Hasta La Ideas

Five shows reinventing puppetry at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center

From Jason Segel’s to the Internet sensation-turned-IFC show Food Party, puppetry endures as a medium that brings the absurd and fantastical to life. To celebrate the ancient art form, the Twin Cities’ Walker Art Center kickd off the performing arts season with five distinct shows under the banner Adventures in New Puppetry.

“Dark Matters” is a puppetry/dance hybrid fable by the Canadian dancer and choreographer Crystal Pite and her company, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM. After the show, the company will lead a dance improvisation workshop.

The Twin Cities-based Open Eye Figure Theater will co-present Toy Theater After Dark, a modern take on old-world toy puppetry.

A collaboration between the avant-garde Slovene theater troupe Betontanc and Latvian object theater masters, Umka.lv, “Show Your Face!” is the dark story of an empty snowsuit brought to life by seven actors and live musicians.

Woyzeck on the Highveld is a mixed-media adaptation of Georg Buchner’s play. Director William Kentridge collaborated with the Handspring Puppet Company for this synthesis of animated film, puppets and actors.

The Devil and Mister Punch is a work-in-progress from the irreverent British theater company, Improbable.

To find tickets and specific show dates visit the Walker Calendar.

From runways to galleries, the philosophical needlework of a rising Italian artist

Aldo Lanzini‘s beautifully alarming crochet masks most recently made an appearance at Missoni’s Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show when the 30 ushers wore them to seat people. While the riotous colors and fantastical faces make compliment the Italian label’s renowned knitwear well, their bold expressions and strange forms of the maskes are a spectacle of their own.

Splitting his time between Milan and NYC for the past 15 years, Lanzini has been quietly building a large army of loud characters with his expressive needlework, explaining to Vogue Italia that his pieces are “the condition of contemporary man, some kind of conscious schizophrenia.”

Lanzini’s work can currently be seen at Milan’s Le Case D’Arte, where he transformed the gallery into visceral experience that amplifies the senses through visual, sonorous, tactile and olfactory elements. Dubbed “The Drop,” the exhibition speaks to Lanzini’s constant investigation of how the process of creation affects the everyday life and is on view through 11 December 2010.

Emerging London talent Richie Culver’s poignant collage work

Master of manipulation Richie Culver, with his arsenal of old photos and sharp-witted text, creates artwork with the one-two punch of a compelling soundbite that probes into both famous and more intimate historical moments. While the works function as pop homages too, his piece “Have You Ever Really Loved Anyone?”—an iconic image of Jesse Owens with those words plastered across—was the highlight of the May 2010 group show at the Tate Modern and suggests the dual forces at play.

Culver, who had rockstar dreams of his own, turns his song titles and lyrics into paintings and collage, a selection of which is currently on view in his debut solo show “Borstal Spots & Polka Dots.”

Also included in the exhibit are a smattering of Culver’s own photographs he’s taken over the years. The black-and-white collection is not too different from his textual works though, with each perfectly composed image functioning as one sentence from a much larger conversation.

A majority of his work seemingly revolves around love and relationships—a concept clearly demonstrated in the painting “I Loved You, You Just Couldn’t See It” but also in collage form. An image of a nun states “One fuck and she was anybody’s,” while the picture of a bride reads “aware of the ways of men.” Culver titles an alarming photo of a pouty-lipped woman with scars up her arm simply, “A love story.”

With a show dedicated solely to his personal photos planned for late 2010 and a cover shot for the forthcoming I Blame Coco album Constant hitting shelves soon, Culver continues to explore concepts that speak to his roots.

Reviewed on Le Cool as “A small, but moving show,” Culver’s “Borstal Spots & Polka Dots” runs through 26 September at London’s West 11 Gallery.

Alluring imagery and bold statements in a new book on graphic design’s maverick leader James Victore

Most with the motto “badass” end up rock stars, porn stars or thrill-seeking rebels. The particular charm of graphic designer James Victore is that he’s all of these things; with his repertoire of heartfelt slogans and self-taught illustrations, he has succeeded in changing the way the world views commercial art and even better—the way people view the world.

As described by Michael Beirut in the introduction of his new book “Victore or, Who Died and Made You Boss?“, Victore is the type of designer who does away with the wine glass in favor of simply removing the cork and “pouring the stuff right down your throat.”

Created in collaboration with friend and colleague Paul Sahre, the book presents 48 of the legendary designer’s projects and their backstory. Also included are influential quotes from authors, musicians, philosophers, as well as some insight from Victore himself, such as “To give a damn is a personal calling, not a job description.”

While Victore’s work spans surfboards and watches to book covers and editorial illustrations, his main passion is the poster. Personal work such as “Celebrate Columbus” (designed to question the greatness of a holiday that essentially marks the massacre of an entire subculture) or “Disney Go Home” (a graphic depicting NYC as a franchise) show his understanding that the “freedom of the press belongs to those who own a press.”

Ad campaign posters like those created for the School of Visual Arts (where Victore is also a professor) or Moët & Chandon are examples of how Toulouse-Lautrec’s “drawings and his use of bold graphics are a huge influence” on Victore and his work.

Concerned that modern technology is a giant distraction “killing our discipline, our
capability for solitude and our wonderful gift of boredom,” Victore continues to prove that a brave message, strong opinion and beautiful execution will ultimately prevail over designs catering to a culture “reduced to monkeys staring at shiny things.”

An inspiration to all, “Victore” sells from Abrams and Amazon.

All images are from “Victore or, Who Died and Made You Boss?” by James Victore; with an introduction by Michael Bierut and published by Abrams.

An ex-beauty queen’s kidnapping and cloning escapades in Errol Morris’ latest doc

With a former beauty queen accused of kidnapping and rape as a subject,
Errol Morris’ latest documentary, “
Tabloid,” has all the makings of an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.” But those familiar with Morris’ work (Vernon, Florida, The Thin Blue Line, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control) know that the auteur is interested in more than the sensationally lurid details of a story.

Instead, Morris’ film is a portrait of Joyce McKinney, a woman who first made headlines when she attempted to rescue her husband from Mormons and later came in the public eye for cloning her dog. If McKinney strikes you as bizarre character, you’re not alone and Tabloid delights in her zany personality, cutting her interview (she compares a women raping a man to “putting a marshmallow in a parking meter”) with other first-person accounts, archival photos, animation and found footage in trademark Morris wink-wink-nudge-nudge style.

Like with all his films, this one suggests the classic narratives at play, touching on the role of the press, insanity, fame, love, obsession and everything in between. Recently screened at Telluride’s and
Toronto’s Film Festivals, it heads to the BFI London Film Festival next.