…Pretty Much Everything Except the Kitchen Sink

ON GOLD MOUNTAIN by artist Zhan Wang

This sculpture of the San Francisco skyline is composed of pots and pans and various utensils and was formerly displayed at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Along similar lines a pots and pans themed sculpture entitled VERY HUNGRY GOD by Sudobh Gupta on 2006 is now on display at the Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park, London.

Lest you jump to conclusions about this art as kitsch (sorry), similar works by Gupta are in serious collections and have commanded major prices at Saatchi and other mainstream dealers.

Betsy Dorfman / FINE ART SHIPPING

Låt den rätte komma in; 2008 (Sweden); Director: Thomas Alfredson; Novel & Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist; Oskar: Kåre Hedebrant; Eli: Lina Leandersson

Snow-white and preternaturally delicate tween boy Oskar takes his pent-up aggressions out on a tree in the courtyard of his dreary tenement until he meets the new girl next door Eli; a glum little vampire who smells funny when she’s due for a meal.

At the risk of just echoing what’s being said all over the place, Let the Right One In is one of the most haunting and fun combinations of teeth-aching sweetness and rapacious, unromantic bloodletting that I’ve seen since… I don’t know, Spider Baby? …but unfolding in a trickle of dialogue, still camerawork, patience and restraint.

The breadth of the aesthetic gap it straddles won’t seem spannable to everyone. Some may find it an aimless flow of moments crystallizing in isolation, while others may find it going off the deep end with a few of the sudden bursts of violence. But it left me warm as a cocoa and thirsty for more. The old gothic romance between hunter and prey is contextualized here in the reluctant revelations of earliest adolescence. A curious backstory and two sets of conflicted emotions are hinted at without comment, and traditional vampire tropes are parsed out sparingly; just when you might begin to forget or overlook the supernatural element.

It’s a rare horror movie that effectively stages its unnatural transgressions – not to mention its characters’ fleeting triumphs – so deep in the quotidian. Due to the banality of their presentation, a couple of this film’s scenes are a visceral stomach punch that can make a viewer like me break into a cold sweat. At the same time it’s a persuasively disturbed coming-of-age story, eternally delayed – an obliteration of innocence necessarily frozen in time. It’s as soft, gooey and strange as a romance between a snail and a leech. The implications projected into Eli’s past and Oskar’s future, as suggested by an ambiguous third character, complicate Eli’s selective naivete and perverse bond with the boy for whom she is far too old, yet who would soon outgrow her.

I’ve read that a British remake is already in the works. However that might turn out, I recommend seeing this first.

Chris Barber

Trailer:

http://www.lettherightoneinmovie.com/

Reviews:

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-rightone242008oct24,0,2780223.story

http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/content_display/reviews/specialty-releases/e3i89939c96ea2a724c78928d000e5c6065

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/movies/24righ.html

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-22/film/let-the-right-one-in-a-vampire-movie-about-alienation-and-love/

http://nymag.com/listings/movie/let-the-right-one-in-lat/

Here’s a wonderful review of Daniel J. Martinez’s animatronic contribution to the California Biennial Exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art.

FINE ART SHIPPING has had the pleasure, and challenge, of crating and shipping many of Daniel’s works over the years. Not only are they sculptural works often with pliable parts, but they are mechanical and, obviously, need to arrive in functional form at the other end.

Also included in the show are works by Amanda Ross Ho and Jedediah Caesar, both artists whose work we handled last winter for the Whitney Biennial. 54 artists in all are included in the exhibition so there is surely something for everyone.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-ocma4-2008nov04,0,7367638.story

Posted by: Betsy Dorfman/ FINE ART SHIPPING

More than a decade ago Michael Crichton took a chance on a small art handling company and entrusted FINE ART SHIPPING to store, pack and install his collection of first rank modern art and antiques. In the ensuing years his family and extended family of friends and co-workers welcomed ourselves and our crews into their homes with unfailing cordiality and good cheer.

He was like a kid on Christmas morning when a new painting arrived; his enthusiam was infectious and his knowledge of art serious and extensive. “Where do we want this?” he would ask our art handlers, knowing full well where he wanted it, or, at least, wanted to try it first. He listened to their comments and suggestions, and never insisted on being right if someone had a better idea.

A stand up guy, for sure, and never moreso than when he sat down. Of extraordinary height, exceeding 6 1/2 feet tall, if he wanted an extended word with us little people he would immediately sit down so we could speak comfortably and on an equal, well, sitting.

We will miss his uncommon grace and good humor and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Betsy and Ron Dorfman

Che Machado

Staff and employees of Fine Art Shipping

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/11/michael-crichto.html