Some great footage of the Czechoslovakian Spartakiad games which were used under Communist rule to oppose and suplement the Olympics. Working as one group effort rather than an individual performance more recent examples of this kind of practice can be seen in North Korea.

Recently Rick Owen’s let Lynn Yager into his exceptional Paris apartment for the Wall Street Journal. Have a look through more photo’s and read the article here

Gallery Diet and SBL6 contributor Daniel Feinberg are excited to present 10 artists working in the fields of drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture in the exhibition opening Wednesday February 20, 6-9pm.

Concurrent with Diamonds, Diamonds will be High Frontiers, a multisensory survey of the artist, writer and musician Claire L. Evans in the Project Room.

Diamonds, Diamonds
Featuring works by SBL6 contributor Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Nadia Ayari, Lisa Beck, Barb Choit, Evie Falci, Kathryn Garcia, Michelle Lopez, Davina Semo, Amy Yao, and Tamara Zahaykevich.

High Frontiers: A survey of Claire L. Evans
Claire L. Evans will present a multisensory survey of her technological thing-vision in objects and videos, scent and literature. Collected in one place for the first time, and largely new to the world, this presentation will be, as Mark von Schlegell writes about her work, a room of networked science fictions [where] young women’s minds will meet the shock of the “demoniac glimpse” of the technologically-accessed modern real, and in the temporary safety of this new Dark Age see the stars.

C.L.E. will be performing a new speculative fiction called “Emotional Bandwidth Solutions” at 8pm on February 20th. This will also be the occasion for the release of High Frontiers, a new collection of essays by C.L.E. published by Publication Studio.

Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Untitled, 2011, digital ilfoflex print, 50 x 60 cm

March 1st. Register HERE!

Exciting talk this Thursday in Brooklyn!

Love, loss… and disfigurement, murder, and flayed skin (with a bit of cannibalism and sadism thrown in for good measure). What better way to spend your Valentine’s Day evening than to join us for a glass of red wine, a bite of delicious chocolate, and a lecture on the history of tattooing combined with a reading of a series of historical tattoo-centered short stories by authors such as Roald Dahl (1958), Saki (1911), Junichiro Tanazaki (1910) and John Rickman (1781)?

On Thursday please join us for an evening with tattoo scholars Anna Felicity Friedman and Matt Lodder (both heavily tattooed themselves) who will lecture about and read tales that interweave tattoo history with romance and the macabre. Through illustrated slide lectures, Drs. Friedman and Lodder will present comparative historical material to provide context and deeper understanding and to separate fact from fiction. Learn about wide ranging tattoo topics in both Western and non-Western cultures and have questions answered that the stories raise. Did people really preserve tattooed skin? What were people reading about tattoos in the early twentieth century? Were Maori really tattooed head to foot? What were the connections between Ukiyo-e and Japanese tattooing in the Edo period?

And the stories… Come hear the account of a young Maori woman and an English sailor who had himself completely tattooed to gain her favor, only to be forcibly returned to his ship (in John Rickman’s 1781 travel narrative from Captain James Cook’s third voyage). Cringe at the tale of a businessman tattooed in Italy with an elaborate scene, but who was prohibited from ever showing it to anyone, swimming, or leaving the country (in Saki’s 1911 “The Background”). Shudder at the story of a Japanese woman lured into a tattooer’s studio, drugged, and forcibly tattooed (in Junichiro Tanazaki’s 1910 “Shisei (The Tattooer)”). Enjoy the fantasy of a young and not-yet famous Chaim Soutine who, during a bacchanalian evening, rendered a dorsal portrait of a tattoo artist’s wife that later mysteriously turns up as a “canvas” in an art gallery (in Roald Dahl’s 1952 “Skin”). Additional images related to the stories will be screened during the readings.

Chocolate and red wine will make things festive.

Anna Felicity Friedman has been researching the history of tattooing for over 20 years. Her recently completed PhD, from the University of Chicago, focuses on tattooed transculturites—Europeans and Americans who acquired non-Western tattoos as part of a process of cultural identity transformation. Her photoblog, Tattoo History Daily, offers glimpses into myriad aspects of tattoo history. An interdisciplinary scholar, she has taught, written, and lectured about body art, maps, rare books, and other sundry topics, works as a freelance curator, and currently teaches hybrid literature/film/art courses at the University of Chicago.

Matt Lodder is a London-based art historian. His work is primarily concerned with the history of Western tattooing and the artistic status of body art and body modification practices including tattooing, body piercing and cosmetic surgery. He writes regularly for Total Tattoo magazine, gives public lectures on tattoo history and related topics, works as a freelance writer and broadcaster for both radio and television, and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in contemporary art and theory at the University of Reading and the University of Birmingham. He is currently writing a book called ‘Tattoo: An Art History’ for IB Tauris, due for publication in 2014.
Thursday, February 14 
 8:00 PM
 $5
Presented by Morbid Anatomy

Observatory

543 Union Street #1E

Brooklyn, New York 11215

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting BRAFA art and antiques fair in Brussels. Held on the outskirts of Brussels in an expansive space it holds 128 different galleries from 12 different countries. With its strengths laying in decorative art, there were many ranging areas of art and antiques that transcended through many centuries and continents. Below are some of my favourite artworks from the hugely diverse selection exhibited.

Jane Graverol, Jeune femme assise, 1927 from Vincent Lecuyer’s gallery in Paris

An early 18th century skull of a hippopotomos from Finch & Co in London

Picasso, Nu agenouille et amour (1986), Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

The Rape of Africa, David Lachapelle, 2009 Maruani & Noirhomme Gallery in Brussels

Head of the Devi, 5th/6th century Indian statue from Hioco gallery in Paris

Tim Noble and Sue Webster,  ’$’ 2001 at Guy Pieters’ Gallery in Paris

Fashion Week’s devil is in the detail. Be there! Sang Bleu 6 will.