Armchair Essays: I can’t believe I’m still reading Colson Whitehead’s Zone One
I can’t believe I’m still reading Colson Whitehead’s Zone One
by Kristoffer Tigue
It has been over a month since I last discussed this book, and retrospectively, I haven’t made it much further — neither has Whitehead. My rule of thumb, give a book until page 60, or chapter four, whichever comes first, to decide that the commitment to the book is worth it. Well, one hundred and fifty pages in and I find myself in an unhealthy one-sided relationship, where Whitehead won’t let me see my friends (“They’re bad influences, Kris.”) and I’m confined to a low calorie, no beer diet.
I’m sorry, Colson, but this relationship sucks and I want to break up.
I don’t know which is more absurd: how much I hate this book or the fact that I’m still reading it, and probably plan to finish. With a strict regiment of five pages per day (shut up, it’s grueling), and a little less than half the book to go, I find myself, like many other terrible relationships I’ve been through, focusing on a couple of those “good moments” we had. Yes, he’s hit me, but you don’t know what he’s been through. He’s not all bad, ya know? We’ve had some good moments.
Presenting, a Real Thing that Exists.
Courtesy of Jonny Grubb
These are, we kid you not, actual things that exist. Enjoy.
suricruisefashion.blogspot.com
In case you didn’t know, Suri is wearing La Belle Fleur Red Petals Dress by Biscotti.
A Rogue’s Gallery: Nicholas Harper
"Paris," by Nicholas Harper
by D. Sykes
Northeast’s Rogue Buddha Gallery is a strange place. Behind the small storefront lies a wonderland of the surreal and the disturbed. The air inside seems thick with mystery, as if it was transported there in canisters from a dead czar’s crypt. The artwork displayed within belongs to some hazy limbo where the classical and the absurd, the beautiful and the grotesque, and the playful and the dangerous all coexist harmoniously. In short, it’s a lot like its owner, Nicholas Harper.
He’s a tall guy with an ever-present short-brimmed cap that makes him look like he ought to be fighting a nineteenth-century land war somewhere. He’s jovial and hilariously crass, but he’s nonetheless a highly disciplined artist. He refers to his own work as a “hybrid of surrealism or magical realism and classical.” His often macabre oeuvre is full of layered textures, smoky colors, and bizarrely disfigured portraiture. Elements of this aesthetic are present in the work of all the artists he exhibits, making the RBG one of the most cohesive galleries you’re likely to encounter.
When I asked Harper why he chose to run an art gallery for a living, he responded in his typically irreverent manner, laughing and calling himself unemployable. The path that led to that decision was, of course, a bit more complex than that.
Harper got his first studio in downtown Minneapolis in 1998. He was sharing it with another artist who was rarely around, leaving him a lot of room to work with the space. He started by bringing in friends to view and critique one another’s work, and eventually moved on to throwing informal shows, his first experience in curating an exhibit.
This is a good time to point out that Harper can really throw a party. When he put together a holiday showing at the small studio, art lovers showed up in droves and things got a little out of hand. The odor of a batch of hot buttered rum he had thrown together in a coffee urn permeated the entire building. There may have been some light vandalism. A good time was most likely had by all, but Harper lost the studio, and had to move his workspace back into his mom’s basement.
This became the staging area for his mission to find a new place where he could officially exhibit artwork, as well as indulge his other creative passions, and those of his friends, including dance performances and poetry readings. The gallery has even played host to music video shoots.
It was when Harper found a storefront on East Hennepin that he began seriously considering transitioning from day jobs to making his passion for art his business. Things really kicked off, though, when he moved to the current Rogue Buddha space in the mid-2000s.
Presenting, a Real Thing that Exists.
Courtesy of Jonny Grubb
These are, we kid you not, actual things that exist. Enjoy.
Twitter.com
I alert twitter users that they typed sneak peak when they meant sneak peek. I live a sad life.
Fairfax, AK CD release at the Nomad
by Kristoffer Tigue
The new Minneapolis indie folk outfit, Fairfax, AK, is releasing their debut album Love Stories and Picture Shows at the Nomad World Pub next Friday, January 20. The band combines the shameless indie-confessions we know all too well with the twang and earnest of folk, sometimes erupting into pop-indie compositions faintly reminiscent of Brand New.
They’ll be joined by Sans Aura, Gabriel Douglas’ (4onthefloor) Silverback Colony, and Ghostmouth — who has opened for some impressive bands such as The Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire and The Black Keys.
Music @ 9PM
$5 cover
Listen to Love Stories and Picture Shows
