From the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory (Australia). This painting, depicting a blending of indigenous and Masonic initiation tropes, just won the museum’s top award. From the site:
Danie Mellor - From Rite to Ritual
Mixed media on paper
h 207 x w 154 cmFrom Rite to Ritual explores the encounter between Indigenous and non-Indigenous, or settler cultures. In this case the meeting place is the interior of a continental Freemasonic lodge (a ‘blue’ lodge), and comments on the importance of secret and public ceremony and initiation in both cultures; it speaks of the challenges of settlement, and the differences in spiritual enactment and belief.
Neat! (Also check out this mind-boggling list of the ways in which our daily lives are impacted by the legacy of Freemasonry.)
From David Ng in the LAT‘s Culture Monster:
Not many big-name movie directors deserve to be called artists. Among those who do, few take the label as seriously as David Lynch. The director of “Mulholland Dr.” and “Blue Velvet” has avidly pursued painting, photography and sculpture in between his idiosyncratic film projects. Starting Sept. 12, the master of weirdness will exhibit some of his recent works in the solo gallery show “David Lynch: New Paintings” at Griffin in Santa Monica. The show, which is being presented in collaboration with the James Corcoran Gallery, will be Lynch’s first solo exhibition in L.A. in more than a decade, according to Griffin.
Lynch will present a series of his “monumental” (or large-scale) paintings, said the gallery. The only work available for preview is “Crucifixtion” (2008-09), a mixed-media on canvas painting that is 6 feet tall and 10 feet wide (pictured). The director has had a lengthy relationship with James Corcoran Gallery, which organized solo shows of his work in 1987, 1989 and 1993. This will be the director’s first show at Griffin. “New Painting” is scheduled to run through Dec. 12.
Well, I’m definitely looking forward to this one! As much as I admire David Lynch the filmmaker, he’s notoriously unforthcoming with explanations as to what his films mean. That’s fine by me—even preferable.
But when it comes to describing his own process as an artist, Lynch has been as generous as he’s been expansive. There are many clips out there detailing what Lynch does to “catch the big fish,” and its relationship to transcendental mediation. One of the more lucid ones follows below.
From the BBC: Scene By Scene Clip With David Lynch
The Griffin Presents David Lynch: New Paintings
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Dangerous Minds pal and Nabokov afficiando supreme John Bertram was dissatisfied with the historial examples of Lolita cover art and is sponsoring a Lolita book cover design contest. He writes:
After perusing Dieter Zimmer?
Goddamn these are great! Sculptor Adam Beane says, “The excellent art directors I’ve worked with have been instrumental in my growth as a sculptor, a communicator and a businessman. They have frequently allowed me to push projects beyond expectations and as a result, I have become known for dynamic compositions, action poses, nuanced drapery work and my ability to capture likenesses with expressions.
Thanks Christopher Paige!
Miles Davis’ Sorcerer and Archie Shepp’s The Magic of Ju-Ju are just two of the nearly 700 jazz albums getting their deluxe due in Taschen’s newly released (and assuredly hefty) book, Jazz Covers.
This volume features a broad selection of jazz record covers, from the 1940s through the decline of LP production in the early 1990s. Each cover is accompanied with a fact sheet listing performer and album name, art director, photographer, illustrator, year, label, and more.
But it’s not all psychedelic skulls and Cicely Tyson. The folks at Taschen fleshed the project out with contributors ranging from John Coltrane authority, Ashley Kahn, to famed Blue Note producer, Michael Cuscuna.
Taschen Books: Jazz Covers
Prince of Darkness: Essential Audio Only Track Off Miles Davis’ Sorcerer
Behold a couple of the er… “winners” in this year’s crop of nominees for the Oops Design Award. Aren’t some of these just gorgeous?
Oops organizers have selected:
1. Ugliest product design of the year
2. Silliest product design of the year
3. Most useless product design concept of the year
There are plenty more of these “winners” on their website.
Via Oddee (thank you Mister Mark Jordan of London, England!)
Photographer Ian Lozz and Art Director/Illustrator Lawrence Mann have new work up on their website titled “My Animal Side.” I adore the classic English gentleman look!
Thanks Lea Zuccaro!
