Night Life : The New Yorker

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327794611 38 Night Life : The New Yorker

ROCK AND POP

Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives; it’s advisable to check in advance to confirm engagements.

B. B. KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL

237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144)—Jan. 31: The classically trained guitar virtuoso Uli Jon Roth first found fame in a fledgling incarnation of Germany’s hard-rocking Scorpions in the seventies, but he departed their ranks in 1978 after his fluidly ornate style started to conflict with the band’s more basic rock approach. Liberated from the stylistic confines of a rock band, Roth went on to pursue a solo career that gives equal time to his penchant for the floridly classical and the expansively psychedelic. Roth shares the stage here with the equally revered string-bender Leslie West, of Mountain.

BOWERY ELECTRIC

327 Bowery, at 2nd St. (212-228-0228)—Jan. 26: Manitoba. Handsome Dick Manitoba, a singer from the Bronx, burned hot and hard as the front man for the Dictators during the transitional rock scene of the mid-seventies, which connected the Stooges to the Ramones. Now a bar owner on the Lower East Side and a d.j. on Little Steven’s Underground Garage Sirius stream, Manitoba, still furious, fast, and funny, will be joined by a few old Dictators mates for this gig.

CAKE SHOP

152 Ludlow St. (212-253-0036)—Jan. 28: The New York underground artist and King Missile founding member Stephen Tunney performs quirky and often poignant solo guitar songs under the name Dogbowl. Tunney is something of a Renaissance man, appearing live only sporadically as he divides his time between the stage, writing novels, and painting. With the songwriter Phoebe Kreutz, who is bound for stardom as a writer of Broadway musicals; fans should take this opportunity to see her perform her own songs in an intimate setting. Amidst her whimsical and comedic lyrics—almost all of which rhyme, as satisfyingly and cleverly as possible—there are also moments of great honesty and sincerity. Also with the Bischoffs, who play pop-tinged psych rock with an acoustic-guitar foundation and feature a percussionist who uses an antique school desk in lieu of drums.

JOE’S PUB

425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8778)—Jan. 31: The singer, songwriter, and film composer Paul Brill takes a break from writing for the movies to celebrate the release of “Breezy,” his latest album of ornate power-pop tapestries.

MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG

66 N. 6th St., Brooklyn (718-486-5400)—Jan. 27: Aimee Mann (see Zankel Hall). With John Roderick, of the Long Winters.

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

Sixth Ave. at 50th St. (866-858-0007)—Jan. 26: Antony Hegarty performs raw and beautiful music with his band the Johnsons, in which his highly emotive singing can vacillate from trembling whimpers to forceful belts. At this MOMA-sponsored concert organized by the curator Klaus Biesenbach and in collaboration with a light designer, a light artist, and a set designer, the band performs “Swanlights,” a newly commissioned collection featuring songs from all four Antony & the Johnsons’ albums, with arrangements guaranteed to fill the Music Hall with richness and melancholy, performed by a sixty-piece orchestra.

SHEA STADIUM

20 Meadow St., Brooklyn (No phone)—Jan. 28: The Pharmacy is an off-kilter ensemble from Seattle that has gained notoriety in warehouses and house parties across the country. Their music is frank, party-oriented garage rock, but it’s mostly an excuse to get the trio out on the road; you’d be hard pressed to find another group as firmly committed to rock and roll as a way of life, and they boast a transnational faction of female devotees to prove it. Last year, the Pharmacy’s front man, Scott Yoder, started up a lo-fi rock group called the Fuzzy Cloaks while his bandmates were scattered around the country; the half-baked side project also performs here, along with the headliners, Japanther, a noisy punk band adept at whipping late-night scenesters into a sweaty dance-off.

SOUTHPAW

125 Fifth Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn (718-230-0236)—Jan. 28: The soul-music series “Dig Deeper,” which brings classic and obscure artists from the past back to the stage, presents the return of the Georgia singer Eula Cooper, who released a small but coveted body of singles in the late sixties and early seventies, and who made her first concert appearance in more than a decade with this series in 2008. She’ll be backed by Meah Pace and the MAP Legends, who will also perform their own set.

THEATRE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Seventh Ave. at 33rd St. (800-745-3000)—Jan. 28: Cynical metal fans could point out that if Megadeth’s Gigantour really lived up to its name, it would be playing the big room upstairs at Madison Square Garden instead of the comparatively intimate Theatre. Regardless, joining the splenetically fleet-fingered thrashers in Megadeth comes Volbeat, a curious Danish combo that pairs metal with rockabilly, Lacuna Coil, a goth-metal ensemble from Italy, and the endearingly no-nonsense Motörhead, the fittingly revered British trio whose full-frontal sonic attack will leave all parties in attendance with compromised hearing.

285 KENT

285 Kent Ave., Brooklyn (No phone)—Jan. 26: The forward-thinking art-rock ensemble MEN plays a dance-beat-fuelled brand of rock with eighties production values and an emphasis on feminism and gay rights. The Brooklyn musician Tami Hart, who has shared the stage with Le Tigre in the past, traffics in lo-fi synth-driven dance pop under the name Making Friendz. Keyboard sounds, overdriven drum machines, and sweet but distorted vocals blend together, culminating in mesmerizing dance music. The Brooklyn pop-rock quartet Claire’s Diary plays surf-punk songs reminiscent of the sound of Californian punk bands from the late seventies and early eighties

ZANKEL HALL

Seventh Ave. at 57th St. (212-247-7800)—Jan. 28: Since her début, in the eighties, fronting ’Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann has projected an icy seriousness of purpose, but her guest appearance as Fred and Carrie’s housecleaner on “Portlandia” last year displayed a lighter, self-mocking side that can also be present in her music. Her latest release is “@#%&*! Smilers.”

New York City’s American Folk Art Museum celebrates optimistic future with 50th anniversary

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327791013 64 New York Citys American Folk Art Museum celebrates optimistic future with 50th anniversaryNEW YORK (AP).- The American Folk Art Museum, long plagued by financial problems, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a new exhibition, renewed optimism for its future and its collection intact. At a preview of a new exhibition celebrating its anniversary Tuesday, museum officials discussed its financial status and projection of its future. The museum in September received a $2 million pledge from a longtime trustee and an additional $1 million commitment from other trustees and supporters, said Monty Blanchard Jr., president of the museum board of trustees. Those pledges gave the museum “significant runway to continue the operations of the museum and built it to new heights of artistic greatness,” Blanchard said. In addition, he said, the museum has received $500,000 from the Ford Foundation. As late as this summer, the board had been in discussions about possibly turning its collection over to another institution but with the goal of keeping it in New York City. But “the pledges and other money we had put us in a financially solvent position,” Blanchard said. “The pledges provided that ballast for future operations” and allowed the museum to make the decision to remain independent. He identified the long-term trustee as Joyce B. Cowin. The museum, founded in 1961, houses traditional folk art dating to the 18th century, including 5,000 quilts, weather vanes, textiles, sculptures, paintings and decorative arts in a 6,000-square-foot space in Lincoln Square, across from Lincoln Center. It also has a large collection of works by self-taught artists, including thousands of drawings, watercolors and unpublished manuscripts by Henry Darger. The institution has faced financial challenges for a long time but they took a turn for the worse in 2009 when it defaulted on a $32 million debt. The museum had taken out the money to build a new midtown Manhattan museum, on the same block as the Museum of Modern Art. To pay off the debt, it sold the building to MoMA in July, but continued operating at its Lincoln Square branch, a location it has owned since 1989. The folk art museum is searching for a new director and recently added a new member to its board of trustees. It anticipates adding up to two other new members by June. Several previous members had left during its financial trials. The museum’s other strategic plans include long-term loans to other institutions and collaborative arrangements with other museums. “Our first goal is ‘get the art out there,’ to develop collaborative opportunities for positioning the art that we love within or with other institutions,” Blanchard said. The museum currently has 14 iconic pieces on extended loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new American Wing galleries for paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. A traveling exhibit, “Kaleidoscope Quilts: The Art of Paula Nadelstern” will be shown at Endicott College in Massachusetts in the spring. A number of other works are currently on loan at the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass., and the museum is in active talks about a possible exhibition this summer of works from its collection at the South Street Seaport Museum. “These are examples of activities we are doing to fulfill our mission of getting our art out there,” Blanchard said. He said there are no plans to reduce staff and, in fact, once a new director is hired, the number will probably rise and the museum will embark on a longer-term fundraising plan that would involve raising endowment money. Blanchard anticipates operating costs to range from $2.5 million to $3 million annually. The anniversary exhibition that opened Tuesday, “Jubilation/Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined,” features nearly 100 highlights that represent the scope of traditional folk art and outsider art, or works by self-taught artists. It includes a Darger illustration, “Gigantic Roverine with Young” from his 15,000-page manuscript, “In the Realms of the Unreal,” and a metaphorical self-portrait by Nellie Mae Rowe titled, “Cow Jump Over the Mone.” “We have been ruminating on our past,” he said, referring to the exhibition title. “But we are jubilant about our future and the art that we present.” ___ Online: folkartmuseum.org Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Receives Painting From Chinese Artist Known for Ink Splash Works

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

Cornells Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Receives Painting From Chinese Artist Known for Ink Splash Works

The Chinese artist Kwong Lum, who is best known for Ink Splash paintings, a technique that adapts the ancient art of calligraphy to abstract paintings, recently endowed Cornell University’s Johnson Museum with a painting entitled “Excerpt from a Poem by Li Bai.”

The painting was accepted by Frank Robinson, recently retired Director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, during the annual Cornell Asian Alumni Association banquet on January 21. Robinson acknowledged the gift with this statement, “It’s very exciting, and it symbolizes the great, intimate relationship Cornell and the Johnson Museum have with Asia and Asian art.”

The Kwong Lum gift is done in Unrestrained Freehand Cursive Script, a technique that evolved from Ink Splash. “Excerpt from a Poem by Li Bai,” 2010, is the first such work of art in the Johnson Museum’s renowned collection of Asian art.

Kwong Lum describes Unconstrained Freehand Cursive Script as “free from the painstakingness and foreordained results historically practiced by traditional calligraphers.” The finished work is a painting of exceptional fluidity, vibrant and compelling. It features elements of both ancient Eastern and contemporary Western painting.

A recognized prodigy by the age of nine, Kwong Lum evolved Ink Splash Painting in the 1980s.  To achieve the freedom needed for spontaneous abstraction, the artist replaced the brush with paint rollers, rice paper with canvas, and pigment with Chinese ink and acrylics. The breakthrough significantly reformed traditional Chinese painting.

In 1990 Kwong Lum evolved the stylistic form Unconstrained Freehand Cursive Script. Kwong Lum described the style as embodying the essence of Lao Tzu’s principal that all things brought into being are formless yet complete.

Throughout his lifetime, Kwong Lum has consistently drawn the attention of master artists, curators and critics. At the age of nine, he became the student of Ding Yanyong, the painter, connoisseur and educator who was also one of the three founders of the Shanghai College of Art.  As Kwong Lum’s proficiency began to mature, Ding Yanyong treated him as a son, teaching him traditional painting, calligraphy and poetry. The master initiated the student in antique appraisal skills and seal engraving, all the while helping him acquire a collection of ancient art treasures.

At the age of twelve, Kwong Lum won first prize at the Grand Hong Kong Painting Contest of Young Artists. At fifteen, he was admitted to New Asia College (now Hong Kong Chinese University.) In 1957, he entered the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, thus beginning his life as a Westerner. After graduation, Canadian newspapers reviewed Kwong Lum as “a brilliant rising star in Canada.”

Henry Geldzahler, late Chief Curator of the Metropolitan Museum, spoke highly of Kwong Lum’s work. The art critic Robert C. Morgan has praised Kwong Lum for his clarity, incisiveness and ability to weave images from the East into the West and to find amazing correlations between the two.

Today, Kwong Lum holds the distinction of being the only living artist to be honored with a museum in his name in China. At the artist’s request, the museum is located in his hometown of Jiangmen, China, rather than Beijing, where it was originally slated to be built. It is due to open mid-2012. Kwong Lum is also a researcher and consultant to the Beijing National Museum of China and owner of Gianguan Auctions on Madison Avenue in New York City

The goal is a lemon in every plot

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327786209 49 The goal is a lemon in every plot

Self-sufficiency in Meyer lemons is the goal of a citywide project supported by Friends of the Urban Forest, set to start early this spring. As envisioned by longtime urban activist Isabel Wade, the first step would be mapping every Meyer lemon tree in town, says FUF program director Doug Wildman. It’s thought there might be 3,000 to 4,000 already flourishing in San Francisco; 12,000 trees – to be planted in pots or in the ground – would make us self-sufficient.

Despite this high-minded goal, I’m fretting about an abundance of lemon bars making brownies an endangered species in our town.

P.S.: The Flea Market column of the online SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator) National Accelerator Laboratory news site includes an offer forwarded by Jamie Jobb: “Do you still have some old, unused IBM 80-column punch cards collecting dust somewhere? Let’s trade. I can offer eggs from our free range chickens from our organic farm.”

Lady Gaga was here over the weekend with her boyfriend, Taylor Kinney, who came to participate with fellow “Trauma” show actors in a benefit for injured San Francisco Fire Department medic Brett Lynch. Lynch is in Company 49, the model for the company featured on the fictional show. At a Saturday night fundraiser at the Oakland Metro Operahouse, Gaga – wearing “not Gaga-ed out” clothing – was “warm and engaging and generously purchased several items in the auction,” says spy Mia Dean. Other guests refrained from swarming, and even the auctioneer called her “that lovely lady” rather than using her showbiz name.

Denise Hale, whose sponsorship of the new “Downton Abbey” series is celebrated with tip-top billing (each broadcast begins with her portrait being drawn on the screen), presided over a Sunday night supper and watching of the first episode hosted by her pal Ken Fulk. Madame, of course, wore diamonds; the guests, in an array of casual outfits that went from jeans to ties and jackets, didn’t. It’s the breadth of that gap between the bedecked and the bedazzled that is the focus of the delicious “Downton.”

The splendid dinner was by the Bernal Supper Club team, which has been serving pop-up meals a few nights a week at Caffe Cozzolino and is planning on expanding to full-blown restaurant. Having studied pre-World War I English food, the chefs rose to the occasion by serving the best of it, Cornish hen and not haggis, trifle and not spotted dick.

Guests munching truffle popcorn watched intently, as did TV viewers. KQED’s John Boland e-mailed Monday morning that the show had a 5.1 rating, five times the station’s average prime-time audience. I’d guess more were in their pajamas than their jewels.

First Thursday fell on Saturday, and among the art galleries hosting openings over the weekend was Paule Anglim, who showed new paintings by Clare Rojas and sculptures by Annabeth Rosen. Rojas’ work, said a flyer, has moved from “tight, detailed narrations” to “interior spaces and the abstract shapes produced by architecture and shadow.” Aficionados murmured about a new movement from figurative work to abstraction. At the same time, the gallery-goers included a bunch of preschoolers on the carpet in the middle of the gallery, playing with a pull-toy train. Amid Rojas’ meticulous planes, the playful scramble was captured by a ring of phone photographers.

Rosen showed five freestanding ceramic multi-patterned and multi-limbed sculptures, built of fat-bellied, vessel-like shapes. These fired ceramic components look almost squeezable, as though they’d squirt out something delicious if you touched them. Rosen (dressed in a multitude of checks and tattersalls that seemed in keeping with her work) holds the Robert Arneson Endowed Chair at UC Davis.

UC Davis art gallery director Renny Pritikin, who joined a gang at dinner hosted by Anglim afterward at Sam’s, was celebrating having received a $10 million donation from Maria Manetti and Jan Shrem. This will go to building a new home for the gallery’s 5,000-piece collection, “chock full,” Pritikin said, of works by Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Arneson, William Wiley, Roy De Forest and Manuel Neri. Target opening date is 2015.

Public Eavesdropping

“All my friends are on Facebook, so if I have an argument, I just hit ‘delete.’ “

Customer at Apple store in Roseville, overheard by Rick Bradley

This article appeared on page E – 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Tisbury : The Martha’s Vineyard Times

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327785008 88 Tisbury : The Marthas Vineyard Times

Do you think you know how our town works? You may be surprised at what you can learn at “Tisbury 101″ held at 7 pm on Tuesdays for the next few months at the Vineyard Haven Library. The deepest mysteries of Tisbury town government will be explained over the next two Tuesdays.

There will be more information on the second and third Tuesdays in February (Feb. 14 and 21) and a final session on March 13. This program is provided with the assistance of the League of Women Voters of Martha’s Vineyard whose goal is to help you make intelligent decisions as a voter.

The next session on town government is all about our money: how Tisbury gets it and also how the town spends it. On the 31st you can learn more about Tisbury’s places of learning, the schools and the library.

February’s sessions, called “What We Build and Where,” will provide a look at the job of the Board of Selectmen. On Valentine’s Day you can find out how building codes are enforced and what happens at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission that relates to Tisbury. The final meeting in March, “Protecting Tisbury’s Land and Water,” will be about our natural resources. What gets protected and why? How are priorities set to preserve our own town’s natural treasures?

This Saturday from 1 to 3 pm take advantage of the monthly mini book sale at the Vineyard Haven Library. You get a new book and the proceeds benefit the children’s programs. What more could you ask?

Rabbi Caryn B. Broitman lived and traveled for five months in Israel last year. On Sunday at 2 pm she will share her experiences in a free public program at the Vineyard Haven Public Library. Rabbi Broitman will discuss the cultural, societal, and religious experience of living in Israel. She has served as the Rabbi of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center since 2003.

One of our own artists has oil paintings on display this month at the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank in Chilmark. Susan Johnson’s paintings are en plein air (in the open air) landscape scenes at Beetlebung Farm. She says, “I have been painting outside since August there and plan to continue through the seasons (Brr!).” Susan studied en plein air painting in Tuscany with Boston University last summer and had an exhibit at the Vineyard Haven Library in August.

This project was the subject of her final project for Boston University’s Graduate Art Education Program. Susan will continue this project with the Vermont College of Fine Art this winter, and she has been accepted into the Institute For Doctoral Studies In The Visual Arts, a distance learning program with international residencies. Susan is a graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and The Pratt Institute. She worked as a special project researcher/web designer and seasonal circulation assistant at the Chilmark Library in 2009 and 2010.

We learned this week that winter is not going to skip us. Of course, the Farmers Almanac predicts extra cold and snowy for New England, so I am ignoring them this year. I’d rather believe my pretty flowering plants. My Christmas cactus plants are still enjoying the sunshine and giving me lovely blossoms to brighten up the scene. They were a little slow getting started this year, but they are still presenting continuous blooms. That is a much nicer prediction in my mind.

It seems sad to note that those lovely penguins at Bramhall & Dunn will be leaving us. They have added a welcome note of formality to our Main Street each holiday season.

There is a very special art experience offered for you on Friday. The little ones aged 2 to 5 at Garden Gate Center have an art exhibit at Featherstone. You are invited to enjoy their artwork, understandably inspired by Dr. Seuss, on Friday from 6 to 8.

Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out today to Patti Linn. I wonder if someone will prepare a tasty something chocolate to help her celebrate? Have a yummy day, Patti. Wish the best tomorrow to Mev Good. Cathy Deese and Anne Downing will party on Saturday.

Heard on Main Street: See the good all around you, even if you have to squint.

‘Ventures in Art’ on display at gallery in downtown Alma

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

doc4f2095d04bc19513115733 Ventures in Art on display at gallery in downtown Alma

Beverly Adams’ acrylic piece “Coneflowers with Globe Thistles” is on display in the current invitational gallery at ArtVentures Center for the Visual Arts, 107 E. Superior St., in Alma. Sun Photograph by ASHLEY MILLER

It’s been a busy New Year so far for central Michigan’s newest art gallery –and it’s going to get busier in coming months.Guests are enjoying the variety of mediums on display at Artventures Wassenaar Art Gallery’s debut juried exhibit, “Ventures in Art,” that opened earlier this month at the new gallery in downtown Alma. The positive reception by visitors to Artventures’ first juried show bodes well for the future of the artsy adventure, which is a collaborative effort of the Creative Arts Guild of Mid Michigan, Pine River Arts Council, Alma College and area public schools.“We have been very, very pleased by the number of people who have visited the gallery and their response to this particular exhibit – it’s fantastic,” says Sandy Lopez-Isnardi, director of the Wassenaar Gallery at Artventures who is also an art faculty member at Alma College.The imagery in “Ventures in Art” includes classic portraits and landscapes as well as some non-traditional and whimsical imagery. The variety of work, techniques, media, and styles is impressive yet still exhibits as a cohesive whole, Lopez-Isnardi says.“The work flows well in this exhibit, which is always a challenge to install with such a variety of techniques and imagery.”The exhibit includes 49 works ranging from paintings created with watercolor, oil and acrylic; drawings created with charcoal, pastels and ink; intaglio prints; traditional and multiple image photography; mixed media; ceramics – and an interesting technique, purography.“Purography – writing with fire – is a process that involves the transfer of a photographic image onto wood via fire burning,” Lopez-Isnardi says about the pieces exhibited by Steven Hawkes of Elwell.Works on display include work by artists from Gratiot, Isabella and Montcalm counties who are also well known for their talents in specific media. The artwork includes acrylics and watercolors by Carole Howard of Mt. Pleasant; acrylics by Bev Adams of Crystal; oils by LaVerne Adamson of Vestaburg; watercolors and mixed media by Sue Jastifer of Stanton; and photography by Sydney Buitweg of Alma.Other artists whose work was selected for “Ventures in Art” are Barbara Lang, Luverne Adamson, Deb Rutkowski, Diane Clise, Tami Maisel, Josh Gove, Sydney Buiteweg, Laurie Lehman, Lyle Vore, Hannah Rutledge, Julie Helm, Kathy Wilk, Diane Zakala, Julie Anderson, Robert Penner and Cynthia Judge.“Some of the artists create art as a hobby; some are Alma College art students; and others are professional artists who earn their livelihood by creating art,” the gallery director says. Continued…

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Danielle Tarantola spends

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327782614 67 Danielle Tarantola spends

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:48 PM on 12th January 2012

A distraught dog lover had her beloved pet cloned so that she could be with him even after he had died.

New Yorker Danielle Tarantola paid an incredible $50,000 for the procedure using pet Trouble’s DNA to create another dog exactly the same as the first.

She named the new pup Double Trouble after she contacted the world’s only animal cloning company in South Korea.

Double Trouble: The cloned pup may only a few months old but already he is living the same life as Trouble, in this photo the little pup is dressed as an angel, complete with halo.

Clone ranger: Trouble dressed as an elf at Christmas time, his DNA has since been cloned by his New York owner

And she said of her new pooch: ‘I really can see no difference between them. So many of their gestures andthe way they play is identical.’

Justa few months ago, the former Wall Street worker got a phone call from the company’s scientists informing her that the surrogate bitch carryingthe embryos developed from Trouble’s DNA had been successfully impregnated.

Weeks later, the surrogate went into labour and Danielle watched the birth by webcam from her home in the U.S.

Daniellehad been so upset by the death of her constant companion three years ago that she shelled out the massive fee so that she could have an identical replacement.

She said: ‘He was like the child I never had – and I probably did treat him better than most people treat their children.’

Beloved pet: Danielle Tarantola paid

The Beauty Of Landscape Art

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327779009 45 The Beauty Of Landscape Art

There are several subjects that an artist or painter can portray in his works and one of the most popular one is landscape. Finding landscape paintings for sale is not difficult since there are a lot of galleries that cover these kinds of paintings. Landscape paintings would portray the natural beauty that is hidden in our everyday world. It may be a skyline of some sort or a mountain view or the calm of the sea by the shore. These types of painting don’t only sell to art lovers per se but also to those who simply appreciate the loveliness of the scenery.

Finding landscape oil paintings for sale does not only apply to various galleries but also with the development of technology, some can even be bought online. The good thing about these types of paintings is that they can be a portrayal of a similar subject but they are never really of the same point of view. That is probably there are a lot of landscape paintings for sale and they do not cost that much.

With nineteen to thirty dollars, one can already purchase a finely executed landscape painting. Although, with those kinds of art that are priced in this range one should not expect that they are originals, most are replicas of originals that would cost thousands of dollars. For an art collector, there is no putting a fixed price on original landscape paintings for sale. Since these items usually, with time, increase in market value especially if the artist would become famous.Another probable reason why so many adorn this type of paintings is due to the fact that they offer an escape from reality. It would be an escape from the everyday life simply by looking onto a canvas and gazing into that world where everything seems to be so calm and peaceful.

There are also landscape paintings that would tell a story about a city or its people and their lifestyle. That is one of the beauties of this type of art, they can show so much in only one canvas. It can be as black and white as the actual inspiration of the artist, an exact copy of the physical manifestation of the scenery but for some artists who prefer to place their own interpretation on the canvas would create something with the essence of the scenery; but would be seen at a completely different perspective. This is what makes a landscape painting truly beautiful and why purchasing landscape paintings for sale is truly an investment.

These paintings last more than a lifetime. The portrayal of a scenery or how a person sees the world placed on canvas for the entire world to see; it would even live on and surpass the artist and likely even the scenery itself. It is like capturing a moment in time and keeping it that way forever because the perspective of the viewer, the style of the artist and the subject itself may all change with time but the painting itself will have remained the same.

Abstract pictures go very well in most situations. In his welded metal sculpture Smith incorporated "found" objects that, as a kind of sculptural equivalent to automatism, were often arranged to evoke the standing figure. Since off-whites have dominated Atlanta painting interiors for many years, you may feel the need to break away and balance out these dull shades. Well, maybe, this might not be essential but it is an additional beauty and protection to the artwork. The choice is yours but keep in mind the tone you want for the finished product. Ordinary people will love buy painting if it added up. You can attain the highest levels of results that you have always wanted. Free online painting videos are great. They should however look like they started the day clean and neat. These brushes will lessen the number of strokes you must make, reduce dripping and provide you with a quality professional looking finish. The good thing is, you can do it yourself and end up with a nice looking car. And my Top Tip is to put any drink on the opposite side - away from the palette and paint. They are generally applied to painting automobiles, some office equipment and also on elevators. That might be fun. To use your favorite picture or photo as a wall painting, use Photoshop program to change it into lines-only. Professional quality brushes are made to hold a lot more paint and give no drag marks.

DREAM HOUSE Blu-ray Review

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327776632 45 DREAM HOUSE Blu ray Review

When a studio dumps a horror movie, or any movie, it usually comes after some tinkering. Sometimes things don’t come out the way they were expected, and they try to fix what they can, or make it a harder or softer cut to make it more marketable. With 2011’s Dream House, one expects a terrible movie that was butchered or messed with in such a way that the release version seems a shred of the former movie. The weirdest thing about the film is that it feels like they made the movie they set out to make. Sure, it didn’t turn out well, but at least it’s a complete thought. Jim Sheridan directs Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz in the story of a haunted family that seems like a decade-late riff on The Sixth Sense. Our review of the Dream House Blu-ray follows after jump.

Craig stars as Will Atenton who starts the film leaving his job permanently to write from home. He’s got a loving wife in Libby (Weisz) and two adorable moppet daughters. They’re just setting up the home, so there’s painting going on, but it seems that the neighbors look at him funny, and there’s something odd going on. Neighborhood teenagers have been breaking into his basement to hold séances and hang out, and it appears there were murders in the house. His kids see things in their backyard. Spooky.

His next door neighbor Ann (Watts) is nice but tenuous with him, and it may be because she and her ex-husband (Marton Csokas) don’t get along. Will looks to investigate the killer, but the further he looks, the more it’s pointed out that he already knows what happened in the house.

Though the trailer revealed one of the big spoilers of the movie, since the film didn’t do that well, it’s possible people don’t know the big reveal going in. For those who’ve seen these sorts of movies before, the reveal is obvious because these films make you notice all sorts of other familiar tricks of the genre to create a misdirect. But that reveal is probably the most interesting thing about the movie, as it then changes a characters appearance (in a ridiculous way) but then paints a portrait of psychosis where the film becomes then about how much someone will deny the truth to themselves to create an alternate universe. That was where the film achieves any sort of power, and it’s utterly ruined by the marketing. Alas, the resolution is the sort that explains everything in a way that then drains out all of the things that make that interesting. It’s a soft movie.

The question then is: how did so many talented people make such nonsense? The film is handsomely shot, and there are a couple good ideas here and there, but it could be one of those things that read better on the page. A number of films work like that, where if you can’t see the performances then maybe some of the big reveals are more exciting, but on screen it’s just dead. Handsomely shot deadness.

Universal’s Blu-ray of Dream House comes with the film in widescreen (2.35:1) and in 5.1 DTS-HD master audio. The film was shot by Caleb Deschanel and looks great, much better than the standard horror pic. Also included is a DVD and digital copy. The film’s theatrical trailer is included (which is – strangely – a rarer supplement than you would expect) and four featurettes: “Burning Down the House” (4 min.) gets into the pyro effects in the movie, while “The Dream Cast” (6 min.) gets the cast in for EPK interviews. “Building the Dream House” (4 min.) goes into the production design, while “A Look Inside” (2 min.) plays like an interview laden trailer.

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US historical art treasures shine again in New York – Channel NewsAsia

Posted by on January 28, 2012 No comments

1327775428 42 US historical art treasures shine again in New York Channel NewsAsia    Photos  of      

NEW YORK – The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York unveiled new galleries on Thursday dedicated to the history of American painting, sculpture and design, some of which museum officials said displayed the country’s “crown jewels”.The new galleries are part of a $100 million renovation of the museum.”Today, we celebrate 10 years since the beginning of the project to reimagine, reinvent and rebuild the American Wing,” said Morrison Heckscher, chairman on the “American Wing,” during a presentation to the news media. “This is a big moment for the Met and for the American Wing.”Renovation of the galleries for American art from the 18th century to early 20th century began after Heckscher and his team concluded the previous galleries “were not doing justice to the collection display”.The 26 classically-styled renovated rooms occupy about 2,800 square metres, representing a “total reconfiguration of the space” and creating “modern galleries with a very historic feel,” Heckscher said.A centrepiece of the American Wing is the immense oil painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze, which depicts the peak of the American War of Independence.Leutze, a German American, painted the picture in Germany in 1851. It shows the revolutionary hero and first US president with his troops in a wooden boat crossing the ice-laden river that separates Pennsylvania from New Jersey on Christmas 1776.Another emblematic painting is “The Last Moments of John Brown,” painted in the late nineteenth century by the Irish-American Thomas Hovenden. It shows the abolitionist leader kissing a black baby on the way to the gallows just before the outbreak of the American Civil War.A recurring theme of American art is spectacular landscapes of the New World, which often are portrayed in the “Hudson River School” style of paintings.The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century art movement embodied by landscape painters such as Thomas Cole whose art reflected romanticism, particularly for images from New York’s Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area.The galleries are arranged to provide a tour of American art trends, from colonial period portraits (1730-1776) by artists such as John Singleton Copley to American Impressionism (1880-1920).”What we tried to do when you enter is to develop united story lines about the evolution of American painting and sculpture,” said curator Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser. “At the same time, these story lines parallel American history.”The first part of the “American Wing” renovation was completed in January 2007 on galleries devoted to classical arts in America. The second stage was finished in May 2009 with the renovation of space focused on the history of furniture and interior decoration.About 17,000 art works and objects are now displayed in the American Wing.- AFP/al