Gantner’s work has turned up in a couple of my online hangouts lately. I’d like to know more about the post production of these images. I see editing credit (Flammarion in France, Jacoby & Stuart in Germany) but I think that may refer more to the publications. Speaking of which, Christmas hint.
I tried to reconnect with the Sigur recently, after the third or fourth time seeing them on a “best records of the decade” list. I have done this before. It’s because they are routinely described in ways that draw me in, with words like experimental and otherworldly, tales of fainting audience, comparison to bands I love, like Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Stars of the Lid, and hypotheses on the complete reinvention of music. So, as I tend to do in the face of unanimous recommendation from peers, I try again.
But, as with oysters, I can’t seem to develop the palate for this. They sound to me like television drama montages. Correction, they sound like tv drama montages of today, which may be a hint that this is another bittersweet lesson in getting what you wish for, like when “alternative” became mainstream in the nineties. Nirvana on classic rock stations? Cool. Legions of grunge bands creating a sound so ubiquitous it blends into muzak today? Heartbreaking.
This time, however, I thought I would second guess myself. I went to the SR site where they give away a very generous collection of songs from various recordings, thinking that this author-selected sample would be the fairest representation of their music for my experiment. I then used roughly the same portions of the songs, more or less, to further eliminate subjectivity (ok, actually out of laziness.) I grabbed a fan montage of clips from the CSIs, NCIS, Without a Trace, House MD, Grey’s Anatomy, and Cold Case, fired up the Singer and sewed them together without regard for craft (more laziness…it’s not my thesis or anything). Just to get a sense, you know. The results are below. Try to ignore the shocking sameness of the clips, despite their origins in 8 or 9 different series. You already knew that. But listen to the safety and familiarity of this music, and for that matter the sameness of it despite representing 12 songs from six albums.
Not trying to be a hater. Just felt like having a little fun with a critique of the band’s typical reviews.
UPDATE: maybe there was some hatin after all. I can only assume that some kind of universal reprimand is at play here, since I know my way around online video pretty well, yet have been unable to find any format/third party/plugin combination to make this little joint go. So it’s now an exercise in imagination, loyal readers. Fire up your nearest Sigur Ros track, and dream up the drama.
[quicktime]https://evenmorelegendary.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/sigur-experiment-small.mov[/quicktime]
I had thought that performances by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman automatically created, if not masterworks, then certainly exceptional, outstanding cinema. In retrospect, that’s crazy talk and I don’t know what I was smoking, great though they both are. I came to understand this watching Doubt. His performance seems flat to me, considering the story and his role in it. Good thing she presents as complicated and magnetic a performance as ever. Right? Well, sure, if you’re not all greedy about stuff like theme and plot. Or at least not impatient about these things. Because Doubt always feels like it’s about to boil up, so you stick with it, focus on Meryl, second guess where it’s going to go. And then – it’s – over? Fast forward with me now past the anti-climax and disappointment and confusion, through to the surprising delayed engagement this story had planted in me. The movie is made from rich enough concept that you can work out all kinds of premises, subtexts and motivations, all on your own! (If you have a good chunk of time afterward which will make no demands on your mind.) It’s a tell-yourself-a-great-story kit.
The Dogs In The Forest, copyright Karen Barbour
This print is available at Little Paper Planes, and it would make me better every time I would look at it. Hint. It would be a nice change from looking at her wonderful wonderful work on my computer screen. Though I’d still have to loiter there too, because it is LOADED with beauty. See:
This Wooster post drew me in, and I followed the link to the Flickr account from whence it came, then I sought information from the profile, fruitlessly, then through Google, also fruitlessly. Then it occurred to me that enjoying the art without any knowledge of the artist is a more “street art” experience anyway.
Light artists Jan Wollert and Jorg Miedza are currently featured in the Telegraph’s Culture Picture Galleries. The ‘graph notes that the duo, who work as LAPP-PRO, spend months preparing the shots, which are produced through precise choreography and very long exposures. More detail than that, and they’d have to kill you, citing the secrecy of magic as they clamp their yaps shut.
Light graffiti: stunning photos created with lights and long exposures by LAPP-PRO – Telegraph.
Jen Grant collects garbage, and with it, sculpts political commentary in public spaces. The projects are pleasing, sometimes by virtue of their materials (a hammock made of jewelry!), sometimes by virtue of their inventiveness (chairs turned into steps up and over a fence), and sometimes by virtue of their environment (a swing hanging from the Botanic Gardens bridge), but always by virtue of their politics, expressing notions about freedom, waste and capitalism.
Learned of her at Wooster Collective. See her work, read her ideas:
You may feel, as I did, completed by the homepage alone, pictured above. However, you will be rewarded if you, as I did, turn the page and check out some of his lovely work. Well worth being treated like shit by total assholes, imho.
Even More Legendary 
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