The Rake Magazine

Today's the last day of August, for heaven's sake... Never before has it been more urgent to catch an outdoor show! Try the last installment of Patio Nights at the Minnesota Museum of Art--with the Belles of Skin City and, again (a favorite), Desdemona.

A few folks from around here made it out to see Army of Shadows at the Edina Cinema last night--this being Jean-Pierre Melville's rarely seen 1969 film about the French resistance during WWII, both inspired by Melville's own wartime experiences and the book Belle de Jour by Joseph Kessel. Anthony Lane, the notoriously cranky but utterly entertaining film critic for the New Yorker, even gave it a rave. But don't take my word for it... I expect Peter Schilling will chime in on this one shortly. But in the meantime, know that the run of this must-see flick ends tomorrow! You won't get a lot of other chances to see this film.

Again, there's not a lot of interesting stuff going on today. I guess we're in a pre-holiday "slumber" (or something). Sigh... The State Fair's still happening but, pfft!, that's not much of a secret. The Twins are playing. Plenty o' shows to see at the all-new Guthrie. And speaking of which, Jeffrey Hatcher, who penned the current "Dowling Studio" production, is giving a talk about how to be a screen/playwright, which I'm certain will be of interest to plenty of folks since everyone under the moon dreams of makin' the movies someday. The most exciting thing I have to report is that I'll be venturing out into the uptown area of Minneapolis this evening; and I'll be accompanied by my very good looking, very single, soon-to-turn-thirty first cousin, Sheryl. If you spot a pasty white, frizzy-haired lady in ballet flats standing next to a sparkling, angel-headed glamazon, rail thin and wearing fashionable platform heels, you've found us.

Not much going on 'cept the cheaper showing of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Tonight it's fifteen dollars as opposed to the usual eighteen. How many times can she recycle one secret, you ask?

My favorite thing about the fair is NOT machinery hill. Nor is it the exotic animals (i.e., the sad looking giraffe whose head doesn't quite fit under the big top). It's not the stunt skateboarders and BMX bikers, not the corndogs and cheese curds, nor is it the ejection seat. And don't get me wrong; I rather like each of these things. It's just that I realllllllly love, for whatever reason, the state fair fine art show. Perhaps it's because my friend Adam made it in a few years back, and I can still remember his self-portrait as being the most starkly beautiful thing in a room full of mediocrity. There's always a gem or two in that show. Last year it was a photographer's sideways glance at a golden retriever. A while back, it was the half-finished painting/drawing of a cow, as done by an artist who passed away earlier that summer. (Drat! I don't remember his name!)

There is plenty of sentimental work to be had at the fair--which I find to be a nice respite from all the emotionally detached work I see at the galleries I normally visit. Perhaps this is because out state is hugely represented in the show, and folks out there aren't bound by the same aesthetic fashions as we city-dwellers. I always suspected that Adam got in because his painting represented a purely visceral, and highly emotional scavenge for beauty--for love, even. He painted it after having an incredibly invasive craniotomy; and the painting, I suppose, was a lament for the person lost. But ultimately what he found was a thing of beauty and worth. Or at least that's what I saw when I looked at the painting.

There are plenty-o-artists hanging around the fine arts building. If you listen closely, you can hear some of 'em grumbling about the jury process and all its out-state favoritism. On the other hand, another great thing to listen for is the reaction being had to the art. (Adam's "Self Portrait after Surgery" won an inspired "harrumph" or two!) Surely this place is worthy of some Overheardinminneapolis.com lurkers!

Also of note: Hopkins Center for the Arts is hosting a state fair overflow exhibition. You won't get to browse alongside the corndog-fed outlanders. But perhaps you see this as good thing.