The jury is still out on whether taxpayers are getting a positive ROI on the $787 billion stimulus package.
The White House has assured us that the job numbers released last Thursday are just the tip of the iceberg. Americans will be jazzed later this month when reports from the states “show at least 250,000 education jobs created or saved across the nation.”
OK, but as my mother would say, tomorrow is not promised to anyone.
So rather than wait until Oct. 30 to find out where some of the money went, I checked out Philadelphia native Barkley L. Hendricks’ first career retrospective, “Birth of the Cool,” at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Support for the touring exhibition was provided by an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant through the National Endowment for the Arts.
During a gallery lecture, Hendricks said he was inspired by the coolness associated with jazz musicians like Miles Davis, who “epitomized cool,” and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and some stylish subjects:
There is a message that each of us communicates to the world by our fashion choices.
Hendricks’ life-sized portraits include cool cats such as “Dr. Kool,” “Sir Charles, Alias Willie Harris” and “George Jules Taylor,” and hip chicks like “Ms. Johnson,” “Miss T” and “Lawdy Mama.” And since Hendricks is pretty cool and, ahem, “Brilliantly Endowed,” there are a number of self-portraits.
One of my favorites is “Icon for My Man Superman.” The subtitle is Bobby Seale’s observation that “Superman never saved any black people.”
So, while you’re cooling it until more stimulus job numbers are released, check out “Birth of the Cool.”
For more info, go here.
