Katy Perry preparing for the Superbowl. Image via MTV
- Happy Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. Based on current weather conditions, that should come as no surprise. Thanks, Phil! [Washington Post]
- Another February, another issue of Artforum. This month’s best read, David Joselit’s “Material Witness,” can be found outside the paywall. It’s tricky to make any correlation between Eric Garner and art, but Joselit does pretty well on that end by claiming the failure of images—the jury’s refusal to see a crime in the cell phone video of Garner in a chokehold—and the power of refusing those images—in the work of William Pope.L. [Artforum]
- We are not a sports blog; we are an art blog. However, we recommend watching the halftime show with Katy Perry, Missy Elliot, and Lenny Kravitz because it is bonkers. Counting the number of influences on this Pepsi-sponsored spectacle is a fun game: Tron, Mary Poppins, and Harry Potter all come to mind. Oh, and there were human-size dancing beach balls. Society of the spectacle, indeed. [Vulture]
- The New York Times does not approve of this society of spectacle. Katy Perry didn’t dance enough while riding that mechanical lion or floating star. There aren’t enough great pop stars, so in this environment “Ms. Perry will do.” Oh, come on. Not even a nod for belting out tunes on a fucking drone? That takes guts. [The New York Times]
- Have you heard the one about Philip Glass going into a bar? Click if you’re prepared for a groan-worthy joke. [A Prairie Home Companion]
- The best restaurant in Cardiff, Wales is the Clink, a restaurant run by prisoners. [Eater]
- Chloe Wyma reviews Harmony Korine’s painting exhibition at Gagosian, Beverly Hills. “And yet, despite their air of slacker nonchalance, these paintings are still highly polished, slick, and expensive, likely bound for the man-caves of divorced Hollywood dads as tokens of their diminishing cool, like so many mounted vintage Stratocasters.” [Artinfo]
- Mark Mothersbaugh talks about his favorite old synths and why he made the sounds he did. “I was looking for instruments that made sounds that were more relevant to our culture, things that sounded like what I heard on the news.” And what “we smell sausage” sounds like backwards. [Boing Boing]
- This is the best 404 page I’ve seen. [Bloomberg]
- Exposed man ankles are officially in, apparently. Thank you, Hairpin! [The Hairpin]
- Artist-researcher Matthew Plummer-Fernandez puts a computer program with learning algorithms to the test of interpreting abstract art. “I’m reminded of a cartoon picture, of a woman and a knife,” observes computer. It blogs. [noviceartblogger.tumblr.com]
- The Outsider Art Fair returned to New York for the third year. For the third year in a row, we hear that the definition of “outsider art” has expanded. [The Internet]
