If an 'art surfer' does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Thoreau
miniQUIZ Stradivari (1644-1737) was known for making the best violins of all time. Did he make guitars? Answer later.
Sculpture It turned 2001 in Seattle and up pops a 9' monolith of steel and iron on Kite Hill. The art pranksters who call themselves "Some People" say their icon was a tribute to Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. City officials say they'll leave it up till kite season in March. (AP)
Art Obits Musea remembers the passing of: Victor Borge, classic piano with a daffy twist /// Milt Hinton, one of the first jazz bass soloists /// Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author of inspirational books like "Gift From the Sea" /// Dale Evans, I grew up with her and Roy every Saturday morning. She also wrote the chorus of "Happy Trails" /// John T. Biggers, African-American painter known for his 26 murals /// Ray Walston, our favorite Martian /// Les Brown, Les Brown and his Band of Renown, big-band leader that had the longest organized group in the history of popular music according to Guinness Book Of Records /// Tanaquil Le Clercq, ballerina and 4th wife of Balanchine /// Buddy Tate, jazz tenor saxophonist /// Jason Robards, actor in All The President's Men , Julia and other great films.. We salute all these notable artists.
City Planning "The result of our congested and chaotic cities has been an enormous increase in air pollution, level of noise, overcrowded transportation systems, congested highways, rise of crime rates, rise of slum areas, and in general nervous tension of all city dwellers." Interior Design - 3rd ed.
TV :It used to be that a show had 39 episodes before reruns. Now its 13 a season if you're lucky. What's the reason? It's the cost of each show. "Friends" costs $13 mill an episode. Yet Musea says that there are many TV projects that could be just as good or better at MUCH MUCH less if given the chance. Time for a reality check in tv. If/when Musea has that net TV network
Lit. Children's lit winners this year: Richard Peck won the Newbery Medal (the writing award) for A Year Down Yonder , and David Small won the Caldecott Medal ( the illustrations award) for his watercolor and chalk art for So You Want To Be President?. We salute both. /// "Nobody is criticising poetry - therefore good and bad is lumped together and what results is a vague hatred from readers for all poetry" Art S Rev.
Sci-Fi Applause "Every member of the audience pressed one of the four buttons in front of him. The golden, blue, emerald or red lights flickering on the ceiling showed the artist to what extent the performance had been appreciatd and took the place of the noisy applause of former days." Andromeda - Ivan Yefremov.
Gem from the Pen It has been a while since we've had one of those goofy art criticism quotes - but they're back. And as always - I am not making this up! "The work of Meyer Vaisman, one of the founders of neo-conceptualism is a delight, especially his Untitled Turkey Series. The turkeys, a species native to the Ameircas are dressed up in all kinds of ridiculous garb representing European customs, expectations, and misunderstandings about the New World." Christine Biederman, Dallas Observer
/// Now back in the real world of painting - this quote from Van Gogh's letters "Modern painting promises to become more subtle more like music, less like sculpture." Well , Vincent it did for a while. But lately, modern painting has just been silly.
miniQUIZ Answer: There are only 2 known guitars made by Stradivari.
Lit? One of corporate arts mainstays in bad lit. is Danielle Steel (A decoration magazine advertises the perfect books for her library "A modern twist to a time-honored tradition without harming a single book! Copyrighted false book panels can be applied to furniture or directly to a wall. Class A Fire Rated also available"
(www.periodbooksimulations.com) But whether she uses the period book simulations or not, she seems to be over pampered and under aware of any reality - but hey I may be wrong. You be the judge. This quote from Dec. 2000, Talk magazine article by Steel's former butler Thorhallur Vilhjalmsson on Christmas Gifts, "I once tried to count how many gifts were stored around the place and estimated that there were over a thousand. I suppose it 
made sense that she had to hire a full time gift wrapper... All the people in the house had their own color-coded wrapping paper. I remember seeing the master codebook in Katie's office, in which samples of wrapping paper were listed by each child, nanny, and staff person's name. The children, John, and Camilla, the head nanny from England, had beautiful, shiny paper, while the rest of us got plainer patterns ( mine was a faded yellow). This made it easy of course, to tell how your loot was accumulating compared to others."
Want to know what you can do to further the Art rev.? By far the most important thing you can do is do something! - Art S Rev. - till next time.