Looks like Amazon and the New York Times have crossed wires in the blogosphere.Over at the new Amazon blog, Omnivoracious, they have a "new series asking musicians about the books they're into--new, old, and influential."while at Paper Cuts the blog of Dwight Garner, senior editor of the NYT Book Review we have their weekly feature "Living With Music" a series presenting a "playlist of songs from a writer or some other kind of book-world personage."Both have a little global touch this week with Omnivoracious asking members of the Australian rock band The Church whats on their bookshelfand Paper Cuts asks...
Anselm Kiefer Moves into the Louvre
It is the first time in over 50 years that the Louvre has allowed a living artist to mess with the interior.In 1953 George Braque painted a ceiling of Henri II’s former antechamber and now Anselm Kiefer will have a permanent installation in a stairwell the links the Egyptian and Mesopotamian antiquities.Kiefer's installation consists of the his large painting Athanor and two sculptures Danae and Hortus Conclusus.The Danae piece consists of a large depetaled sunflower emerging from a pile of Kiefer's signature lead books.Who is Danae? In greek mythology she is the daughter of the King of Argos. She was...
The Book Gods of Contemporary Chinese Art
"Read thousands of books, travel thousands of miles" Liu Yi (1017-1086)Xu Bing. Book From the Sky1987-91Mixed media installation / Hand-printed books and scrolls printed from blocks inscribed with ''false'' characters.Huang Yong Ping The History of Chinese Painting and a Concise History of Modern Painting Washed in a Washing Machine for Two Minutes1987-1993 Chinese teabox, paper pulp, glassIn the art world there are few genres as hot as Contemporary Chinese Art and in Chinese Contemporary Art there are few objects as important as the book.The quote above from Liu Yi begins Wu Hung's introduction to the catalog of the seminal exhibition...
Shaker Primal Books
"There is a primal book as there is a primal voice, & it is the task of our poetry & art to recover it" says Jerome Rothenberg curator of the amazing visual ethnopoetic trip through history over at UBUWEB.Rothenberg says that "while the initial focus of ethnopoetics was on orality and performance, the discourse turned as well to the visible aspects of language — writing & inscription — both as a persistent contemporary concern & as an often unacknowledged kingpin of a revitalized & expanded ethnopoetics."The image above was done in the mid-nineteenth century and is attributed to Timothy Randlett...
Book Madness in Seattle
There is so much book related stuff going on this week in Seattle that Mayor Greg Nickels has designated it "Book Collecting Week."Here's what's happening:The premier non-new book event in the Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts show, takes place the weekend of the 13th and 14th at the Seattle Center Pavilion. With close to 100 exhibitors from around North America and as far away as Germany you are bound to see some of the best books, manuscripts and ephemera currently on the market. The exhibitors this year are particularly strong with many being members of...