~’PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT’ vs ‘STAR WARS’ . . ? PEGGY WINS !!

FILE UNDER: LET’S START – A MASS MEDIA PROTEST.
LENA DUNHAM . . to WRITE & DIRECT THE NEXT STAR WARS, or dump the whole damn project.

PEGGY G. vs DARTH VADER ? PEGGY WINS !!!!!!!!!

‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT’ vs ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’ . . . ?
‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’ WINS . . . !!
hands down, no contest.


DARTH VADER, oops I mean . . KYLO REN !!!! – LOOK OUT !!!!
PEGGY G. – coming to take you out !!

‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT’, 2015 – directed by LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND, is still playing at the IFC CENTER in Manhattan, albeit at 10:45 am – but, still . . !!
as IF, we don’t know it’s a dumb-ed down world, don’t blink, get out of bed 2 hrs earlier, and go see it.

yeah, it’s great on a big screen – lots & lots of archival footage: JACKSON POLLOCK, MONDRIAN, DUCHAMP – all them forward moving serious art Frenchies, and, then all those bold American dudes.
yep. totally fab visuals . . as the art world moves from Paris – to New York !!
and it’s: all because of, thank you – Peggy !!
and of course, the film is . . . !!
also chock-full of the main character, and I do mean CHARACTER, with a capital C, art-seer & patron .. PEGGY GUGGENHEIM, herself.
and, even CARLO McCORMICK – makes several cameos – as a talking head !!

on the other hand, ‘STAR WARS’ put me to sleep, several times, in fact continuously !!
even at the IMAX !!
what a waste of time, and resources. and it made $1 Billion in a record 12 days.
well, that’s the world – we live in. sad. played out. thin & lame. $$$ in all the wrong places.
inter-planetary, NOT.
I think that’s what I missed most in it. something really new, weird and far-out. seriously digital. warped sound waves. twisted time. come on guys, alien life forms are not all going to be anthropomorphic.
if you were a muscle-bound weightlifter, you could maybe squeeze a few drops of original imagination – out of it, maybe enough . . to make one cup of tepid tea.

the only thing I liked, special effects wise, and anything else wise: was the roly-poly 2 balled metallic or was that hard plastic/composite (?) ‘snowman’ robot/droid – that followed the super cute, scavenger class, duh. heroine, around. nothing else is new. oh I forgot – the ‘villain’, KYLO REN aka the new gen Darth Vader – is: new.
but, he sucks. that guy from ‘GIRLS’, sucks. you know, ADAM DRIVER, what a disappointment. scrape it up, off the sidewalk – dude, your character doesn’t even qualify as an alternative new age, mopey brooding Vader.
Brooklyn hipster dude, you shoulda stuck with . . Lena. Adam did better with a naked frumpy Lena – than he does with this good looking chick, any day. no chemistry whatsoever. no balls. no fear. no twists. no terror. no evil. ok he throws Han Solo around. so what, Harrison Ford looked like he was ready, already !! to be cast out of this loser – gimme break. he gets more thrills flying planes in real life.
boo-hoo.
maybe, because . . no script ? no really, and I mean really .. dark holes.
yeah. I vote LENA DUNHAM – to direct, if not write – the next ‘Star Wars’ !!
anybody else – second that emotion ?

on the other hand, ‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’ was a low ball production that had it’s weak moments of editing, but overall – absolutely delivered.

and, for god’s sake – don’t judge this film by it’s trailer !!
the worst trailer in the world – and as good an example as any, of how Peggy was demeaned throughout her life.
thank God, she lived to see her singular vision – validated !!
and shame on the filmmakers for releasing such a lame low ball trailer – no wonder the film is screening at 10:45 in the morning.

but PEGGY GUGGENHEIM herself – was huge !!
a huge colorful character. super chic, and modern – before modern was a word, she was a huge huge influence on the art scene – we know and love, even today. and, except for that unfortunate trailer, which just serves to show you – what unkind idiots she was up against – she comes through – loud and clear.
how could she not ?
she left a blazing trail of artists behind her, that never would have stood a chance without her . . just 3 names, among many – should suffice: MARCEL DUCHAMP, JACKSON POLLOCK and MONDRIAN.

some interesting tidbits . . that had particular big sparks for me:

1. haha, her feud with her richer, but dumber art patron uncle, SOLOMON GUGGENHEIM, founder of the Guggenheim Museum, and his arrogant, nasty, snobby, power-stealing, ‘hottie’, maybe mistress – art consultant / curator !!
as if, things have changed !! NOT !!

Peggy has one word for her, besides: “bombshell” – lordy !!
and yeah, they got a clip of her !!
was it: evil ? or simply: “she was a fiend”.
well, Peggy as I said, lived to see – she had had the last word.
how satisfying.

2. the insights into the Guggenheim family & its legacy, in general, but esp her aunt or cousin, who threw her own 2 babies to their death off a roof, rather than give them up in a divorce power play, and was never charged with anything ??!!??
a nice cameo on the social mores of the day. esp of the super upper crust. they, the Guggenheims, went from dirt poor immigrant Lower East Side street cart peddlers to vastly immensely super rich – in one generation, so one can only imagine the DNA in that clan. if you are going to ‘bio-clone’ – you know where to start.
and maybe Peggy was the smartest of the lot, if not the shrewdest !!

3. I loved how people bitch in the film about . . . “how cheap she was” – !!
because she served . . the cheapest low grade food and wine at her parties !!
omg, what losers. and no, again, nothing – has changed.
in the meantime she fronted the considerable dough out of her own pocket – that had several indie galleries, with agendas & curatorial visions way ahead of their time – up and running in Paris, London and then New York, and finally in Venice, without much sales, or income – all of which, literally gave birth to modern art, and all !! on her own dime.
not only that, she single-handedly & in person, in a desperate & dangerous time – moved a lot of this modern art, from Paris, away from the grasp of the Nazis who would surely have destroyed it, and shipped it, covertly – across the Atlantic ocean, for god’s sake !! halfway around the world – to safety, in New York – again, all on her own dime.
not to mention the generous patronage she bestowed, we are talking US $$$, on the ’emerging’ & under-recognized artists, of the time, even bringing many of them, including Duchamp – to New York. in essence saving them. and, all on her own dime.

Jackson Pollock would never have flourished without her financial support.
and then, just ever so casually – towards the end of the film, it is just dropped that she, Peggy G paid a life long patronage grant to DJUANA BARNES !! to keep her alive, and writing her whole life.
are you following me ? Djuana Barnes !!

yeah, PEGGY GUGGENHEIM was cheap. right.
dodos rule the world, and esp the art world – as if anything has changed there.
NOT.

4. the bio behind the brand . . the woman herself.
all the incredible archival photos, film clips & newly surfaced audio-tapes. nothing beats seeing & hearing her in her own voice & words – the real deal . . the real person, behind that art-history-in-the-making.
Peggy comes across as quite funny, vulnerable, brilliantly wry & equally insightful, brave. with a life both tragic, hard-partying, and art loving joyful. she was intellectually inspired, passionate, and sensual – on hyper mode.
moved to action by forces that are hard to explain logistically, but with a . . juiced-up pre-vision, that was/is . . as sure as sure can be.
tell me about – it. second nature, you either have it, or you don’t.
that’s a funny thing about being such a radical pre-thinker, talent scout & patron.
you begin to be perceived as an oddball, an outsider, when really you are the most consummate insider – in the world.
moved by invisible rays . . of knowing.
a water diviner. a juicer. it make take years – for the clear source of that sweet nectar of inspiration – to surface and, finally make its play.

but when your ship comes in, it’s a huge, huge payload.
for all the hardships & name calling, there’s nothing like knowing great art when you are the only one in the room, nothing like buying great art for pennies, and then living long enough to walk around – and point to the now . . million dollar price tags !! which she does in this film, and yes, she utters many a “damn I shouldn’t have sold that” under her breath !!
but, she always knew it. that’s the great beauty of her . . eccentricity. her edge.
the only thing she regrets – at the end of her long life, is that with age – she ran out of lovers !!

and the worst trailer in the world – is:

but, still fun to watch !!
YES: “art & sex occupied the same part of her brain”, lol . . . . tell me about it. the ultimate rush.
especially crushin’ on new art, omg. it is hard to tell the diff, except as you get older, the underground just keeps turning over a new wave of eternally twenty-somethings. yo, Peggy – ain’t that the truth. catching the wave, is how we like – to call it.

see: ‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM, ART ADDICT’ – TRAILER

and then, they released a better one !!!! – hur-ray !!!!
more art, more bio !!

watch: ‘PEGGY GUGGENHEIM, ART ADDICT’ TRAILER – TAKE TWO !!!!

YES: she created an art collection on just $40,000 . . . “now worth billions” ~ Larry Gagosian !!

YES: she met “JACKSON POLLOCK when he was just a carpenter .. working in her uncle’s museum . . . !!

all ye art handlers, and, yep – I could name a few !! take heart.


BB-8 …. the only star in ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’, and not so much for anything he does, just for his shape & the way he moves. esp that disconnected . . head !!
nice graphics, nice colors, nice surface fades, too. all good. good stencil work. good proportions, minimal, hard core, scratched. weathered. believable. functional.
imagination-rollin’ – in a word.