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14 July 2006 by nathaniel

V/A (various art)

Been doing filler (mostly my own stuff) for the past while on the blog, whilst on residence in Brazil, and not getting out much since going gaga over my daughter. Hit the gallery strip two days ago, tho, and as usual was pleased by the works at Warren Siebrits – with the exception of the young, up-and-coming Colbert Mashile, the works were a bit steep in price, but that’s what you pay for in the Siebrits space, I gather; he does the work of finding great work. Colbert is also, obviously, a guy to watch.  Not that impressed with Cecil Skotnes @ Goodman, but it is what it is – emotive paintings and prints, from an old master… Just not my vibe.  The Krut group show of works is really worth seeing, and the pieces are really affordable for those who want to start collecting going-places (or already there) artists (I actually bought a Slemon piece for myself). Note that this is not a self-plug – my prints on show are not for sale….

Also currently on in Gauteng:
Dorothee Kreutzfeldt @ Outlet, and (oh shit, nathaniel just realized he deleted the shows he had intended on blogging from his inbox), and some other stuff at some other galleries, I am sure. Maybe look at m&g or art.co.za  or Artthrob listings or something. I’m tired.

Oh yeh, and my opening at Parking Gallery went live last night (up for three days by appointment). Here’s a great photo by Christo Doherty (followed by a few others on my crap phone). Doherty says, "the image of woody allen came out rather like a francis bacon portrait – i quite liked that. he was also an artist challenged by the problems of communication and the corporal body…."

vincent @ parking gallery, a photo by Christo Doherty
vincent @ parking gallery, a photo by Christo Doherty

simon gush (parking gallery curator) and clive kellner (johannesburg art museum curator). the latter says the former is a great gallerist, and that i could quote him on that. after he said i should not blog about him spilling coca-cola everywhere, that is....
simon gush (parking gallery curator) and clive kellner (johannesburg art museum curator). the latter says the former is a great gallerist, and that i could quote him on that. after he said i should not blog about him spilling coca-cola everywhere, that is….

rat western and her bright nose in my terrible photos say, "it's nice to see your crap"
rat western and her bright nose in my terrible photos say, "it’s nice to see your crap"

PS – my daughter has a new site, if interested
PPS – about to post my first guest blog at Art Heat

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05 July 2006 by nathaniel

nathaniel on BBC

Ha, one of the video re-mixes I did at the iCommons iSummit was on BBC news yesterday (or maybe the day before). Check out the page, and then download the MP3 on the right-hand side (about 10MBs) – the whole thing is about Henrik Moltke’s (along with many others) v. cool free beer project, and, as BY licenses mandate, I get a mention when they use my coolio beat-box re-mix for promotion (starts between five and five and a half minutes in, but you should really listen to the whole segment). Sweet.

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04 July 2006 by nathaniel

Happy Independence Day!

230 years ago, we declared our independence from an unelected monarch named George – a mostly self-interested tyrant who did very little to help those who did little to help him. We became, in some respects, Americans. Let’s celebrate that victory this year by shrugging off another almost-but-not-quite elected George, to stop him from promoting self-interest as false democracy, and shredding the hopes and dreams of America’s forefathers. Be more American: impeach Bush.

Hoorah! Re-elect Al Gore!

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03 July 2006 by nathaniel

Andrew Sullivan is very cool

I am not, and probably will never consider myself, a "conservative" – tho I know not what that means in today’s American climate. Still, as many Dems cower before the current administration, it has been the reasonable few, on "both sides" of the political spectrum, who speak volumes of truth. Here’s Andrew’s response to a Republican naysayer on his site (Andrew is and has always been a conservative, and former hero of the Republican party):

I believe in an aggressive fight against our enemy. I would have sent twice the number of troops to Iraq. I’d add a war-tax to gasoline. I would have expended whatever resources needed to find and kill Osama bin Laden. I’m in favor of an aggressive, dynamic, enterprising war against these barbarians. But I believe that part of that long war is continuing to insist on humane treatment of prisoners of war. And I believe that the laws of warfare need to be written and, if necessary, adjusted, to fight this new war. So I’d be happy to see the 1978 FISA law amended to make it easier to wiretap genuine security threats. I have no problem with the Swift program. I’d be happy to see enemy combatants detained indefinitely as prisoners of war, if so proved under a fair process.

Where I dissent is in the claim to grant the president extra-constitutional monarchical power to make this stuff up as he goes along, and to shred the Anglo-American principles of justice and war-making at the same time. I also believe that the United States must never torture any prisoner of war or enemy combatant, and must always treat them humanely. Real intelligence is gained by steady and long-term infiltration of terror networks, not crude torture of random individuals in dark cells. So let us fight by using our strengths – an executive whose errors are subject to checks from both judiciary and legislature and a free, robust press. That’s a democracy’s advantage in wartime over dictatorships – an openness to internal criticism and thereby correction. The results of one man deciding everything are already evident in the shambles of the Iraq invasion. We are better than that – and it befuddles me to see how little faith some "conservatives" now have in the procedures of constitutional democracy.

Read more from Andrew’s Daily Dish.

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03 July 2006 by nathaniel

RBS

One of the most fascinating discussions that emerged from the iCommons iSummit, at least for me, came out of the presentation by Israeli rock stars RHYTHM BEATING SILENCE aka RBS. Their fascinating story is of a band who "made it," but in a small scene driven by virtually one label and one radio station, were completely taken advantage of. Instead of sitting idly, the band went on their own, and gave their music away for free (now all under Creative Commons licences), making money by playing gigs and archiving their albums. Everything is available for re-mix use and non-commercial distribution through their web site.  We went on to discuss revenue generation for lesser known artists, various production modes, DIY art and the importance of collaboration. RBS’s frontman, Nimrod Lev, is quite an interesting activist – here’s a translation of a recent speech he gave at the University of Haifa. Money quote (speaking of criminalizing the downloading of music):

Personally, I was never willing to think of my audience as criminals or to turn the people for whom I create music into criminals, just because the music industry is in a crisis. …
 
I would like to begin with the opening lines of the announcement we attached to the song "Vegas" which was played here earlier:

It does not matter when and how the music and all that is related to it became only a matter of business and commerce. It happened. The love of music became marginal, and in most cases it is not part of the considerations of music products, marketed to the public.

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