Honing in on the small body of work left to us by Hieronymus Bosch (some 25 paintings in museums across the world), the film opens with a series of luscious details of paint. Although cracking with age, the surface of the paintings still bears witness to the agile brush and even more agile mind of the artist. Lovingly detailed brushwork brings an almost jewel-like precision to the perverse devils and monsters that populate Bosch’s paintings, their forms dissolving into abstractions of color, line, and shape through the magnifying lens of the camera. The film is a paean to close looking, the sort of slow and deep observation that so few people seem to engage in–after all, recent studies have suggested that the average museum visitor spends about 15–30 seconds looking at a work of art.
Read MoreArtblog contributor, Donald Hunt emailed about his participation as an Artist Scholar at the Marian Anderson Historical Society. Donald, who writes about music for Artblog and was our graduate assistant on Artblog’s Artist and Social Responsibility (ASR) project, will perform in a special concert Aug. 27 at the Ethical Society–congratulations, Donald! And for you Daniel de Jesus fans, Donald says Daniel will be playing in the concert as well!
Read MoreI’ve been watching a lot of The Office (U.S.) lately. The heavy heat and caustic politics of the summer demanded a light touch and comedic reprieve. For me, the driving conflict of The Office was always the quiet struggle of the Dunder Mifflin employees to remain human in an inhuman environment. Their work world is formed by a toxic and invisible atmosphere designed to suffocate any and all aspirations to dignity, compassion, and individuality.
Read MoreJulie Dash’s The Great Migration observes the closing of one chapter of history for many African Americans–life in the unforgiving South–and the beginning of another–an arduous journey North towards an uncertain future. The opening scene of the film, a beach at first light shot in soft muted color, is a fitting metaphor for this transition. A solitary suitcase sits on the sand, a totem for countless histories both individual and communal. At this point of departure where land ends and sea begins, the memories of these emigrants bridge all physical borders, and as the sole remaining traveler, the suitcase is our window into a narrative whose roots run deep and whose branches continue to grow.
Read MoreArmchair travelers! I am with you. Longing for travel, I return to pictures of previous trips, like this one of the Rapeseed flowers growing in Germany seen from a speeding TGV train going to Paris. (Rapeseed plants are used to make canola oil.) I told you about the trip in 2013. The colors are somehow cheerful and the suggestion of open space is refreshing for urban eyeballs.
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