I went on a run this morning and for some reason I felt the need to turn down a certain block. I said to myself that's odd, I better turn and run down this block. Behold it was the right decision to follow the pull. Some old doctor's office / house was being emptied and in front was a plethora of supplies to store my tools in, as well as dry erase boards, medical cabinets, and a nice spinning globe. One most important things found was 300 file folders for filing cabinets!!
This is extremely coincidental - serendipitous and bizarre because I was just talking to my beautiful lovely Mae yesterday morning about how I needed a filing cabinet and a bunch of file folders. These scenario's where something comes into being after stating it out loud are strange ones. It can give one a feeling that somethings are listened to, or because you've projected it in your mind the notion of seeing it in front of you becomes more apparent.
But then again, this is all due to what some like to call "the little voice" that told me to run down a certain block.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
pecking order
It's funny how men and women establish a pecking order. Just want to comment on male pecking order for now. This is the second time this kind of situation has happened to me in one week and which forces me to note it and now I will write about it.
Take man A. and man B. Let's say they are at an art opening, and man A. has his girlfriend lady C., they are side by side - talking to man B. is solo. The catalyst of the want or need to establish a pecking order comes from one individual's insecurity in the group.
Note: In many of my circles of friends this does not happen and I spend time with many people who do not even hint at forming a hierarchy of the pecking order. These friends or people who do not consider the pecking order because they are secure in their nature and ways are my favorite and to me, the best kind of people. I have noticed these individuals will look more at what positive characteristics are in the provided friend group, instead of feeling the need to establish said pecking order.
So in this case man B. see's something that man A. has that he wants, or feel's bad that he doesn't have (like good looks, character, or a hot woman beside him- whatever it may be). Man B. starts to feel a little bit insecure or lowered in self esteem and will react, in order to quell his own demons and fill in his insecure hole. He will do this by establishing a pecking order amongst the two individuals.
Note: this does not apply when man A. and man B. are alone. It only applies to situations of 3 or more people.
Man B. will react by making fun of man A. in a playful way to establish the pecking order. The comments could be anywhere from passive aggressive to aggressive eg: I don't think what you are saying makes sense (a passive challenge), to -that sounds so dumb! (just plain out aggressive). When either comment is answered with faintheartedness by man A. a pecking order is established.
One must not let this happen as it is seen in any others eyes (lady C. in this case or other individuals in company) as a weakness in man A. and a crowning title to man B.
Man A. must react in turn aggressively point out that a challenge was made by man B. Do this as fast as one can and as intelligent as one can be. If man A. is witty enough he can quickly deduce a situation and exposing man B.'s insecurity. It is best for man A. to expose and deflate the peckers as soon as possible.
Take man A. and man B. Let's say they are at an art opening, and man A. has his girlfriend lady C., they are side by side - talking to man B. is solo. The catalyst of the want or need to establish a pecking order comes from one individual's insecurity in the group.
Note: In many of my circles of friends this does not happen and I spend time with many people who do not even hint at forming a hierarchy of the pecking order. These friends or people who do not consider the pecking order because they are secure in their nature and ways are my favorite and to me, the best kind of people. I have noticed these individuals will look more at what positive characteristics are in the provided friend group, instead of feeling the need to establish said pecking order.
So in this case man B. see's something that man A. has that he wants, or feel's bad that he doesn't have (like good looks, character, or a hot woman beside him- whatever it may be). Man B. starts to feel a little bit insecure or lowered in self esteem and will react, in order to quell his own demons and fill in his insecure hole. He will do this by establishing a pecking order amongst the two individuals.
Note: this does not apply when man A. and man B. are alone. It only applies to situations of 3 or more people.
Man B. will react by making fun of man A. in a playful way to establish the pecking order. The comments could be anywhere from passive aggressive to aggressive eg: I don't think what you are saying makes sense (a passive challenge), to -that sounds so dumb! (just plain out aggressive). When either comment is answered with faintheartedness by man A. a pecking order is established.
One must not let this happen as it is seen in any others eyes (lady C. in this case or other individuals in company) as a weakness in man A. and a crowning title to man B.
Man A. must react in turn aggressively point out that a challenge was made by man B. Do this as fast as one can and as intelligent as one can be. If man A. is witty enough he can quickly deduce a situation and exposing man B.'s insecurity. It is best for man A. to expose and deflate the peckers as soon as possible.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
100 Recommendations for Artists.. Not in any order
1. Be Nice, Be Very Nice.
2. Be Consistent, Be very consistent. Be consistent in your words and actions, be consistent with the frequency of your workings. (When you are consistent with your words and actions, your sayings and doings, people will notice that you follow through with your words and will wind up trusting your words)
3. Date with or marry an artist or appreciator of the arts. To have someone that supports what you do and believes in your work is essential. This can take the form of someone who is involved in the arts (writers, filmmakers, musicians, etc) or someone who is simply interested in the arts. This will help you cover more ground at an opening (with the 2 of you), and your mate will not be bored when you will have to go to 5 openings in a row.
4. Always Remember, Fortune Favors the Bold.
5. Use unstructured time productively - make schedules as you would for a job. (Except realize this is the most important job you've ever had, and the pay is enlightenment.)
6. Make your work your top priority. Make it TODAY!!
7. Do research on galleries and once a month choose one and visit an opening.
8. Choose 5 galleries where you believe you work would fit in and frequent those galleries. Get the people who work there to know your face.
9. And get to know their faces. Who are these people in this room? Identify the curator, identify the gallerista's, identify the dealer. Knowing who they are will help you to know to talk to them.
10. Be able to describe your work in 10 words or less. (This can be thought of as the "elevator conversation" that you must prepare to have with someone important who doesn't have the time for you.)
11. Read, Read, Read. Educate yourself and read as many art periodicals as you can. Stay on top of what's going on in your field. (ex. subscribe to Art in America, Frieze, Tema Celeste, The Art Newspaper, or Art Forum etc.)
12. Write, Write, Write! Write a review, write a short story, write about your own work, write a blog, submit writings to small local papers or larger publications.
13. Don't Burn Bridges.
14. Start or participate in a critique group.
15. Be interested in the work that curators dealers do. Their work or composition of shows often goes unnoticed to the larger public who tend to focus on the pieces themselves. This knowledge can often be turned into good conversations when talking with them, after you've introduced your face, have followed their work and gone to a couple of their shows.
16. Curate a show.
17. Do not wait for opportunities - pursue them with vigor.
18. Get on mailing lists for visiting artists' lectures at different organizations including the MoMA, Guggenheim, New Museum, and Whitney.
19. Start a mailing list of your own.
20. Be well read. Read non-fiction, fiction and the classics. You will be surprised about how much material and insight you can derive from books.
21. Do a collaboration with a scientist, anthropologist, mathematician, architect, or another artist.
22. Apply for and constantly research grants and residencies. Buy the book Artist residencies and scour through it or use nyfa.org and the internet if you can. Examples can be Yaddo, Millay Foundation, or the Sharpe Foundation.
23. Read online publications such as artnet.com, artforum.com, and other art blogs like mine http://artboredum.blogspot.com/
24. If you don't have a studio, get a studio - or make one in your house. It is important to have a comfortable space where your mind will be at ease, where you can practice whatever you desire.
25. Create rituals in your life or before you make work (cofffee, chanting, whatever). Rituals can also help create routines and consistency when working.
26. If you can't work, force yourself to do something monotonus for 1 hr. (like one drawing a minute for an entire hour)
27. Get professional images taken of your work.
28. Get a website or somewhere you can direct people to view your work.
29. Get out to the major art fairs and view foreign galleries. Get out to the satellite minor art fairs if you have extra time.
30. Make a pact with other artists you will be in your studio's at the same time.
31. Make your own small catalog, for when people visit your studio you have something to give them to take away. E -publishing is great for this.
32. Hire a critic to write something on your work. Writers of publications often take money to do studio visits.
33. Throw your own Open Studio Tour-Party.
34. Try to look at your own work objectively.
35. Be very critical of your own work, don't let yourself off the hook easy, but also don't beat yourself up.
36. Learn how to edit your work.
37. Present a cohesive portfolio.
38. Travel and look for new experiences- this will nourish your art.
39. Be quiet minded, and Listen.
40. Don't let lack of money deter you from your work or ideas. If you want to do huge costly work make small mock-ups you can present for grants. If anything they will serve as documentation of your ideas and visions materialized.
41. Get used to being rejected, a lot.
42. When encountering rejections try to always pursue the knowledge of the "Why?". An example of healthy questioning would be understanding the mechanics behind institutions wants and needs.
43. Share your music with other artists.
44. Go to the studio even when you are tired, bored, or depressed and just sit there if you have to. Something will happen, even if it is just a productive thought.
45. Never pressure yourself to create or be creative. Let it just "come to you". It usually can "comes to you" through just having fun, however you have fun. (through playing, reading, scouring over pictures you like, surfing through artists work on the web)
46. Do not compare yourself to other artists who are major artstars. Most of the time these people are far more experienced than you are and have been in the field way longer than you have.
47. If you are a burgeoning artstar learn from your peers and how they achieved further success.
48. If you are a budding artist realize that you will have to put in at least 10,000 hours of work time literally until you become a master. (Malcolm Gladwells theory in The Outliers)
49. Surround yourself with friends who are strong artists that inspire you. "Strong" as in whatever that means to you, whether it be "Strong" as in work ethic and endurance, "Strong" as in concept within their work, "Strong" as in has a great Vitae, whatever it is that is important to you and inspires you about them.
50. Find out whether you work better in the morning or at night.
51. Get business cards.
52. Take a public speaking class.
53. Learn how to write off materials and expenses on your taxes and get a really good accountant.
54. When you have a studio visit put everything away that you do not want a critic, curator, dealer to discuss or take.
55. If you get picked up by a gallery, ask the other artists if they are paid and how they feel about the gallery.
56. Find a job that you only have to do a few days a week.
57. Be friendly and outgoing, ask people what shows to see that are up currently.
58. Trade off on reading recommendation with other artists.
59. Get into reading art theory.
60. Read other artists writings, (manifestos, work explanations, theses, bio's) a good place to start is Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings -by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz.
61. Write down all your work ideas.
62. Save all imagery that inspires you.
63. Get a filing cabinet and be systematic about organizing all your thoughts and imagery that you have amassed.
64. If you can, buy a piece of art.
65. Look online at Ebay or Craigslist for art materials at discount rates.
66. Garner experience by working for an artist or being an artists assistant.
67. Know who your contemporaries are.
68. If it suits you do an MFA.
69. Sacrifice everything for your art. Francis Ford Coppola said, "You've got to want to make a movie so badly that you'd kill somebody for it. That you'd actually kill somebody! That's how much you've got to want it." -I don't know about going that far, but you've got to want it more than everybody else, or at least think you do.
70. Have a plan of attack.
71. Be open to learning new techniques and modes of making your work.
72. Be a well rounded individual, stretch yourself to learn about many subjects that are not art related. Beware of only living in the art world.
73. Keep all your pieces in good dry storage.
74. Never gossip or speak negatively about others.
75. Be happy for the success of your friends and people deserving of success.
76. Provide yourself with good studio lighting.
77. Do not stand on concrete floors for too long it will ruin your back.
78. Stay physically active, it can stabilize your feelings toward your work, and knock out some pent up energy (if you have any).
79. If you feel like you've plateaued with your work try another media then what you are used to, sculpture, installation, photography, etc. it can get the gears rolling once again on your forte.
80. Be able to name 5 historical artists who have influenced you.
81. Be able to name 5 living contemporary artists who have influenced you.
82. Sign in and sign out of your studio in order to see how much time you are really putting in at the end of the week.
83. Get a big calendar and write all of your art deadlines/show openings/events on it.
84. Have a friend or artist you respect look over your applications.
85. Project your images and slides before they go out!
86. Be the changes you wish to see.
87. Get a Rolodex to collect all of your contacts.
88. Think before you show, not every opportunity is a good one.
89. Be humble.
90. Document your work with photographs as you make it.
91. Be ready and have work before you are approached by a dealer, or curator.
92. If you have legal problems in the arts or with a gallery call Lawyers for the Arts.
93. When trying to price your work look around at other artists at your level and figure out what the average is.
94. Be wary of applying to shows that charge. Never pay for an exhibition.
95. Sign your work on the back.
96. Always get consignment forms from galleries that have your work.
97. Remember that a bad show or a bad review or bad gossip can never break your career, this is a long term game.
98. Do not cater to a style of work even if a certain type of piece is selling well.
99. Never, Never, Never Give Up.
100. Keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself into new directions. Even if that means completely falling on your face in the process. Have the courage to fail. Some of the best artists of the 20th century have changed through a number of styles exploring and transforming to their advantage.
2. Be Consistent, Be very consistent. Be consistent in your words and actions, be consistent with the frequency of your workings. (When you are consistent with your words and actions, your sayings and doings, people will notice that you follow through with your words and will wind up trusting your words)
3. Date with or marry an artist or appreciator of the arts. To have someone that supports what you do and believes in your work is essential. This can take the form of someone who is involved in the arts (writers, filmmakers, musicians, etc) or someone who is simply interested in the arts. This will help you cover more ground at an opening (with the 2 of you), and your mate will not be bored when you will have to go to 5 openings in a row.
4. Always Remember, Fortune Favors the Bold.
5. Use unstructured time productively - make schedules as you would for a job. (Except realize this is the most important job you've ever had, and the pay is enlightenment.)
6. Make your work your top priority. Make it TODAY!!
7. Do research on galleries and once a month choose one and visit an opening.
8. Choose 5 galleries where you believe you work would fit in and frequent those galleries. Get the people who work there to know your face.
9. And get to know their faces. Who are these people in this room? Identify the curator, identify the gallerista's, identify the dealer. Knowing who they are will help you to know to talk to them.
10. Be able to describe your work in 10 words or less. (This can be thought of as the "elevator conversation" that you must prepare to have with someone important who doesn't have the time for you.)
11. Read, Read, Read. Educate yourself and read as many art periodicals as you can. Stay on top of what's going on in your field. (ex. subscribe to Art in America, Frieze, Tema Celeste, The Art Newspaper, or Art Forum etc.)
12. Write, Write, Write! Write a review, write a short story, write about your own work, write a blog, submit writings to small local papers or larger publications.
13. Don't Burn Bridges.
14. Start or participate in a critique group.
15. Be interested in the work that curators dealers do. Their work or composition of shows often goes unnoticed to the larger public who tend to focus on the pieces themselves. This knowledge can often be turned into good conversations when talking with them, after you've introduced your face, have followed their work and gone to a couple of their shows.
16. Curate a show.
17. Do not wait for opportunities - pursue them with vigor.
18. Get on mailing lists for visiting artists' lectures at different organizations including the MoMA, Guggenheim, New Museum, and Whitney.
19. Start a mailing list of your own.
20. Be well read. Read non-fiction, fiction and the classics. You will be surprised about how much material and insight you can derive from books.
21. Do a collaboration with a scientist, anthropologist, mathematician, architect, or another artist.
22. Apply for and constantly research grants and residencies. Buy the book Artist residencies and scour through it or use nyfa.org and the internet if you can. Examples can be Yaddo, Millay Foundation, or the Sharpe Foundation.
23. Read online publications such as artnet.com, artforum.com, and other art blogs like mine http://artboredum.blogspot.com/
24. If you don't have a studio, get a studio - or make one in your house. It is important to have a comfortable space where your mind will be at ease, where you can practice whatever you desire.
25. Create rituals in your life or before you make work (cofffee, chanting, whatever). Rituals can also help create routines and consistency when working.
26. If you can't work, force yourself to do something monotonus for 1 hr. (like one drawing a minute for an entire hour)
27. Get professional images taken of your work.
28. Get a website or somewhere you can direct people to view your work.
29. Get out to the major art fairs and view foreign galleries. Get out to the satellite minor art fairs if you have extra time.
30. Make a pact with other artists you will be in your studio's at the same time.
31. Make your own small catalog, for when people visit your studio you have something to give them to take away. E -publishing is great for this.
32. Hire a critic to write something on your work. Writers of publications often take money to do studio visits.
33. Throw your own Open Studio Tour-Party.
34. Try to look at your own work objectively.
35. Be very critical of your own work, don't let yourself off the hook easy, but also don't beat yourself up.
36. Learn how to edit your work.
37. Present a cohesive portfolio.
38. Travel and look for new experiences- this will nourish your art.
39. Be quiet minded, and Listen.
40. Don't let lack of money deter you from your work or ideas. If you want to do huge costly work make small mock-ups you can present for grants. If anything they will serve as documentation of your ideas and visions materialized.
41. Get used to being rejected, a lot.
42. When encountering rejections try to always pursue the knowledge of the "Why?". An example of healthy questioning would be understanding the mechanics behind institutions wants and needs.
43. Share your music with other artists.
44. Go to the studio even when you are tired, bored, or depressed and just sit there if you have to. Something will happen, even if it is just a productive thought.
45. Never pressure yourself to create or be creative. Let it just "come to you". It usually can "comes to you" through just having fun, however you have fun. (through playing, reading, scouring over pictures you like, surfing through artists work on the web)
46. Do not compare yourself to other artists who are major artstars. Most of the time these people are far more experienced than you are and have been in the field way longer than you have.
47. If you are a burgeoning artstar learn from your peers and how they achieved further success.
48. If you are a budding artist realize that you will have to put in at least 10,000 hours of work time literally until you become a master. (Malcolm Gladwells theory in The Outliers)
49. Surround yourself with friends who are strong artists that inspire you. "Strong" as in whatever that means to you, whether it be "Strong" as in work ethic and endurance, "Strong" as in concept within their work, "Strong" as in has a great Vitae, whatever it is that is important to you and inspires you about them.
50. Find out whether you work better in the morning or at night.
51. Get business cards.
52. Take a public speaking class.
53. Learn how to write off materials and expenses on your taxes and get a really good accountant.
54. When you have a studio visit put everything away that you do not want a critic, curator, dealer to discuss or take.
55. If you get picked up by a gallery, ask the other artists if they are paid and how they feel about the gallery.
56. Find a job that you only have to do a few days a week.
57. Be friendly and outgoing, ask people what shows to see that are up currently.
58. Trade off on reading recommendation with other artists.
59. Get into reading art theory.
60. Read other artists writings, (manifestos, work explanations, theses, bio's) a good place to start is Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings -by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz.
61. Write down all your work ideas.
62. Save all imagery that inspires you.
63. Get a filing cabinet and be systematic about organizing all your thoughts and imagery that you have amassed.
64. If you can, buy a piece of art.
65. Look online at Ebay or Craigslist for art materials at discount rates.
66. Garner experience by working for an artist or being an artists assistant.
67. Know who your contemporaries are.
68. If it suits you do an MFA.
69. Sacrifice everything for your art. Francis Ford Coppola said, "You've got to want to make a movie so badly that you'd kill somebody for it. That you'd actually kill somebody! That's how much you've got to want it." -I don't know about going that far, but you've got to want it more than everybody else, or at least think you do.
70. Have a plan of attack.
71. Be open to learning new techniques and modes of making your work.
72. Be a well rounded individual, stretch yourself to learn about many subjects that are not art related. Beware of only living in the art world.
73. Keep all your pieces in good dry storage.
74. Never gossip or speak negatively about others.
75. Be happy for the success of your friends and people deserving of success.
76. Provide yourself with good studio lighting.
77. Do not stand on concrete floors for too long it will ruin your back.
78. Stay physically active, it can stabilize your feelings toward your work, and knock out some pent up energy (if you have any).
79. If you feel like you've plateaued with your work try another media then what you are used to, sculpture, installation, photography, etc. it can get the gears rolling once again on your forte.
80. Be able to name 5 historical artists who have influenced you.
81. Be able to name 5 living contemporary artists who have influenced you.
82. Sign in and sign out of your studio in order to see how much time you are really putting in at the end of the week.
83. Get a big calendar and write all of your art deadlines/show openings/events on it.
84. Have a friend or artist you respect look over your applications.
85. Project your images and slides before they go out!
86. Be the changes you wish to see.
87. Get a Rolodex to collect all of your contacts.
88. Think before you show, not every opportunity is a good one.
89. Be humble.
90. Document your work with photographs as you make it.
91. Be ready and have work before you are approached by a dealer, or curator.
92. If you have legal problems in the arts or with a gallery call Lawyers for the Arts.
93. When trying to price your work look around at other artists at your level and figure out what the average is.
94. Be wary of applying to shows that charge. Never pay for an exhibition.
95. Sign your work on the back.
96. Always get consignment forms from galleries that have your work.
97. Remember that a bad show or a bad review or bad gossip can never break your career, this is a long term game.
98. Do not cater to a style of work even if a certain type of piece is selling well.
99. Never, Never, Never Give Up.
100. Keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself into new directions. Even if that means completely falling on your face in the process. Have the courage to fail. Some of the best artists of the 20th century have changed through a number of styles exploring and transforming to their advantage.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
When the Videogame is a Work of Art
In the past as well as in the present, technology has driven the definition of art into unthinkable creative realms. What falls into the category of ‘art’ has grown exponentially within the last three decades, and that growth corresponds directly with cultural developments. Just as design, graffiti, cinema, and comics have been accepted as art forms, videogames are being added into the collective definition of art. The original intention of a video game is play. Entertainment has shifted due to the advent of technology which coincides with cultural development.
Experimentation by artists working with videogames as their medium has received praise and attention during the past 10 years and has taken off in the more recent years with open source media. Art relies on the object having freedom from the economic market. Art is made by the artist usually to satiate some kind of personal need. A video game is made to satiate commerce, to be an object of entertainment that the masses consume. Sounds familiar, or reversible. That's because it is.
Video games that garner respect internationally cause the viewer/participant to experience beauty, thought, action, and consequence of actions; not just hand eye coordination skills. A great example of this kind of art is The Legend of Zelda series. This franchise is considered the greatest of all time. The Legend of Zelda series embodies the journey being the point of experience. Completely novel for the 1986 composed of Dig-Dug's and Pac-Mans. Zelda gives you no direction. There is an objective and you must gain knowledge through involvement within that world. Through social interactions with other characters in this world you can achieve the objective presented, save the girl.
Nick Montfort 2 in an Arthouse Games interview explains, "There is a difference between art that exists mainly to pass the time or to amuse and that which is transformative, which helps us to understand new things about the ways we see, or about the language we use to communicate, or about the nature of the world and our relationship to it. But there's no simple test for telling one from another. By itself, being a blockbuster doesn't make a movie just entertainment, and being in an art gallery doesn't make something profound or beautiful. You can't even find out whether something is art (in the transformative sense) by interrogating the artist. You have to see if it transforms you." Zelda is called one of the greatest video games ever made because of the transformation it has caused people who have experienced it. The Legend of Zelda’s downfall as with all other videogames of this period is that it was sold as a commodity and you must purchase it to play it. You do not have to purchase art to experience it. Big difference. Thanks to artists inventing video games and opening their source of media to the world for free, we can now call video games art with no heavy burden on our consciences.
Dave Hickey explains, contrary to popular belief, “Art is not a commodity”3. A commodity is a product that can be purchased that influences or destabilizes our economic market. Art cannot destabilize the economic market because art has it’s own market, the art market. The art market does not cross paths with currency on Wall Street other than personal financing and decor. This is the reason why art is not a commodity. Just as you can purchase a person for sex and pleasure, so can you purchase art. This does not mean that sex is a commodity, it means that it is a business transaction.
The aforementioned is also the reason why video games of the past and most video games of the future which are "sold" today are a commodity and not art. However there are a few that stand against adversity. Art has consistently changed in the face of modernity and the video game is no different. Open source free downloadable games are not motivated by conglomerate businesses like Konami, Nintendo or Acclaim who affect the global market. Freeware games that can be found online are the creations of singular individuals who have no intentions of deriving profits. Their purpose is to share their work, ideas and beliefs.
The old masters of the video game universe, now greet the new masters who call by the tunes of individual artists. From these artists a new subculture has developed. Their intentions are to be transformative, to expand human awareness, and to better understand of the world we operate in. The new prerogatives within the medium, and the expanding freedom of the internet are the tell tales that videogames are art. Because they are not deriving a profit, and they are not participating in the economic market, these online videogames are not a commodity. Therefore the contemporary videogame that can be found online, for free, is art.
As a young medium, (not even the age of 50 yet) artists have only recently begun to stretch outwards and explore the capabilities within the videogame medium to make art. By hacking into the microchips of 8-bit Nintendo games Cory Arcangel in Mario Clouds has removed all characters and landscapes in the game Mario Brothers. He allows only clouds with smiley faces slowly drift by, as if you were in a park bench looking up at a digital sky. This work has altered the perception of how the medium can be pushed and in using the “obsolete game systems, the raw materials of many of his works, as a historical approach to human game culture and particularly video game culture.” 4 The Blip Festival events that are yearly at Eyebeam Gallery are another example of this circuit bending getting the full attention of Chelsea.
This being the surface, as one dives deeper into the Arthouse Video Game subculture, it get's better. There is an opus of work that has depth, empathy, and that can give incite into the human existence. A man named Jason Rohrer has done just that with a game he calls Passages. The games characters purpose is to merely exist. To walk around, get older, and potentially find another person to walk with. When the player finds their mate “you must travel together, and you are not as agile as you were when you were single” 5 The two are adjoined and the passages to walk through become limited. “Passages “ also having a double meaning for the passages of time. The game serves to remind people of their own mortality. When your mate dies “your grief will slow you down considerably” 5 huddled over awaiting the grave.
Further down the rabbit hole of video gaming one finds Stars Over Half Moon Bay as an introspective new work by Rod Humble that can be summed up as the journey inward to ask questions about how the human mind can make connections, as the ancients had laying patterns in the sky. This game touches upon simply the awe of looking up and gazing at the vast night. In it’s review by Arthouse games as, “In the case of Stars, neither the title nor the sub-title ("the gentle bite of ouroboros") helps us drill down past the surface interpretation. We (Arthouse games) must look to the artist's background statement to learn that this is a work concerning as Humble states "the relationship between observation, symbolism, exactitude and the creative process… The game is effectively drawing a meta-constellation of it's own. It's saying, Draw a line between the creative processes and star pattern hunting on a night when briskly-moving clouds threaten your view. Now think about that." Is this game a good metaphor for the creative process? That question is part of the point, I think.” 6
Movement and change in the world continue. New systems and modes of creating art will rise out of cultural revolutions, and heightened times of technology. These new systems may resemble Cory Arcangels 8-bit circuit bending ways. We may see more art that takes from the past, while reaching into the future. We may see work similar to what Jason Rohrer has left us with, to reflect on the choices and passages that we take and whom we take with us. The shackles that limit creativity are only put on and taken off by ourselves. Only we have the keys. Only we are the Masters of the Universe. Simple exercises of the mind dotting stars together that Rod Humble creates for us can be the keys to those ankle weights. Once freed, while looking up at the sky we can feel more grounded in who we are as humans.
Perhaps the same constellations exploding in the sky weaving together the night reflect the same movements and tremors going on inside of ourselves.
2. http://northcountrynotes.org/jason-rohrer/arthouseGames/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jcr13_1180438849_0&show_author=1&show_date=1
3 Hicky, Dave. Air Guitar. Pg.108
4 Gygax, Raphael. Minimalize Mario – Essay from The Work of Cory Arcangel.
Pg. 12
5 Rohrer, Jason. What was I Trying to do with Passages.
http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/statement.html
6 http://northcountrynotes.org/jason- rohrer/arthouseGames/seedBlogs.php?action=display_post&post_id=jcr13_1206025812_0&show_author=1&show_date=1
Time Mag 50 Best Websites
no arts category? like LearningToLoveYouMore.com?
it's a disappointment that web based art sites
are not considered in Time Magazines recent
50 Best Websites of 2008 list
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
44th President of the United States of America Barack Hussein Obama II
It happened. It's real.
feel the power.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Absolutely Venomous - Accurately Fallacious
Deitch Projects recent exhibition, Absolutely Venomous - Accurately Fallacious - Naturally Delicious, at its Long Island City location, travels into a realm of hyper pop color explosion. The walls strewn with collected plywood pasted wallpaper and cutouts of Amanda Lepour-like plastic surgery fem god nationals. Assume Vivid Astro Focus seems more interested in filling up the space rather than having a well grounded exhibition. In the center a giant tranny laying through the facade of a Brooklyn house with neon wire signs of orgasms and explosions. The result of the show is a gen- y culture raised on the franks and beans of Pee Wee's playhouse.
One can interpret the show as a collection of a over stimulated culture that has developed its own seemly revolutionary ideals of a counter culture. In their artists statement they comment on the changes and gentrification of Brooklyn, and propose to correct this, or make everyone aware of it by "destruction and reconstruction through dance and devotion". Their intention is good, but what they are ultimately doing is adding to the gentrification, through attracting hipsters to new spaces like the one Deitch Projects is opened. This is funny in a sense because they are the ones gentrifying the area, which works against their original intention.
What they are successful at is taking the old remnants of Brooklyn housing and rebuilding it into a new hyper sensory Brooklyn house. The only setback is this is devoid of critical analysis on the topic at hand. The work and show become a site that is infatuated with hipster culture and fashion. AVAF's artists statement should have been about art mimicking fashion, as opposed to fashion mimicking art. Other statements that could have been suitable like the countercultures role in society, and the constant wash of fashions/changes intermingled with "the new" counterculture. The point is they did not achieve what they intended in their artists statement. In fact I'd be happier if there wasn't one around on the table.
What they are successful at is taking the old remnants of Brooklyn housing and rebuilding it into a new hyper sensory Brooklyn house. The only setback is this is devoid of critical analysis on the topic at hand. The work and show become a site that is infatuated with hipster culture and fashion. AVAF's artists statement should have been about art mimicking fashion, as opposed to fashion mimicking art. Other statements that could have been suitable like the countercultures role in society, and the constant wash of fashions/changes intermingled with "the new" counterculture. The point is they did not achieve what they intended in their artists statement. In fact I'd be happier if there wasn't one around on the table.
Just to step off topic for a moment, true Hipsters seem to be a forced culture of attitude that wants to be beautiful and barbaric at the same time. What defines this behavior is possessing the characteristic of a cultural level more complex than primitive savagery but less sophisticated than advanced civilization. Sadly most hipsters mark themselves with clique exclusivity, this also working against their bizarre unsophisticated self-imposed behavior.
Getting back to the exhibition, AVAF's inaction is almost comical. In all of it's explosiveness of dance and devotion one only supplicates themselves to dancing and devoting to an unrefined goal or objective. Ultimately was no reconstruction and ended up as a disco, dwelling in a realm of the superficial. Other then that it was the best dance party I've ever been to.
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