Linkarama

Robert Boyd


What else is there to say? More like this can be found at panels2ponder.com and even more at the Panels2Ponder Facebook page. Compiled by Frank Young, co-creator of The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song.


Forrest Bess, untitled (The Crowded Mind/The Void) (1947), oil on canvas, 10 x 11 3/4 inches

There's a Forrest Bess show up at the Menil, and I wrote a review of it. That review is not on this site (at least, not yet), but you can go over to Glasstire and read it. In fact, I insist!


facebook farm, pg version from Dark Blood on Vimeo.

Whenever Mark Flood has a new show, he makes a new song with an accompanying video. This one is called "Facebook Farm." This is the PG13 version, which strongly implies there is an x-rated version out there... The exhibit is at a gallery in Birmingham, Alabama called Beta Pictoris.


For some reason, people love creating pastiches of the Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David. I found Helen Mirren doing it in Painted Lady, and Vik Muñiz did one made of garbage, and last Sunday Garry Trudeau did it in Doonesbury. It seems that Marat just won't die.


Cody Ledvina, mural on the side of E.J.'s Bar.

Cody Ledvina has begun painting murals in Montrose because there are not enough murals and especially not enough murals of grotesquely elongated cartoon dachshunds. Swamplot reported this, as they often do with things like this, and Swamplot's devoted commenters chimed in for a little art criticism, not just of Ledvina, but of Houston art in general.

• From commonsense: “too much shitty visual culture”, says the guy that drew a giant cartoon dog with a paint roller? And people wonder why I have zero respect for “artists”.
• From montrosechica: I love the Vermont Street mural! Not only has that building gone through some wonderful renovations recently, but now I break out in a smile every time I see the cat sitting on the edge of the pool looking towards downtown.
• From Northsider: You must be one boring SOB to hang out with @commonsense.
• From windows95: @commonsense I highly doubt that anyone wonders why you have zero respect for artists.
• From Harold: I have zero respect for most Houston area artists as well. Most of the “art” that I see at galleries is frankly, garbage, such as facial portraits with genitalia painted on them. Sorry, but the people buying these orange stucco Mcmansions are the same idiots plunking down $2,000-3,000 for this junk.
• From commonsense: To each is own, I’m entertained by discussing business and politics, some people are entertained by malcontents with a paint bucket.
• From Tom: The mural on Dunlavy is hidieous. The owners did a good job on the buildings renovations and ruined the whole look with the amature.
• From Shane Tolbert: Montrose is lucky to have Cody Ledvina. What is with the negative criticism? What are YOU doing to beautify a neighborhood and build a sense of community? Thank you Cody!
• From windows95: Some people just don’t like art, which is fine but for some reason art is unique in that the naysayers always feel entitled to make value judgements on the entirety of art. I guess visual art is just an easy target. As to the penis art, nobody hears a shitty band at one of the 100 Little Woodrows in town and declares all of Houston music dead.
• From Robert Boyd: I disagree, Harold. I love facial portraits with genitalia painted on them, and I’m really pleased that this genre of art has become associated with Houston. I was just remarking on this the other day to a fellow malcontent at an exhibit at the Watercolor Art Society of Houston over on Alabama. The theme of the show? Facial portraits with genitalia painted on them, of course.
• From longdoglover: This is one of the best things that has recently happened to Montrose. Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Ledvina! Thank you for bringing some genuine human charm to this new wave of quickly drowsying urban “development”.
• From Gene Morgan: Once every fifty years you get a facial-portraits-with-genitalia-painted-on-them painter of Cody Ledvina’s talent.
• From Tom: If you really think the cat on the lake or whatever it is looks good then your sense of aestetic is obviously out of whack. That “mural” is out of place and poorly done. I actully like some of the fun graffiti art on buildings around Montrose…. but not that horrible mess. It looks like an art project from a kindergarten class. Im sure some of the paragons of “art appreciation” would howl if the next store neighbor painted their house hot pink with polka dots all over it……etc.
• From doofus: Um, a giant weiner dog painted on the side of EJ’s is hilarious. I love it. Nice to see camp return to Montrose!
• From miss_msry: If it’s going to be a public mural, get a professional muralist.

 
Paul McCarthy, Complex Shit (partially deflated) (Getty Images)

I wonder what the critics of Cody Ledvina at Swamplot would think of Paul McCarthy's Complex Shit. I can think of many sites in Houston that would be improved by having this inflatable sculpture on them--Reliant Stadium, George Bush Park, the parking lot of any Walmart, etc.