Art

One of Calvin Tompkins' Bachelors has shuffled off stage left. As the New York Times obituary makes clear, Rauschenberg's impact on the Visual and Performing Arts is pretty much incalculable.

I can't remember when I didn't know of Rauschenberg's work, having probably been exposed to a few pieces in my teens on a weekend getaway to the Art Institute of Chicago, but one of my favorite experiences that encompasses Rauschenberg and his cadre of New York pals was seeing the Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform at Lincoln Center in 1999. There in one place--literally and figuratively--were Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, David Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Morton Feldman, Bob Rauschenberg and, as something of a weird bonus Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gavin Bryars and Jim O'Rourke.

The Library for Performing Arts actually has a DVD of one night that I attended in addition to other videos and printed material relating to Rauschenberg's work with the MCDC as well as his experiments in Performance Art. In addition, the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs has a plethora of material outlining Rauschenberg's entire career.

Goodbye 20th century!

If you like Japanese anime and manga you should see the new © Murakami exhibition (April 5-July 13, 2008) at the Brooklyn Museum. This is the first major retrospective on the works of Japanese artist/designer Takashi Murakami, who is known as the Warhol of Japan. It focuses on his work from 1991-2000, “when the artist began exploring his own reality through an investigation of branding and identity." From "© MURAKAMI: Brooklyn Museum Photo Gallery”
The colors are vibrant and his creations are fun, but nonetheless the show has been receiving some mixed criticisms. In the article “Popping Up In Brooklyn” by Lance Esplund (NY Sun, April 3, 2008) states the following:
“An unflinching and unapologetic, nearly 20,000-square-foot celebration of the lowbrow horrors and banalities of commercialism, materialism, fashion, and pop culture… nothing more than a marketing machine for the dissemination and blatant merchandising of a brand…”
In doing a basic search online for the exhibit, one gets bombarded with the fact that within the show is “a fully operational Louis Vuitton shop selling some of Mr. Murakami’s designs”. The entire exhibit does have a sense of commercialism, but that is the intent of the artist. “Mr. Murakami says his product designs are simply an extension of his art“ and the shop “is the heart of the exhibition”. From “Watch Out, Warhol, Here’s Japanese Shock Pop” by Carol Vogel (NY Times, April 2, 2008)
This is an interesting show to see and as an added bonus you can still catch the Cherry Blossoms in bloom behind the building at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (April 5th – May 11th).

Last night, while I was looking for a place to eat with my family in the Greenwich Village, I came across several light posts that were beautifully covered with tiles and glass. This sparked my interest once again about the different types of Street Art around the City.

At work today, I came across a really good article in The New York Times titled “To the Trained Eye, Museum Pieces Lurk Everywhere,” by Seth Kugel, March 9, 2008. In it the author suggests for all of us to stop and see what is going on around us – “a rarer tactic, and one well worth trying for a weekend, is to focus exclusively on street art, the uncommissioned, uncommercial forms of expression that pop up on buildings, sidewalks and street signs and go way beyond traditional graffiti.”

He provides neighborhoods to go to “like Chelsea, SoHo and the Lower East Side in Manhattan, and Williamsburg and Dumbo — especially near the waterfront — in Brooklyn.” And where to look “on and around doors, on shuttered windows, above your head, near the ground, on poles and street signs and traffic signals and newspaper boxes and scaffolding…everywhere”.

This reminded me that several months ago a wall of graffiti was located within a historic Soho building. The mural contains “drawings by original graffiti subway artists Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000 and some traces by Jean-Michel Basquiat.” From “Historic Graffiti Mural Discovered in Manhattan Building” by Ula Ilnytzky, December 12, 2007.

The NY Times has a nice slide show at In New York, the Art Outside

For additional information, check out the following links as well:

Wooster Collective: www.woostercollective.com

Streetsy: www.streetsy.com

Jonathan LeVine Gallery: www.jonathanlevinegallery.com

Ad Hoc Art: www.adhocart.org

Billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud plans to build the world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will be a mile tall skyscraper, “taller than four Empire State Buildings stacked upon each other.” From “Billionaire Plans To Start Mile-High Building Club” (Forbes.com, 02.25.08)

Currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai tower is being constructed. Though still in construction, it has just beat the record for the world’s tallest man-made structure, reaching more than 160 stories high (2,064 feet).

It appears that in 1956 American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mile high (5,280 feet) skyscraper called “The Mile High Illinois, Illinois Sky-City, or simply The Illinois”. However, the building was never built “because lengthy elevator rides made it impractical.”

As a New Yorker the only true tallest skyscraper in the world will always be the Empire State Building. But, these new buildings sure will put a spin on the term the ‘mile high club’.

Recently the well known dance club Webster Hall (building, not the club) was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Built in 1886 by architect Charles Rentz, Webster Hall became one of the country’s first modern nightclubs…Its website boasts “It was where the original bohemians, like Emma Goldman, Marcel DuChamp and Margaret Sangor, created unique costume balls to benefit nascent social and political causes.” From the Gothamist article “Hailing Webster Hall”

It is especially important for this building because all around it older buildings are being torn down to be replaced by 20- or 30-story dormitories or hotels…The building was a speakeasy during Prohibition. It also has been the setting of union rallies, elaborate debutante balls and even wrestling matches. From the Daily News article “Landmark day for Webster Hall”

When researching a landmark building, you should access the very detailed designation reports, which “explain the architectural, historical and cultural significance of an individual landmark or historic district.” Two publications that list the landmarks and historic districts throughout New York are: “Guide to New York City Landmarks,” by Andrew S. Dolkart; and “The Landmarks of New York,” by Barbaralee Diamonstein.

The Neighborhood Preservation Center has a searchable database to all the reports from the first report (1965 - Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House) onward. It is an ongoing project, so reports are still being posted. Check it out at: http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/designation_reports/index....

For current designation reports go to the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s website at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/forms/reports.shtml

Fortunately, over 23,000 buildings have been given landmark status, never to be touched or destroyed ever again (unlike the Pennsylvania Station and many others…). Well, unless you're watching another Hollywood movie depicting the destruction of New York…

It is cold outside today in New York City, but not quite as cold as in Ohio, where even the trees appear to be longing for warmth. In the Associated Press there is an article titled “Knitters Dress up Trees for Public Art,” by James Hannah, which discusses the art of the “knitknot tree" project on Xenia Avenue in Yellow Springs, Ohio, “known for its offbeat art”.

“Wrapped around the trunk is a colorful, crazy-quilt skin made up of panels of yarn knitted individually by residents and visitors alike. Good-luck charms cling to the yarn. Family photos, poems and jokes peek out of knitted pockets.”

“"What takes this to a different level is it is a community thing," said Corrine Bayraktaroglu, an artist who helped start the "knitknot tree" project. "People are really, really enjoying it. They're coming from towns to have their photograph taken with the tree. They're adding stuff to the pockets."

The following trees were knitted by Carol Hummel, guess which one is call the “Down Under”.

The artists plan to remove the knitting at the end of April and give the pieces of yarn away.

In passing by Rockefeller Center one would think it was still Christmas time. Did they forget to take down the tree? or Maybe their keeping it up year round? Hoping people would feel joyful all year long…

Actually standing in front of Rockefeller Center behind the statue of Prometheus is the “Electric Fountain”. A fountain of lights 35 feet tall and consisting of 3,390 LED bulbs that simulate the motion of water: “streaming, pooling, splashing and flowing, creating a hypnotic experience for viewers”. It is an installation by British artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster, and is presented by the Art Production Fund.

"Electric Fountain represents Noble & Webster's modern take on the world's oldest form of public art, the fountain. It simultaneously references iconic pop culture symbols, such as marquee signs in Las Vegas and Times Square, and historical fountains built in civic spaces, such as Bernini's Triton Fountain.”

"The project mimics the tradition of a fountain as a monument found in public squares around the world, but its magic lies in the emulation of light where water should be," said artist Sue Webster. "During daylight hours the viewer will really get a sense of Electric Fountain's architectural and sculptural qualities as the lights react with the changing moods of New York City's daily weather conditions. As nighttime falls, the sculptural form will slowly disappear into darkness leaving only the illusion of bright cascading water in its wake." From “Electric Fountain Bathes Rockefeller Center Plaza in Light.”

When the fountain comes down in April, a skyscraper made up of over one million steel replicas of the popular construction toy the Erector Set will be built. It is by the Los Angeles artist Chris Burden and is titled “What My Dad Gave Me.” It will be 65 feet tall and weigh over 70 tons, running from May 28th to July 13th. “From Toy to Skyscraper”

A new headquarters for The New York Times is being built on 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Street. It is a 52 story building designed by the architect Renzo Piano. To document the construction of the tower is photographer Annie Leibovitz. The art project is titled “Building the Times: Photographs by Annie Leibovitz”.

http://nymag.com/

It is reminiscent of the photographs of the Empire State Building by Lewis Wickes Hine, as well as Margaret Bourke-White’s photos of the Chrysler Building.


Leibovitz’s is best known for her work at Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue. In 2005, her photos took the first two spots for the best magazine covers of the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

No.2 – Naked and pregnant Demi Moore holding her belly for Vanity Fair.
No.1 – Naked John Lennon curled around Yoko Ono for Rolling Stone.

To see the photographs for “Building the Times” go to: http://newyorktimesbuilding.com/leibovitz/

For information about the architecture of the building checkout the website for the Architectural Record at: http://www.archrecord.construction.com/features/0802nytimes/default.asp

Also the magazine article:

The New York Times Building, New York City. By Suzanne Stephens
“Architectural Record.” February 2008, pg. 94-105.

The Art Division owns several books on Annie Leibovitz and Renzo Piano, to view the records take a look at our online catalog: CATNYP

I came across an animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry in YouTube. The tapestry, an embroidery on wool cloth, “is 231 feet long and 19.5 inches wide, and contains more than 70 scenes representing the events that led up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.”

It depicts the last successful invasion of Britain by William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and the defeat of King Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King (in the video: he is the character struck in the eye with an arrow). It was made presumably for Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (1030–97) and half brother of William, circa 1080.

The Norman Conquest was a pivotal event in English history for several reasons: it linked England with continental Europe through the introduction of a Norman aristocracy, thereby lessening Scandinavian influence; created one of the most powerful monarchies in Europe and engendered a sophisticated governmental system; it changed the English language and culture; and set the stage for a rivalry with France that would continue intermittently until the 20th century.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Library Edition

The Bayeux Tapestry has been much used as a source for illustrations of daily life and appearance of 11th-century material culture in early medieval Europe (about 1100). It depicts a total of 1515 different objects, animals and persons.” Along the top and the bottom run decorative borders with figures of animals, scenes from Aesop’s fable, husbandry and the chase, as well as the main narrative.

Grove Dictionary of Art

Interestingly, the tapestry also makes reference to Halley’s Comet, which made an appearance in 1066. And you got to love a good epic tapestry battle scene.

Architectural Record has a recurring section called "Building Types Study". The February 2008 issue’s section is dedicated to library design and one of the three libraries discussed is NYPL’s Mulberry Street Branch. The Record commends the architectural firm Roger Marvel Architects for allowing diffused light to penetrate “into both subterranean levels via the central stair”, which it calls “an important psychological feat.”

NYPL’s holdings on the architecture of libraries is fairly broad and historically focused; however Shannon Mattern’s The New Downtown Library seems to consider some of the more pressing concerns (public space, digital technologies, and modern librarianship) of the 21st century. For a more visual take on recent library projects consider Biblioteche: architetture 1995-2005, which offers a brief history lesson on libraries and then considers in some depth around 40 new libraries (renovations & reuse are included) from around the world. Very few are in the United States, which is hardly surprising given the dearth of imaginative thinking and design that goes into public works here (but that’s another post…).

That being said, Biblioteche came out too early to mention the slight redemption that is the OMA-designed Seattle Public Library, which has received accolades from just about every architectural critic (e.g, the late Herbert Muschamp) and librarian (Library Journal chimes in). Luckily, there is now a monograph devoted to the Seattle Public Library (recently brought out by the Barcelona & New York based publisher Actar); and while we don’t have it yet, consider it ordered.

I came across an interesting article in the Art Newspaper titled “Statues in Britain are revolting—and so are we: The British art world has had enough of “Frankenstein monster memorials”.” (2.7.08, issue 188) It discusses the backlash or “fightback against “bad” public sculpture in the UK” toward the “unprecedented number of tasteless statues that have appeared across the country.”

The editor of The Burlington Magazine, Richard Shone complains that “the infestation of public places...by statues and memorials...is now of serious concern.” He goes on to describe a statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square as “Crudely sculpted, the statesman’s arms are outstretched as if showing how big the fish was that he caught…” As well as a sculpture of a man and woman embracing as: “As romantic as a couple who have just been refused a mortgage.”

Though the statements are quite to the point, the article made me wonder about the public sculptures spread throughout New York City and the boroughs. I began to check online and found a site by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, which has a database to search the sculpture collection of the New York City's Parks, as well as the Archives and Photograph Collection of the Art Commission.

There is a good article (though outdated) in the New York Times, titled “An Outdoor-Sculpture Safari around New York” by Grace Glueck (August 7, 1981). Also the Public Art Fund website at http://www.publicartfund.org/.

If anyone has additional internet sites, I would love to gather up a collection of good sites to help locate information.

There are several guidebooks for New York sculptures in the Library catalog: CATNYP

Walking into the Modern Art wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across what I thought was a shark tank. For a second I had to step back thinking I entered the American Museum of Natural History by mistake.

But what I encountered was “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” by English artist Damien Hirst. A tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde encased in a glass cabinet.

“Hirst created work that brought together the joy of life and the inevitability of death…A shark in a tank of formaldehyde presented a once life-threatening beast as a carcass: the glass box, half hunting trophy, half homage to the Minimalist object, imposed the gravity of a natural history museum onto an outsized council-house ornament.” Artchive.com

About three years ago the work “was purchased by the hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen, who paid $8 million for it, one of the highest prices at the time for a work of contemporary art.” The original 14 foot tiger shark was then replaced with a 13 footer, because the first shark was never injected with formaldehyde, so it began to decay from the inside.

The work is now on view in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing of the Metropolitan Museum for the next three years. It is an interesting piece though I was a bit upset to learn that the first shark was “caught and killed by a fisherman in Australia at Mr. Hirst’s behest in 1991.”

This work provides me with two debatable questions:

1. Killing a living creature for the sake of Art?
2. Whether the replaced shark is still considered the original work?

Check out the New York Times article “Swimming with Famous Dead Sharks”, which provides a video of the reinstallation.

On YouTube there is an interesting video from the New York Sun and the Metropolitan Museum of Art discussing the installation, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWQGa-EBxzk

Oh well…I can hear the Jaws theme playing in the background:

Du dun. Da dun. Da dun da dun da dun duh DA DAAAAAH!

Mayor Bloomberg and the Public Art Fund have announced that Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has been commissioned to build four man-made Waterfalls in the East River, at the southern tip of Manhattan (one near the Brooklyn Bridge).

The artist has “designed what will likely be the city's biggest public art project since Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "The Gates". The installation will consist of a series of freestanding waterfalls in the East River…the waterfalls will rise about 60 to 70 feet above the water — more than half as high as the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge.” From a New York Sun article titled “Waterfalls as Art To Be Installed in East River”.

According to the article “Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "The Gates," attracted 1.5 million out-of-town visitors and generated $254 million in economic activity for the city. The project cost was more than $20 million and was financed entirely by the artists.”

The waterfalls project “will cost $15 million, funded by private donations to New York's Public Art Fund” and will hopefully “create $55 million in extra tourism revenue.” From Reuters.com: Artist to build four giant waterfalls in New York

To learn more about the artist the Art Division owns several books on Olafur Eliasson in the Library’s online catalog: CATNYP

The Morgan Library
One of the gems of the city is the Morgan Library located on Madison and 36th Street, literally just around the corner and down the block. I fell in love with the place 26 years ago and I have never stopped loving it. To me it is the one of the most intimate spots in the city, more so before the Renzo Piano reconstruction but still really wonderful.
I like it for a couple reasons: first because the shows are never big; they can’t be. It is always a one-room experience and that is just about right for my eyes. Secondly, to see the actual personal rooms of Morgan never fails to completely humble me to the extent of what great, great wealth can accomplish. Morgan’s rooms take my breath away. If a room had a sound, Morgan’s library would be a cacophony of noise, screaming a beautiful symphony of sound, moving forth in all directions, mingling and mixing and highly organized, nothing left to chance. There is a sparkling brilliance to the library; it is rich in colors, design and textures. You can take it in generally and simply let its beauty surround you or study the detail of this glorious and complex room. It’s all there and never should be missed.
Morgan’s study is a different matter all together. Awash in vermilion and wood, it is serene in comparison, warm and inviting. Despite its grandiose quality, Morgan must have spent many an hour in this room talking about the world with his guests. He is everywhere in the room, you feel him and see him twice on the wall in big handsome portraits. To my surprise, you can now see Belle de Costa Green’s office, Morgan’s first librarian and then longtime director of the Morgan Library. Her room is the smallest but no less elegant. All the rooms are rich and sumptuous, constructed with the finest materials in the world and attest to the power of the man who amassed a fortune and then created one of the premier institutions in the country if not the world. Yeah Morgan!

The current show at the Morgan is Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries: Drawings from the Uffizi
http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/default.asp
I decided to go opening night. Normally attending a show on the day it opens would be out of the question, but on Fridays after 7:00 PM The Morgan is free. I decided to give it a shot. I often like to go see an exhibit twice. This is akin to reading a passage a few times over to truly savor its magic and artistry. I was a bit weary when I entered, there was a fairly long line at the coat check and I thought the evening to be doomed. I sidled up to a guard and asked if I needed to check my coat and two bags. He looked at me and my two bags and thought for a minute then said “nah, you can go on in.” Happily I pushed through the big glass door that takes you to the gallery and then to my delight I entered the gallery and it was not crowded. I could view the exhibition unfettered–always a plus.
I am not an expert in drawing, I don’t understand the traditions and could not tell you about the influences. What I will say is that drawing often allows you to see the inner workings of the artist and it always reveals the subtle yet extremely powerful skill of the artist; it can be the draftsmanship or the emotion or feeling the artist was able to impart to the picture. Drawing is spare but the level of complexity that can be achieved with very few materials always astounds me. In any show there are always favorites and for me there were a few.
Giovanni Stradanus’ The Allegory of the Immortality of Poetry. The theme is wonderful and the description card nicely lays out what is happening in this involved little gem. Compositionally it is triangular and there are nice elements that help guide your eye from left to right. A beautiful classical arch is in the middle ground, steering you to focus on The Three Fates. In the foreground is the winged figure of Time, an extraordinary figure completely unaware of the otiose task he has taken up. According to the description card Time is tossing papers inscribed with names into the river. Geese save them as quickly as he tosses them, ferrying the allegorical pieces of papyrus up a meandering river to the background where nymphs attach the saved papers to columns in the Temple of Immortality. It is an intricate piece, with a fairy tale quality to it, very detailed though not wrought. It is lovely to look at again and again.
In the show were also wonderful battle scenes and triumphal march scenes, all detailed and complex in composition. Lastly, a couple flawless studies  kept my eyes busy for good long while.
Baccio Bandinelli Studies of Heads and Poppi Francisvo Vandini ’s Four Heads
Finally, for those of you who want to read a really excellent stand out biography of Morgan, Jean Strouse’s Morgan: An American Financier is the one. http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/28/reviews/990328.28lingemt.html
Last year a biography of Bella de Costa Green (it’s on my list to read!) by Heidi Ardizzone was published: An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Green’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilege
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0393051048/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

On January 24, 1984 Apple Inc. introduced us to the Macintosh.

During a break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII (January 22, 1984) a television commercial by Apple was aired to promote the Macintosh personal computer. The ad showed an unnamed heroine (played by Anya Major) wearing red shorts, red running shoes, and a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer, running through an Orwellian world to throw a sledgehammer at a TV image of Big Brother — an implied representation of IBM.”

This was followed by an on screen message and voice over stating: “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like 1984.” (From Wikipedia.org) I love that quote “Picasso style picture”.

In this past hectic season of Christmas shopping and looking for something different to buy, I came across a sight titled “New York City Garbage”. Yep, just as it states, one can buy garbage, but not just any, it's “New York City Garbage”, by Justin Gignac.

The artist has set up a simple and straightforward website that provides just enough information to peak ones interest. There’s a PDF Press Kit (lower left hand corner) that provides information about the artist, the pieces and publications/programs.

Within the PDF is the “Anatomy of New York City Garbage”, which provides a brief description of what the pieces consist of. Read the Anatomy on the image below:

Unfortunately, I never was able to order a piece, since I was on the hunt for a Nintendo Wii station for my nephew (which I was able to get at the last minute). But, I suppose the statement is true that one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, or I guess in this case another man’s Art?

According to an AM New York article “Guerilla artists don’t want bench back“, an 8-foot-tall bench mysteriously appeared on Houston Street about two weeks ago. It goes on to say,

“All this work, once it’s installed, it’s kind of just left to the fates,” said Tod Seelie, who collaborated with street artist Brad Downey on the bench and photographed its stealth installation in the middle of the night. “The idea is to see how time changes it.”

It would have been interesting to see people’s reaction walking/driving by the bench. Unfortunately, it appears that the bench has been taken down and since the artists do not want it back, it will likely be scrapped.

According to an NPR Boston (www.wbur.org) article about “Guerrilla Art” and a bench like object found in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, it states that “Guerrilla art has been described as an insidious way of leaving anonymous art work in public places. It’s unsanctioned and often unwelcome.”

Guerrilla Art is part of the Street Art Movement, defined in the Wikipedia as “art of an illicit nature, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, and street installations. Typically, the term Street Art is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.”

Guerrilla Art is “a street art which embraces a more active, aggressive and usually covert approach to adapting public space.”

Follow the links to the Libraries catalogs: CATNYP and LEO for the ‘Subject’ term Street Art.

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) is credited as being the “man who created our current image of Santa Claus.”

The illustration appeared in the January 3, 1863 issue of Harper’s Weekly and showed Santa Claus handing out gifts to a Union Army camp. He is chubby, pink cheeks, long white beard, wearing a fur-trimmed hat and suit with Stars and Stripes. He is sitting on his sleigh that is being pulled by reindeers.  In the background is a sign that reads “Welcome Santa Claus” and shows him handing out gifts to children and soldiers. 

Christmas became a Union holiday and Santa a Union local deity-a positive spirit of Northern plenty and domesticity, to set alongside and against the Southern myth of chivalry and tradition…

Thomas Nast is considered the “father of American cartooning and remains the greatest American image-maker…he invented the Democratic Donkey, the Republican Elephant and the American Boss (capitalist with a bag of money for a brain).Above all, he was the man who invented Santa Claus, taking a minor Central European folk saint and turning him into the personification of American Materialism, coming down the chimney and shaking with joy.”

“Nast’s fat little man in red, with a broad white beard, was benevolent but no angel…Nast’s most famous drawing of Santa was a double-page Christmas picture published in "December 29, 1866 that clinched and pulled together the Santa iconography…Yet, for all the entrepreneurial edge, Nast’s Santa is overseeing and all smiling: “With malice toward none.” Nast gave the American Christmas its patron saint and its dominant tone…”

Taken from the New Yorker magazine (December 15, 1997, pg.84-102), “The Man who invented Santa Claus”, by Adam Gopnik.
Happy Holidays!! 

Since we recently had a little dusting of snow it's probably a good time to mention photographer Ellie Ga and her current foray into the depths of the Arctic night as Artist-in-Residence aboard the Tara. The Tara is not Skowhegan, but a research vessel that has been locked in the ice of the Arctic Ocean since September 2006.

Ga, who joined the Tara in September 2007, has been keeping an online journal on the Alliance Francaise website and there is a little more information (in English) on the Tara's site regarding her Arctic projects. The Dispatch gallery (appointment only) has also been receiving audio missives from Ga that they make available to visitors.

You might remember the Tara from Pierre Huyghe's 2005 Antarctic voyage, which was the basis for a Central Park public art performance in October 2005. Also along for the ride with Huyghe was Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, who was working on project for the United Nations Environmental Program.

Check out a new book titled “The History of the Snowman: From the Ice Age to the Flea Market” by Bob Eckstein. (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007)

Some “Fun” facts from the book:

• Height of “Angus King” the world’s largest snowman was 11 stories tall and required nearly four months (15 weeks) to melt.
• The first snowman in print was on an illuminated manuscript describing the Crucifixion of Christ.
• Snowmen were blamed for The Massacre of 1690.
• Snowmen were made as an early form of pornography in The Miracle of 1511.
  • De sneeuwpoppen van 1511 is the only book to tell the story of the Miracle of 1511, a Woodstock-like event in which after a famed snowstorm the whole town of Brussels celebrated by making pornographic and political snowmen.

Links:
Official Site for The History of the Snowman
History of the Snowman Blog
NY Times Book Review