[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Z2ToD122mPHrUfvrPjk39l1JB9c1LnKn"] THE artist and comedian will speak tonight at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, part of what's shaping up to a strong series called The Un-Private Collection. Fischl's memoir, Bad Boy: My Life on and Off the Canvas, is fascinating not only about the path of an artist, but about the strange cultural spot we find ourselves now. Here's … [Read more...]
“American Top 40,” Poptimism and Winner-Take-All
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="plD2J41Igr64VnQSKm3MiH74DQcHRIgZ"] IS it possible to hate Casey Kasem? Probably not. His show was a lot of fun, and he was the voice of Shaggy. But his death is being received in an odd way that's unfair to him and wrong about the way culture, popularity and economics work. In short, he's being drafted into a war in which he never fought. My new story in Salon … [Read more...]
Art, Work and Money
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="iZv7JeHqc41WMIllgv7eQnjxMkFtGil8"] IF art and culture produce something besides money, what, exactly, is it? Who are the people who devote their lives to this stuff? And how have technological and economic shifts changed things over recent years? Those are questions I ponder often, and A.O. Scott addresses them in a perceptive and wide-ranging New York Times essay … [Read more...]
Visual Art and Piketty’s “Capital,” and David Mitchell
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="38DeNwZGJisbGbTELS20TK8CUWph1kUR"] CULTURE and economics are connected, of course, in all kinds of ways, some simple, some complex. I often muse on the question of how rising income inequality relates to the arts, specifically the art market. A new story gets at some of it, using Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty's bestseller, as … [Read more...]
Gearing Up for Record Store Day, and Art “Flipping”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8eZwNmRxYLLmX2m5vhxmxtoOeyErCIlW"] MUCH of my misspent youth was passed in record stores and bookstores, both as a customer and clerk, and I absorbed huge doses of enthusiasm, and I hope some knowledge, that would later help me as a scribe. So I'm always happy to read that record stores seem to be coming back, as this story timed to Record Store Day -- the annual … [Read more...]
Moonlighting in the Arts, and Indie Bookstores
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="YLE8JYvI5WjT9s4HqFR2NBxgeIk5XA2Y"] A NEW survey from the National Endowment for the Arts shows that alongside the 2.1 million people who work as "artists" (broadly defined) another 271,000 work as artists on the side. While not quite shocking, there's some useful data in the report, including the fact that artists continue to be unemployed at twice the level of other … [Read more...]