Results tagged “art” from Uncivil Society

To complement your Jesus is a Yankees Fan t-shirt, here's a Yankees devotional copper icon featured in the fun new book version of Regretsy--Where DIY meets WTF.

Regretsy, as the title suggests, heaps a generous dollop of snark on the goofiest items from Etsy. But the site's about a lot more than having a laugh at others' expense--besides bringing to light some of the more offbeat expressions of human creativity, Regretsy has also raised thousands of dollars for charity--"profits from Regretsy merchandise are used to hire Etsy artists to create handmade products for various charities, or to directly benefit Etsy sellers in need."

Martina Fugazzotto is the award-winning author of comics aimed at giving teens an educational & entertaining introduction to sexuality. Below: her table at this weekend's MoCCA Art Fest.

Over the weekend I posted my thoughts on the Wall St. Journal's lengthy article on Donald Duck in Germany. What struck me most: the stylistic contrast in relation to cultural identity:

The article ascribes the character’s popularity to the strip’s longtime translator, Erika Fuchs, an art history Ph.D. who rewrote Carl Barks’ dialogue to include references to German literature, myth and politics. . . .

Post-war Germany was in the process of restoring its identity after Nazi ideology raised serious questions as to the legitimacy of the country’s cultural heritage. A funny book provided a means for Fuchs to highlight the value of German traditions free from worrisome evocations of the Nazi’s use of German culture to establish ethnic supremacy.

Barks wrote in a radically different context. America’s literary heritage was not morally suspect; to have used Donald Duck to legitimize Melville or Dickinson would have seemed pretentious, if not bizarre. Barks’ visual and verbal rhetoric is instead far more pragmatic–Donald and his retinue are on a perpetual quest to succeed in a world full of baffling new tools and old ways.

As it happens, I'm in the middle of one of my periodic re-readings of Barks, so this stuff is fresh on my mind. Note particularly this observation

America’s literary heritage was not morally suspect; to have used Donald Duck to legitimize Melville or Dickinson would have seemed pretentious, if not bizarre. Barks’ visual and verbal rhetoric is instead far more pragmatic . . .

and compare it to the following scene from Barks' Snow Fun, a story in which Donald and his nephews raise money to buy one of the era's emblems of middle-class success, manufactured skis:

One of my pictures in the Barks post illustrates another dimension of Barks' examination of cultural identity. It's from Donald Duck and the Mummy's Ring, a brilliant (and funny) exploration of the question of whether the West should repatriate cultural objects to their country of origin. The kicker for me in the story is that it's more complex than a reductionistic tale of good natives and bad Americans--the Egyptians themselves are a blend of traditional believers and secular Westernizers, epitomized by a strategic nationalist educated at "Yarvard" in the States.

This may seem a bit goofy, but that's exactly why it works. As I concluded in my previous post,

What both the German and American versions of Barks’ work illustrate is the strategic value of junk media in remaking society. That so many people continue to view comics as little more than trash is not necessarily a bad thing–it frees the medium for creative expression outside the normative constraints of so-called high art, thereby retaining comics’ power as a cultural trojan horse.

The heroic myth takes on a new form. A commenter explains:

Ganesha is seen as the Remover of Obstacles, so anyone or anything that takes action to remove obstacles can be seen as exhibiting an aspect of the divine, in the form of Ganesh. The people who made this statue are saying that the heroic nature that we admire in the fictitious character of Spider-Man is an expression of the divine within us all, and should be honored. Also, it’s FUN. Bravo!

Thanks, Deborah Elizabeth Finn!

From Muppets Rawk, an art show in which designers muppetized famous album covers.

Via Robot6, this is brilliant stuff--an essential archive for anyone with an interest in the history of charity & public service.

The words we use for corporate identity--not just corporation, but terms such as social enterprise and civil society--are from one perspective sophisticated forms of data mapping, akin to the cutting-edge 3D visualizations of choreography at Synchronous Objects.

From the upcoming show 2 Many Artists, a "public Summit on the infallibility of comic books, fairy tales, and emerging artists – a cut to the core of blue chip art and born-into pop culture."

As the above example illustrates, it's going to be filled with avant garde comic art images the likes of which no one has never seen before, like, y'know, riffs on the whole Bang! Pow! thing.

A must-see exhibit with a must-buy book: The Brinkley Girls, exploring the art of Nell Brinkley:

Nell Brinkley widened her scope to include pen and ink depictions of working women. Brinkley used her fame to campaign for better working conditions and higher pay for women who had joined in the war effort, and who were suffering economic and social dislocation due to acting on their patriotism. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she drew women of different races and cultures.

A conservative social enterprise uses theatrical performances to promote its message back in 1959.

An interesting tidbit in today's FT article about fire sales of corporate art:

Meticulous planning is essential. Ms Skipwith oversaw the sale of the art collection of the London-based bank Robert Fleming to the Fleming family when the bank was taken over by Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000. Before the sale, she made sure that Flemings' directors knew the importance of the collection: started in 1968, it is considered a highly significant collection of Scottish art.

"I asked what would happen [to the paintings] if the company got sold and it was taken over," she says. "It was agreed that if the company was sold, the Fleming family would buy the collection back at market value and give it all to a charitable foundation trust. We got everything approved and then put it on ice."

The collection raised a good price - £10m. It also stayed intact rather than getting caught up in the sale of the bank and being sold, possibly in haste, at an inappropriate price. And after it gained its independence, the collection's managers then had the freedom to acquire further works.

Today, the collection can be seen not only by investment bankers but also by the general public: housed in its own site in Berkeley Street, it receives 100,000 visitors a year.

There's more about the history of the Fleming Collection on its website.

This is a rather busy work week for me--you should see the results of it soon--so posting will probably be light. Still, given what I've been studying re Grameen Check, I couldn't resist posting news of another fashion-related social venture that I noticed while walking home today: DR2's readings of Love, Loss and What I Wore.

$50 bucks a pop, but for a good cause. Perhaps the fashion-and-celebrity connection is a way to patch around the deep discounting that other arts groups feel they have to use now to attract an audience.

This is a must-see exhibit: Birth of the Cool, featuring the work of Barkley L. Hendricks. On its way here, the exhibit was listed by Vogue as one of the top cultural events of 2008. Above, the brilliant 1969 piece, Icon for My Man Superman (Superman never saved any black people—Bobby Seale).   

Depicting Hendricks in dark sunglasses and a tight Superman T-shirt against a bright blue sky, the 1969 portrait is called "Icon for My Man Superman (Superman never saved any black people—Bobby Seale)", suggesting the intriguing ways in which popular culture can be reclaimed and repurposed toward political and creative self-expression, even in a time of racism and division. It's a stunning, evocative work, and I must have looked at it for more than five minutes before I finally glanced down and realized that in the painting, Hendricks isn't wearing any pants.

Vladimir Putin painting a scene from a Gogol story in which the devil steals the moon--sometimes the world is its own poetry. Proceeds from the sale go to benefit a local hospital and church.

If Marx had written about the withering away of the bookstore, he might still be regarded as a sage.

Cody's is dead. The Harvard used book scene is a pale shadow of its former self. And now Hollywood's Book Soup is up for sale.

Book Soup, for those who have never been, is a gem--a truly essential shop for anyone with a serious interest in the dramatic arts & design, not a mention a hub for local arts scene. It was a steady haunt when I lived out there and remains a mandatory drop-by whenever I'm back in the area.

Which got me thinking. Book Soup still makes a profit, and it's an integral part of both the artistic community and the region's various arts-related industries. Perhaps one way to maintain its integrity is for a charity to buy it, such as the California Community Foundation or even the Academy Foundation.

Still using the break to gain some perspective. In the meantime, here are a few news items that stick out:

• This article has been making the rounds in design circles, and it really is a must-read for do-gooders of all stripes. I've been writing about the link between design and social benefit for a while, and it's a theme whose importance will only grow.
  
• Bruce Nussbaum on the shift from innovation to transformation. I have much more to say on that--in fact, I've already said a fair bit about it, if you read my articles carefully. What social enterprise folks should note: it's not just the talk about earned income & learning from hedge funds that face obsolescence.
• FilmLA has been in the news due to the decline of filming in Los Angeles. What I hadn't known: that a nonprofit coordinates movie, tv & ad shoots in the area.
  
• When can museums sell their works?
  
• Shaolin monks inspire controversy with their temple management franchise initiative.
  
• BBC announces the next Doctor today!

As GiftHub has pointed out, the nonprofit world is somewhat lacking in satire directed at itself. However, there's no shortage over at the Art Museum Toilet of Art, a website that skewers the visual rhetoric of museum culture. Visit the giftshop; become a member; learn about the different ways you can give. There's even a pricey collectable catalog!

Via Animal New York

DC may be looking to preserve the brutalist architecture of a prominent religious congregation, but here in NYC we're knocking 'em down like bowling pins. Even if charitable landmarking issues aren't your scene, check out the NY Times article just for the cool slidey-picture-widget-thing enabling you to compare the brutalist Jewish Child Care Association with its replacement, a new but traditional LDS meeting house.

Here's an interesting expression of art transforming the mundane: a South Korean performance artist who fashions his props out of garbage. More here.

“It’s our job to breathe new life into things that are thrown away and considered useless,” said Hong. “We find joy in discovering possibilities for old materials. For us, there is no such as something useless. The best part is that anybody can play these instruments. That is why as we perform, we become one with our audience.”