"The final story, “Stellazine and the Mudpies” resonates with Flannery O’Connor. The title character is a lovable misanthrope, an aging woman, not friendless but ecstatically cynical, who is stuck inside a dilapidated gas station off an interstate that facilitates the high-speed disregard of what her store offers (although it should be mentioned that Stellazine gets quite a few customers over the course of the story). The woman creates a physical manifestation of her disdain in the form of small tarts apparently filled with mud, which she sells to the unwitting and easily persuaded." Read the whole review here.
The Jewish Daily Forward's Blog, The Arty Semite-- My review of Helčne Aylon's exhibition Liberation of G_D and The Unmentionable, now on view at The Warhol Museum, appears in The Jewish Daily Forward's excellent blog The Arty Semite. "Certainly, Aylon’s work hinges on a progressive, rather than an Orthodox, approach to the Torah. Her concept is wholly dependent on the belief that the Bible is an assemblage of narrative fragments written by a variety of authors, rather than the Word of God directly transcribed by Moses. Yet, with this edited assemblage — with parts possibly composed between the 10th and 6th centuries B.C.E. — comes an antiquated and male-dominated worldview." Read the whole review here.
"Fairly Legal: All Legs, All the Wrong Messages" at Speak Without Interruption In the meantime, an excerpt: "This line, coming from the lips of a snuggly-clad hottie, seems somehow like a come-on. It elevates her sexual prowess over her genuine ability to mediate. In the process, what we are taught in an almost invisible way, is that human feelings are secondary, flamboyance and looks are the world’s currency, far more valuable than decency, kindness, or rational thoughts and behavior. Some girls, no some grown women, will watch this and base their decisions on this behavior, which is elevated as cute, acceptable, even desirable. It is inevitable that someone will take her up as her champion and role model." Read the whole essay here.
"Appreciating the Artist John Baldessari" now appears at Speaking Without Interruption "The lack of facial features–particularly the lack of eyes, which robs the figures of a recognizable and sympathetic humanity–forces us to focus on the nose, which becomes overwhelming. The man has nose enough for both himself and the woman he is moving towards. In fact, this feature alone becomes an entity itself, snuffling towards the woman’s smiling features as if it were a hog seeking truffles." Read the whole essay here.
Savannah's review of Janet Frame's Prizes appears at Gently Read Literature. In the meantime, an excerpt:
"A quote by New Zealand writer Janet Frame hangs on one wall of my office. The words reveal a great deal about Frame’s life experience and, as I interpret them, tacitly inform much of her work, particularly her later literary production. The quote runs, “‘For your own good’ is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction.” It’s a telling line from a writer misdiagnosed as schizophrenic, subjected to over 100 electroshock therapy treatments, and scheduled for a lobotomy, from which she was rescued only by the prestigious Hubert Church Memorial Award for her 1952 collection The Lagoon and Other Stories." Read the whole review here. * * * *
A Review of Therese Svoboda's Trailer Girl-- In this month's Gently Read Literature, Savannah reviews Therese Svoboda's Trailer Girl & Other Stories (Univ. Nebraska Press)
All influences and literary echoes aside, Svoboda’s book bears an undeniable sublimity, even if it is hard-won through careful reading, and sometimes, re-reading. Trailer Girl, as a collection, has power to surprise with simultaneously definitive and cryptic statements, which allow for the reader’s lingering uncertainties and assumption of the worst for the characters. Here is a portrait of humanity in all its complexity: Svoboda sketches the outline of her characters, includes more haunting details, and through the abstruse and unspoken, allows readers to fill in the darkest patches.
Zmag Review. "Signs of Change", an exhibition surveying social protest across the globe and previously appearing at Carnegie Mellon University's Miller Gallery, runs in the May issue of ZMag.
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Sculpture Magazine
A review of installations by Jim Campbell and Mark Scheeff appears in the March 2009 issue of Sculpture Magazine.
Click on the thumbnails at left to read the print-only review.
