WORLD ARTS & CULTURE

26-ARTS: NEWS AND REVIEWS                                                                                                    207-212

Art: A rare Picasso canvas (Garçon à la Pipe)  sold at Sotheby's New York Wednesday night for more than $104-million. Mr. Whitney, a former U.S. ambassador to Britain and the publisher of The New York Herald Tribune, bought the Picasso with his wife in 1950 for $30,000..........................................................207

Rockman: Alexis Rockman's paintings are fascinating. This is not to say that I like them much, just that it is hard to drag yourself away from them till you have marvelled at the scenery, devoured all their details. They keep you at it for some time. Wonderful World, Rockman's recent suite of five large paintings, fills the biggest space at Camden Arts Centre. The exhibition, which opened last Friday, is the 41-year-old New Yorker's biggest show in the UK to date, much of the work the result of a two-year research residency based.........208-209

Twombly: Cy Twombly is the last great American artist. Never say never, but it seems almost inconceivable that another epic talent like his will appear in an American art world that has spent nearly half a century dismissing its own achievements. At the end of the second world war, art in the US displayed unparalleled freedom, improvisation and achievement. Jackson Pollock and his contemporaries - the abstract expressionists - seized the high ground of modern art. In the 1950s, New York became the capital of the 20th century. The Museum of Modern Art, the dealers Betty Parsons and Leo Castelli, the critics Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, defined the new in art. American painters justified their hype: Pollock and Willem de Kooning most of all, then Clyfford Still......................................................................210-212

Tremblay: Lyne Tremblay is de facto, Canada's most sophisticated, elegant and captivating cabaret Diva and  "Femme Fatale". Her voice is an explosion and implosion of warmth, vocal virtuosity, seduction, truthful inner feelings and a magical "Un Je Ne Sais Quoi?". You look at Lyne and the scent of a Parisian Diva of La Belle Epoque or "Les Annees Folles" breath over you. You look at Lyne Tremblay, and Montmartre, Les Grands Boulevards, the dialogues of Jean Cocteau and the whispers of adventurers, raconteurs, charming Parisian gigolos, mysteries of Rue Le Pic, La Madelaine and the lights and shadows of Le Chat Noire materialized before your eyes. .................213-217

 

Wesla Whitfield: Wesla Whitfield made her own rules and enlarged the perimeter of performance excellence by sculpting  an almost perfect sense of phrasing which magically and very tenderly reached the hearts and souls of multi-varied and demanding audiences. She brought to the traditional world of cabaret music, a very intimate, warm, pensive and personal musical and vocal interpretation which defied conventionalism. This delightful defying and charmingly innovative creativity is illustrated in the way she looks at her audience, and in an eloquent silence pauses for a moment or two, gazes into your soul, flirt with your thoughts, pauses briefly for another uninvited seconds when you don't expect her to do so, and with a soft elan, she recaptures the lyrics with a gentle explosion of lyrical finesse, intimate musical tenderness, and surrounding you with an unusual  "feeling of hearing those old songs" for the first time.............................................218-221

Gloria Loring: She did it all with class, beauty, intelligence, style, talent, unique creativity, guts  and warmth. And she excelled in everything she accomplished. Grande Dame Loring is a published author, a national speaker, a world-class actress, an international celebrity, a star of the American cinema and television, a leading figure of the American theater and concert halls, a singer, a composer, a lyricist, a songwriter, a producer,  a certified yoga teacher, a member of Who's Who in America and The World Who's Who of Women and a  humanitarian.  This woman is almost 99.99% perfect. This is the kind of people who create and shape the greatness of a nation. This is the vintage of noble souls, warm hearts  and bright minds who  make the sun rise and  shine over the hills.....................................................................222-228

Eileen: Eileen Fulton, America’s stunning entertainment diva sings, acts, moves, talks and philosophizes as the perfect “La Femme Fatale”. As enigmatic as Marlene Dietrich, as classy as Lana Turner, as dramatic as Edith Piaf  and as warm and convincing as Simone Signoret, this American gem brings class, beauty, elegance, intelligence, warmth, quality and divinity to the world of American entertainment. God, sometimes, makes mistakes; he creates now and then, an almost perfect diva. And this, infuriates Goddesses in the firmament, confuses stage directors, disorients starlets but, it still brings to the world, intelligent beauty,  truthful talent, mesmerizing performances, fatal charm and enchantment.......................................232-234

Amanda: Amanda McBroom. Today, Amanda McBroom is the greatest cabaret songwriter/singer/entertainer in America and in the known world. She does not need more awards and additional recognition (s). She has more than enough, enough for centuries to come. Nevertheless, the readers and the editorial staff of World Art Celebrities Journal had to reveal their admiration and ultimate respect for this Super Diva; Amanda McBroom, the best of the best, the living immortal legend! So, what they did was very a propos. They elected her as the “INTERNATIONAL WOMAN OF THE YEAR”, America’s best and greatest female singer/songwriter of all time. In addition, recent international polls conducted by World Art Celebrities Journal in 125 countries  and questionnaires filled by approximately 500,000 readers and music lovers from around the globe  ascertained that Amanda McBroom has been chosen as among the world’s top 30 best........ .....235-247

Anna Bergman: Anna Bergman, the Femme Fatale of World Cabaret. Anna Bergman, the Immortal Cabaret Torch and Flame singer, the thunder and Beauty mesmerizing performer, and the Diva who glitters and shines every second and every shadow of a second when she sings, when she talks, when she moves, when she is here, and when she is not here, for our imagination and constant needs to see her and to listen to her follow her wherever she goes. Anna Bergman never knew that I saw her twice on stage. I never followed her. I never asked for her autograph. Frankly, I care less. But, every time I am in town, or she is in town, I have to please my madness and satisfy my hunger for real music.....................................248-254

Debbie: Countess Debbie de Coudreaux: Iam absolutely confident that if George Washington had seen Debbie in his lifetime, he would have established monarchy in America! And should the Ancient Greeks have walked in the shadow of Countess Debbie de Coudreaux, and listened to her voice, the Greek Pantheon and Olympus would have had one more Goddess! Debbie de Coudreaux is America’s royalty, for she reigns over its stages, musicals, pictures and cabaret’s world. She has class, style, looks, heart, and an immense talent. At the Cabaret,  she is the “Femme Fatale”, on stage, she glitters like a Diva. When she dances or even when she moves she becomes charmingly dangerous…and when she sings Paris, she becomes an addiction! Audiences become mesmerized by her presence, enchanted by her voice and frozen in time......................................................................................255-266

Cindy: Cindy Benson. Her talent shines brighter than the whole damn lights of the city of New York, the signs of Broadway and the 4^th of July fire work, all together! And her presence on and off stage is larger than life… This is a superb super superstar! She acts, she sings, she dances, she teases, she mesmerizes, she makes you explode in laughter, she makes you cry, she steals the show and she triumphs! She is honored all over the world. Cindy is venerated  in Europe, in Paris, at the Sorbonne, on the Champs Elysees and in  three quarter of all heavens… There are so many outstanding performers and artists in the world who steal the show, but there are few who steal our hearts..........................267-270

Jenny Sinclair: To some artists, inspiration comes from a higher source, an ultra dimension, or perhaps a vision, an inner world of emotions. To Jenny Sinclair, the Carpenters and her son Mickey were her creative inspiration. Mickey, a sweet child, was born disabled with cerebral palsy. And Jenny felt the need to write a song about a mother's love for her child. Her love brought life to her superb CD  "Sweet Child of Mine" which was recently recorded in Nashville Tennessee, USA. The songs of the track are filled with warmth, beauty and sincere artistic creativity. Jenny's voice sparkles through splashes of lights, vocal virtuosity and tender musicality. A delightful bouquet of uplifting songs and ballads................271

Photo: Jenny Sinclair with Richard Carpenter.

Italian Television: Too pretty and two sexy for Italian television. But the outlook does not seem too bright for the first to hit the airwaves, a former Miss Italy. She has already run into trouble for being too sexy. Italian TV is infamous for its scantily-clad girls, who are a regular feature - dancing, presenting or just looking pretty - usually alongside a much older, less attractive male presenter. But Eleonora Pedron, 21, proved there is such a thing as too sexy for Italian TV when she was suspended for doing a rather raunchy magazine spread in Capital magazine, sporting only a G-string. According to the presenter  of the news on TV channel Rete 4, the weather should be informative and entertaining not sexy."............272-273

Indian Film: A Hindi film about drag queens that has been denied a certificate by the Indian Censor Board receives its UK premiere on Thursday at the Manchester Commonwealth Institute. The Pink Mirror (Gulabi Aaina) has been seen at more than 30 international film festivals but has been banned in India because of its homosexual content. "The Censor Board has refused to give it a certificate - not even an adult certificate - because they consider it full of obscenity and vulgarity," director Sridhar Rangayan told BBC News Online. The 40-minute short tells the story of two drag queens - Shabbo (Edwin Fernandes) and Bibbo (Ramesh Memon) - who battle with a westernised gay teenager for the affections of a handsome young man...................................................273-274

Controversy: Oprah versus Howard Stern: The American tabloid magazine reported that on March 18, millions of Americans watched an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which an O, The Oprah Magazine writer described in jawdropping detail, the latest fads in teen sex. Viewers learned that a "tossed salad," had little to do with healthy eating, but instead referred to oral sex to the anus. The guest went on to describe "rainbow" parties -- gatherings at which a gaggle of lipstick- wearing girls provide oral sex to one or more males. For this, declares shock jock Howard Stern, 50, Oprah should come under the same scrutiny as he has over his notoriously raunchy broadcasts. Since 1990, the Federal Communications Commission has levied fines, totaling close to $2 million, against Howard's show........................................................274

Deborah: Deborah Boily was at Jermyn Street in 2002 in a show called I’ve Got My Standards…Now & Then!  This cabaret, which debuted in New York, went on to Houston, London and Paris.  Revised and re-named Thank You For The Music, it was recorded live in June of 2003 and was recently released on the LML Music label.  Deborah Boily has recorded two previous CDs, A French Collection and The Song Remembers When.  Born in Louisiana, Deborah Boily, who now lives in Houston, Texas, is grounded in American songs, standards as well as contemporary, by songwriters ranging from The Gershwins to The Bergmans, Jason Robert Brown and John Bucchino......................................................................................................275

Sanford Biggers: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States of America. The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) presents Sanford Biggers “Both/And Not Either/Or”, an exhibition that will embrace Japanese hip-hop, Buddhist tradition, and African-American power on May 28 through August 16. Sanford Biggers is a New York-based artist whose sculptural installations draw from a remarkably diverse range of sources, including Eastern religions, black vernacular expression, 1970s process art, urban street culture, and new technologies. He works with discarded and overlooked materials—linoleum, lumber, recyclables—seamlessly blending ancient and contemporary, local and global images to encourage a reconsideration and revaluation of everyday experience and meditation on the interconnectedness of all people and cultures....................................................................................................................................276

The beauty of failure. Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona,  Spain. The Joan Miro Foundation presents “The beauty o failure / The failure of beauty”, selected by Harald Szeemann and co-produced by Forum Barcelona 2004 as one of the “Forum in the City” events concerned with the Conditions of Peace. It contains around 150 works – drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and installations – from a period running from the end of the nineteenth century to the present day. The exhibition is about how great dreams and utopias that seem so splendid in the abstract are doomed to failure when we try to materialise them, because they presuppose an entirely new, ideal society........................277

War and Peace: Soviet Press Photography. Giedre Bartelt Galerie, Berlin, Germany. On The exhibition presents a complete collection (created in the 70s) of Soviet press photography. Virtually all pictures are of high aesthetic quality, and most prints are technically excellent. Moreover, the choice of subjects provokes a strong impression of the ideology and cultural policy of the Soviet Union during the Brezhnev era. The collection consists of several convoluts that used to be shown in various combinations at travelling exhibitions in the foyers of so-called palaces of the press and palaces of culture, as well as in Soviet army clubs and in institutions of higher education, frequently on the occasion of political festivities and anniversaries. .............................................................277

32 Bit Connection:  Webism - Art connecting the World. Electric Avenue, Vienna, Austria. From May 27 to June 12, 2004 an exhibition of international artists takes place on the prestigious Electric Avenue of Vienna Museumsquartier (MQ). The exhibition, 32 Bit Connection:  Webism - Art connecting the World, features works by eight artists from around the world that met over the Web. Webism is the new ism of the new Millenium and is derived from the Internet. It has become a steadily growing global cultural movement with artists working in all types of media................................................................................................................................................278