Word: hoban
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Though the final building designed by James Hoban had dramatically shrunk from L'Enfant's original dream house, it was still the biggest in America when Adams moved in on Nov. 1, 1800. His arrival at about noon from Philadelphia caused little stir when he came down Pennsylvania Avenue in a nondescript carriage, one manservant on horseback behind him. Adams did some routine work in a makeshift office on the first floor of the still unfinished structure, ate supper, then took a candle to make his way up a servants' winding staircase to his bedroom. The main staircase...
Like so many other things in that time, the White House came about because of the determination of George Washington. He never got to live there, but he made certain that James Hoban's design took shape. It was strongly hinted that Washington practiced favoritism in getting the real estate and construction materials, but he brushed the criticism aside and made regular inspection trips as construction lurched forward...
...danger that Wright sees in Basquiat is the danger that is missing in Hoban's portrayal. Basquiat's work approaches the underbelly of capitalistic American cultural values with the perspicaciousness that Derrida brings to the deconstruction of logocentric thought. (The two are often discussed together, since 'erasure' is a recurring theme of Basquiat's work.) His work is to American culture what post-structuralism is to Western philosophy: an intelligent threat from the inside out. By repeatedly glossing over Basquiat's work, and focusing instead on trashy melodramas of the art world, Hoban flattens the complexities of Basquita's short...
...Hoban does, however, cover some elements of Basquiat's life that were conspicuously missing from Schnabel's movie. Basquiat had numerous romantic relationships with men, and was fairly out about them. In fact, Basquiat's father's discovery of his son's bisexuality was likely one of the primary reasons Basquiat left home as a young teenager, which lead to his introduction to the underground grafitti culture of the early 1980s. And, where Schnabel's film depicts Andy Warhol as Basquiat's primary connection to the whorl of fame and fortune, Hoban tells us that Basquiat worked early...
...Overall, Hoban's biography offers a somewhat entertaining read to the Basquiat fan who is willing to disregard Hoban's lack of knowledge about art, or to the fan of the 1980s who enjoys tales of decadence and back-stabbing. Yet, the book remains frustrating, not only because of its superficiality, but because of its flippant disregard for the pain that Basquiat's associates and supposed friends obviously caused him. Unfortunately, Hoban manages to depict Basquiat as both a "victim" and a monster, without touching upon "the real danger of Basquiat right...