Koen VanMechelen loves chickens. Live chickens, stuffed chickens, videos of chickens, paintings made with egg tempera. Saturday night at Conner Contemporary, VanMechelen's "Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (DC)" opens; it'll run to Dec. 31. According to the press release, the Belgian artist is "systematically crossing all breeds of chickens to create a world-mongrel chicken."
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The tenets of the Advanced Theory are clear. The genius of Advanced artists has evolved past the point of ordinary people's understanding. Advanced artists wear sunglasses indoors. They favor leather jackets. They insist on putting their pictures on the covers of their albums. And [...]
Ann Powers, meet Ann Powers.
Ann Powers, you were the subject of a good profile by Ylan Q. Mui in the Oct. 11 Washington Post Magazine. Your real name is Jayne Lytel, and you chose your blogger handle by mashing together your middle name and your grandmother's maiden name.
Ann Powers, you are the rock critic for [...]
Washington psychiatrist Alen Salerian is no stranger to the visual arts. His mother, Kristin Saleri, was a painter of some note in his native Turkey, and two years ago he got into a dustup with his landlord about a statuary garden he placed in front of his Friendship Heights office. Saleri died in 2006; Salerian [...]
“Chuck Brown's Long Dance,” last Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine cover story about the godfather of D.C. go-go music, was an illustration of the importance of editing. Brown’s audience? “30- to 40-something African Americans.” Later we learn that his audience “is made up of mostly 30- and 40-something African Americans.” Brown’s prison stint? “Back then, Lorton [...]
1) America is very, very special. How special? Did you know that we INVENTED national parks? In Europe, people who want to go camping have to bring the duke a fattened calf first, and even then they may be flogged for the enjoyment of some court dandy before they get to set up their Coleman [...]
For the most part, the requirements for the Corcoran College of Art & Design's 2009 All-Alumni Exhibition seemed reasonable to Chris Combs. You had to be an alum, obviously, you could submit work from only the last three years, and you had to be a current member of the school's alumni association. Combs, who graduated [...]
Pour a little out for Mary Travers this morning; the Peter, Paul and Mary member died yesterday at 72. (Worst headline: "Mary Travers is Gone. Puff! Just Like That.")
Peter, Paul and Mommy, the group's first children's album, was the first album I really loved. My favorite song was the first one, "The Marvelous Toy." So [...]
And by buying Thriller off iTunes last week, I am! I so am!
It will be sadder next paycheck when I buy Off the Wall and hope my wife doesn't notice. But for now, success! Blanket, this one is for you.
One of the Post's best blogs reminds us that Farrah Fawcett wasn't the only person whose demise was blocked out by Michael Jackson's—Sky Saxon, singer of the Seeds, died last Thursday as well. I'll say—the publicist who emailed me on June 15 about a garage-rock tour featuring Love, the Electric Prunes, and Saxon, hasn't uttered [...]
