Phantasmaphile

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

The very dear Craig Conley introduced me recently to the spectacular 1970s Czech film by Jaromil Jires, called Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.  It is a bizarre coming-of-age reverie, consisting of a young girl who lives with her mysterious grandmother, lusty old vampires, magical earrings, burgeoning sexuality, ripe romance, hundreds of dripping candles, lacey dresses, oppressive religious figures, sick chickens, sun-dappled fields, dusty piles of books, and the list goes on.  The actual plot is tricky to suss out as the story follows its own surreal dream logic, but it's the sumptuous art direction and hazy mood that makes the film so special.  You can watch the film in pieces on YouTube, or you can try and be lucky enough to catch a showing of the Valerie Project, a touring version wherein live musicians play an alternative soundtrack against the rolling footage.

Anatomical Theatre

Joanna Ebenstein  "Anatomical Venus" 2007

Renaissance woman, Joanna Ebenstein, has just launched a web version of her stunning "Anatomical Theatre" photography exhibition.  Ebenstein made pilgrimages to medical museums in the US and Europe, doing research and then documenting her discoveries in camera.  The results are a beautiful and arresting visual medley of biological oddities, anatomical models, and other curiosa.  (You should also be reading her fascinating blog, Morbid Anatomy, if you aren't already.)   

Lisa Marie Godfrey

Lisa Marie Godfrey

Lisa Marie Godfrey takes a simple idea and elevates it with her spot-on execution.  Her "Dream Guides" series consists of found vintage photographs which she embellishes with gauzy painted details.  Perhaps you'll encounter one of these characters while you sleep tonight...

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Tim Walker

Tim Walker 

I was first introduced to the loveliness of Tim Walker's photographs by an art director pal of mine, and became instantly smitten.  I meant to post about him then, but was reminded again by the wonderful Moldy Doily blog.  As with Eugenio Recuenco and Mert & Marcus, I am always bowled over when fashion photography transcends its usual parameters, and becomes a work of imagination and nebulous narrative.  If you love Tim Walker's photographs as much as I do, you can pre-order his book, Tim Walker Pictures, now at a heavily discounted price - $78.75 instead of $125: take a look.

M. Hutter

M. Hutter  "Two Boys Play a Trick on Their Sister"  2006

I had the toughest time deciding which of M. Hutter's paintings to put up here.  I knew I wanted it to be from his Purgatorium series, but I am crazy about so many of them.  They're like storybook illustrations for adults.  Or rather, like fairy tales actually were, before history censored out all of the horror and sex.

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Dreamy Music Pt 5

Lots of splendid new music has just come out, and I am swooning:

Clinic - Do It!:  A new Clinic album is always cause for rejoicing, and this one is amongst their very best.  Spooky-sexy, retro-fresh, and masterfully woven with their signature driving beat.

Breeders - Mountain Battles:  Eclectic, unapologetically uneven, and always too cool for school, the Breeders are back with a vengeance.

Portishead - Third:  Many of us never thought we'd see this day, but the new Portishead album is every bit as haunting and cinematic as one could hope for.  (The album releases next Tuesday, but you can hear the whole thing at Last.fm now).

Papercuts - Can't Go Back:  I saw these guys open for the magnificent Beach House, and was totally blown away by their surging sound and desperate crooning.  They sound like a depressive-yet-glittering band from the early 60s.  Which I mean as a very high compliment. 

Comic Book Tattoo

Jason Levesque  Cover for Comic Book Tattoo

Image Comics recently made an announcement that completely blew my mind, as it yields a convergence of so many of my favorite things.  This summer, they will be releasing Comic Book Tattoo, an anthology of graphic interepretations of dozens of songs from the Tori Amos canon, edited by Rantz Hoseley.  (The title is a lyric from her fantastic B-side, "Flying Dutchman.")  The list of artists involved is staggering, and includes such comics luminaries as Mike Dringenberg, Mark Buckingham, Dame Darcy, and Hope Larson.  As if that wasn't enough to slay me with supremity, Neil Gaiman will be writing the introduction.  For those of you who aren't already aware of the history of Amos, Gaiman, and Hoseley, a succinct explanation is given by Hoseley here:

“When I was crashing at her place back during the writing and recording of [1992's] Little Earthquakes, I was buying a lot of comics, and I’d leave them lying around,” he explained. “Eventually, I ended up convincing her to read some of them, which she loved. Books like ‘Sandman,’ ‘Omaha,’ some of Ted McKeever’s work from that era, ‘A Distant Soil’ as well as some others. That ended up leading to Tori writing the line in ‘Tear in Your Hand’ where she name-drops Neil [Gaiman] and Sandman, which lead to me sneaking an early mix copy of the album to Neil at that year’s [Comic-Con International in San Diego]. When Little Earthquakes was released, I ended up with the misspelled ‘credit’ on that song as ‘Sandman comic supplier’, so Tori’s and my comic connection goes back almost as long as I’ve known her.”

Iris Schwarz

Iris Schwarz  "J'ai oublie"

I love Iris Schwarz's francophilic prints.  Whimsical and antique-feeling, they'd look lovely in a crumbling palace, or against a wall of cracked paint. 

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Orly Cogan

Orly Cogan  "Fairytale"

Orly Cogan creates embroidered fever dreams whose childlike prettiness belies an undercurrent of sexual transgression.  I love when so called "safe" handicrafts like this are resignified to be revolutionary, surprising, and even taboo.

Suzanne Treister

Suzanne Treister  "ALCHEMY/USA Today"  July 17th, 2007

It's difficult to know where to begin when talking about the divinely dexterous Suzanne Treister.  A multimedia artist interested in exploring (and skewering) potential connections between the occult and world affairs, she attacks her fascinations with panache.  Her obsessively detailed ink drawings, currently on view at PPOW Gallery, reconfigure newspaper articles into alchemical diagrams.  She is also the mastermind behind the HEXEN 2039 project, in which her quasi-fictional time-travelling alter-ego, Rosalind Brodsky, constructs elaborate conspiracy theories regarding "occult groups, Chernobyl, witchcraft, the US film industry, British Intelligence agencies, Soviet brainwashing, behaviour control experiments of the US Army and recent practices of its Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (PSYOP), in light of alarming new research in contemporary neuroscience..." You can view bits of this piece online, though I am praying it comes to New York someday soon.

Richard Russell

Richard Russell  "Flowers of the World"  2007

My pal Joanna over at Morbid Anatomy introduced me to the wonderful work of Richard Russell.  His pieces incorporate collage elements in beeswax, and the wood panels lend a weathered texture that adds to the overall vintage feel.   

When Is a Clock

"When Is a Clock" is a new play by the very brilliant trailblazer (and keeper of my heart), Matthew Freeman.  It is being billed as "a surrealistic detective story," but I would add that it has moments of outlandish humor, as well as incredible poignance.  Freeman's script is lyrical and bursting with strange beauty, director Kyle Ancowitz is a true visionary, and the actors are some of the finest you will see in New York.  I don't want to give anything else away, so you simply must come and see it yourself.  The show is up at Blue Coyote's Access Theater through May 10th.  Tickets are $18, though preview performances (April 15th-17th) are discounted to $12.  Get em while they're hot (and still available).

Blue Coyote Theater Group presents

When Is A Clock
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 through Saturday, May 10, 2008
8:00pm

A surrealistic detective story from Matthew Freeman.

Length: 1 hr 45 mins
Intermission: None
Seating: General Admission

When Gordon's wife vanishes, the only clue to her whereabouts is a dog-eared copy of an odd book. Pursued by the police as a potential homicide suspect and perpetually nagged by his smart-ass teenage son, Gordon takes off to a strange Pennsylvania town to search for his missing wife. At turns both scathingly funny and disturbingly compelling, When Is A Clock features Freeman's celebrated deconstruction of American culture - which has been called "nonviolent, though as savage as any slasher film" by the NY Times.

Access Theater
380 Broadway
New York, NY 10013
(Corner of B'Way/White Street)
   

Susan Jamison show!

Susan Jamison  "Tatting Tales"  2007

I had the pleasure of attending Susan Jamison's opening last night at Spanierman Modern.  I was awestruck by the delicacy of her brushstrokes, as well as the rose quartz glow that seemed to fill the space thanks to her subjects' beautiful fleshtones.  (Susan's stunning hot pink dress helped, too.)  The show is called "For the Curious" and riffs on ideas of mutation, womanhood, and otherness.  You can check out this spectacular work through May 3rd.

Kelly Louise Judd, again

Kelly Louise Judd  "A Tiny Garden"  2008

I've posted about Kelly Louise Judd before, but had to share her newest painting with you.  Perfect for this splendid spring day we're enjoying here in NYC. 

Christopher David Ryan

Christopher David Ryan  "Many Moons"  2007

Christopher David Ryan is a very fine graphic artist with killer instincts.  His pieces feel perfectly balanced, ancient and futuristic at once.  He has prints for sale here.  I'm so tempted to buy either the one above and/or "The Solar System."

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Angelo Filomeno show!

Angelo Filomeno  "My Love Sings When the Rower is Near (The Philosopher and the Woman)  2007

Apologies for the short notice on this, as I only heard about this now.  Angelo Filomeno's show is up through this Saturday the 12th at Galerie Lelong.  This is one of those "must see in person" shows, due to the luster of his giant silk tapestries, the texture of his gleaming threadwork, and the shimmering crystals spangled throughout the pieces, all of which is lost on screen.  Standing in front of a Filomeno is a truly transcendent experience.  (If you do miss this, you can still catch his work at the Pricked: Extreme Embroidery show, which has been extended by popular demand to April 27th). 

Carlos Esteves

Carlos Esteves  "Plenilunio"  2004

I am all atingle about the work of Cuban artist Carlos Esteves.  His precise, geometric interpretations of spirituality and magic nod aesthetically to Paul Klee and Joan Miro, though I find his work to be far more enchanting.

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Nikki Pinder

 

Nikki Pinder  Cover for NightOwl  2007

Nikki Pinder is an illustrator after my own heart, what with her masterful surrealist composites.  She is also the mind behind the mixed media magazine NightOwl which, sadly, looks to be sold out.  I wish I could have nabbed a copy.  Maybe she'll come out with a second issue, if we ask nicely?

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Rococo Exhibit

Oooh, Cooper-Hewitt has an exhibit up now called "Rococo: The Continuing Curve 1730-2008."  It's a three century survey about this lavish design movement and its influence.  Who's going with me?

Erik Mark Sandberg

Erik Mark Sandberg  "Union"  2006

Does it get any better than Erik Mark Sandberg?  Wild imaginings, masterful skill, and an amalgam of styles pour out of this man's brain and into his riotous paintings.  (His show is also up at Jonathan LeVine Gallery through May 3rd.)

Alex Gross show!

Alex Gross  "Redemption"  2007

I'm very excited to announce that Alex Gross has a new show opening on Saturday, April 5th at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery.  Entitled "Mysteries and Manners," it will be up until May 3rd, so be sure to check it out.  The few paintings they're showing online are jaw-droppingly beautiful and rife with occult symbolism.  Also it looks like his monograph, The Art of Alex Gross, is currently 24% off on Amazon, in case you want to snatch one up.