Pop Art

Contemporary artists I find interesting...

Leo Villareal

Cool lights, fueling my escapist fantasies of doing similar commissioned work. 

Bansky

British guerilla artist who doesn't make his real name or face known. He specializes in witty vandalism (arguably not vandalism) of drab public spaces in London, and produced a series of pastoral landscapes featuring modern accoutrements such as security cameras, helicopters, and burned-out automobile frames.

Vincent Valdez

As I wrote in an earlier blog entry, saw Valdez' stuff at the Alameda in San Antonio. Dramatic, romantic, photorealism. Like Bansky, he drops crude, modern details as garnish around photorealistic visions. For example a small Taco Cabana sign glows in the background of a portrait of young woman on a cell phone. That painting is nowhere to be found on the Internet. Will keep looking for it. 

Famous and Hot

If/when these women appear on television I will drop whatever I am doing.

gillian anderson*

I thought Dana Scully was dowdy and uninteresting, so it surprised me when she appeared in a BBC production of Bleak House, looking a lot more impressive. How exactly does an actress from Chicago, widely associated with space aliens and Fox, suddenly become a preeminent British television star? (answers: intelligence, hotness)

* also did a voice in princess mononoke, subject of my last post, strange cooincidence

anne curry

I rarely watch Today or Dateline, but when I do, she seems so classy in comparison to the other anchors. I love when she wears cashmere. One morning, as Matt Lauer and Meredith Vierra discussed food, she interjected, describing how much she had recently enjoyed eating a fresh tomato. It was a captivating moment, because for a change somebody on Today was describing a life experience and how they actually felt about it, vs. the usual frantic chatter. 

(picture: anne curry, possibly in cashmere, with some random pregnant person)

naomi watts

Mullholland Drive is one of my favorite films, Watts is the star, and she pulls off some of the most difficult scenes Lynch could imagine.

julie simon

Local reporter on KEYE TV. When I was with KOOP radio I went to the house of musician Mo Jamal to tape a public statement he made about moving his family to Canada to avoid being deported to Iran as part of the Patriot Act. Surprisingly, every local news station showed up to cover the event; I wasn't about to get in their way. Julie Simon introduced herself and handed me her card, a professional gesture on her part but it made my afternoon feel like a huge success.

juana molina

she went from starring in sitcoms to producing interesting electronica albums to touring as an opening act for feist. her beauty is uniquely Argentinean. i've been enjoying her new album Son.