Everything horror writers and filmmakers have stolen from Hebrew mysticism gets stolen right back by the Israeli writer-director team of Yoav and Doron Paz in The Golem (2019). A well-crafted and idiosyncratic supernatural thriller, the film plays like a mix of Frankenstein, The Witch, and some of the Coen brothers’ more explicitly Jewish movies.
Archives for February 2019
James Siena: Painting
at Pace Gallery, NYC (through February 9)
Reviewed by Phoebe Hoban
James Siena has had what might be called a linear career. Whether painted, drawn or sculpted, his work is purely line-based. Yet his art always avoids the shortest distance between two points; i.e. the simple straight line. Instead he has continued to evolve work based on what he calls “a visual algorithm,” creating recursive labyrinthine canvases; intense but relatively small-scale repetitive patterns painted in enamel on aluminum. [Read more…]
Smoked Lavender And Berry Compote
Small pack of blueberries
Small pack of raspberries
Small pack of blackberries
Fresh lavender
1½ pinch Hepps smoked salt
¾ cup raw cane sugar
Place all the ingredients in a pot and simmer on a medium flame until it turns to mush. Let cool and refrigerate. Serve on bread, a scone, and the compote goes wonderfully with cheese, crackers and a glass of wine. Will last up to 10 days refrigerated. [Read more…]
Velvet Buzzsaw Offers Artfully Dark Fun, But Makes A Mess Of Its Horror
With Nightcrawler, writer/director Dan Gilroy teamed with Jake Gyllenhaal for a deliciously vicious evisceration of news media’s “if it bleeds it leads” culture with a format that was one-part thriller to one-part dark comedy. The result was a film that was wickedly entertaining and thought provoking, while proving Gyllenhaal is one of the most exhilarating actors of his generation. For all these reasons, I was positively giddy in anticipation of the pair’s reunion, Velvet Buzzsaw. Here Gilroy satirizes the snooty and sordid world of high art by blending dark humor and horror. But to my horror, lightning doesn’t strike twice. [Read more…]
Joan Semmel: A Necessary Elaboration
at Alexander Gray Associates, NYC (through February 16)
Reviewed by Phoebe Hoban
Joan Semmel is the master of the anti-Selfie. For decades she has turned the camera on herself, using candid photographs as references for her large-scale nudes, which are both sumptuous and unsettlingly intimate. For an age obsessed with instant, miniature self-branding imagery, pervasively produced by iPhones and through Instagram, her large, flawed, vulnerable figures open a nearly forgotten door onto the pure pleasure of painted flesh. [Read more…]