[Music] Back to the Halcyon Days, of Punk

The Jeff & Jane Hudson story goes back to halcyon days of Punk and New Wave with The Rentals, who released two singles of lo-fi DiY Art Punk in between '77 and '80. In 1981, they started performing as a duo and began releasing post-nuclear electronic pop songs under their own names. 1981 saw the release of the "World Trade" EP as well as the "No Clubs" 7", followed in '82 by "Attack Under Attack" which featured the first appearance of "Los Alamos," which would reappear on their debut LP. The duo reached their pinnacle with 1983's seminal "Flesh." Perhaps one of the United States biggest achievements in the entire "synth" movement of the era. Completely self produced by the band, the record has since been oft-cited as a groundbreaking and pivotal LP of the post-punk era, who's original copies are now heavily coveted by collectors. This is the first time since the original issue that "Flesh" is reappearing on the vinyl format as a co-release with Dark Entries record. This edition features remastering culled from the original master tapes and expanded with an extra LP of singles and EP material. It's also the first wide-scale digital and CD release these recordings have yet to see. Due out this April. www.officialjeffandjane.com

Jeff/Jane Hudon -  Los Alamos

[audio:http://www.solidgoldrags.com/music/Jeff__Jane_-_Los_Alamos.mp3|titles=Los Alamos ]

[BOOKS] Frank Lloyd Wright, Complete Works

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) is widely considered to be the greatest American architect of all time; indeed, his work virtually ushered in the modern era and remains highly influential today. His wide-ranging and paradigm-shifting oeuvre is the subject of Taschen's three-volume monograph that covers all of his designs (numbering approximately 1100), both realized and unrealized. Part 1, Wright's more residential period that covers the early Chicago years and the Prairie Houses, the period which provoked a profound influence on European architects, can be purchased here.

[VIDEO] Rodarte: States of Matter

Rodarte: States of Matter, at the MoCA, is the first West Coast solo exhibition of the work of fashion and costume designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. In this video, Kate and Laura talk about the stories that have inspired their collections and the physical processes their materials go through. This intimate look at more than 20 pieces from Rodarte’s Spring 2010, Fall 2010, and Fall 2008 runway collections, as well as original ballet costumes designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy from Rodarte for the feature film Black Swan, was directed by Felipe Lima, with original music by No Age. www.moca.org

Nirvana's Rare 'Hormoaning' EP to be Re-Released

Kurt-Cobain-kurt-cobain-hormoaning

Nirvana's 1992 Hormoaning EP -- an import-only set recorded for BBC 1 Radio and available on the band's '92 Australian tour -- will be reissued on limited-edition vinyl this April. The release features covers of the Wipers' "D-7" and the Vaselines' "Son of a Gun" and "Molly's Lips," along with Nirvana tracks "Aneurysm" and "Even in His Youth.

Miró in London

A Star Caresses the Breast of a Negress (Painting Poem) 1938

Joan Miró's works come to London's Tate Modern in the first major retrospective here for nearly 50 years. Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, filling his paintings with luxuriant colour, Miró worked in a rich variety of styles. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy more than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints from moments across the six decades of his extraordinary career. 14 April – 11 September 2011 www.tate.org

 

A Century of Racing at Isle of Man

J. Guthrie, Norton Racing, Isle of White, 1937 Well, its that time again, The Quail Motorcycling Gathering is upon us. A rather classic day in the sun this gathering should hold out to be, lest I get a sunburn or some kind of dizzy spell from the quail salad, like last year. Held at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, California, the resort is graciously offering the "pristine lawn" of its driving range on May 14th for a display of a tremendous smorgasbord of classic sports and racing bikes. This year's event theme will feature "A Century of Racing at Isle of Man", while also showcasing the finest motorcycles from the past, present and future. And you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be music and barbecue.  If they let us in this year we'll promise to behave.  www.quaillodgeevents.com

Joe Dallesandro Superstar

Joe_Dallesandro_Superstar

Joe Dallesandro und Jane Forth Joe Dallesandro, the Little Joe "who never once gave it away" in Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side and superstar of Andy Warhol's factory, is the subject of a photo exhibition at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg: Aktuelle Kunst Haus der Photographie gallery beginning April 1 and running through May 22. Curated by Ingo Taubhorn, Joe Dallesandro Superstar will feature Joe's varied roles in masculine portraiture by such photographers as Duncan, Skrebneski, Avedon, Scavullo, Michals, Childers, and Bokelberg. Vintage film posters and stills from Joe's work in the 1960s and 1970s will also be featured. For more on the Joe show, part of a larger exhibition devoted to Traummaenner (dream men), in which fifty famous contemporary photographers display their "vision of the ideal."www.deichtorhallen.de

Lust and Vice

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller: Danaë och guldregnet. NM 1767

Danaë and the Shower of Gold, Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller, 1786

The exhibition Lust & Vice shows examples of how sexuality, virtue and sin have been depicted in art since the 16th century – from an age when the Church preached that sexual contact was only permitted within wedlock to today’s questioning of who erotic art is created for. A total of 200 works are on show from the museum’s own collections, a mix of paintings, drawings, sculptures and applied art. You can also see a genuine chastity belt! Now on view at the National Gallery in Stockholm 24 March 2011–14 August 2011. www.nationalmuseum.se

The Cult of Beauty

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900, opening April 2 at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, is the first exhibition to comprehensively explore Aestheticism, an extraordinary artistic movement which sought to escape the ugliness and materialism of the Victorian era by creating a new kind of art and beauty.

The well spring of the 'new art' movements of the late 19th century, Aestheticism is now acknowledged for its revolutionary re-negotiation of the relationships between the artist and society, between the 'fine' and design arts, as well as between art and ethics and art and criticism. Aesthetic sensibilities produced some of the most sophisticated and sensuously beautiful artworks of the Western tradition.

Featuring superb artworks from the traditional high art of painting, to fashionable trends in architecture, interior design, domestic furnishings, art photography and new modes of dress, this exhibition traces Aestheticism's evolution from the artistic concerns of a small circle of avant-garde artists and authors to a broad cultural phenomenon.

The exhibition will feature paintings, furniture, ceramics, metalwork, wallpapers, photographs and costumes, as well as architectural and interior designs. Included will be major paintings by Whistler, Rossetti, Leighton, and Burne-Jones. Architecture and interior design will be represented by the works of Edward Godwin, George Aitchison, Philip Webb and Thomas Jeckyll, among others. Art furnishings designed by these and others, including William Morris, Christopher Dresser, Bruce Talbert, Henry Batley, and Walter Crane will showcase not only the designers and manufacturers they worked for, but also new retailers, such as Liberty's.

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 is on view from April 2 to July 7 the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.  www.vam.ac.uk

Photography: David Goldblatt's Apartheid

A farmer’s son with his nursemaid, Heimweeberg, Nietverdiend, 1964 Photographer David Goldblatt has explored the social landscape of South Africa since the late 1940s. In 1987, he generously donated a large collection of his work to the V&A. The display will present a selection of these images, focussing on the later years under apartheid rule. The display complements the exhibition Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography in the Porter Gallery.

Steven with Sight Seeing Bus, Doornfontein, Johannesburg, 1960

Miss Lovely Legs Competition. 1979/80 Holdup in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, November 1963

www.vam.ac.uk

Robert Crumb: Lines on Paper

Photo by Diane Tell

“R. Crumb: Lines Drawn on Paper” opened on Wednesday, March 23rd at the Society of Illustrators in New York with a special appearance by the revolutionary comic artist himself at the opening party. Curated by BLAB! Magazine founder Monte Beauchamp, the retrospective showcases 90 pieces of the controversial Crumb’s original work from the past four decades. A pioneer of the underground comic movement in the 1960’s, Crumb is notorious for his exaggerated, painstakingly detailed renderings and his penchant for dark, taboo and often salacious subject matter—not to mention his infamous appreciation for the buxom female form (which has garnered him much criticism from feminists). On display at the Society of Illustrators’ two-level gallery are some of Crumb’s original printing plates and a wide array of original prints and drawings, many of which would appear in Zap Comix, The East Village Other, Motor City, Head Comics, Despair and other counterculture comic magazines.  R. Crumb: Lines Drawn on Paper is now on view at the Society of Illustrators, 128 E. 63rd St, New York. www.societyillustrators.org

Text by Annabel Graham

First Look: Sylvio Giardina Fall/Winter 2011/12

Sylvio Giardina's new fall-winter 2011/12 collection is based on experiments with brand new silhouettes. "The stylistic investigation aims at a moved centre of mass, an imbalanced balance which will change shapes, volumes and lengths made up together by asymmetrical panels to redesign the figure. It’s like an a architecture of the fabrics that re-edits proportions to give a new female identity which finds the final product and the subjective taste."  Giardina attempts to kill homogeneity whilst maintaing the tradition of Italian fashion and contemporary culture. For instance, "Embroideries on jersey fabric find new lines sew on together: no armhole for the sleeves, exaggerated curves set up by upside down strapless to emphasize décolleté (neckline). A synthetic colours palette, like helio-blue and yellow cadmium, joins anthracite grey and impure white of the wool of the pants, tube-dresses, jersey shirts and jackets." Primary fabrics, such as male-wools, fresh-wool, jersey-wool and crêpe wool are all embroidered in San Gallo, in Italy.

"Accessorizes break harmony with strong mirror and colored plexiglass buckles in relief on the tissues like sculptural elements. No prêt-à-porter, no Haute Couture, this is a collection full of contaminations: the most important from art and design influences, where Sylvio Giardina finds himself as spectator and artist."

www.syviogiardina.com

Listen To Cults "You Know What I Mean"

Photo by Tommy Kearns

New York-based band Cults released their new single, “You Know What I Mean,” early this week. Cults is comprised of real-life couple Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin, two film students in their early twenties who initially started the group “as a joke,” posting a few songs on the internet for their friends’ enjoyment. The duo soon became an internet sensation with their self-released single, “Go Outside,” quickly landing a record deal and gigs with Best Coast and Sleigh Bells.

The few sugary, 60’s-inspired pop tracks they’ve released as of yet balance a certain undefinable innocence and elation with decidedly haunting undertones—think a modernized, lo-fi lovechild of Soft Cell and the Supremes— while their lyrics bring darkness and depth to Follin’s otherwise-joyous soprano. “You Know What I Mean” is the fifth original addition to Cults’ slowly growing repertoire.

Text by Annabel Graham

Cults - You Know What I Mean by cultscultscults

Van Dongen: Fauve, Anarchist, Socialite

Tango with an Archangel

The Musée d’Art Moderne is offering a fresh appreciation of Kees Van Dongen (1877–1968), the dazzling, disconcerting painter who made his reputation in Paris in the 1920s. This is a comprehensive look at a multifaceted personality: the socially-conscious Dutchman ever ready to caricature and denounce, the avant-garde artist and iconic Fauve, and one of the Roaring Twenties' leading figures on the trendy Paris scene. The exhibition includes and adds to "All eyes on Kees Van Dongen", shown at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam (18 September 2010 – 23 January 2011). www.mam.paris.fr