Everyone Loves A Good Trainwreck

Why can’t we look away? Whether we admit it or not, we’re fascinated by evil. Dark fantasies, morbid curiosities, Schadenfreude: As conventional wisdom has it, these are the symptoms of our wicked side, and we succumb to them at our own peril. But we’re still compelled to look whenever we pass a grisly accident on the highway, and there’s no slaking our thirst for gory entertainments like horror movies and police procedurals. What makes these spectacles so irresistible? In a new book, Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away, the scholar Eric G. Wilson sets out to discover the source of our attraction to the caustic, drawing on the findings of biologists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, theologians, and artists. A professor of English literature and a lifelong student of the macabre, Wilson believes there’s something nourishing in darkness. “To repress death is to lose the feeling of life,” he writes. “A closeness to death discloses our most fertile energies.”

Patti Smith by Judy Linn

Linn's images of Patti Smith range from the vulnerable to the iconic, focusing on shifting influences and relationships with artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Sam Shepard.  The black-and-white photographs capture Smith in the intimate and grainy atmosphere of a bygone New York when Smith--a struggling poet, pre-rock'n'roll--agreed to pose for Linn. A new exhibition, entitled Patti Smith: 1969-1976,  of photographs by Linn opens at LUAG (Lehigh University Art Galleries) February 20 and runs until May 25, 2012. 420 E. Packer Avenue Bethlehem, PA

These Days

Nina Ljeti as Krist Novoselic, by Adarsha Benjamin

Eras end, Begin again. Money, lovers, Promises are pretend. 30 is old age -- You plan to kill yourself, Or be far away by then. Try so hard To make a name, But they forget Again and again. Change your mind, Change your style, Your politics, philosophy. A punk, a hippie, A model on the cover of a magazine. Alone or lonely, '91 or '65 A better story. Your Gods are dead, And Jesus ain’t your friend. No one calls. Connection's gone. Looking for the other, Floating past each other, Duck and cover. Empty-headed, absent-minded Lost forever, we are blinded. What it means to hold a hand, What it means to be free,

What it is to see beyond The illusion of reality.

These Days, by Nina Ljeti

The Aesthetics of The Photobooth

cindy_sherman_2011_MUSÉE_DE_L'ÉLYSÉE_LAUSANNE_photobooth_automaton

When the first photobooths were set up in Paris in 1928, the Surrealists used them heavily and compulsively. In a few minutes, and for a small price, the machine offered them, through a portrait, an experience similar to automatic writing. Since then, generations of artists have been fascinated by the concept of the photobooth. From Andy Warhol to Arnulf Rainer, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman and Gillian Wearing, many used it to play with their identity, tell stories, or simply create worlds. Behind the Curtain - the Aesthetics of the Photobooth, an exhibition created by the Musée de l’Elysée, is the first to focus on the aesthetics of the photobooth. It is divided into six major themes: the booth, the automated process, the strip, who am I ?, who are you ?, who are we ?. Provider of standardized legal portraits, it is the ideal tool for introspection and reflection on others, whether individually or in groups. By bringing together over 600 pieces made on different media (photographs, paintings, lithographs and videos) from sixty international artists, the exhibition reveals the influence of the photobooth within the artistic community, from its inception to the present day.

Art of Elysium's PIECES OF HEAVEN Auction

Chris Heads, UNTITLED 11, 2011

The Art of Elysium, which bridges philanthropy with contemporary art, will be holding an auction, in partnership with Christies, on February 23 entitled Pieces of Heaven, featuring an amazing array of artists from Andy Warhol to Pas Un Autre's very own Adarsha Benjamin. February 23, Smashbox Studios, 1011 N. Fuller Avenue Hollywood, California 90046

Fando y Lis

Fando y Lis, Alejandro Jodorowsky's first feature film, tells the tale of Fando and his paraplegic girlfriend Lis through a barren, post-apocalyptic wasteland in search of the mythical city of Tar, where legend has it all wishes come true. Purchase the complete film of Jodorowsky here.

Worn to be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket

A notable upcoming travelling exhibit has just been announced at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which pays tribute to the black leather jacket. The exhibit, entitled Worn to be Wild: The Black Leather Jacket, will explore its roots from being worn by aviators during WWI, to bikers, to its modern-day designs from fashion houses such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Gianni Versace. The exhibition will run June 16 to September 3, 2012 at the Harley Davidson Museum.