Yayoi Kusama, (born March 22, 1929, Matsumoto, Japan), Japanese artist who was a self-described “obsessional artist,” known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations. She employed painting, sculpture, performance art, and installations in a variety of styles, including Pop art and Minimalism. By her own account, Kusama began painting as a child, at about the time she began experiencing hallucinations that often involved fields of dots. Those hallucinations and the theme of dots would continue to inform her art throughout her career. She had little formal training, studying art only briefly (1948–49) at the Kyōto City Specialist School

A glimpse into the life and times of the pioneer of earth architecture, with roots in ingenious technique of construction Brick genius, mud man, earth architect, guru of low-cost housing—just a few adjectives that have been used to describe architect extraordinaire Laurie Baker. His work, meanwhile, was renowned as ‘Baker style’. However, Baker himself strongly contested that term. The British-born architect had famously said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been inspired by what other architects have done but more by what ordinary craftsmen have created… What I build in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat

Peter Walker continues  writers' favourite film series with Wong Kar-Wai's melancholy tale of love and loneliness  My tenuous geographical connection to Wong Kar-Wai's 2000 masterpiece is, ultimately, a bit immaterial. Unlike many contributors to this series, my favourite film doesn't reflect something particular in my own life. On the contrary, In the Mood for Love's glory is its universality. A seemingly slight plot – man and woman move into the same cramped apartment building, gradually realise their respective spouses are having an affair and develop their own halting romance – is the platform for profound

  "The urge to destroy is also a creative urge"- Picasso     LONDON — The British street artist Banksy pulled off one of his most spectacular pranks on Friday night, when one of his trademark paintings appeared to self-destruct at Sotheby’s in London after selling for $1.4 million at auction. The work, “Girl With Balloon,” a 2006 spray paint on canvas, was the last lot of Sotheby’s “Frieze Week” evening contemporary art sale. After competition between two telephone bidders, it was hammered down by the auctioneer Oliver Barker for 1 million pounds, more than three times

Richard Avedon was an influential American fashion and fine art photographer. His iconic portraits of celebrities, spanned more than half of the 20th century, and included Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, The Beatles, Andy Warhol, and Tupac Shakur. “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph,” he once observed. Perhaps Avedon’s biggest stylistic impact was his decision to have his subjects emote—initially working during a time when the prevailing trend had been to present portraits that were still and subdued, his photographs stood out with their intimate

In his day, the Hungarian Martin Munkacsi (1896–1963) was one of the most famous photographers in the world. His dynamic photographs of sports, entertainers, politics, and street life in Germany and Hungary from the late 1920s and 1930s, were taken in a new, freewheeling style that captured the speed and movement of the modern era. Many of those early photographs were published in German photo weeklies, where Munkacsi made his reputation doing reportage, often from exotic locales. In 1933, Munkacsi turned his energetic style to fashion photography, making images of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7Mzo73cd4   Zakir Hussain is today appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, India, but gained him worldwide fame. His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study. The favorite accompanist for many of India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers, he has not let his genius rest

Andrew Newell Wyeth was born on July 12, 1917 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. One of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Wyeth was primarily a realist painter. Andrew Wyeth’s favorite subjects were the land and people around him, both around his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and his summer home in Midcoast Maine. He is perhaps best-known for his painting Christina’s World (1948), currently in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Andrew Wyeth passed away at the age of 91 on January 16, 2009.   Christina's World   Ice

In Fashion Tribes, award-winning photographer Daniele Tamagni has tracked down and recorded some of the most surprising and colorful international fashion subcultures. Through documentary shots and staged portraiture, he’s captured heavy metal rockers in Botswana, hipsters in Johannesburg, dandies in the Congo, female wrestlers in Bolivia, “bling bling” youth in Cuba, punks in Burma, and models in Senegal. Often marginalized on the fringes of their own societies and looking to stand out, these people fight back and express their creativity and joy through personal style. Alongside the seven subcultures featured are

  The back seat of a cab in New York - his was, for Ryan Weideman, a “photographic studio” for decades. When Ryan Weideman arrived at New York in 1980, he was full of dreams. He immediately realized how difficult it was to start a life of a photographer and began to worry about paying his bills and rent. Inspired by his neighbor who was a taxi driver, Ryan embraced the idea of becoming one and uniting his work with a passion for photography. More info: brucesilverstein.com  

I'll Play the Blues for You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SP5JHLqXM8&feature=share If you're down an' out, an' you feel real hurt Come on over, to the place where I work An' all your loneliness, I'll try to soothe I'll play the blues for you Don't be afraid, come on in You might run across, yeah, some of your old friends All your loneliness, I've got to soothe I'll play the blues for you Come on in, sit right here, let's rap awhile Ya see I'm kinda lonely too, ya know? An' loneliness is a very bad thing If ya let it get the best of ya An'

What “Gone Girl” Is Really About By Joshua Rothman October 8, 2014   According to Anthony Lane, there are approximately “twenty-one people” who haven’t read Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl.” I’m one of them. This past weekend, when I saw the movie, I liked it so much that I felt sad about missing out on the book when it was published, two years ago. At the same time, “Gone Girl” seemed like one of those experiences to which the “cultural uncertainty principle” applies: you can read the book or you can see the movie, but you can’t fully

  ''The Four Great American Designers For Men are,” and it listed Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Calvin Klein, and  T____ H______'' Renowned New York adman George Lois created the initial advertising campaign in 1985 to raise awareness of designer Tommy Hilfiger. Then young totally unknown designer became instantly famous after George Lois challenged the readers with a daring claim with just one outrageous ad. Who the hell is T____ H______? The word spread like lightning, Lois then positioned Hilfiger as a leader of the third wave of designers. “First there was Geoffrey Beene,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4Wpd6cDwE http://www.webbnorriswebb.co/#mi=1&pt=0&pi=1&s=3&p=-1&a=-1&at=-1

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A Marriage ofLives and Photos The photographers Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb have produced a book, “Slant Rhymes,” that pairs images by each of them in diptychs. In an email exchange with James Estrin, they discussed the book, photography and their relationship. Q. What is this book about, and why the title “Slant Rhymes”? Alex Webb: This book — which pairs one of my photographs with one of Rebecca’s — is a kind of visual conversation between us. It reflects our nearly 30-year relationship, from our initial rich friendship to our marriage to our decision —