Poetry of the Week: "Mobile Homecoming" and "For Poets (& Others)"by Brandi Homan

March 14, 2010 6:19 PM

Brandi Homan is editor-in-chief of Switchback Books, a feminist press that publishes poetry by women. She earned her MFA from Columbia College, Chicago, and her MA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her work has appeared in Barn Owl Review, Born Magazine, DIAGRAM, MiPOesias, Natural Bridge, North American Review, and Salt Hill. Hard Reds was her first full-length collection of poetry (Shearsman, 2009). Her second collection is Bobcat Country (Shearsman, 2010).

MOBILE HOMECOMING

My professor said I was "aiming for mediocrity." I was thirty years old. My mother's into money recently, talks about some book that associates class with worldviews of material goods. In the book, low class means "quantity," middle class means "quality," and high class means "presentation." Working on my master's degree, I knew for certain I wasn't middle class, going again for quantity. I saw that others, hello Professor, viewed me as not middle class. That I was low-middle class, or low-class, even, depending on how much cash the one doing the viewing had. Or really that I was culturally bankrupt from growing up in a vacuum cleaner.

Dave Song, Empty Bottle Basement, Chicago

Posted by Ursula Sokolowska

March 14, 2010 4:53 PM

And the basement lives here

Clifford Meth's Welcome to Hollywood and His Sharky Response

Posted by guestblogger

March 14, 2010 12:23 PM

As Rich Johnston writes, "Earlier this week, writer Clifford Meth revisited his rather-abandoned-of-late column at Comic Bulletin, Meth Addict.In which he told how a project he was associated with, Dave Cockrum's The Futurians almost made it to the screen a couple of times.And how he was also hired to write a screenplay treatment for his IDW series Snaked, before being moved aside for another writer - and then discovering he was suddenly not getting paid his kill fee...

"We have a contract," I said. "Of course he's going to pay me." "No he isn't. He's pretty sure you won't sue him. The fee is too small and you'd have to fly to Los Angeles to file for damages. Apparently this is how he does things." "Tell me this is a bad joke." "Sorry Cliff," said my agent. "Welcome to Hollywood."

So Cliff describes how he offered to "talk" with the producer's parents. Whose address Meth happened to have. Which suddenly has the desired effect.The column has been pulled, after someone got a bit scared it seems. But I understand the specific column in question has been bought out by a bigger site who will be running it tomorrow.

Not Bleeding Cool, we weren't even in the bidding. But if you'd like to read the whole column now, go to Daniel Best's Blog, where it is re-posted here.

Peter Otto @ Devening Projects

Posted by Paul Germanos

March 8, 2010 8:35 AM

Above: Hand of History (Ode to John Heartfield)
oil on canvas, 21.5 x 43 inches

Below: Artist Peter Otto

Exhibition: The Lodger
March 7 - April 9, 2010
3039 West Carroll Avenue
Chicago, IL 60612
(312) 420-4720
www.deveningprojects.com
Exhibition facilitated by Cultural Services in the USA / Consulate General of the Netherlands and Materiaalfonds, Amsterdam

Noah Berlatsky: "Artists Write: The Last Shall Be First"

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

March 7, 2010 1:06 PM

Proximity continues its Arts Theory Column, edited by Mark Staff Brandl, with an essay by Noah Berlatsky: "The Last Shall Be First."

Most traditional economic theory is built around the concept of scarcity -- the idea that there's not enough stuff to go around. In The Accursed Share (1946), famed theorist Georges Bataille inverts this; life, he says, is characterized, not by too little, but by too much. Life is excess -- it pushes onto every bleak rock, every cranny; it spends itself in profligate sexual activity and in the ultimate profligacy of death. And it throws out unneeded economic activity; too much fat, too many children, too much grain in the stores, too many bodies in the street, too much creative energy shaking its collective tuchas on the YouTube videos.

Poetry of the Week: "Creation Myth" by Mathias Svalina

Posted by Simone Muench

March 1, 2010 4:38 PM

Mathias Svalina was born in Chicago, where his parents were both chemists. He is the author of five chapbooks as well as five collaboratively written chapbooks. His work has been published widely in journals such as American Letters & Commentary, Boston Review, Diagram, Jubilat, and Typo. He has won fellowships and awards from The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, The Iowa Review and New Michigan Press, among others. With Zachary Schomburg, he co-edits Octopus Magazine and Octopus Books. He currently teaches writing and literature in Denver, Colorado. Destruction Myth (Cleveland State University Press, 2010) is his first book.

CREATION MYTH

There was a bunny with a broken leg
& a mink with an empty stomach,

Somehow they coexisted peacefully
& were able to create the world.

When Hollywood heard about this
they sent a team of idea people out to meet them.

Lamis El Farra Painting Show in the Collapsible Kunsthalle

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 27, 2010 8:54 PM

The Collapsible Kunsthalle (of which I am curator): documentation of the latest exhibition, paintings by Lamis El Farra.

Link here.

I saw a man, he danced with his wife in Chicago

Posted by Ray Pride

February 26, 2010 12:01 PM

Everything terrible

Posted by Ray Pride

February 23, 2010 11:57 PM

Interview with Hadara Bar-Nadav

Posted by Simone Muench

February 22, 2010 7:39 PM

This interview with Hadara Bar-Nadav about her book A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight was conducted during the month of February, 2010 by seven poets: Aaron Delee, Dane Hamann, Sarah Jenkins, Joshua Lobb, Christine Pacyk, Lana Rakhman and Virginia Smith.

Q: A number of your poems seem to be inspired by works of art. How does a poem like this evolve? Do you sit down thinking, "I like this piece of art, I think I'll write a poem in response to it," or does such a poem come to fruition in a more organic way--is it only later that you realize the poem was inspired by or in response to the art?

Hadara Bar-Nadav: My collaborations with art are generally pretty organic. There is a Rothko I visit at the Nelson Museum of Art in Kansas City. And as I look at it, words will float up. There are artists I turn to, much like I do certain authors, whose work seems to trigger poems. I worked on a long prose poem about Louise Nevelson's work, and when writing it I immersed myself in her art and writings. I was never sure what would come up--a line, two pages of prose ramblings--but something always did. When I was working on A Glass of Milk, I remember buying a book of Eugene Atget's photographs and one of Cartier-Bresson's that smelled like it had been in a fire; the edges of the pages were charred. The art work teaches me about seeing, about ways of seeing. And often I string together several images to form a narrative of sorts. Visual art reminds me to keep my imagery sharp, to look and look again. I painted for many years, but these days my creative energy is mostly in my poems.

Shaun Belcher: Alice and the Curious Curatoriat

Posted by guestblogger

February 22, 2010 12:40 PM

Belcher plunges into the world of the semi-professional art guru - or the 'curatoriat', as he has termed the ever growing army of art school graduates working not as artists, but as facilitators to art activity in their cities. With his ever critical eye he asks what the growth of the 'curatoriat' means to the individual artist...

When did it happen? When did the power structure in the arts shift so fundamentally away from the practicing artist and into the hands of a new breed of art school trained curators or as I have re-designated them 'curatoriat'? The growth industry in 'curatorial' courses like the MA at the Royal College of Art reflects a far wider shift and a worrying one for us poor artists at the bottom of the arts funding pecking order.
Read the rest here on axisweb.org

Dawoud Bey: Trying to Make A Difference at CAA

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 21, 2010 5:50 PM

Dawoud Bey writes: Published here are the remarks I gave during my opening Keynote Address at the College Art Association Conference Convocation here in Chicago on Wednesday evening. My remarks were preceded by an awards ceremony in which a number of individuals were given awards of recognition and distinction for their work. Most notable for me were the awards given to Emory Douglas, Barkley Hendricks and Suzanne Lacy, since each has figured in the formation of my own history as an artist in some way. Gratifying too was the award given to Holland Cotter, often the only art critic at the New York Times to consistently note the presence of artists of color in his ongoing criticism and reviews. You can see the full list of awardees here:

http://www.collegeart.org/awards/2010awards

My remarks, "The Art World and the Real World: Bridging the Great Divide" follow:

Known knowns

Posted by Ray Pride

February 20, 2010 3:05 PM

Short Video Interview with Brandl in CAA on Columbia College Blog by Barbara Trinh

Posted by Mark Staff Brandl

February 16, 2010 10:58 AM

Barbara Trinh says, "While I'm sitting waiting for a session to begin, my curiosity was sparked when a man in front of me was enthusiastically speaking about comics and his art on the T-shirt he was currently wearing. Instead of handing someone an ordinary business card, he hands them a button with his contact info on the back. That is because Mark Staff Brandl (http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/) is no ordinary artist. He is interested in comic/ sequential art, painting, and art history. His installations are described as 'walk in comic books', a mixture of installation and comic books that are 12 ft tall. In the video, Mark tells us about himself and his experience at CAA."
Barbara Trinh, BA Candidate from the Film & Video Dept

Orange Crush is now available

Posted by Simone Muench

February 7, 2010 11:18 AM

Dear Sharks, the new book from Sarabande is now available! Graced with a painting by Yves Tanguy.

You can order here

Read poems from it here and here

"A sweet fever of a voice lures us into pictures of bone bonnets, whip stripes and dead girls. These poems freeze time. Simone pulls absolute beauty and light from these dark moments. I'm in and hooked."--Tim Rutili of Califone

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Poetry of the Week: "Mobile Homecoming" and "For Poets (& Others)"by Brandi Homan

March 14, 2010 6:19 PM

Dave Song, Empty Bottle Basement, Chicago

March 14, 2010 4:53 PM

Clifford Meth's Welcome to Hollywood and His Sharky Response

March 14, 2010 12:23 PM

Peter Otto @ Devening Projects

March 8, 2010 8:35 AM

Noah Berlatsky: "Artists Write: The Last Shall Be First"

March 7, 2010 1:06 PM

Poetry of the Week: "Creation Myth" by Mathias Svalina

March 1, 2010 4:38 PM

Lamis El Farra Painting Show in the Collapsible Kunsthalle

February 27, 2010 8:54 PM

I saw a man, he danced with his wife in Chicago

February 26, 2010 12:01 PM

Everything terrible

February 23, 2010 11:57 PM

Interview with Hadara Bar-Nadav

February 22, 2010 7:39 PM

Shaun Belcher: Alice and the Curious Curatoriat

February 22, 2010 12:40 PM

Dawoud Bey: Trying to Make A Difference at CAA

February 21, 2010 5:50 PM

Known knowns

February 20, 2010 3:05 PM

Short Video Interview with Brandl in CAA on Columbia College Blog by Barbara Trinh

February 16, 2010 10:58 AM

Orange Crush is now available

February 7, 2010 11:18 AM

By The Editors

By Ray Pride