In the Works

Here's what's cooking at Starr Review: This week I'll post about a show of cutting-edge contemporary work that uses mass-produced items as art materials. 

After that, I'll be writing several pieces about African art. 

First, I'll return to Indianapolis for another look at  "Dynasty and Divinity: Ife in Ancient Nigeria." It's a show of heads and figures made in the 12th through 15th centuries from terra cotta, bronze, and copper. An October 30 article in the Arts and Leisure section of The New York Times reports that the British Museum has chosen "100 objects that distill the history of the world." A figure in "Dynasty and Divinity" is among the those one hundred.

In December I'll spend two weeks in Dakar, Senegal and plan to see the Musée de l'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire—the museum of West African art— the Galerie Nationale, and Salon Michele Ka, a famous folk art gallery that happens to be in a hairdresser's shop. This will be my second trip to Dakar, so I'm already aware that what constitutes art materials in Senegal is a fascinating topic in itself. Stay tuned. 

Thanks to you, my quickly expanding readership, I'm happy to find how much steady attention Starr Review garners; it's read widely every day, not only when I post. Thank you for recommending it to your colleagues and friends, for it's clearly getting around.

I'm thinking now about financial support for Starr Review, as I'm incurring costs, especially the need to pay for rights to publish images. Most of the time I can obtain images gratis, but sometimes I have to purchase the right to post a picture, and then those rights last only for a limited time. I'll always choose to acquire rights rather than decline to write about something I'm interested in and excited about. A density of images is important to bringing readers along with me—to the development of our unspoken discussions. 

If you'd like to contribute to Starr Review, I'd be happy to accept your donation and to list your name (or your anonymity) along the right-side column of the page. The Review is not a non-profit, so there is no tax benefit, alas. I've decided against seeking advertisers because in advertisement-supported blogs there is lots of visual conflict between the art images and the sales images.

If you'd like to make a donation, email me at annstarr AT sbcglobal DOT net and I'll send you my address for your check. I am not a fundraiser who proposes amounts, or plans to honor a person who offers $10 over one who contributes $2. I'm happy for any support that just makes writing and sustaining Starr Review a little easier. (Don't worry, though: It will be written, no matter what!)

Thank you. Look for "Is There a Message in this Medium?" coming soon!

Jean Tinguely, Tinguely Fountain, Basel. Photo by Roland zh;
licensed under Creative Commons