Happy Birthday Virgil Finlay

Bike Racks

Springfield, OH is set to receive $$$ from ODOT for bike racks. They should look at Cincinnati's Artworks ArtRacks Project, marrying local artists with local locations & local bicyclists.

More from Spfld Noose Son here

LWV Condemns American Art

The Greater Cincinnati League of Women Voters has decided to ally itself with Wallace Stegner in condemning the iconic American art form, The Comic Book.
Stegner, a writer, had no qualms about tearing through the forests for his tomes but condemns the use of wood for other writers and artists. While some comic book publishers have definitely used recycled paper I can't find any info on whether it is anything standard. Nowhere, could I find any info about Stegner's voluminous tomes using recycled paper.
It appears to be common elitism like what CO    founder, Tom Brinkman preaches about how libraries should only use books and no other mediums.
What's next? Getting together with the CCV & espousing Frederic Wertham ?

Kafka Kathartics
Elani Sininger kinda took on the role of a Jesussette in In the Penal Colony on Cincinnati's Fountain Square recently.
ok...

WC3PO story, in all it's lurid detail, here

Springfield Summer Arts Festival Schedule ReleasedThe schedule for the place once called the stage in Cliff Park:

• June 13: Who’s Bad: A Tribute to Michael Jackson, 8 p.m.
• June 14: Phil Dirt and the Dozers, 8 p.m.
• June 15: The Motown sounds of the Dayton group Touch, 8 p.m.
• June 16: Mad River Theater Works, 2 p.m., at the Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg
• June 16: Springfield Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m.
• June 19: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, 8 p.m.
• June 20: Urban Jazz Coalition, 8 p.m.
• June 21: Parrots of the Caribbean (Jimmy Buffett tribute), 8 p.m., with the Parrothead Party in the Park at 5 p.m.
• June 22: Night Fever: The Tribute to the Bee Gees, 8 p.m.
• June 23: The Young Lions, a jazz ensemble from the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• June 27-30: "The Wizard of Oz," 8 p.m.
• June 30: Teenage singer-guitarist Noah Back, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• July 1: The U.S. Army Field Band and Chorus, 8 p.m.
• July 2: Russian folk groups Moscow Nights and Golden Gates, 8 p.m.
• July 3: Hotel California: The Original Tribute to The Eagles, 8 p.m.
• July 5: Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute, 8 p.m.
• July 6: Cirque Zuma Zuma, 8 p.m.
• July 7: Hayseed Project Farmers Market, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the arts center, with music by the Tarheel Boys and Wild Carrot
• July 7: Singer-songwriter Susan Werner, 8 p.m.
• July 8: The Dark Star Orchestra (Grateful Dead tribute), 7 p.m.
• July 12: Springfield native Griffin House, 8 p.m.
• July 13: Brass Transit: The Musical Legacy of Chicago, 8 p.m.
• July 14: The Gary Geis Dance Company, 2 p.m., at the arts center
• July 17-20: "Footloose," 8 p.m.

More from the Noose Son here

Graffiti, Crime or Culture
The short video asks if graffiti is an art form or vandalism/destruction. The frumpy lady points out that it's a personal property issue which pretty much nails it. The DAAP students issue came up but they didn't show their lame tagging, or at least, didn't tell you that's what was on the screen.
I have heard of tagging being described as the equivalent of dogs pissing on poles. I'd say that's about right. Then again, a lot of modern architecture doesn't offer much either.
Anyway, if Michelangelo started painting on the side of my house, I'm pretty sure I'd be after him with a baseball bat.

See Yourself Naked
This is some of the fun stuff you can do with a CT scanner & a 3D printer. After the guy recreated his skeleton he plated the 'printed' bones in metal. JUST LIKE WOLVERINE !!
Now it's just a matter of puttin' the dang things back in.

Illustrators. They're everywhere. You can't throw a stick without hitting one. It's like a zombie invasion.
The Springfield Center for the Arts at Wittenberg University (SCFTAAWU) is showcasing works of Vernon Grant who, besides inventing the snap, crackle, pop guys, did 26 Collier's covers.
Meanwhile, The Dayton Art Institute is showing works of Norm Rockwell who did a gazillion covers for Saturday Evening Post.

More from the Noose Son here.

Fools There Were

Le Vampire
We seem to have lost something along the way. Back in the early 1900s, the picture, above, by Philip Burne-Jones, inspired Rudyard Kipling to write this poem.

The Vampire
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you or I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair,
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair--
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste,
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand!

A fool there was and his goods he spent,
(Even as you or I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide,
(Even as you or I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside--
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died--
(Even as you or I!)

``And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand--
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing, at last, she could never know why)
And never could understand!''

This inspired Porter Emerson Browne to write a play, A Fool There Was, which was later made into a movie of the same name.
Nowadays we have books & comic books made into movies. Toys are made of cartoons and cartoons are made of toys. In our modern society, plays, poems and paintings have pretty much mothing in common. OK, their first letters... There is a creative & complementary cross discipline thing going on there, but that doesn't exist in converting an "asset" from one media to another. That's pretty much just "re-purposing". It's not exactly on the same intellectual plane.
Do teachers in schools promote this kind of exercise? It seems we are slaves to motion & dialogue. Have we become John Schuyler?
You can D/L A Fool There Was here.

Popular Art ?
Cincinnati City Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan has proposed dedicating 1% of casino revenues to public sculpture that will be chosen by unofficial votes by the citizenry. Unofficial, like via computers - so it might not even be votes by US citizenry. Estimated annual revenues from the casino, which is not slated to open til 2012, is expected to be $20M. Councilman Bortz has his eyes on 50% or more of the money but that's another story.
Cincinnati, outside it's cemeteries, has a serious lack of sculpture. My objections to Ms Quinlivan's plan is twofold. While I have no objection to the government spending on artistic / creative enhancements to the infrastructure type stuff government is supposed to be involved in, I am leery of it just buying art for art's sake. Further, the popular voting seems really dubious, look at what the popular vote gives us in the commercial world. Desperate Housewives, Vampire Diaries, Dancing With the Stars, Resident Evil, Wall Street 2, Trey Songz, Katy Perry.....
I would suggest the money be matched with private money to get the most bang for the buck & let the individual, business or organization pick & create the sculpture with the stipulation that the city retains rights to it.
Monarchy is key to good art. It certainly doesn't come from the boardroom or fickle popularity contests.

Does this image promote violence ?
I am not a Shepard Fairey fan. His stuff is ok. It's pleasant. As part of his recent installation/show/exhibit at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center, several murals/installations have been put up throughout the Cincinnati/NKY area. I think that is pretty cool. Kinda like the Artworks thingie.
In Covington, folks have decided this image was "offensive" and "inappropriate". Why? They seem to think that it promotes youth violence and, being situated across from a school, will lead the students to modify their M-16s with AK-47 clips and go around killing people (or at least stand guard).
This image is so pro-peace, I can't stand it. Children in poor countries are frequently put in positions of authority & armed. American soldiers have expressed dismay at defending themselves from armed & hostile children. P.J. O'Rourke has a funny but disturbing story about being challenged by an armed child (which, of course, I can't find). The message of the image isn't about armed kids terrorizing people, which they do around here anyway. It's about the responsibility of the adults & their social order to provide a better life for their children.
But the fine folks of Covington find it offensive & have painted it over.
To hell with the fact the owner of the building agreed to host the work & his word means nothing.
What really sucks is that such displays will likely bypass the region now because of the acts of a few small minded people.

Maybe they can put up a cigarette ad.

Covington's Arts Director sez:

The decision to remove the Shepard Fairey mural located at 242 Pike Street was the sole decision of the owners of the building who hosted the mural, MAC Productions. The Shepard Fairey mural was not a City-led project and the City had absolutely no involvement in the removal of it.
Shortly after the mural was put up, both praise and complaints reached the City and MAC Productions. Strongest reaction was directed toward the content of a boy soldier holding a gun and the location of the mural being directly across the street from the John G. Carlisle Elementary School.
Covington Arts District Manager Natalie Bowers said "Support of the Arts is part of the Economic Development initiative of the City and in no way does the building owner's decision to remove this mural reflect the huge amount of support that the City gives to Art and our Creative Community. This was a decision made by a business owner and we, as a community, have to respect that. I can only thank MAC Productions for going out on a limb and trying to support the Arts by offering their wall to the project. And thank you to the CAC for hosting the artist and sharing his talent with the community. We will continue to support the Arts and are only sorry that this unfortunate circumstance has occurred. As the Arts District Manager, I hope our creative community understands that this reaction in no way reflects our City's or Community's support of the Arts. We will continue to strive for freedom of expression and support for the Arts. Perhaps this incident will spark some enlightening debate for future endeavors."

Fishwrap story here.