitude." It was this sort of abstract, austere definition of a gesture that we find in many famous modern paintings. We can trace the momentous transition in painting that came about possibly during or just after WWII when German or Early Expressionism (Emil Nolde, Franz Marc) gave way to Abstract Expressionism (Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko).

detail of Pollock's Full Fathom Five, 1947

For our purposes, we can focus on Pollock, a figure from modern art much maligned but never ignored. Pollock had a powerful fascination with primal spiritualities that offered mystical connections to the 'essence of being.' In this way, he attempted to use his painting to access the primal aspects of his own being. Often referred to as "action painting," Pollock's practices generated a methodology of painting that placed the greatest emphasis on the very movements or acts that produced the work. Hence, the gesture takes the place of prominence, and the painted canvas is the mere artifact of the art action that took place. Or, in words Jerry Saltz, prominent art critic for the Village Voice in New York, used recently to describe an artist's work from this lineage: "...these paintings are narratives of their own making."

The fresh emphasis upon the artistic gesture ushered in a whole host of new questions about art. Aspects of the work that had always existed in the finished product but had not previously received the attention of the audience; such as the work's duration, location and technique. From these developments, it is not difficult to see how 'performance art' came to be (See Joseph Beuys and Yves Klein). If the gesture is valued more than what it produces, then why not gather the art audience around the gesture(s)? At that point, the audience itself took on a singular importance. Following Marcel Duchamp's notion of "Rendez-vous d'art," the work necessarily involves the observation or participation of an audience. In other words, the gesture always needs a receiver.

With performance art, we see the issue of an artifact or an end product dealt with in various ways. Sometimes the performance generates a piece of work, and sometimes the performance is only recorded through photography or other audio/visual means. In many galleries or museums, you will simply find traces or marks indicating that a work of art took place. Interestingperformanceance art seems to have diverted its future down two different roads; greater prominence for the artist as performer or a quest for increased purity of the gesture.

It seems that the 'relational artists' have accepted the latter for their mantle. In many cases, the audience not only experiences but receives the gesture itself or some token of it. Recall here the huge piles of candy that Felix Gonzalez-Torres left in gallery corners as a memorial to Ross. Along these lines, it should be noted that, following cultural theorists like Michel de Certeau, in our post-industrial consumer context the 'gift' proves a much stronger tool for thought than many conventional tactics. At least the form of the work requires a great deal more attention from recipient.

In the case of a recent exhibition at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts by Tino Seghal, I received a very odd giNaivelyvely, I happened upon last chance to catch exclusive new work, a relational art piece consisting entirely of ftravelingling conversations within the gallery. I will recount the experience briefly. Elif- a young girl of ten or eleven, met me at the door to the gallery and escorted me inside. As I observed the barren walls of the gallery, Elif asked me, "What is progress?" After spitting out a few thoughts, I wondered what was happening. Before our conversation had gotten started, Elif passed me off to Fred- a teenager of rare analytical faculties. Fred led me through the guts of the gallery; up the stairs and down the hallways. Before he had finished telling me about a Woody Allen movie I had reminded him of, Johnny entered the discussion. A man of thirty-five or so, Johnny told me several stories about people he had met and things he had read. As we walked, he learned of my studies and was commenting when... he suddenly took off down the stairs! At the bottom, Anne greeted me warmly, like the grandmother she obviously is. She reflected that progress is like a quilt that is patched together out of lots of different pieces. Anne is from the north and actually studied at Durham too. I hadn't even realized that she had led me to the gallery exit when Anne shook my hand and wished me luck. This journey took about twenty minutes.

I would describe this experience as a gift because the only artifact of the work is really the impression it made on me and what I took away. Honestly, four conversations with complete strangers these days is nothing short of an amazing gift. How many strangers do I pass everyday that aren't the least bit interested in telling me about themselves or hearing who I am?

While many would consider it very fortunate that I entered the gallery without any previous bias, I wonder what more I could have shared with these people about myself had I known what was in store. I have tried to envision what participation by Christians in relational art could be. I think it begins with a thoughtful recognition of the importance of the gesture offered and a sincere and honest response to it. Please follow the link to see an encouraging example of a recent artist's subtle, yet powerful use of gestures. See food, flowers and other stories.

video...

2006-04-03T16:27:00.000+01:00

For all our technological breakthroughs and

nearly omnipotent potentialities in the digital arts,

why do we not see more examples like this?

Enjoy:

Click here for the video

( thanks, katherine )

quotes...

2006-03-07T17:01:00.000Z

To set this in a more theological perspective, the arts can be seen as part of our calling to voice creation's praise, to extend and elaborate the praise which creation already sings to God. The doxology of creation has found its summation in Christ: the one through whom all things were created became part of a creation whose praise has been corrupted, and in the crucified and risen Lord, creation is offered back to the Father, redirected towards its originally intended goal. The Spirit now struggles in creation to bring about what has already been acheived in Christ. We are now invited into this movement in order to enable creation to be more fully what it was created to be.

Jeremy Begbie, 1997

art... Relational Aesthetics

2006-02-07T19:12:00.000Z

REFLECTIONS ON RELATIONAL AESTHETICS

Nicolas Bourriaud.
Relational Aesthetics.
trans. Simon Pleasance and Fronza Woods.
Dijon-Quetigny, France:
les presses du réel,
2002. 125pp.

I. Introduction
Commenting on the persistent desire for meaning both in art and life, Arthur Danto reflects on the future of contemporary art in a post-historical age. He writes, “What we see today is an art which seeks a more immediate contact with people than the museum makes possible… we are witnessing, as I see it, a triple transformation—in the making of art, in the institutions of art, in the audience of art.”[1] Perceptively, Danto foresees an imminent metamorphosis necessary for the art world, but could it be fulfilled in what Nicolas Bourriaud describes as ‘relational aesthetics?’ Reflecting on a shift to ‘models of sociability’ within contemporary art of the last decade or so, Bourriaud produces a theoretical system based on the recent art attempts focused on human relationality. It remains to be seen whether or not Bourriaud’s vision fulfills Danto’s expectations, but in the interim, ‘relational aesthetics’ offers rich developments for theological dialogue with the arts.

II. Summary
By way of summary, I would like to point out the unique features of Bourriaud’s argument, with a particular focus upon the impetus for, theory and practice of ‘relational aesthetics.’ Although the ‘relational aesthetics’ movement constitutes a very recent development in contemporary art, Bourriaud has reflected effectively on a leading group of artists from the past decade or more and produced a cohesive aesthetic system to interpret these developments. Let us examine first how the movement distinguishes itself from its predecessors.
Quite conscious of the authoritative ‘post-historical’ dynamic guiding contemporary art today, Bourriaud describes carefully the way in which ‘relational aesthetics’ both rejects and incorporates the important themes modernity exercised upon art. In this way, he quips, “It is not modernity that is dead, but its idealistic and teleological version.”[2] By this statement he means that the enthusiastic modern hopes for rational certainty or political utopias that fueled the artistic enterprise during the twentieth century have completely exhausted themselves. Thus, art no longer draws its inspiration from such optimistic visions and has turned its efforts to less grandiose projects. “Art was intended to prepare and announce a future world: today it is modeling possible universes,” microcosmic universes of authentic human sociability.[3] ‘Relational aesthetics’ is much less a consequence of the ideological or philosophical dilemmas of modernity than merely a reaction to the practical concerns of human interaction in our present world. Consider Bourriaud’s desperate tone as he writes,

"These days, communications are plunging human contacts into monitored areas that divide the social bond up into (quite) different products. Artistic activity, for its part, strives to achieve modest connections, open up (One or two) obstructed passages, and connect levels of reality kept apart from one another. The much vaunted “communication superhighways”, with their toll plazas and picnic areas, threaten to become the only possible thoroughfare from a point to another in the human world."[4]

In his argument, technology plays a suspicious role, and Bourriaud later cautions against technological indulgence in artistic exploration. The more important theme, however, remains the endemic lose of authentic social interaction in our post-industrial age. In this way, Bourriaud holds out hope that the gallery space can surpass its role as commentator of modern life and begin providing projects of human exchange, experiments for renewed sociability. He writes, “Herein lies the most burning issue to do with art today: is it still possible to generate relationships with the world, in a practical field art-history traditionally earmarked for their “representation”?”[5] ‘Relational aesthetics’ concerns itself with human relationality through the arts, a project rich with significance for more than just the art world. Thus, let us proceed to a discussion of Bourriaud’s theory.
As he constructs this aesthetic system, Bourriaud includes his own philosophy of art-history. Aware that art has always maintained a relational component to its self-understanding, he draws a three-tiered timeline of its development. First, in the period beginning with Classical Greco-Roman culture up to the height of Middle Ages, he sees art as an intended means of human relation to deity. Secondly, art was utilized for human relations to the physical world from the Renaissance through Modern art up to some forms of contemporary art. Finally, the third epoch of relational development began in the 1990’s with a turn toward inter-human relations and ‘models of sociability.’ Although the brevity of such a timeline may astound the reader, the gravity of his delineations cannot be ignored. Bourriaud explains his third epoch in terms of the urbanization of contemporary society. In this way, it is not hard to identify the sharp turn in contemporary art toward inter-human relations as a result or by-product of the drastic implications visited upon modern life by the increasingly urban challenges of today. As technology and urbanization relegate social functions to specific modes and spheres of experience, the spontaneity of authentic human relations is necessarily reduced. Thus, Bourriaud describes relational art as “art taking as its theoretical horizon the realm of human interactions and its social context” in contrast to a modern approach that seeks “an independent and private symbolic space.”[6] Employing a term used by Marx, he defines relational art as the type that “represents a social interstice.”[7] In other words, the work itself becomes space of potentiality, a free realm of possibility for human interaction.
In this way, Bourriaud’s theory does not centre upon ontological or teleological statements of art, but rather stresses the significance of form. “Relational aesthetics does not represent a theory of art, this would imply the statement of an origin and a destination, but a theory of form.”[8] For him, works of art may embody or incorporate forms, which are the structures of relations and interactions between entities in the world. Bourriaud defines form as a lasting encounter, or an “independent entity of inner dependence.”[9] Thus, unlike previous conceptions of form as ‘closed off’ by artistic style and signature, relational artists offer forms open to “the dynamic relationship enjoyed by an artistic proposition with other formations, artistic or otherwise.”[10] Therefore, the aesthetic category of relationality organizes or determines the artistic form, so when “the aesthetic discussion evolves, the status of form evolves along with it, and through it.”[11] As far as the task of the artist, Bourriaud envisions the artist as the mediator of specific, concrete exchanges, the perception of which results from what Félix Guattari characterizes as the awareness of subjectivity in the presence of a second subjectivity.[12] For Bourriaud, this view of subjectivity as dependant upon the subjectivity of others supports immensely the communal aspirations of his theoretical system. This theory of ‘relational aesthetics’ necessarily places a great emphasis upon performance and participation, so let us consider his vision of the practice of relational art.
Incorporating Duchamp’s notion of “Rendez-vous d’art”- which justified works of art by virtue of their observation, Bourriaud seems to offer more implications from his theory for the art audience than the artist. As a consequence of relational art, he writes, “the artwork of the 1990’s turns the beholder into a neighbor, a direct interlocutor.”[13] It is the subjectivity of the observer that engages the subjectivity of the artist. Thus, for ‘relational aesthetics,’ Bourriaud claims that, “meaning and sense are the outcome of an interaction between artist and beholder, and not an authoritarian fact.”[14] The meaning that results from works of relational art comes from the interstice between artist and beholder, the attempt at momentary intimacy set apart from “the alienation reigning everywhere else.”[15] While the artist has supplied the “conditions” for interaction in his or her work, the beholder must engage the work for it to succeed. Thus, Bourriaud offers his readers helpful criteria for such engagement:

"The first question we should ask ourselves when looking at a work of art is: - Does it give me a chance to exist in front of it, or, on the contrary, does it deny me as a subject, refusing to consider the Other in its structure? Does the space-time factor suggested or described by this work, together with the laws governing it, tally with my aspirations in real life? Does it criticize what is deemed to be criticisable? Could I live in a space-time structure corresponding to it in reality?"[16]

In other words, Bourriaud envisions an audience response that transcends that of a “passive consumer” or mechanized witness; he sees the opportunity for a more human encounter.
While he draws inspiration from a range of provocative contemporary artists, Bourriaud lifts up the legacy of Felix Gonzalez-Torres as exemplar of relational art. Gonzalez-Torres made a profound impact on contemporary art through his attempts at relational types of art. Consider his series of installations dedicated to his homosexual lover, Ross Laycock, who succumbed to an AIDS-related illness in 1991, five years before Gonzalez-Torres’ own death from AIDS. Variously designated Untitled: Portrait of Ross, the memorials consist of a mound of wrapped candies or chocolates measured to Ross’ approximate body weight of 175 lbs. heaped in the corner of a gallery space. Visitors are not prohibited from taking as many candies as they wish, and the galleries are instructed to replenish the supply from time to time. Like many of his other works, the candy piles relate Gonzalez-Torres various emotions of love and loss through a participatory medium. As visitors grip their fetish-like souvenirs or enjoy a tasty treat, the encounter with the artist’s feelings about his lover’s depleting health occurs over and over again. Moreover, what surfaces is, as Bourriaud points out, Gonzalez-Torres’ enduring question: “How can a meeting between two realities alter them bilaterally?”[17]

III. Potential for Theological Engagement
In many ways, one of the most valuable aspects of contemporary art is the prevailing preoccupation with drawing attention to the often neglected or overlooked aspects of life. What the majority of self-professedly common people boycotting the galleries suggest is that art has become too unapproachable, intellectual or obtuse. Actually, for the most part, contemporary art is profoundly simplistic. In the same way that analytic philosophy has made various disciplines more precise with their use of language, the contemporary art world has demanded more precise sensibilities when it comes to their aesthetic goals. For our purposes, we must enquire what possibilities lay ahead for theological dialogue with relational art and Bourriaud’s ‘relational aesthetics.’
I would argue that theologians and churches that remain concerned about the cultural forces around them in the West would do well to learn from and appreciate the contributions of relational artists and Bourriaud’s aesthetic system. Though many may struggle in removing their aesthetic categories from Bourriaud’s first epoch of art history—due in no small part to general aesthetic ignorance amid the rising influence of institutional theories of art, all would benefit from a more participatory engagement with art. Theologians and ecclesiastical leaders that concern themselves with the influence of cultural habits or sensibilities upon the faith community must take note of the factors that have instigated the relational art movement. Faith communities should come to feel the impetus driving the movement, if they hope to minister effectively to themselves and the society around them. In short, we have much to learn from artists such as Gonzalez-Torres.
Similarly, the church has much to offer the relational art movement. Not only does the faith community dare to offer relation to the transcendent deity God through Christ the Incarnate Son, but the church also offers a restoration between human beings. Specifically, the believer’s spiritual union with Christ means a restoration of human potentiality, already experienced in this life but fulfilled in the coming kingdom. In other words, the gospel not only provides reconciliation between God and the individual, but it also provides a path of reconciliation between one individual and another, extending beyond the individual to encompass many individuals gathered together by God—‘the people of God’ as described throughout the bible. The locus of that reconciliation is the faith community gathered under the lordship of Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. Since the origins of Christianity, theologians have maintained the New Testament sense in which the faith community constitutes, along with Christ, the first fruits of the new creation. In this way, Christian theology, more than any other source, should preserve the inherent value of human relations in the post-industrial, social ghettos of modern life. In other words, we have a theological apparatus that may not only sustain dialogue with relational artists and their audiences but envision for them a tentatively present and comprehensively future restoration of human relationships through Christ. There remain great possibilities, primarily through participation, for how the theological imagination can picture for art audiences the recovery of human sociability in Christ.

IV. Conclusion
In light of the great hope that Christ holds out for a community of renewed humanity, one finds it quite disparaging to encounter artists and philosophers of art that dedicate their efforts toward authentic human interaction without certainty of its realization. Along these lines, Bourriaud concludes, “These days, utopia is being lived on a subjective, everyday basis, in the real time of concrete and intentionally fragmentary experiments. The artwork is presented as a social interstice within which these experiments and these new “life possibilities” appear to be possible. It seems more pressing to invent possible relations with our neighbors in the present than to bet on happier tomorrows. That is all, but it is quite something.”[18] Beyond mere experiments, can Christian community both signify and entail the hope of ‘utopian sociability?’

[1] Arthur C. Danto, After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997) 183.
[2] Nicolas Bourriaud. Relational Aesthetics. trans. Simon Pleasance and Fronza Woods. Dijon-Quetigny, France: les presses du réel, 2002, 13.
[3] Bourriaud, 13.
[4] Ibid., 8.
[5] Ibid., 9.
[6] Ibid., 14.
[7] Ibid., 16. Bourriaud explains Marx’s term thus, “The interstice is a space in human relations which fits more or less harmoniously and openly into the overall system, but suggests other trading possibilities that those in effect within this system.”
[8] Ibid., 19.
[9] Ibid., 19.
[10] Ibid., 21.
[11] Ibid., 21.
[12] Ibid., 91.
[13] Ibid., 43.
[14] Ibid., 80.
[15] Ibid., 82.
[16] Ibid., 57.
[17] Ibid., 52.
[18] Ibid., 45.

quotes...

2006-01-31T19:43:00.000Z

Sacredness is making a comeback, here, there, and everywhere. In a muddled way, we are hoping for the return of the traditional aura; and we don't have enough words to shout down contemporary individualism. A phase in the modern project is being wound up. Today, after two centuries of stuggle for singularity and against group impulses, we must bring in a new synthesis which, alone, will be able to save us from the regressive fantasy that is abroad. Reintroducing the idea of plurality, for contemporary culture hailing from modernity, means inventing ways of being together, forms of interaction that go beyond the inevitablility of the families, ghettos of technological user-friendliness, and collective institutions on offer. We can only extend modernity to advantage by going beyond the struggles it has bequeathed us. In our post-industrial societies, the most pressing thing is no longer the emancipation of individuals, but the freeing-up of inter-human communications, the dimensional emancipation of existence.

- Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics, 1998

art...

2006-01-29T12:57:00.000Z

something to believe in...

Simply titled Hope, the Linda Warren Gallery of Chicago is offering an unexpectedly candid show on that "innate human desire" during the months of January and February. Bringing together six different artists with different conceptions of hope working in different media, the show brackets out our cultural assumptions and seeks to open up a fresh dialogue on the topic. After all, in their own words--"Hope is riskier than cynicism at this moment culturally and historically." Recognizing that our polite facade of mutual hope as a society or a nation is but an "illusion of reconciliation," the show's organizer offers both artist and audience the opportunity to explore exactly how we find hope in this life.

One of the more admirable goals among contemporary artists remains their efforts in drawing attention to the oft-neglected aspects of life. In this way, Hope takes up a simple subject, yet in profound fashion. How often do we consider the ways we cope with our own existence, for meaning belies hope, and hope uncovers belief? Though we may feel the answers are beyond us, the questioning itself may be our great hope.

Please check out the details at www.lindawarrengallery.com and make the visit to Chicago for what promises to be an extraordinary experience.

quotes...

2006-01-24T15:57:00.000Z

We “undergo” much of reality, sharply filtered and

pre-sensed, through the instant diagnostic sociology

of the mass media. No previous society has mirrored

itself with such profuse fascination.

George Steiner, 1970

music...

2006-01-20T18:22:00.001Z

Have you ever borrowed someone’s daydream?

On the occasion of Wilco’s release of their much-anticipated live album, I would like to reflect on the importance of this record and the band that made it. Like so many others, my welling enthusiasm for Kicking Television: Live in Chicago shrank with bitter disappointment when I learned that their live project would be limited to a double-disc record, and not include an accompanying DVD. Instead of divulging their reasons for that choice, (for clues, however, try pondering the album’s title) I would point anyone interested to an excellent interview with Tweedy in Paste magazine.

Having just recently considered with a good friend the provocative, reoccurring phenomena of love ‘em or hate ‘em reactions to Wilco from our acquaintances, I am strangely curious about what it is that keeps me so interested in their music. For some reason, I love listening to it, playing it and thinking about it as well. It seems to really give me something to engage with; not only through the CD’s but much more so as a live concert. I guess that’s why Kicking Television has been so enjoyable for me.

For anyone that has listened carefully to the past few albums, the inevitable question remains: Can they pull off that sound live? Kicking Television obliterates that concern. The recording of those two nights in Chicago contain more sonic ambiance and spontaneity than any of the studio recordings. Not only do the guys master the precedent of their albums, but they embellish the fabric of their sound with rich, textual layers of vibrancy and colour. Encircling the core of Tweedy’s serenades and rising off the driving rhythms of Stiratt and Kotche, float the exotic jazz musings of Nels Cline on lead guitar and the soft accents of John Jorgenson’s piano. In this way, tracks like “Company in my back” and “Via Chicago” come alive in ways unimagined on the studio releases. The careful balance struck between the sombre echoes of “Jesus, etc.” and “One by one” and the raw desperation of “At least that’s what you said” and “Misunderstood” go along way in capturing the essence of their live show, evoking for me powerful memories of the emotions I experience at their show this past summer.

My fascination with Wilco, however, has not always been so strong. Just a few years ago, I heard Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for the first time and wrote it off as an Americana version of Kid A. Interestingly enough, some Reprise records exec’s must have had a similar experience; recall the now infamous tale of Wilco’s reversal of fortune with Warner Bros. immortalized by Sam Jones in the film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. Contained within that documentary, you will find an insightful interview with a Rolling Stone editor who perceptively dissected the whole affair. Basically, he explained that the album, like others since, required a careful listen. Unfortunately, our current culture is not so keen on careful listening. But Wilco, with the help of Warner Bros., has made a prolific run at opposing that unfortunate trend in society.

While much of the so-called ‘Alt. Country’ genre is still hell-bent on the ethno-musicological interests of resurrecting an ‘old’ sound, Tweedy and the guys write songs for tomorrow through a veil of the past. With simple folk songwriting and electronicly creative arrangements in the studio space, Wilco attempts new ways of constructing, and often deconstructing, Americana. Tweedy’s unique approach gives his listeners just enough of the human touch in his lyrics to evoke resonance but keeps a certain, wary distance from autobiography. His style offers a glimpse, a window of emotion, while at the same time elusively avoiding the intense abyss of a more austerely confessional approach. Tweedy’s subtle resonances are made possible through the tempered use of soft melody and sheer noise, a soundscape representative of the all too familiar echoes of our industrial environment. Treading the aural space of a Wilco record can best be described as borrowing a friend’s daydream. Take a listen to “I am trying to break your heart” or “Radio Cure,” and see what I mean. While many may not share my appreciation for Wilco’s approach, we can all acknowledge the respect they give their audience. In an age where the music industry is frantically searching for the most cost-effective pop formulas to package scores of pre-digested tunes, Wilco requires something from its audience: imagination! To their credit, imagination is what makes Kicking Television so powerful.

More than just a great representation of their show, Kicking Television sends Wilco fans a subtle message. Unlike most other contemporary pop/rock, Wilco refuses to be just another product of their time. Their simple choice to release a live album instead of cashing in on DVD sales shows me that they expect a similar resolve from their fans. They would like to remind us that music is a gift, not merely a universal right of citizenship in this post-industrial civilization. No one is oblivious to the preponderance of music outlets available to us today. Consider how Descartes famous dictum could easily be replaced with a more updated sentiment: “I am therefore ipod.” As music has come to mean less and less to us as a culture, can we find a way to enjoy it a fresh? Maybe, but only with some imagination.

See Wilco’s site to preview or purchase Kicking Television, www.wilcoworldnet. Also, check out the Paste Magazine interview with Tweedy: www.pastemagazine.com/action/article?article_id=2421.

film...

2006-01-04T11:19:00.000Z

Speak to me in song:
Elizabethtown and the intersection of film and popular music

How pleasant and painful art can be! I guess I should rather say good, or even great art, since many thinkers consider deep emotional reactions a superior indicator of the quality of successful works of art. Recently, we found ourselves in the midst of one such experience. Expecting merely a nice 'date movie,' Anna and I happened upon Cameron Crowe's recent film- Elizabethtown this past weekend with quite surprising results. I suppose that the fact we left the cinema in tears dictates further reflection upon this quite uncharacteristic response. Here, I will offer both reflection and review and a discussion of what I am learning through each. I am moved to offer such because I am so curious about the role and influence of popular music in not only my own life but the larger context of contemporary culture. Since confession is good for the soul, and part of my method, let's begin there.

Concerning the painful, or the melancholic rather, we could not help the longing inside us for the people and places that await us back 'home'- that which provides the landscape for Crowe's story. Filmed almost exclusively in the areas in and around Louisville, Kentucky with important references to Tennessee, Elizabethtown adopts the cultural vernacular of our home in order to communicate its tale. (Now that's a sentence pregnant with assumptions and questions!) What do I mean by a term like 'cultural vernacular?' Well, I am trying to suggest the broadest sense of visual, oral, and emotional language that I can. Trying to describe Crowe's approach, I would have to say that choosing Louisville in particular and the 'Southern' culture in general provided a unique authenticity to the story, especially for someone from this region. From the production notes available on the film's website, it is clear that filming on location was a supreme priority for the filmmakers. This commitment affords them remarkable opportunities, and along these lines, Crowe showcases poignant examples from the world of our 'home,' which would not be possible otherwise. The 'Heartland'- as referred to by the production notes, actually surfaces from the backdrop to become a very real part of the story.

I will divulge one vivid example. When Orlando Bloom's character Drew first arrives in Elizabethtown the viewer is powerfully and creatively oriented to the setting. As Drew gets out of his rental car, you witness his drastic realization of entering a previously unknown world. We watch as Drew encounters physically both the wilting oppression of Kentucky's summer humidity and the deafening din of cicada choruses. It really takes you back!

And despite the uncomfortable reminders, it is home, our home. In this way, the overall topography of the film provided us a stunning reminder of the world we left behind to come to England. So, the film showed us our homesickness, when we were barely aware of it ourselves. The timeliness of this reminder could hardly be better, since I have recently been trying to reflect on what I missed most about the cultural context we left behind. In its profound complexity, this film showed me that most of all I have been longing for that cultural fabric that holds life together, the life I know back home. I will illustrate what I mean here.

Cameron Crowe's greatest asset as a filmmaker is not any special talent that makes other directors or writers or producers great. Crowe's genius lies in an ability that almost no one else in the movie business has utilized, at least with any skill equaling that of Crowe. His fundamental approach to making films begins with a more holistic respect for life. Unlike so many others, Crowe never underestimates the value and potential of music. He understands that somewhere amid the interplay of film and appropriate music lies an undeniable emotional power. In this way, he creates a series of visual images that resonate beyond the sheer beauty of the image because the visual recognition of such is intimately linked to the emotional depth of the song or music he has carefully selected to encapsulate the scene.

For too many filmmakers, the 'soundtrack' is merely an afterthought to production, but not so for Crowe. As detailed on the website, Crowe makes popular music an intimate part of the whole process. He keeps a journal of how he intends to use specific songs in films or scenes. This process also involves incorporating those essentials songs into the casting calls as well. Crowe even uses music to 'set the stage' for a specific scene while on location. Also drawing from the input of the cast member's musical tastes, Crowe never stifles the profound influence that music can bring to film. And, the end result gains much for his creative take on music. Consider Jerry Maguire; a movie that I felt would not have made such an impact without the aid of a superior soundtrack. Or Almost Famous, more than a thoroughly interesting autobiographical tale, Crowe provides an excellent anthology of rock history throughout the story of the fictitious band Stillwater. This talent is even further developed in Elizabethtown.

If you have a special place in your heart for "mix tapes," then you will love this film. As opposed to High Fidelity, which merely philosophizes on the subject, Elizabethtown chronicles with the visual narrative the power of a 'mix tape.' Beyond giving a nod to the cultural phenomenon of 'mix tapes,' however, Crowe accomplishes so much more. Allow me to reflect on three examples that involve quite captivating expressions of the nature of human relationships.

First, Crowe captures the delightful mystique of a budding romantic connection through an unlikely choice of song. As Drew and Clare form the first fruits of romance through the free-flowing banter of an extended phone conversation, Crowe juxtaposes scenes of the two talking into the night with Ryan Adams' "Come pick me up," a melancholic gem from his first solo CD Heartbreaker. While the subject matter of Adams' song- the dark remains of betrayal and estrangement between lovers, actually communicates the opposite of what is budding between the characters in Crowe's story, the song works there. The emotional freedom and exuberance that exists between Drew and Clare in that moment of the film is actually strengthened by the wistful refrain of Adams' song. As the singer proclaims, "Come pick me up, take me out..." and expresses his regret over the loss of something special, we experience the convergence of bitter reminiscence and pining aspirations. In this way, the moment on screen deepens through the thematic intersection of memory and hope. Even if the contrast is not identified by the viewer of the subject matter portrayed by the song and the scene, the song works simply for its raw emotion. The youthful yet grave tone of Ryan Adams imparts a layer of longing that cannot be gleaned from the visual images alone. In this way, Crowe communicates a deeper level of romantic potentiality through his methodic use of popular music. Also, we can see that his approach works well with various other emotions.

Secondly, and more comically, Crowe succeeds in uniting a once disparate family group through the mutual celebration of some classic 'Southern Rock.' At a point in the film when the emotional gravity of the situation has fully emerged among several key characters, especially the chief protagonist, the family receives the opportunity to merely enjoy the moment they have together as they witness the momentous reunion of Ruckus, Cousin Jesse's failed rock group. The communal catharsis and subsequent restoration present in the cinematic moment is furthered exemplified by the song choice, what else but Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird." Too long have these 'Southern Rock' ballads served as cultural anthems throughout the Southeast we may agree. We cannot, however, deny their influence, an influence quite apparent in Crowe's film. While the cultural significance of what the band represents remains an important point, the song itself speaks to the need to face one's own mortality and help others deal with the subsequent pain of loss. Recall the haunting question of Ronnie Van Zandt: "...will you still remember me?" Thus, despite the overindulgence of 'Southern Rock' clichés, "Freebird" is an appropriate embodiment of the moment. While the family struggles with the despair of death, they can also relish their togetherness and respond to the emotive invitation of the song's extended jam. It seems that Crowe may be hinting at the fact that just as Lyrynd Skynyrd goes on with life after intense tragedy so also will this family. Again, if these connections do not emerge for the film's audience, it is clear that the ecstasy that results from rockin' out on "Freebird" communicates the sort of unitive joy that Mitch desired for his families, both nuclear and extended. The humanity portrayed in this scene also proves to further authenticate the whole story. Though quite enjoyable and cathartic for the audience as well, this scene cannot compare to an even greater accomplishment of Crowe's wedding of story and song.

Third, Crowe narrates the development of the key relationship between Drew and his father through his use of Elton John's "My Father's Gun." Here, Crowe's creative technique achieves full blossom. The song reflects the experience of a young Rebel soldier's task in burying his father and taking up the inheritance of his father's legacy, symbolized by his gun. Crowe admits the singular importance of this song for the film. He relates how the transformation of the song's character provides the same emotional journey for Drew in Elizabethtown. Placed strategically near Drew's receiving the news about his own father, the song begins with the starkness of death's reality, encapsulating the sort of empty confusion and somber realizations that are no doubt plaguing Drew at the time. Unlike the Rebel son who could boldly stand in his father's place, Drew did not know his father well at all. He found himself at a loss in grieving for his father. In this way, the tension surrounding Drew's inability to mourn over his father's death builds throughout the film. When the moment finally comes, Crowe returns to "My Father's Gun," which transitions to a jubilant refrain to end the song. Once Drew deals with the reality of what has happened in his life, he has finally grasped the restoration and renewal symbolized so well in the song. Thus, Crowe has succeeded not only in giving form and shape to Drew's delayed experience of mourning but also granted the viewer a greater depth to the emotion of the story. While this is the aim of every film score, Crowe proves a master in his use of dual texts, the visual and the oral. May I add that this approach to film offers me great delight in the midst of the most bittersweet of emotional connections touched upon. Here, we have both the pleasure and the pain; now for some concluding thoughts.

There remain multiple questions surrounding this whole creative enterprise. What are the rules, if any? How do the artists' intentions compare or contrast with the resultant emotional effects that Crowe utilizes? Or better yet, what is left in his ipod when the whole process is done? Well, let's not cloud the discussion with any frivolous speculations. Crowe's mastery of the interplay between film and popular music provokes much deeper reflection than mere technique. I think that he is really on to something.

As a voracious student of popular music, Crowe seems to have a unique advantage in this respect, but I credit his sensitivity most. Not only does Crowe have intimate knowledge about the developments, origins and sources of most popular music, his greatest asset as a student of music remains his empathetic ear. He can at once feel the resonance of a great song and simultaneously envision how to portray that moment visually. In other words, Crowe simply works on the intuition that we all have. Our culture has trained us to experience life with songs, usually pop songs. There is a cultural vocabulary known only to the heart through song, and this is the great resource Crowe utilizes. In other words, popular music provides what I termed above the 'cultural fabric' of life back home.

In my own life, I recognize the power of music to generate and embody the memories that are both endearing and loathsome. They are my horror and my joy, because they are a very real part of my experience. I know that I can't escape the power that music has to deepen my own life. In this way, I will never be able to thank my father, and mother, enough for the way popular music has shaped me. They gave me a cultural language of emotion wrapped in music, the stuff with which to make sense of my own heart. And just like Crowe, I am a kid that has never really gotten over the way music so captures us in awe and wonder, takes us away and sings for us when we can't.

So, I am thankful, more than thankful, that there is a filmmaker that communicates in a language I can understand with my whole heart. While I am so far from home, adjusting to a new culture, Elizabethtown has granted me a glimpse of what I miss most. And I didn't even know that I was so homesick.

Please see the film and visit www.elizabethtown.com/home.html for the songs, interviews, videos, and more. Thanks for indulging me.