O Positive

Speaking of The New Yorker, they sum things up nicely here:
www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/10/29/121029taco_talk_editors#ixzz2A8wsLM7U

Good job on last night's debate, I think.

Artwork by Alex Ross, 2008. ©Alex Ross.
All rights reserved.

Move The Needle

I have been extremely focused on the presidential election... reading endless articles, taking notes during each of the debates, trying to come up with my list of definitive examples why President Barack Obama is the better candidate, and Governor Mitt Romney appears to be a man who will distort facts and change his position on most anything in order to get elected... I keep meaning to talk at length here about the various issues that have popped up during the campaign, but news just keeps coming... and I have such a limited amount of time to express my thoughts in this forum.

Being a creative person, the arts are naturally easier for me to discuss (see yesterday's epic blog on Morrissey)... frequently, a visual statement can also sum things up rather nicely. Such is the case with this week's New Yorker cover by illustrator Barry Blitt, which references Norman Rockwell's humorous 1944 painting The Tattoo Artist, in order to comment on the current presidential election:

From www.newyorker.com

Once again Blitt is able to sum up a current event in one humorous, stinging image: Romney "changing" his mind, like Rockwell's sailor did girlfriends. I had a chance to meet Barry Blitt a few years back when we had an exhibit of New Yorker illustration art at the Museum, and I think he is one of the more talented (and clever) of the magazine's cover artists. I actually created political cartoons for the school paper during my brief stint at The University of Southern California, so I appreciate the conceptual process that it takes to express ideas in such a clever manner... there's a grand tradition there!

Tonight is the final presidential debate... and yes, the ink will be flowing... I will find time to express more of my thoughts on the election here in the coming weeks... 

Related Links:

"COVER STORY: MITT ROMNEY’S TATTOOS," The New Yorker, October 19, 2012

www.debates.org

Handle With Care

Well, tonight is game two... I mean, round two in the Presidential Debates. I'll definitely be tuning in... been holding my breath since the last one. Tonight's format is a town-hall meeting, so I think it might offer the viewing public the best, most truthful presentation of the candidates and their platforms (although truth seems to be a relative term... eh Mittens?).

The reason that I voted for President Barack Obama back in 2008 was that he genuinely seemed to care about the American people. I even helped out his election campaign, because I felt so strongly that this country needed to change it's course, both nationally and internationally. I don't regret my decision and yes, I AM better off than I was four years ago.... I think the country is too, despite the fact that the economy still needs to be fully straightened out, and more jobs created. I still believe that a continued Obama administration is a look "forward" not backward.

Also starting tonight, my Spoken Word Almanac Project collaborator Darian Dauchan will be presenting his "Obamatry" performance for a limited engagement at New York City's Under St. Marks Theater. According to a press release, "this multi-media one-man feat consists of live looped songs, beat boxing and a collage of satirical poems and presidential sound bites chronicling candidacy to presidency, to present day. A virtual rhetorical conversation on the subject of America between a Poet and our President." The piece will utilize several of my visuals that I have created for Dauchan's Spoken Word Almanac Project poems over the last couple years. The show will be presented every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. from now until election day, November 6... hope it goes well, and hopefully, there will be a chance for a Part II in four years time.

www.debates.org

Fact Check

All these news reports about the Presidential Campaign are killing me. Yeah, Obama was off his game last week during the debates, and Romney moved to the center... suddenly everything is getting tense... at least for a compassionate liberal like me. I'm finding it hard to keep myself from checking the news over and over again throughout the day. 

I posted this Norman Rockwell painting on the Museum's Facebook page today--it seemed appropriate after last night's spirited Vice Presidential debate (more on that later).

 "Breakfast Table Political Argument," 1948, Norman Rockwell.
 From the Norman Rockwell Museum exhibition
"Norman Rockwell's 323 'Saturday Evening Post' Covers."
Norman Rockwell Museum Digital Collections.
©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.

Speaking of Norman Rockwell, I had three separate press inquiries this week for our traveling exhibition Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera. Kind of odd, because they didn't mention that it was the exhibition they had discovered, but rather that they stumbled on the idea that Rockwell had used reference photography (someone putting me on?). Since we don't own the copyrights, I had to come up with something relatable to our Museum, since we can only provide images related to stories about our exhibitions and collections. Luckily, the exhibit is opening this weekend in Vero Beach, Florida. 

Anyway, I was also interviewed for the piece in the New York Daily News yesterday. Here's the link.

It has been a long, tiring week... fretting about politics didn't help any. 

Still getting over the allergies, and preparing to move this weekend... hello Electric City.

Related Link:

"Norman Rockwell used richly-detailed photographs as reference for his iconic illustrations," New York Daily News, Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Flipping The Bird

Related Links:

"President Obama’s bad debate advice," The Washington Post, October 4, 2012

"Romney Goes On Offense, Pays For It In First Wave Of Fact Checks," NPR, October 4, 2012

"Big Bird Memes Go Viral," ABC News, October 4, 2012

Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em.

Made it home from Chicago, safe and sound. Lovely ride in from Philadelphia, actually... on a smaller plane, with glorious fall colors in full-view. 

Me? I'm feeling a little rough right now. Didn't really sleep last night, so I'm dragging... but hope I can stick around for the "big showdown" tonight: Obama vs. Romney in the first of the Presidential Debates. I know, most of it is going to be pretty scripted, but it's fun to look for those "real" moments... or more correctly called "gaffes"... will Obama or Romney be the first to let out an exasperated Al Gore sigh? Will they check their watch a la George H. W.? Go U.S.A....

"Do U.S. Presidential Debates Matter?" CNN.com, October 3, 2012