Sculptor, prankster, and big-time hoaxster Joe Reginella has struck New York City once again with a marvelously silly faux memorial statue. This one “remembers” all of the missing tourists who have been eaten by subterranean packs of wild wolves. The fake monument is supposedly the gift to the city from the spurious Ed Koch Foundation. Check out the video below for a more detailed explanation.
You may be familiar with Joe Reginella from his previous escapades, which include memorials to the phony “Staten Island Ferry Disaster” caused by a giant octopus. And then there was the statue of the rogue elephants from the nonexistent 1929 Brooklyn circus stampede.
Few American writers have achieved the cultural impact of Herman Melville, author of the eternal classic Moby-Dick, yet he died unrecognized by his contemporaries for his genius. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Melville’s birth, Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum and Library has a new exhibition exploring the life, works, and legacy of this iconic but under-read author. Making use of The Rosenbach’s extensive Melville holdings and numerous loans from partner organizations, including rare manuscripts and first editions, the exhibition will examine how Melville fled to the watery fringes of 19th-century life to grasp core truths about American society—and even human nature itself. The exhibition will challenge visitors to consider what Melville’s writings have to say about modern America through the lens of marine conservation, globalization, social justice, and LGBTQ+ identity. The exhibition American Voyageur: Herman Melville at 200 runs until April 5, 2020.
If you love books, and if you have ever been to Paris, it’s likely that you have also visited the iconic Shakespeare and Company bookshop. The legendary Paris bookseller recently shared a video exploring artist Karine Diot’s book sculpture The Shakespeare & Company Bookstore. Here’s what she had to say about the project:
“I fell in love with the George Whitman passionating life and bookshop in Paris, and I wanted to give life and make tribute to this incredible ‘wonderful world of books’ as Henri Miller used to say,” the artist noted. “11 months later, more than 4300 tiny paper books later and based on ’70s photographs, I am proud to say that my goals are achieved! Everything is handmade, unique and the only paper I used are the pages of the book I choose to transform. Which one could have been better than a Shakespearian big and old book ?? 🙂 In my dreams, George would have appreciated and been proud of my work.”
For the month of October, a Ghost Ship can be found on the Delaware River at Race Street Pier on the Philadelphia waterfront. The Ghost Ship is a project created by artists Biangle Studio, curator Ryan Strand Greenberg, and the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. The seasonally spooky Ghost Ship tells a story about Philadelphia’s history and the role of the Delaware River in shaping this city’s past, present, and future. You can read about it, or listen to in an audio tour on the project’s website here. But you have to be there to truly experience the 30 meter-long holographic, light and water installation.
Viewing the ship IRL is dependent on your location. The trick to viewing Ghost Ship is to keep moving. Going up and down the Race Street Pier and then onto Delaware Avenue and back again and you’ll see different parts of the ship come into and out of focus. Although there is an excellent viewpoint if you stop right at the middle of the ship’s side on Race Street Pier. The installation is very effected by wind, so if you go on a less windy day or wait for wind to calm down whenever you go more of the installation will be in focus at those times.
Ghost Ship will be on view Wednesdays through Sundays from 7-10pm now through November 3rd.
Thanks entirely to a successful crowdfunding campaign, artist Mitch O’Connell raised enough money to put his horrific They Live billboard in New York City’s Times Square. What could be scarier than a conman, grifter, monster in power? If the money keeps coming in, O’Connell plans to keep the work up indefinitely.
I have been an evangelist for the novels of the Italian author Italo Calvino since my university days. Sadly, he is underappreciated and seldom read here in North America. Over the years, I have had many copies of his better known translated works and often lost them in lending or through book sales. Recently, I saw the wonderful three-volume slipcase edition of his popular novels on a blog and instantly regretted selling my copy years ago.
This excellent release by Harcourt Brace included my all time favorite Calvino book If on a winter’s night a traveler, as well as Invisible Cities and The Baron in the Trees. The moral of this tales don’t sell the books that you love.
The anonymous street artist and provocateur Banksy has opened a new online store, called Gross Domestic Product. The launch was heralded by an art installation-come-shop in the London Borough of Croydon, which stocks Banksy-related merchandise. However, the IRL store can’t be entered.
Announcing the enterprise via his Instagram, the illusive artist said that the store is a “showroom” for “display purposes only” but that “all sales will be conducted online when the website opens soon.” Currently, a landing page featuring an image of a flooded mall can currently be found at grossdomesticproduct.com.
A notice at the shop suggests that the decision to open a store was due to an ongoing legal battle over copyrights. It reads, “This shop has come about as a result of a legal action.” A greetings card company appears to be trying to seize legal custody of the name Banksy from the artist, who has been advised the best way to prevent this is to sell his own range of branded merchandise.
Eventually, the store will stock products “handmade in the UK using existing or recycled material wherever possible, including the ideas.” Some items on display in the storefront location include a disco-ball version of a police helmet, a copy of the Union Jack stab vest that Banksy created for recording artist Stormzy the summer, and a pillow embroidered with the saying “life’s to short to take advice from a cushion.”
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