Herb & Dorothy: An Antidote to The Art of the Steal

Herb & Dorothy makes some interesting counterbalance to the recent documentaries about Albert C. Barnes and his collection of art.

Recently, Mr. Lousy and Raúl have become fixated on Albert C. Barnes, his priceless collection of artwork, and the bitter battle over the possession and purpose of said collection under the ever-shifting auspices of the Albert C. Barnes Foundation.

Albert C. Barnes. You don’t fuck with this guy. They had to wait decades after his death before crossing his last will and testament.

The story is fascinating, infuriating, and enlightening, one in which assumed good guys (big name charitable foundations) really do act like bad guys, and little (or littler) guys can seem selfish, snobbish, and condescending. I wrote about the one-sided film The Art of the Steal,

Russian Olympic Uniforms as a Rorschach Test

I accidentally gave myself a Rorschach test while looking at the flag borne by the leader of the Russian athletes in this procession. I’ve already discussed my great displeasure in the design. Now matters are more complicated as I’ve discovered two bulbous penises engaged in what I imagine to be frottage.

Just as I reckoned that the unflattering grey

The Art of the Steal

Mr. Lousy recommended that I see this, if memory serves me, while we waxed warmly over one of our common favorite genres: the heist film.  The more elaborate the better, I always felt.  Some of them leave me spellbound – Jules Dassin’s glamourous, humorous, gorgeous Topkapi with Melina Mercouri and Peter Ustinov; and Spike Lee’s grey, claustrophobic puzzle Inside Man. Others leave me cold: I’ve wondered what is wrong with me that I can’t even sit through Norman Jewison’s

Chevolution

simulacrum

Reproductions of Che’s image revolve around the original reproduction of Che’s image.

I just finished working out the simulacrum in the film, The Thirteenth Floor – about simulated realities that imperceptibly transform into authentic, independent realities.

And here comes simulacrum again – in Chevolution., a documentary directed by Luis Lopez and Trish Ziff, which chronicles