Jaron Lanier

Jaron Lanier asks, "If you are only a reflector of information, are you really there?"  ...which reminds me of this blog.

Joan Mitchell

A video interview with the painter Joan Mitchell:

More of her paintings:

Eadweard Muybridge's Zoopraxiscope

Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904)

"The Horse in Motion":

...commissioned by Leland Stanford:

Here's an animated version:

And here's a zoopraxiscope disc:

You can listen to, or read, this NPR feature on the 2010 Corcoran Gallery Exhibit.  And there's a big book of Muybridge photographs—or you can download the complete text of Animal Locomotion here.  Also check out Rebecca Solnit's book.

Fly

Nat King Cole, "Straighten Up and Fly Right":

Jean-Paul Sartre, "Les Mouches":

Lord of the Flies:

Sarah Vaughan, "Fly Me to the Moon":

Curtis Mayfield, "Superfly":

Herbie Hancock, "Butterfly":

Esperanza Spalding, "Little Fly":

William Blake, "Little Fly":


Little Fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brush’d away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance,
And Drink,& sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength & breath,
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live
Or if I die.

Tristan Murail's La Mandragore

Pianist Sophia Valliant perform's Tristan Murail's composition La Mandragore:

Murail's complete writings were published in an issue of Contemporary Music Review.  Anthony Cornicello's dissertation on Murail is available here.

Duane Hanson's Hyperrealism

Also check out Duane Hanson's sunbather sculpture here.

George Lewis: Les Exercises Spirituels

George E. Lewis's recent composition, performed at Brown University by Dinosaur Annex:

The album is for sale (for personnel, see here).  Lewis discusses the composition:

He talks on video some more here and here.  Check out his book on the AACM.

Henriette Darricarrère

She was Henri Matisse's model during the early to mid-1920s:

Zoom in on another painting here, and some sketches here, here and here.  Read more here, here, and here.  And look at this and this.  He painted her a lot.

More etchings and paintings:

Picasso, Le désir attrapé par la queue

Pablo Picasso's surrealist play, "Desire Caught by the Tail" (1941):

The cast at the premiere performance featured Michel Leiris, Raymond Queneau, Zanie Campanm Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Louise Leiris, Jacques Bost, Dora Maar, Germaine Hugnet, and Jean Aubier.

Jazz Musicians on T.V. Commercials

Louis Armstrong—Schaeffer Beer:

Cab Calloway—Hula Hoops:

Benny Goodman—Geico Insurance:

Les Paul—Coors Beer:

Ella Fitzgerald—Memorex:

Ella Fitzgerald: Kentucky Fried Chicken:

Miles Davis—Honda Scooter:

Oscar Peterson—Royal Bank:

Buddy Rich—Synsonics Drums:

Mel Tormé—Revlon:

Stan Getz—Muriel Cigars:

Ray Charles—California Raisins:

Ray Charles—Diet Pepsi:

Ron Carter—Tully's Coffee:

Herbie Hancock—Suntory Whiskey:

Bobby McFerrin—Ocean Spray:

Kenny G—Audi:

Wynton Marsalis—The iPod:

Harry Connick—The National Football League:

John Pizzarelli—Foxwoods Casino: