Thursday, June 21, 5 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Stree, Davenport IA
A movie masterpiece, an Iowa-based photographer, and specialty craft beers will all be on tap when the Figge Art Museum hosts its June 21 Cinema at the Figge presentation, an event sponsored by Ford Photography boasting guest artist Bary Phipps and a screening of Stanley Kubrick's legendary comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb.
Nominated for four Academy Awards and currently standing with a 99-percent approval rating at RottenTomatoes.com, Dr. Strangelove is the iconic 1964 political satire that spoofs the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The film was directed, produced, and co-written by Kubrick, and stars Peter Sellers (Oscar-nominated for playing three roles), George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, and Slim Pickens – the latter given one of the most memorable exits in film history.
Kubrick's movie, a massive box-office hit, was described by Roger Ebert as “arguably the best political satire of the century,” and The Guardian's John Patterson wrote, “There had been nothing in comedy like Dr Strangelove ever before. All the gods before whom the America of the stolid, paranoid '50s had genuflected – the Bomb, the Pentagon, the National Security State, the President himself, Texan masculinity, and the alleged Commie menace of water-fluoridation – went into the wood-chipper and never got the same respect ever again.” In 2010, Dr. Strangelove was also listed by Time magazine as one of the 100 best films since the publication's inception in 1923, while the Writers Guild of America ranked its screenplay the 12th-best ever written.
Preceding the 7 p.m. Cinema at the Figge screening of Kubrick's masterpiece will be a presentation and Q&A session with Iowa City's Barry Phipps on the creation of his photographic book Between Gravity & What Cheer. When Barry Phipps relocated to Iowa from Chicago in 2012, he knew nothing of the state, and began taking day trips in a spirit of wonder and discovery. His marked-up road map soon became a work of art itself – covered with spokes, lines, and places both seen and needing to be seen – and along the way he plied his trade, taking photographs. Inspired by such seminal works as Robert Frank’s The Americans, Between Gravity & What Cheer is a unique vision of the Midwest and Iowa, with Phipps noting abstract shapes and colors as he photographs business districts with quirky and/or artful signs, streetscapes and landscapes, buildings with ghosts of paint, and occasional residents.
The June 21 Cinema at the Figge presentation will begin with a 5 p.m. social hour with appetizers provided by the museum and specialty craft beers provided by WAKE Brewing, donations are appreciated for this free event, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7832 or visiting FiggeArtMuseum.com or Facebook.com/figgecinema.
