Now on View: Scot Lefavor at the Fridge

City Lights — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:00:44 +0000

Not to get all “Leave Britney alone!” on you, but Scot Lefavor’s 2008 painting Modern Day Role Models for Your Teenage Daughters picks an easy, albeit irresistible target. You’ll find America’s most damaged living celebrity parodied at some of her worst moments, from the crotch-flashing to the head-shaving. Britney, who is depicted in the work as tabloid darling Bat Boy, is joined by Lindsay Lohan (or is it Paris Hilton?) as Big Bird, similarly ill-attired, ladybits obscured by some designer fashion logos. Influenced by the pop art of the ’60s and present-day street art, Lefavor mostly eschews politics (though he was last seen in D.C. at the Shepard Fairey “Manifest Hope” exhibit for the inauguration). —Maura Judkis

Read the full City Lights pick here; full exhibition details after the jump:

THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW TUESDAY to THURSDAY 11 A.M. TO 7 P.M. AND FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NOON TO 8 P.M. TO JAN. 5 AT THE FRIDGE, 516 8TH ST SE, REAR ALLEY. FREE. (202) 664-4151.

Jay-Z’s War On Auto-Tune

Hilary Crowe — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:26:37 +0000

Despite delayed release dates and his split from Def Jam, one upside to HOVA's much-anticipated Blueprint 3 (follow-up to Blueprints 1 and 2) is that the album promises to be free of Auto-Tune–the software responsible for T-Pain and Paris Hilton's musical careers. Kanye West, one of the album's many producers, told MTV News, "We actually removed all the songs with Auto-Tune off of his album to make the point that this is an anti-Auto-Tune album, even though I released an album that has all Auto-Tune."

On that album, 808's and Heartbreak, West used Auto-Tune on every track, a move the New York Times praised for it's retro minimalism. But does Kanye's love of robot-voice clash in-studio with Jigga's desire to go au naturel? According to MTV News,

"It doesn't matter to me," Kanye laughed about Jay not wanting to incorporate the sound that is featured so heavily on Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak. "It's music; it's just sonics. I like Auto-Tune so I do it, but you want the other thing — like you'll wear a suit to a wedding and gym shoes to a basketball game. I think it's a perfect moment for Jay to provide some gym shoes to a basketball game right now."

Whatever that means. Hopefully Jay's gym shoes kick Auto-Tune's robot ass outta rap for good, or at least spark a brief return to humanity.

Arts Desk » Paris Hilton

Now on View: Scot Lefavor at the Fridge

Jay-Z’s War On Auto-Tune