Unmonumental: The Object in the 21st Century
Friday, February 15th, 2008
“It is a nervous time, and artists respond to that.”
Unmonumental was published in conjunction with the inaugural exhibition of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, that fancypants, $50 million, are-you-smart-enough, stacked-tower-of-whiteshoeboxes in NYC. “While we now have a beautiful new building, we are also keenly aware of not becoming too proper, polite, or institutional. On the contrary, we must continue to fearlessly confront challenging art.” (more…)
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago recently closed Sympathy for the Devil, an exhibition on art and rock ‘n’ roll. The exhibition starts in 1967, the year when Andy Warhol began collaborating with The Velvet Underground, The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience released Are You Experienced. Along with the time frame, curator Dominic Molon placed parameters on what was to be included in the show, with an emphasis on the “art works themselves” instead of the aesthetics of record covers, club flyers, posters, and T-shirts we more comfortably relate to rock music. 
Paul Maziar and Matt Maust (designer/bassist of Los Angeles’ Cold War Kids) have published a “graphic-novel-prose-memoir” book. Words are by Maziar and pictures are by Maust.
Esteemed percussionist and visual artist Billy Martin can add another notch to his weighty list of accomplishments. Recently released is Riddim: Claves of African Origin, a new book by the Medeski, Martin & Wood drummer. 
Last week, Chronicle Books and fashion editor Tiffany Godoy released Style Deficit Disorder, the first book to depict the fashion of Tokyo’s Harajuku neighborhood. The book captures the area’s international style with almost 200 photos, essays by Japanese fashion editors, and commentary by cultural icons. 
There are a number of ways to interpret Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings (Drawn And Quarterly), the graphic novel released as part of his indie cult series Optic Nerve. Part race-relations study, part real-world relationships examination, the story raises a number of questions, but never does the disservice of answering them outright. 
E-mail expert David Gewirtz analyzes the White House’s apparent lack of electronic security in his latest book, Where Have All the E-mails Gone? And with the recently reported White House claim that 5,000,000 e-mails may be missing, that’s a good question. 
LaShonda Katrice Barnett (shown left), a professor of Africana Studies at Sarah Lawrence College and a musician in her own right, never intended on becoming a historian of black female songwriters. Instead, the calling found her. 
Originally a fifteen-part serial in New York Times Magazine earlier this year, Michael Chabon’s antique adventure tale Gentlemen on the Road has found itself bound and on bookshelves. 
