Late this past May some friends and I were on the Friday night gallery crawl in Provincetown when we came across this little tucked-away room lined with what looked like Russian Suprematist paintings.
This is just a sampling, with badly-compressed images. These are all original paintings on paper or board. Some are signed with initials, and some are unsigned. The dealer, Mary Feeley, told us that she'd purchased them from a former Soviet republic, but I can't recall which. The paintings were dated from 1919 to sometime in the early 1920's.
The significance for me is that these seem to be lesser-known artists, and they show the effects of the broader cultural work taking place in the young Socialist nation. These paintings mark the time, effort and focus of people caught in a whirlwind of purpose, driven by a utopian vision. They're the records of artists seeking relevance within a new regime, practicing the language of a new world order.
Head out to Provincetown before July 1 and check out this outstanding collection before it disappears again.
Hutson Gallery
432 Commercial Street
Provincetown, MA 02657
telephone: 508-487-0915
email: director@hutsongallery.net
6/26/2010
A Russian Suprematist treasure trove on view at the Hutson Gallery in Provincetown until July 1
6/24/2010
Rebecca Sugar: BRILLIANT
Fascinatingly flabbergasting animated cartoon here.
Compelling comic here. -- Read this story -- catch the storytelling skills and expressiveness.
6/23/2010
Artist/Explorer Reid Stowe completes a record-setting voyage
He's back and looks great, if thinner than I remember seeing him. After 1,152 days at sea Reid Stowe sailed into New York on June 16. It was a strange and awesome thing for a guy whom John Tierney in his New York Times article characterizes as "a singular blend of mariner, mystic, carpenter, painter, sculptor and New Age philosopher."
It's good to read people taking this voyage for what it was: an extended, self-imposed purification ritual by a true believer. Performance art doesn't get more authentic than this. It's extreme in every aspect. Sheer ambition alone simply isn't enough to sustain an art piece at this level of duration, arduousness and sheer danger. I haven't spoken with Reid in many years, but I'm as convinced today as I was then that his faith, his commitment and his authenticity are absolute.
Check Charles Doane's article "Comprehending Reid Stowe: His Various Purposes" for what looks to be a comprehensive discussion of the various things Reid was trying to do in this voyage, and for images of some of the art pieces he created while at sea.
It'll be interesting to see how this achievement affects the future work of this intriguing and very unusual artist.
6/07/2010
University of You, a new Facebook Game by Left Brain Games
Full disclosure: I did a lot of work on this game. And I'm damned proud of it, too. It's a blast! Left Brain Games has made quite a few Facebook games and applications, but University of You knocks the ball right out of the park.
University of You is an awesome Facebook game that lets you build your own university. Start out with a simple layout, add a couple students from your Facebook Friends (you're not inviting people to play at this point, you're just using their names and profile pics) -- then drag them into your university's first school to get things going. Take crazy trivia quizzes to ratify your competence to administrate the different schools available, from art to business to video game development to mixology. Accumulate game currency through student tuition and use it to buy buildings, dorms, parking lots and all the crazy things a great university needs. As your university grows it can accept more students, making for more tuition and so on.
You can invite friends to build their own universities, then visit them, take their quizzes and even prank their campuses. University of You has been up since mid-May and already the buzz is growing. Search for it under Facebook Applications or Facebook Games, or just click here to get your own university growing right away!
