Animal rights and visual imagery

"Nitsch, an Austrian artist, uses animal entrails, blood and carcasses in his performances to embrace Dionysiac orgy and catharsis. A show including Abdessemed’s Don’t Trust Me at the San Francisco Art Institute was cancelled in March 2008 after animal rights activists threatened museum staff with bodily harm. An exhibition of the video was also closed in Turin, northern Italy, in February, after protests and questions of legality, although the show subsequently reopened.

Meanwhile, animal rights groups and 26 states have filed or joined briefs in support of the 1999 law, which makes it a crime to create, sell or possess depictions of animal cruelty with the intent to sell them in interstate commerce."

Details here.

Fun with the Internet(s)

I was screwing around the Internets a while back, as I was trying to see if there was anyone out there (besides Batman) named Adam West, who was also married to a woman named Mae.

Instead I discovered that Philly-born Teller of Penn & Teller fame is half Cuban!

People say that Castro is the only Cuban in the world who doesn't dance. I think that Teller is the only Cuban in the world who doesn't talk.

Bow Down to Washington

After losing 15 in a row, the Washington Huskies are back and yesterday they beat number three USC.

TV Heaven

First The Office finally came back funnier than ever, and now Curb Your Enthusiasm, by my standards the funniest show on TV, comes back tonight.

Now if they still had Blackadder shows on, I'd be in TV heaven.

Ofrenda

Ofrenda - Art for the Dead is an art exhibition of local artists' shrines, altars, paintings, music, dancing, and spoken word based on the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tradition.

Ofrenda remembers the dead and celebrates life (the two emphases of the holiday) with artist-made Dia de los Muertos altars and ofrendas (offerings) that venerate the beloved dead, and draw them to visit their loved ones, feast on their favorite food and drink, and listen to their favorite music.

This year marks the third annual Ofrenda Show and Art Outlet will partner with the Torpedo Factory Art Center for the show.

The event will begin Saturday, October 31 and run though November 3. On Saturday Oct 31, there is a parade starting at 7pm and a mask ball with multiple performances at 8pm during the reception.

This presents an opportunity for artists: Create and show your personal altars, icons, shrines, and offerings (ofrendas). They are seeking 2- and 3-D artwork (any media), which fits the Dia de los Muertos tradition. Art Outlet will curate 1152 square feet of wall exhibition space (18 panels, courtesy of Artomatic) and space for sculpture/media on the first floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center. They estimate this space will hold 36 two-D and 20 three-D artworks.

Art may include candles or incense, but these will not be burned during the show. There will be a public altar outside the Torpedo Factory that will include candles and incense. They especially welcome 3-D works and installation. The art and activities of traditional El Día de los Muertos celebrations look warmly and humorously on life, death, and the departed. When considering your submission, please be respectful. Art displayed at Ofrendas—Art of the Dead will take place in this same tradition.

Details here.

Fighting over Kahlo

Policing the legacy of artists can be a tough business. Nowhere is it tougher than in Mexico, where the magnetic, self-mythologizing painter Frida Kahlo (1907-54) shot from relative obscurity to iconic status only in the last quarter-century.

The LA Times Christopher Knight with an entertaining article on the fight of Frida Kahlo's newly discovered assortment of work(s). Read it here.

Here's the coffin