Ethereal Rinko Kawauchi

I spent my Thanksgiving turkey-gorging at a Park Slope home owned by a couple who are both involved in photography. Naturally, their apartment was stocked with art books. The best find — Aila (2004), by the Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi. This woman’s square-format pictures are stunning! They really seem to capture many of the chief components of Japan’s unique aesthetic, like serenity and ephemerality. Truly great stuff.

The following images are all untitled from the “Aila” series, 2003-2004.

Holley portraits

I found this guy’s site while searching “christmas card” in Google Images. I kept clicking and stumbled upon a typographic self portrait project comprising user-created submissions. The resulting gallery is pretty cool. Holley Portraits via Daniel Eatock.

Earth in flux

Hey want to see something beautiful and terrifying at the same time? Edward Burtynsky’s Oil series is on view at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler on W. 24th St. in Chelsea until November 28. These c-prints blew me away.

Foreign Policy has a nice photo essay with some images from the same collection also on view at D.C.’s Corcoran Gallery.

Textual landscapes

The Textual Landscapes: Real and Imagined group exhibit at Bryce Wolkowitz is worth a visit. At the very least, this stuff is eye-catching with a bunch of crazy video shit and LED. The show runs until October 31.

Ben Rubin, Lolita 6 (installation view), 2009, acrylic and color LEDs

Airan Kang, 109 Lighting Books (detail), 2009, LED lighting books and plastic cases

Ben Rubin, Shakespeare Machine Study No. 1-4 (detail), 2009, White LEDs, aluminum and electronics

All images from Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery.

Why don’t you do any dishes?

Allison Schulnik’s No Luck Too is on view at the Mike Weiss Gallery and the video installation is backed by this awesome Grizzly Bear tune called “Granny Diner.”

Watch “Hobo Clown” on her official site.

My five-year-old could make that

Can you tell the difference between a Jackson Pollock and bird shit on a sidewalk? What about priceless abstract pieces and worthless monkey doodles? Visit reverent.org’s homepage for more quizzes.