Annus Horribilus for Magazines

In a press release issued recently, the following really sad news was reported:

"In 2009, 275 new magazines were launched while 428 ceased publication, according to MediaFinder.com. Regional magazines topped the list of new launches with 21 new titles, such as Maine Magazine and B-metro Birmingham, while it also topped the list of ceased publications (34), with titles such Atlanta Life and Denver Living.

The next largest category for new magazine launches in 2009 was Health, with 15 new titles, including Scottsdale Health and Natural Awakenings (Port Charlotte, FL). Another top category for new magazine launches was Food, with 14 new magazines such as Food Network Magazine, Edible Queens, and Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade."

And here's the bright side:

"'Despite the difficult year for the magazine industry, more than 275 magazines launched in 2009 – showing there is still strength in the regional, health, and food categories, with Food Network Magazine reporting more than 1 million readers,' said Trish Hagood, President of Oxbridge Communications, publishers of MediaFinder.com.

'Yet, at the same time, Gourmet Magazine, with a circulation of 977,000, founded in 1941, folded. And, sadly, many magazines were forced to abandon their print products, including Blender, Vibe, Purpose Driven Connection, and Giant.'

MediaFinder also reported the top categories for ceased publications in 2009. In addition to regional magazines, business magazines lead the list of ceased publications, with 16 publications including BusinessWeek Small Biz, Conde Nast Portfolio, and Fortune Small Business. Other large categories for ceased magazines include lifestyle and real estate magazines, with 14 ceased titles. The Home magazine category also experienced a decline with Country Home, Southern Accents, and Metropolitan Home folding in 2009."

In case you're wondering, MediaFinder.com is the largest online database of U.S. and Canadian periodicals, with information on 75,000 magazines, journals, newspapers, newsletters, directories, and catalogs.

Finally, there is a doctor in the house

http://medicallessons.wordpress.com/


Last year Elaine Schattner, a highly qualified medical doctor, completed her masters degree in journalism at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism in order to tackle your medical questions and concerns in writing and trawl through and explain new research so that the rest of can have a clue. Check out her blog. I'd bookmark this one...

Decorative Art

Remember when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Sydney's Little Bay in 1969? Me either, but apparently that was the first Kaldor Project. This year Sydney celebrates the 19th project of its kind with Tatzu Nishi's War and Peace and In Between 2009, a major intervention outside the New South Wales Gallery. Nishi takes two well-known public sculptures by the English sculptor Gilbert Bayes and builds rooms around them -- a bedroom and a living room, to be exact. The sculpture are each equestrian in nature -- a horse and its rider. In the bedroom, Nishi turns the everyday on its head making the horse step up onto a double bed. In the living room, a giant horses head is hidden in the TV cabinet and the rider's head sits on the coffee table. Walk back down the ramp and view the installation from afar to notice the bodies of horse and rider beneath the structure. Out of place, out of scale and pure genius. Catch it up until February 14, 2010 at Sydney's New South Wales Gallery.

Sensual Suprise at the Australian Centre for Photography

The Australian Centre for Photography is currently hosting a highly stylized, decadent, titillating show by Canadian-born, Sydney-based photographers Denis Montalbetti and Gay Campbell (you may remember them as the photographer team responsible for the photo of the X-Files'Mulder and Scully together in bed). The Sensualists sees beautiful bodies seemingly from the 18th and 19th centuries in various poses of wanton desire. Robert Cook, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Photography and Design at the Art Gallery of Western Australia calls it, "Eros at work, eros at play" and ads that there's is an art that "Marie Antoinette would dig, or at least Sofia Coppola's version of her." Stylist Cassandra Scott-Finn, a former fashion editor of iLove and Ego magazines is the talent behind the over-the-top set design, make-up and hair direction. www.acp.org.au

Monochrome Moment

If you're visiting Sydney between now and April 11 next year, throw on your most colorful frock and head off to Olafur Eliasson's Room for One Color at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Monochromatic bulbs emit light that turns all shades to black and white. Freaky -- in the best way.

Life Cycle of a Marigold Flower

In India lemon yellow and burnt orange chains of Marigold flowers are used for everything from a welcome wreath to a religious offering.

1. A stall of Marigold chains at a local market in Delhi
2. A stand of wreaths awaits guests' arrival at a hotel in Jaipur
3. At Srinath, where the Buddha gave his first sermon after reaching enlightenment, wreaths are placed in front of statues of deities.
4. A cow in Varanasi gets a floral snack when the Marigold chains have served their purpose for the day.

Don't Miss Deogarh

It's name means "Abode of the Gods," it was built in the 17th Century and turned into a heritage hotel in the last decade. You can walk around with an audio tour where British author William Dalrymple interviews the Rawat Nahar Singh ji II about his family's history in the place, plus you'll find one of the charming villages in Rajasthan that spreads out from the stairs of the palace and winds down the hill.

For more info www.deogarhmahal.com

Holy Rats!

Thirty miles south of Bikaner, in a tiny town called Deshnoke, you'll find what can only be described as spiritual fear factor. At the Karni Mata Temple, built by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the early 20th century, rats rule -- in their hundreds. Worshipers come to pay their respects to Karni Mata, a mystic who is considered an incarnation of Durga. When Mata's marriage dissolved, when she was 27, she devoted her life to service of the poor (it was not fun to become a widow in 15th century India). The rats (also called kabas) reside here and receive homage (and so much sugary white candies that they have developed diabetes) as their bodies are believed to house the souls of Karni Mata's departed devotees and it is believed that they will reincarnate and return as priests. My advice: Bring a pair of socks you won't be sorry to part with when it's all over.

Sati: Does it still happen?

The practice of Sati (Satee), where a recently widowed woman jumps, supposedly willingly, onto her husband's funeral pyre and is then considered to be a deity originated around 400AD. As you tour around Rajasthan, you might notice the set hands of royal Satis on the walls of forts. Legend has it that before a woman committed Sati she dipped her hand in red paint and then made an imprint of it on the wall. (The first two pictures above where taken at the entrance to the fort in Jodhpur).

The practice of Sati is outlawed in modern India.

The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act of 1987 Part I, Section 2(c) defines Sati as:

"The burning or burying alive of – (i) any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or (ii) any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or other-wise."

However it is still socially devastating to become widowed in India and some widows can still be in their teens if they were married off young. There have been cases of Sati in certain villages in the last few decades. William Dalrymple follows one case that happened in the 1990s in a village just outside of Jaipur in his book Age of Kali. The widow was just 18.

Weirdly, these days, if you do see red hand prints at the door to a house, it may also mean that a woman there has given birth (see pic above).

7 Things to Know about Udaipur

1. It is spelt "Oodeypore" in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and is the birthplace of Bagheera the panther.
2. Indian sections of the James Bond film Octopussy were filmed in the city, the Lake Palace and the Monsoon Palace.
3. Roof terraces all over the city play reruns of Octopussy at 7pm every night. Take an auto-rickshaw down to the temples and you'll find one.
4. You might recognise the nearby desert in the dramatic scene where Bond rescues Octopussy (Maud Adams) from an aeroplane being flown by the Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan) and Gobinda (Kabir Bedi).
5. In Octopussy, Bond is sent to Delhi. The audience is never actually told that he is in Udaipur for virtually the entire movie giving the impression that Delhi is super-exotic.
6. It is a mini-Hollywood: Scenes from Darjeeling Limited, Opening Night, Heat and Dust and Gandhi were reportedly filmed there.
7. It is a mini-Bollywood too: Hindi movies have included Guide, Mera Saaya, Phool Bane Angaray, Kachche Dhagey and many more....


Photographs: Nadine Rubin
Right: The elephants that welcome you onto Jag Mandir where Octopussy ran her harem of ambidextrous babes.
Left: The Monsoon Palace which appears in Octopussy as the home of Kamal Khan

Ganesh in the House

All over India you'll find images of Lord Ganesh, the multiple-limbed elephant God who removes obstacles at the doorway to a home. We spotted him at the Karma Sutra temples in Khujarao and on the walls of houses in Jaisalmer Fort with the date of the last wedding in the family inscribed beneath his image.

India in Print

There's no better way to learn about the history, culture and quirks of a place than to read a mix of fiction, non-fiction and memoir.

I recommend:

1. A Princess Remembers by Gayatri Devi, especially if you'll be in Jaipur and other parts of Rajasthan.
2. Anything by William Dalrymple, but especially The Age of Kali
3. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Yes it's close to 1000 pages, but the descriptions of Mumbai are unbeatable.

Don't Miss: Orchha

Orchha would resemble many small Indian villages in Madhya Pradesh if it weren't for the glorious medieval palaces and temple spires. According to mptourism.com, "Orchha was founded in the 16th century by the Bundela Rajput chieftain, Rudra Pratap, who chose this stretch of land along the Betwa river as an ideal site for his capital. Of the succeeding rulers, the most notable was Raja Bir Singh Ju Deo who built the exquisite Jehangir Mahal, a tiered palace crowned by graceful chhatris." Inside the palaces, along wall and ceiling are frescoes representing the Bundela school of painting. The only problem, as our guide regretfully pointed out, is that the government have no interest in restoring or protecting these treasures. Sad, when you consider that tourism is all that Orchha has going for it these days...

On Signage

Call me cheeky or even mean, but I can't help noticing funny signage or spelling errors that result in double entendres. Here are a few I spotted in India:

Beyond Mouvember

Each year in Jaisalmer a competition is held to determine the owner of the longest mustache. You'll need more than the month of November to win this one.

Here, a regular contender and winner shows off his hirsute pride and joy.

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

Bhang Bhang Club

Bhang (pronounced Buh-ng) is a derivative of marijuana. Is it legal in India? Nay. However, that didn't stop the owners of the Bhang Shop in Jaisalmer, India from declaring that they are "government authorized."

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

That Sinking Feeling

Imagine you are a tourist wanting to visit the Jaisalmer Fort, built in 1156 by the Bhati Rajput ruler Jaisal. This is Rajasthan's only "live-in" fort and about a quarter of the city's population still reside within the tall yellow sandstone walls. So you're paging through Lonely Planet India and...whoa!...what's this? The authors of the good book have taken a decision to not review any accommodation inside the fort itself. Instead, they ask that you, dear tourist, be eco-conscious and stay outside the fort to avoid putting additional pressure on the fort's archaic sewage system (it has been reported that three of the 99 bastions have already crumbled because of water seeping into the foundations). Residents inside the fort are allocated one hour a day within which to fill their tanks with water that needs to last them for showers, cooking and drinking. So, yes, taking two showers a day at your boutique Haveli-turned-hotel is a tad unconscious.


If you look closely at the wall in the below photograph you can see the rising water levels that are causing the fort to literally sink into the desert sand.




Photograph: Nadine Rubin

The V.VIP Room

You'll know you've made it when you bypass the VIP Room and enter the V.VIP Room at the airport in Varanasi. We can only imagine the guest list: Maharajas, Bollywood stars and Graydon Carter.




Photograph: Paul Nathan

Mahatma's Message, Alive and Well

I saw this sign on the side of the road in Jaipur, Rajasthan. India is a long way from the vision that Mahatma Gandhi had for the country after independence in 1947 and sadly never saw through due to his assassination one year later. Sadly these days his message is used for commercial purposes, but hey it is still a reminder for some of us...

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

The World's Most Beautiful Wash Line

Diana Vreeland once said, "Pink is the navy blue of India." Well, orange, red, green, turquoise are the sand, stone, beige, brown. Here, 6 meters of saris are laid out to dry on the ghats along the Ganges in Varanasi.

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

Following Buddha's Footsteps

After attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya the Buddha travelled to Sarnath to preach his first discourse in the deer park. His discourse is said to have set in motion the 'Wheel of the Dharma'. Visit peaceful Sarnath when you visit Varanasi. The site is about 20 minutes away and it offers a wonderful reprieve from the madness of Varanasi.

Photograph: Nadine Rubin

Ethiopian Airlines -- not as bad as they say!

We missed our Qatar Airlines flight to New Delhi to start our honeymoon last night. So we scrambled to find the quickest way to get to New Delhi from Johannesburg to catch our overnight train to Varanasi. Unfortunately Qatar couldn't help us until 6 days later, but Ethiopian Airlines could get us there in 16 hours. But who knew that Ethiopia had an airline? So I Googled "Reviews of Ethiopian Airlines" and found horribly obnoxious notes from previous passengers complaining about seats not reclining, food being served cold and one rather alarming tale of an engine that caught fire. Still, my fiance insisted we go. I am writing this from the Cloud Nine Lounge at Addis Ababa airport having recently taken my first Ethiopian Airlines flight. I am saddened by the reviews I found online last night. We had a fantastic flight on an aging but still with it Boeing 737. The staff were super friendly, the food was delicious (a wonderful bonus) and the trip was without incident. And actually, when you look them up, Ethiopian Airlines is rated three stars in the same category as most American airlines. I might even give it four...well, if the Addis Ababa to Delhi leg measures up.

Jo'Burg Art Tour

No trip to my birth city would be complete without a stop in at the following galleries:

1. The Goodman Gallery
2. ArtSpace
3. Maker
4. Circa
5. Everard Read
6. Gallery Momo
7. What if the World
8. The Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG)
9. Museum Afrika
10. And the all new, all fabulous Arts on Main where William Kentridge, Mikhael Subotzky and David Krut have all taken up spaces.

For more good news on the much maligned Jo'burg (or Jozi as we affectionately call her), pick up a copy of Chic Jozi by Nikki Temkin at Exclusive Books.

Soccer's Arty Side

To commemorate the World Cup Soccer in 2010 in South Africa, local artists including Marlene Dumas and William Kentridge have agreed to design commemorative posters available in editions of 2010. Prices start at R2000 and top at R5000 for Kentridge. You'll find them at David Krut Publishing on Jan Smuts Avenue in Johannesburg.

Art in the Winelands

Six years ago Laurence Graff (of diamond jewelry fame) bought a wine estate called Delaire under the shadow of Botmanskop atop the Helshoogte Pass in Stellenbosch, Cape Town. He commissioned the experts -- British interiors guru David Collins, local landscape genius Keith Kirsten -- to create a wonderfully modern restaurant with clever nods to Africa that's packed to the rafters with a magnificent art collection including works by William Kentridge, Deborah Bell and Dylan Lewis. Chef Christiaan Campbell is responsible for a solid menu and winemaker Morne Vrey has every new toy at his fingertips to make sure that the Delaire Graff Estate wines are eventually able to compete with its neighbors -- Meerlust, Ernie Els, Rust en Vrede.

Recession-Inspired Photography

Tomorrow, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens Robert Frank's "The Americans," New Yorkers will be able to see these iconic photographs exhibited for the first time ever and at a time that resonates with the past. Frank traveled around the United States with the support of a Guggenheim Foundation grant and presented his book, The Americans in 1959. It coincided with the start of the Cold War and was initially reviled by the press for being "Anti-American." Ten years later, once the world has caught up with Frank's prescient vision, they hailed it as revolutionary. The exhibition also shows Frank's early work, a self-assessment of what he considers his best work called "Black, White and Things," and a short silent film showing Frank assessing his work made especially for this show. Also of immense interest are the six books that represent the tradition that The Americans came out of: The English at Home by Bill Brandt, American Photographs by Walker Evans, Ballet: 104 photos by Alexey Brodovitch, Day of Paris by Andre Kertesz, Fabrik: Ein Bildeposder Technik by Jakob Tuggener, and 50 Photographien by Gotthard Schun. The most endearing element is Mary's Book a book of photographs that he made for his wife prior to their marriage. It is signed "Le Petit Prince" following this note:
Mary,
It is not much, but I promised you a little story. Maybe this is not a story. "Only the essential is invisible to the eyes, one only sees well with the heart."
You remember.
We're lucky to finally be able to view Frank's work outside of the book. Frank, the Met's curators say, resented the success that the book brought him and refused to allow its fame subsume the new work that he had moved on to. But he has blessed this exhibition. Don't miss it.

I Heart Oaxacan Almendrado (Almond Mole)

I took a cooking class in Oaxaca with Oscar Carrizosa from Casa Crespo. I followed Oscar to the nearby Sánchez Pascuas local market to buy squash blossoms (zucchini flowers), passion fruit, cactus pear, and corn fungus. Oaxaca is famous for its seven moles (sauces) ranging from the incredibly rich mole negro which contains chocolate, spices and fruits to the delightfully delicate and easy to make almond mole.

Here's the recipe:

1 tablespoon oil
¼ medium onion
2 garlic cloves
¾ cup (3.5 oz/100 g) whole almonds, peeled
1 large slice (1½ in/4 cm) Challah-type bread
8 (2 lb/1 kg) cooked tomatoes, seeded and peeled
1 teaspoon thyme
1 in (2.5 cm) slivered cinnamon stick
2 peppercorns
1 clove
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon lard or olive oil
Salt
3 almonds, peeled, toasted and sliced
18 green olives
1/3 cup (60 g/2 oz) pickled jalapeño or serrano chilies, sliced

Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat. Fry the onion. Once it turns transparent, add the garlic cloves, ¾ cup of almonds, slice of bread and the tomatoes. Cook for about 3 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat and cool. Blend all these ingredients in a blender with the thyme, cinnamon, peppercorns, clove and 2 cups of chicken broth (I find that vegetable broth works just as well for vegetarians).

Heat the lard (or olive oil) in a saucepan with a lid, then fry the blended ingredients. Stir constantly to avoid sticking. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. Season with salt. Add chicken pieces (or fish -- we used yellowtail).

Garnish the dish with the sliced almonds, olives and pickled jalapeño or serrano chilies.

And here are the details for the cooking course:

Casa Crespo
Crespo 415
Centro
Oaxaca
Mexico

Phone:
From México 01 (951) 514 1102
(Phone reservations between 9 am and 5 pm)
Email: casacrespo@go-oaxaca.com

See Ya Eggs Benedict

Sunday brunch, 1pm, Oaxaca food market. I push my way through the smokey hallway. A woman brandishes her tray in front of me. It is laden with raddishes, avocado, grilled spring onions, jalapeno chillis. I take one small dish of each. I take a seat in a jam-packed booth. Locals are sipping Oaxacan hot chocolate with its distinctive almond-cinammon flavor or tucking into the typical Oaxacan brunch that I'm about to sample: thin slices of beef with large tortillas garnished with raddishes, spring onions, chilli and avocado. Delicious and, at a couple of dollars apiece, one of the most affordable meals in town.

Photos: Paul Nathan

Fear Factor for Foodies

Outside the market in near Oaxaca's zocalo (town square) are soft heaps of succulent grasshoppers which the locals refer to as a "superfood." While I have no doubt that grasshopper's are nutritious, I had a hard time bringing hand to mouth when said hand was filled with little insects. I was much happier at Casa Oaxaca (García Vigil 407, Centro Oaxaca) where the chef has crushed the pests into a pesto.

Photo: Paul Nathan

String's the Thing

Oaxaca is famous for its glorious string cheese which is firm and milky, a little like Bocconcini. Find it in the market and purchase by the plaited pound. Or, for those in New York, the Whole Food Deli on the Upper West Side has it.

Squash Blossom Heaven

Oaxaca's vegetable markets are literally blooming with beautiful orange squash blossom. But unlike the Italians who tend to crumb, stuff and fry the flowers, the Mexicans prefer them a little fresher. I had them in a frittata crowned with freshly diced tomatoes, wrapped into a tortilla with Oaxacan string cheese and chopped into a soup.

Virgin Territory

I interviewed Jeffrey Eugenides last week for a piece about why his first novel, The Virgin Suicides is still so read.

Click on the link for more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-22/the-virgin-suicides-sweet-16/?cid=topic:mainpromo1

Art vs Society

“Art’s task is to contribute to evolution, to encourage the mind, to guarantee a detached view of social changes, to conjure up positive energies, to create sensuousness, to reconcile reason and instinct, to research possibilities, to destroy clichés and prejudices. Most people don’t see it that way.” - Pipilotti Rist

Back in Business

Ladies and Gentleman,
Ms. Rubin, M.A. (Journ) is back...

Hamlet: A Terrifying Coward

Some Hamlets are just pure cowards. And what’s worse—they know it. It is with sinking heart that they deliver the lines, “O cursed spite/ that ever I was born to set it right,” when they hear of their fate, because they are well aware that they are too scared to do it. But it’s not just the reality of actually taking a life to avenge their father’s death that frightens them, they are knock-kneed at the thought of the confrontation that is necessary and inevitable before the final decision to enact revenge can be made. In the play, Shakespeare has Hamlet delay by feigning lunacy; he has him avoid simply asking Claudius outright to answer to the ghost’s charge of "murder most foul" by having him put on a play to test Claudius (and his father's ghost) instead. It is the boldest choices that Christian Camargo, who plays Hamlet in the latest Theatre for a New Audience production, makes in the role—sitting down in a chair with its back turned to Claudius and Gertrude, or adopting the fetal position when the ghost delivers the details of his murder—that create a Prince of Denmark literally unable to confront anything. He has no choice but to find some power by handling his women with a terrifyingly rough touch.
In direct contrast to his inability to call Claudius on the truth without the use of bratty huffing and puffing or innuendo, Camargo (of TV's Dexter fame) uses an excessive (I would say abusive) amount of physical strength to grab Ophelia from behind, muzzle her mouth with his hand and then almost throw her off her feet as if she is some rag doll with no capacity for physical, let along emotional, pain. Then he straddles Ophelia (played here by the diminutive Asian actress, Jennifer Ikeda), his more than 6-foot” bulk making her tiny, birdlike frame seem even more vulnerable, in order to tell her “Get thee to a nunnery.”
In comparison, Alyssa Bersnahan makes a blissfully unaware, giddily glamorous, and maddeningly empowered Gertrude. Unlike Ophelia, here is a woman who is comfortable with her sexuality. She wears it on her sleeves—a fact that her many silver-hued gowns and stilettos only serve to highlight. (This is a modern production of Hamlet with the Prince of Denmark in black collar shirt, jeans and boots and Ophelia in a 1940s-style dress until she goes made and runs around in her knickers). Gertrude's physical presence incites great lust in Claudius who cannot keep his hands off her (and one would hope so considering the lengths he has gone to marry her). Yet the same pent up powerlessness sees Hamlet take Gertrude by the throat and smear her red lipstick, psycho killer-style, across her mouth, almost as if to cross her out.
This Hamlet’s madness is not strong enough to create confusion as to whether he is actually losing his marbles. Camargo clearly shows the audience that he is merely acting loopy. Ophelia may lament, “What a noble mind is here o’erthrown,” but why that same noble mind, now done with its cover of craziness, not use its reason to calmly express anger and disappointment at Gertrude’s swift marriage to Claudius, and suspicion over the circumstances of the king’s death without resorting to what begins to resemble an almost-rape remains a question.
Ophelia has historically had a hard time in this play. If she is allowed to actually speak all of the comparably few lines that Shakespeare assigned her, it is still merely to tell us something about Hamlet. Director David Esbjornson has Ophelia tell us that her Liege is murderously furious with his mother—and taking it out on her first.
The absence of Fortinabras in this production is Esbjornson's way of focusing on the domestic situation in Elsinore. So the bigger and more difficult question is: Is Esbjornson perpetuating this tendency for men to use women as their scapegoats, or is he laying it bare for us to recognize how it works? You will have to decide for yourself.
Hamlet is on at The Duke on 42nd Street

A Special Song from a Special Man

Today is Paul and my first anniversary. Share the joy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE0pwJ5PMDg

Harlem - The Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode? -- Langston Hughes

Jack and Meryl in Chelsea

“What’s wrong with marriage anyway?” asks Meryl Streep. “It’s a wonderful marriage, isn’t it?” she tells herself, sounding enthusiastic and uncertain at the same time. Then her voice sinks into a more plaintive tone: “You make concessions when you’re married a long time. When you’ve slept together a thousand nights.”
What film are these lines from? No one film. They're spliced from the many films that make up the two video installations that were on “Him+Her,” Candice Breitz’s recent solo show at Yvon Lambert in Chelsea. The second installation, housed in an identical blacked-out room next to the first, saw Jack Nicholson—“Him”— engage in his own schizophrenic internal dialogue, although it goes without saying that he was more worried about his mental state than his marriage.
For some years now, films have been far more than mere inspiration for the Berlin-based South African artist; they are the raw material that she slices, dices, manipulates and reshapes. To make “Her,” Breitz sifted through 30 years worth of films that Streep has starred in; for “Him,” she went through movies headlined by Nicholson over a forty-year period, beginning in 1968. Separate installations of seven plasma screens each on a minimalist steel structure played twenty eight different versions of Streep in flicks from Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice all the way to the more recent The Devil Wears Prada, and 23 Nicholsons taken from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, As Good As It Gets and more.
Treating Hollywood movies like found objects is nothing new. Jack Goldstein and Dara Birnbaum were appropriating from film and television in the early 1980's, and in the nineties the video work of Douglas Gordon and Christian Marclay dominated. Still, “Him + Her” seems timelier and fresher in the late noughties, probably because as a society we’re more obsessed with celebrity than ever before. Streep and Nicholson are arguably the most charismatic actors alive today and Breitz’s brilliant editing essentially creates two new 23-minute films. It is riveting to watch the screens alternate close-ups of their faces—sometimes using a filmic shot-counter-shot technique or running two of the same images at once—to play the revamped monologues. And once the nostalgia for all of their fine films passes, not to mention the impossible-to-resist comparison of how the two Oscar favorites have aged, focus shifts to the text of the pieces being communicated through the lines that the artist has culled. “Her” traverses men, love, marriage, divorce; “Him” is more self-reflective, about integrity, fear of commitment and also the anxiety of losing one’s mind.
If these works seem like opportunistic attempts to cash in on the notoriety of the famous subject, Breitz counters by saying that Nicholson and Streep are not the true subjects of “Him + Her.” Her focus lies instead on “the unconscious of mainstream cinema, the values and layers of meaning that slowly start to make themselves legible when the big plots are stripped away.” Breitz reshapes her borrowings enough for her work to achieve autonomy and to induce deep reflection on the gender biases that Hollywood has perpetuated for close to half a century, but there is no doubt that the popularity of her show (it was mobbed on opening night), has something to do with Streep and Nicholson.
Breitz, 36, is considered one of the most important video artists working today. She has her own famous fans like Princess Caroline of Monaco and Francesca Von Habsburg, wife of Archduke Karl of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, and her videos are in the permanent collections of museums including the Guggenheim. But how she manages to pay for the rights for any of this material—or how she gets away with not paying—is still anyone’s guess. “Him + Her” follows on from a previous piece by Breitz, “Mother + Father,” first shown in New York in 2005. Here, the artist stripped the sentences of 12 Hollywood actresses and actors—including Streep and also Faye Dunaway, Dustin Hoffman and Steve Martin—from various films to form new discussions about parenthood. The result then as now, is an experience so intensely mesmerizing and emotionally gripping, it is hard not give the actors—and the artist—a standing ovation.
This article appears as a review in the June/July issue of Art South Africa

Who says black isn't a color?

On a recent trip to the souk in Dubai, I had a long-held misconception firmly corrected when we stumbled upon this fabric store...

Obammerce!

On inauguration day, just after Obama took his oath, I went up to 125th Street in Harlem. Many smiley faces--and products! Here are some of faves: