Contemporary Art: Jesse Willenbring @ Gallery Laurel Gitlen, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Do you like abstract paintings? Then you might enjoy an exhibition @ gallery Laurel Gitlen, one of the more than 130 art dealers in New York`s Lower East Side (122 Norfolk Street laurelgitlen). They are showing paintings by Jesse Willenbring (through June 14, 2015 laurelgitlen). The show is called "Landline", maybe a reminiscence to the days, when people used to have telephone calls.

I enjoy his generous play with colors, media & shapes. But let the pictures speak for themselves.

On top of this post you can see "Punx luck" (2015, acrylic, flashe, charcoal, pastel, enamel, oil, paper, pencil on canvas)


               Plans to Build A Mountain

Above this paragraph follow: "Table, Mirror, Shape, Repeat" (2015, acrylic, fabric dye, flashe, paper, carcoal, pastel, enamel, oil on canvas);
"Picnic" (2015, acrylic, flashe, charcoal, pastel enael, oil on canvas);
"Plans to Build a Mountain" ( (2015, acrylic, fabric dye, flashe, carcoal, enamel, oil on canvas).

Enjoy!

Cinema: Hollywood Discovers (Real) Science Fiction

(Drivebycuriosity) - I love science fiction. Science fiction authors ask "what if" and they try to give plausible answers. The best of them speculate about the future by appreciating scientific possibilities, using a lot of logic; and they mingle their tales with physics, evolution biology and other sciences (hard science fiction). Real science fiction mixes entertainment with constructive and logical thinking.

Most of the usual Hollywood "Science Fiction" flicks aren`t really science fiction. The IMDb list of the most popular Sci-Fi flicks itemizes movies like "Avengers: Age of Ultron", "Transformers: Age of Extinction", "Guardians of the Galaxy", "TeenageMutant NinjaTurtles" and so on. There is not much science in it, if any. The typical  Hollywood "Science Fiction" film focuses on action and simple entertainment.

But there are exceptions: Recently I indulged into the movie "Ex Machina".  This film is the proof that a science fiction film can be smart, entertaining and stylish at once - the best movie of the year so far. The story: A young software coder gets a one-week appointment in a remote research facility in a mountain forrest to execute a turing test (proposed in 1950 by the computer pioneer Alan Turing). His employer, a billionaire genius, had created "Ava", a smart robot with a (partly) female body and wants to know if this android is really an AI. "Ava" will pass the test if her interviewer cannot distinguish her behavior from human.

Director Alex Garland, who also wrote the script, created a fascinating psychological triangle between the young and smart coder, who is eager to fulfill his job, the employer, a bully with a sharp mind, and the sexual highly attractive machine-girl ("sex machina"?). The movie does not only ask questions like: Can a machine develop self-interests and a sentiment and can a machine make choices & decisions by her own? The film is also spiced with scientific debates about evolution, creating life, freedom of will, sexual attraction (biology), survival strategies and much more. Even that the plot was highly intellectual - based on sciences like evolution biology - it had a lot of suspense and I  really cared about the fate of "Ava" and the humans.

The movie "Her"(2013) wasn´t quite as strong as "Ex machine" but offered also interesting thoughts & speculations about what we can expect from an AI. A lonely man falls in love with an intelligent operating system, called "Samantha" (with the voice of Scarlett Johansson), who confesses that "she" is simultaneously interacting with 8,316 other customers and is in love with 641 of them. Samantha  learns, adapts and "thinks" with an accelerating speed and she gaines almost infinite knowledge thanks to her access to the cloud (the global network of  computers). Soon she speeds far ahead of her human "lover.

"Her" is an entertaining & plausible speculation about trends in computer science (information theory)  and shows near future technologies as extrapolations of already existing gadgets like iPad, Siri (vice responding software), game consoles & TV controlled by hand gestures, 3d projections. And Spike Jonzes merged the skylines of Lost Angeles and Shanghai into a fascinating futuristic cityscape (urbanism). In contrast to the popular dystopian movies this film shows a pleasant and wealthy future, a world I would like to inhabit and maybe will sometimes.

The low budged production "Europa Report" (2013), which describes a human expedition to the Jupiter moon Europa with dramatic consequences, is based on real science and uses data acquired by the NASA.  "Starting in 1995, NASA`s Galileo probe began a Jupiter orbiting mission that lasted for eight years, until 2003, and provided the most detailed examination of the Galilean moons to date", writes Wikipedia (wikipedia). Europa`s "surface is composed of water ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System.…… The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably serve as an abode for extraterrestrial life" (wikipedia). Director Sebastián Cordero and script writer Philip Gelatt developed these insight into an inspiring drama showing the bliss of deep space travels but also the risks.


The movie  "Under the Skin"(2014) - which is visually stunning and an intoxicating cinematic masterpiece - shows 2 aliens wo are visiting earth, taking the human shape and are abducting young males. Scarlett Johansson acts as a sexually predatory alien camouflaged by a human skin. The camera follows "her" closely and shows how "she" is learning and using her aquired knowledge to handle the humans, like a human scientist would do.

And there will come more. Paramount studios are preparing a big budget movie titled "Story of Your Life" (2016; with Amy Adams & Jeremy Renner hollywoodreporter), based on Ted Chiang`s same named short story. The American writer is my favorite science author because he translates pure science into plausible but nevertheless entertaining fiction. In"Story of Your Llife" - which won the 2000 Nebula Award for Best Novella as well as the 1999 Sturgeon -  suddenly aliens arrive on the earth. The military is unsure if the visit is friendly or not and doesn`t know how to deal with the extraterrestrial. They recruit a female scientist, a professor for linguistics(!), who gets the order to decipher the alien´s language in order to communicate with the visitor and & to find out what they intend.


Maybe the time for (real) science fiction has come.

Contemporary Art: Lisa Yuskavage @ David Zwirner, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Lisa Yuskavage is considered as one of the most talented female visual artists of her generation (wikipedia). The American painter is known for her "sapphic dreamworlds" (observer). The gallery David Zwirner shows new works by Yuskavage @ their dependance on 533 West 19th Street in New York´s classy Chelsea district (through June 13, 2015 davidzwirner). A commentator calls this "the kind of exquisite blend of proto-modern European and post-modern American styles and references that we’ve come to take for granted in her work" (observer).

 

On top of this post you can see my favorite from this show (followed by the some detail shots). This  diptych is called "Bonfire, 2013-15" (Oil on linen). Observer`s commentator calls this "the kind of exquisite blend of proto-modern European and post-modern American styles and references that we’ve come to take for granted in her work" (observer).


      Inspired By Hugh Hefner´s Playmates?

Some of the other paintings remind me of sex dolls inspired by Hugh Hefner´s playmates. But they are put into mysterious setting. Anyway, let the pictures speak for themselves.

Enjoy!

Stock Market: Ignore The Interest Rates Rise

(Drivebycuriosity) - Last week the US stock market showed again how stupid he can be. On Friday we learned that the US economy is gaining strength and has recovered from the winter break; but the the US stock markets (S&P 500 and Dow Jones) closed in the red.

If we believe Reuters and other media, Friday´s "good news" (280,00 new US jobs in May and an accelerating average wage growth) are "bad news" for the stock market because a stronger jobmarket raises the possibility that the Fed will hike her interest rates in autumn (reuters). In the recent days the interest rates on the bond markets (mid to long term interest rates) have been already climbing.

I think we are seeing just a normalization. Interest rates have been ridiculous low - close to zero and in some areas below zero. This fits to an economic apocalypse but not to an economy which is gaining strength, albeit slowly. Interest rates have to go up, but not much because there is no inflation and we are far away from an overheating economy.

I believe moderately rising interest rates won´t end the bull market for stocks. Apparently the stock sellers follow this calculatio: Stock prices (value of the company) reflect the sum of the expected company profits, discounted with the interest rate. Higher interest rates imply a bigger discount. Everything equal this translates into a lesser value of the stock.


                                                    The Complete Calculation

But we live in a world where nothing stays equal. Friday´s job market news imply that  the US economy is growing faster than expected. More jobs & higher wages translate into rising consumer spending, the engine of the economyy. Therefore companies will sell more prodcuts and earn higher profits.  Helpful also are the ongoing efficiency gains (due to learning & technological advance) and the growth of the emerging markets (China, India & Co). Therefore the profit gains will overcompensate the negative effect of the rising interest rates and the stock market rally will continue. Enjy.

Contemporary Art: The Sheer Beauty Of Raw Power - Richard Serra @ David Zwirner, New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - I am fascinated by Richard Serra, one of the most important contemporary artists (wikipedia). I indulge into his often massive works which display the sheer beauty of raw power.

David Zwirner, one of the leading galleries of the world, has now a Serra exhibition @ their Manhattan dependance on 537 West 20th Street (through July 24, 2015 davidzwirner). The show is called "Equal" and dated 2015. There you could see  8 identical blocks of forged weatherproof steel, each: 60 x 66 x 72 inches (152,4 x 167,6 x 182,9 cm). These cubes are installed in 4 stacks: 2 blocks each, each stack: 11 feet (3,4m) high.

As usual I made a lot of pictures to give an impression, including some detail shots. But as usual the original is much better. Anyway: let the pics speak for themselves.







                                                             Rhapsody In Steel

                                       How Did He Make That?

                                                                 Serra On Canvas

On the second floor you can find more works by Serra. These paintings are part of a group show, called  selections from "The Kramarsky Collection" (through  June 20, 2015 davidzwirner). Above this paragraph you can see the painting "Black tracks" (and a detail of it).

Both shows are definetely worth a visit - and the architecture of the building has her own beauty.

Enjoy.

Movies: In The Name Of My Daughter/L'homme qu'on aimait trop

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Are you interested in movies beyond the current stream of Hollywood summer blockbusters? Then you might enjoy the French film "In the Name of My Daughter"/L'homme qu'on aimait trop" as I did (imdb). 

Agnès, a young woman, who is freshly divorced, arrives at the French Mediterranean coast to meet her mother Renée. Agnès wants to get her heritage, some million euros, paid out immediately from her mother who controls a casino there, the grandious Palais de la Méditerranée. But Renée has severe troubles because the mafia and their clandestine accomplices are rigging her business, causing her damaging losses in order to take over her business. 

And there is Maurice, a very smart and unconscionable lawyer. Soon persons, business and personal lives get intermingled and a dangerous mess starts which spans over 3 decades (this is a spoiler free blog. You can find a snynopsis here wikipedia). 

The movie is a love story, court drama & business thriller and tells about sex, obsession, betrayal,  organized crime, justice - and maybe murder.

The greatest asset of the film is a formidable trio:  I loved to see Catherine Deneuve as Renée. She still  encharmes with her beauty and I admired the strong character who was fighting against the vultures. Adèle Haenel as Agnès Le Roux impressed me by her intensitiy. She acts like a wild & irrational animal in heat, driven by her craving & lust, totally out of control. Guillaume Canet as the coldy calculating advoacate Maurice was an adquate partner.

Part of the fun is delivered by the camera that  invites the audience into the majestic halls of the casino and leads the observers to the gorgeous landscape of the French Mediterranean coast & the nearby montain area (Alpes Maritimes). And watching Adèle/Anges swimming in the ocean is pure bliss.

"In The Name Of My Daughter" is a gem and highly recommended.  

Finance: Are Stocks Overhyped?

 

(Drivebycuriosity) -  "Stocks are consistently overhyped", declares the blog Pragmatic Capitalism (pragcap). The author believes that "the optimum stock allocation is much lower than most financial advisors would recommend". In plain English, people should own less stocks. According to professor Tyler Cowen Americans hold just 22% of their savings in stocks (marginal).

 I think this number is way to low.

1. The S&P 500, a gauge for the US stock market, earned an average annual return (stock gains plus dividends) of around 10% since its inception in 1928 through 2014 (investopedia stern.nyu.edu). Thanks to the compund interest effect (reinvesting dividends) money invested in the stock market doubled every 7 years on average (bankrate). So, stocks beat other asset classes like real estate, bonds, gold& fine art by far.

Yes, in the short run stocks can be very volatile,  but - as the chart above shows - every correction & crash has been erased.  There was never a ten years period when investors in the S&P, who stayed invested over the whole time, lost money. So, stocks are perfect to save money for retirement and any long term goals (10 years and more)

You can easily invest into the S&P 500 by buying an ETF on the S&P 500.


2. Stocks are a perfect way to participate in the growth of companies and their profits. Investors benefit from the fact that companies are learning organism which get better and better every day. Most of the S&P 500 members are developing continuously new products and opening new markets while simultaneously reducing their costs. Therefore we can expect that profit growth, the engine of the stock market, will continue in the long run, at least as a trend. This will translate into rising stock prices because the value of a company is just the sum of its profits.


               A Golden Age For Stocks?

3. I believe that we are still in the beginning of a secular bull market, that could beat the glorious decade 1984-2000 when the Dow Jones climbed from around 1,000 to 10,000 points (the S&P 500 gained even more). Companies are benefitting from a new technological revolution (driveby ). Rapid advances in software & Internet (including cloud computing), robotics, 3D printing, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and other technologies are all lifting the productivity of the companies significantly and are creating new markets. I also believe that the technological progress is fostering globalization. Emerging countries like China and India have easier access to new technologies which is promoting their transformation into modern economies.

Stocks also will benefit from the ongoing catching-up process in low income countries like China & India. People in many emerging countries are working very hard and are saving & investing to narrow the income & wealth gaps to the wealthy "West". I further believe that oil and other commodities will stay cheap, like in the period from 1982 till 2000, thanks to new technologies which are  lifting the supply (like fracking) and curbing demand (more energy efficient cars, washing machines & other devices).

I think that these positive factors are working together and will amplify each other for many years to come, which leads to a golden age for stocks. Enjoy!