"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   

                                                                                    

The Electric State

Simon Stalenhag’s “The Electric State.”

This dystopian art novel

Is poignant, hauntingly engaging and totally addictive.

The works beautifully compelling imagery unfolds graphically like the best cinematography

as it is supplemented with a text that fills in many gaps.

Stalenhag  leaves enough to the imagination of the reader to intrigue

while suggesting a future we don’t completely understand

and yet ironically recognizing all the much too well.

         

                     

             

               

Christmas 2018

CHRISTMAS 2018

Of Every Christmas

Known to Date

I'm Hoping Your’s

Is Truly GREAT!

Merry Christmas

                  James 
             

CAI GUO-QAING 蔡國強

The work is in many ways tied to the grand traditions of science, philosophy and the arts; both eastern and western. Taoism, yin-yang, herbal medicine, acupuncture, set design and painting were all studied by the artist. Early on he was largely taught by his father. He now often imprints his images on canvas using processes akin to wood cuts, silk screens, and block print. He manipulates line, color, form and light using a process that is uniquely original; almost totally his own. The principle medium of choice for Cai Guo-Qiang is pyrotechnic, gun powder. 

Cai Guo-Qiang lays out his own stencils, patterns and actual items like plants and organics directly onto his large canvases. He then sprinkles on explosive colored powders, adds card board on top then lights a fuse. The results are astonishing.

He often does live in air shows that fit squarely into what comes to mind when we think of fireworks.  But don’t be fooled; these extravaganzas are moving, beautiful and inspiring in the spirit of the greatest art created in any medium. His challenging and rewarding presentations are magnificent.

The experience and studies of theater set design is vividly expressed in Cai’s instillation pieces. Wolves and tigers made of paper Mache, plaster, resin and painted sheep’s hide dominate many of his most famous and revered works. These shockingly realistic animals are shot with arrows, dangled from ceilings and careened into transparent fiber glass walls by the hundreds.

Among Cai’s most talked about pieces is “Inopportune: Stage One.” It was part of his extravagant exhibition at New York’s Guggenheim. Hung from the top of the magnificent Frank Lloyd Wright atrium were multiple cars; cars embellished with intermittently blinking led light rods. Each Positioned to simulate a single car flipping and rolling downward as if in a bombing or car crash. All in a word: Spectacular!

                                                                                          

             

     

                                                

Public Television has feature Cai on it’s broad cast of the BBC series “Civilizations.” This is a must see for art aficionados. The entire series is eye popping and intricate. The segment on Cai Guo-Qiang; again, spectacular! Netflix’s “Sky Ladder” is another recent illuminating documentary featuring the contemporary giant.  

One of the world’s most sought after and exceptional art world super stars; Cai Gio-Qiang continues to shock, awe and inspire in the best of ways. May his brilliant efforts and dedication to creative excellence thrive for many years to come.

        

Jacob Lawrence @ Virginia Tech

The Jacob Lawrence road show came to town in late August. “History, Labor, Life: the Prints of Jacob Lawrence” is the featured exhibit at The Moss Arts Center on Virginia Tech’s expansive campus. It is stunning in scale, quality and daring. Art is many times not what we see but what we perceive. Lawrence has come of age or perhaps the world is catching up to his incredible gifts.

Lawrence was recognized early on in his life and remained a force as an interpreter and chronicler of the African American experience. He was given to work in series; many included forty or more individual pieces. He was purchased early on by MoMA and other prominent collections. Lawrence was truly a modernist, innovator and cultural contributor. He was much akin to the European Modernist of his time, Matisse, Picasso, Leger and Modigliani. His African American compatriots Bearden, Douglas and Alston are alluded to in his virtuosic efforts too. With that being said Lawrence remained true to his vision throughout his life; all the more remarkable for an almost totally untrained master.

Narrative was a hallmark of the man’s work. He strayed from the modernist doctrines in this respect. His Migration Series, Toussaint L’Ouverture Series and War Series are represented in this exhibit along with others including his Harlem Series and John Brown Series. These are definite historical stories and close to theatrical story boards. At best; when all is spoken Lawrence considered himself a Social Realist.

A high point of the opening reception was a talk by Leslie King Hammond; activist, historian, and professor emerita at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Dr. Hammond was a close friend to Jacob Lawrence and able to give personal reflections of the man along with a deep knowledge of his life and works. She touched all the bases and added interesting and new insights. Dr. Hammond was like a fountain in a beautiful garden of color and content.

This exhibition of Jacob Lawrence prints featured over ninety individual pieces. The last exhibition I have recently seen with such a large, over whelming number of great pieces was at New York’s Metropolitan. That exhibit featured about one hundred original and exclusive drawings by the world and historically renowned; Michelangelo Buonaroti.  Rarely has something of that cultural significance and scale been mounted in South Western Virginia. The color, vibrancy, refinement and geometry of Lawrence’s work holds it ground very well. 

 I drove home still under the spell of this mammoth in scale; major exhibition. I happened to see a young man that I often see power walking around town.  I spot him in the distance; black, bold, beautiful, shirtless…red shorts against the dark grey highway making his way around a curve. The green of late summer in the surrounding foliage were working as bracketing frames. Above all this was the elegance of a luxurious cumulus clouded blue sky. This moment, this scene, I had witnessed countless times without much thought. In my eyes now I’m in the presence of and viewing a living, breathing Jacob Lawrence Painting; a transformative visionary thing.

 “My belief is that it is most important for an artist to develop an approach and philosophy about life; if he has developed this philosophy, he does not put paint on canvas, he puts himself on canvas.”

                                                                                                    Jacob Lawrence