Contemporary Art: Goddesses From An Alternative Universe @ Albertz Benda New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Del Kathryn Barton belongs the leading artists in Australia. I saw an exhibtion with some of her sculptures & paintings  @ Albertz Benda in Manhattan´s art district Chelsea ( albertzbenda).

I don`t know what the artist wants to tell us. But I like the weird & dynamic compositions which remind me of ancient Hindu art works.

The ladies in these paintings look like goddesses from an alternative universe.

To be continued

Contemporary Art: Monumental Paintings By Robert Motherwell @ Kasmin New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Do you like Robert Motherwell? The American artist (1915-1991) belonged to the mark-makers of the Abstract Expressionist era. Gallery Kasmin has a show at their flag ship place in Manhattan´s Chelsea district, called  "Sheer Presence: Monumental Paintings by Robert Motherwell"  (509 West 27th Street through  May 18, 2019  kasmingallery). I display here my favorites, a very subjective selection as usual.

 I have seen Motherwell´s work often in museums & auction house, but seeing together gives them a special quality, The huge but elegant & colorful compositions impress here even more, thanks to the gallery`s huge white walls they seem to dominate.

To be continued

Technology: Meet Mother Earth @ Ludlow Street New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - If you are in Manhattan you might go the Lower East Side. On Ludlow Street you can see a huge screen which displays Nasa images from the earth, almost in real time (google.com/maps). The Led structure, called "bluMarble" belongs to the artist Sebastian Errazuriz (meetsebastian.com).

Sebastian and his team created a bot that scrapes live photographs from a NASA satellite and merges them in an exclusive software that generates a slow progression between still images to compose a live video of Earth as seen from space. Typically used to monitor and study daily variations of vegetation, ozone, aerosols, clouds, reflectivity, etc., these new-generation satellites allow the live stream of our ever-changing Earth.

On the huge screen you can watch how fast the shadow of the earth is moving. The pictures above this paragraph are from 4:31 pm through  5:46 pm US east coast time.

Above this paragraph the night has approached, these images are from 7:09mpm & 8:00 pm. It is interesting that the day-nigh line is vertical. In June the dividing line would run diagonal and the northern hemisphere would be mostly in day light whether the southern would be mostly dark. 

The images above focus on Northern America, then the Caribbean & Southern America .Between the clouds you can see the huge Amazon basin.

Above some night images, from about 8:56 pm. The light spots illustrate how densely the US East Coast and the shores around Florida are populated. You also can see some light spots from the Caribbean.

Stay tuned!

Economics: Brexit Is Just Another Divorce - So What?

(Drivebycuriosity) - Divorces are often messy, but often necessary. Not all marriages are made in heaven, often the partners develop into two different directions. The marriage between Great Britain and the European Union doesn`t function anymore. The European union became bureaucratic & Byzantine. The European Commission (Brussels) has been gaining more and more power over the years - developing the EU into something like the defunct Soviet Union, a bundle of states ruled by a central government. The European Parliament and the EU Commission, especially Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, treat the EU increasingly like a kingdom. Even after the Brexit decision they want to expand the power of the EU and demand more integration, meaning more power for Brussels ( spiegel.de).

According to EU law, the Brits couldn´t work for more than 48 hours a week, averaged over 17 weeks ( marketwatch ). 60% of Great Brtain`s laws came from the EU in Brussels rather than from Parliament in London. It's not hard to understand being pissed off at being subject to unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels", writes Rolling Stone author Matt Taibbi ( rollingstone ).
 
Divorces are often costly & noisy - who gets the house, the children, the dog? Brexit is costly & noisy as well. There are ubiquitous short term problems, creating a lot of costs & noise.

But when the smoke has settled UK will be better off. History shows that divorces of nations often go well. Taiwan separated in 1949 from Motherland China which led to a "period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy" (wikipedia). Today Taiwan has a per capita income of $50,500, about 3-times of China ($16,700). Hong Kong, which got separated in the 19th century, has a per capita income of $61,500. Singapore did even better. The tiny state had been a part of Malaysia, but got kicked out in 1965 after political conflicts. The independence brought Singapore swift economic growth. Today the state belongs to the most advanced economies of the world with a per capita income of $94.100 (all numbers are from the CIA World Factbook cia.gov).

The British could learn from Switzerland, which was never member of the EU. Switzerland has a higher per-capita income as each of EU members and belongs to the wealthiest countries in the world. Great Britain will become more attractive for businesses when the country isn´t controlled by Brussels anymore and will become more liberal (in the sense of Hayek & Adam Smith) and less regulated.  The British economy will benefit from Brexit because the country will get rid of the EU over-regulation. "One of the very good things that could come of a Brexit: shaking off the Eurosklerosis that has held back growth in the Eurozone for many years", writes Scott Grannis  ( scottgrannis ). Eurosklerosis describes a pattern of economic stagnation in Europe that resulted from government over-regulation and overly generous social benefits policies.

The Catholic church and the Pope in Rome still don´t accept divorces, neither does the European Union. The EU Commission & the  European leaders, including Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, behave like the late Soviet Union. In the early 1990s Moscow fought against the separation of the Baltic States Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia which where then members of the Soviet Union. Today the Eurocrates are fighting Brexit because they want to keep their power. 

Contemporary Art: David Humphrey @ Fredericks & Freiser New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary Art is often funny & refreshing. I think the works by David Humphrey belong into this category. At Fredericks & Freiser in Manhattan`s Chelsea district I spotted an exhibition with new works by this artist (fredericksfreiser). I display here my favorites from the show, a very subjective selection as usual.

 

I have no idea what the artist wants to tell us, maybe he just wants to kindle our imagination.

 

It looks like that he got inspired by comic books.

To be continued

Contemporary Art: Bust-Head @ C24 Gallery New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Contemporary Art is full of surprises, there is so much to discover. At Gallery 24 in Manhattan´s Chelsea district I spotted interesting works by the Turkish artist İrfan Önürmen (c24gallery).

I like his expressionist style and display my favorites from the show, a very subjective selection as usual.

To be continued