Atomic Comic Book

The Atomic RevolutionThe Atomic Revolution” is a gorgeous relic from America’s early love affair with its ability to split the atom. A kind of promotional brochure for the wonders of the atomic age that highlights the concepts and history behind what was then a brave new frontier, it was copyrighted in 1957 and has been apparently forgotten until now. The comic book artist Ethan Persoff recently happened across a copy at an estate sale and has kindly published some wonderful scans of its contents on his site.

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Ism Schism

Commodification of BuddhismCommodification of Buddhism“ is a group exhibition featuring, among others, my fellow Behavior partner Mimi Young and some guy named Nam June Paik. It opens tomorrow (with a reception this evening) at the Bronx Museum of the Arts and is sponsored in part by The Buddhism Project.

“Taking a fresh approach, Commodification of Buddhism will explore the growing phenomenon of the appropriation of Buddhist symbols and their widespread circulation in the commercial domain…The pervasive spread of Buddhist iconography in the commercial domain indicates the extent to which such images have become detached from their original significance.”

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Posterization

Saigon PostersClark MacLeod: “Saigon Poster Art is a growing collection of pictures of hand painted posters found displayed all over Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.” MacLeod has done a good job; it’s a charming little assemblage of street imagery that’s well worth a look.

I remember this kind of advertising/propaganda from my travels in Viet Nam as well as Thailand. It was an uneasy feeling when I came to the realization that the reason these posters were hand-painted and not printed is because human labor is cheaper than technology in that part of the world… and even in attempting to emulate technologies like photography and printing, human labor can produce weirdly beautiful results.

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Talk to Me

021002_ada1852.gifMy Behavior-compatriot Chris Fahey is responsible for Ada1852, a chat bot driven by a singular kind of artificial intelligence. The New York Times wrote: “Like a human museum guide, Ada1852 occasionally departs from the scripted commentary to make oddly personal remarks. During a recent chat session, the virtual character was asked about a site and replied, ‘Perhaps I am slipping into madness.’” It’s a fascinating piece of online art commissioned by Rhizome.org.

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Old Media in a New Media World

This Is a MagazineThis Is a Magazineis a curiosity; an old media concept in a new media context. It’s a Web magazine, but not like Salon.com or even Newsweek, as it’s very literally a magazine that just happens to be on the Web. Your mouse-clicks ‘turn’ itspages, and it lacks true interactivity in a way that suggests a committed principle (though its designers can’t resist the occasional, spartan suggestion of acknowledging its online milieu). It’s a strange idea, but the abundance of evident visual talent behind the whole thing is ultimately winning. Worth a look.

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Bollywood or Bust

The Art of Bollywood BlockbustersThe design industry could stand to appreciate more than just its American, Western European and Japanese roots. John Manschot brings us a little closer to the Indian sub-continent in his book, “The Art of Bollywood Blockbusters.” The Web site includes some so-so scans that barely do justice to the plethora of exquisitely illustrated posters and videocovers from the world’s largest film industry. Last year I got my hands on a copy of “Thai Graphic Design” by Anake Nawigamune, which is also big, bold and beautiful — impossible to find domestically, but now you have an excuse to visit Thailand.

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King Kirby

Jack KirbyLately I’ve been thinking a lot about comic books, in a way that I haven’t since I was fifteen. This kind of started when I bought “The Comics Journal Library: Jack Kirby,” a compendium of interviews with and essays about the legendary Jack Kirby, who is often referred to as the most influential artist to ever work in comic books. The book is LP-sized and loaded with terrific samples of Kirby’s singular, hyper-dynamic brand of art, but it’s also wonderfully rich in its essays and musings on Kirby’s place in history. You would expect no less from the laudably literary minds at The Comics Journal.

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