We’ve shown you some pretty amazing pumpkins over the past few weeks, but leave it to our arty friends at the Museum of Modern Art to take things to the next level by carving this beautiful jack-o-lantern version of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. What do you think: Is this Halloween ode to the famous work even more impressive than the replica that we spotted last year that was made out of two tons breakfast cereal?

It has been a very good year for Christian Marclay. First, he achieved art world stardom with his 24-hour montage, The Clock, an insanely popular piece made up of thousands of film and television clips of timepieces that examines how we perceive time and choose to present ourselves as a result. Then he took home a Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 54th Venice Biennale. Now, his status as a fixture on the contemporary scene has been solidified. GalleristNY reports that The Museum of Modern Art has acquired one of six editions of his celebrated video art piece — and that the other five have all either already been sold to a major museum, or are in the contracting process.

“With his magnum opus The Clock, Marclay highlights the virtuosity of sampling and remixing as contemporary methods that underline the importance of editing as a highly creative process,” Sabine Breitwieser, chief curator of media and performance at MoMA, said in a statement. Stay tuned to find out when the newly-acquired work will go up on display at the museum; if it’s anything like last winter’s show at Chelsea’s Paula Cooper Gallery, you’ll want to do anything within in your power to beat the crowds. [Photo credit: Benjamin Norman for The New York Times]

1. Jimmy Fallon’s popular Thank You Notes segment, a recurring Friday night homage to everything from his dad to hangovers, just landed him a two-book deal. The first Thank You Notes book will hit shelves May 23. [via TV Guide]

2. To be filed under things that we find hard to believe: James Franco is launching a college class on James Franco at Columbia College Hollywood. The class will ask student editors to “create a cinematic image of James Franco” using behind-the-scenes videos from the short films that he has directed. [via The AV Club]

3. Ricky Gervais has told the UK’s Heat magazine that he has been asked back to host the Golden Globes for a third year in a row: “The ratings were up again and the organizers asked me to consider a third year. I don’t think I should. I don’t know what I could do better. I certainly couldn’t get more press for them, that’s for sure. You know me. Two seasons is enough.” [via Vulture]

4. Barbara Bush (also known as the less-drunk of President George W. Bush’s twin daughters or the one who went to Yale) has released a video endorsing gay marriage in New York. [via Gawker]

5. The Google Art Project, an interactive street-view-style interface, launched in London this morning, bringing seminal works from Germany, Russia, New York, and 14 other locations online. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art are among the participating institutions. [via Fast Company]

Bonus link: PETA’s Super Bowl video features models fellating vegetables

Although sculpture is a three-dimensional form that needs to be seen to be experienced, it’s normally reproduced through photography. Since the inception of photography, artists and photographers have used the camera to not only capture sculptural forms on film but to stage scenes with objects and document performances that now only exist in print. Likewise, artists have long used photomontage to construct sculptural fantasies purely from the imagination. Examining the intersections between photography and sculpture, The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, 1839 to Today, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art offers new ways of understanding what sculpture is, as well as a chance to explore the aesthetic evolution of photography through its rich, 170-year history.

Read More »

1. Of Montreal has announced that their 10th studio album will be called False Priest and is due out on September 14. [via NME]
2. Watch a clip of Brian Wilson in the studio reimagining the work of George Gershwin. [via USA Today]
3. Janeane Garofalo is in negotiations to join CBS’ Criminal Minds spinoff, starring opposite Forest Whitaker. [via Deadline]
4. Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) are in final negotiations to write and direct the Lego movie, which will mix live action and animation. [via THR]
5. Thanks to Monet, Tim Burton, and Marina Abramovic, the Museum of Modern Art attracted its highest-ever number of visitors during its 2010 fiscal year. [via WSJ]

Bonus link: ComicsAlliance’s 20 Best Superman Panels

The Museum of Modern Art has blown the lid off Tim Burton’s best-kept secret: he isn’t just an imaginative filmmaker; he’s also an amazingly talented artist. Burton’s retrospective, which is spread throughout the museum, focuses on the director’s 14 feature films, while also offering drawings, paintings, photographs, sketchbooks, props, and short films that have never previously been exhibited. Spanning a lifetime of creativity — from his teenage drawings and college films to character sketches from his upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie — Burton’s Gothic vision is as captivating as it is astounding.

Read More »

Were you ever forced to watch D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation for a class? Considered Hollywood’s first “blockbuster,” the silent black and white film takes place before, during, and after the Civil War, and is controversial because of its positive portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. It also clocks in at three hours.

Composer/multimedia artist DJ Spooky (aka Paul D. Miller) has created a cinematic deconstruction and remix titled Rebirth of a Nation that will be playing at the Museum of Modern Art from June 22nd through the 28th; he emailed with Flavorpill to explain what he hopes you take away from his post-Obama version of a 1915 classic. Read More »

Known for his effortless, elegant aesthetic, Turkish-born director Ferzan Ozpetek is one of the most successful filmmakers in Italy today; he’s a super gay who loves ’50s melodramas of the sophisticated ilk, multiculturalism in movies, and death — all obvious when you view any of his humanistic films.

Lucky for New Yorkers, the Museum of Modern Art is showing seven of his works, including his most recent, Un giorno perfetto, starting on December 4th as part of their Filmmaker in Focus series.

To prep you for your trip to Oz, he’s offering Flavorwire readers a simple primer; after the jump, four flicks that would be on the syllabus if Ozpetek was teaching Italian Cinema 101.

Bonus points if you can name a movie that he missed that should have made the cut.

Read More »

VIEW THE SLIDESHOW OF HER INSPIRED MISADVENTURES

After reading about Jerry Saltz’s overnight stay at Carsten Höller’s Revolving Hotel Room at the Guggenheim, we got to thinking: What would it be like to spend a night in New York’s other major museums? No better way to find out than to try. We sent our more attractive reporter Adda Birnir — robe in hand — with our staff photographer Tom Starkweather to *test out the accommodations.

Jerry Saltz, we see your Guggenheim and raise you the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum and MoMA.

Read More »