Color, Hardware, Advertising, Art

The Color Chart exhibition at the MoMA was where I first saw or even heard of Alighiero e Boetti. His Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi clicked with my companions, who responded intuitively to the design and typeface. They then learnt that the gesture was to acknowledge the rivalry between Italian car companies Gilera and Rosso; and that the effect was produced with hardware store paint poured over hand-carved letters pressed upon metal sheets. As both my friends love cars and the utilitarian aesthetic, Boetti's piece fit like a glove. A discussion about 'primal response' ensued.

For my part
-- The Warhol 'paint-by-numbers' piece [which was next on wall after Boetti's plaques] reminded me that numbers and letters were the first signs of Pop art, before it went fully into advertising/art mode. It was all the American pre-Pop stuff; it was also happening in Spain, where people like Picasso were introducing labels into still-life. It made me think of all the things people are drawn to, and that they go back to aesthetics they picked up/absorbed in childhood. I'm starting to see another version of those influences, how they mutate and if they really evolve. Its kind of cool. Do we notice advertisements and signs before we notice art? I definitely think that I did.

My friend said
-- Advertising is omnipresent. It would be nearly impossible not to experience it first and in greater frequency. Those techniques used to make advertising effective - strong color, type, etc. - have a similar impact on the developing mind and optic stimulation of children. Strong shapes and graphic elements probably also evoke memories of early toys - strong fucking imprinting there - I looked at that Boetti stuff simultaneously loving it in a developed way but also wanting to pull it off the wall and play with it. Even lick it or something - they looked like they all had different flavors...

I now say
-- In contrast to the idea of money that advertising itself symbolizes, Boetti was an advocate of Arte Povera, or "poor art". Materials were found in hardware stores, around the house, on the ground. It was to equalize art, to recognize that it is everywhere and accessible to everyone. Warhol later made a similar but counter remark with his tomato soup cans and coke bottles. Both, though, seem to agree about surface.

Pasolini at Lincoln Center

I was just raving about a very rare documentary that Pasolini made in preparation to filming his version of Orestes, which I wrote about here last year. I sounded off about how it was a film that was impossible to find, only screened once in a blue moon, blah blah. Well, it is playing twice at the Lincoln Center, on December 4th, as part of a Pasolini Festival.

They're also playing Salo, Porcile, Mamma Roma, and of course, Teorema.

The Melvins + Big Business

On October 6th, I was lucky to witness the Melvins + Big Business union at Luna Lounge. This footage sorta comes close.