Onward
14 years ago
the bird of babylon
>> Saturday, July 25, 2009
i've been working on a sculpture with laurie trok for the visionary arts festival i call the "bird of babylon". it's made entirely out of discarded materials... the bulk of which comes from a disgusting landfill in the allegheny cemetary... wire flower tripods for armature, fake flower stem wire for connective tissues, sun-bleached fake flower petals for feathers... an old boot, crushed lighters and other plastic crap for beak and other anatomical details. just two days ago we finished the under-structure...
...and designed the method we'll use to feather the bird... they're glued down for now on strips of fabric, but we'll sew them in strips and lay them over each other to create the illusion of wings... it's a lousy photo and only covers two strips, but we've got lots of colors of leaves and petals to repurpose...
we've done a prototype for the head which will likely be dis- and re- assembled with less junk... and a terrifying beak!
there are several esoteric aspects of this piece that aren't visible here and i won't reveal yet... but it's more than trash into treasure!
the love of Kjersti Andvig & Carlton A. Turner...
>> Saturday, July 18, 2009
When Norwegian artist Kjersti Andvig initiated a collaboration with someone called Carlton A. Turner, who at the time was on death row in Texas, she aimed to expose a system which she perceived as a unjust mix-up of right wing politics, strange religious beliefs and cruelty. After their artistic work had ended, they fell in love.
"State-administered death is always a greater horror than any other by virtue of the methodical reasoning that precedes it. French philosopher Albert Camus wrote that "capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated, can be compared. "For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date on which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not to be encountered in private life."
tlen huicani
>> Tuesday, July 7, 2009
tlen huicani - "From the capital city of Veracruz, Jalapa, Tlen-Huicani (pronounced wee-KAH-ne) is one of the most faithful interpreters of the traditional folk music of that state and also that of much of Latin America. Tlen-Huicani, which means "the singers" in the indigenous Indian language of Nahuatl, has taken the beautiful "harpa jarocha" or folk harp, and has made it the centerpiece of their music."
(mp3)tlen - huicani - track 13 from "veracruz - son y huapango" (buyable!) this track is wonderous, flying and sparkling. the harp sounds right at home. genius. wish i spoke good enough spanish to interpret the words... carlos?
here the old dude explains the instruments and they play a little ditty:
Read more...
works in progress...
>> Monday, July 6, 2009
massive Music organization
and many Painting efforts,
including "Springtime in
the Desert of Al-ʿAẓīm",
pictured (incomplete)
here July 6th 2009.
click to enlarge:
love.
>> Friday, June 26, 2009
due to some beautiful love from (one of my favorite bloggers and teachers) brian today, i feel i should make a quick post for any recent vistors... regular readers will know i've been a busy bee recently, and posting has fallen by the wayside... fear not! my wife and i begin two weeks of art and creative pursuit monday. blogging is included in the list of important fun to have.
but for now here's a taste...
• here is a mandala I made recently:
here is a song i've been really digging... it's a dubstep remix of a folk tune. it's pretty and broken. i bought it (& "soundkilla"!) and you can too over at maxulis.com
here is my little sister's new blog. she just graduated high school and is one sharp cookie. she's a writer, and artist, a free thinker and is just starting out... follow her journey there.
here is the michael jackson video that moved me to write brian... watch the eyes, people. bliss.
oh... and here's an 11 year old graffiti artist she's good! I have so much more to write, about michael, about iran, about all the things i've been saving up while busy working with my hands and my neighbors... but it will have to wait till next week. peace, my bredren and sistren.
potato story
>> Sunday, June 7, 2009
An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Bubba , who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.
Dear Bubba,
I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me.
Love,
Dad
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
For heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up that garden, that's where I buried the BODIES.
Love,
Bubba
At 4 am the next morning, FBI agents and local police showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. The same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love,
Bubba.
islam via omar mullick
>> Sunday, May 31, 2009
a lovely flow of events occurred yesterday, and i'll share with you all the notes taken. i was chilling out in Jamil's yesterday, picking up some jamaican colors for reggae night, and a photographer from national geographic comes in. his name is Omar Mullick, and he's a sharp cookie... we talk about anarchism, pittsburgh, photography and eventually islam. he has a degree in philosophy, a three year old boy and a rebellious past, so we had enough common context and perspective that i found it possible to ask things about islam without fear of offending him... or getting a bullshit response. also, having studied in a madrassa in saudi arabia, with orthodox in yemen and mystic sheikhs in america, he's got some real knowledge to draw from. he had some very interesting takes on orthodox islam's opinions of women, homosexuality and strictness. for instance, he claimed shariah literally means "broad road"... implying a lot more breadth than it's current limited interpretation.
a number of little links came out of this.
he recommended the thomas cleary translation of the quran. (interview with cleary here). he also recommended the footnotes in the yusuf ali version... he suggested they were good for a loving but critical eye on the text. when i asked about if there was any missing gospel-like b.s. with the preservation of the quran, he suggested i watch something called "the preservation methodology" on youtube (but i can't find anything long enough to be what he was suggesting...) he most fervently suggested nuh keller's "becoming muslim", despite feeling like it's title only represents a small aspect of what the (short) essay covers... Omar holds the sheik's work in "unambiguous regard".
on non-islamic topics he recommended i watch performance for it's hassan-i-sabah references. hassan is famous for stuff he probably didn't say, but i'm down with the myth anyway. he's buddies with the brian jonestown massacre. he also hat-tipped sweet earth, a collection of photographs of intentional communities.
omar mullick's website (most of the work is 3+ years old) is here.
anyway... good day.
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