5 COOL THINGS
1) FILM/TELEVISION
THE PLATFORM - (Netflix)
If you have been swept up in the Squid Game craze as of late, then I highly recommend adding The Platform to your watchlist, a Spanish film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, and written by David Desola and Pedro Rivero.
The structure of this film involves mainly one location, a prison with an unknown number of vertical levels housing two prisoners per level, and a descending platform of food for the whole bunch. Let’s just say you want to be at the top in this prison.
Underneath the surface of this extremely well designed film, this horror/thriller provides an intense viewpoint on social structures within our societies. The talking points are done in a way that is not annoyingly “in your face”. You can still enjoy the hell out of the film, just get ready for some violence along the way. I believe it is an important film to watch, and I was highly entertained by the story, acting, and simple but specific cinematography. There are some extremely talented filmmakers outside of the United States, and I urge folks to really start watching foreign films to acclimate themselves with those artistic cultures. Let Squid Game, and Parasite lead you into those foreign film worlds, as you will discover that there is so much more to offer out there.
Here’s the trailer for The Platform:
2) MUSIC
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
These guys aren’t newbies, and I won’t just be writing about “new fresh artists” in this newsletter. It is more about bringing bands or artists to the forefront that should be lauded for their work. Nathaniel Rateliff is just that for me.
He was noticed on the music scene back in 2002 with his band Born in the Flood, and then Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel in 2007. In 2013 he formed Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and hit full stride with their sound and notoriety across the country bringing a folk rock/Americana sound that gets the heels of your shoes tapping, and your hand banging out the beat on whatever surface is nearby. Their hit S.O.B. practically saved Rateliff’s music career, as it is said this go around was his last-ditch effort in finding success with his music before calling it quits, according to an LA Times article.
Rateliff also delivers in his subtler solo work under just his name, Nathaniel Rateliff, a format that really allows his lyrics, and powerful vocals to showcase his artistry. Songs like And It’s Still Alright, and You Should’ve Seen The Other Guy are prime examples of this.
3) ART
RUFINO TAMAYO - (Mexican Painter)
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter, who worked mainly in the modernism era painting figurative abstraction. And it is wild, man. I have been trying to discover more painters that I have not had the fortune of experiencing at this point in my life. Tamayo was one of those. When I stumbled on to his work, just recently, I felt a sense of being captured into the frame. It was uncomfortable, in the safest way possible, knowing I was almost being protected, and on the right side of the wild beasts that he painted. Tamayo also painted people in a delicate, yet uninhibited surrealist style that showed off his uniqueness in fine form.
You can check out more of Rufino Tamayo’s work here: http://www.artnet.com/artists/rufino-tamayo/
4) BOOKS/WRITING
GERTRUDE STEIN (American Novelist, Poet)
It is said that Gertrude Stein’s writing was comparatively in line with modern art’s cubism movement. The two were practically married, and in step with each other. That makes complete sense considering the artistic relationship she had with Pablo Picasso (who even painted a portrait of Stein). She did not receive much laurel for her writing, although there are those that will go to bat for the importance of her work.
Stein was an American ex-patriot who lived most of her life in Paris, France during the early 1900’s. Even as her writing never gained the recognition some thought it deserved, it is argued that Stein may have been the most important influence to some of the greatest artists the modern era ever produced.
She hosted a salon in Paris where her background in psychology allowed the minds of Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald to open up whole new worlds of style in their own artforms of painting and writing. This openness and freedom certainly carried over into The Beat Generation of writing crafting the careers of Ginsburg, Burroughs, and Kerouac.
Stein’s most popular work was Tender Buttons, a book consisting of short prose and poems.
“A CARAFE, THAT IS A BLIND GLASS.
A kind in glass and a cousin, a spectacle and nothing strange a single hurt color and an arrangement in a system to pointing. All this and not ordinary, not unordered in not resembling. The difference is spreading.”
- From Tender Buttons [Objects] by Gertrude Stein
To read more of Stein’s work you can visit: https://poets.org/poet/gertrude-stein
5) PHOTOGRAPHY
IRVING PENN (American Photographer, Painter)
A tremendous amount of information on Penn’s life and work can be found at The Irving Penn Foundation website: https://irvingpenn.org/
Dang was this guy talented. A profound photographer, working a steady career with Vogue magazine for over sixty years, Irving Penn created a body of work that would rival any creative, in any field. Penn also painted, mainly abstract works. All of it is just, well, special.
Focusing on his photography here, I will mainly let the still frames do the talking. Penn photographed a lot of his work in studio, with various forms of backdrops. He enjoyed controlling the scene, particularly with his Still Life. His portraiture work is perhaps his most well known, and for good reason. There is a sense of enclosure with his subjects, like you are physically face to face with them, uncomfortably, yet calmly.
Penn’s photography work has been separated into the categories of Still Life, Portrait, Beauty, Fashion, Nudes, Small Trades, Travel, and Documentary. All of which I suggest checking out to see the variation he had with his subjects.