Thursday, July 31, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, First Elimination Round #29/64



Faceoff #1: Bonington v. Kalf

Richard Parkes Bonington
1802 - 1828
English, worked in France

Tied with Pierre Bonnard in his initial Round 1 outing, in March 2012.
Lost to Henri Cartier-Bresson in his second Round 1 go-around.



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Willem Kalf
1622 - 1693
Dutch

Lost to Wassily Kandinsky in Round 1.





Faceoff #2: Kelly v. Kauffmann

Ellsworth Kelly
Born 1923
American

Lost to Anselm Kiefer in Round 1 by a single vote. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!



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Angelica Kauffmann
1741 - 1807
Austrian; worked internationally

Pounded by Anish Kapoor in Round 1.





Vote for the two artists of your choice! Votes generally go in the comments, but have been known to arrive by email, by postcard, or in a sealed envelope.

Please note that you may vote only once in each face-off.  Opining that both of the artists in one of the two face-offs is superior to the other is fine, but casting your votes for two artists in the same face-off is not permissible.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament Left Bracket Second-Round Elimination: Gabo v. Frink!


In Second Round Elmination, the artists usually have some history in common.  What Naum Gabo and Dame Elizabeth Frink have in common is having been beaten badly by Caspar David Friedrich.  That, and that they were 20th Century sculptors.  In fact, this might be the first all 3-D contest to date!  It's the first one I remember, anyway.

Who all lost their third match so that these two could carry on?  Sam Francis and Helen Frankenthaler, that's who.  Both went 1-2 and now join that great artist's colony of the fallen.



Naum Gabo
1890 - 1977
American






Dame Elisabeth Frink
1930 - 1993
English






Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.

Monday, July 28, 2014

The Summer Road Trip 2014

I don't know if you've noticed that, outside of the Tournament itself, there hasn't been much "content" going on lately.  Two reasons: first, it's summer, and you are even less inclined than usual to sit still for my rantings.  But also, I have been on Road Trip:


Colorado: I didn't actually do much in Colorado, but Denver was the start and end point, and I arranged my route to go through five new counties, thus completing Colorado east of the Rocky Mountain Front.  The rental car agent, before launching into the tedious threats and brazen lying of the upsell process, asked Mrs.5000 and myself what we were up to.  "We're going to a wedding," we answered, "and then we're splitting up."

Nebraska: We went to a wedding in Sidney, Nebraska, just north of Colorado in the Panhandle.  The bride was, let's see, a first cousin once removed of Mrs.5000.  She and her family were very gracious about welcoming us, and we got to spend a few days with the in-laws.  Actually, Mrs.5000 got to spend quite a bit of time with them -- she calls them "Mom and Dad," not "the in-laws" -- since they stole her away from me and took her back with them to their western Colorado lair.  Whereas I headed off alone, free as a bird, across the uncharted counties of southern Nebraska.


Kansas: I didn't claim any new counties in Kansas, and I never will again.  I've been to all 105 counties in Kansas.  No, really!  I used to live there, you know.  I was a graduate student at a big university, and then a professor at a small university.  During this trip, I visited with my dissertation adviser, and then also with some former students.  I thought it was very nice, if a little surreal, to see my old professor.  Then one of the former students wrote to say that it was very nice, but a little surreal, to see me.  So I guess there's some symmetry there. 

I had a house in Kansas at the foot of the Flint Hills...

Oklahoma: So, with family obligations and visiting disposed of, and four days still on the clock, I considered my options.  Should I head northward toward the Dakotas?  Northwest towards Wyoming?  Or what?  Closely consulting the hashpoints, I discovered a pair in diagonally adjacent graticules, one in southern Oklahoma and one on the outskirts of Fort Worth.  So I headed south across the Sooner State, trying to decide whether I should try to find legendary former blogger Blythe's work and bust in on her.  I didn't, because I was afraid she might be doing serious grown-up administrative stuff that day, but now I kind of regret my timidity.  Oh well.  I got five new Oklahoma counties.

Texas: I'd never been to Dallas and Forth Worth, and they certainly are humungous.  Dallas in particular seems built at 120% of standard scale, with truly epic freeway interchanges that might have been designed by a Popular Mechanics cover artist in 1955.  Also, while I was in Fort Worth, I saw this:


It's Michaelangelo's Torment of Saint Anthony, something he painted as a young and apparently fairly angst-ridden teenager.  It's at Fort Worth's Kimball Museum of Art.  My visit there marked the cultural apex of the trip.  The closest I got to high culture after that was the Amarillo Starbucks.  But my swing across the Lone Star State ultimately bagged me 22 new counties.



New Mexico: Not long after I crossed into New Mexico on I-40, I saw an unlikely sign for Dhillon's Truck Stop and India Buffet. I immediately felt better about the state of the republic, and happily joined a clutch of Sikh, Indian, and Somali truckers at the trough.  It was not fancy, but damn was it good.  I claimed two new New Mexico counties with my mouth just slightly ablaze from spicy tandoori chicken.

Here's the take:


And reports on five geohashing Expeditions, so you know I wasn't just goofing off:
It was a great vacation, if you like rural landscapes, roads, an emergent style of travel planning, sweltering heat, and cheap motels.  Fortunately, I do.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round One: Léger v. Leighton!

Fernand Léger
1881 - 1955
French



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Frederic Leighton
1830 - 1896
British



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Vote for the artist of your choice! Votes go in the comments. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round Two: Kapoor v. Kiefer!

Anish Kapoor
b. 1954
Indian

Clobbered Angelica Kauffmann in Round 1.







Anselm Kiefer
Born 1945
German

Defeated Ellsworth Kelly by a single vote in Round 1. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!






Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round Two: Cartier-Bresson v. Kandinsky!

Henri Cartier-Bresson
1908 - 2004
French

Finished First in Phase 1, Flight 11 of the Play-In Tournament with a voting score of .909.
Finished First in Phase 2, Flight 3 of the Play-In Tournament with a voting score of .600.
Beat Richard Parkes Bonington pretty soundly in Round 1.






Wassily Kandinsky
1866 - 1944
Russian; worked internationally

Defeated Willem Kalf decisively in Round 1.






Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Round One: Laurencin v. Lawrence!

Marie Laurencin
1883 - 1956
French



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Sir Thomas Lawrence
1769 - 1830
British




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Vote for the artist of your choice! Votes go in the comments. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Infinite Art Tournament, Left Bracket Second Round: Hartung v. Hammershoi!

Hans Hartung
1904 - 1992
German; worked in France

Put up a good fight against Childe Hassam in Round 1.
Won a close one against St. Ives' Patrick Heron in First Round Elimination. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!






Wilhelm Hammershoi
1864 - 1916
Danish

Crushed the late Richard Hamilton in Round 1.
Lost to Old Master Frans Hals by a single vote in Round 2. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!







Vote for the artist of your choice in the comments, or any other way that works for you. Commentary and links to additional work are welcome. Polls open for at least one month past posting, but likely much longer.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The Wednesday Post


Return to Walcott Junction
This place is too much

A few days ago, a guy from the University of Wyoming wrote to ask about the "vintage Walcott Junction, Wyoming postcard on your blog site."  He's writing a book about the highways in the area.  I had to look it up, but there it was in 'Song of the American Road pt. 3,' from back in the winter of aught-ten.  I fetched it from the albums and mailed it to him.



WALCOTT JCT., WYOMING
Intersection I-80, U.S. 30 & Wyoming 130.  20 miles to the nearest town makes the gas station and restaurant a welcome sight.




Wednesday

Hi Everyone -- This place is too much. Don't like Wyoming at all. Headed now for Salt Lake -- then Boise -- then Portland. Everything going well -- Hope all is OK with you. More later -- give my love to the fish. George.



These days, of course, we like to see what kind of dynamic changes have occurred in the landscape since a boring postcard was first printed. So here, with a little help from a major provider of online road imagery, is what Walcott Junction, Wyoming, looks like today.



20 miles to the nearest town, my friends, still makes the gas station and restaurant a welcome sight.