Rebecca Warren

The Old Weird America at CAMH

The Old, Weird America
May 9 - July 20, 2008

A very quick day trip to Houston for the Diverse Works Auction was a good excuse to see some shows around town and visit with friends. A high lite was The Old Weird America show at CAMH. I recommend the middle and right side of the gallery... seriously avoid the far left past the Jeremy Blake video. Margaret Killgallen and Kara Walker are good as always. Matthew Day Jackson and Dario Robleto were nice surprises in how they connected to the "theme" of the show. Curator Toby Kamps selected in all 18 artists whose work references or incorporates American folk art, including Eric Beltz, Jeremy Blake, Sam Durant, Matthew Day Jackson, Margaret Kilgallen, David McDermott and Peter McGough, Cynthia Norton (a.k.a. Ninny), Greta Pratt, David Rathman, Dario Robleto, Allison Smith, Kara Walker, and Charlie White.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I just watched "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" directed by Julian Schnabel. It's based on a book that was written by and tells the true story of Elle magazine editor-in-chief
Jean-Dominique Bauby. The entire book was created by Bauby blinking his left eyelid. A transcriber repeatedly recited in French (E S A R I N T U L etc.), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and each word took approximately two minutes. The book received rave reviews and sold 150,000 copies in the first week and went on to become a number one bestseller across Europe. Two days after the book was published, Bauby died of pneumonia.
"The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" is a beautiful (I can't stress how beautiful), poetic, and hopeful film that translates Bauby's life living with locked-in-syndrome. I loved it.

Christain Marclay

I'm working with my friend, Edward Setina to create a soundtrack for my next installation. Talking with him and sharing ideas brought up the work of Christian Marclay. Above is a link to a short on utube about him.

Need I say more.

Timothy High, Sunday NY Times.

I'm not sure I like his entire body of work, but the way his work is described by Pilar Viladas and this sugar carriage really struck me. Click the link below to read about this piece and more.