The Latest Stuff - Page 11 of 40

Front view of Alex Rico's art environment in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood

March 8, 2020 Bill Swislow

Art Environment Fit For A Queen

You’re not too likely to stumble upon this art environment in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood. It’s on an out-of-the-way dead-end street. But it’s worth the hunt. Alex Rico turned his home into a literal castle to honor his late wife Gisela, who died at 34. “I told my kids I want to do something so I could remember your mom. Not in the cemetery. This is something I see every day,” Rico told the news site Block Club Chicago. You can read the full story and see pictures here and below. See more art environments here.

January 5, 2020 Bill Swislow

Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park: Two Visits

Fred Smith’s Wisconsin Concrete Park, the fabulous art environment in Phillips, Wisconsin, circa 1997 and 2007. There is plenty to be said about Smith and his creations. For more information, visit its Spaces archive page or the Friends of Fred Smith site. Back to Wisconsin: The Roadside Genius State.

Abe Goldstein painting, The Osmonds. Outsider Art example.

December 24, 2019 Bill Swislow

What Is Outsider Art?

I wrote this little essay about 25 years ago, when the concept of outsider art was new to the also-new World Wide Web. The real experts hadn’t yet gone online, and something was needed there to explain this kind of art. Like many of us, I’ve learned a lot since then, and the recent death of Roger Cardinal, whose 1972 book “Outsider Art” originated the term, made me consider revising the essay. It has a bit of history about it, at least for me, though, so I’ve left it as is. My views about the term have changed, however,

December 8, 2019 Bill Swislow

Seneca: Still Witty After All These Years

When last heard from, Lucius Annaeus Seneca was complaining about the gym rats who worked out noisily in the baths beneath his apartment. Two thousand years later and it doesn’t appear the issue has gone away. Seneca, a philosopher and onetime tutor to the emperor Nero, thought about lots of things besides grunting showoffs, of course. Sometimes he thought too much, winding up in cul-de-sacs of logic without much to show for his gruntworthy mental exercises. But he also had some marvelous insights, many of which have inspired thinkers from the Renaissance to today, including the rather memorable “There is

Double_herma_of_Socrates_and_Seneca_Antikensammlung_Berlin_07-2, By I, Calidius, wikimedia

October 30, 2019 Bill Swislow

Noisy Gym Jerks Of The First Century

I’m no gym rat myself, but I’ve encountered plenty of complaints, at home and online, about the noisy men who work out at gyms. Here’s a case where truly there is nothing new under the sun. Around the year 65, Seneca, the philosopher and former tutor to Nero, wrote this to his friend Lucilius: “I swear it — silence is not as necessary to a scholarly retreat as you might think. Here is cacophony sounding all about me — for I am living right upstairs from the bathhouse. Call to mind every sort of awful noise that grates on the

October 19, 2019 Bill Swislow

Clark Street

July 28, 2019 Bill Swislow

More of the Sweetest Song

If you like the Sukiyaki song (Ue o Muite Aruko) as much as I do, check out this playlist from WMBR in Cambridge, the MIT radio station. On his Subject to Change program, Patrick Bryant goes deep with multiple versions of one song. As readers of this site know, Sukiyaki has been covered dozens of times by artists all over the world since its 1961 release in Japan. Bryant tracked down a swell selection for his July 28, 2019, show and it’s worth a listen if you see this during the two weeks the audio remains available. Alternatively, you can

June 23, 2019 Bill Swislow

The Mueller Report (and Facebook too)

Some time ago I recused myself from joining political discussion on Facebook. I’m convinced that the political content we post on Facebook, no matter how salutary a contribution we think it will make to the conversation, makes an even more salutary contribution to the profiles and algorithmic precision used by the Russians and their domestic fellow travelers to manipulate and undermine our political discourse and those who participate in it. Social networks ought to be a powerful forum for political discussions and debates, but Facebook is a poisoned environment. Even though I know that my good friends and their good

June 5, 2019 Bill Swislow

John Evelyn: Diary Of A Different World

I loved the three years I spent with John Evelyn and his lengthy diary. But poor John Evelyn — polymath, public citizen (and official), friend to kings and scientists, but destined always to be second fiddle to his friend Samuel Pepys in the 17th century diarist derby. Pepys is the one who is (sometimes) still read, and still frequently cited whenever the English Restoration era is mentioned. Where Evelyn was a pious man and a devoted Royalist, Pepys was scurrilous and a political skeptic, making his commentary more consistently pointed. Both let you enter the everyday life of someone in

May 20, 2019 Bill Swislow

A Single Game of Thrones Grievance

Please forgive this one comment on the Game of Throne finale: The chuckles of the lords and ladies over Samwell Tarley’s plea for a democratic resolution nicely encapsulated the show’s most consistent weakness. Far worse than the final season’s many notorious failings was the show’s lack of interest over its entire run in the lives of ordinary people. Not to take anything away from Arya and the Hound and other worthy characters, but it would have been nice if a few commoners had had a part in the great events other than as victims or as cannon fodder for the