Yayoi Kusama; Infinity Rooms, Polka Dots and One Incredible Night

Part I

It was a dark and stormy night…in February; in Atlanta. Just outside the High Museum we waited; waited for tickets. This was a night and darkness that seemed would never end. The waiting that started for myself and a number of others began around midnight Thursday Feb. 7^th. This would continue into daylight Friday morning (the 8^th) around nine thirty. 

In the course of the night we would face wind, rain, cold, the dark and no available toilets. We would have to be resourceful on all accounts. There were people in tents, sleeping bags, blankets, coats and hoodies. I was arrayed in a sweater, scarf and blanket with snacks, books and an MP3 player. There have of course been worse conditions but really; for tickets to an art exhibit it was unusual. For the record; I had waited outside the Metropolitan in New York with two of my grandkids just the year before in below zero wind chills to see Michelangelo. These temperatures we faced now were at least above freezing; a little.

About the time conditions seemed at their worst; it was almost as if the darkness would not end. One of my fellow, brave and generous art lovers appeared in front of me offering coffee. She was a Heaven send. Her name was Veronica and we would eventually buy scalped tickets for a reasonable eighty dollars each. 

Part II

The exhibit we were dedicated to seeing was Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms. This phenomenal exhibit had started at the Hirshhorn in Washington DC and played in several major cities around the country and in Canada. 

Yayoi Kusama is one of the most fascinating and creative artist’s working today. Her career began in a major way when the Japanese born artist came to America and became a part of the 60's Pop/Happening Scene. Polka Dots are something of a main stay for her as she covers everything from sculptures to film, fashion and paintings with different expanding and ever changing dot patterns.  She befriended and in many ways competed with the greats of the period like Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol for publicity and space. Her zeal and exuberant work ethic led her to a nervous breakdown. She to this day lives in a mental institution where she checks herself out and in daily to work in her nearby studio.

The Infinity Mirror Rooms are among her greatest intellectual and artistic gifts to the world. They are marvels that the viewer is limited to seeing in 30 seconds intervals. Like the finest gourmet servings a small bit is savored with a much larger delight and relish than an unlimited, gratuitous buffet.  

Kusama’s work has been meaningful for viewers from around the nation and the world that came like myself to Atlanta for a life time’s opportunity. I was able to meet enthusiastic visitors from New Orleans, to Pittsburg to Paris at “The High.”  I had traveled from the tip of South Western Virginia, across the Carolinas and into Georgia myself. It was worth every bit of what it took for me to behold the mastery and spectacular vision of Yayoi Kusama. 

A Video Report from The News Hour

Hey Veronica;

It was fabulous meeting you at the Kusama Exhibition in Atlanta. As you said while waiting overnight for tickets; “...this is (was) a Great Adventure!”  I arrived late that afternoon and we didn’t have a chance to touch base. If you’re reading this: thanks again for “the Best and Warmest Cup of Coffee” I’m likely to ever have. I hope someday, to be able to return the favor and meet for a coffee and a doughnut.

All the Best;

James

jartistt@yahoo.com

"BUSTER SCRUGGS" the Ballad of...

Like the dedicated and creative; cultured and persistent prospectors they are; the Coen Brothers have struck cinematic gold again. Their western anthology film “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is amazingly, aggressively and adventurously awesome. You may have heard about it, are curious about or have already seen it. If you are among the “have-not-seens”   category do by all means see it. You will be thrilled, moved, outraged, perplexed and wonderfully entertained.

The brothers; Ethan and Joel are famous for completely upsetting just about every film trope and norm with their unusual take on life and movie traditions. They have essentially created their own film language layered with a gusto and panisch that is seldom equaled. Maybe the likes of Quentin Turrintino, Jack Jarmush or Spike Lee are in the Coen’s league but it is a small club. Their’s is in reality a very small club. 

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is an anthology film featuring six segments. The segments are only connected by the fact that that are all of the western genre. These short narratives vary in length and tone. Written over a period of twenty five years they stand alone in nature with no connecting thread. What the brothers have done with the first segment while introducing the character of Buster Scruggs begins with a most unique concept. Where Movie and TV Westerns have always reflected the tastes, morality and spirit of their times or decade of creation things are mixed up with “Buster Scruggs.”  A singing cowboy in the tone of a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers finds himself in a world where every other character is like the inhabitants of a Sergio Leone “Spaghetti Western.” What follows is pure delightful insanity, comedy and ridiculous drama as the segment twists turns and unfolds in totally unexpected ways.  Little here is close to what might originally be expected. 

Another standout segment features a story-teller of a talent that is to marvel in any venue or time. He is polished, intelligent, dignified and charismatic. He is also armless and legless. An unscrupulous and grungy oaf of a man played by an almost unrecnozible Liam Neeson is carting the vocal performer around frontier towns for audiences that are as enthralled as they are dwindling. Recitations by Shakespeare, Lincoln and the likes of Oscar Wilde are among the performer’s repertoire. The two are completely dependent on each other’s abilities. Where does such an uncommonly matched couple come from and where can they go with such an arrangement.

All of the segments to a degree center on death or at least to death’s fruition. The irony, the finality and the inevitability of it all are told in a multitude of fashions including: shoot outs, suicides, murders, ambushes, lynching’s and the resolve of it all by “The Harvesters of Souls.” 

Another interesting element brilliantly and lovingly incorporated into the visuals is a physical story book. The hardcover book appears to be a well-worn published edition of the book “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” that alludes to what might have been their original printed format. It is an effective and cunning device. Each segment begins with a lush illustration from the books pages and an interesting title that hints at the given narrative without giving away any real knowledge to the following story. I take this as a nod to another formidable but less controversial film maker of old; Walt Disney and his early films. 

There is much here to treasure and enjoy. They are the always inventive Brothers Coen…Ethan and Joel…the Best of the Best.  

 

                                                 

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" 

 Press Conference with Joel & Ethan Coen

HEROES

Our’s is a world of heroes and villains. We see both every day in in our personal lives and on the world stage. It is without question that we emulate the heroes; we long to be heroic in whatever way we can.  The markings of a hero is one that often and repeatedly does the exceptional. Heroes exhibit certain greatness and are many times lauded but often they show a quiet, restrained resilience that remains unrecognized by most. You know them and I’m certain you have many of your own.

 I have always been drawn to and recognize many in literature, myth, legend and in real life. Samson and Superman; Kennedy and King, just to name a very few. This page features some of those men and women of the arts of whom I love them all. They are hardly stand alone but I recognize them here.

Ai Wei Wei

         Jean Michel-Basquiat
            

Frida Kahlo

                             Gordon Parks

Kiki Smith

   Louise Bourgeois         
                       

Miles Davis

                            Misty Copeland

Georgia O'keefe











                                           

                                          
                                       
                                      Salvador Dali