Talisman I, graphite and watercolor on paper, 2010 by William Powhida

When Hrag Vartanian announced on favorite go-to art blog Hyperallergic last week that they were going to host a lecture by artist/provocateur William Powhida on "Surviving the Art World Using the Art of Sorcery," I was both intrigued and confused. After coming off the heels of the month-long #class, would this be something like that? Would it be like watching the Art World Town Crier? Would it be performance art? Stand-up?

From Powhida's site:

I will be discussing the magical aspects of art including illusionism, conjuration, alchemy and drawing power from malign art world entities. I will also be presenting a new work in progress for the operation of composite art magic. While some of the forms are borrowed from traditional black magic this is a highly personalized, composite magic made with common studio materials. I will also perform certain magical operations that use the ability of the mind to alter the physical world and bridge the gap between what is and what is desired. In the words of A.E. Waite "You have to be good to do evil."

Not living in the city itself, I watched with interest as the limited-space seating quickly filled up, shrugged my shoulders, and added this to the great long list of Things-I'll-Miss-'Cause-I-Don't-Live-In-the-NYC.

Enter Facebook fanpage for Hyperallergic:

Seriously. Awesome.

Why every art venue worth a damn doesn't do something similar, I'll never know. But kudos to you that do. I'll listen to your podcasts, watch your streaming video, Vimeo, YouTube, etc in whatever way you choose to make art more accessible.

Tune in tonight at 8 p.m. on the Hyperallergic site to get some Art Magic, baby.