cityzenart

The Dance Partner

2012-02-25T18:38:00.004-06:00

She put her hand into his and led him to the dancefloor. He realized she was in front and bringing him along with her. His anxiety began to disappear. It was like a smile inside of him. When they reached an empty spot, she turned around and opened herself to him. Reaching forward with both arms she put her hand into his once again. His other moved along her arm, starting at her elbow and under; to the back of her shoulder. She first put her hand on his bicep and then moved it up farther to the side of his shoulder. He could tell she didn't know how to dance very well, so he looked her in the eye and smiled. Her anxiety began to disappear.

First, he dipped her to the left slightly and the stepped back and she followed. He slid his hand out from under her arm and then held both of her hands. They were soft and fleshy. He could only slightly sense the bones inside them. They weren't plump or loose, but like little bodies. They were her breasts and thighs and waist and neck... they rested in his hands awaiting whatever he wished to do next. She looked at him. Her eyes were dark and large, framed with strong cheekbones and brow. He was used to a more petite women in height, so being able to look at her face without looking down caused him to admire her subconsciously. Her beauty also made it easy.

In a Waffle House World...

2011-08-28T00:44:00.002-05:00

the line cook wears his hairnet underneath a folded-paper boat. He works the pots and pans like he has eight arms, ham here, heating oil in that pan, cracks an egg (that's TWO hands... no he did it with one. I didn't even see what he did with the shell.) He wipes down the 6inch counter top he has in front of him... and it's all done with no flair, barely even with effort. The waffle waitress called out the order, messed it up and didn't repeat it. Dude was on it. Some country song was playing and then Phil Collins. [It] Didn't phase him.

I think his name is Eliazer. I guess that's a pretty unique name to only think that it might be what his name is... so I'm gonna say that's what it is. Eliazer. Waffle House blazer on target like a laser with the tater...tots, momma ...ummmmm, correction--- Waffle House doesn't have tater tots, just hash browns. They don't have french fries either!!! I had afriend once who was really upset about that. He eats his french fries with mayonaise which kind of grossses me out so I'm glad (at the time) that don't have french fries.

That's all.

Thnaks for reading.

Tori Amos' Birthday

2011-08-22T12:45:00.002-05:00

This Consciousness that is aware
Of Neighbors and the Sun
Will be the one aware of Death
And that itself alone

Is traversing the interval
Experience between
And most profound experiment
Appointed unto Men-

How adequate unto itself
It's properties shall be
Itself unto itself and none
Shall make discovery.

Adventure most unto itself
The Soul condemned to be--
Attended by a single Hound
It's own identity.

-Emily Dickinson
poem #822

art market/ art history

2011-08-16T13:25:00.002-05:00

In the 21st century free-market, art has become an elusive product. Yes, I said product. IF you buy art, then you are a consumer and carry the responsibility of knowing what it is that you purchase and for what reasons you are giving said amount of money for. If we look at shoes, and all you arelooking for is a decent pair of shiny leather point toe dress shoes to wear once for an outdoor occassion, then going to a discount shoe outlet and dropping 20.00 would be appropriate, but if you are looking to take the same shoe and embed style, legacy, and refinement into your image as a sign to others, so that you can generate a mystery of what it is that you possess then $200 on some Gucci loafers might be appropriate, and if by some off chance that you collect soes as an investment then you might look at $2000 David Hicks. Art these days is no different. Perceieved value and appropriateness to intent. That is not to say that the factors of the valuation of so simple. Even if it makes sense, you might be sold snake-oil, so it is important to know the context of the art market and art history to keep from being snowed over.

more notes 2

2011-05-19T20:43:00.002-05:00

On Picasso:"One thing that is made explicitly clear throughout the late graphics is that the desire is never satisfied. It will both fall short of and override its goal, much like the act of representation itself, which can never completely close the distance between referent and image... The desired object , thus, can never fully account for the drive itself. "desire is the desire for desire"
Continual deferral and the impossibility of closure are built into the very mechanism of desire, which is predicated on a psychic lack, that by definition, be fulfilled. As Picasso summed up..."the desire stays on."
--Inside the Image

Limits of representation
Limitlessness of Desire
Painting as an act of Love

In our relation to things, in sofar as this relation is constituted by the way of vision, and ordered in the figures of representation, something slips, passes, is transmitted, from stage to stage, and is always to some degree eluded in it-- that is what we call the gaze.
-Jacques Lacan

When the Andalusian fixes a thing within a stare, he grasps it, his eyes are fingers holding and probing... In Andalusia the eye is akin to a sexual organ.
-David Gilmore

miranda Fuetre & the Gaze

more notes

2011-05-19T20:32:00.003-05:00

Monet, Renoir, Degas- sight was simply the sum of its light-- in terms of illumination
Reality is not waiting to be witnessed
Impressionist- "the gaze was out, the glance was in"
Cezanne- "with an apple I will astonish Paris!"
Courbet- "Let us be true, even if we are ugly"
Oscar Wilde "Life goes faster than Realism"
Rilke "Cezanne made the fruit so real that it ceased to be edible altogether."

Is it only now that Art has begun? -dP

"Art has carried the responsibility of the philosophy of art further than the philosophers of would have been capable. It was as if artists had to become their own philosophers in order to be taken seriously. -A. Danto

In order to consider Brillo Boxes as art, one would need to see how the history of art had evolved to a point where it was now possible for such a work to exist... to know something of the state of discourse of the art world, within which that possibility existed... Duchamp... Greenber...
--Danto

Bildungsroman- as history of modern art

there is no reason inherent in the concept of art for painting not to exist

*painting is charged with resentments as a result of an artistic discourse trying to purge concepts of talent as unacceptably elitist

conception of art that is made by artist with certain ends in view
___________________________
~from random slip of paper in my notes

without elementary disorder there is neither entropy nor irreversible process

Notes from some books and thoughts

2011-05-19T20:10:00.002-05:00

for I believe that failure is less frequently attributable to either sufficiency of means or impatience of labour, than to a confused understanding of the thing actually to be done.
-Ruskin

It would be premature and presumptuous to preempt the verdict of prosperity

cartographic. iconography
historical references
-eclecticism, collecting, selection --> Latin - lect- legre- choose

academic conventions
contradistinction, precarious equilibrium, ambivalent correspondence

I should like to carry out my future work in the interplay between Robert Smithson's uncompleted project and Michael Jackson's face -Ashley Bickerton- artist

long tradition of painting
NeueWilde- rebirth of painting

Peter Fischli/David Weiss- Goldsworthy style
Gunther Forg-artist

marginalised social group- unattainable abstracts

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Michel Majerus, Gehard Merz
Dan Peterman "Sulfer Cycle"

Guy Debord- Situation Theory
Peter Halley
STRUCTURALISM
Lacan
Levi-Strauss
Barthes
Foucault
POST-STRUCTURAL
Baudrillard
Derrida

appropriation- Richard Prince
myth of "artistic"

Cindy Sherman - Feminist? I'm not Feminist

white cube vs. over-the-couch

obsolete activities-
read the paper
record players

The ever-expanding field of available objects led me to investigate what I saw as a crisis of meaning and identity by juxtaposing heterogeneous objects in a poetic, yet non-hierachical way.--Haim Steinbach

Mark Seliger

2011-04-27T17:29:00.009-05:00

Merce Cunningham

Cindy Sherman

Woody Allen

Ralph Lauren

Chris Martin of Coldplay

Sonic Youth

Chuck Close

Phillip Glass

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Salma Hayek

Bill Irwin

Matthew Barney

Jeff Koons

Richard Serra

Keith Richards

Cityzen

2011-04-27T15:43:00.001-05:00

Sourcing medieval texts to contemporary pop music
not only trying to find the missing link
but translate it into the unspeakable
poetry of symbols. Employing Life's rhythms
dynamics, metre, narrative, music
Notations on a journey
Pilgram/ Fool
knowldege of growth
drab outskirts unfold
evening covers
I thought these things on... (Broadway?)
nudging the horizon
treading Golgothas
Dust and Glory (Death of a Hero)
Forgottten Image 1953
Displaced Love, Dispersed Secret
David and Me
Cross and Crescent
Chansons de Geste (Songs of Deeds)
Finding Forever too soon, In a Moment

Rory Burke

2011-04-27T12:56:00.000-05:00

"Imagination (phantasia) made them," Appollonios answered, "a far wiser artist than mimesis, for mimesis will represent only what the eyes can see, but imagination will represent what they cannot... When you entertain the notion of Zeus you must, I suppose, envisage him along with heaven and seasons and stars, as Pheidias tried to do..."
Life of Apollonios of Tyana -Philostratos
Rory Burke's sculptures call attention to the dismembering and assemblage processes of thought and distend logic into a compendium focus. The observational faculties of our nervous constitution are acknowledged as severe in dimensional construction and to this we can understand our phrenological system with regard to its constituents lateral to the whole. The complexity of our mind simply ordered, methodically made manifest to suggest by observation and contemplation we obtain the reconfiguration of intelligence and wisdom. See 'Finite Space' at Thomas Masters Gallery. http://www.roryburke.net/RoryBurke/Press_release.html

The Sandlot

2011-04-25T19:32:00.001-05:00

My work is starting to shine a light through the tunnel. I've always believed art to be "for people" and the big question for me has been what do I have to say to them... Through a TON of introspection and analysis of my life and the world around me, paying out my nose with relationships and creature comforts, I've found what I've been looking for... I found the human condition. I've found what it is that levels the playing field. Sketches coming soon!

Tere Pastoiza at Bell Studio

2011-04-16T19:16:00.000-05:00

Tere Pastoiza's delicate pencilwork is a special experience. They are specimans of a woman's world and reach towards intimate revelations of her insecure balance in being of this world. The one-wheeled support, brings to mind the fact that a bicycle can fall only two ways-- right or left; whereas a unicycle can fall in 360 directions. She awakens, she presents herself. They are tender like new skin. A certain nervousness is being concealed, but that's okay. Ms. Pastoiza's figures are set without an environment, so that you are forced to focus completely on the girl. The drawing/object however, is mounted with pins in a shadowbox harkening a butterfly collection, further extending the delicacy of the images. Treat yourself to Tere Pastoiza's pieces at Bell Studio 3428 N. Southport in Chicago.

Thanks to Ashleigh Martinez for the photos.

Pieter Bruegel

2011-04-16T16:23:00.001-05:00

Hermetic Museum I

2011-04-16T15:37:00.000-05:00

Hermetic Museum II

2011-04-16T15:05:00.001-05:00

Mirror of Alchemy

2011-04-16T14:22:00.001-05:00

Frontispieces of Robert Fludd

2011-04-16T13:55:00.001-05:00

Medieval Calenders

2011-04-16T13:30:00.001-05:00

Gene Kelly

2011-04-16T12:58:00.001-05:00

Errol Flynn

2011-04-16T12:27:00.001-05:00

Marino Marini

2011-04-07T20:52:00.000-05:00

Chuck Close

2011-04-07T20:45:00.001-05:00

The Stuckists

2011-04-07T19:49:00.002-05:00

Soren Solkaer Starbird

2011-04-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

David Lachapelle

2011-04-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

blog stats

2011-04-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

cityzenart: THE BLoG is averaging over 1000 hits a week. It's exciting to look at the stats of where people are from and how they are finding their way here. By far the most popular post is Gregory Crewdson. If you don't know his work, look under the PHOTO heading and see his fantastic photo work. In addition to my resource building here, I've started another blog called missinglinkchicago.blogspot.com It is a call to action to participate in the world around you. I've recently received an endorsement from my brand new Alderman in Uptown/Chicago 46th Ward. It is likely we are going to generate several relationships within our community that will inspire and realize the dreams of many. The world is a garden, my friends. Discover its scenery.

If... (plus H&O)

2011-03-31T12:12:00.000-05:00

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream-- and not make dreams your master; If you can think-- and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokem Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winning And risk it on one turn of pitch -and- toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, "Or walk with Kings- nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; I you can fill the inforgiving minute With sixty seconds worth of distance run, Yours it the Earth and everything that's in it, And-- which is more-- you'll be a Man, my son! --Rudyard Kipling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNwOyOTe15w&feature=related

Modern Illustration Styles

2011-03-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gerard (Grandville)

2011-03-28T21:20:00.000-05:00

Jazz Music Album Covers

2011-03-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

Country Music Album Covers

2011-03-28T20:28:00.000-05:00

Alastair

2011-03-28T20:07:00.001-05:00

Barry Windsor~Smith

2011-03-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

not quite Frazetta OR Mucha

HJ Ward

2011-03-28T19:40:00.001-05:00

How To Draw Hip-Hop

2011-03-28T19:22:00.001-05:00

Aaron Douglas

2011-03-28T19:08:00.001-05:00

In Dreams

2011-03-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

I really believe in dreams. Why would we get these visions of what COULD be? In the Prometheus story, "blind hope" is the one "evil" that didn't escape from Pandora's Box. It is this "blind hope" that keeps us from remembering our mortality, it gives us aspiration ad infinitum to our numbered days. It is evil, because in most cases it becomes a pursuit of vanity and futility. Whether you believe in God, a Higher Power, or the collective consciousness, then dreams are a type of communication. Our free will is the choice of how we participate with that communication. I can't explain how I've known so positively that something was going to happen and it did, outside of this mystic communication. Sometimes, the greater Communicator knew to trick me into following one thought so that I would discover another more important participation or reveal a greater understanding. The hardest "dreams" are the ones that require changes in our personality or our character. Pop artist, Katy Perry has a song called Teenage Dream and I've searched deep inside of me for several monthes to try and uncover what my teenage dreams were, so that I could honor them. I recently came to see that one of my biggest dreams as a teenager was to be in a relationship with someone I went to school with, to marry her and have kids with her and have that... wholesome American Family Life. She and I would talk all the time in High School. We were worlds apart-- I was the semi-outcast eccentric artist that could fit in anywhere and she was the head cheerleader (the nice one, not the "mean girl" one) who I think also felt misunderstood in many ways. Politically, we could never be, and so it was, that our friendship was very personal and mostly realized in phone conversations and rarely in physical existence. Day after day, for hours on end we would laugh and talk about things we liked and what we saw in our young worlds. Very few people knew about it or understood, but we were able to find a good-hearted mutual admiration for each other and kept it well nurtured with sincere conversation. It was never a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of thing, but in a young romantic mind, I saw a future there once the high school sociology was removed, but never rested much hope in it, because I was going to go to school in New York and she was going to stay in Texas and I had bigger dreams that I would bring back when we were much older. It's all quite laughable now-- looking back... but isn't it something we've all dreamed in some way. The teenage dream, not just a relationship, but a dream career or some ambition that "got away". A few years ago, I was at the end of my rope. My life was completely made of other people's choices and I lived for the affirmation of pleasing someone else. The misery of denying my earliest dreams at the expense of what I was told I "should" have was more than I could bear anymore and so I walked away from it all. I left the keys on the table, and walked out the door with two bags and a bus ticket for Chicago. When I got to Chicago, I started at the very bottom of society's sense of status, but I had one thing that very few people above me had, the dream of a 7-year old intact in my heart. It carried me through some VERY uncomfortable moments... Flash forward to "just recently" when I revisited my teenage dream with the cheerleader... what I realized... some dreams require someone else's participation. It's kind of a bitter pill to take... that that dream will never be realized. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAOxCqSxRD0&feature=related

There's Life After High School

2011-03-26T10:36:00.000-05:00

I woke up in the middle of the night to a pretty awesome dream. I was driving a semi (truck) down a stretch of familiar highway in the town I grew up in. There was no anxiety or fear, but as I crested over a hill I saw something in the road that was an "enemy" of some sort. I applied the brakes, and the trailer began to "endo"... like a scorpion's tail. I remember feeling non-plussed at the whole thing, to quickly put the truck in reverse, so the trailer would break off and fly forward, while the truck would go backwards and underneath. It was like watching a remarkable special effect for a modern Transformers movie. The trailor flew forward and landed on the "enemy". For all of the dream interpretations imaginable, I can only hope that it means that the emotional baggage of my youth will be the crushing force to my creative block. Oh yeah, this song accompanied it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s22ufU-67iM

Cityzen Art

2011-03-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

Many years ago I was trying to learn about Modern Art and how a painting of seemingly haphazard brushstrokes could be worth anything, let alone tens of thousands of dollars. I set out to find my understanding in a stack of books. I followed my nose and decided that Franz Kline naturally appealed to me. His work became my starting point in my scholarly pursuits. I was only 19 and from a small town in East Texas living in Boston and began to forage my way through philosophical and psychological experiments of the Ages. Zen was a concept that was foreign to me at the time and seemed essential to the appreciation of Abstract Expressionism, especially Franz Kline's work. And so I began to read about Buddhism. It clicked when I found a quote that claimed "I cannot explain Zen, but you can find it in sound of the wind through the leaves."

When I came up with the name Cityzen, I wanted to express myself as an "urban" artist and deal with the themes that come about through living in the city. I can certainly say that I've lost touch of that original sentiment, and yet my life has taken me to some of the greatest urban ways of life one can have. NO part of the city has been out of my reach. And last night, I was walking home from the library, down Wilson St. in Chicago and turned my headphones off so that I could listen to the sound of the wind across the bricks and the sidewalk and it all came rushing back to me... Zen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU9p1WRfA9w

Recession Schme-cession

2011-03-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

I've been reticent to accept the idea of a recession since they've made up all the hoopla a few years ago. Today, something really clicked for me to help me justify my disbelief. Oddly, it was in the form of a Black Eyed Peas song, but that's not important.

I read something about counter-cultural economics a while back and it described "counter-culture" as the purest form of free enterprise. While most counter-cultural groups feel like they are acting in rebellion and outside of The Establishment, I feel like they are acting within the same sociological parameters. I can relate to the early skateboarding culture, so I'm going to use them as my illustrative example.

One of the things about skateboarding was it's outlet of aggression... there was music and fashion that embodied that "culture" and there was a disdain from the inside for people who appropriated the look --and they were labeled "posers". One of the big things that skateboarders suffer from is the adequecy of shoes to withstand the abuse of the griptape. A few people "capitalized" (oh snap!) on that need and made shoes for skateboarders. Vision Street Wear and Vans were the most popular. These shoes appropriated styles from "Punk" fashion and became an emblem of rebellion and antidisestablishmentarianism (never thought I would use that word to actually express myself...HAHAHA!!!). Skip ahead 25 years and Vans shoes are a huge shoe company and it seems that anyone under 30 has a pair.

Now if we spin this idea out a little bit and pay attention to what indicators are used to describe a recession we might see that the "recession" is really just an unsettling of what some people feel is foundation of their corporate progress.

Wall Street is a large group of incorporated businesses. Sole proprietorships and partnerships are not part of the Wall Street economic engine and so the life of these businesses do not contribute to the numbers that account for the activity of said "engine", but they can take away from it. While there are a number of other factors that have contributed to the upset of our National economic engine, I think that independent businesses and localized spending are becoming more of a trend amongst our consumptive practices, therefore not registering in the realms of Wall Street's books and ledgers. The money is still here, it just circulates differently. While it is circulating differently, the larger companies are feeling a loss at some level and raise their prices which takes from our collective gain as individuals, because we still use plenty of the products and resources supplied by those large corporations, (even in the production of our independent products and services). And so what we have are these large companies making headlines about losses and those losses "trickle down" in the form of inflation.

I'm not sure if I'm right about this or if I'm expressing myself clearly, but it makes perfect sense to me. Please comment.

Mary Cassatt

2011-03-21T16:30:00.001-05:00

Bettina Rheims

2011-03-21T16:02:00.000-05:00

Charles Ray

2011-03-21T15:02:00.001-05:00

I can't promise you an epiphany, but when I first saw Charles Ray's work, Conceptual Art made more sense to me. A 7 1/2 ton cube!?!?! what is it made of?!?!?!

Toy Fire Engine

Something tells me Larry David would like this

This is when it clicked for me. I think these are so neat. They appeal to my fascination with physics and so he interplays the simplicity of weight and friction with his own body. It's like a lonely playground with no equiptment, but a board. Simple yet genius.

Taking it one step further into the realm of danger.

Frank Brangwyn II

2011-03-21T14:30:00.001-05:00

Secretly On yer Side

2011-03-04T12:49:00.000-06:00

Apperception- the process by which new experience is assimilated to and transformed by the residuum of past experience of an individual to form a new whole.

Friends are a way to experience apperception. It's a self-referential experience to examine someone else and notice how you are similar and different and know the intersections of personality.

Charles Le Brun (Expression of the Passions)

2011-02-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

Charles Le Brun (drawings)

2011-02-28T20:07:00.000-06:00

Edvard Munch

2011-02-24T16:32:00.000-06:00

Eduard Munch was interested in the philosophical topics of his times. Inspired by writings of Nietsche, Freud and Hesse he explored color relationships and visual neuroscience.

David Piper: New Sketches III

2011-02-24T14:33:00.001-06:00

beginning sketch for Exploitation of Genius

Scrambled Marilyn

design for Halcyon House placemat wedding gift

Neo-Classical notes

unfinished sketch for Chicago mural for a client who I found out didn't have any money

Celebration sketch

Environmental compositions

Notes from The Bride

The Gaze

Rasberry Beret

David Piper: New Sketches II

2011-02-24T13:07:00.000-06:00

Rasberry Beret

Funny ideas to me

Breakin' elements

Dynamic Anatomy!!!

Voice of the People

Setting the Captives Free

Layers to who I am

The Caregiver

You ain't tough, I ride this bull!!

Intellectual Trophy

The Library of Conversations About Things Only I know

Figure

Salamander skin and other notes

Put the Chains Back on Me

Chalice Holding the Blade

Put The Chains Back On Me

Pastoral Poses

David Piper: New Sketches

2011-02-24T12:34:00.000-06:00

Peacock Feather and hoof study

liberation

composition studies

masked

brawn

horse head

vixens

figure

telling a secret

ennui

intellectual trophies

discovering ...

The Poet's birth

the Guide

passage

Grand Illusion

consummation

ugly beast

Henry Fuseli

2011-02-16T18:15:00.001-06:00

Francis Bacon

2011-02-16T18:01:00.001-06:00

Antoni Tapies

2011-02-14T21:28:00.001-06:00

Christopher LeBrun

2011-02-14T21:06:00.000-06:00

Laura Owens

2011-02-14T21:02:00.001-06:00

Mark Tansey

2011-02-14T20:43:00.001-06:00

Mark Tansey is an artists' artist. He takes Classic themes and totally reinterprets them in exciting and fresh ways. His use of monochrome is interesting to effect. You can note references to Elihu Vedder, Degas, Velasquez, Raphael, Gerome...

Marilyn Minter

2011-02-14T20:16:00.000-06:00

Marilyn Minter's photorealistic paintings take modern glamour concepts and contextualize them to the banal. We see her challenge precious jewelry and clothing by soiling them with gritty dirt, drool, and sweat. It's a bit of cliche', but she does them well and with great technical proficiency. The M&M paintings, no doubt, refer to her name.

Meinrad Craighead

2011-02-14T20:13:00.000-06:00

George Inness

2011-02-14T19:23:00.001-06:00

Salvador Dali

2011-02-14T18:26:00.000-06:00

Goya Etchings: Los Desastres de la Guerra

2011-02-14T17:26:00.001-06:00

Andy Warhol

2011-02-14T17:08:00.001-06:00

King Tutankhamun's Tomb and Treasures

2011-02-14T16:38:00.000-06:00

Egyptian Bestiary

2011-02-14T16:07:00.001-06:00

Magdalena Abakanowicz

2011-02-14T15:40:00.000-06:00

Anselm Kiefer

2011-02-14T15:24:00.000-06:00

Sir John Soane's Museum

2011-02-14T15:22:00.000-06:00

Labyrinths & Mazes

2011-02-14T15:11:00.000-06:00

Turkish Style

2011-02-14T14:52:00.000-06:00

Alexandrian and Egyptian Architecture

2011-02-14T14:36:00.001-06:00

Egyptian Design Motifs

2011-02-14T14:18:00.000-06:00

Hungarian Baroque Goldsmithing

2011-02-14T13:59:00.001-06:00

Egyptian Sculpture

2011-02-14T13:42:00.001-06:00

Women in Ancient Egypt

2011-02-14T13:27:00.000-06:00

Italian Terra Cotta

2011-02-14T13:15:00.000-06:00

Athenian Vases

2011-02-14T12:56:00.000-06:00

Making Modernism

2011-02-12T19:49:00.001-06:00

Making Modernism
collection of Dr. Daren Martin

Making Modernism is one of my favorite pictures I've made. I was seriously stepping out into one of my youthful attempts at being a professional artist and arranged a show at the Cock and Bull in Dallas, TX. I share a birthday with Picasso and have always been profoundly affected by my knowledge of our kindred date of births. For the show, I thought I would look to Picasso and emulate his path of development and paint a series that was influenced by his early work.
I had recently read a book called Making Modernism: Picasso and the Creation of the Market for Twentieth Century Art by Michael C. Fitzgerald. It details the business practices of Picasso and his relationships with his art dealers.
In the beginning he had been involved with a consortium of patrons that collected "modern" art and made a public relations spectacle of their collecting. After ten years they hosted an auction and the financial return was exponential. The name of the consortium was "La Peau de l'Ours" referencing La Fontaine's fable "The Bear and the Two Companions" whose moral was "Never sell the skin of the bear before one has killed the beast." I represent the initial vehicle for Picasso's career as the bear on the motorcycle for all of it's sensational qualities.
After the high profile success with La Peau de L'Ours, a German art dealer, Kahnweiler, picked up Picasso and host of other adventurous artists and made a huge success of himself and the artists... BUT with the World Wars across Europe Kahnweiler had leave his business for survival and I represented him here as the fallen boxer.
It was at this time, Picasso transfered his business affairs to Leonce Rosenberg who became the principle dealer of Cubism in Europe at the Galerie de l'Effort Moderne
It was Leonce's older brother, Paul Rosenberg that would eventually put Picasso into the context of the Old Masters, such as Rembrandt. In the painting, I represented the brothers as circus clowns and Paul is the only character painted with a greater amount of realism to represent his fully developed status as a successful art dealer.
The older Rosenberg was an advisor to Alfred J. Barr, Jr. , the first director of the MoMA and champion the introduction of European modernism to the United States. There were alot of lower quality Picasso's sold at this time to the American collectors who wanted in on the swell of mid-century Modern Art interest. I represented the American collecting public as a glazed eye Uncle Sam.
The format of the painting is based on Picasso's Blue period masterpiece "Family of Saltimbanques".

The Third Color Wheel

2011-02-12T18:40:00.000-06:00

The Third Color Wheel

collection of Dr. Daren Martin

This painting is a postulate on my theory that there is a third color wheel.

Science tells us of the prismic color wheel of light refracted and all of the physics that go along with our understanding of rainbows and light frequencies.

There is also the color wheel of pigment and it's combinations of primary colors to make secondary colors and the whole array of colors used in material applications. The color wheel is an amazing tool and I amazed at the complexity of it truths in how colors combine and harmonize.

It seemed to me that there is a strong possibility of there being a third color wheel. I was looking through a really great art book http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-History-Art-David-Piper/dp/0517065134 and was looking at the Aurignacian cave drawings in Lascaux, France and made notice of the colors that were used. It also happens (lo, the serendipities!) that I watched an informational program on the production of paint. I was introduced to Titanium Dioxide as the main chemical component of white pigment. I followed my nose and researched titanium and discovered Titanium Dioxide has three forms Anatase (black), Brookite(red), and Rutile(white). I think I might have cried when I made this discovery.

The colors black, red, and white have deep, mysto-symbolic meanings attached to them and so I began to formulate the combinations of meaning and painted them into the three characters in the bottom of the painting. The individual wearing black is Death's (decay) Energy and wears the white hat (the knowledge of) of Seed's (semen and breastmilk) Energy. Death whispers to Blood's Energy whose beard represents Strength of Seed, and a black and white hat (knowledge of Death and the secrets of Seed). Seed's Energy wears the mantle of Death as it's burden and the knowledge of Blood. Seed looks to Sustanance who pours her gifts into the mystical fluid of the Spiritual experience. The hand holds the Excalibur (the Gift) out of the river of the Spiritual experience as the river winds towards the ocean (the greater Spiritual experience) while the cathedral represents the house of the Unknown (by it semaphore as it's spire), or Faith. True faith is not knowing and not needing to know... it is the highest level of Trust and often times can only be understood in hindsight. The ships (the Corporeal) are sailing off into the celestial existance of ocean and moon (the dead planet that reflects light).

Needless to say, I was studying Alchemy and my theory of a third color wheel is that it exists concurrent within the Physical, Metaphysical, and Spiritual trinity of human experience.

Breakdancers

2011-02-12T18:17:00.000-06:00

Breakdancers

collection of Dr. Daren Martin

In the late 90's I was dj'ing and breakdancing and found alot of personal influence in the history of hip-hop. My friends in Austin called me Piper and my "tag" name was Link or Missing Link. Vardon Williams or Haps1 gave me that name. He said I brought the knowledge of High Culture to our Street/Club scene and the Street/ Club knowledge to an elevated culture appreciation. We were kids and I hardly think that I followed through in a way that might make THE missing link, but for who we were and what were doing, I still cherish the sentiment.

Later in my painting career, I made a return to my hip-hop influence and started to imagine how the pioneers of Modernist Art might interpret hip-hop forms, in dance, art, and scenic representations of it's history. I immediately went to Picasso, but also Henry Moore... I was also exploring the kinetic relationship of parts-to-whole. This painting is the result of those forms and a fun painting to look at.

Agony In The Garden

2011-02-12T17:56:00.000-06:00

Agony In the Garden

collection of Dr. Daren Martin

Agony In the Garden is a classic theme in Art history. It is the "scene" where Jesus is praying, knowing of His future crucifixion. For a moment He prays to the Heavenly Father "Let this cup pass before me." No one has told me differently, but I understand it to be the most "human" moment of Jesus' life. He's expressing doubt or ambivalence of His certain future. At the time I made this drawing, I was suffering from a sea of uncomfort and clung to the thought of Jesus in His "fleshly" experience. I'm still not too clear on the widely accepted defense of what the Agony In the Garden means (it's a dicey subject in the Church circles) but in my relationship to the Christ narrative, it is the tribunal reconciliation of sin that became the gift to humankind; God's grace, the Good News and every reason for living life because He loves you.

Technically, I chose to represent Jesus' facing, so that the viewer is projected into the image and contemplate His experience. We are looking past the sleeping disciples, who have shadows of guards cast on them, that double as our own and we understand our selves also as persecutors of Christ. I'm really happy with this drawing and glad that it is in Daren's collection.

Hero vessels

2011-02-12T17:32:00.000-06:00

"Hero" vessels
collection of Daren Martin

These two vessels are the only two thrown ceramic pieces I've done to date. I worked with a potter in Richardson, TX who was trained in Deruta and contrary to his style of "line of beauty" I chose to work in an intuitive variation creative to myself. I am most pleased with the tapering lip of the pieces. I originally imagined the work to be used in processing tea leaves and herbs for drinking when I was on the wheel, however I am comfortable with any purpose Daren chooses. (Don't worry, I used them as an ashtray when I had them)

After firing the pieces, I was watching the martial arts movie Hero and felt free to apply the glazes according to my sense of "zen". I used a sponge loaded with glaze and turned the vessels applying the glazes similarly to my understanding of an Asian brushstroke. There is a beautiful "flying white" on the inside. I also covered my workspace with squirts of paint that were initiated by long overhand arm movements, similar to swordwork. The pieces were then rolled into and across the glazes on the table. I was very focused on the fluidity of my movements and my breathing so that I could achieve the best representation of my understanding "action" and "movement" as artistic process. I'm happy with the results.

I gave them to Daren as a housewarming gift and I know that he enjoys having them.

Tresors Engloutis D'Egypte

2011-02-12T16:48:00.000-06:00

The Best at Failing

2011-02-12T13:04:00.000-06:00

There is alot of change happening around the world.

I went walking this morning and was thinking about Egypt and people I know and what I've been through the past couple of years-- the recession and pop culture. (That's my wandering mind for ya!)

And I thought about this idea that the Egyptian people are just "protesting". Call it what you want, but the message is "Stop!" to a 30 year old totalitarean regime, or mutiny if you consider the regime's point of view and how they're going to respond. That's like telling an old clunker steam locomotive to "Stop." It's going to run over you no matter how nicely you tell it. And my guess is that the "protestors" are counting on the leverage of the global community to step in and help put the breaks on the regime's momentum.

My concern is that there is a full generation of Egyptian people that are passengers to this momentum, and while they may not like the ride anymore, there is a period of knowing what to do that they have to decide for themselves. When you remove a way of being from your life, you can't just leave it empty, there needs to be an activity to replace it, lest you relapse into the habit again. (spoken like a true addict?) The real danger lies in that the youth of Egypt do not possess a true sense of responsibilty to model themselves after, therefore will imitate what they think power should mean and exhibit an impulsive fascism within their sense of freedom... a snapback to the tension of living under the regime. And so an emergency "governor" (think combustable engines) will have to regulate the chaos of mass "freedom". There will be times of desperation to return to the comfort of having the "iron fist" make the decisions and so older Egyptians will exhibit fundamentalist strategies of promoting more regulation to regain what they think is a rational sense of order. It's very hard for me to watch, because I know this pain. I know the liminal states of internalized conflict. These people have not matured to their capacity as a society to know what to do, and while it is my hope that they continue to gain perspective in their vision of a better society, I know those same growing pains, when it seems that all roads lead to failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWZRvRHbRY

Jay Strommen at Perimeter Gallery

2011-02-12T12:30:00.000-06:00

When discussing the task of deciphering Finnegan's Wake, Joseph Campbell describes school men, terrified by the difficulties of Joyce's "root language" --and have been raking leaves in Phoenix Park for the past twenty years tryinig to catch parley. Any ceramics artist will immediately identify a "root language" to Jay Strommen's work and the intricacies are such that one may also want to sweep Jay's studio floor for about twenty years to catch a glimpse of the man and his works in progress.

Jay is a very approachable artist who is happy to share his work to the curious and the awestruck, as he is to the fawning and doting. He seems ambivalent to the celebrity status he has acquired; egging it on, yet guarding his magic and his internal prestige. At the opening reception, it was a Who's Who of Chicago art world appearances.

His vessels are sublime. They are like Italian grottoes; miniature. The surface texture is a sensitive crustacious drip and bubbling ignacious earth that has been freeze-dried and then preserved in the magic of the fire. Ranging from light and sandy in color to darker grey-tick, the bowls breed mossy highlights and brindle. Some of the vessels are severely cracked or ripped, as if Jay is looking to evoke an emotional injury. The interiors of the vessels reveal a sphincter-like constriction of clay over colored glass. The emerald and sapphire mixtures pool inside the openings like gems fallen into the drain of a sink. Impulsively one wants to remove the beautiful glass setting, but also the stark contrast of the materials begin to render more emotional recognitions that seem to tell a story. Questions begin to emerge from a sense of contradiction. The solitary bowl begins to cry and howl. Parts of the bowl appear to have been removed and reattached like scabs, or violently pulled from the structure and cast into the bowl to be fused as a sandcastle may become crumbled by water only partially left intact, beautifully ruined as only nature can ruin something. It is in this way that Jay's skill and experience shine through. His hands seem to possess the power of wind and rain. And while his promotional statements dance close to the line of being overly sentimental in this way, the work is phenominally executed and the presentation in the gallery is free of any overt distractions.

Also included in the show are several large slab pieces that are mounted on the wall. They measure about 15 X 20 and roughly textured in the same way as the vessels and smoothed by copious amounts of glaze and fused glass. They seem more geological, like a fossil sample mixed with a cuniform. These tableaux seem to encode another experience. The verdent-azure glass puddles spell out alchemical schemes and grimoire teachings. Observing them as objects, is to look at them with wonder at how they were made. They are massive and weighty clay tablets that have every possiblity to be destroyed in their drying process. They index Jay's "root language" in new way and are exciting to see. To describe them any further would be to ruin the personal relationship one may have with the pieces in their pleasant ambiguity.

I recommend moving slowly from piece to piece, so that your breathing accomedates the breath of the piece at which you are looking.

They possess, therefore enter.

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See Jay Strommen's work at Perimeter Gallery in Chicago or check his website for additional listings http://www.famousearth.com/

You're right leave the booger, it makes you more beautiful when you're dead

2011-02-10T11:11:00.000-06:00

This morning as I was laying in bed thinking about things that are important to me, I dwelled on the important people I've known in my life. I thought about my friend Kathleen, who would do anything for me. I learned how to be a good friend from Kathleen. The thing is she died. And it wasn't some random accident that she was the victim, she pretty much drank herself to death over several years. I lived with her about a year before she passed, when I was going through my divorce. Her sister had cancer at the time and was likely not going to make it and I was glad to be there as her friend... I didn't realize that she was much more worse off than she expressed. It hurts me that she didn't let me know what I could do to help her. She was a woman of strength and I don't know if she was always out to prove something, but she definitely made things happen. She loved me as her friend. We never really went socializing together, I barely knew her husband, I never met many of her friends... but whenever we hung out (I also worked with her) it was always a very pure honesty, or so I thought. I guess she was scared to show me some pieces of herself and so I never knew that she was in need. Now she's dead.

The next part of my morning's thoughts drifted to the amount of old people in my life experiences. I go through long seasons of having relationships with elderly people, since I was very young. There were the ladies who played dominoes with my great great aunt nextdoor when I was a kid. My sister and I would shuffle the dominoes between hands and make their egg salad sandwiches and listen to them talk. I don't remember anything they said, but it was the beginning of a comfort level in not being scared of old people (although I was scared of my great great aunt's feet).

Later, I worked at a greasy spoon diner in rural East Texas as the line cook. There were several older people who would eat there or have a glass of tea before they would go back out to tend to the cows. There was a group in particular that would meet at 5:30 in the morning, every morning without fail and drink coffee til the sun came up and set out to feed the cows. On Mondays I would go hang out with them before school and drink coffee and shoot the shit with them.

Several years later (not that long ago now) I would have breakfast with the United Methodist Men at the church I attended in Richardson, TX. It was then that I really began to see what it was that I liked about old people... Their emotional honesty about who they are. They aren't lying about who they are, they're realistic about their shortcomings, and even have a sense of humor about it. They enjoy the company of a young person and they enjoy revisiting the times they had when they were my age and sharing funny stories about the stupid stuff they did... If I were to go by the impression of the oldtimers, it seems that the side we all try to cover up is the part that we like the most when we get older.

So I really tried to penetrate into the depth of this idea of what it is we want people to see and not see and I distilled it down to "shame". I've had a couple of therapists/ counselors/ head-shrinkers at different times and one was adamant about "toxic shame". I think we understand shame as we convict ourselves according to some level of standard as we approach the concepts of "Right" and "Wrong". It's a tough thing to grasp fully, because who wants to admit they are wrong, so we try to dodge it with "learning from our mistakes" and various types of mechanisms that help us cope with the pain of rejection from the instances of incongruency from expectation and reality.

I met an artist recently and I proposed the idea that there are "wrong art experiences". If you look at the Death of Sardanopalous and your reaction is "I like brussels sprouts with soy sauce", then you walking away from the painting with an experience that is wrong; it's completely inappropriate and irrelevant to the intent of the painting. The artist claimed that all experiences were "allowed" in the Modernist convention and we argued back and forth the merits of our cases until we both realized as seasoned carcasses of the rhetorical battlefield that it was beginning to take shape of sport rather than discussion, so we conceded that we should end the discussion. I walked away with a feeling of victory over the artist... yet our potential of collaboration was pretty much destroyed. (One thing I can't help but think, is that if all experiences are allowed, then how could she disagree with me?) In all of her transcendentalism, to not allow me the view point I was presenting? Doesn't her belief in all things include my experience? (If there are any transcendentalists out, there could you address this?)

A similar situation has been eating away at me. I was living in a certain condition that I felt shameful about and was uncomfortable about revealing to people I didn't know very well, and one day I "outed" myself with the information that I was homeless on my Facebook page. A friend of mine was very upset that I "lied" to her (in essence) and was very patronizing in letting me know that I shouldn't underestimate people's understanding my needs because she was someone who wanted to care about me and that I should trust people more.... blah, blah. Again, all I can think is that if you can understand the place of someone being in need, then why can't you understand the place of pride that makes one reticent to expose themselves in that way? I just met the woman and wasn't comfortable with putting myself under her microscope just yet. I eventually came to terms with my homelessness and released myself of the shame and decided that forever I wanted to make that part of my life, a part of my story. That meant releasing myself of the shame and letting people know that while I am this, I am also this... I'm not saying we should throw a party because I have a pimple on my ass, but if it's there and we're gonna get to know each other, IF you happen to see my ass, there might be a pimple on it...

and so we return to my friend Kathleen. I understand why she didn't want to tell me she needed help and sometimes I'm sad that she wouldn't let me wipe her nose when she was crying.

Lessons from hosting a church chili-cookoff

2011-02-09T15:31:00.000-06:00

I was on the planning committee for my church's annual chili-cookoff. The weather has been crazy, so the participation was 10 entries compared to 25 last year. The congregation is fairly stuffy and pedestrian. It's a Northshore Chicago suburb. 'nuff said.

Being from Texas and holding a fairly sophisticated experience of tasting chili, my opinion seems to hold little sway in this context, but I learned some very powerful insights in the popular public's sense of "favorite." As I look around, I see evidence of my new found insight everywhere. So a little more back story before I give away my discovery.

Before the tasting festivities (I skipped the church service) I was hanging out with one of the entrants and his five year old daughter. Around kids I like to do magic tricks and then teach them to them. It's fun to see them wonder and learn and then watch them try to do the tricks... obviously, I'm not a real magician. The tricks that I like to do are spontaneous, slight of hand manipulations, like coin tricks, making cards disappear and reappear, ripping up napkins and putting them back together. I do enjoy gimmicked tricks, but they are less convenient because they require the set-up and etc... and now for the insight. People (as in the masses) like gimmicks over the authentic ability. How did the chili-cookoff serve as the medium for this insight you may ask? The winner, wasn't even chili. It was a mole'. I didn't taste it, but it might not have even been a mole'... but that's what they called it and they served it with rice and tortilla... it's a freakin' mini-enchilada that won the chili-cookoff!!! As a purest in most things, inside I was in complete disbelief. And the winner of the cornbread, it tasted like wet grits and milk... but it was green, so somehow that made it taste better. In my mind it was a complete outrage and disaster.

People like the gimmicks.

Building and Adding On

2011-02-08T11:31:00.000-06:00

Artist Resource Network- An organization that supplies front end resources for artists, including space finding, insurance options, financial consultation, site hosting, certification oppurtunities, safety and materials information and other services that would help an artist further themselves professionally

"Be the Missing Link"- a mural project that works with the homeless population. As a way for people to get opportunities to gather momentum in their self-esteem and collaborative experience, the project would be centered around the promotion of kindness through art. A true contribution to any community and public at large, Be the Missing Link would serve as a reminder that no matter the situation, we are all valuable.

Art In Our Backyard- A video series that takes a look at the history of art in the United States by it's provenance. There are masterpieces in museums across the U.S. that have a rich history of their own experience, as an object. Several paintings and sculptures that are hundreds of years old and started out in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America that are now at home in private and public collections. Art In Our Backyard is a PBS style documentary series that chronicles those stories and engages viewers in the accessiblity of artistic mediums throught the experience of the objects themselves.

Racing to Be Last- an intern based initiative that takes people on subsitance living who wish to re-enter the workforce, by helping business start-ups within their own initiative. A micro-community effort that mobilizes it's members to contribute to each other's success in planning and execution of business propostions that fulfill their own desires for success from within.

Other areas of interest in career developments include:
Interior Design
Music Production
Tile Manufacturing http://davidpipertiles.blogspot.com/
Art Gallery
Book writing
Fine Art painting
Printing
Clothing
Artists' Book Publishing
Artists' material -branding
Magazine Articles
Blog
Graphic Novels
cartoons/ movies/ screenwriting
Photography

Chad Buck at Roy Boyd Gallery

2011-02-05T10:29:00.000-06:00

When I told Chad that I wanted to write about his work, he offered to look at the show with me and help me with the syntax of what I was experiencing with each painting. I grinned and replied that I could walk circles around his syntax. We both had a good laugh.

I then fired three questions at him: "What was his intention? What was his relationship with the materials? What type of relationship does he expect the viewer to have with his work?" His eyes lit up and he pointed at the painting behind me (of course).

Chad told me that he was inspired by J.L. Borges at which point I cut him off about his work and we began to geek out on the idea of the Infinite and the Word in Borges' works "Book of Sand" and "Library of Babylon" which led to talk about the autonomy of his work and his use of wood pulp and various stones ground into powder and mixed with his paints, now Antonio Tapies and alchemy and Ecclesiastes.

I was fortunate to meet several collectors and the gallerists while talking with Chad and we all agreed that his work, while sublime in its representation, possessed enough tactile quality to draw the viewer into the contemplation of tonality and space and the calming of the active spirit.

I asked Chad if he likes magic tricks. He said yes. That lets me know that as a person, authentic to his being-- that is looking to define his work semantically, but that he's excited by wonder and mystery and even slight of hand and deceit. He searches for the extraordinary and the pure essence of infinite, in nothing and everything.

I think he prefers everything.
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See Chad Buck: Painting Survey 1998-2010 at Roy Boyd Gallery 739 N. Wells in River North, Chicago.

Lisa Yuskavage

2011-01-31T21:51:00.000-06:00

James Rielly

2011-01-31T21:37:00.000-06:00

Holly Coulis

2011-01-31T21:30:00.001-06:00

Robert Vickery

2011-01-31T21:17:00.000-06:00

Yves Tanguy

2011-01-31T21:03:00.001-06:00

Anselm Feuerbach

2011-01-31T20:52:00.001-06:00

Simon Vouet

2011-01-31T20:32:00.000-06:00

Paula Rego

2011-01-31T20:10:00.001-06:00

Louis Vuitton

2011-01-31T19:20:00.000-06:00

Murakami and his Cherry Bag.

Brooks Brothers 2011

2011-01-31T18:25:00.001-06:00

How to Walk a Thousand Miles

2011-01-31T14:29:00.000-06:00

I walk alot.
I go to church about 7 miles from my home and I walk to and from each Sunday. I also play Go on Wednesday nights near my church at the Barnes & Noble, and I walk. So there's 30 miles guaranteed in two days each week. When you spend 4 hours in day walking, there is plenty of time to think about things, including "the walk" or the journey that you're making and the experience you had when you're walkining back. It's incredibly resorative to my thought process to think about being purposeful in this way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwkej79U3ek

Sometimes it's difficult, but mostly it's a chance to escape (?) into myself. I look at the city (my love), and sometimes I interact with people as we pass, I make plans, I remember, I find surprises, I've lost things (gloves and hats, ugh!)... I observe changes, I look at Nature, I have converstations with myself, I play the air drums, I make myself laugh at funny thoughts, I get ashamed at things I think about other people, I pass certain places to see things that I like that I know will be there (including the Jos. A Bank girl), and I go where I'm going and I go back home. It's pretty awesome.

I've started keeping track of my miles and thinking about the process. Some of my thoughts are going to inspire paintings in a series that I will call "How to Walk a Thousand Miles". I'm excited to do it and to see how it turns out! Stayed tuned for the progress.