C-MONSTER.net.

Inopportune Moments by Cai Guo-Qiang at MassMoCA, in 2005. See other shots here and here. Read about Cai’s current show at the Guggenheim here. (Photos by C-M.)

Posted by C-Monster.

Abbé Barthélémy, Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1793-94.

Cue the elevator music: Yahoo is allegedly still trying to figure out what the hell happened to four days worth of C-Monster. (I blame Cheney.) My sorry technological state of affairs, combined with the fact that I’m currently on the road for work, means there will be no Digest today. (In fact, the Digest likely won’t come back until Monday…)

In the meantime, enjoy some pics from the Smith College Museum of Art. The modern and contemporary galleries were closed for re-hanging when I visited, so this photo essay will lean towards the old-school.

Click on images to see ‘em large. Money shots after the jump.

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Liquid Origins/Fluid Dreams at the Smith College Museum of Art, aka the men’s bathroom in the museum basement, by Sandy Skoglund.

Who needs the newspaper when you’ve got art? This past weekend, in addition to making a refreshing pilgrimage to the Beer Can Museum, I went to see what was happening at the Smith College Museum of Art. Unfortunately, the modern and contemporary galleries were closed for rejiggering, but I had a great time hanging out in the artist-designed bathrooms in the basement. The men’s and women’s WCs have been done up by artists Sandy Skoglund and Ellen Driscoll, respectively, and look pretty bad-ass.

Click on images to view them large.

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In Heaven There is No Beer: A shelf at the Beer Can Museum in Northampton, Mass.

With more than 4,000 vintage beer cans, dating back to 1938, the Beer Can Museum (conveniently situated inside the Ye Old Watering Hole bar) in Northampton, Mass. is a veritable gold mine of brew-can history. Old-school containers of Coors and Bud sit alongside tins of long-defunct labels such as Blitz and Blatz. The best part: there is cheap beer (of a more contemporary, drinkable nature), free pool and a garrulous bartender who’ll show you how he’s doing with his fiddle practice.

Click on the images to see ‘em large. Money shots after the jump.
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