NEWSPEAK Blog

Yet another lost opportunity.

This has been in the rumor mill for some time, but given this 'Zette piece from yesterday, we can go ahead and weigh in on the fact that UCCS Gallery of Contemporary Art curator Christopher Lynn is leaving.

We at Newspeak love Chris, and we love what he's done for the Gallery; he's done so much to improve its image as a place for cutting-edge art, upped its web presence and fostered community involvement. He's also responsible for the Bad Art Nights, a fantastic idea that I hope does not go away.

So, there you are, Colorado Springs. This is what you get when you pull in a talented, creative, driven person and then treat him poorly, promise him things he never gets and make him subject to harassment from, er, certain people.

Best of luck to Chris and his family in everything they do in the future. We'll certainly miss him, and here's hoping UCCS can find someone of Chris' caliber and try not to lose him or her.

No Train Like Home

While this isn't as slick and clever as Elroy's post it was a helluva lot of fun last Summer. We used the F train
starting in Coney Island.

Jermaine Rogers • Dero 72 Opening • Friday June 27th 5-8pm

It's in the Manitou Spa Building

Industrial Art

Boing-boing recently posted a link to illustrator Boris Artzybasheff works on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, from the "Diablerie" chapter of his 1954 book, As I See.

Artzybasheff, we all remember, was hired by the old Colorado Fuel & Iron company in PeeEbLow to give anthropomorphic life to some of their industrial processes back in the early part of the last century. The Bessemer Historical Society down there, which operates the wonderful Steelworks Museum of Industry and Culture, put out a couple of calendars of his works. Wish they'd do that again. Stuff like this:

A lot of his work was very political, much of it railing against the Nazis. Here's a personal favorite, entitled "Radio Propaganda"

I post this only because I find his stuff really fun to look at. Oh, and he wrote a little, too:

"I try to shake this thought off; it may be that a healthy planet should have no more life upon it than a well-kept dog has fleas; but what posesses the flea to concoct its own flea powder?"

DeLane Bredvik's "Phil" at Shelter Exhibition (Smokebrush)

Range Gallery Opening!!

The Range Gallery in Manitou Springs is celebrating it's grand opening on Saturday.

Your Saturday is all planed, you'll spend a nice relaxing day at the Wine festival in Manitou and then attend this gallery opening that is located on the promenade at 725 Manitou Ave. #3. This Saturday from 6-9pm.

Speaking of Dead Birds

Image by Carol Dass from her body of work entitled Avian also down at The Smokebrush (Chapel of Art) this First Friday

Proof that Gazette letter-writers never change.

I'm currently writing an article about Edgar Britton, who produced this commissioned sculpture that stands outside Penrose Library:

When it was unveiled in 1968, people were livid and shocked and appalled that an artist would produce a graphic, horrifying nude with scary, horrifying metal genitals. Here's one letter that was sent to the 'Zette-'Graph:

... when viewing the piece of so-called art which was just recently unveiled in front of the new Penrose Library, I am curious to know who many people had their minds lifted up to Almighty God with the sheer beauty of this statue ...

I sincerely hope that the citizens of this beautiful city will, THIS time, rise up and DO something about a situation that can’t possibly bring our society here any closer to Almighty God.

You may say that this kind of art has been prominent in Europe for years. True, but I personally don’t care about the troubles most countries in Europe have had over the years in comparison with the troubles the United States has had for the past few years.

Although I feel bad picking on somebody who's probably been dead for 10 years, I'll weigh in:

Um, yes, nude depictions of humans have been prominent in Europe "for years." You know where else they've been prominent? EVERYWHERE ELSE ON EARTH. For years. Many years. Since the beginning of art, you could say. But look at all the trouble it's called the world! Unlike here in the good ol' US of A, where we like our classical sculpture wang-less and our Lady Justice clothed. Amen.

Artist Profiles on PeakRadar.com!

All of us at COPPeR and PeakRadar are pleased as punch to announce the official debut for our Artist Profiles. This is a new feature of PeakRadar.com and we are enlisting you, the creative people of this community, to use this new-fangled feature.

If you are an actor, dancer, musician, visual artist, or other type of performer/creative human residing in the Pikes Peak region, you can post your Artist Profile for FREE!

Artist Profiles include up to seven images, links to events associated with your work and your preferred contact information.

Keep your friends, fans, family and the public-at-large in the loop: market your work with an Artist Profile on PeakRadar.com!

Brilliant stuff

This is by Takara. She's 14 and super-retarded*. But I like her.

In case you have difficulty following the dramatic events, I'll provide a transcription:

First Official-looking Person: "CSI:CSI! I'm Grissom!"

Second Official-looking Person: "CSI:NY! I'm Mac!"

Third Official-looking Person: "CSI:MIAMI! I'm Horatio!"

Lion: "I'MA LION!"

Inquisitive Kid: "Who killed her?"

Freaked-out Kid: "DEAD PERSON!"

[Dead Girl says nothing. Bleeds out.]

* By retarded, I mean "gifted."