Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Clive Barker at Bert Green
I am hoping to go see this show some time relatively soon as I am a huge fan of Clive Barkers work. It looks like it is a combination of his paintings, drawings, photos and masks. Here is a brief preview- hopefully i can post something about it relatively soon after I go and see the exhibit. Clive Barker. (the current show is near the bottom of this page)
Saturday, November 14, 2009
music and art
im always interested in hearing what people listen to at any given moment. so here is ten albums that i am listening to the most regularly in my shuffle. if you are interested in any of these musicians let me know what you are listening to- i eat music up.
blonde redhead misery is a butterfly
thom york erasure
glass candy yes music
nick cave and warren ellis white lunar
blank dogs under and under
aimee mann lost in space
a place to bury strangers
goldfrapp supernature
dead mans bones dead mans bones
midnight juggernauts dystopia
blonde redhead misery is a butterfly
thom york erasure
glass candy yes music
nick cave and warren ellis white lunar
blank dogs under and under
aimee mann lost in space
a place to bury strangers
goldfrapp supernature
dead mans bones dead mans bones
midnight juggernauts dystopia
Friday, November 13, 2009
Marilyn Minter at Regen Projects
I went to the Marilyn Minter show at Regen Projects in West Hollywood today and highly recommend it. They are showing a bunch of large scale photography and paintings. When I started looking at her paintings up close to see if I could learn something about her process I was surprised to see faint finger prints inbedded all over the surface. I found out later that she uses enamel paint because she is able to get a certain blending affect with her fingers. I was not all that impressed with her photos or paintings of Pamela Anderson- not merely because of the subject matter, but she seemed to be less interested in the formal complexities than in her pieces dealing with the mouth. I am also very interested in her relationship to commercial photography- she says she only takes on commercial work that she feels like she can also adapt to her fine art practice. Sometimes this issue becomes a conflict for her. If you haven't been definitely go- its worth your time.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A NYC magazine i got published in this summer
When I went to the Francis Bacon retrospective over the summer I met up with some friends of a friend who were the art editors for Constellation magazine. They decided to promote my work and here is the link if you are interested: Constellation just go to "show a preview" im on page 13- go figure.
Friday, November 6, 2009
25 Things You Might Not Know About Reality (Not Me)
by Jonathan Dean
1. It's not that there is or there isn't a God. It's that even if there
were a God, he would be unable or unwilling to help or intervene in any
way. He created us and then forgot about us. Or worse, he created us,
was disgusted, and moved on. Or he's dead. Either way, it's best not to
spend time thinking about it.
2. Next time someone regales you with a long diatribe about the evils
of capitalism, ask them to propose a better system. If they can't do
it, they are stupid. Any deluded neo-Marxist or wing nut
anarcho-syndicalist worth their salt should be able to immediately cite
the potlatch or "gift economy," or anarchist pirate states as a
counter-example without even getting into the whole communist argument.
But remember this: all of these utopian schemes depend upon basic
assumptions about morality and human nature that are completely
untenable.
3. Here are those assumptions: 1) That an ideal society has something
to do with creating the most favorable situation for the greatest
amount of people. 2) That politics and economics have the power to
create a morally equitable situation for anyone. 3) That pain,
discomfort, inequality, slavery, genocide, disease and unhappiness can
or should be vanquished from the world.
4. Quit saying "mind and body." Your mind is your body, and your body
is your mind. You can't separate them, and trying to conceive them as
separate entities leads to all kinds of stupid ideas about reality.
5. Same with "spirit and flesh" or "noumenal and phenomenal." Retarded
distinctions invented by people with an agenda. The only reason to
believe that there is a spiritual world and a material world is so that
one can be privileged while the other is degraded.
6. Starting to get the picture? People privilege the mind in order to
denigrate the body, they elevate the spiritual in order to mortify the
flesh. All stupid ideas that have caused a lot of problems in this
world. Still, as I said above, it really can't be any other way. So get
used to these stupid ideas: they will keep recurring endlessly.
7. Conspiracy theorists get one thing right: everything is connected.
However, they make a fatal mistake by assuming that some particular
person, group or entity is pulling the strings. Sure, there is a
conspiracy, but it's an unconscious conspiracy: a conspiracy of the
stupid, vain, greedy, power-hungry and lazy. In any situation, one or a
combination of these motivations can provide 100% of the explanation
for all actions that seem to be secretly coordinated.
8. Magic(k) does exist. But it's not what you think. It has a lot more
to do with changing your own perceptual apparatus than changing
reality. If you screw up your head enough, the impossible becomes
possible. Disappointed? Clearly, the wizard business is not for you.
9. There is no "gay gene."
10. Why is everyone looking for a "gay gene"? Because it is politically
expedient to claim that homosexuality is genetic, like race or gender.
If it's not a choice, then gays should be a protected minority.
11. The problem here is the same problem presented by every other
binary. People think that it's either genetic or it's a choice.
Millions of gay people don't remember choosing. Therefore, it must be
genetic. This is a false binary. What if it is a choice, but a "forced
choice"? What if it's a choice, but one so contingent and unconscious
as to be virtually unknowable as a choice? Isn't this at least
possible? And please, let's not rehash the whole "everyone's bisexual,
really" cliché. If that is actually true, I don't want to know.
12. This brings up the whole "nature vs. nurture" thing, which is
another annoying argument based on false binaries. It's not one or the
other. It's not both. It's not neither. It's more complex than that.
13. Every time someone tells you that one thing is "the same" as
something else, point out the ways in which it is different. Focus less
on sameness and identity, and more on difference and complexity. Try
not to be reductive in your outlook, and see how it changes the picture
of what you thought were certainties about your reality.
14. Sure, reality is "mediated" by language. OK, you can't really "see"
objective truth; you can only see using your senses, and you can only
think in a predetermined language with meanings assigned arbitrarily
before you were even born. Sure, culture is a determining factor in
many (or most) issues we face. Sure, even quantum physics has
determined that a great deal of what we see is determined by what tool
we use to observe. And yeah, I guess you could use this to demonstrate
that we "make our own reality" or something like that (see films like
"What the Bleep Do We Know" or a lot of trendy New Age belief systems).
Fine. However, none of this should suggest to us that "there is no
reality" or that "we can't talk about reality" or anything like that.
That is pure solipsism; naive unrealism, as it were. Of course there's
a fucking reality. If anyone tries to tell you there isn't a reality,
they are trying to sell you something. And it might be Amway.
15. What can you do with the information in #13 and 14? Use this
knowledge to cut through the preponderance of bullshit arguments
getting volleyed around these days by people who might seem smart until
you really think about what they are saying. Arguments claiming moral
equivalence. Any time someone says "this kind of thinking leads to the
holocaust" or "that's what Hitler thought, too" or something like that.
Any time someone attempts to settle an argument by claiming both sides
are "equally valid" or similar bullshit. Any time someone informs you
that the DMT elves revealed to them that the human race was seeded by a
race of intelligent gaseous jellyfish from the Horsehead Nebula who
want us to learn to Love One Another (TM). They are all full of shit
and need to report to cult deprogramming immediately.
16. There is a relatively uncontroversial way of testing out bizarre
ethical injunctions or moral precepts, or even statements about reality
or identity. Try them on like you would a thrift store suit that wasn't
tailored for you. Walk around, see if the sleeves ride up or if the
pant legs end up under your shoes. In short, see if accepting this kind
of statement does anything for you. Does it increase your perception in
some areas or foreclose perception in others? Has it increased or
expanded your capacity to affect and be affected?
17. Drugs will expand your mind. But only some drugs. I have a list.
18. Even when completely alone, most act as if they are being watched
nearly all of the time. How could I possibly know such a thing? It's
simple: I've been watching them.
19. It is impossible to "be yourself," so stop trying. The very notion
is absurd, as even a rudimentary consideration will reveal.
20. It is, in fact, impossible to BE anything. No being, only becoming. This is not quite as dipshit as it sounds.
21. A lot of people will tell you that there is no good art or bad art;
it's all subjective. When you ask those people why so many discerning
people seem to agree on the greatness or terribleness of certain works
of art and certain artists, some will reply that this strange
convergence of opinion is clearly based on cultural assumptions or
institutional politics or canonicity or racism or sexism or cultural
imperialism or all of the above. I know from experience that these
kinds of people like being urinated on during sex.
22. Neoconservatives experience constant abdominal and rectal peristalsis.
23. Christians have sex less often than atheists, but when they do have sex, they take off more of their clothes.
24. The egg came first.
25. [deliberately left blank]
1. It's not that there is or there isn't a God. It's that even if there
were a God, he would be unable or unwilling to help or intervene in any
way. He created us and then forgot about us. Or worse, he created us,
was disgusted, and moved on. Or he's dead. Either way, it's best not to
spend time thinking about it.
2. Next time someone regales you with a long diatribe about the evils
of capitalism, ask them to propose a better system. If they can't do
it, they are stupid. Any deluded neo-Marxist or wing nut
anarcho-syndicalist worth their salt should be able to immediately cite
the potlatch or "gift economy," or anarchist pirate states as a
counter-example without even getting into the whole communist argument.
But remember this: all of these utopian schemes depend upon basic
assumptions about morality and human nature that are completely
untenable.
3. Here are those assumptions: 1) That an ideal society has something
to do with creating the most favorable situation for the greatest
amount of people. 2) That politics and economics have the power to
create a morally equitable situation for anyone. 3) That pain,
discomfort, inequality, slavery, genocide, disease and unhappiness can
or should be vanquished from the world.
4. Quit saying "mind and body." Your mind is your body, and your body
is your mind. You can't separate them, and trying to conceive them as
separate entities leads to all kinds of stupid ideas about reality.
5. Same with "spirit and flesh" or "noumenal and phenomenal." Retarded
distinctions invented by people with an agenda. The only reason to
believe that there is a spiritual world and a material world is so that
one can be privileged while the other is degraded.
6. Starting to get the picture? People privilege the mind in order to
denigrate the body, they elevate the spiritual in order to mortify the
flesh. All stupid ideas that have caused a lot of problems in this
world. Still, as I said above, it really can't be any other way. So get
used to these stupid ideas: they will keep recurring endlessly.
7. Conspiracy theorists get one thing right: everything is connected.
However, they make a fatal mistake by assuming that some particular
person, group or entity is pulling the strings. Sure, there is a
conspiracy, but it's an unconscious conspiracy: a conspiracy of the
stupid, vain, greedy, power-hungry and lazy. In any situation, one or a
combination of these motivations can provide 100% of the explanation
for all actions that seem to be secretly coordinated.
8. Magic(k) does exist. But it's not what you think. It has a lot more
to do with changing your own perceptual apparatus than changing
reality. If you screw up your head enough, the impossible becomes
possible. Disappointed? Clearly, the wizard business is not for you.
9. There is no "gay gene."
10. Why is everyone looking for a "gay gene"? Because it is politically
expedient to claim that homosexuality is genetic, like race or gender.
If it's not a choice, then gays should be a protected minority.
11. The problem here is the same problem presented by every other
binary. People think that it's either genetic or it's a choice.
Millions of gay people don't remember choosing. Therefore, it must be
genetic. This is a false binary. What if it is a choice, but a "forced
choice"? What if it's a choice, but one so contingent and unconscious
as to be virtually unknowable as a choice? Isn't this at least
possible? And please, let's not rehash the whole "everyone's bisexual,
really" cliché. If that is actually true, I don't want to know.
12. This brings up the whole "nature vs. nurture" thing, which is
another annoying argument based on false binaries. It's not one or the
other. It's not both. It's not neither. It's more complex than that.
13. Every time someone tells you that one thing is "the same" as
something else, point out the ways in which it is different. Focus less
on sameness and identity, and more on difference and complexity. Try
not to be reductive in your outlook, and see how it changes the picture
of what you thought were certainties about your reality.
14. Sure, reality is "mediated" by language. OK, you can't really "see"
objective truth; you can only see using your senses, and you can only
think in a predetermined language with meanings assigned arbitrarily
before you were even born. Sure, culture is a determining factor in
many (or most) issues we face. Sure, even quantum physics has
determined that a great deal of what we see is determined by what tool
we use to observe. And yeah, I guess you could use this to demonstrate
that we "make our own reality" or something like that (see films like
"What the Bleep Do We Know" or a lot of trendy New Age belief systems).
Fine. However, none of this should suggest to us that "there is no
reality" or that "we can't talk about reality" or anything like that.
That is pure solipsism; naive unrealism, as it were. Of course there's
a fucking reality. If anyone tries to tell you there isn't a reality,
they are trying to sell you something. And it might be Amway.
15. What can you do with the information in #13 and 14? Use this
knowledge to cut through the preponderance of bullshit arguments
getting volleyed around these days by people who might seem smart until
you really think about what they are saying. Arguments claiming moral
equivalence. Any time someone says "this kind of thinking leads to the
holocaust" or "that's what Hitler thought, too" or something like that.
Any time someone attempts to settle an argument by claiming both sides
are "equally valid" or similar bullshit. Any time someone informs you
that the DMT elves revealed to them that the human race was seeded by a
race of intelligent gaseous jellyfish from the Horsehead Nebula who
want us to learn to Love One Another (TM). They are all full of shit
and need to report to cult deprogramming immediately.
16. There is a relatively uncontroversial way of testing out bizarre
ethical injunctions or moral precepts, or even statements about reality
or identity. Try them on like you would a thrift store suit that wasn't
tailored for you. Walk around, see if the sleeves ride up or if the
pant legs end up under your shoes. In short, see if accepting this kind
of statement does anything for you. Does it increase your perception in
some areas or foreclose perception in others? Has it increased or
expanded your capacity to affect and be affected?
17. Drugs will expand your mind. But only some drugs. I have a list.
18. Even when completely alone, most act as if they are being watched
nearly all of the time. How could I possibly know such a thing? It's
simple: I've been watching them.
19. It is impossible to "be yourself," so stop trying. The very notion
is absurd, as even a rudimentary consideration will reveal.
20. It is, in fact, impossible to BE anything. No being, only becoming. This is not quite as dipshit as it sounds.
21. A lot of people will tell you that there is no good art or bad art;
it's all subjective. When you ask those people why so many discerning
people seem to agree on the greatness or terribleness of certain works
of art and certain artists, some will reply that this strange
convergence of opinion is clearly based on cultural assumptions or
institutional politics or canonicity or racism or sexism or cultural
imperialism or all of the above. I know from experience that these
kinds of people like being urinated on during sex.
22. Neoconservatives experience constant abdominal and rectal peristalsis.
23. Christians have sex less often than atheists, but when they do have sex, they take off more of their clothes.
24. The egg came first.
25. [deliberately left blank]
Voices
What do you do with so many voices pushing you in so many directions that make you feel like you just want to break? This seems to be the season for so many of my peers where they feel unable to pick themselves up from the onslaught of analysis, but they do only to be put back into the same position once again. The easy route would be to play the "cool" approach and brush it off like it doesn't matter (its a natural part of the process for your art to go into a slump right?) , but when you are spending 10 to 12 hours a day putting your guts into something it is nearly impossible to slough it off all cool and collected. So you work harder and dig deeper hoping that the process will lead you to some new and unexpected turn you never could have predicted. I want to say "great" if that is all that it takes than I'll just double my output and eventually I will come to the answer, but that is not really what its about either- its more complex than that. Having been outside of the academic sphere for nearly 8 years before returning to graduate school I have experienced the complete inattention and intense lows that one can go through in their artist practice, but I still kept creating. Why? That I cannot answer, but I think somewhere within this thought is what makes art worthwhile. You do it just because, because you have to and nothing and no one can stop you. There is a will that cannot be deterred. Its not easy and often takes more than it gives, but if you have to do it than you can alleviate the frustrations that overwhelm you, throw your hands in the air and keep going.
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