Lately I've seen a few gallery opening announcements where the beverage sponsor was Jamaican beer Red Stripe. This makes a good "teaching moment." Jamaica is the most dangerous place in the Caribbean for queer people, with a government that regularly issues anti-LBGT statements, and a dance hall culture whose musicians regularly call for violence against queer people in their lyrics. Much of Jamaica's income comes from investment, trade, and tourism from the United States. This is no time to do business with Red Stripe or for that matter Myers Rum. Visit Pam's House Blend and Boycott Jamaica for more information.

I guess the pricey gallery website provider exhibit-e has heard of my ArtCat hosting business for artists and galleries. They are buying ads on the keyword "artcat" so that their ad appears when people Google it.

This is an installation and detail view from a smart two-person show at Kate Werble in SoHo combining work in various media of Brock Enright with photographs by John Lehr. There is much more in the show, and I really like the photos by Lehr as well. I'm just showing you what I could get good images of. Check out the gallery's website for more.

3 works, all 2009:

Sunset
Latex paint, glitter, paper, spray paint, snow, and baby powder
dimensions variable

Butterfly Knife and a Ritz Cracker
Butterfly knife, Ritz Cracker, and toothpaste

Penguin Paradox
Pastel on paper
50 1/2 × 38 inches

• Post-Apocalyptic Fiction - End of the World Literature on AbeBooks
  tags: books fiction science-fiction post-apocalyptic

Museum 52 had a solo installation of Sarah Braman's work for their booth at The Armory Show. I can't get enough of her work!

Anaba also wrote about this, and has some photos of individual sculptures.

• U.N. rights envoy sees Israeli war crimes in Gaza
  A United Nations human rights investigator said on Thursday that Israel's military assault on densely populated Gaza appeared to constitute a grave war crime.
  tags: israel palestine gaza war-crimes united-nations

• Subway Art Gallery Opening at Improv Everywhere
  Improv Everywhere arranges an art opening in the subway station at 23rd and 8th.
  tags: art gallery nyc funny opening subway improv-everywhere

I spotted this in SoHo last Saturday, stuck to the window of the old Guild & Greyshkul space.

File storage and bandwidth are unlimited for all web sites hosted at ArtCat.

We stopped measuring storage space and bandwidth used by individual sites some time ago, but I realized that I never announced that or updated the text on the website. Now I have!

• U.S. Abandons Detainee Label but Policy Is Largely Intact - NYTimes.com
  tags: war civilliberties guantanamo detention
• Most BYOB restaurants are breaking the law - Crain's New York Business
  The agency says the vast majority of eateries that encourage customers to supply their own alcohol need a special "bottle club" license to do so. Restaurants that have fewer than 20 seats are the only exception to the rule.
  tags: restaurant newyork booze alcohol drinking

• Obama takes US closer to total ban on cluster bombs | World news | The Guardian
  Remember that current Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, as Senator, was fine with Israel using cluster bombs in Lebanon.
  tags: obama clusterbombs foreign-policy
• SFAppeal: San Francisco's Online Newspaper
  New online-only newspaper in San Francisco, contributors include Violet Blue and Jimmy Stamp (Life w/o Buildings)
  tags: media sanfrancisco newspaper
• Seeing Antlers, Feeling Dendrites - SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
  write-up on artist & friend Christopher Reiger, in our collection thanks to Art Fag City
  tags: artist art christopher-reiger
• Fall 2009 Alexander McQueen - New York Times
  I love the hats!
  tags: fashion hats couture alexander-mcqueen
• Leap Into the Void: Self-Censorship, From Warhol to Kylix to Book
  on the de-queering of the Getty, via Tyler Green
  tags: art queer museum getty

• Bushwick Journal - An Art-Gallery District With Less of a Profit Motive Flourishes in Brooklyn - NYTimes.com
  tags: art bushwick

I saw a few things I really liked at The Armory by artists I had never seen before. It's the reason we go each year. This is one of the artists, Astrid Svangren, who was in the Gallery Charlotte Lund Booth. My apologies for the less than stellar photography. Both works are titled:

Dreams Careerism
narcissism and alienation

Related: The artist and Charlotte Lund appear in this Vernissage TV video from May 2007.

I'm not blogging that much about the fairs this week -- too little time. Check my twitter feed for more "on the spot" reporting.

• Met puts up two Chagalls as collateral for loan - Crain's New York Business
  Two huge murals that hang in opera house's lobby now will help back long-term credit facility.
  tags: art finance metropolitan-opera loan chagall mural

When I first started ArtCal in 2004, ArtCat web hosting for artists already existed. The latter doesn't stand for anything, but ArtCal was suggested by a friend as short for "Art Calendar."

Given the fact that I have trademarked ArtCat, and I own the .com for it, I always meant to consolidate everything -- artist and gallery web hosting, the calendar, and the zine, into one brand with interlinked sites, and now I have! As part of a redesign for the new Culture Pundits advertising format, I worked with the brilliant artist and designer Michael Mandiberg to come up with a new look.

We are still tweaking the design, but go check it out. I'm quite happy with it.

[Watch for changes to this blog and James's as well in the next 24 hours.]

• Conservative, religious states consume the most porn. Biggest consumer? Utah
  Residents of 27 states that passed laws banning gay marriages boasted 11% more porn subscribers than states that don't explicitly restrict gay marriage...
  tags: politics usa porn religion