iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I know, right? Memory does funny things. But at least we'll always have a roller skating Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly, in film still from 1980 film Xanadu, clapping while roller skating in front of a whole group of roller skaters, who are having the time of their lives

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I know it's not to everyone's taste, but so much in that clip is absolutely bonkers - just throwing so many different elements in at once - I'm just fascinated it even got made in the first place

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omg please don't get me started- because then we'd have to talk about the appearance of Olivia's future husband (and eventual ex-husband), the dreamy Matt Lattanzi, as well

Still from 1980 film Xanadu with three dancers, including Matt Lattanzi at center

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I mean, why is this even a question..??

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Zoot suited break dancers? Sure, we'll throw in a few of those as well..!

A group of five guys in Zoot suits, break dancing in formation, in scene from 1980 film Xanadu, which a lot of people think is bad but it's actually genius, so don't listen to the haters

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Xanadu | Olivia Newton-John & Gene Kelly's '80s/'40s Hybrid E.L.O. Roller Disco

Since you all deserve something good this morning: in my mind this scene is a pinnacle in moviemaking history, and no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. An absolutely bonkers visual extravaganza that will never be matched:

youtu.be

YouTube video by Universal Pictures

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omg- thank you for reminding me of this, this morning!

A scene from the 1980 film "Xanadu," with roller skating waitresses

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Peter Huestis @peterhuestis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

If only Kelly Clarkson had known Wayne Thiebaud had already made a much better bird for her, the whole current mess could have been avoided: Wayne Thiebaud, Bird on a Swing, 1979

Colorful image of a bird perched on a hanging, swinglike perch

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Reposted by Michael Lobel

Marshall Arisman was born on this date in 1938 and I remember his work for Omni Magazine vividly. "The fine art world stigmatizes people for illustrating [...] Every gallery tells me to quit illustration" Witness, oil on canvas, 1981, Smithsonian American Art Museum:

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Reposted by Michael Lobel

I'm sorry but art history as a scholarly field totally rocks and everyone should know how fascinating it is. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

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I'm sorry but art history as a scholarly field totally rocks and everyone should know how fascinating it is. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk

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A slide from my "Van Gogh's Modernity" graduate seminar @huntercollege.bsky.social this afternoon, when we talked about the conventionally simplistic view of Van Gogh & his work, and how deeply he was engaged with 19th-century popular culture & mechanically reproduced imagery

A powerpoint slide with two images, Luke Fildes's Empty Chair & Van Gogh's Gauguin's Armchair, with text labels identifying them as such

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Okay, the museum's listing dates this to 1972, so I may have made a mistake there; now I'm wondering how often Warhol & Jed Johnson stayed at the Hotel Cipriani (and no, I don't have the Warhol diaries handy)

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And this one is very interesting; I'm assuming Warhol's reference to "meat rack" in the background is a reference to a gay cruising spot in Venice. Any Bluesky historians of cruising in Italy in the 1970s are welcome to weigh in

Photo of people on a boat with written notation, "Cipriani boat with meat rack in background"

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What this bot won't tell you, but I will—because I'm a real human being!—is that little red book is full of Polaroids by Andy Warhol, including this one of his then-partner Jed Johnson & two other comely lads sunbathing by pool of Hotel Cipriani in Venice, likely in 1977 www.slam.org/collection/o...

Polaroid photo of three young men sunbathing, with writing "Aug. 28, Hotel Cipriani"

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Reposted by Michael Lobel

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Because you all deserve something good today: Allan Rohan Crite's luminous & deeply felt "Streetcar Madonna," 1946. Crite was an African-American artist & illustrator based in the Boston area whose work consistently celebrated his religious faith

Image of a streetcar interior, with a Black Madonna and child seated at center, amidst a group of white passengers. The two women seated behind the central religious figures seem to glare or cast disapproving glances

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Reposted by Michael Lobel

I left x despite having a large following bc I don’t want to make free content for the world’s wealthiest racist. It’s not worth it to me.

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Hi YUP! This looks like an interesting book; one suggestion- maybe adding a hyperlink to the book page would be useful on a post like this..?

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He was really, really good. Another one, just because: Allan Rohan Crite, "And the Lord Said," 1934

Painting of a group of Black figures assembled inside a shoe repair shop. A man, who appears to be white, gets his shoes shined at right, while an older Black man reads from a Bible to a crowd that listens to him raptly

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The first major book about an artist of powerful significance to twentieth-century Black and American art

If you'd like to learn more about Allan Rohan Crite, this is the catalog to several exhibitions in the past year that featured his work

press.princeton.edu

Allan Rohan Crite

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Crite worked in a variety of artistic media, including a series of metal relief works he produced in the 1930s, like this expressively detailed "Black Nativity"

Metal relief sculpture showing Black figures in a nativity scene, with infant Jesus at center

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Crite did numerous version of what are called his transit Madonnas; this is his "Madonna Appears in the North End of Boston," also from 1946

A Black Madonna with attendant appear on a subway platform

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Sending all the best, Jeremy💗

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In looking back at the image by Lewis, I'm realizing there's another possible reading, as the figure at left is holding an object that could be a broken bottle. So perhaps the wounded Black man has already been attacked, & the police officer is stepping in not to help but to assault him further

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Norman Lewis: Jumping Jive

If you're interested in Lewis, the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in Chelsea now has up a show of his work through mid-November, including several delightful jazz-inspired paintings michaelrosenfeld.com/exhibitions/...

michaelrosenfeld.com

The gallery’s seventh solo exhibition for Norman Lewis (1909–1979) highlights the vital role that music—from jazz and blues to classical, pop, and reggae—played in the artist’s life and practice.

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Lewis may not be as well known as other mid-20th-century American artists, but his work is fascinating in balancing between abstraction & an exploration of Black identity, as in his 1960 painting "American Totem," the central mass of which evokes Klan-like hoods whitney.org/collection/w...

Black painted field with totem-like element at center, some parts of which evoke KKK hoods

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