Overhead Compartment

Portraits from the window seat: the pensive expressions of John Schabel’s Passengers

Claudio Rivera — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:20:19 +0000

That wistful moment just before takeoff—the cabin is still with apprehension, hushed excitement, the quiet shuffle of handheld diversions, an occasional release from consciousness. John Schabel’s voyeuristic Passengers masterfully collects these many faces of anticipation. Having captured his anonymous subjects with a telephoto lens, Schabel presents a miniature study of airplane psychology, each photograph providing as a frame for these all too human reactions the mechanized fuselage, crawling inexorably towards the runway. Be sure to stop by the International Center of Photography in NYC tomorrow night, February 8th, from 18:00-19:30 for a Passengers book signing.

via pdn

A curatorial daydream exhibition of Tom Wesselmann’s foot fetish

Claudio Rivera — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:32:58 +0000

There’s a certain something about the paintings of Tom Wesselmann that we can’t quite put our finger—or our lips?—on. For one thing, it gives us the uneasy feeling that somebody’s about to be gunned down in front of a fruitstand or on a causeway. But Wesselmann’s playful, eccentric obsession with oranges is just part of the pronounced aestheticism of everyday objects and body parts that characterized his work starting in the mid-60s: lips, breasts, feet, cigarettes, etc.

The humor and bursting colors accentuating such works as his Seascape or Bedroom series, though reminiscent of his pop art contemporaries, suggests that Wesselmann had a very different artistic agenda, exploring the intimacy, sensuality, and vivacity of things. We might even go so far as to describe Wesselmann as an artist of fetishism par excellence. Of all of his fetishes, we find the foot-oriented variety most enticing, for whatever reason—which is none of your business anyway. Somebody really ought to curate this exhibition.

Emory Douglas and the visual language of the Black Panther Party

Tehseen Hussein — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:26:18 +0000

Emory Douglas worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party for Self Defense from 1967 until the discontinuation of the Party in the 1980s. He’s been called the “Norman Rockwell of the ghetto”, and is known for his powerful illustrations in The Black Panther newspaper often depicting poor African Americans, most of who were aggravated, outraged, and ready for a fight. His artwork motivated disenfranchised members of the African American community to take action through his portrayals of police brutality, poverty, global imperialism, and poor living conditions.

Douglas’s use of thick bold lines, minimalist forms, and bright color inspired the trademark visual style for all of the Party’s newspapers, posters, and pamphlets, and his visuals have became one of the most poignant graphic records of the Black Panther’s legacy.

Lichtenstein retrospective comes to Tate Modern

Claudio Rivera — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:19:52 +0000

Lichtenstein: A Retrospective will be opening at Tate Modern early this Spring, showcasing 125 of the artist’s most renowned paintings and sculptures. With his ironical appropriation of comic book imagery, advertising, and cartoon illustration, Lichtenstein irreverently challenged the limits of how art functions within mass culture. His iconic hand-painted Benday dots and fragmented speech bubbles present a jarring confrontation between high art and American popular media. Among the featured works will be such noteworthy pieces as Look Mickey (1961) and his Artist’s Studio series (1973-4). The exhibition runs from February 21 through May 27, so book your flight and pick us up some expensive biscuits while you’re over there.

What’s in your winter hearth?—Foraging for the perfect firewood

Claudio Rivera — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:31:41 +0000

With the solstice behind us, we in the north are settling in for the quietude of winter’s lingering, deathly chill. Perhaps you’ve already a hearty cord of wood cut, stockpiled, and seasoned, just waiting to flood your dacha with a soft glimmer. Or maybe you’re more the moneyed layabout type, opting instead to outsource all the modest pleasures of this earthy labor. Either way, there are several factors decisive to selecting the perfect firewood. For the indoor hearth, we recommend well-seasoned hardwoods, which tend to retain less moisture than softer woods.

Red Oak: Burns cleanly, slowly, and without much fuss. Oak is a holiday favorite due to the intensity of its heat, its relative longevity, and that classic fragrance to fill your lungs with warmth in the frigid depths of midwinter.

Shagbark Hickory: Perhaps the hottest burning wood there is, the dense, hard-to-split shagbark variety is especially suited for your stove or fireplace, where you can enjoy its languorous, flickering glow late into the evening.

Black Cherry: Seasons quickly, splits easily, and burns with a medium heat. But the real virtue of cherry wood comes from its sweet, captivating aroma, an enticing complement to some mulled wine.

Sugar Maple: Another wood with a high intensity heat, maple seldom burns so well as hickory or oak, but we like it for the dreamlike swirls of light, the burst of sparks, and memories of snowfall in the nighttime stillness of a New England forest.

Piñon Pine: The hardest of the softwoods, we’ll make an exception for this slow-burning, Southwestern classic solely for its unforgettable cowboy campfire smell.

Brilliant mid-century illustrations from B. Løkeland

Tehseen Hussein — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 19:43:50 +0000

Simple, elegant, and with wonderfully curated color. What more could we ask for?

via Flickr

The first computer generated facial animation from 1974

Tehseen Hussein — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:43:22 +0000

In 1974, Frederic Parke received a PhD in computer science from the University of Utah College of Engineering, where he also created the first computer generated physically-modeled human face. Parke’s original idea of virtual modeling has seen exponential advancements as technology that was once only accessible at a top university research facility underwent major development and democratization in the span of four decades.

Today, a combination of 3D scanning and Web GL allows us to view a hyper-realistic 3D modeled head in interactive real time. Side by side, the difference between them is striking. What once required a tremendous amount of computing power just to display can now be viewed in-browser.

The Toronto-based designer whose lettering has become as American as apple pie

Tehseen Hussein — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 00:39:43 +0000

Maybe you’ve never heard of Ian Brignell, a Toronto-based logotype designer, but chances are you’ve seen his work. In fact, unless you’re hiding in an abandoned missile silo in the remote Siberian tundra (as we are), or in some post-capitalist haven (Toronto), it’s likely that his logotypes have colonized the majority of your day-to-day visual field. Brignell’s incredible talent for distilling the essence of America’s consumer identity has landed him design work with the most ubiquitous, high profile brands—everything from Burger King’s heavyset, corpulent lettering to the elegant scripts and serifed typefaces of top shelf potations like Coors Light and Miller High Life. Brignell’s instantly recognizable logos are the saccarine icing on an incredibly dry cake of globalized mass culture.

Brooklyn to Manhattan on film: Thomas Edison crosses the Brooklyn Bridge by train

Claudio Rivera — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:16:06 +0000

Constructed in 1883, the East River Bridge, later dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, was once the longest suspension bridge in the world, and remains one of the most iconic architectural marvels today. In 1899, Edison captured this leisurely train ride across … Continue reading →

Post-impressionism in the Caucasus Mountains with Martiros Saryan

Tehseen Hussein — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:40:48 +0000

Martiros Saryan (1880-1972) was an Armenian painter regarded for his masterful selection and use of color. Inspired by the likes of Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse and Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin, Saryan captured a sentimental slice of Armenian life in his minimal landscapes, meticulous still lifes, and bold, honest portraiture.

Saryan studied at the Moscow School of Arts and traveled throughout the neighboring region before returning to live in Armenia in 1921. After spending the second half of the 1920s in Paris, Saryan returned to the Soviet Union, tragically losing most of his work from that period at the fault of a fire on board his homeward bound vessel.

Among praise in the Moscow press, Saryan received the Order of Lenin on numerous occasions, as well as a role as a deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet.