This week we learned that a pregnant 66 foot bronze statue will enrage the neighbors, symmetrical faces can be seriously creepy and art stars are just like us.
They grocery shop, the clean up after dinner, they shave. Us Weekly did not invent the desire to see famous people doing everyday things. For decades great photographers have been capturing the way “stars are just like us!” with far more interesting results than what we see on the pages of tabloids. Magnum’s archive teems with images of iconic celebrities doing endearingly everyday things.
From flowers to architecture, it is oft been said that there is pleasing beauty in symmetrical design. Research has also shown that when it comes to human faces, symmetrical ones -- like that of Florence Colgate, dubbed "Britain's Most Beautiful Face" -- tend to be considered "more beautiful." Fascinated with this idea, photographer and researcher Julian Wolkenstein has spearheaded two related artistic projects in recent years that have sought to explore the ideas of symmetry and beauty and to challenge our perceptions of each.
On November 17, 1961, 27-year old photographer Douglas Kirkland got to spend one evening alone with the greatest sex symbol of his, or any following, era. The hours he spent with 35-year old Marilyn Monroe, only months before her death, have since become immortalized in Kirkland's series for Look magazine. Monroe plays simultaneously with Kirkland and the camera, wiped clean of red lipstick, wearing only rumpled white silk sheets.
The Tony Award winning playwright Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, The Violet Hour) has adapted Truman Capote’s revered 1958 novella "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" for the stage. The play, which will have its world premiere at Broadway’s Shubert Theater this February, will star Emilia Clarke from "Game of Thrones" as Holly Golightly, a young socialite in New York. This role was famously played by Audrey Hepburn, so we're curious how this young actress will take to the role.
Damien Hirst refers to 'Verity' as a "modern-day allegory for truth and justice." Those who have to look at it, like Northam resident Gwyneth Barnes, call the 66-foot bronze statue of a half-exposed pregnant woman "soft porn masqueraded as art." After two years of planning and production, the controversial sculpture has finally arrived in Devon, and the once quaint beach town will never be the same.
And one for good luck...
October is LGBT History Month, and we're celebrating with our party hats on. Especially since today (was) National Coming Out Day! What better way to energize the festivities than with a rundown of our favorite creative people who are loud and proud? (Well, some aren't very loud...)
The artists below all have three things in common: they're alive, they're gay, and they inspire us on a regular basis. Other than that, anything goes. Camille Paglia remains a contentious icon, while Del LaGrace Volcano continues to shake up gender binaries in a new exhibition. And what list could be complete without Frank Ocean? It's his year, finally. Check them out:
30 Gay Artists To Know
Happy weekending art lovers!