Latest news with #BlackSwans
The Age
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
He had run out of ideas and was running out of time. So he turned his problems into art
Stieg Persson had run out of ideas and was quickly running out of time. The accomplished Melbourne-based artist had been offered a show and as he sat, facing the possibility of blank walls and blank canvases, he decided to take his dilemma and flip it on its head. Persson has work held in most of our major galleries as well as the Auckland Art Gallery and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This month, his latest exhibition, Black Swans, opened at Anna Schwartz Gallery – and all of the works come from having absolutely no ideas, he says. 'I'd been out of the studio for a while ... and I'd just lost the rhythm,' he explains. 'For a couple of weeks I had literally no ideas... I just couldn't see it. And then I thought, why don't I make work about having no ideas – deal with the problem.' As he gazed at Post-it notes stuck on the wall – featuring scribbled lines from texts that resonated with him – he realised he was not the first to face this predicament. Having read about 'black swan events' recently, and having painted swans in the past, he decided to get to work and combine the two. Originally used to describe an impossible event – prior to 1697, no European knew black swans existed – the term now refers to a highly improbable event that once it occurs, seems inevitable. Coined in the context of financial markets by US-based former options trader Nassim Taleb in 2007, the term 'black swan event' now has a broader cultural meaning. Persson's series takes quotes from some of our greatest artistic minds and makes them spout from the mouths of black swans. Some of the lines are amusing, some are poignant; all of them ring true. 'Once it happened, it came together rather quickly,' he says. 'I had this one little painting which was an abstract I had done in the '90s, that became the background. I thought about that heraldic space where animals talk, those medieval balloons.' Though most of the paintings were well underway before the second election of Donald Trump, as every day brings new black swan events, the works feel particularly prescient.
Sydney Morning Herald
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
He had run out of ideas and was running out of time. So he turned his problems into art.
Stieg Persson had run out of ideas and was quickly running out of time. The accomplished Melbourne-based artist had been offered a show and as he sat, facing the possibility of blank walls and blank canvases, he decided to take his dilemma and flip it on its head. Persson has work held in most of our major galleries as well as the Auckland Art Gallery and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This month, his latest exhibition, Black Swans, opened at Anna Schwartz Gallery – and all of the works come from having absolutely no ideas, he says. 'I'd been out of the studio for a while ... and I'd just lost the rhythm,' he explains. 'For a couple of weeks I had literally no ideas... I just couldn't see it. And then I thought, why don't I make work about having no ideas – deal with the problem.' As he gazed at Post-it notes stuck on the wall – featuring scribbled lines from texts that resonated with him – he realised he was not the first to face this predicament. Having read about 'black swan events' recently, and having painted swans in the past, he decided to get to work and combine the two. Originally used to describe an impossible event – prior to 1697, no European knew black swans existed – the term now refers to a highly improbable event that once it occurs, seems inevitable. Coined in the context of financial markets by US-based former options trader Nassim Taleb in 2007, the term 'black swan event' now has a broader cultural meaning. Persson's series takes quotes from some of our greatest artistic minds and makes them spout from the mouths of black swans. Some of the lines are amusing, some are poignant; all of them ring true. 'Once it happened, it came together rather quickly,' he says. 'I had this one little painting which was an abstract I had done in the '90s, that became the background. I thought about that heraldic space where animals talk, those medieval balloons.' Though most of the paintings were well underway before the second election of Donald Trump, as every day brings new black swan events, the works feel particularly prescient.
The Age
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
He had run out of ideas and was running out of time. So he turned his problems into art.
Stieg Persson had run out of ideas and was quickly running out of time. The accomplished Melbourne-based artist had been offered a show and as he sat, facing the possibility of blank walls and blank canvases, he decided to take his dilemma and flip it on its head. Persson has work held in most of our major galleries as well as the Auckland Art Gallery and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This month, his latest exhibition, Black Swans, opened at Anna Schwartz Gallery – and all of the works come from having absolutely no ideas, he says. 'I'd been out of the studio for a while ... and I'd just lost the rhythm,' he explains. 'For a couple of weeks I had literally no ideas... I just couldn't see it. And then I thought, why don't I make work about having no ideas – deal with the problem.' As he gazed at Post-it notes stuck on the wall – featuring scribbled lines from texts that resonated with him – he realised he was not the first to face this predicament. Having read about 'black swan events' recently, and having painted swans in the past, he decided to get to work and combine the two. Originally used to describe an impossible event – prior to 1697, no European knew black swans existed – the term now refers to a highly improbable event that once it occurs, seems inevitable. Coined in the context of financial markets by US-based former options trader Nassim Taleb in 2007, the term 'black swan event' now has a broader cultural meaning. Persson's series takes quotes from some of our greatest artistic minds and makes them spout from the mouths of black swans. Some of the lines are amusing, some are poignant; all of them ring true. 'Once it happened, it came together rather quickly,' he says. 'I had this one little painting which was an abstract I had done in the '90s, that became the background. I thought about that heraldic space where animals talk, those medieval balloons.' Though most of the paintings were well underway before the second election of Donald Trump, as every day brings new black swan events, the works feel particularly prescient.
New York Post
17-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Wall Street saw right through media's coverup of Biden's decline
I don't like spending much time on media criticism, and yet the recent spate of 'Joe Biden in Decline' exposés deserves some opprobrium because up here on Wall Street, not in Washington, people saw Biden's increasing decrepitude long before the alleged geniuses in the mainstream media got around to reporting on a scandal bigger than Watergate. Recall, Richard Nixon was forced out of office in the 1970s for covering up a third-rate burglary. The people around Biden covered up the infirmity of the man whom we needed sentient to run the country and protect the free world. He so obviously wasn't. Then-President Biden walking off the stage after debating President Trump in Atlanta on June 27, 2024. Photo byThe MSM didn't see it or refused to tell the American people the full story in real time for reasons we can all debate. But Wall Street did tell the story long before these after-the-fact accounts. Don't believe me? Here's an excerpt from my column from June 2023, a full 13 months before Biden realized he needed to drop out of the 2024 presidential race: 'If [Biden] wants the nomination, it's his. Unless one day, maybe someday soon or just minutes before he's officially the nominee . . . he loses his ability to speak and reason even more. Perhaps Dr. Jill Biden confers with real doctors and somehow convinces her stubborn hubby he needs to go into retirement. That latter scenario sounds crazy, I know. It's also clearly plausible, and increasingly so, my Wall Street sources who get paid a lot to gauge such Black Swans tell me.' Wall Street still is the place where people make a lot of money. The mainstream media is dying as a business. Here's another reason why.
Scoop
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Flow Collective Release New EP Black Swans
Press Release – The Flow Collective An intimate reflection on memory, identity, and relationships WHANGANUI, NEW ZEALAND – Acclaimed Aotearoa musicians Elizabeth de Vegt and Hamish Jellyman (Ngāi Tahu) return as The Flow Collective with their deeply personal new EP Black Swans, releasing on Friday, 16 May 2025, in celebration of New Zealand Music Month and de Vegt's birthday. Black Swans is a contemplative body of work that reflects on personal histories and how our identities are shaped by past events and relationships. Written and recorded in 2024 at The Stomach in Palmerston North, the EP draws on themes of memory, family, and resilience. The songs express the complexities of navigating the emotional terrain of transformation, and the determination to resist disassociation. 'These songs come from a place of honesty and looking back,' says de Vegt. 'They are about recognising how the past lives in us and shapes who we are today, especially as artists.' This EP represents the first in a duo, where the underlying threads of past, present and future will link them together. While their previous release Flow was expansive—drawing on the poetry of Airini Beautrais and a collective of musicians—Black Swans is paired back and raw. With lyrics written solely by de Vegt, the EP is grounded in storytelling and emotional vulnerability. Her powerful vocal performances and melodies complement Jellyman's multi-instrumental compositions, showcasing his skills on bass, synth, brass, guitar and keys. The result is a strikingly intimate record that sits within the evolving tradition of contemporary New Zealand folk, yet remains firmly rooted in personal experience. Artist Bios Elizabeth de Vegt is a composer, sound artist, singer-songwriter, performer, and researcher based in Whanganui. She is a vocal and piano teacher and holds a Master of Music with First Class Honours from the University of Waikato, where she also completed doctoral research supported by a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship. De Vegt's work spans contemporary classical, electroacoustic, theatrical, and folk genres. Her compositions have been performed across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and the USA. She is a recipient of the Gill Presland Award for Excellence in Teaching and holds multiple certifications in adult education and professional coaching. Hamish Jellyman is a Whanganui-based composer, educator, and multi-instrumentalist. He completed a Bachelor of Music in Classical Performance (Trombone) at the New Zealand School of Music and has performed throughout New Zealand, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Australia. His credits include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal NZ Air Force Band, Auckland Jazz Orchestra, and bands such as Niko Ne Zna and Spiral Jazz Collective. Hamish is also a dedicated music educator, teaching in schools across the country and directing jazz and concert bands. His studio work includes recordings with Shapeshifter, Gareth Thomas, and others. Black Swans will be available on all major streaming platforms from 16 May 2025. This EP offers a resonant and courageous take on songwriting from two of Aotearoa's most thoughtful and experienced musical voices.
