Being an opening musical act is kind of lame. Concert headliners get all the hot teenage jailbait and ass loads of applause while supporting bands are pelted with beer bottles. Of course, it could be worse. After Eagles of Death Metal opened for Guns N’ Roses in Cleveland last fall,…
Van Gogh’s gloomy Wheatfield With Crows is thought to be a prediction of his impending suicide. Picasso bathed a series of paintings in blue to convey his sadness over a friend’s tragic death. So what would a psychiatrist make of local artist Chad Godt, a figurative painter whose abstract works…
The auspicious 7/7/07 went off without a hitch — unless you count the thousands of couples who got hitched hoping that the lucky sevens might somehow decrease their odds of divorce. Las Vegas was packed with superstitious wackos hovering over slot machines. And Tupac is still dead despite his crazed…
Soccer may be the L.A. Confidential of American sports — underrated, overlooked, and lacking in attendance — but in most other civilized countries (and, yes, a few Stone Age ones) it’s the hottest ticket in town. Latin America’s top soccer teams will compete for national pride, glory, and the $250,000…
“Life in a Cold Place: Arctic Art from the Albrecht Collection” at the Heard Museum: The humble aesthetic of Grandma Moses — the self-taught early-20th-century folk artist — is beloved because it serves as a simple reminder of quaint, rural life in America, rich with homely traditions and collective practices…
“Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art” at the Phoenix Art Museum: Sometimes, its the fame and hype surrounding a piece of art that excites us more than does the piece itself. So even if youve never been nuts about 17th-century dusky interiors or girl doing meaningless task paintings,…
“Jelly” at Mesa Contemporary Arts: Tucson-based artist Gwyneth Scally reminisces about beachfront life in this installation of large-scale sculptures and acrylic paintings, all focused on the beauty and danger of jellyfish. Its an intelligent, exotic exhibit that examines the relationship between science and spirituality using imagery that viewers, especially coastal…
“Reflections from Within: Charlie Emmert” at West Valley Art Museum: If Emmerts oil portraits of notable historical figures accurately reflect their personalities, then these guys were one miserable lot. In OKeeffe Study, a thin veil of gray watercolor drips like tears over the artists heavily wrinkled and forlorn face. It…
Painter Gwyneth Scally, 33, is accustomed to walking in two worlds. She has degrees in English literature and studio art. She’s a self-professed atheist who went to Catholic school. And she lives in the barren desert, despite her love of the sea. Raised by a scientific-minded English father and a…
After nine years in the desert, the feel of the cool ocean water lapping at my toes is a faded childhood memory. Growing up on Long Island, I spent summers along the sandy shores, picking up purple-streaked shells and poking at the runny carcasses of jellyfish that would slowly dissolve…
On March 13, 1997, thousands of witnesses saw a mysterious light formation hovering over the Valley. Local residents were terrified. Was this a supersecret military craft or were we about to become victims of anal probes? Find out more at the “Alien Images: UFOs, Photography and Belief” exhibit, a visual…
“IN-CRIMI-NATION” at The Icehouse: If you think the Iraq War is our countrys low point, wait until you see The Icehouses latest sniper shot at America. Artist Mona Higuchis 12-foot-high woven paper reprint of a vintage photograph depicting Japanese girls stitching camouflage cargo nets at an internment camp is a…
In serious art circles, “craft” is a dirty word. It means crocheted doilies and wooden birdhouses, the handmade kitsch you would find at church rummage sales. Form is secondary to function. Installation artist Bruce Nauman, who was featured in PBS’ Art:21 series, said, “It’s the intention that turns a staircase…
“Tenacious” at Tempe Public Library’s Connections Caf: At first glance, artist Barbara Burton’s quirky monoprints of bunnies and teacups seem well-suited to a coffee shop that’s just a stone’s throw from dog-eared copies of Brer Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh. But there’s a darker subtext here. Check out Would You…
“Armor de Amor — Agave Art for the 21st Century” at five15 Gallery: Artist Carrie May Kreyche pairs natural objects with manmade materials to make humorous, yet profound, observations about the world around us. In her Suckulent series, a baby-bottle nipple is surrounded by rings of dried cactus leaves. They…
After Dark: 100 Years of the Evening Dress at Phoenix Art Museum: Your old prom dress probably isn’t a masterpiece, but formal wear by Oscar De La Renta and Gianni Versace can be as desirable as a Rembrandt. Phoenix Art Museum’s exhibit of 30 gowns, selected from their cache of…
Drawing is often considered a “practice” art. Granted, Michelangelo’s sketch The Risen Christ sold at auction for a record $12.3 million a few years ago. Even Picasso’s rough sketches of his mistress, Genevieve Laporte, fetched a hefty sum. The catch is that only after their deaths and their recognition as…
His pseudonym reads like that of a second-rate sci-fi author. The name of his solo exhibition is derived from the language of the apes spoken in Tarzan novels. His work is a gold mine of Freudian obsessions, from big-breasted babes with Barbie waistlines to superhero men with bulging biceps and…
So, you’ve elected to find a honey via the Internet, to use your modem instead of your mojo to secure a first date. It sounds like an impersonal way to meet your sweetie, but I can personally attest to the fact that it works. I placed personal ads on Kiss.com,…
Yeah, we know your mama slaved over a hot oven, baking each thin layer of this classic Southern dessert in a separate pan. But John Paul Hutchins, executive chef of Scottsdale Culinary Institute’s Le Cordon Bleu program, helped us create this unique 14-layer cake recipe that appeals to the American…
Street magician David Blaine amazed television audiences when he appeared to hover four inches off the ground during his 1996 televised special, David Blaine: Street Magic. There were public outcries of witchcraft. Others were convinced Blaine studied Eastern philosophies of meditation until he developed telekinetic powers. “It’s not actual witchcraft,…
Phoenix natives usually stick to xeriscaping and cactus gardens when it comes to outdoor gardening, but coastal transplants are determined to grow azaleas and roses that feel like home. Can you grow an East Coast garden in the desert? Yes, says gardening professional Gary “Curly” Smith of Summer Winds Nursery…
