Contemporary Art: Second Live @ Lyles & King New York

(Drivebycuriosity) -  Gentrification never sleeps. New York`s arts scene is moving all the time. The art galleries are now discovering Manhattan´s Chinatown. Suddenly new art places pop up in before neglected areas. These places are not quite as big as the Chelsea stalwarts, but often I spot exquisite shows there.

 

A while ago I reported about interesting exhibitions at Lyles & King ( driveby). 

They now have 2 new shows. I focus here on a group show, called "Ben Gould, Sun Woo, Taha Heydari - Second Life" ( lylesandking). 

Unfortunately the paintings are not tagged and the website is not cooperative either. So I cannot identify who created what, but I love these paintings anyway.

 

 

 

To be continued 

Contemporary Art: Lauryn Welch`s Circadian Rhythms @ Half Gallery New York

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Manhattan´s East Village is a cluster of dives and fast food places, but fortunately there are some art galleries with frequently interesting exhibitions. One of them is Half Gallery on Avenue B. 

 

 

Recently I spotted there an exhibition with amazing paintings by Lauryn Welch (halfgallery). The show is called "Circadian Rhythms". I love the flamboyant expressionist brush strokes.

 

On top of this post you can see "Morpheus" (2022, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 54 x 72 in) followed by "Two Rooms (Part II); "Fever"; "Cat`s Craddle" & "Greenhouse".

 

 

Above this paragraph follow: "Dark Water"; "Man in the Moon" & "Puzzlemund".

 

 

Above follow "Eclipse" & "Crannog".

To be continued

 

Economics: Did We Reach Peak Interest Rates?

(Drivebycuriosity) - I think we reached the peak of the recent interest rate cycle. The interest rates went up because the Federal Reserve needed to fight against the red hot inflation. Their inflation target is 2%.

 

 ( source)

 

We already passed the peak of the inflation in June 2022 with 9.1%. Since then the inflation rate dropped to 5%, a minus of about 4 percentage points.

 

 

                    Peak Monetary Growth

 

 

(source)

                     

The high inflation rate was caused by a flood of money in the past. In 2020 & 2021 the US government flooded the economy with stimulus checks in the value of trillions of dollars (American Rescue Plan), supported by huge bond purchases by the Federal Reserve . 

The government money landed directly on the bank accounts of the Americans, blowing up the money volume M2 (bank notes & coins & deposits at banks).

Over two years the US money volume M2 jumped about 40% as a result (the FRED charts above display a huge hunchback  fred.stlouisfed). The money deluge met a constraint supply of goods & services, partly because of Covid19. It is no surprise that prices had to increase so much (marginalrevolution).

 

 

                  Quantity Theory Of Money

 

 (source )

             

But the monetary growth - the engine of the inflation - peaked already in February 2021 (with plus 27%). Since then the monetary growth rates have been falling and turned negative in December 2022. In the recent months the money supply was shrinking! "We have never seen money taken out of the economy like this in our history" ( twitter.com).

The causal connection between money and inflation is known since the 16th century at least. Nicolaus Copernicus described already in the year 1522 how "too much money" causes inflation. Copernicus` "quantity theory of money" is based on observations:

The Spaniards had conquered today`s Latin America and looted the silver stocks. They send the precious metal to Europe where is was used as money. As a result the European money volume jumped, meeting a restrained supply of goods (agriculture, hand works) &  services. The flood of money raised suddenly the demand for scarce goods & services and caused a jump of the price level.

Elaborated studies by Milton Friedman, Karl Brunner, Allan Meltzer and many other economists (known as Monetarists) described already in the 1960s how and why the inflation rate follows the growth rate of money with a time lag (causal connection). 

During the recent cycle inflation peaked 14 months after the peak of monetary growth (time lag). The inflation causing money flood has certainly ebbed out. 

We can expect that inflation will continue to follow the moderation of monetary growth. By end of the year an inflation rate of about 2% could be reached which would translate into significant lower interest rates.

 

 

                 Cooling Producer Prices

 

 ( source)

 

                

The US producer prices, which don`t include rents and services like health care & education, cooled even more and come already close to the 2% inflation target.

There are also signs that the real economy (industrial production, retail, jobs) is cooling. 

It´s time that the Fed starts to cut her interest rates, otherwise the economy may slide into a severe recession.  

Contemporary Art: Chloe West`s Somebody`s Sins @ Morgan Presents New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Manhattan`s Lower East Side is slowly degenerating into a party district with a legion of fast food places & other dives. But there could be still some fine art discovered. 

Morgan Presents, an exhibition space on Suffolk street, belongs to the stalwarts of culture, worth a visit. The place is founded and directed by Morgan Aguiar-Lucander ( about). 

 

 

Last week I spotted there an exhibition with works by Chloe West (b. 1993, Cheyenne, WY  press). The show was called "Somebody´s Sins", a reference to “Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" by Patti Smith. I love these paintings which remind me of Caravaggio and other opulent baroque artists.

On top of this post you can see "Neck of a Female Saint" (2023,  Oil on canvas,72 x 60 inches
182.9 x 152.4 cm) followed by an detail shot.

 

 

Above follows "Self Portrait with Twisted Log" (2021-2023, Oil on canvas, 50 x 38 inches,
127 x 96.5 cm)

Above you can see "Self Portrait with Teeth" (2022—2023, Oil on canvas, 48 x 34 inches,121.9 x 86.4 cm) & "Magnolia" (2022, Oil on linen, 20 x 16 inches, 50.8 x 40.6 cm)

 

 

Above more images from the show

 

 To be continued
 

 

Technology: Should We Be Afraid Of Artificial Intelligence?

(Drivebycuriosity) - Elon Musk is afraid of Artificial Intelligence - and so are many others. The Tesla CEO - and many others - signed a dramatical letter demanding “Pause Giant AI Experiments” (futureoflife ). The underwriters claim that AI would overtake the earth and destroy society.

I think the claim is ridiculous and the demanded pause would be a serious mistake:

 1. The underwriters are just the newest incarnation of the Luddites who have been fighting against technological progress for centuries.

AI is based on mathematics & logic. It behaves rational. In a world where is so much irrationality - especially in politics - more rationality would be a huge gain.

Humans often act irrational, driven by emotions, egos and believes. Irrational humans kill others because they don`t share their beliefs. Humans perform suicide bombing and burn skyscrapers down - out of religious belief. AI won´t.

The leaders of America, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and many other countries do not behave intelligent, quite the opposite. It seems we are moving in direction of WW III. AI - because acting rational - would reduce the risk of a nuclear war or even prevent it.
 

2. AI does not have an ego. Wars usually were driven by the ego of a too powerful person. Alexander The Great, William the Conqueror, Napoleon, Hitler, Putin and many others conquered other countries driven by their ego.

The bloody battle of Stalingrad was caused by egos. Hitler wanted to take the city which was named after his opponent, Stalin needed to defend "his city" by all means. There might be similar battle of the Crimea, caused by the inflated egos of Putin and Zelenskyy. Nobody seems to want to give in - whatever the lives of others it may cost.

3. Pausing AI would lead to enormous regulations and would throw a wrench into scientific progress. It would cost peoples lives because the pause would prevent possible near term gains in biotech (new vaccines, cancer treatment, Alzheimer prevention and so on) and so delay possible treatments for years. The pause would slow down technologies which are needed in the struggle against climate change (nuclear, solar power, energy saving etc).

4. People who work with AI are getting much more efficient and more productive. AI makes it possible to create many more products & services even with a constrained labor force and ageing population. The pause would slow down future economic growth considerably and reduce possible living standards in the near future.

4. The pause would give others a huge advantage: China, Russia, Iran, India, North Korea. Those countries - and others - could use AI to overtake the US very fast in technology, science, health care, livings standards and more.

Beware of the Luddites!

 

 

Contemporary Art: Through The Veil @ Gallery Rachel Uffner New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Gallery Rachel Uffner in Manhattan`s Lower East Side belongs to the stalwarts of New York´s art world. Recently I blogged about the elegant works by Annie Belinsky (driveby). 

This post is about another exhibition, which is running parallel: Erica Mao`s enchanting Through the Veil ( racheluffner). 

On top of this post you can see "The Red Ridge" (2023, oil on panel, 18 x 24 x 1 1/2 in (45.7 x 61 x 3.8 cm)) & "Twin Flames" (2023, oil on panel, 30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm))

 

Above follow "Sun in Shadows"; "Hidden Home"; "Mirror Moon" & "A Hidden Offering"

 

Above you can see "A Stranger´s Mask"; "Blood of My Own" & "Offering From Above"

To be continued

 

Science Fiction: The Twilight Of Briareus

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Some novels have a strong start, but after a while the story fells apart. The science fiction book "The Twilight of Briareus" by Richard Cowper belongs to them (published 1974   amazon ).

Early in the 19th century happened a cosmic catastrophe: a star exploded, about 150 light years away from earth. Around the year 1980 our planet gets hit by the massive radiation from the explosion. The cosmic incident changes earth climate and starts a new ice age!

That alone would have been a strong story. But the author lost the interest and changed the subject. When the radiation hit the earth some people change and become suddenly psychics, called mutants. Some of the changed males are especially horny and attract lots of female psychics. Unfortunately the governments worldwide start a witch hunt against them.

Apparently the novel is really a tale about fascism and the radical treatment of minorities. There is no connection with an exploding star, the name giving Briareus. 

Disappointing.