Contemporary Art: Density Betrays US @ The Hole Gallery New York

(Drivebycuriosity) - Normality is back, thanks to Moderna and others vaccines. My wife and I are visiting art galleries again. This week I saw an exhibtion @ The Hole Gallery in Manhattan`s Tribeca district.

 

The art dealer displayed a group exhibitions, called "Density betrays us" ( theholenyc). I show here my favorites, a very subjective selection as usual. On top of the post you can see Chris Coy´s "Wilma's Rainbow 1" (2016);Oil on canvas followed by Joiri Minaya`s  "Emergence I", 2021. Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle paper.

 

Above you can see "Heather" by Emma Stern, 2020, Oil on canvas


 

Above follows "Friends of Grapefruit" by Casja Von Zeipel, 2020. Pigmented silicon, Aqua resin, fishing flies, plastic plants, aquarium plants, curly shoelace, canoe paddle, muscle hook, “New York” sun protection hat, neon green camelbak, car window phone holder, arrow thing, “Pumpkins for Peace” pin, “Hot girl vs tiger” lenticular, key board, book, paint bucket tool belt, camouflage fabrics, pixel printed fabrics, camouflage dog vest, Minnewaska State Park Trail band, iPhone case, “


 

 

Above Angela Dufresne`s "No Longer the Hazardous Forest22, 2018. Oil on canvas and details of it.

 

To be continued,

Economics: More Robots, Please

(Drivebycuriosity) -   There is a lot ado about rising inflation. Prices are climbing faster because there is a strong demand for goods & services which meets a scarce supply. The reopening of the economy and the massive government stimulus programs are pushing the demand but companies have problems to comply with the rising demand. Many business owners complain that they don´t find enough workers, even when they hike salaries. According to Yahoo “small business owners are struggling at record levels trying to get workers back in open positions,” The quote NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg who declared “owners are offering higher wages to try to remedy the labor shortage problem. Ultimately, higher labor costs are being passed on to customers in higher selling prices.” (finance.yahoo ).

Therefore we need more robots, machines which produce things that people don`t anymore - or not enough. Robots wouldn´t fill the gap immediately, of course, someone has to produce them. But if the scarcity of labor continues, machines would be a great help. 

Machines, including computers, have been substituting labor for a long time. There is a continuing process of automation since the 19th century at least. Even farmers are using more and more robots, for instance for harvesting strawberries or milking cows (wikipedia). These machines are reducing the costs of producing something significantly, making things cheaper and more affordable. Hence robots are raising the living standard of everybody.

Robots also are the answer to another trend - the rising life expectancy. People live longer, so the number of the retired is growing, but the number of people in working age is growing slower or even shrinking. Robots can fill this gap in many cases.

Robots deal also with another problem: Many jobs are dangerous and dirty. Using more machines in unhealthy environments, like mines or radioactive settings, saves lives. Machines don`t get sick and they can continue to work - supporting us with necessary goods & services -  even in a pandemic.

More robots please!

Traveling: Some Impressions From A Short Visit To Boston & Cambridge

 (Drivebycuriosity) - The Covid-19 pandemic comes to an end. Moderna`s mRNA and other vaccines allow people to travel again. Last weekend my wife and I took the occasion for a short visit to Boston and the neighbor town Cambridge. 

 

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and last Saturday afternoon we experienced just 57 degrees Fahrenheit (14 C) and flooding rain. So we spend most of the day in the hotel room watching soccer on TV (European championship).

 

  

 Boston, founded in the 17th century, belongs to the oldest cities of the US. Massachusetts` capital is a sleepy town, compared to New York City, and mixes  tradition and modernity.

 

 

 

We lodged in a hotel in Cambridge at the Charles River and had a nice view on Boston´s skyline and some of the many bridges.

 

 

To be continued.

Media: Binge Watching Mare Of Easttown

(Drivebycuriosity) -  In the recent days I was binge watching  "Mare of Easttown" on HBO Max (imdb). The plot follows Marianne, also known as Mare, who is a cop in Easttown, a tiny place in Pennsylvania. Mare is investigating 2 cases: A young woman was murdered and 2 others  were abducted. In tiny Easttown everybody knows everybody, which makes the investigation really interesting, a source for many twists. But the most interesting part is the Mare character who struggles a lot with her own problems and family issues.

It was pure joy watching Kate Winslett as Mare. I liked the actress before, but she got even better over the years. Even though her character is now a grandma, she is still sexy and it is fascinating who she deals with the professional stress, the many setbacks and all her personal dramas.

I also enjoyed the performance of Evan Peters, as Mare´s rookie cop partner, who really tries to do good. Guy Pearce showed again what a chameleon he could be. Recently I rewatched him in "Lawless" where he incarnated convincingly a creepy and sadist law enforcer, called "Nan" by his enemies ( driveby). This time her represented a very different and likeable person. The wonderful cinematography made the pleasure complete.

"Mare" is a gem, watch it!

Books: Newton`s Dark Matter

(Drivebycuriosity) - Isaac Newton, who lived from 1642 through 1727, had a great influence on the advance of scientific thinking and inspired many authors. Philip Kerr, the writer of many popular books, wrote a crime mystery novel around the great thinker, called "Dark Matter: The Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton: A Novel" (amazon ). Maybe the marketing department of his publisher coined the unfortunate title, there is not much about "dark matter" or the private life of Newton. 

 The novel is written in first person and claims to be the report of Christopher Ellis, who indeed had worked with Newton for some time, when the scientist was the Warden of the Royal Mint, which controlled the English money supply. The plot focuses on a series of murders which are not only unfortunate for the victims, they are also challenging the Royal Mint and so England`s economy during one of so many wars with France (this is a spoiler free blog).

"Dark Matter" is written in the style and grammar of this time, like an authentic report. Apparently the author was inspired by the much better diaries of Samuel Pepys, who appears in the story ( wikipedia). Newton is represented as a kind of Sherlock Holmes, who uses his scientific & analytical skills. Kerr`s Christopher Ellis adds some cloak-and-dagger adventures and a bit explicit sex. Anyway, I found the book increasingly tedious and unbelievable. Newton deserves better.

 

 

Contemporary Art: Transmogrified @ Richard Taittinger Gallery

(Drivebycuriosity) - Normality is back, thanks to Moderna and others vaccines. My wife and I are visiting art galleries again. This week I saw an exhibtion @ Richard Taittinger Gallery on Manhattan`s Lower East Side. 

 

The art dealer displayed work by South African artist Frances Goodman ( richardtaittinger). The show was called "Transmogrified". The exhibition contains a series of sequin paintings the artist did during the 2020 lockdown based on social media platforms.

 

On top of this post you can see the painting "Girl in the Pearl Necklaces", 2021, Hand-stitched sequines on canvas;

followed by "Dressed for a Cold Day Out", also 2021, Hand-stitched sequines on canvas;

 

Above this paragraph follows "Extra"

 

 

 

Above this paragraph you can see "Big Eyes" followed by "Queen".

 

 

Above  "Flaming Lips"

 

 Above the sculpture "Pink Proboscis", 2021, Acrylic nails, foam, fiberglass, and silicone;

followed by "Super Mailficence", 2021, Foam. wire, fiberglass, acrylic nails, silicone.

 

To be continued

Economics: Bitcoin Is A Toy And Not A Currency

(Drivebycuriosity) - There is a lot ado around Bitcoin. This is "a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator", says Wikipedia (wikipedia). Many other also call Bitcoin a currency, which would make it comparable to the US Dollar, the Euro and other currencies.,

This morning the price of Bitcoin dropped  8% and continued the sharp fall of the recent days ( cnbc). The price of Bitcoin had quadrupled from November 2020 through May and then had given up half of the gains.  
 

 

 (source )

The wild fluctuations show that Bitcoin is not a currency:

1. Paying with Bitcoin is a game of chance because of the wild fluctuations. Tomorrow`s value of any payment could be much higher or lower than expected. Neither seller or buyer could calculate the transaction.

If a company would mark their prices in Bitcoin they would lose their customers when a sharp Bitcoin rally makes their goods & services too expensive or they would suffer high losses when a Bitcom crash makes them too cheap.

If someone borrows Bitcom he could go bust because his debt could explode when the Bitcoin price jumps, lenders fear the risk of a sudden Bitcoin crash.

The extreme fluctuations would make accounting and business plans senseless. 

2. Bitcoin is popular because its supply is limited like Picasso paintings. According to Wikipedia new Bitcoins are created at an ever-decreasing rate (wikipedia). The total number of Bitcoins is capped at 21 million.

But this restriction also an obstacle on the way to the use as a currency. In the 1940's, Milton Friedman recommended a fixed money supply, the idea that the money volume should be kept at a certain volume. Later he abandoned this proposal. He realized that a growing economy, say with a rate of 2% annually, needs a growing money supply. The money volume has to grow at least with the same rate as the economy to finance the growth. Otherwise prices - including wages - would have to fall, in this example around 2% annually. Friedman acknowledged that generally falling prices could lead to a severe depression. Therefore the limited supply of Bitcoins would not satisfy economic growth.

Because of these problems it is highly unlikely that many people use Bitcoin as a currency, say for payments, calculating prices of goods & services, and denominating loans. Today there is already a strong competition between alternative currencies like US Dollar, Euro, Chinese Yuan, British Pound (Pound Sterling), Swiss Franc and more. Each of these currencies represents an economy and it is much more reliable for economic calculations & transactions than Bitcoin.


Conclusion: Bitcoin is cool because it is a very geeky Internet gadget. The wild price fluctuations invite gamblers to play with it. But it is not a currency and will never be.