‘Momus’ by Meghan from Good Minnesotan.
Momus says good-bye by saying hello. I will miss his Click Opera blog. I’ve followed it almost daily since it’s inception. For those of you who haven’t ever read it… go explore!
Category: Art
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The Eternal Sunshine of the Capitalist Mind
This song has been in my head all day. I finally decided to find it online. Here it is:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9HlcOL1sc8&w=425&h=344]
It’s called ‘Солнечный круг’ (Solar Cycle). It’s better known to many as ‘Пусть всегда будет солнце!’ (May There Always Be Sunshine). It’s an anti-war song. If you grew up in Eastern Europe (or at least around Eastern European emigrants) you most likely have this song seared into your head. I posted the lyrics in English below the fold.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2KB2vBYNY&w=425&h=344]
It’s probably been over 20 years since I heard this song… well, outside of my head that is… Hearing it again is like being hit with a ton of nostalgic bricks. But what really struck me were the visuals of the videos. The second one especially has all the hallmarks of Socialist Realism. And, yet… they are so… well… American. Besides some minor differences in clothing, and the like, the whole thing wouldn’t have been out of place in the US… at least in that timeless-Norman-Rockwell-eternally-50’s-LIFE-Magazine-innocent-Leave-It-To-Beaver U S of A that still grips the popular (and political) imagination.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5TU_UZIbUc&w=425&h=344]
I’m often struck by an uncanny sense of déjà vu whenever I watch American politics unfold on TV. The discourse is carefully circumscribed by what can or cannot be said in public about the economy, socialism, Islam, Israel, etc. The 2008 campaign was only the most recent example of that. As much as I like and support Obama, I’m still bothered by the slick visuals his campaign saturated the airwaves with. For all the soaring rhetoric (and yes rhetoric matters) and ‘straight talk’, everything is still directed at saving Capitalism (with a hefty dose of socialism if need be… but shhhh). Socialist Realism is the term used for art which furthered the goals of socialism and communism. Until the Soviet collapse, it was the officially approved style of art for decades. How long does Capitalist Realism have?
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30 Percent More Commercial
Almost missed this! My pals at Puny are putting on an art show tonight at the First Amendment Gallery. 30 Percent More Commercial opening party should be fun, full of good art and live music. Here’s a little preview. Via King-Mini.
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The Magik Show
Zack Soto uploaded some pics of The Magic Show which opened on Thursday last week to his Flickr page. The show looks great, and I look forward to seeing it later this month during Stumptown.
Update: More and higher-res pictures here. -
Off-Kilter Magik
click to enlargeI was going to post this in time for the opening night of The Magic Show a group show at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland, OR. But I just realized that the opening was last night! Duh! I think I must have confused it with the opening night of the Off-Kilter Comics, which is IS tonight. I have a drawing (pictured above) at The Magik Show but not at the Off Kilter Comics show. Anyway, both shows feature a lot of great artists so if you’re in either Portland or Minneapolis, go see the one closest to you.
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Yuichi Yokoyama Fashion in Second Life
Well… sort of… I’ve been obsessed with the manga artist Yuichi Yokoyama lately. Everywhere I look I see something that refers me back to his comics.
Gift Box Hat Couture… I was checking out the newly formed Evil Robot blog, specifically a post on Ideal World, a film about virtual worlds. One of the clips on the film site is about a Second Life fashion designer. At one point there is a Yokoyama fashion moment as she tries to learn the new virtual tools of her trade. Makes you wonder what would have happened if she just went with it. Virtual worlds full of inexperienced avatars are kind of an interesting way of thinking about Yokoyama’s New Engineering now that I think of it… I will have lots more to say about Yokoyama in the very near future.
Paper Bag Hat. Vintage Yokoyama fashion. Image from New Engineering.
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Momus is a Better Blogger
It looks like my updates have slowed down to the point of erasing all entries from this blogs front page! I guess it’s time to resume posting. Some time ago I went to a Momus and Mai Ueda art performance in Chelsea. It was fantastic. I already blogged about it before. In fact it was my first post. Recently, I started scanning my sketchbook pages again and the image below was the first one to get scanned. It was drawn based on one of the photographs I took at the performance.
Momus and Mai from ‘I’ll Speak You Sing’
Click on the image to make bigger.
Since Momus was one of the major inspirations in getting this blog off the ground, it seems like as good a time as any to celebrate his great, and much more frequently updated blog. -
I’ll Speak You Sing
http://www.flickr.com/badge_code_v2.gne?count=1&display=random&size=m&layout=x&source=user_set&user=26713448%40N00&set=761814&context=in%2Fset-761814%2FThis is about a month old, but I just got around to posting the pictures on flickr. The show was great. I only saw one performance. Everyday was improvised. It was a sort of shamanistic ‘conversation’ between Momus and Mai. Momus would improvise stories based outside input provided by Mai. An Apple iBook served out some spooky ambiance. I also captured some video and audio using my little Canon Elph. I’ll try to post it sometime soon. More about the show here: iMomus.