I love Stella. When it first aired on Comedy Central I was blown away by how tight and well produced it was. One of the problems I find in comedy sketches or shows is that it invariably tends to drag a little bit. But Stella just never seemed to stop. It was one insane fake mustache after the other. I was deeply disappointed that the show didn’t get picked up for another season.
Naturally of course, the DVD was procured and for the first time last night I watched an extra where Michael, Michael and David talk about how Stella began. One of the things that immediately grabbed my attention was that it took almost a decade of consistent work with the concept to bring it to where it is today. I found this very encouraging. Good work takes time and in the midst of your own creations it is easy to forget this. In their earlier sketches you can see the first little glimmers of where it could go. I admire their dedication to just plug away and let the work unfold at its own pace.
I really enjoy latinart.com. It is a great resource that highlights a lot of the really great and amazing contemporary art coming out of Latin America right now. (latino art is so hot right now if you must know). Their recent newsletter arrived in my inbox and lo and behold they were featuring a very interesting Ecuadorean artist called X Andrade. He is primarily a performance artist with a background in anthropology. I was super impressed with his work, and what he had to say in his interview. I highly recommend taking a look at what he is doing. I couldn’t help but agree with his assessment of the gentrification of the “Malecón 2000″.
Also worth noting is the blog Rio Revuelto . Sorry kids–Spanish only! The blog discusses the state of contemporary art in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Extremely informative. I finally feel like I have a better picture of the Ecuadorean contemporary art scene. Its hard to find under all the touristy stuff (which I find interesting for other more theoretical and anthropological reasons).
