Boston's New Dr. MLK Jr. Sculpture 😬🤦🏾‍♀️

 

Striking? More like confusing...

This is not a great sculpture. It is a poor mix of abstract and realism. I get the sentiment of it, but the experiment did not work. It never should have progressed past mock ups.  

The sculpture is derivative of this photograph, but a three dimential partial of a two dimential image (in this circumstance) does not work.  It is also not the best picture, given King is looking at someone else while embracing his wife. It is even harder to comprehend from other angles.  

I have not seen it in person, so I will withhold final judgment till I do. I doubt my initial impressions are going to change that much.  

TOM: Biden Celebrates MLK Day With Speech to Group Found by Infamous Jew-Hater

What is that?

Twitchy: People have questions...

Instapundit: Speeches for Embrace statute and Honoring Martin Luther King with tragically bad/hilarious public art

Your new statue is finished, Martin. What do you think? pic.twitter.com/BoZn5yhbKv

— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) January 14, 2023

The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski

This is on Netflix now and a pretty interesting documentary film. It was backed by Leo DiCaprio since his dad, George DiCaprio, was friends with Stanislav Szukalski.

Achieving fame as an artist (during one's own lifetime) is not simply a matter of talent. It is also being in the right place at the right time, marketing and communication (if you don't convince enough people of the value of your work, it is hard for it to take off), and a large amount of luck. Having most of his work destroyed during the Nazi invasion of Poland in WWII did not help.

Not much of his work survived (although there are photographs of a lot of it). Szukalski was definitely a genius (some of his work is just amazing) but he was also a bit wacky and self destructive. Definitely an interesting guy.

Kudos to Glenn Bray for finding that Szukalski was living near him in Los Angeles in the 1980s.  Bray befriended him and conducted hours of interviews with him (on grainy Beta video). I liked it.

Rotten Tomatoes: Szukalski

Laughing Squid: Why was Szukalski left behind?

ArtNews: Why George and Leo DiCaprio made this film on Szukalski

Tear Down That Statute!

The Other Vladimir: Vladimir Lenin in Seattle, WA


Hot Air: Seattle Mayor says Lenin needs to go

Vladimir Lenin: Blood On Their Hands...

EBL: The Devil's Speech, Separated at Birth: Evil Losers, Charlottesville Automobile Attack, and Remember these Democrats honoring Robert Byrd (former KKK Wizard)

Socialist Bernie Sanders

The Blaze: Bernie Sanders holds Donald Trump responsible for Charlottesville (so it is ok to hold Bernie Sanders responsible for the Portland slaying and Steve Scalise shooting done by Bernie Bros)

Instapundit: Joan of Arc too?, Don't forget these statutes, From Seattle, Journalism, The Forgotten World of Communist Bookstores, The left tries to politicize Charlottesville and exposes its double standard and The politics of evasion

Wombat: Power Line: Let’s Not Forget How The North Korea Crisis Originated, also, Did The Charlottesville Police Stand Down?, Mark Steyn: Notably White Sweethearts, also, The Heil To Die On

Demonstrating against hate by being hateful sends a confusing message. https://t.co/Hpr4iCVhSW

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 15, 2017

Lem's Chicken Little inspired this one:

Separated at Birth: Bamiyan Buddha and Stone Mountain, GA

Rush Limbaugh: Losing Issue for Democrats, GOP tricked into conferring moral authority on militant leftists, America's mad dash to tear down statutes, Line by line what Trump said, and Never let an crisis go to waste

AoSHQ: Malicious vandalism and the fun that the Alt-Left is doing (it is called mayhem and chaos) and as predicted George Washington is next

Powerline: Statute of Limitations (2), Lincoln statute defaced in Chicago, Statute of limitations? and Yesterday Charlottesville, Today Seattle

Shark Tank: Debbie Wasserman Shultz wants all public Confederate symbols to go!

Twitchy: Charles Barkley Brings Voice Of Reason To Monument Debate
Washington Times: Durham, NC Statute comes tumbling down 

The Feral Irishman: Clueless insurgents topple NC statute

DaTechGuy: Union veterans and statutes

TOM: The Media Blame Game Routine

The Feral Irishman: The Hell You Say

Don Surber: Why Charlottesville?

Mark Steyn: When Statues Fall

AoSHQ: Stand Down Durham

Why won't the left tear down the statue of Democrat KKK leader and Hillary Clinton supporter Robert Byrd?

🤔 pic.twitter.com/FOpZGJusZA

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 16, 2017

Instapundit: Is George Washington next?, Fifty buildings in West Virginia are named after racist, KKK member, and Hillary Clinton supporter and Democrat Roberty Byrd

"If you want to tear down racist monuments, you need to start with the living monument dedicated to white supremacy: Planned Parenthood."

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 17, 2017

Venus de Milo

This statute of Aphrodite (or possibly Amphitrite) was re-discovered on April 8, 1820 on the Island of Melos (Milo).  Venus is her Latin name.  One of the few statutes that survived from ancient Greece. Now she is at the Louvre in Paris.

Rule 5 and FMJRA

Hillary Clinton isn't the only one with bad ankles...

New York Times: Michelangelo's David has a serious flaw...

I found this to be a very interesting, if a bit disconcerting, article. Sam Anderson does a great job.  I enjoyed the mix of history, art, kitsch, bureaucratic inertia, and potential disaster.  

Here is another story about sculpture that I enjoyed:

Monstrance for a Grey Horse: James Acord, the sculptor, was the subject of a forty-thousand-word Profile by Philip Schuyler, published in The New Yorker in two parts in 1991. You have to be a New Yorker subscriber to get it, but essay describes Acord's inspiration and creation of his sculpture (while not Michelangelo's David, had its own technical challenges, such has carving Barre, Vermont granite).

Acord wanted to create a piece to mark a nuclear waste site that could last 10,000 years.  Hence his choice of the most durable (and some of the hardest) carving stone available. Acord did all the carving with hand tools.

Sadly James Acord committed suicide in 2011

Can't say I am a big fan (as art) of these Trump statues or paintings or these Hillary paintings, or this one, Hillary down under street mural or Hillary Bust, but since I referenced Hillary's cankles I have to link them.

Instapundit: What would the media say, Virginia Postrel: Michelangelo's David had the right to bear arms and Arthritic Hands?

T.S. Elliot: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Why the small penis? 

Inner Child: Burning Man

Remember this if you support abortion...

Legal Insurrection: Story of the Missing Child

Separated at Birth: King David and...?

David vs. The Donald: It might be a bit of a stretch...

Link to Tweet

Donald Trump and King David? If Donald Trump said he was sorry about what he did (and meant it) I might be more persuaded. Trump is not sorry about it at all. I would take Trump's position over the hypocrisy of Bill or Hillary Clinton any day, but that is hardly a high standard.

I remember people saying Newt Gingrich could never win the Republican nomination based on his philandering. Many were saying the same thing about Donald Trump not too long ago. That has obviously changed, and instead (and now the left are getting into it) they are saying he won't win the general. It is not going to be easy with a Republican Party in disarray, but Trump can win (although be careful what you wish for). As Cole Porter predicted: Anything Goes.

Fun Facts: Michelangelo's David has over proportioned hands

On The Other Hand: Trooper York: Donald Trump's a douchebag but he's our douchebag

Instapundit: The New Republic is a freak show,  Fields and Shapiro resign from Breitbart, #NeverTrump, they hate you too you know, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Trump Supporter and the KKK for Hillary Clinton

EBL: Hugh Hewitt says Trump still preferable to Hillary

Mark Steyn: The GOP's circular firing squad

Politico: What's wrong with Hillary?

RedState: Boehner for Kasich?

RIP Helen Frankenthaler and John Chamberlain

Update:  Not directly related to this post, but Crack Emcee offers art photos.