... constantly working out the details...

... constantly working out the details...

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Down with the flu

My Girllfriend is down with the flu, and it sucks, sxhe has been puking and aching all day. I think she got it from the dog. anyway, i have decided that drinking beer is the best way to for me to avoid this problem. ( the logic on this is really long and complicated, and took me four beers to work out myself)

Any way, I recently got a letter from jack Livingston, asking for my top ten events in baltimore 2006...

I dont know if i have ten, but i ll do what i can

The absolute best thing i saw this year was by far Tim Scofield here is an old link to last years performance

everything seemed to flow right for tim that night. his biggest problem was too many people showed up for the show. he had four flying machines this year, and each flyers movements were choreographed beautifuly to line move with the others and the music.

congradulations tim, i cant wait to see next year. wish i had pictures

Next.

Open studio weekend.

What a cool weekend that was.tons of artists in baltimore showing off thier work, the good folks at AREA 405 having an awesome barbecue and If you happened to catch it FLUGTAG!!!! Lets face it, if you are going to go see a corporately sponsored dorky thing, this is the one to go see. A sculptors wet nightmare.

Alright so The janus show at MAP. There was a lot of cool work inthere, inculding the autopsy of a chair.

The amos and andy show, martin and lewis? whatever it was, it was a collaboration show and several people i know did nice work for it, while other people i know made garbage.

but, a good show none the less

The DC baltimore richmod exchange show. Happened, like most of these events while i was away, but i had knew many folks from around who did great projects for this show as well.

Louise Bourgeois at the contemporary/ walters

(shameless self promotion) my first solo show in the area, at the MD federation of art. (Which none of my professors at the University of Maryland attended. bull shit i say! just ballsy. fuck em all i guess)


Vincent Donarski at artscape


hmmm what else?


Election Day

when cheney shot that guy in the face

rumsfeld retires (very chickenshit i think)

fourth of july

chicken salad

barbra walters

my buddy pete

sorry, thats a whle different list.



must go to sleep now, flu remedy working great, dont care about post anymore, no spellcheck

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Skin lotion

I dont have a very good sense of smell. I rarely notice things like perfume, (or my own horrible so i am told BO.) i love the way my girlfriend smells after she has a shower and puts on lotion.

Its funny the small things you miss.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

its the return of the ....

So, jay z and i chose to come out of retirement at the same time, wierd right? Lots of things are happening right now, things like this...

so that rules, but there has been others as well. for example, i am going to estonia in a few weeks, for a few months to study under Villu Jaanisoo and wont be back untill july. so thats cool. I have been asked to speak on a panel at sloss Southern iron art conference and fought a nearly to the death battle with verizon internet access. screw them. they are perhaps the worst company i have ever dealt with. I wanted to blog my fight with them, but didnt have the internet for like 3 months...

I hope i will be back writing crap like this for nobody though. ( thats not true at all, Hi dad.)

PS for more fun stuff enfuego, check out the following things UMCPMFAand soy un terrapin!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Running out of internet

So i am running out of internet access these days. I am moving and am unsure if there will be internet at my new residence... but while i am on the way out i thought i might post fairly regularly for a change.

I have returned from My internship at Franconia Sculpture Park. Things went fairly smoothly all summer. It is a great way to spend a summer, especially if one has just graduated from undergrad or is between that and undergrad.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Iron in minnesota

So this past week we had the honor of working with Coral Lambert to plan the franconia Hot metal Summer Pour. The pour was a reasonble succes, aside from small problems with the resin bonded sand curing. We poured three times, running the fairly new Aurora compliments of Felicia Glidden as well as a well modified furnace originally built by Michael Bigger. Many of the artists, were either MN locals or former students from various schools in the twin cities areas, but others came from as far as seattle and the UK, being fresh off a tip from April's ICCCIA in Ironbridge, UK.

The director of this pour, as well as the ICCCIA, Coral lambert is becoming one of the names synonomous with iron casting. Her recent show in minneapolis at gallery 13 shows a phenominal ammount of work, much of it made since hurricane Katrina Destroyed much of her New Orleans studio last year. Check the Links for more information.

This is the piece i made for both the iron pour and the 2006-2007 Franconia Sculpture Park exhibition.

For a further list of artists:

Coral Lambert (US/UK)
Eric LeGrey (MN)
Jim Brenner (IL)
Joe Eisenhauer (NC)
Felicia Glidden (MN)
Veronica Glidden (MN)
Mary Johnson (MN)
Jeff Kalstrom (MN)
Arden Miller (MN)
Carrie Phoenix (UK)
Jane Powers (UK)
Theresa Smith (MI)
Jon Smith (NC)
Kat Sikes (NC)
Alair Wells (WA)
Melanie VanHouten (MN)
Kevin Dartt (NY)
Intern Artists:
Christian Benefiel (MD)
James Edwin Payne (IL)

Friday, July 21, 2006

The hardest working lazy slob ever...

I had a rough night last night. First I jumped through a fire only to really hurt my knee, then I saw my own reflection in the mirror, and realized how out of shape I am. It always seems to happen, I never exercise, then do something remotely aerobic, and wind up with a pulled something or the other. It Inspires good work though, at least work that I think is fun to make.

Speaking of which, this is the newest piece I have completed at Franconia. It has a little more allure in person, as it is a kinetic sculpture of sorts. I am pleased with the results, but The park hates it and wants me to do something else... too bad I guess, Maybe the people of Washington DC will like it more. We will have to find out this fall.

In other exciting news, Lori Greenblatt is my featured Franconia artist this time around. A jersey girl to the bone, Lori received her BFA from Alfred University In 2006. Focusing mainly on metal casting her work deals with issues of femininity and a reflection on her own personal frailty and Ailments.

This work, along with others, that she is making out here, has been a departure into using other materials such as steel and Fiberglas resin. The new materials and methods she has been using are vastly improving her work at an impressive pace. I will give you two slides since she has no website to link to...








Lori currently lives and shows in New Jersey and New York.


I am going to go ice my knee.

Friday, July 14, 2006

The lazy days of July

It is almost 100 degrees outside. It hasn't rained in almost a month, and there is no change in sight. Other than the weather, there have been other developments here. First I have completed a new piece, which I like but do not think I want to leave here, I may take it back to MD. Unfortunately the park hates it and will not give me more supplies to make a new piece in the same vein. Off to the scrapers I go!

Dread Scott just left after finishing his piece for the park. Dread makes radical political work, primarily about the authority of the state and the abuse of that authority, As well as a different take on modern day racism. His work is more complex than that, I suggest checking out the link. Dread is a communist, Not just one of the liberal wieridos who really likes stuff that says CCCP on it, but an actual red blooded revolutionary communist, which was interesting to talk to someone educated on the topic. He left some stuff to read, and a DVD... (communist DVD that seems odd to me), and I will get around to it, but until then I still don't think it will work too well. People are too evil and self centered. We do not deserve communism or utopian socialism.

Speaking of, I worked for a CSA farm known as Foxtail Farms this week. Here is more information on Community Supported Agriculture. This farm collects dues from its members each spring, and then as a member of the farm you get a big box of fresh locally grown organic fruit and vegetables delivered to your door every week. They even include recipes (Many of them vegetarian) to feed a family of four with the vegetables in each weeks box. The park has a work exchange program going with them, so instead of Paying dues, we actually get to work the farm. These CSA farms are all over the country, and many of them accept interns and apprenticeships for the summer. I Highly recommend it as something to look into, either for food, or for something to do for the summer.

When I started posting from Franconia, I originally had plans to show you profiles of different artists that work here each week, but unfortunately no one has sent me any slides of their work yet. Until, Michael P Shanley sent me this Piece which he calls Portrait of Nature, (or Chicken Bone) Check it out...

Portrait of Nature (The Chicken Leg)
6.1 ft x 2.10 ft x 3 ft   
Fiberglass steel and rope,
2003

Mikes work, a strange aesthetic balance of the beautiful and the grotesque, is based in Meditation, self-reflection and is intended to instill introspective thoughts in the viewer based on life experiences. The work, while sometimes too personal if explained, often succeeds much better on its own in silence.

Mike currently lives and shows in The Northeast US.


And lastly, after years of looking,I bought a trombone this week. It was $24 Awesome.

Monday, June 19, 2006

This weekend we were lucky enough to be joined by sculptor Jon Isherwood from the east coast. While his slides and comments were quite impressive, he seemed to have little to no faith in my generation as a force to be reckonded with socially, politically, or even in the world of art. Which at first might seem offensive to those of you who happen to fall into that lovely 18-30 ish demographic, But the fact of the matter is that he is kind of right. Remember when 2004 was supposed to be the year that the young voters finnaly gave a shit enough to pull themselves away from Comedy central long enough to vote against the man so many of them had sworn off? What happened? No one did, The ideals that isherwood held so strongly of one person changing the world or uniting people in the name of hope has been replaced by a bleak, gray cloud of despair... or is it simply reality? And now adays we can see it.

Jon asked me if i thought that one person can change the world.

"no" i answered, "absolutely not"
"thats awful" he replied

And its true, the most any one person has ever done to change the world is rally a group of people up and create a new faction of thought (a mob). Even that is rarely seen as a sweeping change. Can you name for me one thing that has radically changend in this country in the last 200 years because of grassroots activism?

CIvil rights, womens sufferage, vietnam, the whole no nukes thing, environmentalism, all of these things have been given to the public as a booby prize to subdue radical change. Things improve, sure, but does anybody ever get what they want, do things ever really change? I think the answer is no, not enough.

Take war and peace for example. In the last century, Evil in america hs had many faces. It went from hitler to stalin to communism, and now to terrrorism. (which i will say is a brilliant idea for the bushes, declaring war on inatimate objects and sensations ie. drugs, and terror)

We as americans need a great evil. We need something to fear, because without that there would be no defense budget, no defense contracts, and no war. people would lose a lot of money. ( not the average taxpayer, you my friend are giving your money to the cause) Nothing has changed as a result of this. we have been at war either actually or theoretically with some kind of great evil boogeyman for the last 100 years. Nothing has changed except for boogeyman and the generals.

so maybe that is it, perhaps there is no effort on our part because there have never been results from anyone elses efforts. I think that subcinciously people have realized that even in this great democracy thier voice carries little weight, and as a result they have decided to keep thier mouths shut.

tune in later for the first of my profiles on the other artists at Franconia.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

This Is the story of seven sculptors, picked to live in a house...

The story of Franconia Sculpture Park Where I am spending the next few weeks. The park is run by a sculptor named John Hock, just north of the twin cities in Minnesota. The work is good and the beer flows like, well, beer. There are other sculptors here, from all over the country and even the world, (I don't want to start name dropping yet) and it is good to work with people who are excited about sculpture. I am working here as an intern, along with 6 others (some part time, some full time) and the job is rewarding and enjoyable so far, as I was told it would be by the people who put me up to it, Vince Donarski and Ben Lock, two other talented sculptors from Minnesota and New York respectively.

Any way the park runs like a mix between a studio, gallery and hippie farm commune. (SP?) We cook and clean as a unit, kind of like summer camp. There was a panel dialogue last night with work from two talented sculptors, Mike Mcgillis from Michigan, and Michael Bigger, who taught at MCAD. The evening went smoothly and I can say that the company was as pleasant as the work.

No photos yet, but with any luck they will be posted soon. I hope to get some of the park to document some of my favorite pieces here.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Hirshhorn Is not a beach, and I don't like the carnival

I find myself in the courtyard of the hirshhorn museum, in a 40's era farmerjohn bathing suit sunbathing with a group of performance artists. Smithsonian security is telling us that what we are doing is against the code, ( what code, was never indicated) Eventually we were asked to leave. It seems odd that an art museum would turn away art, (not really) but we left, and I realized that I am not dedicated to art enough to go to jail for someone else's art.

It was reassuring that the public took interest in the project, and as my first trip into the world of performance art, it was silly, but worth it in the end. I do wish that someone had told me more about the concept, I found it hard to understand a performance I was in, and didn't understand. I hope that my performance was not hurt by misconception.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

the winds they are a changin

Today i saw a band on television that I used to listen to. like five years ago, maybe more, this band was a fairly decent hardcore band, in the same line that the misfits were, kind of gloomy, lots of black and songs about death, but they were good, not too image centered of a group, certaintly not my favorite, but one that I chose to spin once in a while while i was working as a DJ at a college radio station. Either way, it is the same story we have all heard, band makes good albums, band gets picked up by a major label, band gets very wealthy, band stops focusing on music, starts focusing on image and using thier new found credit line to exagerate things in music videos and high end production sound on albums... the new "trust punkers" for the next generation.

I am aware that every day that passes i grow a little older and less cool, and i think more and more popular music sounds like garbage, but i have always thought that popular music sounded terrible. Why is that? And more importantly why do decent artists decay so quickly with airplay? Perhaps it is the manner in which mass media programs the day to force us to hear the same 200 or so songs in movies tv commercials radio ringtones whatever, perhaps artists just get bored and start churning out albums to fulfill a contract to thier new major league bosses, whatever the case, it makes me sad to know also that a 30 something year old man in white makeup is trying to explain highschool heartbreak to 14 year old kids in white makeup.

In the end none of this matters, this is going to happen for the rest of my life.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

news and blues.

long time no post.

Today I saw a phenomenon that i have been noticing more and more recently. kids smoking. I dont thiknk it is more prevelant, but just that the older I get the more I notice these sorts of things. It is quite a prediciment, knowing firsthand the pain they are setting themselves up for. I wish I could tell them to quit now while they still can. I hate it. I think about what I was thinking when I was that age, and I know that I wouldn't have listened to me, and imagine that the kids now won't either. "Too bad for them" I think, but in keeping quiet, am i really just holding onto my youth, afraid of seeming uncool or outdated?

I do not think this is the case, I guess that smoking is a hazard of being "conventionally cool". I suppose that that is also the phenomenon that i have been seeing recently. conventional coolness. People I know, myself included, and most people are guilty of doing stupid things because media has them convincend that it is either fun, sexy, entertaining, beneficial, whatever.

I used to have beer posters in my room, back when i was still drinking for fun, it was like a hobby, what i did on weekend nights, and i liked it. now here i am, a borderline alcoholic who cant even post but once a month. I was conventially cool, i thought.

This is the new american dream, to buy what we are told is great, and its funny to catch myself living it, little things, but superfluous, ipods, cigarettes, shoes, all kinds of little wastes of money.

on a tangent...
Another example, I saw a lady in the store with what I assume was a child he was responsible for. They were both wearing tight baby tees, with fairly risqe prases on the front of them in glitter, it was kindof disturbing. your 11 year old daughter does not need a baby tee that says "troublemaker" on it. Really noone needs this crap. Do we really need to make our culture more skeezy (sp)? Seriously, Mom in a classy little getup is bad enough, but the kid? I hate this town.


It's miller time for the cool kids.

Monday, April 24, 2006

The whitney

The whitney biennial exhibit.

I recently went to a panel discussion of various curators, and gallery directors and heard a phrase mentioned with half sincerity "Is any biennial ever successful?" Curious question, and I cannot say that I am in any position to argue one way or another about it,as my experience in biennials is minimal.

I will say that the Whitney is as always hit and miss, across all genres. Also the show is very busy, some may say it is overhung, there is more work than one person can see in 3 hours, so plan to take the day off to get the full effect. Personally I started at the top and worked my way down through, (going down stairs is much easier than going up them.)

On the top floor one is presented with something you don't see in a gallery everyday, giant holes cut in the walls with a sawsall, that people;e are allowed to pass freely through. At first these holes irk the viewer, "who does this guy think he is?" then as you look and pass through them, you realize that they open up and change your interaction with the gallery space. Also at this level is the highlight of the show for me, and by the same artist Urs Fischer, the piece is untitled, made from cast aluminum branches, motors and candles, which slowly draw intersecting circles. It is beautiful in its simplicity.

In the painting and drawing world, make an effort to see "Frederick Douglass Self-Defense Manual Series, Infinite Step Escape Technique #1: Hand Seeks Cotton", as well as Rudolf Stingel, Mark Bradford. Francesco Vezzoli, and you can even grab your own Richard Serra original (photocopy).

It is annoying how with much of the drawing in this show is done with magic markers and pens and other crappy office depot supplies. While it is Liberating to have more barriers broken down as far as media, these pieces leave the viewer feeling cheap and sort of taken advantage of.

Once again with the links.
whitney

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Louise Bourgeois

Through the 21st of may, The Walters art gallery in conjunction with the Contemporary Museum will be showing work by renowned 20th century artist, Louise Bourgeois. The work, spread throughout both buildings presents work from all stages of the artists career, from the 1930s until today.

the show is aptly titled femme, and is a departure from the spiders that many people associate with Bourgeoisis. Work focuses instead on the strength, sensuality, Fertility and vulnerability of women in the world.

Mostly sculpture, the exhibit in the Contemporary houses the most recent work, and includes prints and video work, as well as reference material to the artists life and work.

The Walters chose to display the work spread throughout their permanent collection, supposedly to show the work alongside of historical pieces that confront the same issues, and or inspire the type of work. For the most part, the work blends seamlessly with the collection, emphasizing many of the themes that involve them.

This method of presentation though interesting, and effective in may cases does leave some of the work stretching for a connection to the permanent collection pieces surrounding them. In addition, it gets rather tiresome having to hunt and peck throughout the museum for specific pieces amongst five millennia of artesian work.

Lastly, the comments left behind by the artist five the work presented a more personal and intimate feel, as well as help to explain the pieces to the intimidated viewer.

There is a Charge to get into the Walters side (with extensive discounts for students) but I highly recommend the show, especially for people who may not be familiar with feminine/feminist work.

here are some links The Walters
The Contemporary
Louise Bourgeois

Monday, April 17, 2006

NYC pt 1

So.

I just got back from NYC, an afternoon of gallery (and bar) hopping. I saw the whitney. (more on that later) Sad that i missed the david smith retrospective at the guggenheim (sp). There was lots of good art, and lots of crappy stuff (i might still just not understand art too well) Chelsea piers were as always fun to visit, but enough to drive me crazy at the same time. so many hipsters to bag on, so little time.

I will say one thing that has always bothered me, is the trend of not labelling artwotk in a gallery. there is a shiek practice of hanging work on the wall, and simply numbering it according to what is like a slide reference sales sheet, that you have to ask the attendant to look at, who usually gives you a hairy eyball if you dont look as though you actually intend to drop 10,000 $ on a fucking photo. fuck that.

any way, aside from the trangent, there was some cool cool stuff there. here are some pics from Fred Wilsons "My Echo, My Shadow and Me" At pacewildenstein. It was probably my favorite that I saw while i was there, but it came down on fri so you might have missed it. either way...




Right on, also a big thanks to Blaize at caren golden fine art for his personal tour, as well as a sneak peek at the upcoming exhibits. The Show at the gallery looks great.here is a link


Lastly my good friend lorna Sent me the invitation to art farm2006 a big two day art festival on a farm in NC, complete with exhibts, music, demos, booze, the whole niner. Her paintings are great too (i have two of them) so i cant wait!

Other than that there isnt much more to talk about.

coming soon, I will be bagging on myspace, taking of personal history with myspace, and finnally caving in and joining in on the fun/ fucking dorkieness of it all.

Monday, April 10, 2006

ists

I feel I should preface this post with the fact that I probably have no idea what I am talking about. A feminist friend of mine who is very much smarter than me, once told me that most people, including many who identify as feminists, ( I assume she meant me) have no clue about what actual feminism is.

So. Feminists.

I have never really been a fan of feminists, or any ist for that matter (ie socialist, racist, fascist, communist, anarchists, rapist, etc,etc,) It seems to me that being a feminist is one of the only ists that average people are ok with other people being. It isn't that I believe women are somehow inferior to men, that would make me either sexist, or chauvinist, two more silly groups of people.

I do however wonder what the role of feminism in art really is, I will say that in my experience, feminists can be exceptionally hard to work with. Story number one. A group of women, lead by this loudmouthed feminist decide that they cannot carry a heavy pot of metal around, and so they should build a smaller, less efficient smaller one so that they can partake in certain aspects of a team oriented project. Long story short, they built a tool that was heavier and required two extra people to carry around, was harder to manipulate and was less efficient than what they started with. The bitch of it is (no pun intended) that if I pointed this out to them, I got chewed out, and I look like the ignorant a-hole...

Later in my life I was a witness to a reception for a group show, entirely made of "feminist artists." Most of the work there was very good work, and then, there was the flowerpot. A lady had done something that teeterd between installation, performance, and just plain nonsense. She put a potted plant on the floor next to a 6 foot tall wooden cross, and then proceeded to read an essay on ties between the church and male dominance, and something else that sounded high and preachy. This was hands down the most boring thing I have ever seen or heard, which might have been cool, if it was like one of those 'secretly ironic' things, but it wasn't. She was serious.

So what is the role of feminism in art, I don't really think of it that often, I would like to imagine that it is more than a matter of pretentious posturing and a sort self fulfilling concept. I would hope that it is more about getting things done, and doing things well, regardless of sex. But it isn't. When we hear and think of feminist artists, we see (mostly) women, doing work about women and being women. Perhaps I simply don't identify with the concept, but it seems kind of weak to me.

One other person I met who I was sure was a feminist, was a sculptor friend of mine from Florida, and she was tough, I mean fuckin tough, and yet intelligent, very well spoken and read, and she worked hard. She probably could have kicked Rosie the riveters ass. I talked to her about it a little, and she doesn't think of herself as doing a lot for a woman, I think is more along the lines of she is a woman who can do everything and anything, without broadcasting the fact. I am not sure if she was a feminist or not, but I hope that that is where the movement is going.

Please leave hate mail in comments

Friday, March 17, 2006

Do you watch television?

This is a question that alot of people lie about. I personally wish that I could say i didn't, but I do. I watch TV most weeknights from 2-4 in the morning. I havent always. When i was in Undergraduate I PAwned my TV and used the money to buy Fugazi instrument, only to realize i had no tv to watch it on...

Either way, my favorite part of TV is the commercials. Every so often there is something admirable but usually I cannot believe that there are people who spend money on this crap. lets see whats on tonight

I used to bag on the axe perfume or cologne whatever. Advertizing to losers like me by showing skinny kinda average joe with hordes of women throwing themselves at him because of his artificial smell.

Brilliant yes, but not as good as their new campaign, which promises to wash away the sins of sleeping with questionable people, which i think happens a lot more than the former scenario. Thats the way things usually go for me, but i have never used the axe products.

Hydroxy cut, pills to lose weight. Bullshit. if you want to lose weight, Mr rollins had it nailed with the 7 word diet Eat less, Eat better, Move your body.

Ok, so next Diamonds Fuck diamonds. Period. Through politiacal pressure and tactics which border on slavery or genocide a few wealthy families have pumped money out of impoverished nations in africa, by convincing materialistic goons in the us and europe that a not that uncommon or rare stone is the official symbol of love. trust me dude if she won't go down on you before the diamond, it probably wont make a difference.

And lastly a girl trying on clothes and listening to black eyed peas song "My humps" what a shitty song. fergie ruined the black eyed peas. Followed by one with a hockey team that gets psyched by listening to yellowcard. What kind of limp dick hockey team gets psyched listening to a whiny violin "punk" complaining about heartbreak. what kind of hockey team listens to yellow card at all ? I bet the kind that gets thier asses kicked by the team that plays slayer in thier locker room.

and with that I am out, Sorry for the errors,i am too tired to proofread or even spellcheck this post, go ahead and leave corrections in the comments.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Everybody should DADA

So the review for the Dada exhibit at the national gallery. I have been down to see the show twice now, once during the week, and once on a Sunday. If I can make a recommendation, please go during the week, time permitting. This exhibit is very educational, with a mass of information coming to you in all media, about the artists, the scene, the works, the materials, everything. There is a paragraph about each individual piece!

Now I am not one to complain about having to read things, quite the opposite, in fact. The show is setup more as a museum exhibit than it is in a traditional art gallery style. The show takes a controversial movement in art, politics, and history, and demystifies it for the viewers. For example, explaining what sound poems were, and their meaning, as opposed to just playing what might sound like unintelligible babble through a sound room to a lot of confused tourists.

The only drawback to this style of exhibit, is that as in the museums, most of the pieces are re-enactments of the originals. Which holds a certain amount of irony to have recreations of "readymade" sculptures.

The target demographic for this show is still tourists, so it is packed on weekends, and there is a lot of cheesy crap for sale at the gallery (see previous post), so prepare yourself for that. Other than that, the work is not only well put together (as a show) and very well represents the time period and movement, but also informative and entertaining.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Everyone can DADA!

So, Dada is in town. The national gallery is hosting a Dada exhibit, more on that later this week.

But any who, If you don't know, Dada was a movement around the time of and in reaction to World war one. I never know for sure if I love the dadas or hate them, on one hand they did open a whole new can of worms in the art world, making it ok to use new materials, and mediums, focusing more importance on concept, and Idea than the process of art making. On the other hand they opened a whole new can of worms in the art world, making it ok to use new materials, and mediums, focusing more importance on concept, and Idea than the process of art making.

One thing is for certain seeing this exhibit, the Dada loved themselves. Their work even has the word Dada appearing in paintings, sculpture, collage, everything. They must have been stoked about their movement I guess.

Any way here is the interesting part. The title of one of the first Dada exhibits was "everyone can Dada!" and the national gallery has totally capitalized on this. It is awesome the merchandise you can buy there. My personal favorites were the DADA refrigerator poetry set, The "make your own Dada art kit" and the crowning glory the "punkrock style bottlecap 'everyone can Dada' belt with seatbelt buckle". How about that for readymade Mr Duchamp?

these Items are awesome. They bring all the emotion, despair and confusion out of a recovering warzone filled with propaganda and package it down into a fun rainy day kit.

Kit comes complete with authentic replica newspaper clippings, glue and paper.

poetry blocks are the same as the other poetry blocks except they have a cool new/antique block print font on them. Take that establishment! We will now turn your words against you! May all who see my fridge know that I am raging against the machine! And all From the comfort of my apartment/office/cubicle/moonbeam/



look this could go on for days and I have lost my point and nobody really reads this crap anyway.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Me vs the culturally astute

Last night I spent the whole night in my studio, working and drinking and listening to my friend play air guitar along to some jam band. You might not think that one could hear someone play air guitar, or even that an air guitar made any noise, but Petes does, it goes Weooww-weo-weoow-neener-enat-neeow. and the more we drink, the louder it gets

Speaking of air guitar, lets revisit the last post. I didn't really like that show that much. To me everything was boring, except for the air guitar, and the CVS record. The rest of the show shows very little creativity or talent. It kind of looks like these Corcoran students just pitched the idea to the gallery and the gallery said ok.

But, to be fair, It is not really my style of art.

One of the things that irked (sp) me the most about this show was that the press release describes these artists as culturally astute. This cannot be an accurate description.

For the longest time, art has been a high class, wealthy, white collar pastime, mostly because it was/is expensive to make, and therefore was expensive to own.

Now in the new age of technology we have a set of "new media" DVDs, projection, internet, sound, electronics. This is your chance video artists! Make work, reproduce it and sell it affordably to the public! Reach the masses, save the art world from itself.

But no, that wont ever happen. We are too arrogant to sell a DVD of our work for less than 800 dollars. Usually 1000.

Why doesn't the public support art you ask? Maybe because they aren't as culturally astute as the artists. This is making my head hurt it just seems so ridiculous

Monday, February 27, 2006

Whippersnappers

The Conner Contemporary ( http://www.connercontemporary.com/ ) is Hosting Whippersnappers, who in their own words are "young, Bright, culturally astute artists who, in our opinion, rock."
These "rockstars" (Fatima Hoang, Michael Magnan, Maki Maruyama, Annie Schap, Zach Storm, Matthew Sutton) provide a curious assortment of unconventional contemporary pieces, from collage to conceptual. Highlights for me included, Fatima Hoangs video pieces of Air guitar edited to fit songs by artists Guns and roses, Creed, and Jay-Z, and to a lesser extent, 'ASPHYNCTERSAYSMEOW' , Video by Annie Schap. I am not sure what the Cultural theme this exhibit was, but none of the pieces had a solid common bond, (with the exception of Corcoran school of art and design Degrees) other than irony. Remember when people said that 9/11 was going to be the death of irony? It wasn't, but that is irrelevant. Zach Storm and his imaginary book covers, really scream out,"Irony is in fact not dead! If These Books were real, and not made up, It would be alive and thriving in print! Long Live Wes Anderson! Long live Magic Markers! Also the Inventory of CVS recalled from memory, by Matthew Sutton is impressive in its very existence.

In summary, the show is genuinely funny at times, and tragically sad at the same time, lukewarm overall, but still a good way to spend an hour if you are in the District.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

What sound does a color make.

From Jan 27 through May 7 2006 The travelling exhibition "What Sound does a Color Make" Will be on the campus of UMBC in the Center for Arts and visual culture. The Exhibition features mostly video installation, focuing on the concept of synthesia, the idea of one sense stimulating another and vice versa in a cycle.

Self-Portrait of Paul (DeMarinis), by Jim Cambell, is my pick of the show, which recycles, amplifies, transforms and records sound through a system of LED lights. Other works range from interactive video which Tracks movement, recycles The information and presents it to the observer visually and audibly (Bondage, Atau Tanaka), to the standard dark room, projection/monitor and sound effects environmental installation. Rounding things out were a few older pieces, Full circle (formerly ring modulation), and Beatles Electroniques, which dispite thier age were some of my favorites.

For the most part, this show delivers what it promises, as all of the work blends and makes you aware of the connections between the senses. It also stands firm as a cohesive body of work.

What sound does a color make.

From Jan 27 through May 7 2006 The travelling exhibition "What Sound does a Color Make" Will be on the campus of UMBC in the Center for Arts and visual culture. The Exhibition features mostly video installation, focuing on the concept of synthesia, the idea of one sense stimulating another and vice versa in a cycle.

Self-Portrait of Paul (DeMarinis), by Jim Cambell, is my pick of the show, which recycles, amplifies, transforms and records sound through a system of LED lights. Other works range from interactive video which Tracks movement, recycles The information and presents it to the observer visually and audibly (Bondage, Atau Tanaka), to the standard dark room, projection/monitor and sound effects environmental installation. Rounding things out were a few older pieces, Full circle (formerly ring modulation), and Beatles Electroniques, which dispite thier age were some of my favorites.

For the most part, this show delivers what it promises, as all of the work blends and makes you aware of the connections between the senses. It also stands firm as a cohesive body of work.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Super Bowl, bowl cuts, super cuts

The Goodyear blimp is gone. But I think Budweiser might be stepping up to fill the shoes. The superbowl an incredible marketing scheme. People tune in just for the commercials... That is even a Scene worthy excuse for watching the game in some circles. It even has advertisements for itself. It is near 6 hours of A over romanticizing a garish sport (comparing it to chess, or art) and cleverly separating you from your money. At the end the coach was crying over the trophy. The last time I cried over a trophy I was no older than six. The last time I cried over something stupid was a haircut when I was around twelve. I had been trying to grow it out long like Kurt Kobain, but My mom made me go to the super cuts. I sat in the chair and cried like a chickenshit as the hairdresser lopped off my sweet sweet bowl cut. She thought that something was wrong with me. That week I shaved my head as a result of a bet and realized that bowl cuts were nowhere near as cool as I thought they were.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Reception food

I have spent the last week eating tiny turkey sandwiches for breakfast lunch and dinner. It has been great eating three meals a day. I keep taking the leftovers from funeral receptions. I have been to two different funerals this week. One was for my grandmother, the other was a family friend who shot himself in the face. The funerals are weird because it has been the same group of family and friends at both functions, people that I haven't seen in a long time, and had a lot to catch up on and people that I see all the time and have nothing to talk about with. I made some plans to hang out with them outside of graveyards and funeral parlors. The presence of death hardly affected me, I didn't cry, which surprises me, because I am usually a baby about these things. Although, when my grandmother died I was thinking about how a person has no control over his own mortality. Then Johnny shot himself. Perhaps we have more control than we need.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Business casual

I have never had a real job, in the sense that I have never had to put on a tie and shirt for work and nice pants and the whole getup. I don't know my way around the office. I have been temping for an office this past week. I hope that my job never becomes filing crap and getting lunch for everyone. Not that it is difficult work, it is quite easy, but monotonous and eventually worthless. After I filed a huge stack of papers incorrectly the boss said that it wasn't a bug deal, that the permanent staff would just have to fix it as they go. ( why file it in the first place then?) The people there are great, people in bands, people with kids, vegetarians, artists, not the white collar robots I had imagined. Friday was my last day and I thought that this post would be longer, but I spent the last couple of days recovering from a weekend drunk.

Monday, January 02, 2006

I heard a guy getting his heart broken tonight. I went to get a beer from the fridge and heard yelling in the parking lot of my apartment. i thought that people were fighting. I looked out the window. there was a man yelling into his phone about hating someone on the other line. he hung up. he was weeping. I lit up my last cigarette ( i am trying to quit for new years) and smoked out the window. the argument continued on the radio. the details were irrelevant. girl meets boy, boy loves girl, girl cheats on boy. boy gets crushed, boy cries on BMW. i felt a disparity, seeing someone so miserable, yet having nice material possessions. I am unsure as to whether to feel depressed or not. money may buy happiness, but it doesnt guarantee anything. he sounded awful. i cheated on a girl once. i felt awful, it was way worse than any time i got cheated on by girls. the girl sounded miserable. worse than the guy in the lot with the bmw. i wonder who hurt the most. one with a clean slate and a broken heart or the one with the guilty conscience and a broken heart. i have my suspicions. its been a little over 30 mins since my last cigarette and i am dying for another.