Fade to Color.

Loie Fuller imagined the Serpentine Dance as a kind of painting created with light, fabric, and her body. The billowing garment (which Fuller patented) swings about under her control, catching colored light as it fades in and out in the performance space again and again, hypnotizing viewers. I suggest you watch it on loop.



The film is a hand-colored black and white from 1891, and is currently on view at the MoMA as a part of their show On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century.

Keep It All.

The Chinese contemporary artist Song Dong has installed his piece "Waste Not" in the large atrium of the Museum of Modern Art. The large scale piece neatly arranges and displays each and every single item he extracted from his hoarding mother's home. Every article of clothing, every plastic bottle, every button, and every shoe the home contained is stacked and grouped in precise arrangements.

The show, which looks amazing, is on view at MoMA through September 21. Check it out on a Friday night and Target foots your bill, it'll be as crowded as "Waste Not" but it'll be free.

Photos: The New York Times

Cheap Thrill: Missing Links

Cufflinks are one of those man treats that I want to co-opt. I know, you men get so few decorative elements to call your own, but they are too fun not to share and remember, sharing is caring. In an attempt to look up the price of the MoMA's classic hugging S+P shakers (love those little buggers), I clicked upon a set of super-cool fingerprint cufflinks from the store's Destination: Seoul collection, which highlights designs from South Korea. I want to press those to my wrists. I need some cufflink ready shirts now. French cuffs now! Here, I can get them here! This excites me. The fingerprint pair is only $12, that excites me more. Excitement overload.

Go-See: Marlene Dumas at MoMA

My Mama at the MoMA with the Dumas faces.

Marlene Dumas is an artist whose work runs the gamut between gorgeous and grotesque. Her figure-centric paintings and drawings are controversial in their tone and subject matter, often provocatively (even disturbingly) exploring those primal themes of birth, sex, and death. Some of her work is hard to stomach, but some of it is an incredible treat for the eyes. I just went to see her show Measuring Your Own Grave at the MoMA yesterday and her piece 100 Models was like heaven. A grid of faces, mostly female and all rendered in watery-looking chalk, stare out at you from three walls of a room. Each face could be it's own novel, they are so expressive and yet so simple. Some of them smile, some avert their gaze, some stare intently with colored eyes. All are engaging. Go see the show!

Details of Dumas' piece 100 Models.

Bowie Sings in the Blues

Looking at Music, MoMA's show about the cross pollination of art, music, and tech in the decade following 1965, is in it's last days of display. It will close on January 5th, so have a look and listen before it's gone.

These great posters were plastered around the city earlier in December when the exhibit hosted a special screening of David Bowie videos presented by Thurston Moore. I love Bowie's blue suit and matching eye makeup in the photo. I love it even more in the full "Life on Mars?" video.

In perfect Bowie fashion, the video is slightly creepy and surprisingly gorgeous. So great.

Cheap Thrill: Photo Mobile

Mobiles are for babies...for all the right reasons. They can calm nerves with their slight sway, or keep your little mind focused on happy things while you try to drift off into dream land.

This customizable Photo Mobile I found on the Walker Art Center online gift shop holds up to 20 pics, postcards, or papers of your choice. Hang silhouettes, giant circle cut outs, notes to the universe, or whatever your inner restless child finds soothing from its wire clips. Click the image above for full details.

Now, I know I've seen similar items in boutiques before, but in these tight-wad times I'd like to encourage you all to support art institutions. When belts tighten museums are quick to suffer, and utilizing online gift shops is a great way to help sustain vital art spots. Click on the below links for access to a few other online museum gift shops for a little mutually beneficial retail therapy:











Those should keep you busy for a while.