Jim Cuno and Glenn Lowry: A Conversation on Museums of Modern Art

Tate Channel . In the Studio . Martin Parr

Malls R Us . documentary film

-America's Pastime

Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design Exhibition

"Designer Konstantin Grcic, in conversation with curator Zoë Ryan, discusses industrial design, the creative process, and his recent Art Institute exhibition, Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design." -ArtBabble

MOUNTAINS

It's kinda like

a subway train

at 7 in the morning

moving through its vessels

you are late

and can't distinguish

whether the merchants

are epileptic or

if its their medicine

when all of a matter of a fact

the lights go out

and all you see

is the sound of grace

dancing through the universe

Her face so familiar

you think shes your mother.

Now you can

finally let go again

of all the references

of the world

you've memorized

since you were a child

And you can finally be

once more

a trapeze artist

a dancer from the eastern shore.

You paint with words

and the rain comes down

but it is gentle

and the burden of your flight

is lightened.

You are gray

and white

and red

but never dull.

You think of days you never knew

when the country

barely contained your madness

and your eyes were red

and the women slipped on streams

who tried to talk

but you were deaf.

It goes on

but your ghost is tired

and you write in blood.

-photos by salvatore bertucci & ricardo herrera, respectively

Constantin Brancusi Documentary

"Though charming and gregarious, Brancusi was a complex and somewhat mysterious person whom few seem to have known well. His interests ranged from music to science and philosophy. A talented violinist and singer, he had an eclectic taste in music. He was also a famous cook of traditional Romanian dishes and an extraordinary handyman, building his own phonograph and fashioning most of the furniture, utensils, and even doorways in his home. His worldview, which above all valued "differentiating the essential from the ephemeral," was shaped not only by Plato but also by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu and the 11th-century Tibetan monk Milarepa. On the one hand, he was a "saint-like" idealist, almost an ascetic. He had turned his studio into a kind of temple, and all who visited it remarked on the deeply spiritual atmosphere that the artworks lent to the space. Yet, in the teens and twenties, he was known in his bohemian circle as a pleasure-seeker and merrymaker, throwing lively parties at which he served as host, cook, and entertainer. He appreciated cigarettes, good wine, and the company of women, and he overindulged in all three. As Brancusi gained wealth, he began to drink to excess and once had to be treated for nicotine poisoning. Though he never married, he carried on a number of affairs and had at least one child, whom, in a gesture uncharacteristic of a "saint," he never acknowledged.
While his fame grew, the once gregarious socialite became almost a hermit. Because Brancusi seldom confided in others, the reason for this change remains largely a mystery... He must have realized that most of his relationships were merely professional or superficial ones. Yet, unable to forge new, deeper relationships so late in life, he had no choice but to turn inward. And, wizened by age and the continual acquisition of knowledge, it's likely that he finally decided to trade the ephemeral for the essential in life as well as in art. "

-brainjuice