I visited the art gallery at Cal State Long Beach about two weeks ago and came upon a beautiful display of metal work. My absolute favorite piece from the entire gallery is One Fine Noose, created by Jeremiah C. Gusha using fine silver, sterling silver, and pearls.
Who thinks of turning a killing/suicide device into elegant fashion jewelry? It's fantastic. The pick of metal, materials, and the overall design flows cohesively and beautifully together to create what could be the rich woman's noose.
Gallery: CSULB February
Food for Thought: Quotes
Three quotes I'm enjoying at the moment...
"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place." - Nora Roberts
"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
"Art is art. Everything else is everything else." - Ad Reinhardt.
Movie: Salt
Salt, the title attracts. It's simple and unexpected. My sister and I are both Angelina Jolie fans. When my sis had found out about her new movie, the title along with the fact Jolie would be in it, immediately caught my attention. So I decided to investigate a little bit further. The basic plot of the movie is Jolie's character, Evelyn Salt, is a CIA officer who is accused of being a Russian spy that is planning on killing the president of the U.S. She is accused by the Russian defector she was interrogating, and ends up on the run avoiding capture and trying to prove her innocence at the same time (a difficult task indeed). Will the truth of her identity be uncovered? Maybe she's not really innocent after all. Anyways, this movie seems pretty badass and I'm definitely seeing it when it comes to theaters in the U.S. on July 23rd 2010. whoissalt.com
Artist: Audrey Kawasaki
I was looking at Audrey's new work she has up and I really like it. There seems to be more depth, detail, and color in her newer paintings. Yet she still keeps that alluring mystery, eroticism, and sense of melancholy in her pictures. I have fallen in love with Audrey's work once again. Such beauty isn't always what it seems in paintings like these where there is nothing to tell and secrets to keep...
Artist: Alexandra V Bach
I've always loved the dark and sometimes bloody.
Here's an artist that satisfies me currently, Alexandra V Bach.
Ideas: Future Project
When my professor mentioned that we would be doing a future project, my mind went to "water." Most people think of space, but I picture water. It would be incredible to create a livable community underwater. One of my first ideas for this project would follow a sort of reverse time line for macro evolution. First, fish turned into man, and in the "future," man would revert back into the water and well, not necessarily turn back into a fish but be able to live and sustain life underwater. I'm not thinking merfolk, that is another time, another story.
To be honest I am probably not going to complete this idea because of A) equipment, and B) time. But I enjoy underwater photography immensely and was consumed by looking at pictures for hours on end. I hope to pursue this sometime in the future of my life.
Anyways, my mom used to give me these Pop Photo magazines she bought and I remembered there was an article on Howard Schatz and his beautiful underwater photography. If people ever did live underwater, I envision they would look like the dancers in his photos: graceful, gentle, and flowing, always flowing.
Another artist I discovered on my search was Zena Holloway who has done underwater photography for many ads and also has lovely and inspiring photos.
Food for Thought: Alan Lightman
"When I listen to my inner self, I hear the breathing of my spirit. Those breaths are so tiny and delicate, I need stillness to hear them, I need aloneness to hear them, I need vast, silent spaces in my mind. Without the breathing and the voice of my inner self, I am a prisoner of the world around me. Worse than a prisoner, because I do not know what has been taken away from me, I do not know who I am."
Comics: Twisted Princesses
As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I love seeing artwork with different, new, and/or darker takes on classic icons. I suppose I like seeing a well known character in someone else's point of view rather than the one I have known for so long. For example, the Disney Princesses. This is a mashup between Marvel comics and Disney's classic damsels. Twisted Princesses.
On a side note, after attending D23 (Disney's new fan expo) last year, Disney has come out with a book called The Art of The Disney Princess which contains interpretations of the classic princess from many different artists in various mediums. Quite delightful if I may say so myself. I have been looking forward to something like this.
Artist: Caia Koopman
One of my favorite illustrators that just makes pretty things. Caia Koopman is a skateboarding Californian native who enjoys many things in life just as I do. See more of her work here.
Food for Thought: Ants
I came across this while doing some philosophy homework I had. Quite uplifting if I may say so myself...and informative at the same time, I mean, I had no idea ants did this. Fascinating indeed. And may I mention that it's 5:11 am and I've had no sleep. weeeeeee.
An ant releases a chemical when it dies, and its fellows then carry it away to the compost heap. Apparently the communication is highly effective; a healthy ant painted with the death chemical will be dragged to the funeral heap again and again. (Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Cultural Anthropology 7th ed.)
I s'pose I can appreciate when there are miscommunications sometimes...
If the World Was Made of Scotch Tape...
Nothing would really be fixed...and it'd be sticky.
I enjoy how artist Tara Donovan creates beautiful pieces using objects most of us would never even consider using for art. These bland, unnatural, man made pieces are put together so it looks natural and organic. I wonder if that's what the future will be like. There will be no such thing as nature; everything will be man made, and what people come to know as nature in the future is what people now know as paper plates and styrofoam cups. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. It might still be beautiful and pleasing, but distant and possibly unable to relate to even though man made it himself...
Tara Donovan's Art here.
Photography: Aaron Chang
I was walking around Huntington Beach with my bestie last week and we stumbled upon the works of Aaron Chang hanging in a small gallery looking space. To be honest, I have no idea what the whole purpose of the building is for, but they decide to have nice beachy art up on occasion. So last week, my friend and I were greeted by large, glassy, vibrant prints of the beach which we drank in religiously. Not too much, otherwise we might have been caught trying to snag, one of the prints...or two. I've never been to Hawaii, let alone gone surfing (how can I ever be called a Californian, I don't know), but this deliciously feeds my desire (and choice of vocabulary I'm noticing) to go even more so. Aaron Chang Photography
Artist: Nei Ruffino
Art wise, I feel like posting something a bit dark and something with big boobies. So Nei Ruffino is a comic artist that does fairytale and wonderland art which is what I'm currently in the mood for. I like seeing different takes on known stories such as Alice in Wonderland. By the way, I digress, I'm very excited for that movie, I love Tim Burton's work. Anyways, Nei was a tattoo artist before becoming a comic artist who now colors for DC Comics. Her artwork is in my calendar, again full of big boobies, which may be the reason I find them interesting, that or because I have none. So if you want to check her out, here's her website: Nei Ruffino Artwork
Philosophizing: Love
I've been feeling childish and giddy this past weekend.
So I was thinking in the shower as I normally do, and I think love is childish.
Childish in the fact that it is simple.
It's carefree and innocent.
When being a kid, things are pretty simple.
I think it's harder for adults to comprehend and fall in love because things are more complicated. There are strings attached, and too much to worry about.
I'm feeling childish.
Anyways, that's my current view as of this weekend.
Food for Thought: Alexander Pope
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Alexander Pope, "Eloisa to Abelard"
A little learning is a danerous thing;
drink deep, or taste no the Pierian spring:
there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
and drinking largely sobers us again.
Alexander Pope, An essay on Criticism
Fluxus
Fluxus - "To flow." The Manifesto 1963 by George Maciunas: Purge the world of bourgeois sickness, "intellectual", professional and commercialized culture. Promote a revolutionary flood tide in art. Promote living art, anti-art, promote non art reality to be grasped by all peoples, not only professionals...
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