Columbia's only locally owned alt weekly

Read more

Read more

What is the war in Sri Lanka about? 

Time magazine recently named musician M.I.A. to its annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people. You can find her in the artists/entertainers section between Rush Limbaugh and the inventors of Grand Theft Auto; the game, not the felony. 

M.I.A.’s appearance in Time was surprising on many levels. 

I mean, Time magazine still publishes? Who knew? (Note: the original joke was “Time magazine still publishes? I didn’t realize there were enough octogenarians around to keep it in business.” I removed that joke after I read it over the phone to my 38-year-old BFF reacted with a defensive “Hey, I subscribe to Time!” Sorry. I was just kidding, honest.) 

M.I.A.’s inclusion also surprised me because she hasn’t achieved Limbaugh-like, or even Grand Theft Automotive-levels of cultural ubiquity.  

She’s a critics’ darling, which is a polite way of saying she doesn’t sell especially well. She’s probably more famous for singing at this year’s Grammy ceremony in a see-through outfit which showed-off her nine-months pregnant-belly than she is for her music.  

Read more

 Impessionism with a new twist

By Judit Trunkos

City Art’s new show Perceptual Painters: The Collective  features oil paintings by a group of artists who have put a new spin on Impressionism. Artists Dave Campbell, Matt Klos, John Lee, Aaron Lubrick, Scott Noel, Brian Rego, and Andrew Patterson-Tutschka are all connected through their affiliation with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts represent a new direction in Impressionism.

Impressionism is an easily recognizable style, typified by visible brush strokes, open compositions, emphasis on changing light or movement, ordinary subject matters and unusual visual angles. Capturing ordinary moments in the changing light has been the focus of painters since the birth of the style in the late 18th Century. Moving the canvas outdoors and painting without the stable light conditions of an indoor studio has also inspired this style; a style in which the details and immitation of the subject matter was no longer the ultimate goal.

While the old masters such as Monet, Manet, and Pissaro used lighter colors and allowed the paintings to blur up close, the more contemporary painters of this style, such as the artists participating in this show, tend to paint clearer images and use darker colors if necessary.The subject matters are contemporary and more ordinary as well. During Impressionism’s prime, the masters were inclined to focus on magical moments such as sunsets. By contrast, members of  Perceptual Painters: The Collective choose less magistic moments to capture: a dark room in an apartment or someone’s messy and dirty basement can easily be the subject of the paintings.

Andrew Patterson-Tutschka’s Between our Neighbourhood illustrates the new direction in this mood-based painting style, captured by simply driving on the highway towards Columbia and capturing the tallest downtown buildings. It is not a complicated painting, does not need years of studies in art history.  It is merely a mood that the driver was in one day, while he was driving to Columbia. And that is the most fascinating about these paintings. Looking at them, the artist provides a visual aid to a mood or feeling or sometimes just describes a second in our fast lives. 

The exhibit will continue through June 27, 2009.

Read more

 

Read more

Playwright George Brant holds an MFA from the James A. Michener Center for Writers in Austin, Texas.  His scripts have been produced in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Austin.  His most recent play, “Elephant’s Graveyard,” received the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center and the Keene Prize for Literature.  The professional premier of “Elephant’s Graveyard” opens at Trustus Theatre on May 1, with a scheduled production run of May 1-23.  Brant currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island.

Read more