Peter Doig Lecture at the Art Institute of Chicago

Peter Doig, Guest House 3, 2002. Part of the Prints and Drawings collection at AIC.

On May 3rd I saw Peter Doig deliver an outline of his artwork's development at the Art Institute of Chicago. I enjoyed it, so I am posting a recording of it. Besides streaming it above, you may download it here.

I found his demeanor agreeably low-key and his commentary thoughtful. I had been awake for 48 hours by the time his lecture in the darkened auditorium began - perhaps my memories of it aren't quite trustworthy. This is why I record things.

After the jump is a collection of flyers Doig has painted for StudioFilmClub, a weekly film series he hosts at his studio in Trinidad. The flyers are collected in the book Peter Doig: StudioFilmClub. I like them.

Films in 2010

The films I watched in the first half of 2010.

            T  H  A  T   S  O  N  G

                Illustration by Sara Drake

200fine

2009 In premature media remembrance.

Before the perfunctory lists - I don't know what I was doing in 2009 but apparently reading, watching and listening wasn't part of it. My film watching in particular dropped off compared to 2006-2008 while my reading migrated to blogs (not working at a bookstore anymore didn't help). Music, on the other hand, "left me." It has become a black hole. We live in the most slashed-and-burnt musical landscape of the last 50 years (excising the late 90s). If you do not agree, if you think the Democratic Party that is indie music is captivating, please write an argument about what you think vital, intriguing music is and compare that to the forthcoming end of year lists. I think the discrepancy will be apparent. Perhaps I am just bitter about the impotent husk my generation is leaving - one split down the middle between soundtracks for camera parties of the self absorbed and soundtracks for romantic comedies aimed at high school art students. Any idea that any of the indie bands on any type of "national" stage are anything other than the Stone Temple Pilots / Franz Ferdinand ethos updated for 2009-10 is misguided at best.  Also, DIY is stale and is in need of a paradigm shift - most, if not all, of the political planks in DIY during the Bush era have been mainstreamed and both the content and presentation lack real oppositional meaning. There is an absent center in music. I'm rather annoyed at my place in time. How else can I say this - music is boring.

The five books I most enjoyed reading in 2009.

1. John Porcellino - Thoreau at Walden
Found a copy of this in Shakespeare's on a particularly self-hating day of wandering and anonymity - made me happy.

Wexner Center Media Arts Seminar Blog

A Cassavetes film Green's students wrote about for their class blog.

I recently wrote this story - my second to last for the Lantern - about Ron Green's partnership with the Wexner Center to develop a public blogging mechanism for his seminar class devoted to the Wexner's Media Arts programming. Set ups like this are sort of a no-brainer to me yet they seem to not be a widespread practice at OSU. Of course, that's OSU. So kudos to Green and the Wexner for attempting something out of the norm.

An interview with Chris Stults, the Wexner Center's assistant curator of film/video - here.
An interview with Dan Guarnieri, a student in the class - here.

The story is after "the jump." So is my interview with Green.

SPACEBOY

     Mike Olenick and Nanette Hayakawa in Spaceboy.

Mike Olenick's SPACEBOY is a glammed up rendition of a 1970s short by Renate Druks. It's a kaleidoscopic fantasia on an outer space siren and the boystronaut who falls for her. It's good!

I wrote a story about it for The Lantern below. It's not too great - my interview with Olenick was accidentally erased before I could write it.

Here is Melissa Starker's better written story for the Alive.

The Lantern version.

Stacie Sells is a Film Festival Juror - Story About.

I wrote a story for the Lantern about Stacie being a Juror for the Columbus International Film and Video Festival. Exhilarating. It's after "the jump."

Media Spin

This is so good.