Paint Me a Road Out of Here, a new documentary film by Catherine Gund, traces the 50-year journey of Faith Ringgold’s mural, For the Women’s House, from Rikers Island to the Brooklyn Museum. If you happen to be in New York over the next couple weeks, the documentary is now playing at the Film Forum.
For Los Angeles — Ed Ruscha talks about his artist’s book, Every Building on the Sunset Strip; and the Getty archive of Ruscha’s photographic documentation of Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard, including this interactive presentation.
For A.E.K. — Louis Armstrong reads ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. “The poem, first published in 1823, would be Armstrong’s final commercial recording. Armstrong taped it on February 26, 1971, on a reel-to-reel recorder at his home in Queens, New York, during his last spell of good health.”
Wacław Szpakowski’s Rhythmical Lines, a series of labyrinthine geometrical abstractions, each one produced from a single continuous line. More at the artist’s website.
Francis Bacon: Human Presenceopens at the National Portrait Gallery: “this exhibition will explore Francis Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture and how he challenged traditional definitions of the genre.” More on his approach to portraiture, from the artist himself, in conversation with David Sylvester. And, in case you want even more Bacon, a new book about his work process will be released next month.
The BBC Sound Effects Archive now offers over 33,000 sounds for free download and released under a non-commercial use license. Note, especially for AEK, the “sound mixer” toggle to layer, edit and re-order clips from the archive to create your own sounds.
Zürich Opera’s new staging of Der Ring des Nibelungen was live streamed throughout May and is now available, on-demand and free of charge, until 15 June. Even if you are not a Wagner fan, Andreas Homoki’s production and Christian Schmidt’s neoclassical, rotating sets are worth a look.
From Business Insider’s series Still Standing, a look at La Maison du Pastel, a 300-year-old French company that makes pastels for artists by hand. A complete set of their pastels, packaged in three custom-made French oak chests, is available via their web shop for just under thirty thousand euros.