MyQuest | my thoughts on life's journey

Cool Beijing building complete

That cool new tv building in Beijing, designed by Rem Koolhaas is now complete.  Check out the fun photos.

Controversial Oklahoma Art

A really funny post from the Lost Ogle.

Yosemite: Range of Light

Male Desire: The Homoerotic in American Art

Male Desire: The Homoerotic in American Art by Jonathan Weinberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The cover art of this book is a detail from a painting by our friend Harold Stephenson, an artist from Idabel, Oklahoma. It is a detail from "The New Adam," the most monumental male nude in American art history. It is forty feet long and hangs on three walls of the gallery. It is of the actor Sal Mineo. Harold did it in the early 60's and the piece was not show in the exhibit it was intended for. After being shown a few places, it disappeared into storage until the Aughts and was then bought by the Guggenheim. It hung in the New York branch for a while a few years ago, though it wasn't up when I visited there in 2009.

We were very excited for Harold when the book came out. Our friend Mary Jane bought a copy then. It was a pricey art book, so I couldn't afford it. I looked a month or so ago and discovered it was now half-price, so I purchased it.

The book is beautiful and sexy, with lots of great iconic images and many lesser known pieces. It covers a period beginning with Thomas Eakins and ending with the contemporary scene in 2003. Along the way it not only discusses the major artists you would expect (Hartley, Rauschenberg, Warhol) but also graphic artists, advertisers, gay cartoonists, and more.

The writing is very good, and I learned a lot from the analysis. It reminded me of my burst of reading in queer history, theory, and lit back in 2004-5, in particular some parallels with a book on the history of gay male American lit.

One thing that the book does remind you of, the effort for better social treatment of gay men began in the 19th century. It had a burst of energy pre-WWII, but post-war society sent most people back into the closet. It was only with the sexual revolution of the 60's and the subsequent post-Stonewall political movements and AIDS epidemic that the tide began to change for the positive again.

It made me angry, again, about the slow-pace of our civil rights movement. I had a Roman Catholic official tell me last December that we needed to move more slowly. Hmm. Our first major gay and lesbian civil rights march on Washington, D. C. was in the 1950's. I think you've had enough time to figure out if you are inclusive or a bigot.

View all my reviews

The Boys of Milan

Oh, the places you'll go

This has been waiting for me to watch, I'm glad I finally did.  It is beautiful:

 

Who knew humanity would film video this detailed and beautiful?

Around the World

The tallest 20 in 2020

A report out on what the 20 tallest buildings will be in 2020.  Only two currently exist.  The Petronas Towers, which was the world's tallest building at the beginning of the century, will be the 27th tallest come 2020.  Wow!

Also, these are beautiful, elegant buildings.  The tall skyscraper sure has changed from the WTC and Sears Tower era and returned to something more like the Empire State and Chrysler Tower era.  Enjoy the photos.

Favourite 2011 Photos Overall!

These are my favourite 11 photos taken by or of our household this year.

11.  The Holy Family Shrine peeks above the grass in this autumn picture from Nebraska.

10.  I enjoyed taking this photo and enjoy the whimsy of it.  It is from our church's Neighborhood Carnival this June.

9.  This photo captured a fun moment during Jason and Amie's visit when Amie and I communed with one of the young gorillas at the zoo.  

8.  This photo of downtown Omaha after the first spring thaw is almost postcard worthy.  Notice that the canal is still partially frozen.

 

7.  Michael took this glorious photo of the dome of St. Peter's.  The and colour and sharpness of detail all are just right.

6.  The Campidoglio in the rain, with the guard walking just past the statue of Marcus Aurelius.  I feel like I was standing at the perfect point just down the stairs.

5.  The shadow of the torso of the David copy projected on the Palazzo Vecchio in the slowly setting sunlight.  The two-dimensional image shows the perfection of form -- one doesn't even need the third dimension to see how exquisite the sculpture is.

 

4.  On Holy Saturday we ventured to the zoo with Tarae in town, and I tried out our new camera.  This spectacularly fun picture of a starfish was one of the results.

3.  This lovely picture was another result.  I delight in the motion captured in this photo.

2.  A delightfully well-framed image of Michael staring up into the dome of the Pantheon.

And my favourite photo of ours from 2011 looks like a 19th century painting done by an Englishman on his Grand Tour of the Continent.