Monday, November 30, 2009

Night and Reality

Yoshi Abe At Night circa 2001

"Simplicity is an appreciation of scenes or objects as ends in themselves. Not as anything symbolic, or literary, but simply as things-in-themselves. Everything has its own nature, its integrity [...] If art is the selective recreation of reality according to the artist’s own value judgements, then one must have the ability to see that which is worth recreating. While random objects, scenes, and events crowd out the vision of the artist, and impose themselves on the viewer, the ability to single out the important– to home in on it – is what singles out the artist as blessed with a unique ability" -Yoshi Abe

Friday, November 27, 2009

The Good is Oft Interred With Their Bones

“Quello che voi siete noi eravamo, Quello che noi siamo voi sarete.”
Capucin Crypt below the Church of Santa Maria della Concezione
Via Veneto, 27 – Piazza Barberini
Rome, Italy

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Monday, November 23, 2009

Forte de Casa

Rineke Dijkstra
Bullfighters
I suggest you stay in the safety of your own Home.

Aesthetische Paranoia


Jürgen Klauke Aesthetische Paranoia 2003-2006

"In his staged photographs Klauke himself becomes the object of his observation, openly portraying the drama of points of human conflict by taking up fictitious identities. He shows existential issues from a personal vision: the relationship between objects and spaces, the ambiguity, the theatricality, the absurd, the sexual identity. As a result, his photographs function as a mirror of the human soul, often confronting the viewer with his or her own unspoken and repressed desires. [...] it's about being alone in space and in the world. What he considers most important is to create space for new ideas and visions, inviting the observer to immerse into a different world. "

For Now, I Need Your Hidden Love

Ritterschlacht (Knight's Battle) 2003, Martin Honert
A Model Scenario of the Flying Classroom 1995, Martin Honert

And we learn about the world, through the mouth of a polar bear.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Movements of Escape

Olaf Nicolai, La Lotta, 2006. The Sander Collection, Courtesy Galerie EIGEN + ART Leipzig/Berlin, Foto: Uwe Walter, Berlin

“A child in the dark, gripped with fear, comforts himself by singing under [his] breath. He walks and haults to his song. Lost, he takes shelter, or orients himself with his song as best he can. The song is like a rough sketch of a calming and stabilizing, calm and stable, center in the heart of chaos. Perhaps the child skips as he sings, hastens or slows his pace. But the song itself is already a skip: it jumps from chaos to the beginnings of order in chaos and is in danger of breaking apart at any moment. ”

--Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus

Things Start Splitting at the Seams

Planet in the Fog 2008 Mixed media on canvas
190x250cm Courtesy Gabriele Senn Galerie Hans Weigand

Return to the Planet of the Apes in Los Angeles II, 2008
Mixed media on canvas 190 x 250 cm / 74,8 x 98,43 in
Courtesy of Arndt & Partner, Zurich
Hans Weigand
I've tried, but I can't look at you any other way.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A Trimming Prospect

Thomas Heatherwick - East Beach Café, Littlehampton, West Sussex, England (2007)
Swiss Museum of Architecture Re-Sampling Ornament

I have a range of feelings about this building. Initially I think it is childish and playful, like some kind of 3d puzzle, that has been completed and displayed on a shelf. But I also feel attached to it, as a living creature, and I am saddened to see it beached and immovable, like a mechanical whale that became distracted from its course, and came to its final resting place in a rusted heap.

My Bird Can Sing

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

1. Being hot / Keeping cool 'You should see the sweat under here, it's like a river'


"Most people I interviewed said they weren't keen on making contact with their fellow passengers, which is an awful waste of casual face to face socializing. I was looking into animal shields, scares, warning systems and colours for ways to attract and also repel (you wouldn't want to look too attractive waiting for the night bus in back end of Brixton). A frilled lizard has an excellent collar which I borrowed for this image. It can spread it out for scaring or keep flat for inconspicuous look. The slippery suit is for slick crowd movements (- how smooth it would be if everybody wore them!)"


Riitta Ikonen Costume Series
For those who love all things Nylon!

Xerox Astronomy and the Nebulous Object-Image Archive




"Xerox Astronomy and the Nebulous Object-Image Archive is an installation in two parts: 1) a central kinetic sculpture and 2) the presentation of the image archive the sculpture produces. The first part places an office photocopier at the center of a mechanical model of the universe. In this model, a group of desklamp-esque arms orbit robotically, maneuvering light sources above the bed of the copier, the system's observation and recording device. By continually documenting, through photocopies, the paths of the orbiting objects, the copier produces images suggestive both of various forms of scientific vision (astrophotography, sonography, etc) and paranormal/hoax photography. The sculpture at once models the movements of distant bodies and presents itself as the the primary object of observation, creating a self-reflexive, self-imaging media production system. Its form refers to pre-industrial astronomic models, and the incorporation of office aesthetics is intended to evoke the "informational everyman-ism" typified by amateur astronomy, paranormal enthusiasts, and internet DIY culture. "

Monday, November 2, 2009

You Are Still the Most Adorable Dessert in Town



"I wanted a junction and often there was one
You'd surface face first and we'd share our thought bubbles
And I still believe in the phrases that we breathed
But I know the distance isn't fair to cross

I was out of your league
And you were 20,000 underneath the sea
Waiving affections
You were out of my league
At a distance that I didn't wanna see
Wanted you nearer

Your depths made a pressure that punctured my works and all your fluids
couldn't tolerate the force of my thirst
I love the place where we shared our tiny grace
But just because it's real don't mean it's gonna work

And true affection floats
True affections sinks like a stone
I never felt so close I never felt so all alone"

quand je l'ai embrassé, je n'ai pas réfléchi


Cy Twombly, Fifty Days at Iliam 1977

"J'ai fait juste un bisou. C'est un geste d'amour, quand je l'ai embrassé, je n'ai pas réfléchi, je pensais que l'artiste, il aurait compris... Ce geste était un acte artistique provoqué par le pouvoir de l'art"

"It was just a kiss, a loving gesture. I kissed it without thinking; I thought the artist would understand.... It was an artistic act provoked by the power of Art"