John Currin: 44″x36″ the cripple 1997

anime meets helmut newton – the cripple sexy psycho. i was never a big fan of john currin, i liked some of his pieces on a purely aesthetic level, but i never got what the work was about and i suppose it didn’t effect me enough to ever bothered to find out. as a decorative piece they can be nice, i mean they will surely match someones couch, some where. but as a whole they seemed stupid and frivolous. the one element that captured my attention for a few days at the start was the fact that he was painting rather traditional subjects/portraits in oil on canvas in a time like this? meaning now! it seemed so lame and out of touch, but then again I liked his retaliation towards the scene. the fad, the press, the marc jacobs obsession, etc made him the bad boy or the hot boy and one couldn’t get away from him. after a series of portraits of his wife, Rachel Feinstein, he moved on to graphic sex scenes of people I could not recognize. made me yawn to be honest! flash to years later, the other night I had dinner with sabrina buell from matthew marks gallery in new york and over the course of our dinner she said something that i liked. she said “currins work was quite so about our time, the excess and the gaudiness… the women in his work didn’t just have breasts they had gaigantic breasts, it was about excess…” ok thats not bad, how could i have missed it. sure enough there are plenty of that in his work but i still dont see the thread through the work. i’m still not convinced of his work but it was a point to consider. by dd

CATEGORIES: art, naughty stuff

1963 lincoln continental: suicide doors

what happened to american cars? let’s take the continental, they used to glide about, moving the kennedy’s around… now they have turned into some plastic junker, hauling budget passengers to the JFK airport? no wonder they’re all going bankrupt! to make things worse, they came up with the brilliant idea to launch guzzlers like the hummer when the world was… how can i say… warming up to global warming. now of course they have a ‘green version’ – right! no matter what you run it on; be it battery, gas or arugula, to move over six tons of weight (that’s the small H3) you will be polluting. boeing is another one in the crossfire… it better shape up, airbus the frowned upon “french/german/british socialist machine” is turning out to be the real gang of creative cowboys.  that is, despite their tailored suits. read the latest vanity fair article about the airbus that landed in the hudson river and its praise for its engineering and design. america needs to spend money on education and ideas, or it will lose all its past prestige for good. by dd

CATEGORIES: cars

ras kush: New yorks finnest

unknown gem. to me, ras kush, remains one of the greatest dj’s and preachers of reggae/rock/roots/dub music in brooklyn and new york (you can also catch him in tokyo where he has a specific following – that is if you happen to be there). his group black redemption is only one part of his persona. (Kush at joes pub) I met him the first time at jammyland in NY and attended many of his sets in new york and brooklyn alike. i pushed to publish an interview on him and we ended up eventually recording together many years ago. tonight as I selected songs at a set I thought of him and his wealth of knowledge, so many people came up to me to ask what I played and many of them thoughts went out to ras kush, his kindness and genuine love will always remain with me. by dd

CATEGORIES: music

for george

this short film by fellini is a masterpiece for me, with actor terence stamp, ray charles on the sound track and a spirit that is more punk than the pistols themselves. this particular scene simply never left me! you have to understand what she says to appreciate the gravity of the scene. find an italian immediately. the other two shorts by vadim and malle in the spirit of the dead (3 tales by edgar allan poe) are to be discarded. read more about it in this article by george porcari. by dd

CATEGORIES: clips, must see films

so sad!


sharon tate: this is one of the saddest pictures ever. if you don’t know the story, it’s best that you don’t. by dd

CATEGORIES: read

roman polanski & Sharon tate


polanski is one of my favorite directors. i finally saw the latest documentary on him made in 2008 (wanted and desired) which made me rather sad. of course, as the case is with most ‘good’ directors, he’s done his share of terrible films; ‘bitter moon 1992‘ is just one of them. bitter moon was almost as bad as bertolucci’s last tango in paris.  in that film, i felt embarrassed for the actors and the director. but his ‘knife in the water 1962‘, ‘chinatown 1974‘, ‘rosemary’s baby 1968‘ (starring another favorite director of mine, john cassavetes), ‘the tenant 1976‘ (a lovely film about france in general) and of course ‘repulsion 1965‘. all of these films remain to be what “polanski” is to me. his later film ‘the pianist‘, which received so much attention, wasn’t that terrible, but by no means did it deserve the given status to be the defining moment of his career. of course, hollywood is always late in awarding great talent. maybe they were just catching up for lost time. by dd

CATEGORIES: must see films