Contemporary Art: Fun And Games @ Gallery Perrotin 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 are still some fine art galleries, albeit fewer than some years ago. The French/American Gallery Perrotin on Orchard Street is my favorite (perrotin ). I often see amazing shows there.

Recently I spotted a show with works by GaHee Park (leaflet ). The artist is born in Korea and lives in Canada. I love her funny paintings which remind me of René Magritte`s surreal images.

Above you can see "Marine Dreams" (224, oil on linen) followed by "Fun and Games" (2023, oil on canvas).

 

Above this paragraph follow "Under Cover" and another surreal image.

 

last but not least: "World of Tails".

 

To be continued 

Science Fiction: Counting Casualties By Yoon Ha Lee

 (Drivebycuriosity) - We don´t know what the future will bring, but one thing is clear, it will be weird. Good science fiction tells us some possibilities. Yoon Ha Lee´s short story "Counting casualties" narrates about a far future war where humanity faces a superior enemy (20 pages, printed as Kindle book amazon).

"Counting" fascinates by Lee´s prose, speculative ideas & bizarre locations (this is spoiler free blog). The humans are supported by hyper-intelligent strange spaceships, who are almost equal ranking partners, but can they decide the war? The enemy´s  intentions & technologies are beyond human imagination and the damages it does have never been known before.

The story is told in first person by the commander of the human war fleet, who finally discovers the secret of the enemy - but what does the cost him?

I really enjoyed the story - smart, crispy, but also philosophical, a real gem. Yoon Ha Lee belongs to the rising stars in the science fiction genre. I already wrote about 2 publications by the American-Korean author: Beyond The Dragon's Gate (my review) and Extracurricular Activities (review ). I certainly plan to read more by this author.

Contemporary Art: Adrift On The Lonely Etheric Ocean @ The Hole New York

 (Drivebycuriosity) - Some galleries have funny names. "The Hole" on Manhattan`s popular entertainment mile Bowery (312 Bowery, New York thehole) seems to specialize in experimental art. They have frequently interesting shows (I have reported about this gallery before here  here  here).

 

Recently I saw a group shop called: "Adrift On The Lonely Etheric Ocean", curated by Brooke Wise ( exhibitions). On top of this post you can see Lizzy Gabay`s "Big Sister" followed by Kate Meissner`s "Shadow Play (Green)" & Aisling Hamrogue`s "Bad Blind".

 

Above follow Brittany Shepherd`s "Satin (Rose)" & Catherine Mulligan`s "Untitled (Ads)".

 

and then you can see another work by Catherine Mulligan: "Influencer" plus Sam Lipp`s "Fog" & TM Davy`s "Blue Fairy".  

 

To be continued

Economics: What Is Happening On The EV Market?

 (Drivebycuriosity) - If we believe the Biden administration there is too little competition and concentrated markets are causing inflation and stifle innovation. Biden, Warren, Sanders & Co. see monopolies everywhere. Really? A look on the market of electric cars shows quite the opposite. The table below displays how much the shares of the EV producers had dropped since their peaks:

 

(source)

Apparently the valuations of the majority of the EV producers shrank close to zero. The stock market losses are caused by too much competition on the EV market. The EV specialists in the table also have to compete against Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, Honda and many other traditional car producers, who entered the crowded market for EVs. Obviously there are more EV producers than the market can support.

The Biden administration does not understand markets and ignores history & economics. Whenever there is hope on high future profits, a lot innovators & investors try their luck. The EV market is just one example. The prospects of the EV market initiated a gold rush mentality which reminds of the Railroad Wars of the 19th century, when too many investors set their bets on the exploitation of the North American continent by railroads (wikipedia ).

The heated competition forced even market leader Tesla to cut prices several times - and the competitors had to follow. As a result the average price for a new EV dropped 21% over the past 12 months ( caredge). So we see deflation instead of inflation.

Apple already responded and cancelled their electric car project. I suppose the market will consolidate and many EV producers will quit or go bankrupt. Only a few will survive - the producers which are the most productive and cost efficient. The survivors will benefit from technological progress and the still bright future of the EV market. Competition works!

Books: The Moon And The Other By John Kessel

 (Drivebycuriosity) -  In a not too far future the moon will be settled. There are many science fiction novels that speculate about this. "The Moon And The Other" by John Kessel is one of them, unfortunately is does not belong to the best ( amazon). 

On Kessel´s moon the population is spread over a set of communities, buried deep under the surface. Keller describes elaborately infrastructure & technologies, which are adapted to the moon`s  low gravity, hard vacuum and other characteristics. These parts remind me of Heinlein & Clarke. But the ambitious plot seems to be inspired by Ursula Le Guin`s anthropology and her descriptions of exotic families & tribes. There are a lot conflicts & domestic violence. There is an augmented dog, who has a PhD in Philosophy, and there are monkeys who work as security. Nothing makes sense. The book is forgettable.

Movies: Napoleon

  (Drivebycuriosity) - In the recent 2 centuries lived two men who conquered most of Europe and led a disastrous military campaign into Russia, destroying the lives of many millions. One of them is still popular: Napoleon.

Ridley Scott`s movie "Napoleon" had just 2 hours 38 minutes to tell the conqueror`s complex story ( imdb). The director and script writer David Scarpa did a good job and Joaquin Phoenix personified Napoleon convincingly. The actor seems to be specialist for playing troubled men ("Joker", "Fredie" in the "Master"  ). His acting reminded me specially of his role in "Gladiator", where he played Cesar Commudus, a similar egomaniac.

The cinematography was the icing in the cake: "The Emperor" conversing in the Egyptian desert with the mummy of a Pharao, the icy graves at Austerlitz or the lethal choreography at Waterloo were pieces of art and bloody entertainment.

An afterthought: What would have Kubrick created if he would have been able to realize his long-year Napoleon project?  

Books: The Shards By Bret Easton Ellis

  (Drivebycuriosity) - Bret Easton Ellis belongs to the stars of contemporary American fiction, albeit controversial. His most recent novel "The Shards" justifies his reputation ( amazon).

The book is written in first person, as a fictionalized memoir (this is a spoiler free blog). "Bret", who is now in his fifties, recalls his life as a 17 years old in the year 1981, when he attended an exclusive school in Los Angeles. He was part of a bunch of spoiled über-rich kids who enjoyed their privileged lives in Los Angeles with driving the Jaguars & Porsches of their negligent parents, having sex, using a lot drugs, partying, boozing and watching movies. "Bret", who almost continuously was stoned on Quaalude, a hypnotic sedative, got increasingly bewildered by ongoing reports about a bizarre & grizzly murder & home invasion series in his L.A. neighborhood and developed a growing interest in a dubious newcomer at his school, driven by his "overactive" imagination as ongoing writer, lust and mental issues.  

Being grown up in modest conditions in post-war Germany I don´t really care about spoiled rich kids but I got drawn into "Bret`s" narrative for several reasons. The plot builds up slowly tension by frequent clues about the bad things to come and develops into a thrilling tale about "teenage horniness", paranoia, drug abuse & obsession.

I like the author`s slick prose and enjoyed his long complex sentences; his descriptions of the lush Southern Californian homes, gardens, hotels, movie palaces and his analytical depictions how "Bret`s" buddies and their relationships are changing. 

There are intense spooky parts with a hitchcockian atmosphere and creepy & violent episodes that Hieronymus Bosch could have painted on a horror trip. And we learn a lot about "Bret", his mental problems, his obsessions and his various - mostly gay - sexual experiences & longings, which are explicitly and elaborately described.

It is hard to escape this vertigo of "fear mingling with lust", drug abuse, lies, control loss & insanity. After I had finished the book it stayed in my mind for a while and I was wondering what really happened, besides what "Bret" - and the author - tell us. "The Shards" belongs to the most challenging but also fascinating novels I read in a long time.