in memoriam

Courtesy Agência Brasil

Oscar Niemeyer 

1907 - 2012

    The world lost a legend yesterday -- Brasilia architect Oscar Niemeyer passed away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the age of 104.

    While he designed many magnificent buildings and structures, I have always been partial to his designs for Brasilia, the Brazilian capital.

    Together with Le Corbu, Niemeyer defined a generation of the arts for me and first led me to an appreciation of the Modernist spirit and aesthetic -- a long journey for a prairie cowboy to make.

    Niemeyer changed structures and design in positive ways that will long outlive both him and those buildings.

    Thank you, sir.  You will be long remembered.

Four to Watch

Four to Watch

   You will have to excuse my silence.  No, I did not stop noting and appreciating good art – in fact, some of the most interesting pieces have come out of the last twenty-four months.  Rather, I have been more pre-occupied with that other aspect of art and culture – the establishment and maintenance of narrative theory (in other words, grad-school).  While this has taken up most of my time, it is with relief and joy that I return to our conversation about the everyday, pedestrian enjoyment of the art that surrounds us.

   In this regard, I feel it somewhat necessary to re-establish some of my aesthetic tastes and leanings with you.  While I cannot provide you with an exhaustive, culturally critical analysis of the various regional and world markets, I have identified four areas that I feel are on the up-swing – pending their ability to maintain the necessarily social and political stability to foster the creative process and their ability to gain an audience.

    As the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games has demonstrated, the great games can serve as a ready catalyst for great artistic endeavors – and for generating the appreciative audience to support the works being presented.