What the Butler Saw

The Banality of Conversion: "Also Known as Jihadi," directed by Eric Baudelaire, by James Scarborough

Without the context its title provides, Eric Baudelaire’s latest film, Also Known as Jihadi, now showing at Art Basel, would be the cinematic equivalent of a butt-dial; the difference being you accidentally turn on the video camera, not dial the phone. We see passages of what appear to be random, unrehearsed scenes (a nice metaphor for life, by the way). We hear ambient noise - the sound of voices and motor vehicles, but nothing by... Read more →

A Conversation with Djon Mundine and Judith Blackall, Co-Curators, and Nasim Nasr, Participating Artist, in “Sixth Sense,” National Art School Gallery, NSW, Australia, by James Scarborough

In his Dadaist poem Anna Blume, Kurt Schwitters proclaims that the eponymous fraulein is the beloved of his 27 senses. Presumably he experiences her in ways we can only imagine. Sixth Sense, guest-curated by Djon Mundine for the National Art School Gallery, explores how cross-generational Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal artists perceive their world in ways that extend beyond the visual component of their otherwise visual art. Artists in the exhibition are Daniel Boyd,... Read more →

Nothing Juvenile Here: “Artists Assemble!: Empowerment and Inspiration In Contemporary Comics,” Museum of Latin American Art, by James Scarborough

Used to be, in pre-Wikipedia days, that comic books were an easy way to avoid having to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame or The Three Musketeers or other too-long novels for high school essay assignments. Plot lines, character development, there they were, in abbreviated, legible, and graphic form. Now comics are a lot more political, social, and cultural. Case in point, Artists Assemble!: Empowerment and Inspiration In Contemporary Comics, curated by Esperanza Sánchez and... Read more →

A Conversation with Vivian Ziherl, Curator of the 8th Jerusalem Show “Before and After Origins,” a part of the Qalandiya International (The Palestinian Biennial), 2016, by James Scarborough

By their very nature, Biennials present a lot of moving pieces. Usually, they’re of the logistical sort. This year’s Qalandiya International (QI), also known as the Palestinian Biennial, doesn’t just have a lot of moving pieces, it’s also fraught by social and political turmoil. Rarely does a biennial’s past literally erupt into the present in such an immediate way. Given the region’s recent politically inclement climate, the QI’s continued existence is no mean feat. Perhaps... Read more →

Uncomfortably Numb: Brittany Waters at the Thomas Ferreira Gallery, by James Scarborough

You might go to someone’s party and check out the host’s book or music collection. If you’re a little more curious, you might see what the hell’s up in their medicine cabinet. I’m talking pills - analgesics, soporifics, psychotropics. Don’t read the labels, examine the capsules’ designs. Little Mondrians and Van Doesburgs, some butterscotch yellow or lime green monochromes. Innocuous, not a little pretty, right, like really minimal, hand painted, Minimalist sculptures? Well, especially if... Read more →

Blood is Thicker Than Water: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ at the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre, by James Scarborough

Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” directed by Phyllis B. Gitlin for the Long Beach Playhouse’s Mainstage Theatre, presents a compelling look at the choices an African-American family face at the dawn of the Civil Rights era. Set in Chicago, in a worn down, claustrophobic apartment, the production recounts the story of the Youngers, a poor family that’s about to receive a $10,000 windfall from a life insurance policy held on Walter’s (Derek Shaun’s)... Read more →

None of Your Beeswax? Hardly. “Exegesis Eisegesis Encaustic,” Katie Herzog with Andrew Choate at Klowden Mann Gallery, by James Scarborough

For this exhibition, Katie Herzog, in conjunction with writer Andrew Choate, has created a series of encaustic diptychs that plays tug of war with words that refer to things and words that in themselves are things. They chose generic Angeleno signage, unbranded, without obvious references. For each sign, Choate fashioned a sort of linguistic, Lewis Carrol-like doppelganger, which Herzog then fabricated in encaustic. If these were done with a medium that was fluid and fast... Read more →

Inmates Running the Asylum: “Marat/Sade: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, by James Scarborough

If you can picture inmates not just temporarily running an asylum but enacting a politically inflammatory play within its walls, directed by no less a personage than the Marquis de Sade, then you can picture – and immensely enjoy - “Marat/Sade: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” written by Peter Weiss and directed by Andrew Vonderschmitt for... Read more →

Who’s at the Door? “That’s Opportunity Knocking," by James Scarborough

Clocking in at a tick under 22 minutes, the humorously offbeat That’s Opportunity Knocking, written and directed by Charles Pelletier, asks, What could go wrong in a simple home robbery? The answer is, tons. Acknowledging that everyone, robbers, robbees, an otherwise innocent - and heavily sedated roommate - have various motivations and desires, not to mention personality quirks, the film is more an analysis of the context of a robbery and less of the particulars... Read more →

Making Haste Slowly: Jayme Odgers’ Samurai Self-Portraits at Offramp Gallery, Pasadena By James Scarborough

This essay is published in conjunction with Where Am I Today?, an upcoming exhibition at Offramp Gallery, Pasadena. One might think that a one-man show that brims with in-your-face self-portraits would smack of vanity, if not self-indulgence. Yes, it does. No, it doesn’t. 8.21.2015 Make It Go Away 2 Jayme Odgers’ self-portraits feel like an exercise in self-aggrandizement so, yes, there’s that aspect of vanity. Once their backstory (a staple of theatre; a staple of... Read more →

Victor Hugo Zayas: The River Paintings at The Museum of Latin American Art, by James Scarborough

You think Los Angeles and you think glam if not garish, all surface, no history, no foundation. Not only is there no there, there: folks laud this nothing as a something. It’s not unjustified, of course. It’s just that, in the hands of an artist like Victor Hugo Zayas, the Los Angeles cityscape offers more, much more. Paul Schimmel’s MOCA show Helter Skelter suggested a noir underbelly to the city. This exhibition displays its monumental... Read more →

“Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities,” Cirque du Soleil, Costa Mesa, by James Scarborough

All photos courtesy of Martin Girard / shootstudio.ca. Costumes by Philippe Guillotel © 2014 Cirque du Soleil See enough Cirque du Soleil productions and you become a connoisseur of spectacle. Large ones, where a Monty Python heaven seems to open up above your head. Smaller ones, cozy, intimate, like a good surreal bedtime story narrated (and embodied) by Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. Irrespective of scale, these spectacular shows recount the story of a Seeker... Read more →

Hermann Lederle’s “Adaptation,” by James Scarborough

This essay will accompany an exhibition of the artist’s work next month at Arthea Gallery, Mannheim, Germany. Hermann Lederle’s “Adaptation,” 2015, is massive. Measuring five and a half feet by ten feet, this totemic monument doesn’t just envelop you, it anchors you to the ground. Reminiscent of partially open Levelor blinds, a network of dense and narrow vertical bands sweep across the canvas. There’s more weight at the center; this makes the surface quiver and... Read more →

Christine Frerichs: “Serenade” at Klowden Mann, by James Scarborough

Serenade 2014 Christine Frerichs oil, acrylic, wax and Activated Carbon Paint on two canvases 72" x 88" Photo: Lee Thompson, courtesy Klowden Mann With “Serenade,” her second solo show at Klowden Mann, Christine Frerichs offers deeply felt analyses of landscapes. She works in oil, acrylic, and wax. Although their surfaces are gritty, as if they’ve been blasted with stucco, there’s serenity to each piece. This serenity comes from the works’ narrow color range and the... Read more →

John Valadez: “Como Fregas | What Now” at Robert Berman Gallery, by James Scarborough

With photorealist and social acuity as well as a penchant for the melodramatic, John Valadez dissects Los Angeles’s Chicano experience. His work addresses issues of estrangement. He wants his work to go beyond reportage to embed allegories, noting: “These are stories that I don’t know where they are going to go… it’s all very mysterious.” His murals, for which he’s best known, are theatrical: vivid characterizations, large, detailed sets, and conflict born of alienation. This... Read more →

Nasim Nasr’s Zaeefeh (The Wretchedness) and Shadi (Happiness), GAGPROJECTS Adelaide/Berlin at the 2015 Art Dubai, by James Scarborough

Nasim Nasr has two new bodies of work. One is called Zaeefeh (The Wretchedness), 2015. Across her portraits of historical Persian shahs, the artist has inscribed Farsi quotes. These quotes include citations from Iranian poet’s Forough Farrokhzad’s, Another Birth, and from Iranian writer Sadegh Hedayat’s influential story, The Blind Owl (1937). Both writers expressed dissatisfaction with their then-current regimes. Both writers’ work was banned in Iran. The Zaeefeh format is especially effective. The portraits look... Read more →

‘Wet Hot American Summer... the play?’, Garage Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Written and directed by Ryan McClary for the Garage Theatre, “Wet Hot American Summer...the play?” at first seems slapdash, listing, and awkward. Then it feels jejune, hormonal, and uberconfessional. All this makes sense, given that it’s a behind scenes look at a play that kids stage in a summer camp. Still, it works at first like weak beer. It’s enough to get you boisterous and loud (“I want you inside me“). But not enough to... Read more →

“The Temptation of Saint Antony,” Four Larks, Los Angeles, by James Scarborough

One of the actors, citing her skills in the production’s playbill, says she’s a “things meshed together” artist. She acts, she sings, and she makes music. Throw in the making of art and that’s what Four Larks’ spectacular production of “The Temptation of Saint Antony” is, a things meshed together multimedia phantasmagoria, aka junkyard opera. Created and directed by Four Larks (Mat Diafos Sweeney and Sebastian Peters-Lazaro), it’s adapted from Gustav Flaubert’s “La Tentation de... Read more →

‘The Real Thing’, Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre at Long Beach, California, by James Scarborough

Mostly well done, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, directed by Sean Gray for the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theatre, recounts the story of Henry (Noah Wagner), a brilliant and celebrated playwright. Successful, highly regarded, he is to the articulation of words and integrity of ideas as another Henry, Henry Higgins, is to proper pronunciation and good grammar. Though he’s high-minded, he’s not high browed. He prefers pop to classical music. He does believe, though, in... Read more →

‘The Marvelous Wonderettes,’ San Pedro Theatre Club, San Pedro, CA, by James Scarborough

In olden times, to commemorate a rite of passage, young people would gather in a public space in the company of chaperones to sing with and dance to music. The music was a confession, it was a catharsis. It told of crushes, first loves, and all manner of attendant, tempest in a teacup sorrows. Compared to now, the lyrics were innocent. Music was life’s soundtrack, its scrapbook. Years later you could hear a song on... Read more →

Danielle Eubank’s Arctic Circle Expedition, Part Two, by James Scarborough

As introduced here, Danielle Eubank recently completed an expedition to the Arctic Circle aboard the Antigua, a three-masted barquentine tall ship. She was one of 27 artists, scientists, and educators that sailed around the international territory of Svalbard, an arctic archipelago. She recorded what she saw, felt and experienced through painted sketches and photographs. This is a sneak peek at what Danielle brought back from the Arctic. Some of these images will be shown here.... Read more →

Bruce Richards: “Future/Past” at Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, by James Scarborough

The Dream of Kings 2007 Bruce Richards Oil on linen 41" x 19 ½" Photo: courtesy Jack Rutberg Fine Arts If “Bruce Richards: Future/Past” is any judge, then this longtime LA artist and UC Irvine grad, who moved to New York in 2002, would have been a great history teacher. He’s knowledgeable and analytical, light-hearted and not a little ironic. He doesn’t rant and rave. He may be sober to the point of understatement but... Read more →

“Transformations” and “Esterio Segura,” Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Two shows at MOLAA. Each a precious gem. Each vivid and compelling. Each worthy of being savored again and again. Photographs courtesy of Mick Victor/COTU MEDIA “Transformations” represents a perfect use of a permanent collection. It also represents a perfect engagement of a museum with its community. Chosen from a pool of 50, five Long Beach residents worked with Carlos Ortega, MOLAA’s Curator of Collections. Each resident had undergone a life-altering crisis. They chose work... Read more →

‘Post Mortem Presents: A Very Victorian Christmas,’ Post Mortem Movement Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

The party prelude hooks you. There’s a Door Girl (Danielle Kaufman), a vampy pre-Henry Higgins Eliza Doolittle. A long, dark passageway - wait, is this Halloween? Rooms (so many possibilities but, alas, locked) off to the side. You emerge from this dim lit vaguely Christmassy birth canal and - gasp! - light. Crowd noise, music, a bar — red and green potent potables for one, please. A vampire, burlesque girls, a ghost, a clown and... Read more →

Hossein Khosrojerdi at Tara Gallery, by James Scarborough

Admirality Arch 2014 50.75” x 61.75” mixed media on cardboard Photos courtesy of Tara Gallery. In 2009 Hossein Khosrojerdi and his family left Iran to seek political asylum in England. His interest in the country’s popular but politically dangerous green movement as well as shrinking opportunities for post-Revolution Iranian artists provided the impetus. “Redefining Home”, his current exhibition of paintings and digital media at Tara Gallery, is his first U.S. solo show. It maps his... Read more →

‘The Patron Saint of Sideshow,’ The Found Theatre, Long Beach, CA. by James Scarborough

“The Patron Saint of Sideshow,” a documentary filmed and directed by Mike Brown for the Found Theatre, is an enchanting Puff the Magic Dragon tale. It recounts the making of “One Tit Wonder,” Cynthia Galles’ sublimation of her breast cancer diagnosis into a theatre production that recasts cellular mischief into an homage to humor, high spirits, and resilience. Every aspect of the Found Theatre is a labor of love. So too is Mike Brown’s direction.... Read more →

Donna Festa - Capturing Glimpses, by James Scarborough

They are the cutest couple imaginable. Both are elderly. That much you can tell from their white hair and the way the man stands slightly stooped, which makes him a bit shorter than the woman. They’re both dressed in bleh colors – browns, off greens – that go well with the pasty color of their faces. The lines of both bodies curve slightly upward to the left, as if they’re two pieces of an interlocking... Read more →

“Oedipus,” San Pedro Rep, by James Scarborough

Credibility begets anticipation. Having earned an imprimatur with their prior production of “The Lady of Shalott,” the verdict that awaited San Pedro Rep’s production of “Oedipus,” directed by David Mancini, was a foregone conclusion. The eyes have it. It’s not so much an enactment of a Sophocles play as a collaboration with the Greek playwright. The production is set in a contemporary lounge, an actual, drink-serving lounge. We’re citizens as well as audience. The setting,... Read more →

Stephen Eichhorn: “Arrangements” Greg Stimac: “Along for the Ride” at CES Contemporary, by James Scarborough

There are two concurrent one-man shows at CES Contemporary. Stephen Eichhorn has a series of collages, “Arrangements.” Greg Stimac has a set of scanned photographs, “Along for the Ride.” Although their work comprises two separate shows, the two artists share a few interests. Both deal with found objects. Eichhorn harvests botanical images from books. Stimac scans photographs of bugs that smashed up against the Plexiglas panel he mounted on the front of his car during... Read more →

A Conversation With Jack Persekian, Director and Head Curator of the Palestinian Museum/Artistic Director of Qalandiya International, by James Scarborough

The second Qalandiya International (Qi), also known as the Palestine Biennial, will take place from October 22 - November 15. It’s the largest contemporary art event in Palestine. Exhibitions and programs will be staged throughout the country. Sites include Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramallah, Gaza, and Hebron. It will feature the work of over 100 Palestinian and international artists. Each artist’s work will contribute to the theme “Archives, Lived and Shared.” Along with the exhibited art, QI... Read more →

The Qalandiya International, the second edition of the Palestinian Biennial, October 22 - November 15., by James Scarborough

Vita brevis, arts longa. Perhaps no circumstance better reflects this now than the second edition of the Qalandiya International. Otherwise known as the Palestine Biennial, it will run from October 22 - November 15. Weathering the region’s tumultuous climate, this cultural celebration will occur in cities, towns, and villages throughout Palestine. It will feature over 100 artists and include a slate of educational programing. These events will take place at nine partner institutions. Each of... Read more →

Liu Guanguang Makes Daily Life Bizarre in Distorted Paintings, by James Scarborough

Liu Guangguang was born in China’s Gansu province. He attended Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art. He lives and works in Shenyang and Beijing. He’s a member of the Beijing-based EDGE Creative Collective. His recent work is about scale. His figures (and animals) go about their normal activity. They check their phones. They play cards. They get ready for bed. The people smile without a care in the world. Despite the normalcy of each image,... Read more →

Matthew Carter: “hellequinharlequinclown” at Luis De Jesus, by James Scarborough

Someone once wrote that to look at a Renaissance painting was to look through a window. The picture frame did double duty as a window frame. The picture plane, the window’s glass, was assumed to be transparent. The subject of the painting was whatever could be seen through the window—presumably, a coherent point of view. Then along came Cubism, with its fractured space, kaleidoscopic forms, and simultaneous points of view. So that, eventually, art became... Read more →

‘Lisa Adams: The Difference Between Human Nature And The Human Spirit,’ Duke Art Gallery, Azusa Pacific University, by James Scarborough

Photos courtesy of Lisa Adams and CB1 Gallery. Everything’s here. A modern art lexicon. Figuration. Audubon birds, the texture of tree trunks, the cotton candy wispiness of cumulus clouds. Things hover in an atmospheric space. Abstraction. Some rectangles are diaphanous. Some are opaque. They occlude land- and cityscapes like geometric smudges on a window. Irregular negative spaces blaze with blues, reds, and greens. They flatten the space and emphasize the picture plane. Gravity-compelled paint blobs... Read more →

‘NeoMexicanism,’ Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

NeoMexicanism, curated by Edward Hayes Jr., Assistant Curator at the Museum of Latin American Art, is a bold show. It’s also a problematic one. While the work is interesting enough, it’s hard to embrace the exhibition as a whole with the same enthusiasm as with other recent MOLAA offerings. The exhibition focuses on work from the 80s to the present day. Artists include Monica Castillo, Julio Galan, and Nahum B. Zenil. For historical context, it... Read more →

Joaquin Jara’s Sculptures and Paintings Experiment with Process of Decay, by James Scarborough

Joaquin Jara is versatile. Born in Barcelona, he studied art at La Llotja, in Barcelona, and the Camberwell College of Arts in London. He finished neither. Why should he? He knew precisely what he was doing. He works in many disciplines. He’s worked on movies. For the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, he contributed murals. He also worked on The Orphanage, Biutiful, Savage Grace, and Inside Silvia’s City. For these, he contributed portraits... Read more →

Sarah A. Smith Pushes the Possibilities of Gold Leaf with Drawings and Installations, by James Scarborough

Sarah A. Smith has a particular set of drawings that merit notice for their expressive qualities. Her subject is the natural world. The compositions are dynamic and fluid, coiled in mid-strike. If you didn’t know they were drawings, you might think they were dioramas. Subject matter includes eagles and wolves, trees and shrubs. Sometimes there’s a drawing of an eagle, sometimes there’s one of a wolf. Sometimes the two are locked in combat though, as... Read more →

Bertil Petersson, by James Scarborough

Bertil Petersson’s work is sculptural pantomime. It reminds you of the way in which Marcel Marceau nimbly threads his way head-on through a gale force wind. His pieces, some large, some smaller, defy gravity. Somehow they balance on corners and points without toppling over. They are lyrical and playful, always in motion, caught in a moment of accidental repose. Nothing is static. Large-scale, precarious, and durable origami…that’s what they are. They combine the idealism of... Read more →

Jaume Plensa’s Monumental Public Art Installations, by James Scarborough

There, but not really. That’s the context for Barcelona-born artist Jaume Plensa’s public sculptures. They might seem like intrusions. They’re large. They’re set where people congregate. And the figures themselves are huge monumental heads. They sit in business districts and in front of an art museum. They emerge from the ocean. They hover above unsuspecting pedestrians. They rest in the neighborhood that surrounds the Venice Biennale. They’re placed in sites where they should be noticed.... Read more →

A Conversation with Danielle Eubank, Expedition Artist, On Her Upcoming Trip to the Arctic Circle, by James Scarborough

Recipient of a 2014-15 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Danielle Eubank paints bodies of water. She also paints water as if it were a body. The way light plays on its surface, the way it reveals its depths to show actual and emotional ripples, waves, and tides. All at once you see reflections of what’s above as well as things on and below the surface. She punctuates her surfaces with prismatic facets of color. Sometimes the surfaces... Read more →

‘The Lady of Shalott,’ TE San Pedro Rep, by James Scarborough

Richard Wagner thought a gesamtkunstwerk, an integration of all the arts, would be the purest form of theatre. “The Lady of Shalott: A Journey Beyond Arthurian Legend,” conceived and directed by Aaron Ganz for TE San Pedro Rep, grounds gesamtkunstwerk in unbelievable storytelling and enchanting spectacle. The result? A sensual and passionate example of the way art can come to life. To appreciate the extraordinary thing Ganz and his troupe have done here, consider the... Read more →

“Fabelo’s Anatomy,” Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Photos courtesy of the artist. With good reason, Roberto Fabelo is known as the Daumier of Cuba. His work is daring, bold, and not a little controversial. But it’s so well done that you praise its invention and execution more than you condemn any subversive content it might broach. “Fabelo’s Anatomy,” curated by Juan Delgado Calzadilla for the Museum of Latin American Art shows that he’s a Surrealist Da Vinci, as well. Talk about a... Read more →

Andrew Tirado Pays Homage to Craftsmanship with His Monumental Hand Sculptures, by James Scarborough

It’s a palpable wonder, the manual effort that Colorado artist Andrew Tirado puts into his sculptures. It’s no coincidence, either, that his subject is hands. He commemorates things that are man-made. He does so by showing the importance of craft. The further we go along in virtual realities, the less significant we find the hands. The human touch, that’s what he wants to preserve. He works with reclaimed redwood. He makes hands that hang from... Read more →

‘No Exit,’ Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

It takes place in a small room. No windows, no mirrors, no way out. Uptown Estelle (Genevieve Simon) is attracted to Garcin (Anthony B. Cohen). Inez (Natalie Beisner) is attracted to Estelle. Garcin has other things on his mind so he rebuffs Estelle. The manipulative Inez tries to step into the breach of Estelle’s affections. Epic failure. Garcin warms up to Estelle and she warms up right back. This makes Inez furious. It goes on... Read more →

‘The Man of La Mancha,’ San Pedro Theatre Club, by James Scarborough

When someone’s said to be quixotic, it’s meant that they’re too impractical and idealistic for their own good. Enter “Man of La Mancha, written by Dale Wasserman, with words and music by Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh. Directed by Drew Fitzsimmons for the San Pedro Theatre Club, this hugely entertaining production doesn’t confirm or deny the practicality of chivalry, courtesy, and civility, it celebrates the quest. It’s a complex tale, though you don’t notice it... Read more →

The Threepenny Opera , The Garage Theatre IN COLLISION WITH Alive Theatre, Long Beach, CA, by James Scarborough

Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera,” directed by Eric Hamme for the Garage Theatre IN COLLISION WITH Alive Theatre, offers a rambunctiously cynical look at London’s demimonde, at the corporatization of its street beggars, at the doings of its criminal underworld. It’s also a love story, of sorts. Mostly, though, exquisitely staged and acted, it’s a hoot. Jonathan Peachum (Mark Piatelli) has a monopoly on London’s beggars. He’s not so much corrupt as he’s oppressive. Poor... Read more →

‘Kick’ (Hindi, with English subtitles), by James Scarborough

Devi (Salman Khan) is an adrenaline junkie. He lives for the kick of things. At first, the mayhem is reasonably innocent. He’s high-strung, never sitting still. He gets in fights. Mixed-martial arts kind of fights: he’s a great roundhouse kicker, as well. He argues - the outcome doesn’t matter - because he likes to pit himself against others. Because he’s charismatic, it’s almost an endearing trait. The problem is, he can’t stay in one job.... Read more →

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (Humpty Sharma’s Bride); Hindi, With English Subtitles, by James Scarborough

Watching Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (Humpty Sharma’s Bride), a Bollywood romantic comedy written and directed by Shashank Khaitan, is like watching soccer. It’s got a huge playing field, the clock keeps ticking, and there’s always something going on. You don’t necessarily notice the director’s nuances, the actor’s characterizations, or the plot’s intricacies. But you do feel how everything blends together, melodic, rhythmic, and colorful. You get swept up in the enchantment of the spectacle’s bumpy... Read more →

Chen Dao Lee’s Twisted Paintings of Fiery-Haired Vixens, by James Scarborough

Taiwan-born artist Chen Dao Lee’s creates ambiguous narratives of unresolved tensions. His style is photorealistically perfect. The minute details of clothing, of furniture, of faces, they’re all there. His sense of staging is spectacular. His compositions are taut and vigorous. If the light in his work made a noise, it would be loud and blaring. It’s his choice of subject that makes the work provocative. Each piece features young, beautiful, semi-clad women with garish red... Read more →

A Conversation With Ahmed Mater, Co-founder of Edge of Arabia, by James Scarborough

Arab art is hitting the global art world with the force of a haboob, a summer sandstorm. A lot of the credit goes to Edge of Arabia. The initiative is the brainchild of two artists, Stephen Stapleton (British/Norwegian) and Ahmed Mater, (Saudi Arabian). Both shared a common desire “to create a real artistic movement inside Saudi Arabia that also connected with the outside world.” Stephen and Ahmed were later supported by fellow Saudi artist Abdulnasser... Read more →