Eggs as Religious Art at the Connecticut's Bruce Museum

CONNECTICUT POST
By Scott Gargan

These Ukrainian Souvenir Painted Eggs Decorated With 
Religious Patterns Kiev Ukraine are for Illustration Purposes Only

CONNECTICUT---These eggs aren't for cracking. The collection of 1,000-plus ovals owned by Yvonne Shia Klancko and Robert J. Klancko are artworks and artifacts -- a reflection of a religious tradition that dates back to Medieval times. In fact, the egg has wobbled its way into religious traditions of many sorts, Klancko said. He noted that the Easter egg rolling contest at the White House commemorates "the rolling away of the stone from Jesus' tomb" prior to his ascension. "It's very spiritual," he added. "Eggs-hibition: Unscrambling Their History," which is on view through Oct. 20, features Faberge eggs from Betteridge Jewelers of Greenwich, examples of Ukrainian egg art from the Stamford-based Ukrainian Museum and Library and delicately carved eggs from Illinois-based artist Beth Ann Magnuson. The exhibit explores the evolution of the egg through art, religion, literature and science. [link]

Bruce Museum: "Eggs-hibition: Unscrambling Their History"(Ends Oct. 20), 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT; 203-869-0376, brucemuseum.org

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Resurrection Without Religious Fantatics: Vin Diesel Returns in "Riddick"

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Manohla Dargis

HOLLYWOOD---Movies like “Riddick,” a satisfyingly primitive spectacle, help explain the unlikely ascendancy of Vin Diesel as a man of cinema. This is the third live-action film in the “Riddick” series, which opened with the aptly grim and gloomy “Pitch Black” (2000), and immediately entered its decadent phase with the unintentionally self-parodic “Chronicles of Riddick” (2004). Gone are the silly costumes and wigs, the overstuffed plot and exotic-sounding villains like the Necromongers, the religious fanatics that Mr. Diesel’s character, the escaped convict more formally known as Richard B. Riddick, once battled. Now, there’s one man alone. Riddick initially struggles just to survive. Of course to complete this rebirth, Riddick, the legendary interplanetary killer, must be baptized in blood. The Diesel rises. [link]

“Riddick” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Blood, alien and otherwise.

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Creativity Didn't Wait: Asia Society Presents Modernism in Iran

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Holland Cotter

"The Hand" (1960-61) an exquisite silver and gold painting of a
severed hand — a Shiite symbol — embedded in clouds of calligraphy

NEW YORK---Most accounts of modern art say, basically, one thing: the West creates while the world waits, like a grateful beggar, for a nourishing handout. This is false history. That America and Europe are still barely awake to this reality makes an exhibition like “Iran Modern,” which opens on Friday at Asia Society, invaluable educationally. The Asia Society show, which fills the museum, opens on the second floor with beautiful examples of a particular strain of work introduced in the early 1960s by three young artists: Faramarz Pilaram (1937-82), Parviz Tanavoli and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi. [link]

Asia Society Museum: “Iran Modern” (Ends Jan. 5, 2014), 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street; (212) 288-6400, asiasociety.org/nyc

"A View of Islam" (1961) showing individual episodes that led
to the martyrdom of the imam Hossein at Karbala in 680 A.D.

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Winners vs. Losers: Indianapolis Arts Prize Uses "American Idol" Format

INDIANAPOLIS STAR
By Will Higgins

INDIANA---It was a grant-making process like none Indianapolis had seen before, it was a game show for hipsters, it was an event. Applying for an arts grant to a nonprofit foundation can be a heartbreakingly laborious undertaking, involving the filling out of numerous forms, the crafting of mission statements and essays and on and on and on. The 5x5 events skip all that, in exchange for pressure, and some drama. Five people had been selected from some four dozen applicants to present their ideas for what would enhance city life. A handful of judges, along with the audience, would vote for the winner. Once they took the stage, the five contestants each had exactly five minutes to sell their plan. They were allowed to show no more than five slides. The winner would walk away with $10,000 cash. The CICF, together with the Efroymson Family Fund and the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, put up $60,000 ($20,000 each) for the unusual, game-show-ish grants-giving. [link]

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Episcopalian Priest Auctions Painted Donkeys to Promote Peace in Egypt

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

By Ernest Disney-Britton

‘Caravan: In Peace and with Compassion’ is a UK fundraiser for Egyptian charities that includes an exhibition of donkeys. Inspired by the CowParade, the public-art mega-event that has seen herds of painted life-size fibre glassanimals pass through cities including Chicago (1999) and Cincinnati (2000). Thousands of people turn out to see them, and thousands-of-dollars are raised for local charities through auctions. Reverend Paul-Gordon Chandler, the Cairo-based Episcopalian priest launched and curated this event, saying donkeys were the obvious choice for his city. "Donkeys have great symbolism in both Cairo’s faiths (Islam and Christianity), which see them as representing peace and humility. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey before his death. And the second caliph entered the city on a donkey."

Exhibition Book Cover

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Politicians Spending More Money on Libraries than Museums

THE GUARDIAN
By Ken Worpole

UNITED KINGDOM---Library campaigners, among whom I count myself, need not be too full of doom and gloom. While cuts and closures are affecting library services, it is also true that the past decade has seen a reinvention of the public library in the UK and across the world. Increasing numbers of people are now engaged in some form of further or higher education, and need study space and access to the internet, which many cannot find at home. The rise of single-person households in city centres – in some European capitals now approaching 50% of households – means that libraries increasingly act as a meeting place or home from home, as they do for migrants, refugees and even tourists. The revived global enthusiasm for libraries – of which Seattle is perhaps the most ambitious – originated in north America in the 1990s. [link]

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MoMA's Religious Inspiration for an Outdoor Garden

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS 
By TAHLIB



Looking for ideas to improve the view of your outdoor living space? How about filling it with Religious Art? That's my plan after checking-out what the Museum of Modern Art is doing with its Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden for "The Modern Monument" exhibition. This new installation brings together diverse works around the theme of the modern monument to join with Figurengruppe/Group of Figures (2006–08) by German artist Katharina Fritsch, comprising nine boldly-colored, life-size figures, among them St. Michael, a Madonna, a giant, and a snake. Now you have some new ideas?

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