Author: ArtsJournal2

Top AJBlog Posts For The Weekend Of 02.25.18

Been there, seen that
The latest episode of Three on the Aisle, the bimonthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading. In this … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-02-23
Weekend Listening Tip: Susan Pascal & Pete Christlieb
Now that the powerful tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb has moved from Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest, he frequently collaborates with elite Seattle-area jazz musicians. One who recently asked him to join … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-02-23
My Storify from the Obama Portraits Event: Eclectic Crowd, Controversial Art
In case you still have an appetite for more about the Obama portraits unveiling and installation, here’s my Storify of live tweets from the scene: [View the story “The New Obama Portraits at NPG” on … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-02-22
Magic time
The Alley Theatre’s production of Satchmo at the Waldorf had its first technical rehearsal (known to theater people as “tech”) last night, and I relished every minute of it. Tech is the time when the … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-02-22

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Collector And Patron Of Black Artists, Has Died At 70

The daughter of a prosperous Black family from Alabama became a force for the arts in Washington, D.C. She “was a voracious collector and champion of African and African-American artists, including Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, El Anatsui, Kerry James Marshall and Kehinde Wiley, [and] … she amassed one of the country’s largest private collections of African-American art.”

When You’re Deaf And Want To See A Movie In The Theatre, The Options Are Not Great

Movie theatres are struggling, and Netflix and Amazon Prime – and many other streaming services – offer closed captions on almost all of their shows. But in actual movie theatres? Whoa. “I stuffed the circular base into the cupholder and grappled with the Doc Ock arm until I could see the little green letters inside the rectangular head. I could feel eyes darting towards me and the black box dangling in front of my face. The rectangular head started to dip sideways, too heavy for the Doc Ock arm. I tried to lift it back up, but the arm wouldn’t keep upright. I had to slink into my seat so I could see the green letters again.”

Marilynne Robinson Says We Need To Celebrate Human Traits And Talents

The author of Housekeeping and three other novels has just published a new book of essays. “One thing I cannot understand about contemporary society is that, as we learn more, and become more aware of the incredible singularity of our Earth, we cannot seem to allow ourselves to recognise it. And even if one day we were to discover there is another planet out there, just like ours, that fact would just mean that, in all this universe, there were only two things so absolutely extraordinary.”

Netflix’s New ‘Queer Eye’ Created A Breakout Star – A Muslim Immigrant Married To A Mormon Cowboy

And at first he didn’t want to be on the show at all. “I was offered the job and I said, ‘You’re out of your minds — I will ruin your show!’ … They said, ‘No you won’t, we know how to cast. From what we know, there’s never been a gay, Muslim, British immigrant on a global platform before.’” Indeed.

A Bolivian Artist Who Created An Image Of The Virgin Mary Wearing A Thong Is Getting Massive Threats

While Bolivia’s cultural minister says “”A criminal proceeding will be initiated to obtain the sanction that corresponds to those who have dared to discredit our most holy virgin of the Socavon and to whom intends to destroy the patrimonialism and intangibility of the Oruro Carnival,” the artist is quick to point out that she created the image exactly because of the drinking, carousing, and disrespect of women at the carnical.

How Is New York City Ballet Doing Without Peter Martins – And What’s Next?

As City Ballet is run by a team of four (three ballet masters and a choreographer), Alistair Macauley sums up a few recent changes: “Whoever takes over City Ballet long-term must address not just the legacy of Mr. Martins but also the achievements of this interregnum, too. A controversial slap in Mr. Martins’s Romeo + Juliet has been deleted; the ballerina Patricia McBride has coached a role she created. There have been impressive debuts in individual roles.”

How Did Stephen Rubin Climb Back Atop The Publishing Industry?

Two words: Michael Wolff. “Roughly nine years ago, when [Rubin] left Random House — where over the years he had made the authors Dan Brown and John Grisham into household names — for the less-glamorous perch of Henry Holt, some in the industry speculated that his once-powerful career was all but over. But Mr. Rubin now finds himself with a book that has arguably matched the heights of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘The Firm.'”

Turns Out Abstract Cave Art Was Made By Neanderthals, So Maybe We Should Stop Using That As An Insult

This is big. “The reason it is so eerie to think of a Neanderthal making a hand-image is that the painted hands – not to mention bison, horses and mammoths – found in European caves have come to be seen as the moment when the modern human mind itself is born: the first evidence not just of the intelligence of Homo sapiens but our capacity to imagine and dream, to reflect, in short to possess consciousness. What does it mean if another kind of human species shared those traits? Is there nothing special about us at all?”