Tom Morton

The recent paintings of Christian Marclay (born 1955) take as their point of departure wet sounds suggestive of the action of painting. These paintings, winkingly bridging Abstract Expressionism and Pop art, represent a continuation of the artist’s longstanding experimentation with the relationship between images and sounds. Christian Marclay: Liquids, published to accompany the artist’s solo exhibition at White Cube, includes these recent Onomatopoeia paintings, the recent films "Pub Crawl" (2014) and "Surround Sounds" (2014) and an installation of found glassware. Revered in the worlds of art and music for a body of work that bridges both camps, Marclay planned a lively program of collaborative musical performances led by the London Sinfonietta to accompany his exhibition and set up facilities for the on-site recording, pressing and screenprinting of vinyl records in the gallery, also documented in this volume.… (more)

An encyclopedia is written by insiders, these are observers who inhabit the world they describe, and they happen to take everything very seriously. The complete opposite of that is "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", which introduced a method of cataloging a world where the observer is external to it. The genius in this exercise is discovered in the indisputable comic value aliens bring trying to piece our world together.

Now imagine how the revered Dr. Samuel Johnson, who wrote his original Dictionary in 1755, would perceive our modern way of life. He would be an outsider no different than a visiting alien. And his language, quaint and old, will elevate his observations to a credible level of authenticity.

Dr. Johnson would find Twitter as the simplest media to channel his discoveries, and its 140 character limitation he would find as a worthy challenge that would be a match to his abilities of concise formulations.

I discovered Dr. Johnson by chance, his aphorisms probably retweeted by somebody I follow. His definitions I found to be witty and on the spot. His old morals were frequently giving a fresh point of view to things we modern people don't put too much thought in anymore. The best way to find what is in this book is to see a few of the best definitions yourself:

"Deodorant n. Miasma that, when apply’d underarm in sufficient Depth, is held by Primitives & English Youths to convey Irresistibility"

"Cocaine n. potent Snuff that does invest the Partaker with th’Illusion of Omnipotence & his Membrum the Reality of Impotence"

"Gymnasium n. an inverted Work-House that People do PAY to enter & therein undergo Servitude"

"LinkedIn n. a ghostly Coffee-House of Commerce in which the recently unemploy’d do remind the working World of their EXISTENCE"

"MILF n. cant Term for a Woman in possession of a Child who does excite in Men the Urge to produce another"

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Apart from the collected works, his continuous stream can be found at https://twitter.com/DrSamuelJohnson

The idea for this book is great. most parts of it are very entertaining. Although the standard is very high it is not evenly manifested throughout the text, that I find to be the only downside of this work.

I read it as an e-book on my phone, immediate accessibility and the nature of its text provided me edifying diversion for times which would've been otherwise lost.

Mentioned in The New York Times: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/an-ad-agency-hires-samuel-johns...

His move to America was announced by himself thusly: https://twitter.com/DrSamuelJohnson/status/90332525200809984 ("Auspicious News: I set sail to live in the Colonies to-day. Future Tweets shall be compos'd in a 'twixtatlantic ACCENT")… (more)