Develop; Stop; Fix

What Happens When Artists Make It Big

2009-08-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

How Could This Happen to Annie Leibovitz? @ nymag.com

RIP, John Hughes.

2009-08-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

Lately (in the last two days) I have been very into this:

And that's really all I wanted to share with you, internet, and so here is a photograph of my friend and her sleeping mask in Montreal, QC:

I also want to note that one of the greatest screenwriters of our time died this past weekend, and I am really genuinely distraught over the matter. He hadn't done much in the last 10 years, but his work between 1983 and the early 90s can't ever be replaced. Peace out, John Hughes.

2009-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Back from the dead of summer to share this incredible gem:

Atlas Sound feat. Panda Bear - Walkabout

xx

Marlene Dumas

2009-04-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I was going to update with an overview of my own work from the last couple months, but in the midst of that I read a really excellent quote from Marlene Dumas about her paintings:

"I once participated in a panel on art and pornography in London. There were all these writers, and everyone was saying they're not really pornographic, but they use it (in their work), and it was a bit boring, I have to admit. But one guy stood up at a certain stage, and he said, 'I'm a pornographer, and I don't think you know anything about pornography at all!'

So in Los Angeles, when I had a lecture and people could ask questions, one man stood up, and he said, 'Well, you can say (your work) is about this and that, but when I look at these explicit sexual things of yours, I can't see anything else but pornography.'

A few years previously, I would not have known how to answer, but I said, 'Well, I can see that this gentleman is not a pornographer. He doesn't really look at pornography at all, because then he would see that there's a big difference.'
Full Article: The Houston Chronicle (the website of which, I would also like to point out purely out of sheer immaturity, is entitled "Chron.com" which I'm guessing gets a lot of hits from the 14-25 year old stoner population)

The difference between art and pornography is something I myself am very interested in, and while Dumas' paintings are not pornographic in nature, we are really moving in the wonderful direction of pushing the censoral boundaries in this day and age... but that's an entire essay on it's own that I'm too mentally worn out to write about at the moment. On to work:

"Young Boys" Marlene Dumas, 1993, oil on canvas

"The Cover-up" Marlene Dumas, 1994, oil on canvas

"Stola" Marlene Dumas, 2000, oil on canvas

See more by searching google.

Noah Kalina

2009-03-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

(Un)fortunately internet famous for taking a picture of himself at the same angle every day for 6 years and then animating it (so much so that The Simpsons parodied it), Noah Kalina is also a formidable photographer. His use of lighting is incredibly creative.

(c) 2009 Noah Kalina
More at: noahkalina.com, Noah K's flickr

Rune Guneriussen, Lisa Hannigan

2009-03-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

I can't pronounce his last name, but I like the way he creates scenarios using inanimate objects an awful lot. Incredibly witty.

(c) Rune Guneriussen 2009
more at his website: runeguneriusenn.no

And here is a lovely little song by Lisa Hannigan (the title is my favourite kind of nut):

Lisa Hannigan - Pistachio

I listened to this album for nearly 3 weeks straight while doing school work.

Flora Hanitijo, Tom Waits

2009-03-24T22:26:00.000-07:00

(c) Flora Hanitijo, 2009
more at her website: florahanitijo.com

Also, rather alarmingly, I've been listening to nothing butthe Early Years of Tom Waits for the past 3 days straight, but if you listen to these:

Tom Waits - Mockin'bird
Tom Waits - Ol' 55

...well, how can I not listen to that over and over?

Erika Svensson

2009-03-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

(c)Erika Svensson 2009

see much, much more at her website: http://www.erikasvensson.com

Erik Johansson

2009-03-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

This guy has a sense of humour that gets along well with mine:

All images (c) Erik Johansson 2009

more at: http://www.alltelleringet.com/

--

Shooting for the next few days, this year is really coming to a fast and very abrupt close.

2009-03-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

A sizable update of new 120mm scans has been added to flickr, featuring:

Much too tired to type anything tangible, so that's that, really!

2009-03-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

Being an artist is a phenomenon, really. And a fascinating one, in that everyone wants to be a part of it, but nobody wants to do the work. All I hear from younger students is that it's "too much work" or that "whatever, that's good enough". Shut up. Sunshine and kittens, that's what they want. Heads up, kids: to succeed you need to live in your work, to BE your work. There is no alternative and nothing else matters, really. If it does, you should probably consider keeping that day-job.

Speaking of which, I've spent over 40 hours in the darkroom this week, it may or may not be driving me a little batty. The only reason I skipped out on today is that I ran out of paper due to a particularly difficult negative yesterday afternoon. I also scanned 3 rolls of film and managed to leave the disks I burned them on to at the school. That's too bad really.

It's refreshing and exhilarating to feel focused.

2009-03-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ideally best viewed (just imo, of course, but really) on a nicely calibrated imac monitor, those are few and far in between I'm afraid. An unfortunately common thing when dealing with scanned negatives. Regardless, hopefully the monitor you're viewing on is darker as opposed to brighter. I'm pretty sure, as always, the print is superior to the scan.

This whole blog thing feels so retro.