Bits: 09.26.09

Paul Shambroom, Martin Mace cruise missile, Interstate 75 Exit 146, Centerville, Georgia, 2008

• In the statement for his newest series, "Shrines" (above), photographer Paul Shambroom asks, "Why is a machine that was made for killing used as a memorial to the dead? Does it help a community mourn and heal from its losses, or is it intended to inspire new generations of warriors? Can it do both?"

• Swedish artist Tue Greenfort discusses his Project for the New American Century, part of Creative Time's just closed exhibition PLOT09/This World & Nearer Ones at Governor's Island, NY. (I'd be remiss if I didn't give props to friends at Latitudes, who first introduced me to Greenfort's work a few years ago.)

• Rob Walker, Buying In author and "Murketing" blogger, recently launched a new project: Significant Objects pairs thrift store purchases with creative writers, who invent a story to go with each piece. The story and object are then auctioned off on Ebay. For instance, a tiny metal boot -- purchased by Walker for $3 and "invested with new significance" by cyberpunk writer/futurist Bruce Sterling -- sold online for $86.

• At Smithsonian, art historian Henry Adams asks: Did Jackson Pollock hide his name in the paint swirls of his 1943 Mural? (Via Alex Kent on Facebook.)

• For its inaugural edition, the new Twin Cities-based literary and contemporary arts journal Quodlibetica opens with the theme of "wilderness."

• That's cool: Rather than hoarding their collection of 1,100 works by artists like Warhol, Diebenkorn, Twombly, and Kieffer for themeselves or in a named museum of their own, GAP cofounders Doris and Donald Fisher are giving the whole shootin' match to SFMOMA. (It might be a loan; the press release language isn't entirely clear.)

• LA artist Mark Bradford is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow. Congrats.

• Onetime Madison pal Tomasso Lesnick has been adding udders to things -- dinosaurs, bears, camels -- to awesome effect.

• To the chagrin of a NY Post (i.e. News Corp.) columnist, American Girl introduces a homeless doll. Meet Gwen Thompson.