The New York Times has a nice take on modern Dallas in the Travel Guide's "Dallas Does Dallas."

The city seems willing to throw off its long-held infatuation with glitz and glamour, while remaining obsessed with maintaining a reputation for impeccable, indisputable good taste.

[...]

At the heart of it all — this zeal for glamour and sophistication, a supreme faith in the transcendent power of surfaces — is a Texan’s pride and a Texan’s insecurity: you don’t leave the house without looking your best, because you never know whom you might see, and who might want to find you lacking.

The quick rundown... what meets the Times writer's approval?

• NorthPark Center
• Nasher sculpture garden
• a new opera center by Norman Foster
• a new theater by Rem Koolhaas
• a proposed bridge spanning the Trinity River by Santiago Calatrava
• a Latino Cultural Center by Ricardo Legorreta
• a symphony hall by I. M. Pei
• Philip Johnson’s Crescent Court complex
• Dallas Museum of Art
• Campisi's
• Hotel ZaZa
• Uptown/West Village
• Oak Cliff/Bishop Arts District/Hattie's

I'd say that's a pretty decent list of things to do, see, buy and eat if you're going to be spending a few days in Big D.

Filed under architecture · art · culture · dallas · food · texas

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Via the HB-3 blog:

With all the hullabaloo about the American consumer’s penchant for overeating, indulgence and general predilection toward obesity, it strikes us that we’ve encountered scant few artists who ever address these issues head on, especially with regard to consumer goods.

That’s why we were all the more excited to encounter a series of provocative images from artist Daniela Edburg’s current show Drop Dead Gorgeous at the Kunsthaus in Miami. Daniela explores the ramifications of food binging and indulgence, albeit with a (markedly) dark sensibility.

Check it out. Be sure to click through the entire sequence... So creepy.

Filed under art · culture · food · photography

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Turns out, quite a bit...

Via fark.com: a site with a small collection of astronomy paintings from the 19th century.

One commenter says, and I agree, that there is something about these works that reminds me a little bit of Kandinsky. Must've been something in the water back then. Pretty cool stuff.

Filed under art · science

Posted by H. C. Hodges at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)