John J. McGurk is an artist who founded Elwa Productions in 2007 with the mission of promoting and curating shows with young, usually unrepresented artists. He is a graduate of RISD and has worked at galleries in Providence, RI (The Steelyard, Firehouse 13) and NYC (Aicon Gallery, Mikhail Zakin Gallery). John J will lead a …
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Art Junta Looming
The Junta is organizing a meeting on contemporary art at the end of the month. In fact, it looks like it will literally be on the last day of April. Our featured guest (host, really) will be John J McGurk, an artist and gallery manager. He is also co-founder with his brother Whitney of Elwa …
Thai violence
So sad to read what’s going on in Bangkok. Though it’s had its share of military coups over the years, it has been generally a safe and wonderful country to visit. I always tell people that the best first country to visit in Asia is Thailand—it’s user-friendly (people speak English, used to tourists, etc.), full …
Krugman
I enjoyed the recent New Yorker profile on Paul Krugman. I didn’t realize he was essentially apolitical until the Bush administration. By the end of that administration I was sick of reading Krugman, he was predictable–we all knew at that point (actually years before) what a disaster Bush was, on so many levels. But I’ve …
Opening Day
Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball. —Jacques Barzun Is that still true? I don’t think so. I’ve said elsewhere that it’s football you have to understand to get Americans, even if Jeremy might feel otherwise. When George Carlin did his famous number on football vs baseball, he …
Raid on Entebbe
I had this in my Netflix queue for ages and it finally came out on DVD. It’s a bit “made-for-TV” corny on the 70s docu-drama tip, but still a pretty cool rendering of the incredible Israeli rescue operation in Uganda on July 4th, 1976, and pretty fun to watch Charles Bronson as an Israeli general and …