Not art at all today

hi, i've been so insanely busy this week that it's not a matter of not having time to post. it's more of a no space left in my brain to question and consider art these days... crazy hectic. a lot of parties, gallery openings (part of my job - i'm so lucky) and a wedding this saturday. so definitely good things but yes, buuuuusy!

i was noticing waldo and how he sits by the window very often and today, i was glancing at what he was looking at, and how cute is that? he's staring at a little pug by the window as well.

i've considered more than once to get another pet just so he has a fulltime playmate but i think it'd be too much. or too much right now at least. plus, it's not like he's alone all day. my work hours are flexible and i do play with him. 

waldo's latest addiction: qtips! (he plays around with them because they're easy to spot colorwise and light. he'd rather a qtip than styrofoam balls or felt clouds and mice) *cute

One last post for the night

I had my third day of yoga training and I am feeling restful and at peace. This made me want to put together a photo montage of peaceful imagery I have taken photos of in the last few months. The top two are from Christmas at Rabbit Hill Farm. Middle and bottom left photos: The lights from Northstar that are so familar to me now and the blossoming teas at ZenCha are some of my favorite and quite calming things in Columbus. Then, I think it was our second really snowy day when the boughs of trees glistened with the glittery powder of snow. And fitting of all my days, I noticed someone who reciprocated my thoughts, the words written on a back door to a restaurant said, "I have spent the day trying to find the right words." Shanti.

Improv Everywhere

This is the most incredible idea!
I'm glad you shared. I wanted to post it here because I love the idea that there is one place I can come back to to see these things that I enjoy and am inspired by time and time again.

You as a book!

I happened across this site that had this...Julie is Book
And I thought, what if we were books? What would it look like? How would you break yourself into chapters? Interesting exercise I just might try...

With some courage, here are some sketches

hi there. feels a little funny to post my sketches here but as i said, it would take some courage but i'd share mine as well. i'm taking another drawing class this semester. it's amazing having a live nude model to draw from. i feel it's the top exercise for me. i'm so in love with it. well, here are the drawings then. i think u can click for a bigger image (will open in new window). at first, after a bachelor's in fine arts, it feels funny to take another beginner's class drawing. but it's always good to learn and u can always improve no matter what level you're on. (i feel i can improve tons in drawing, for example) 

first class then, teacher starts by suggesting we do complete blind drawings of the model to warm up and then, start drawing for real. i used it throughout the sketches. to map out with a blind drawing and then, reposition, fill in, continue with observation "regular" drawing techniques. very nice. i think it works out well. 

have a good sunday, we're lazy over here watching movies and licking ourselves. waldo, that is. hee hee

A QUOTE ABOUT GROWING

Hi juls,
Actually, I miss you when you don't post.
I want you to post all the time! =)
I found this along time ago on Keri Smith's Wish Jar Journal site and saved the image...
I asked her if I could post it here. Her site is one of my favorite sites on journaling and creative living...It's amazing!
Enjoy. I'll write more later.
jax

Someone elses Moleskine

I love molskines and people's amazing sketches in them...

especially architectural illustrations. By CallanBowes off of Flickr.

Perspective drawing of my wall and rafters from my bed...

5 Things I Wanna Share

1.
I like those F. Santos' sketches! Something struck me about the last image...what's the little toy in the picture? so cute!


2.
I get updates from Gregory Euclide. He has new stuff up but I don't like it as much as his older stuff. I think I've shared his work with you before...I love this.


3.
I've seen some good movies lately. Two I recommend that are really imaginative, weird and kind of trippy... Across the Universe...musical set to Beatles Songs, and then last night I saw Fur, an imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus. I'm not sure I liked Nicole Kidman playing Arbus, but I really enjoyed the story nonetheless. Interesting premise to completely make up a story of a portrait of an artist as she is discovering her art. Very psychological. I never understood what made Arbus' photos great. I think knowing where she came from and the context in which she did her work gives me a much greater appreciation for it. Click on the photo for more of Arbus' photography.

The twins remind me of the scene in the Shining, which I'm sure is a reference to Arbus.

4.
I ordered this catalog of Simon Evans' mix media work from Family, a cool bookstore/gallery in LA that sells artist books, and it came today! Actually, I discovered his work when I visited you in Brazil. He was at the Sao Paulo Biennial and I found him so humorous and clever. He uses office supplies - pencil shavings, scotch tape, pen, highlighter...and his tape is dirty...I remember thinking it was nice to see art that wasn't a perfect clean drawing on a pristine piece of paper. His work actually got me thinking about the things that limit an artist, the things that limit me...There is something to say about working within the confines of your environment and accepting where you are...you might have to give up the idea that you will create magnificent work if only you had a bigger, better, cleaner studio space. I thought about fingerprints on tape, dog hair in paint, dust...how much does good craft figure into the visual value of art?


5.
I finally started drawing...I was trying to practice drawing faces and had Brad and my neighbor, Harumi, sit for me...work in progress...


I'm tired now. I hope this finds you well rested. I start yoga training Thursday!
Jax

L Filipe dos Santos sketches

hi, stumbled on this today... i'm so jealous of l filipe dos santos's sketches...


(click on the orange words - they're the way i link things)

Gocco going on my wishlist after seeing how easy it is to use it

click on the image and u'll get a great HOW TO USE GOCCO video - i remember u told me u had one but never used it. i wish i was there so we could try it out together. i'd get one too... fun. thank u julie schneider!

Commercial art

good morning. i was thinking of what to post and i haven't had much time to think about art and other matters because of tidbits of social activity (5 birthdays coming up soon and one wedding i don't even have a dress for yet). but i was catching up on my artforum reading and i found this:

hirst to open retail store

for six years, the british artist damien hirst was an owner of the Pharmacy, a london restaurant with decor that included hirst's butterfly paintings, glass-fronted medicine cabinets, aspirin-shaped bar stools, and matchboxes illustrated with surgical tools. now he is trying his hand in the retail arena, reports carol vogel in the new york times. hirst signed a ten-year lease last week for a space at the southern end of marylebone high street in central london, where his shop is to open in late spring. "it will be eclectic enough for art lovers but also appeal to a wider audience," said hugh allan, a director of Other Criteria, hirst's publishing company. in addition to selling inexpensive items like t-shirts, posters, and postcards, the shop will offer objects by hirst and other artists. allan said he planned to show pieces by michael joo, thomas scheibitz, gary hume, and the artist team tim noble and sue webster. naturally, hirst's creations will be front and center. among them will be Happy Head, a fifty-thousand-dollar painted plastic skull; a two-thousand-dollar roll of wallpaper decorated with hirst's signature brightly colored pills; and an eighteen-karat gold bracelet with different types of pills as charms, for five hundred thousand dollars.

don't people think he's pushing it a little bit? there's a brazilian artist, romero britto, that is criticized because he's too comercial and his paintings (and now products as well, teacups, t-shirts, posters... u name it) are "cute" at its best. romero britto has a gallery as well called "britto central" and all it does is show HIS work. so... what is the difference between damien hirst and romero britto? i feel betrayed (not sure that's the right word) by hirst because in my head he used to be an artist...

Persepolis & Embroideries

I went to see Persepolis tonight and was so tired I fell asleep half way into it! I will have to go back and watch the rest of it. What I did see I loved, especially the visual layering of graphics and how elements were placed in the foreground, middleground, and background within a frame. It was good use of minimal color and pattern in line work. Marjane Satrapi has a third book called Embroideries The women in her family get together for afternoon tea and discuss stories about life as a woman living in Iran: culture, politics and men.

Also,
Speaking of embroideries, I keep running into Megan Whitmarsh's work. Her site is called Tiny Industries. I love her embroideries. Too freakin' cute!

YumiYumi Illustrations

I found these beautiful prints on Etsy...the artist hails from Columbus!

Spike Lee

A couple of days ago on a snowy Tuesday night, Spike Lee spoke at the Wexner Center. He was awarded the Wexner Prize and accepted his place among other renowned artists such as John Cage, Bruce Nauman, and Gerard Richter to name a few. James McBride (nice site) who is the author of the book, The Color of Water (which looks to be an incredible portrait of his mother, a jewish rabbi's daugher who marries a black man and has 12 children who she puts all through college), acted as interviewer and asked Spike questions on stage. It was pretty informal and I got to get a glimpse into a creative genius who creates from his heart without compromise. It was inspiring to say the least. I came away believing he is a pivotal filmmaker of this time and his work challenges society to be a more open minded place. With that said, I need to go rent some more Spike Lee Joints!

Happy Valentine's Day Miss Juls!

Cao Guimarães

{hi jax, sorry that i'll start the same way i did my own blog yesterday, going off about cao guimarães' work at an exhibition here but it's still so present in my thoughts}

going through the panorama dos panoramas exhibition at mam (museu de arte moderna - são paulo), i came across one of the most beautiful words. the artist is cao guimarães and the video is called "histórias do não ver" (translated by the artist to "stories of not-seeing"). cao asks his friends to please kidnap him. people would pick him up at home and take him somewhere. he would photograph everything, without seeing due to a blindfold, and then write about it and develop the pictures. the text and pictures became a book (by the same title) and then, a video. at some point, he talks about memories and mirrors and other things... its very sensitive to other senses other than vision. its a beautiful video. i love this:
a memória é um lugar onde as coisas acontecem por uma segunda vez.
(translates to: memory is a place where things happen for a second time.)
i feel like just this one line can take me places. i definitely want to keep it in mind and think more of it. see where it leads to. very breathtaking, to me.

i was also thinking of other senses other than sight and last nite, after yoga, my sense of smell was more than accentuated. i walked down the stairs, right after class, and i could smell the flowers so strongly. granted, they were lilies (strong smell always), but still, it was really taking up all the air, if u know what i mean.

for some reason, after these words, i'm now thinking about dreams... hm... why did i remember dreams right now? strange... i feel like something's on the same line there.

memory, where things happen for a second time, dreams, reality x dream, intense memory, memory is "verified" by the senses, ... oops. don't know where i'm going with this. hm... food for thought

posted by juls

Visual Maps & my post as an artifact on the Web

Hi Juls!
I like that music map site. I think I've been to it before. There is something so nice about finding the connections between things. That is what I think of when I see visual maps like this...like a map of Delta flights...I like to connect the dots in my mind. So my next thought I have about mapping are two amazing web projects that my sister sent me about emotions and human desire...We Feel Fine and Lovelines...the artistic collaborations of Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar.

What to make of this information they have gathered. Perhaps it is just about the observation; How we are connected and how we are human. Jonathan Harris' artists statement says "his work involves the exploration of humans through the artifacts they leave behind on the Web."

I have often had a love/hate (I wonder if this will be picked up on the loveline site) relationship with the internet and technology (I realize they are at the same time two hugely different concepts I lump together and speak about interchangeably.) I think about the pervasiveness of technology and try to think critically about its effect on our "humanness" asking questions such as: How do we use it? How will we use it? What does it do for us? What does it make us do? Not do? How does it influence us in proportion to how do we influence it? The part that makes me think, is how the internet makes virtual interaction a part of human interaction and the paradigm shift that is/will take place. To what that effect is on society and to what extent will be our dependence on technology is up for discussion...what do you think of this? do these questions interest you?
I also have many critical thoughts on blogging and voyeurism and the "bare all" syndrome as I finish this post! I participate in order to learn.

jax
LISTENING TO: death cab for cutie. Their latest album Plans is one of those albums I can listen to from beginning to end...it flows. I'm drawn to the piano parts in these songs.

New link & as always, exhibitions...

hi, i just added the link to music map on the "favorite links" there on the right. it's a very cool way to find out about new bands that are already similar to ones of your preference. u fill in the blank and type in the name of the band/singer and hit continue. it'll map out bands that are similar to the one u asked for in a map-like way. it's a diagram where similar bands are closer and clustered together. very cool.
sometimes i get tired of my music u know... this is a good way to go in the right direction.
i did meet someone who was my personal dj once. he knows my taste in music and keeps suggesting things left and right. last suggestions were: vampire weekend and MGMT. i think i prefer vampire weekend. (u ever listened to death cab for cutie?)

either way, went to yet another art opening last nite. this time it's a friend who's showing his toy art. i think it's more elaborate and sophisticated than toy art. also, less humorous although playful. well, here's a picture. his name is roberto stelzer and he has a website but, as a photographer.

posted by juls

Re: Sotto & my love for Maya Lin

Hi Juls,
I love that piece...the one that looks like a wheat field. It's beautiful.
I like the idea of small things making up a whole. So the individual pieces aren't extraordinary, but together they form a much interesting idea. This reminds me of Maya Lin's Systematic Landscapes. I saw this exhibit in Seattle last year. I like that her work in general is very organic and reflective of environment and she is amazingly conceptual without being too abstract.

Here is a great link to a documentary about her work that I found on YouTube.

I know some of the work I want to do has to do with the idea of small marks making up a larger landscape/image, akin to the idea of pointilism. There is a similarity in minimal materials, easiness of design and repetitive actions in the type of mark making, where the meditative quality of the process comes through in both Sotto's and Lin's works.

I also wanted to comment on the "kinetics" piece you saw. I really liked your description of how "you could understand the chaos but felt at peace with the order." I can imagine that when I see the picture of the installation.

I wish I was able to see more engaging art...I am devoid of that much needed stimulus. I'm happy to get to see what you see and that you can share your experiences with me. This is the best idea we ever had! =)

I'll try to post some drawings I did recently tomorrow.
Beijos,
Jackie

Tidbits of thoughts on 3 different things...

found a photograph of the work i was talking about last time i posted. (jesus rafael sotto). thought id include, even if it is way overdue... it's the one that looks like a wheat field, in a way.

it's sorta funny to read all your poetry you share. i'm not usually a big poetry fan. it's not that i'm not a fan, but i feel i am a visual person so i need the visuals to go with it. there is one poem that just stops my heart for a moment though: 

"people are like mountains, difficult to move, often erupting and then they lie dormant making small bird sounds and breathing soft. and when they disappear, isn't it like the sierras getting up and walking away, and all we're left with is they valley, some wind, and the feeling that the landscape looks all wrong." 

a friend, grace, from SMFA, used it in a performance. the poems were printed on white fabric handkerchiefs and she walked around the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, just gracefully dropping them all over the place. you could pick one handkerchief up and take it home with you, if you wanted. very beautiful. 

went to another art opening today that felt like a high school project. strange... (not worth mentioning the name and causing a bad rep for people involved) 

Mandela quote

I grabbed this Nelson Mandela quote from a comment made on your blog by someone who goes by b... it is one that I come across now and again that resonates with me every time I read it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"

b also, said this...
Art for instance… The best art compels us to change ourselves for the better. Perhaps, that's what Rilke tells in his poem: art pushes us to leave the commonplace and to go in the quest of the exceptional. The exceptional is our souls' true motherland.'

Very inspirational e-zine - must see

sorry to post again but i found this and i HAD to share:
http://designformankind.blogspot.com/2008/01/its-time.html

it's the DESIGN FOR MANKIND's [inspiration], a monthly e-zine.

amazing and most of all... (sorry, but it's true) inspirational

posted by juls

i went to see an exhibition yesterday called "os cinéticos" and i must say that i was a bit prejudiced before i went. i thought that it'd be cool because i'd see things moving and i'd get a feel for technology and industry coming into the art field... but it was so much more than that. i'm so happy i went. the link for the poster of the exhibition is
http://www.institutotomieohtake.org.br/programacao/exposicoes/cineticos/cineticos.html
(sorry it's such an extensive and long address)

either way, i was very moved by what seemed like a wheat field by jesús rafael soto made up of simple thin sticks (like things you use to make a kebab with) painted yellow. also nice illusion it made as you walked around it. (sorry no photographs in the gallery space...)

another artwork that i feel is very memorable is another sculpture/installation by keiji kawashima. it is called "between order and chaos" and it's so beautiful how all the pieces work together. they are very precisely placed so that nothing hits anything else. they are kinetic (from the word in greek that means "movement") because there are fans blowing into these light circular 2D "plates." so the individual parts are constantly swirling back and forth, this way and that, yet, at the same time, because they are all moving and all the same color, they look very much in unison. this is a beautiful piece that is, to me, very representative of humankind, in general. i feel like i could understand its chaos but was definitely at peace with its order.

a few other names i wrote down:
- sergio camargo
- francisco sobrino
- julio le parc

posted by juls

Beautiful poem I read at Northstar in a poetry journal...

Kolar: Housing Estate

What you cannot see through those windows
beyond the bare hill
is the hand resting on the table,
is the man lying still
on the bed, is the vague gesture
of the young woman in the hallway
as she remembers something that happened yesterday
is the mouse hesitating under the draining board,
is the twelve year old boy putting on a record
of Weiner Blut that he once saw
his parents waltzing to.

All that you see is the all-but-naked child
on the all-but-naked hill against a naked sky
as if what you could not see were the question
and she the reply.

George Szirtes
(Describing a photo by Vicktor Kolar, Untitled, 1980 from Ostrava)

Posted by Jackie