Green Gothic @ The Hedreen

nice.

now on view at the Henry

slavoj zizek and cornel west-belief, commodity fetishism, disillusionment; belief without belief

psy and mc hammer

hughie lee-smith

Thanks to Harold for pointing out this awesome guy's work I LOVE it.

"Mr. Lee-Smith's paintings usually have spare settings suggestive of theater stages or bleak urban or seaside landscapes. Walls stretch out under gray skies. Men and women, as lithe as dancers, seem frozen in place. Most are dressed in street clothes; some wear exotic masks. Children frequently appear, as do props reminiscent of circuses. The work has an air of mystery associated with the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico and Edward Hopper."

Untitled (Two Figures and Beach), 1955


While I totally agree with the quote above (from Wikipedia) I like that Lee-Smith lets the brushstrokes show a little more, is expressive and less 'clean' than hopper and de chirico (both very polished while like Lee-Smith, contain elements of loneliness and mystery). I also like that this composition has approx. equal amounts sky and land, the big house at left balanced with the distant houses at right, the male figure and the caped figure, and the tall pole/tree at right contrasted with the small horseshoe shape at lower left.

rip donald byrd feb 4

nytimes
npr

safeway diversifies c. 1961 because of this sign right here

Seattle's Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) used these signs in successful picketing and boycott againstemploymentdiscrimination in October 1961. At the start only 6 out of 1,700 Safeway employees were black; three months later, there were 28.