Previously on Skandalon

Freud, Lucian (1922- ). German-born British painter. He was born in Berlin, a grandson of Sigmund Freud, came to England with his parents in 1931, and acquired British nationality in 1939. His earliest love was drawing, and he began to work full time as an artist after being invalided out of the Merchant Navy in 1942. In 1951 his Interior at Paddington (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) won a prize at the Festival of Britain, and since then he has built up a formidable reputation as one of the most powerful contemporary figurative painters. Portraits and nudes are his specialities, often observed in arresting close-up. His early work was meticulously painted, so he has sometimes been described as a `Realist’ (or rather absurdly as a Superrealist), but the subjectivity and intensity of his work has always set him apart from the sober tradition characteristic of most British figurative art since the Second World War. In his later work (from the late 1950s) his handling became much broader. (WebMuseum)

• MoMA’s exhibition: “Lucian Freud: The Painter’s Etchings” (December 16, 2007–March 10, 2008)
• TATE’s exhibition: “Lucian Freud” (June 20th-September 22 2002)
• Centre Pompidou’s exhibition: “Lucian Freud. L’Atelier” (March 10 - July 19 2010)
• The Independent: “Lucian Freud: Portrait of the artist as a happy man” a profile by John Spurling, December 13th, 2008
• The Guardian: “Lucian Freud: Art without the feel-good factor” by Jonathan Jones, August 28, 2008

CineMasterpieces: Endless Summer, Bruce Brown, 1966 [click for hi-res]

Roger Ebert seems to think this documentary is authentic. Others are speculating that it could be a big artistic hoax, something similar to Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop documentary. But Casey Affleck says it’s all true (Time). Watch the trailers and visit the official website.

Artist’s statement:

In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment. These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops. They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones. In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for ourselves and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world. In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices. (read on)

First spotted via Who Killed Bambi.

This photograph is part of the exhibition Summer Place currently running at the Bonni Benrubi Gallery:

Bonni Benrubi Gallery is pleased to announce a group exhibition, Summer Place. This exhibition expresses the vitality of the summer season through the work of contemporary photographers who capture the leisure, athleticism, heat and psychology of the season through their images.

Highlights include new work by gallery artist Karine Laval, who transports the viewer to a place of pure sensual, existential experience, as swimmers splash and shimmer among the reflective waters of her exuberant yet nostalgic color pool images.Susannah Ray documents the surfing subculture of Rockaway Beach, NY, which makes up for the lack of allure and lifestyle of West Coast surfing with a surfeit of heart, dedication and soul. (more)

About Karine Laval:

Her photographs are notably spontaneous, and they are reminiscent of the photographs of masters such as Cartier Bresson and Eggleston, for she shares a similar use of color as an expressive tool. In this regard, her most characteristic series, such as White, on the snowy winter landscape of Norway, and Pool, on the relaxed and leisure environment of swimming pools in summertime, transport viewers into simple and naïve atmospheres meant to portray everyday life in XXI century society. (Bio)

Visit Karine Laval official website.

Previously on Skandalon: Christoph Niemann

The New York Times: Harvey Pekar with a copy of “American Splendor” in 1986, photo by Mark Duncan for the Associated Press

Harvey Pekar, whose autobiographical comic book “American Splendor” attracted a cult following for its unvarnished stories of a depressed, aggrieved Everyman negotiating daily life in Cleveland and became the basis for a critically acclaimed 2003 film, died on Monday at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He was 70. […] Mr. Pekar (pronounced PEE-kar), who toiled for nearly 40 years as a file clerk in a Veterans Administration hospital, applied the brutally frank autobiographical style of Henry Miller to the comic-book format, creating a distinctive series of dispatches from an all-too-ordinary life. His alter ego, introduced in 1976, trudged on from episode to episode, quarreling with co-workers, dealing with car problems, addressing family crises and fretting over money matters and health problems.(“Harvey Pekar, ‘American Splendor’ Creator, Dies at 70” by William Grimes, July 12th, 2010)