Mayans Were the First Graphic Artists

After reading a recent article in the New York times about the discovery of a ninth-century-workshop of Mayan scribes in Guatemala,  I realized these guys were the original graphic artists; beautiful, simple, powerful line work. Please note: The National Geographic Society, which supported the excavations, will describe the research in the June issue of its magazine.

I think it's funny that they have to mention, "Rest assured, however, that nothing written on those walls foretells the world coming to an end on Dec. 21, 2012, as some have feared through a misinterpretation of the Maya Long Count calendar." HAHA! Like they'd have the guys in mural painting bootcamp  practicing that. 

The article also mentions The Horse's Mouth, an odd movie staring Alex Guinness who plays what appears to be a rather bawdy artist who finds a wall that yearns to be painted on; I've added it to my Netflix queue.



Like a bunch of guys in the 70's, my brother had a Mayan calendar belt buckle in high school. I found it a few months ago while going through a junk drawer. Apparently you can buy these things new from Amazon. Who knew?

And...funny enough...I've already been invited to a "We'll All Go Together When We Go" movie night @ Joe and Brian's on December 21 to celebrate the Mayan calendar end of the world. I voted that we watch Apocalypto.  Prediction - Mayan wear - all things Mayan - will pick up steam as we approach that date.

Stutz Artist Annual Open House

This past weekend was The Raymond James Stutz Artists Open House.  It's always a treat to navigate your way around the enormous Stutz Building. That little van is adorable!

Not really a good photo, but it sort of captures what Open House must mean for these folks. The guy in this studio created photographs of these vintage doll heads on black backgrounds. You can see the heads on the back shelf. The window above displays the warehouse look that is Stutz. Flowers and drinks in front signal guests are coming for Open House.

This was taken in a jewelry studio, but the cat stole the show.

 

My favorite piece, Pink Moon,  by Adam Collier Noel. It appears to be a mixed media/image transfer of some sorts. I've always been fascinated by image transfers; they seem so magical. I found his Etsy shop of prints.

 Photo taken right outside of Lydia Burris' studio.  I remember seeing her mother's work over the years and just wishing I could do that.  Her mother Catherine Burris was a painter and assemblage artist, among other things. I didn't realize she'd passed away until this morning. I remember going to an art show at the Columbus Commons and actually getting to see Catherine's work up close. Her husband, and I realize now a young girl who must've been Lydia, were watching over Catherine's pieces. I stopped by to comment how beautiful I thought Catherine's was. The husband told me that, "Some people think it is scary and some people think it is beautiful."

First Friday April - Chimaera's Attic

Finally getting around to posting pix from First Friday. I hung out exclusively in the Fountain Square area, primarily the old Murphy Building, for Chimaera's Attic. You can see Maryanne Nguyen's "Gold Chained Hearts vs. Pearls" on the left in the picture above. The long white object is actually a very intricate paper cutting by Jacqueline Picardo. The never ending construction (over a year now) was never ending. I was disappointed to see that part of the construction involved replacing the grungy, worse for wear side walks with spiffy new Mall of America/Tourista looking side walks. Ugh. That well worn-ness is the attraction of Fountain Square.

This is a view to the street from a second floor glassless window.

The Old Murphy Building is a smelly creaky affair. Maryanne Nguyen has a cosy studio in the corner. I recognized her white collar worker animals from her Etsy shop. That's also her work on the left in the first picture.

It's the juxtaposition of art and decrepit building that gives the Murphy Art Building its appeal. Painting above by Stacy Novak.

I really liked this guy's hoody. I couldn't tell you what he looked like from the front. He may have had a third eye for all I know. My eyes kept going to the back of this jacket. The picture does not do it justice. It's a vibrant pink silk screen with a lot of detail on a cool black hoody.

These guys had pretty much setup camp in the corner.

Trying to capture the griminess that makes the Murphy Building rock.

Movie Night @ Alex's

Two Czech films this month @ Alex's - "Little Otik" and "Lunacy". Based on the folktale "Otesánek" by K J Erben, "Little Otik" is the the story of a childless couple, Karel and Božena, who "adopt" a tree stump baby and descend into baby madness when it comes to life. The couple cannot conceive and the husband sees babies everywhere. In fact, when they buy a little cottage in the country, the husband begins to clear out the trees, he takes a root and jokingly carves it into a baby to present to his wife. This joke backfires, as the wife immediately starts playing mommy and baby. Things spiral out of control when Little Otik comes to life. The neighbor girl, Alzbetka (Kristina Adamcova) figures out early on that everything is not as seems with the couple. Her character is the one stable person in this very indulgent, adult-baby world, but even she slurps her eggs and succumbs to Otik's needs.

Everyone wants everything right now. Božena decides to fake her own pregnancy, but can't wait the full 9 months. Alzbetka becomes sympothetic to Otik after he is locked in the basement for killing and eating the cat, the postman, and a social worker. This reminded me of the Night Gallery episode "Brenda". (I just loved that series as a kid, btw)

One of my fav reoccurring scenes were the ones with Alzbetka's dad on the couch after work drinking booze and watching commercials; he was clearly hypnotized by the media blitz. There was this constant mouth/food/slurp theme throughout the movie.

Here is a painting by Ana Bagayan titled "Little Otik".

It turns out there is also a restaurant in East Berlin called Little Otik.

The next film, Lunacy:

Pavel Liska plays Jean Berlot, a young, but mad lad, returning from his mother's funeral. He hooks up with the Marquis de Sade (Jan Triska) during one of his bad dream episodes while staying at an inn in the country and proceeds to go about the country side in a carriage. Jean is doomed from the start; his very cadaverous skin tones foretell that things will probably not end up well for him. They soon arrive at an asylum where the inmates and keepers have switched places. It seems the staff have been tarred and feathers and imprisoned in the basement. Charlotte played by Anna Geislerova, who is both beautiful and mad, convinces Jean to help free the captive staff members.

I loved the fog, overall dampness, and the dancing meat segments. Yes - I said dancing meat segments. Between each scene section we were treated to a piece of stop motion raw meat madness and calliope music. I can still here that music in my head. I kept glancing over my shoulder as I walked veeeery slooooowly past the meat counter this morning at the grocery store.

Submarine

This past weekend I've seen my second favorite movie of the year - Submarine. This movie is the directorial debut of Richard Ellef Ayoade who played Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd (add that to your Netflix queue as well) and tells the story of Oliver Tate's (Craig Roberts) two missions in life - Keep your parents marriage from falling apart and be the perfect boyfriend to Jordana. Craig looks like a cross between a young John Lennon and Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. I see a long term movie career ahead for this lad (who btw, is a 21 yr old playing a 15 yr old). Alex Turner does a solo turn here by providing the sound track which really works.

This is not your Mother's coming of age story. I hate the term coming of age anyway. The movie takes place in Swansea in 1986, whose landscapes flucutate between foggy, curving coastline and industrial dump sites, which makes the perfect backdrop for this story. Kudos for the spot on cinematography. These thankfully ordinary looking kids have already figured out that your "friends" can throw you under the bus for their own entertainment at a moments notice. These kids really roll with the school yard punches. Oliver's parents haven't had sex in awhile, he has a really clever way of monitoring this, and he's quite concerned. To make matters worse, the new neighbor New Age Guru Graham, is an ex-lover of his mother. Oliver later learns that his marine biologist dad actually stole his mother away from Graham. His mother is showing way too much interest in attending Graham's psycho-babble seminars. Oliver takes it upon himself to try to mend the marriage and get Graham out of the picture. Oh, and he's got to balance being the perfect boyfriend as well.

This movie was just such a clever breath of fresh air. I loved it!

Hey Rabbit!

Egg trees are so colorful and wacky! I must lead a sheltered life: I didn't know plastic eggs came with ears.



Fionn Regan singing Hey Rabbit. Fionn is clearly the love child of Bob Dylan and Beck.

This was posted in the window of Magic Bus in Broad Ripple on Easter morning.

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belguim

I'm not sure what prompted me to watch this again, I saw it at the drive-in when I was a wee lass, but I did. IITIMBB is a terrible movie. Terrible, but like a three-headed baby, I couldn't tear my eyes away. A group of very predictable stereotypical Americans go on an 18 day tour of Europe via Whirlwind Tours - Charlie Cartwright (Ian McShane) is the very mod Brit tour guide. Charlie has a beauty in every city; drop dead beauties at that. Suzanne Pleshette (I did not know she had passed way) is Samantha Perkins, an American fashion executive who needs time to consider whether she should marry some guy named George. Honestly, I can't imagine spending money on a trip like this in real life.

Hokey smoky script aside, I must admit there were some hidden gems. I loved seeing all the 35mm SLR cameras. There were some cameo appearances by two of my fav actors from that time period Ben Gazzara (didn't know he died this year) and Robert Vaughn. Charlie's beauties proved a mystery to me - who in the world were these extraordinary looking women? Another thing to note - Suzanne P was almost never seen standing up - she was either sitting at a table or sitting on the bus. Charlie's beauties were always shown standing up - full body. I imagine that Suzanne was not quite as thin and leggy as these beauties, so we were never shown her full body. Her dresses were really bunchy in the waist and hung below the knee. That pretty face was her greatest asset.

Back to Charlie's beauties:
Elsa Martenelli
Catherine Spaak

Heart throb guys from popular television and music were represented too.

Luke Halpin who would later become famous for his sun bleached hair and deck shoes in Flipper.

Donovan makes an appearance in a youth hostel. He sings Lord of the Reedy River which is a classic psychedelic pop number. He wrote the title song, but he didn't sing it. Someone named J P Rags is given credit. Anyone think that's a fake name?

Last, but not least, a few words about Ian McShane. The guy really can act. He takes this throw away role and gives it his all. Everyone else seems to be going through the motions - let's get through this already. I really liked his Al Swearengen character in Deadwood. What a role!

I've always had a thing for the way Europeans hold cups, silver ware, bottles, etc. It's a very sexy way of holding these very ordinary items. They have this touch that Americans just don't have. The Charlie character does the same thing throughout this movie. Just watch how Charlie effortlessly twirls the fondue fork during the Fondue Fling scenes. Check out this picture of Charlie pouring coffee in a cup for Samantha. Purrrrrrrr........