The Chicago Snowman

In addition to mimes, insurance guys, clowns, Jehovah’s Witnesses and nuns, snowmen are among the creepiest of entities, especially in Chicago.  By the time the sun  starts them on  their slow, shape-shifting erosion, they’ve been pissed on copiously by dogs, drunks and homeless dudes.  Invariably someone tries to piss their name into Frosty while circling, and falls on his ass because, there it is: three and-a-half feet away. . .the ass-print.  FULL STORY

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The Ghosts of Earth, a Haiku

We all die someday.
But our ghosts search for new worlds,
To haunt once again.

On December 31, 1983 Jill Waterman began a long term project to photograph New Year’s celebrations in cities around the world. For more than 25 years her documentation has spanned many countries, cultures and events: from waiting for midnight in Paris; to religious observances on the beach in Brazil; to the Millennium celebration in Bethlehem; to this image of fireworks over Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle from 1999.  Shooting from an adjacent window that offered a panoramic view, Jill made this image within seconds of the firework’s first burst, before the scene became polluted by smoke accumulating in the air over time.  MORE PHOTOS at Jill Waterman’s website.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17th

SALE TIME/PUBLIC WELCOME from 6-9pm at LUX, 500 NW 14th Ave., Portland Oregon 97209.

Over 100 local artists will spend the day pulling fresh monoprints from the presses at PICA’s temporary printmaking studio. This year, we introduce new sizes and prices to the evening sale—prints are available for $50 – $250, and all proceeds benefit PICA’s artistic programs. Snag a one-of-a-kind artwork from a local legend or fall in love with a piece by a bright new talent.

Sebastian Cwilich (left) and Carter Cleveland (here at a gallery called Haunch of Venison) have constructed an art “genome.”
Photo: Eric Ogden

On a balmy summer day in Manhattan, the founder of a web startup called Art.sy was about to experience what one might call an Alexander Graham Bell moment. The firm’s 25-year-old CEO, Carter Cleveland, was sitting on a sofa with his MacBook, scrolling through photos of fine art, when his lanky head of engineering walked in looking positively wobbly with excitement. “This is actually quite cool,” he said, landing on the sofa next to his boss. The engineer, Daniel Doubrovkine, produced a phone and pointed its camera at Cleveland’s computer screen, which at that moment showed an image from Andy Warhol’s Flowers series.  FULL ARTICLE

PARIS — “Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons; there is nothing more depressing for a young artist,” said Bianca Argimon, a student at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris who favors traditional techniques when working with ceramics, engravings and pyrography over what she views as ultraconceptual, increasingly dematerialized art. “Most of us can’t afford — nor approve of — having an entire factory of workers.”

‘‘Down on the Aisle II,’’ a piece by Laura Keeble.

FULL ARTICLE

*I like the way the glass of iced tea frames the Daniel Day Lewis shot.