Letters from the Inquisition

Humility is undervalued these days.

2010-03-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

"It’s OK to head out for Wonderful, but on your way to Wonderful you’re gonna have to pass through Alright. And when you get to Alright, take a good look around and get used to it, ‘cause that may be as far as you’re gonna go."

-- Bill Withers (excerpt from the film Still Bill)

Image: House at Dusk by Edward Hopper. Text transcribed from this interview on NPR's All Things Considered.

He has eaten the pancake. He will never come back to us now.

2010-02-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Magnificent Tritone

2010-02-01T20:25:00.000-08:00

An oldie but a goodie.
Three mighty pitches combine to form something intense, dissonant, and sinister.

Grizzly! Grizzly! Bam! Bam! Bam!

2010-01-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

Philly gallery Grizzly Grizzly will be exhibiting the work of this artist, Robert Scobey, along with paintings by Yevgeniya S. Baras. I have a knee-jerk bias against video art (hey at least I admit it), but I found this video fascinating in a nightmarish sort of way.

Video via Dennis Mathews Painting

Night in the Studio

2009-12-11T00:10:00.000-08:00

Image by Michael McDevitt

Check it out!

2009-11-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

I've got a new website.

www.MMcDevitt.com

I'm also offering a new line of high-quality prints professionally mounted on bamboo by Plywerk.

They make great Christmas presents.
[hint][hint][hint]
Order now! Operators are Standing by!

Bottom image used with permission from Plywerk

Hats off to the Villain

2009-10-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Milo Russell: A brief note on Integrity

2009-10-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

I received an unexpected email this evening reminding me of this comment, which was originally posted on Hungry Hyaena 12/8/05:

I had a venerable teacher that gave me a solid lesson in the life of the blue-collar artist. "I've seen more movements come and go than someone who took Exlax," he began. He is an obscure painter--an old widower whose work has never garnered wide acclaim. He has been painting since the early part of the last century, and his work has a strange searching quality to it-- an obsessive, ritualistic groping like someone that repeatedly scours the same patch of earth for something irreplaceable that was lost. His name is Milo Russell. His painting is always the same: a man or a woman seated in a room, perhaps a table and a plant, a window or a painting on the wall. Over and over and over.
He is a shy man that cringes at the thought of openings. He is the antithesis of the scenester, hype-artists.
His lesson was this: All that matters is to maintain one's integrity. Know what you are about and do it unrelentingly. Do it when it is unpopular. Do it when nobody else understands or believes. Do it when they love it. Do it, but keep your integrity (To me this also evokes the structural definition of the word integrity, not just the moral/ethical meaning. In this case it means 'soundness' and without it boats sink and buildings topple).
Perhaps you will die lonely and destitute, but, really, what philosophy can save you from that possibility?
As a workaday painter myself, I hold this advice as I would a jewel.
Fame? Glory? Wealth? Vain aspirations of an over-indulged populace.
I want only to make a living.
Right now that means peddling my wares in the common market. As I struggle to pay the rent, I dispatch my creations to desktops, kitchens, and bathrooms. There they will be groggily stared at while urinating or inspected while waiting for the water to boil. They will be tiny bridges between me, the viewer, and the great unknowable.
I may never Make It Big or Blow Up, but I don't need to. In dirty pants, with cold fingers, I am content to crawl in the bilge and patch my leaky hull with modest, little paintings. Perhaps I will make it through another month. Perhaps, someday, I will be able to simply float.

Image via Savedge Art & Technology LLC

From my fortune cookie.

2009-09-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

"Don't be fooled by first impressions."

Fake bricks, N. Williams Ave, Portland, OR

Cityscape Paintings

2009-09-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

Somewhere, sometime ago, I signed up for some mailing list. You know the story.

For some reason I never unsubscribed because, well, I figured I must have had some reason to sign up in the first place... even if I can't remember it now. Usually, these emails go straight into the trash along with all the others like them. Today, however, I read one on a whim.

The email instructed me, among other things, to spend one hour a week researching the competition. To watch them and learn from them. To Google terms that I associate with my own artwork and see who comes up. Good idea.

Below are an assortment of artists whose work came up using the simple search terms "cityscape painting." Obviously, I have selected for taste.

Paul Balmer

Mike Hernandez (wow... check out these dog drawings)

Kim Cogan

Anonymous Argentine Painter from here

I could keep going. There are so many talented painters out there that it can get a bit daunting. I suppose that it is a solid reminder to work harder... and then work some more... and then keep working.

It Out-Herods Herod. Pray You, Avoid It.

2009-08-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight my children hunch

Toward their Western, and are glad

As, with a Sunday punch,

The Good casts out the Bad.

And in their fairy tales

The warty giant and witch

Get sealed in doorless jails

And the match-girl strikes it rich.

I’ve made myself a drink.

The giant and witch are set

To bust out of the clink

When my children have gone to bed.

All frequencies are loud

With signals of despair;

In flash and morse they crowd

The rondure of the air.

For the wicked have grown strong,

Their numbers mock at death,

Their cow brings forth its young,

Their bull engendereth.

Their very fund of strength,

Satan, bestrides the globe;

He stalks its breadth and length

And finds out even Job.

Yet by quite other laws

My children make their case;

Half God, half Santa Claus,

But with my voice and face,

A hero comes to save

The poorman, beggarman, thief,

And make the world behave

And put an end to grief.

And that their sleep be sound

I say this childermas

Who could not, at one time,

Have saved them from the gas.

Poem by Anthony Hech via Poetry Foundation; Photo by Michael McDevitt.

A Walk Through History

2009-07-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

It's kind of embarrassing to confess, but it never really occurred to me to consider the historical context Michael Jackson. I mean, sure, thinking about the Jackson Five invokes a certain amount of history, but I never seen Michael Jackson as being part of a long tradition of entertainers. He's simply been a ubiquitous, if often absurd, pop presence for as long as I've been alive. It's kind of like how I grew to be 19 before it even occurred to me that there was a person inside the big dog on Sesame Street. I'd never really thought about it. Dumb, huh?

Well, this video does a great job of establishing that link and without added clutter of words.

Thanks once more to the folks at Monkeys For Helping for dishing out another serving of the good stuff.

The Daily Compulsion

2009-05-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

Some little birdie thought I'd like this... and that birdie was dead right.

Profound Whatever

2009-04-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Burned all my notebooks--

What good are notebooks?

They won't help me survive

I've been on a bit of a Life During Wartime hiatus, but I'm getting used to "the sound of gunfire off in the distance," so I'm back.

I sat down after a good dinner and a glass of wine and gave the internet a gentle poke. It promptly proffered up this well-executed clip.

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview. This was in the midst of Lennon's "bed-in" phase, during which John and Yoko were staying in hotel beds in an effort to promote peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative which tenderly romances Lennon’s every word in a cascading flood of multipronged animation. Raskin marries traditional pen sketches by James Braithwaite with digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit, and timeless message.

Nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Short, I Met the Walrus is a visually compelling accompaniment to John Lennon's words. Like a good accompanist, the film adds to the meaning of the audio, fleshing out and improvising on the dialogue. I particularly enjoy the seamless interweaving of artistic styles and modes of graphic representation in the film.

I do wish, however, that the sound quality of the audio had been improved slightly. Due to the crude recording, I occasionally had difficulty following the dialogue. While I can appreciate the authenticity provided by using the original, I thought it detracted more than it added.*

Unsurprisingly, I Met the Walrus has a well-designed website, which is worth checking out-- if only for the smooth animation.

So thanks for stopping by and apologies for my disappearance.

My chest is aching, burns like a furnace
the burning keeps me alive

*Of course, this may not be an issue in a proper movie theater

Lyrics from Life During Wartime by the Talking Heads. Film blurb from www.IMettheWalrus.com

Quotidian Abstract

2009-03-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

Photo Michael McDevitt

Nothing ever went quite exactly as we planned...

2009-02-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

Was it ever worth it? Was there all that much to gain?
We knew we'd miss the boat and we'd already missed the plane.

Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault. Lyrics from Modest Mouse Missed the Boat.

Invisible Mobile

2009-02-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Personally this song makes me remember staring down into the murky water of the Hudson River, but I enjoy this video well enough. I think it's a fan video and not from THT, but I'm not sure. At the very least, just listen to the exquisite music.

I do wish that the end was not simply the beginning in reverse, but I'll give the director the benefit of the doubt and accept that as a conceptual choice.

Steampunk Robotech

2009-01-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

A Gentleman's Duel

by Blur Studios

If I have ever heard Gospel

2009-01-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

it sounds like this...

you shall above all things be glad and young
For if you're young,whatever life you wear

it will become you;and if you are glad
whatever's living will yourself become.
Girlboys may nothing more than boygirls need:
i can entirely her only love

whose any mystery makes every man's
flesh put space on;and his mind take off time

that you should ever think,may god forbid
and (in his mercy) your true lover spare:
for that way knowledge lies,the foetal grave
called progress,and negation's dead undoom.

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing
than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance

-ee cummings

...and looks a lot like this...

Kohler’s Pig by Michael Sowa via this blog.

Wonderful.

2009-01-22T22:23:00.001-08:00

This site displays a sun and cloud map of the Earth, which includes city lights. I'm not sure how often it refreshes, but I love it. Check it out.

Thanks to Thisbe for the link.

Ethological Miscellany

2009-01-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

Walton Ford
"Loss of the Lisbon Rhinoceros"
2008
Watercolor and Gouache on paper
95 1/2 x 39 3/4 inches

- This past year, more reports of young bull elephants attacking rhinoceroses and turning on members of their own clans appeared in international papers and journals. Biologists believe that this rise in unprovoked violence is the result of prematurely elevated testosterone levels in the elephants. Because older bulls are not present in many elephant herds, the social hierarchy necessitates that younger males fill the role many years before they would normally be expected to do so. As they assume the mantle of seniority, they experience chemical changes, including a marked increase in the production of testosterone. The absence of older bulls is attributed to federal culling programs. These well-intentioned programs were instituted to reduce the stress of overcrowding within African elephant (Loxondonta africana) populations, but because the professional hunters usually kill the larger, older animals, they have unintentionally upset the social dynamic.

- In July 2008, a 61-year-old White Plains, New York, resident was found deceased after she consumed wild mushrooms that she had picked alongside a nearby highway. The mushrooms she unwittingly ate are called "death angels" (Amanita sp.).

- In May 2008, biologists reported that wild three-toed sloths sleep 9 1/2 hours a day, whereas their captive counterparts sleep an average of 16 hours a day.

- I recently learned of a Jamaican man who, highly regarded as an artist in his home country, decided to move to the United States in the 1970s. He settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he would live for many years. Yet, for some unknown reason, the man was no longer compelled to make art. Although he continues to reside in Baltimore, he only paints when he returns to Jamaica to visit family and friends.

- Biologists report that epaulette sharks (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) living in and around Australia's Great Barrier Reef shut down most of their nervous system and go blind when their environment becomes starved of oxygen. Because the sharks live on shallow parts of the reef, at low tide they can become isolated in large tidal pools, temporarily cut off from the ocean. These tidal pools commonly are hypoxic (having very low oxygen levels). To prevent suffocation, the sharks' electrical activity ceases. Because electricity consumes fifty percent of nervous system energy consumption, shutting down the nervous system allows the animal to survive.

Finally...

2009-01-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

Mason Jennings (Featuring Zach Gill) - Don't Touch My Stuff - Live in Studio C from Eric deNeui on Vimeo.

...a song by someone who understands.

Perhaps we really are that small...

2009-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Winter. from Passenger Productions on Vimeo.

...Just little model people in tiny model towns.

And every single morning by 10 AM I'm dressed.

2009-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

My rehearsals last for hours and hours,
With diligence I have been blessed.
-from Opera Singer by Cake

Little did I know I was helping the Revolution...

2009-01-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

Say what you will about Communism, but they sure did make some bitchin' posters.

So it was all about the proletariat after all. As a kid I always figured it was more like this.(VERY NSFW) Also, this is a surprisingly decent rap about Mario. Who knew?

Thanks to JMTWXYZ for the spreading the word about the rise of the worker.

On Task!

2009-01-10T14:25:00.000-08:00

I'm swamped with work, hence the lack of posts. With heaps of stuff piling up and deadlines bearing down, the last thing I need is to find out about this...

Crayon Physics Deluxe from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

It looks awesome and like it would eat hours of my life. Using every shred of my self control, I have not downloaded it. (yet) If you do, please let me know how it is.

[Ed. Note: This game does not currently support Macs. The site says that a Mac version is coming out when they are done with the PC version, but that they "aren't making any promises." If you use a Mac, or are sympathetic to those of us that do, please head over the their website and leave a comment. The more people ask for it, the more likely it is to actually be made]

Thanks to Brian for the link.

Introduction + The Castle Builder

2009-01-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

Michael has kindly invited me to become an (ir)regular contributer to Letters From the Inquisition. At his request, I'll preface my first post with a brief introduction.

My name is Christopher Reiger. I am an artist and writer currently living in Queens, New York. I've known Michael as a friend and professional peer for over a decade. We met in 1996 at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia. During our time at William and Mary, we co-founded Synoddity, a cross-disciplinary arts organization. Synoddity championed generalism over specialization but, acknowledging that our current body of knowledge is increasingly divided and sub-divided, encouraged conversation and exchange across fields. In many respects, Letters From the Inquisition is similarly inclined, and I'm pleased to be a part of it.

I have a blog of my own, Hungry Hyaena, that explores art, ecology and related (or somewhat related) miscellany. I also contribute art writing to ArtCal Zine and MyArtSpace>Blog.

A selection of my drawings and paintings can be viewed on my website.

+++++

The Castle Builder

A co-worker and fellow artist, Adam Ogilvie, turned me on to this terrific 5-minute video in December. Entitled "Bishop's Castle," it is a well-edited introduction to Jim Bishop, an under-known contemporary artist.

Working alone on weekends (and four weekdays during the summer), the high school drop out and iron worker has constructed the eponymous Bishop's Castle in the Rocky Mountains, just outside the tiny, central Colorado town of Beulah. He began the project in 1969. Then, he only intended to build a stone cabin. Forty years later, that cabin has grown into an incongruous marvel.

In the first two minutes of the video, Jim Bishop seems the very picture of artistic heroism. Bishop works for the "glory of God" and for himself, and he characterizes his efforts as those of an honorable "peon." His astonishing creation is a "one-man project, donation box basis." The artist is justifiably proud of his remarkable accomplishment. The castle is not a funded public art project, yet it is far more impressive than Christo's Central Park "Gates" or Eliasson's "Waterfalls."

The castle construction has been fraught with legal battles (over insurance, material use and zoning) and even tragedy. In 1988, Bishop's four-year-old son, Roy, was killed at the castle site, apparently crushed by a tree that Bishop felled. One of the castle's towers is named after Roy, and Bishop says that he will inter his son's ashes there.

A rough-worn, but charismatic man, Bishop tosses off memorable quips: "Engineering without money is ingenuity."; "I'm building this for myself. Basically, I'm an egotist." Early on, this rugged individualist act is endearing but, as the video advances, a darker side of Bishop is revealed. He rants about our nation's eroding morals and civil liberties. Although his convictions are not entirely without merit, his attacks on big government seem increasingly irrational. Near the video's end, he yells from one of the castle's towers, seemingly possessed by a God-given vitriol. "I'm about to pass out. I'm getting...I'm....I just gotta get the blood in the right place now. Get that camera rolling! I'm doing work! I benefit everybody!...I'm the anti-devil!" Come again?

Still, like Jean Dubuffet, I believe that (with the exception of Sunday painters) those artists wiling away in obscurity, whatever their reasons, are often producing exceptionally exciting work. Bishop is one such outsider, and his astonishing project deserves more attention.

Photo credit: ripped from Milewalker's Flickr photostream

He's not; he's from Pittsburgh...

2009-01-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

I often find myself in arguments in which I want to simply turn to the other person and say. "With all due respect, Marshall, you're wrong about the beards." The other person is usually a bureaucrat, customer service representative, or just a plain old customer.

It is true though, beards cannot grow in space.

This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!

2008-12-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

It doesn't snow that much in Seattle, but when it does it's bad news. This happened today.

Hill^Steep • Ice^Shitload + 2πBus^Kids/Highway = What you'd expect.*

The post title, BTW, is a non sequitur. On my brief foray into the frozen heart of the city, my co-worker told me about this master work of TV editing. It's wonderful.

This is what happens, Larry. This is what happens.

*Even though I can't prove it, I included pi in there, because, but I'm fairly certain that there was pie involved with some part of this accident.

Awesome photos from Mike Livdahl's photostream on Flickr.

Looking Forward to Reflecting Upon the Impending Past Memory of the Future Reenactment

2008-12-18T00:32:00.000-08:00

This is a joke.

This isn't.

Any questions?

A Moose, an Ass, and a Little Bit of Crow

2008-12-16T22:21:00.000-08:00

“The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question.”
-Stephen Jay Gould

All my life I've watched advertising assimilate and commercialize bits of culture. From the rampant co-option of songs and phrases to the gross misappropriation of historical icons, nothing has been safe from The Market. After several decades, I guess I've built up a bit of a grudge.

So when I saw a gasoline commercial that seemed to directly subvert a piece of reverse-graffiti protest art, I figured that I pretty well knew the score. It was an old story, and I didn't really take the time to see if it was true.

Instead, I went home, tracked down the videos, and wrote a rather fervent post about it. At the time I felt like a bit of a sleuth, but now I feel like a bit of an ass. Chris Yi, the creator of the advertisement, just happened by Letters from the Inquisition, and left a thoughtful comment calling me out. So here I am, gratefully eating a bit of crow.

While I still feel that my basic observations were sound, the central premise of the post was based on two flawed assumptions. Firstly, I wrongly assumed that Alexandre Orion was the originator of the reverse-graffiti method. Secondly, I assumed that Yi had yoinked Orion's idea and used it in the service of Mammon.

In retrospect, both of those assumptions are foolish and unfounded. I wish that it had occurred to me that I could contact Mr. Yi directly and ask what if any relationship existed between his and Orion's work. If I had, I'm sure he would have privately set me straight, but instead I left him to do it in the comment section:

Reverse Graffiti is a technique that's been used by many other artists than Orion, and many times before his amazing Sao Paulo piece. Yes, the medium has been used as a form of protest, but more often it has served as just another form of artistic self-expression - with or without any specific message attached.... I don't believe I'm perverting Orion's work, I think we're just 2 more people who used the medium of Reverse Graffiti to create completely separate works.

Point taken, and I hope Mr. Yi will accept my apology for not having the wherewithal to contact him myself. For all the interconnectedness of the web, it is a strangely impersonal medium, and it's pretty easy to forget that there are real people on the other end of the intertubes. Unfortunately, my ignorance caused me to draw flawed conclusions from my observations, and my excess of zeal caused me to overstate my case.

Luckily, Chris Yi seems to be a good sport, and he tipped me off to the video above. It features "reverse graffiti pioneer" Moose in the process of executing a large mural in the service of the makers of Clorox bleach. The project is full-on advertisement but brings up some interesting non-bleach-related ideas.

I find myself wondering to what extent commercial intent undermines broader message. Though I mistrust corporate messaging, I cannot wholly discount it. In our capitalist, media-saturated society, much of our communication occurs through commercial channels. Though it is economically motivated, this communication is an inextricable part of modern cultural exchange. It manipulates the message, but is still subject to the zeitgeist.

In the end, I'm left with a quote from this video, which was featured on YouTube beside the Moose clip. It's a nice counterbalance to the Cassandra theme of my previous post.

What I don't like is a really critical message, like "Shitty System blah blah blah." I think that if you want to criticize something you need to have a better idea how to do it, and then you can innovate.

So thanks and apologies to Chris Yi, and if any of you would like to reverse-graffiti my bathroom, I think it's pretty ripe for it.

By the way, that police bit at the end of the last video kills me.

Counterflow

2008-12-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

How many agents of Counterflow can you fit into one van?

I'm reposting this from Especially Messily because it's that good. It's a dispatch from her stepfather, who is a very funny man.

Driving to Tagaytay was also an experience. I learned another new word, counterflow. It is a Manila-taxi word, and is used in a sentence like this (spoken very casually): "If the traffic is bad, it is okay to counterflow." Then the cabbie smiles at you. (Note to travelers: pay very close attention when someone in Manila smiles at you.)

"To counterflow" means TO CROSS THE CENTER LINE AND DRIVE IN THE LANE OF ONCOMING TRAFFIC ON A FOUR LANE HIGHWAY.

This was a great surprise to me, and I am determined to remember the word, counterflow. The next time everything looks like it has turned to shit around me, just before I do something incredibly stupid, I will smile and tell those around me (in a casual voice), "In this situation, it is okay to counterflow." Then I will smile and do the stupid thing. Counterflow.

COUNTERFLOW!!!

More Signs of the Endtimes

2008-12-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

This recent article lends credence to an unorthodox viewpoint held by some scholars. According to this maverick group of classicists, the following passage is, in fact mistranslated.

Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns.(Revelations 12:3)

By going back to the earliest accounts of this text, Dr. Yazbin Hamjadi of Jordan has been able to discern that the original phrase read as follows:

Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red potato, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns.

Dr. Hamjadi, who has been scoffed at for years, called this recent find "stunning and
alarming."

Indeed. Personally, I would also add 'tasty' to the list.

Image yoinked from the BBC

(And yes, I did make all of this up... except the potato. That thing is for real. Repent! Repent!)

Collaboration in the Works

2008-12-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

Recently I've been thinking and talking about collaboration. According to this article, I have a life full of collaboration ahead of me. That's OK, because I'm a huge fan.

On that note, I have decided to invite other authors to post on this blog. I think that it will create a more dynamic space and, at the very least, widen the search pattern for interesting bits.

Stay tuned.

Image: The Heian courtier Fujiwara no Yasumasa playing the flute by moonlight, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1832-1892). Behind Fujiwara no Yasumasa is the bandit Kidomaru, who is dissuaded from attacking him by the beauty of his playing. Image ripped from Richard Ukiyo-e.

Neutrophils on Parade

2008-12-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Bill Gusky over at ArtBlog Comments posted this wonderful video.

It prompted me browse on over to YouTube and check out some of the incredible microscopic footage that is posted there. I swear, we didn't have this stuff when I was learning biology. I think I'm gonna be wasting a lot more time on YouTube in the near future.

This doomed little beast puts up a real fight. It's kind of nightmarish.

This one just looks graceful like the aliens from the movie Abyss. (Hit mute, because the sound effects are stupid and distracting)

Seriously. I am blown away by the smoke-like appearance of these little neutrophils. Bear with the narrator and be rewarded with some incredible footage.

This one is a little slow at the outset, but the part where the neutrophil exits the blood vessel... Whoa! It's computer animation, but still pretty wild.

I'm solidly geeking out now, so I'll include a link to one more and then cut myself off. This one has some music, and the animation is super cool. They won't let me embed it (jerks) so you're just gonna have to follow the link.

So everybody take a minute to give a big high-five to your immune system. Good job fellas! Go get'em!

Love and Robots (Don't Mix)

2008-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is the climactic scene from the anime film Metropolis. It gets my vote for the best deployment of a Ray Charles song. It's a little hard to tell from this edit, but the video begins with a bloody finger pushing a button.
(spoiler alert)

This movie is, of course, a re-imagining of Fritz Lang's 1926 film, Metropolis. For the Philistines that have never seen the original film, I'll let the rock band Rammstein give you a quick plot summary.

It takes all kinds.

2008-11-16T12:34:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, I like to hit the 'Next Blog' button and see what Blogger tosses my way. I suppose that the voyeur in me loves the candid slice of some stranger's enthusiasm. Many are downright silly or banal, but some take me by surprise.

Here's a few that caught my eye today.

Heavy Haulage Blog

That's right. "This is a diary of Heavy Haulage, Crane and Plant photos from the UK and Europe." Pretty interesting stuff when you think about it.

Ruben Martijn

This is like Alexander Calder's successful Scandinavian nephew. I suppose they are mock-ups of design ideas, but I can't help but see them as Modernist offices for bizarre, little wire creatures.

Proyecto Renova

This blog appears to be devoted to the conception, execution, and subsequent floral-wallpapering of a semi-industrial bench. Whoever is behind this bench is doing a very thorough job.

I could go on, but it is a lovely day in Seattle, and each lovely day could very well be the last, so out I go.

Give the 'Next Blog' button a try sometime. At the very least you'll get to see somebody's adorable kids/dogs/cats/knitting/friends. Or better yet, just go get your friends' kids to knit a suit that will strap together a dog and a cat.

Or something.

Well, Hell's Bells...

2008-11-09T00:19:00.001-08:00

So, a column in this week's Stranger mentioned that the internet had video of a monkey on a Segway.

It did?!! Why didn't I hear about this?

Well, it did, and, truth be told, it's pretty amazing. Push past all the Japanese subtitles and laugh-boxes, and it's a damned interesting. You can really see his monkey brain getting a grasp on how that weird machine works.

He's a real sport about it too.

Honestly, this made me want to have some animal friends.
We could skate, play video games, and just hang out. Afterwards, we could meet up with the rest of the gang and do hood rat stuff.

It'd be just like highschool.

Yes we did.

2008-11-05T11:14:00.001-08:00

America, high-fives all around.

Especially you, Sarah Palin.

Thanks. You can go home now.

Republicans, please listen to the words of your former candidate:

'I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences, and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.'

Now is the time to show a little patriotism-- real patriotism, not the cheap, partisan knock-off that is pinned to everybody's lapels.

Image from Obama Magazine.

Dear America,

2008-11-04T01:16:00.000-08:00

Please don't screw this up.

Seriously.

Image yoinked from the BBC

Greed

2008-10-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Rabbit
by Run Wrake
For more ingenious weirdness, check out the Run Wrake website. Film recommendation from Molly Schafer via Christopher Reiger.

I feel a certain kinship...

2008-10-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

... and some day we're both going to chew somebody's face off.

Bring it.

2008-10-07T23:32:00.001-07:00

This man is here for the party. Let him be an example to you.

Have you started getting together your costume yet?

Image from BibiOdyssey

To want so many things and still want nothing.

2008-10-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

How To Like It
by Stephen Dobyns

These are the first days of fall. The wind
at evening smells of roads still to be traveled,
while the sound of leaves blowing across the lawns
is like an unsettled feeling in the blood,
the desire to get in a car and just keep driving.
A man and a dog descend their front steps.
The dog says, Let's go downtown and get crazy drunk.
Let's tip over all the trash cans we can find.
This is how dogs deal with the prospect of change.
But in his sense of the season, the man is struck
by the oppressiveness of his past, how his memories
which were shifting and fluid have grown more solid
until it seems he can see remembered faces
caught up among the dark places in the trees.
The dog says, Let's pick up some girls and just
rip off their clothes. Let's dig holes everywhere.
Above his house, the man notices wisps of cloud
crossing the face of the moon. Like in a movie,
he says to himself, a movie about a person
leaving on a journey. He looks down the street
to the hills outside of town and finds the cut
where the road heads north. He thinks of driving
on that road and the dusty smell of the car
heater, which hasn't been used since last winter.
The dog says, Let's go down to the diner and sniff
people's legs. Let's stuff ourselves on burgers.
In the man's mind, the road is empty and dark.
Pine trees press down to the edge of the shoulder,
where the eyes of animals, fixed in his headlights,
shine like small cautions against the night.
Sometimes a passing truck makes his whole car shake.
The dog says, Let's go to sleep. Let's lie down
by the fire and put our tails over our noses.
But the man wants to drive all night, crossing
one state line after another, and never stop
until the sun creeps into his rearview mirror.
Then he'll pull over and rest awhile before
starting again, and at dusk he'll crest a hill
and there, filling a valley, will be the lights
of a city entirely new to him.
But the dog says, Let's just go back inside.
Let's not do anything tonight. So they
walk back up the sidewalk to the front steps.
How is it possible to want so many things
and still want nothing. The man wants to sleep
and wants to hit his head again and again
against a wall. Why is it all so difficult?
But the dog says, Let's go make a sandwich.
Let's make the tallest sandwich anyone's ever seen.
And that's what they do and that's where the man's
wife finds him, staring into the refrigerator
as if into the place where the answers are kept-
the ones telling why you get up in the morning
and how it is possible to sleep at night,
answers to what comes next and how to like it.

Poem via Smith College Poetry Center. Drawing by Georges Seurat via One Piece in reference to this fabulous show at the MoMA.

Clockwork

2008-09-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

We move like cold machines—
Clicking locks and doors,
Each somehow missing
The other's gaze —not unfriendly,
But accustomed to the movement.

Image pulled from Shorpy. Poem by me.

Only in Ikea...

2008-09-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

These covers are from the instruction booklets of real Ikea products.

I have a copy of this booklet. It is some lonely designer's haiku to the emptiness of consumer culture.

While looking for the Lack instructions I found this guy. He was with a group of other Jerkers, but I chose him to represent his kind.

After parting ways with the Jerkers, I ran into these fellows. Very polite and sociable in a Scandinavian sort of way.

But seriously folks...

This is from the video Stealing Beauty by Guy Ben-Nar. I love it. You can read about it here if you are fluent in German.

Ikea images yoinked from IKEAFANS. Video via Especially Messily (I think...)

Case and Point.

2008-09-10T16:42:00.001-07:00

A few posts ago I stuck up for the young, Halo-enthused master of tape and cardboard. While reading magazines at Barnes & Noble (really, who buys them?) I checked out the latest edition of Hi-Fructose and saw this guy.

Mike Rea makes guns and machines out of wood, in addition to creating scenes that spoof both high art and popular cinema. His craftsmanship looks impeccable, and I'm down with his whole ooovra (that's french for artwork).

But look at these two videos, and tell me I'm wrong. If somebody would just teach the Halo Kid about irony he could hurry up and be an art star.

On second thought, if we leave him alone he'll be an engineer, which is far more profitable.

Image ripped from Mike Rea's Site

Milk and Hammers

2008-09-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

Hammers

Chris Milk Hulburt

(2005)

So you want to be a carpenter, do you?
Well it takes more than a hammer, boy, you're gonna need blueprints and a will to build, and...
Straighten your cap! you look like you've been through a war.
Wipe that grin off your mug, you got a sturdy frame?
Sluggish posture just won't cut it.
You're gonna need schooling, and, and, and take notes!
And god if I catch you yawning again you're gonna regret ever asking for my help.

From How to Be a Carpenter by Aesop Rock

Last year I had pleasure of helping with the installation of Nooks: If You Lived Here You'd Be Home by Now. The project was the work of the Canadian art collective Instant Coffee and was sponsored by the Henry Art Gallery. I had a great time working with the folks from Instant Coffee and found them to be fun, interesting people.

Nooks installed at Bumbershoot 2007

During the installation, I glimpsed a piece of paper bearing the slogan "It doesn't have to be good to be meaningful." The phrase caught my eye and stuck in my mind. Throughout the day I turned the phase over in my head as I drove nails with a pneumatic gun. I found the words to be tantalizing, but, try as I might, I couldn't quite swallow the message.

At first glance, the slogan rings entirely true. Meaning is independent of quality. The deepest realizations can be catalyzed by flawed creations or acts of chance-- a scrap of paper, a snippet of conversation, a half-obscured billboard turned suddenly poignant.

Why then should the artist devote great effort to sharpening his skills or polishing his technique? Why not race wholeheartedly after pure meaning? Why not forsake guile and pretense and simply speak from the heart?

Garden

Chris Milk Hulburt

2004-2005

This notion is a driving force behind the Outsider Art movement. A fusion of overlapping and ill-defined movements (Naive Art, Art Brut, Folk Art, Visionary Art, etc), this broad movement aims to sidestep the pitfalls of pretense and head straight down the path of earnest expression. Much of this art is deeply moving, stemming solely from the artists' need to create and communicate. Compared to the haughty intellectualism of Academic Art and the ironic sophistication of Gallery Art, Outsider Art seems honest and heartfelt. In fact, Outsider Art is big business these days, and many mainstream galleries exhibit the work of artists that could be considered Outsiders.

As an example, consider the paintings of Chris Milk Hulburt. Self-taught and entrepreneurial, Hulburt occupies the gray zone between Outsider and Fine Art. His pictures are at once hip, witty, and heartfelt. They are the product of his own idiosyncratic striving, but strike a resounding chord with many discerning viewers.

The overall impression of Hulburt's work is one of playful, sincere simplicity. Yet closer examination reveals a layer of skilled complexity that is not immediately apparent. This is especially true in person, where layers of paint and color interact in surprising and dynamic ways. The artist has taken great care to craft each work to suit his purpose. Beneath the simple exterior lies a sound structure built with painstaking skill-- skill in service to honest vision.

It is in this underlying structure that I find the flaw within the Instant Coffee slogan. No, art does not need to be good to be meaningful. Yet if the artist has a meaning that he wishes to convey, he must be good. He must be good so that he may deliver the chosen meaning intact and undistorted. This requires struggle, practice, and forethought.

I found a perfect example of this point in the Instant Coffee exhibit itself. As the nooks were being constructed, volunteers stapled handmade posters to the surrounding wall. Midway into the process, a tiny crisis erupted. The makers of the posters had not considered the typography of the words, so the words were not behaving as expected.

Oops.

The glitch was pretty minor, and the show went on, but without proper execution the intended meaning was lost.*

In fact, Nooks succeeded precisely because it was good. Apart from the aforementioned glitch, it was well made and well thought out. On that hot afternoon in '07, Instant Coffee created a cool, cozy refuge for sun-stricken festival-goers. I was one of them, and and I was deeply thankful for the respite.

Between the process of construction and the experience of the final product, I enjoyed myself and learned quite a bit. I suppose that I could say that my experience with Instant Coffee was a meaningful one. Interestingly, this is where projects like Nooks do their conceptual jujitsu. The meaning of the piece is to create an environment wherein the viewer can create his own meaning. It is an artistic goal that I find simultaneously kind in its nurturing neutrality, and sheisty in its evasion of the central struggle of art.

As for the slogan? I can take it or leave it, but if it goads one person over their fears and helps them make art then I'm all for it-- even if that art is terrible.

After all, it doesn't have to be good to be meaningful.

Right?

* I witnessed some of the poster-hangers trying to palm the unintended result off as simply a new element of the installation with its own novel meaning. To this, I say Bah. The resulting statement "You wish here were" has its own garbled meaning, which can be made to be profound with some thought. This is unsurprising. The Dada-esque construction of random phrases creates meaning entirely through chance, and our logic-hungry brains struggle mightily to pull meaning out of anything and everything. When done on purpose, chance-based methodologies are a valid part of contemporary art. When done by mistake because of an oversight... well, where I come from we call that a f***-up.

Images are ripped from the Instant Coffee site and Chris Milk Hulburt's site (apologies for the previuos confusion). Check out his upcoming show at Ghostprint Gallery. I snapped the image of the posters with my little cell phone camera during construction.

The Geography of Nowhere

2008-09-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

“We created a landscape of scary places, and we became a nation of scary people.”

“The problem with our common American daily environments is not that they are too uniform, but that they are of uniformly miserable quality.”

“It is hard to imagine a culture less concerned than ours with the things that make life worth living.”

Words by James Howard Kunstler via Project for Public Spaces. I believe most of them are from the book The Geography of Nowhere, which is the namesake of this post.

Photos © Michael McDevitt 2008

Bumblebees outwit robotic spiders.

2008-09-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

Best headline in a while, but...

...Superboy still gets the girl.

Read the real article at the BBC or learn more about Beeboy at Again With The Comics..
You be the Decider.

Found Abstract: Urban Biodiversity

2008-09-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Tiny pockets of wilderness spring up even on this busy Seattle sidewalk. How many different species could I find in this photo if I had the knowledge and desire? I'm sure that it would be a sufficiently high number to surprise the average pedestrian, who walks over this patch without looking down. In fact, is there any good data for urban biodiversity? My meager search skills turned up only a smattering of material, none of which was particularly insightful.

I took this picture after photographing graffiti removal abstracts. There was an organic similarity that appealed to me-- the erosion of manmade order and the accidental beauty of overlapping shapes.

It's there if you look for it.

Photo: Michael McDevitt 2008

People do strange and wonderful things.

2008-09-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

I love the guard at the end.

It's tempting to laugh this kid off, but hold on. Geeky as his project may be, this kid is a genius with tape and cardboard. If he was a 25 year old art star we'd be lining up to high five him. We mock him because he is sincere.

Wow. The take-away lesson here, kids, is that the Man will steal your toys. Every. Single. Time.

(R/C Mario thanks to Ms. Barnacle, Billy the Halo Kid via Art Blog Comments, Soccer via Monkeys For Helping)

Evening Magic

2008-09-01T15:02:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I had a great walk through the city, ending in my studio. After a few hours of painting, I headed up the hill to catch the bus. There I was treated to this pleasant spectacle. The glass facade of the 4th & Madison Building covers the evening commute with the fruity hues of a ripe papaya. I don't know if it is intentional, but I'm willing to give the architects the benefit of the doubt.

Photo Michael McDevitt

Big Questions... little payoffs.

2008-08-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

The last week had me phoning friends to hash out my art-related anxieties. This came to mind...

Earthless

2008-08-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

These plants are like astronauts on my windowsill--way out of their element, but doing fine. They have no soil, only water. The onion came from the grocery store, but was forgotten in a bag. Once I saw how much it had grown, I decided to keep it around. Eventually I'll pot them both, but for now I enjoy watching them.

I am continually amazed at plants' ability to build their bodies out of air. They take in atmospheric CO2 and use it to create more complex molecules like cellulose. Thus, the spider plant on the right has been able to nearly double in size using only light, air, and water.

Amazing.

One thing always leads to another, which somehow brings me back home: A study in latenight overkill

2008-08-05T00:58:00.000-07:00

There was deviltry afoot in Seattle today. All day long, the people I met were acting edgy and aggressive, culminating in an actual brawl in my immediate vicinity. I was relieved to get back to my messy, little room.

Goofing around on my computer, I searched the terms Devil animation on Vimeo, which turned up this...

Devil's Revenge Demo from Erich carrle on Vimeo.

...which immediately made me think of this (if you're in a rush just check out the beginning of the 2nd part)...

The Mascot by Władysław Starewicz( aka Ladislas Starewicz)
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

...which I know about because of this...

I travelled up the eastern seaboard in an ice storm to see two performances by Tin Hat Trio. The first night I caught them in New York City at a Tom Waits tribute concert (which can be streamed here) while 6-8 inches of powder snow fell on Manhattan. The next day it was down to Philly, were I saw them perform their own score for Starewicz's animations. They are my favorite band, and I went far out of my way to see them while they were still together. In searching for that clip I came across this, the print version of which is published by Seattle's own Fantagraphics.

Frederick & Eloise, with music from Brian Biggs on Vimeo.

As if using the music of my favorite band weren't enough, it turns out that Brian Biggs made a video for another band that I adore. One Ring Zero are originally from Richmond, VA, where I had the pleasure of seeing them perform many times.

One Ring Zero: Stop Metric Madness from Brian Biggs on Vimeo.

The first time I saw ORZ perform, it was at the Pumpkin Pie Show, which is the wicked spawn of Clay McLeod Chapman. also from Richmond. If there was ever a prime example of animated deviltry, the Pumpkin Pie Show is it.

The End

A History of Movements

2008-08-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

Film Still from Felix in Exile by William Kentridge

One of the fundamental myths of America is that it is possible to escape the past. We are enamored of the idea that we can live today as if yesterday never existed. We set off down the highway, ride into the sunset, board a plane, or simply change the channel.

The art of South African artist William Kentridge is a direct refutation of this notion. Kentridge creates his animations by drawing, erasing, and redrawing on a single page, rather than using a series of cells. The process leaves behind a history of all the movements that precede a given moment. When a paper blows through the air it leaves a faint trail. A house collapses but leaves behind the standing ghost of its former self.

The following two films were the best that I could dig up on YouTube. The first is a trailer for a film that focuses on the artist. The second is a bootleg of Felix in Exile.

I'm not sure if Kentridge is responsible for the surreal elements of the trailer. I suspect that they are the doing of the filmmakers, but would love some clarification on this point. I am also unsure if I have seen this film. Years ago, I watched an exceptional documentary about Kentridge that included excerpts from his animations, segments of interview, and footage of his creative process. I don't recall any surrealistic edge, but it was quite a long time ago.

I regret that the quality of this video is so poor. Nevertheless, it shows the film in its entirety and conveys a sense of Kentridge's work.

I intend to write more in depth posts on Kentridge in the future. In the meantime, I suggest that you all go to your local library or video store and look for DVDs of his animations. For a written interview with Kentridge go here.

Credit: Felix in Exile still jacked from Wikipedia.

Busted.

2008-08-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

This fellow was emptying the trash can piece by piece. I suppose it struck him as silly to hide all that good food under so much rubbish.

Photos by Michael McDevitt

Perhaps we're all originally from Denmark...

2008-07-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful film.

Aside from the potent evocation of love, it makes a strong comment about art. In a way, the narrator is a daughter of Sigrid Undset. Undset begat that which begat the narrator, and it is only through Undset's art that the narrator came to exist at all. Even though it was not apparent to the artist, the creative power of the art stretched far into history.

In this context, art can be seen as an occult science. The methods are obscure, the rationale is debatable, and the results are hidden. The artist moves the lives of others and inadvertently manipulates the stream of events. This film is a is a rallying cry to all artists. Keep pushing, it says, our success is measured far beyond our purview.

Though we may never think ourselves to be great or noteworthy, we may nonetheless create great things from our efforts. This is, to me, a fundamental refutation of the notion that art is a purely commercial enterprise. We move the world in a way that does not follow money. We move the world along paths of love and imagination. We move the world, because we allow ourselves to be moved by it

To me, this is the very definition of an act of faith. We have faith in the practice. We have faith in the rightness of being.

We move the world because we must.

Picture Credits: Hermes Trismagestis as the Alchemist by an unknown artist via the Kybalion, Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur by Leonora Carrington via Eve's Alexandria, Le Bateleur tarot card via Neue Gruendlichkeit. The sweet sterographic projection of the Église d'Auvers-sur-Oise is part of the Wee Planets series by Gladl via Flikr. Thanks to Damon for recommending the video.

A Prayer for the Lost

2008-07-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

Credits: Prayer by Thomas Merton as posted on Audacious Deviant (also lots of great religious art). Image from the mighty Bibliodyssey.

Crocodiles and Combs

2008-07-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I saw a customer reading Bruno Schulz's The Street of Crocodiles. Though I have never read the text, I have long been a fan of the Brothers Quay and of their rendition of Shulz's work. Once, I was lucky enough to see a collection of their work on the big screen at Richmond's historic Byrd Theatre. I was blown away. The Brothers attended the screening and fielded questions from the audience. It was amazing.

Unsurprisingly, YouTube has these animations in their entirety, albeit tiny and low quality. I highly recommend getting your hands on a DVD version, because the powerful imagery suffers under the degradation of YouTube-- but, hey, it's free! I also recommend checking out more of the Brothers' work, much of which can also be found on YouTube.

I'm looking forward to reading Schulz's writing... just as soon as I clear my massive backlog of library fines.

The Street of Crocodiles: Part 1

The Street of Crocodiles: Part 2

Originally, I had intended to post just the Street of Crocodiles. While poking around, however, I came upon (read: hunted down) my favorite Quay brothers animation. It is called the Comb. In addition to being wonderfully colored, it has the moebius strip feeling that permeates many of my restless dreams. Enjoy.

The Comb: Part 1

The Comb: Part 2

Cleaner is Better: From Protest to Advert

2008-07-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

CHORUS MEMBER
Terror grips me as I hear these truths
without embellishment. As for the rest,
hearing that just makes me lose my way.

CASSANDRA
I tell you you'll see Agamemnon dead.

CHORUS MEMBER
Poor girl, calm yourself. Tone down those words.

CASSANDRA
No—no one can heal what my words prophesy.

CHORUS
Not if they're true. But may the gods forbid!

CASSANDRA
While you pray here, others move in to kill.

CHORUS LEADER
What man is going to commit such crimes?

CASSANDRA
What man? You've completely missed the point.
You've failed to understand my prophecies.

from Agamemnon by Aeschylus

In 2007 Alexandre Orion wiped soot from the walls of a Sao Paulo tunnel to create a sweeping vista of skulls. His reverse graffiti piece was an elegant act of protest, which drew images of death in the very poison itself. The authorities were confounded, because cleaning is not vandalism and is not a crime. Unable to punish the 'offender,' they were forced to clean the entire tunnel and, later, all the tunnels of the city.

Orion documented the process and released this YouTube video:

I first read about Orion on Bioephemera, and he has been knocking around in my brain ever since. He is, like so many of us, Cassandra wringing her hands at the gate. We can see the tragedy unfolding around us, but are left with little to do but cry out. While the story of Orion seems to have a victorious ending-- the tunnels cleaned, the world singing his praise-- it is little more than a cheerful note in a gloomy, discordant opera. The cars still drive, and, as Orion's own video points out, the toxic soot is simply transformed into a black, bubbling ooze that vanishes into a storm drain.

Yet, Orion's unembellished statement has suffered a curse far worse than what Apollo handed down. Cassandra's contemporaries simply refused to believe her words. Orion, however, lives in the Orwellian world of corporate advertising. His dire message has been co-opted, purged, and re-used to sell the very gasoline that created the poisonous soot.*

76 Commercial - Cleaner Is Better from Chris Jaemin Yi on Vimeo.

Gone are the dark tunnels and sulfurous light. Gone are the furtive resistance and melancholy hope. Gone are the grime and the gas mask.

Instead, Yi's protagonist, cleanly dressed and smiling, stands in a well-lit parking garage. On his way to his condo, no doubt, he is seized by the the notion to do something that is just... well, dang it... it's just darn nice! Moved by altruistic vigor and unabashed corporate zeal, he fills the walls with pretty swirls, a happy sun, and a meticulously executed 76 logo. Then he steps back, pats himself on smugly on the back, and nods. Gosh darn it, cleaner IS better.

Looking at the two videos side by side reveals some interesting differences. To me, the most striking are the color and the music.

Filmed in situ, Orion's documentary footage is dark and reminiscent of the classical 'Spanish Palette.' Yi's video, in contrast, is light and airy. Notice how skillfully Yi uses the white walls to highlight the bright notes of primary colors that are in frame for virtually the entire video. Here we have Goya vs Playskool, and it's little surprise which is featured in a corporate ad.

Similarly, Yi's music, for which I can find no author credit, is full of pep and verve and virtually shouts 'OMG!' and 'LOL!' in all caps. It's upbeat music for a sunny afternoon. The music feels repetitive and empty. 76 does not want you to think too much. Just get the message and feel good about the brand. In contrast, Orion's music, which is credited to Instituto, prompts introspection and thought. It changes and swells, pulls back and expands. Combined with the imagery, it paints the portrait of a small, hopeful man in a dark and complex world.

To be fair, Yi's soundtrack, clocking in at 23 seconds of music, doesn't have as much room to maneuver as Orion's, which, at 161 seconds, is exactly seven times longer. It would be easy to write the difference off to scale and move on. Yet, if you listen only to the first 23 seconds of Orion's video the contrast is striking. Coincidentally, the first 23 seconds of Instituto's music is composed entirely of a single repeating motif. Notice, however, the subtle permutations and inversions of that motif. A great deal of thought has gone into creating complexity in that one simple segment. I get the impression that both Orion and Instistuto would appreciate an equal amount of thought from their audience.

I do not begrudge Mr. Yi his success. The other video that he has posted on Vimeo is longer and belies a thoughtful and concerned mind. He is a skilled commercial filmmaker, and I have no doubt that we will see more of his work. Nevertheless, even as I congratulate him on winning the 76 competition, I am saddened by the insidious influence of corporate advertising. As individuals, we all have our disparate and justifiable motivations. We work to fill our bellies and protect our friends, families, and interests. Yet, somehow and inevitably, we advance the plot of the tragedy. From the mighty Agamemnons to the soot covered Cassandras, we all play our part to fulfill the curse on the House of Atreus.

* I recognize that this commercial is to promote a cleaner burning gasoline. Taken at face value this is certainly a lesser evil. Yet, in the end, it is an ad to promote the sale of gasoline, and only a fool takes commercials at face value.

Credits: Photo from Alexandre Orion's site; Agamemnon text from the website of Ian Johnston

"Black Squares" or "People Are Silly"

2008-07-01T14:08:00.001-07:00

Scientists cooked up the idea of Dark Matter as a way of explaining why the universe doesn't fly apart. The more they work, however, the more they are able to find evidence that confirms its existence. Now, thanks to the fine folks at the Particle Zoo, you can own your own plush bit of Dark Matter for just $9.75 + shipping. I love that the ad says "...it remains a mystery as to what exactly it is" and then lists the construction materials. They had to be laughing when they did that.

Addle your melon here.

In 1915 Kazimir Malevich painted his famous Black Square. When he exhibited it, he hung it in the corner of the room that was traditionally reserved for the family icon. The message was pretty bold. These days it's about as revolutionary as a sock and helps ignorant people bad-mouth art.

"A black square? Really? I could buy one of them at Sherwin-Williams for a couple of bucks!"

It's all context.

I respect Suprematism in its historical perspective, but I think it's pretty silly. Evidently so did Stalin.

Not entirely safe for work, though not all that lewd.

Censor bars are inherently silly. Proven fact (see full study here). I love the Pong part. Oh retro, you are so hip.

The music, by the way, is a fantastic song called 'Toe Jam' by the British superband BPA. It features Fatboy Slim, David Byrne, and Dizzee Rascal. Another great Dizzee Rascal video here(highly recommended).

Photo Credits: Dark Matter ad yoinked from the Particle Zoo website. Black Square courtesy of Wikimedia.

Hey Ladies!

2008-07-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

I know it works for some folks, but I could never pull off the "I am Giant Blue Face" routine. The ladies always saw right through it. Perhaps I ought to spend more time tidying up my display area.

Unexpected Voodoo

2008-06-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

For the last nine months I've walked the same strip of 10th avenue nearly every day. In that time, I watched a small slice of Capitol Hill change from Fall to Winter to... well, let's just call it Springalmostsummersometimeswinter. As the seasons edged noncommittally towards warmer days, the plants began to emerge. One particular bank of plants caught my eye. For several weeks I thought they were Calla Lilies. Yet, as the Calla Lilies leafed out and bloomed, this group of plants continued to grow. I was intrigued.

Eventually, the plants reached a height of approximately three feet. Their foliage emerged from a long, fleshy stem that was mottled purple and white. The leaves resembled the Calla Lilies, but were smaller and more deeply divided. Curious, I kept an eye on them as I walked to and from lunch.

Soon after leafing out, they began to flower. One day, as the flowers were emerging, I showed them to some of my studiomates. Casually touching them, I noticed an odd, yet familiar smell. The stench of rotting meat emanated from the flowers and coated my fingers. Blech!

As it turns out, the plant in question is Dracunculus vulgaris, also known as the Voodoo Lily. It is a native of the Balkans, the Aegean Islands, and SW Turkey. It belongs to the family Araceae, whose members are referred to as arums. D. vulgaris shares the family with the Calla Lily (Zantedeschi spp.), the Corpse Flower ( Amorphophallus titanum), Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus, Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus), and other plants also called Voodoo Lilies (Sauromatum venosum for example). Araceae is also sometimes jokingly referred to as 'the Houseplant Family,' because so many of its members are used as indoor ornamentals. If you've ever set foot in a mall, restaurant, or office you're probably familiar with Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia spp.), Philodendron (Philodendron spp.), Monstera (Monstera deliciosa), and the ubiquitous Spathiphyllum (Spathiphyllum spp.). The family also contains both the world's largest, unbranching inflorescence (Amorphophallus titanum) and the world's smallest flowering plant (Wolffia spp.). In short, Araceae is a pretty heavy contender for the title of Coolest Plant Family.

Like the other members of its family, the Voodoo Lily sports an inflorescence called a spadix that is surrounded by a hood-like spathe. The individual flowers are clustered on the spadix. Both male and female flowers are found in the same inflorescence with the female flowers occurring lower on the spadix.

Lured by the vivid coloration and lurid stink, flies and beetles enter the mouth of the spathe and become unwitting pollinators. If they arrive late in the afternoon, the insects may be held overnight and released in the morning with an extra-thick cargo of pollen. I am unclear as to whether or not the insects have a tasty corpse-flavored treat awaiting them at the bottom of the inflorescence. It might be the macabre analog of nectar, or the whole thing could be an intricate scam. I didn't really want to get close enough to investigate.

Of course, the name 'Voodoo Lily' is a bit of a slur. Voodoo (more properly Vodou) is a real, living religion that has no more to do with corpses than any other religion. But the popular notion of Voodoo has a life of its own, and D. vulgaris is not nearly as catchy a name.

Since first identifying this cluster of D. Vulgaris, I've gone on to see them in other places. They are interesting to look at, but I don't think I could reconcile the myself with the carcass scent. Personally, I'd rather have my garden smelling of Jasmine, Magnolia, and Gardenia. If I want rotting meat I can always take a walk in an alley.

[Real botany geeks might want to investigate website of The International Aroid Society. There you can find the straight dope about the genusDracunculus, articles about aroid pollination, and all the aroid-related stuff you can handle.]

Photo Credits: Michael McDevitt © 2008

Mystery Abounds

2008-06-25T00:28:00.000-07:00

As a kid, I used to come running as soon as I heard this music. I sat rapt until the show began then wandered away. After glimpsing the land of Edward Gorey, the show seemed anticlimactic. Of course I had no idea who the artist was or even that an artist existed. All I knew was that for a few brief moments I was home.

No surprise from a kid that looked like this.

Halloween circa 1984

RIP Edward Gorey

Credits: Mystery intro by Edward Gorey, Photo of me taken by my mom or dad, image of Gorey via the site of Shaenon K. Garrity

I mean, seriously, Frank...

2008-06-22T01:45:00.000-07:00

...what do you think?

Adventures in Tiny Land

2008-06-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Textbook illustrations, while fantastic, tend to depict cellular biology as if it were a Nerf product. The purple football clumps up with some orange ping-pong balls and... well, y'know, stuff happens. DNA replication! Ta-da!

These videos are something else entirely. I watch them, and my thoughts turn inward to my own body and the maelstrom of my own cellular activity. They convey the speed and the complexity in a way that the Nerf diagrams never have. I don't think I actually understood Okazaki fragments until I saw this video... and Okazaki fragments are one of my favorites.

What's more, the structures in these animations look alive. Despite the voice-over description, they remind me as much of sea creatures as machines. I see them doing rather than simply functioning. This is life.

According to a site called Teacher's Domain (thanks Google!), cells are replicated approximately 50 Billion times a day.... According to Wikipedia, that's 10,000 Trillion cell divisions in an average human lifetime.

I wouldn't know a single trillion if it came to my door and tried to sell me cookies. 10,000 trillion? I can't even begin to imagine. Multiply that by the 46 chromosomes in each cell and that's 460,000,000,000,000,000 replications (give or take). That doesn't even include RNA transcription or translation, let alone any of the countless other cellular activities. My mind simply quits when I try to image all this activity in every cell of my body going on all the time, day and night, even when I sleep.

Nope.

Check, please!

I love it.

After viewing the YouTube video above, I recommend zipping over to the website of the Walter And Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, the clever Aussies that came up with these animations. There are roughly a dozen animations that are available to download or stream. My favorite is called "The Central Dogma: Translation of RNA to Protein." It's like the rail car scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...

...only smaller.

Image Credits: Diagram fromMrs. Muskopf's Bio4A website; Old Lady Girl Scout from Greystone Design via Dumb Criminals; Indiana Jones screenshots via The Raider Net

Maples & Rhodies

2008-06-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

I snapped this photo on my way to work a couple of days ago. I'd just spent the entire day in the studio struggling with painting color, so the visual centers in my brain were over-stimulated and hypersensitive. The intense carpet of pink exploded against the vivid green of the new, spring leaves. It was the visual equivalent of eating spoonfuls of icing straight out of the mixing bowl.

Photo: Michael McDevitt 2008

Blu

2008-06-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

This one has been blowing up all over the web. I sent it to Hungry Hyaena, who did a post about it. Still, it's so dope that I've got to post it here also.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
Blu's other work is quite impressive, and I recommend spending a little time checking out his site.

Image Credit: Jacked from Blu's site.

Identidad

2008-06-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

This is public art at its best. It fulfills the grand tradition of populist murals in a savvy and earnest manner. Unlike the ham-fisted images of the early 20th century, these works celebrate the common individual without pedantry or melodrama. While the concept runs dangerously close to being overly sentimental, the gritty execution ties the work to reality rather than romanticism. I enjoy the way the artist does not hesitate to draw around pipes, cracks, or other imperfections in the walls. He incorporates the flaws and blemishes into the work, yet manages to avoid making the portraits grotesque. Instead, the inconsistencies of the substrate join with the content, making the mundane subjects that much more endearing.

These are the real faces of the city. They are young and old, hopeful and resigned. Like the charcoal on the wall, they will be gone with rain.

"It will fade away with time, just like the memory of the people."

"I don't know if I will be able to see it again, but at this moment it is priceless."

I look forward to watching the entire film.

US Military History 101...

2008-06-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

With a side of fries...

Found Abstraction #1: Pareidolia Pole

2008-06-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Telephone pole, 10th Ave, Capital Hill, Seattle

I have a really hard time not seeing a face in this photo. The metal disc at the top right looks like an eye to me, and there's little I can do to reverse that impression. I even tried rotating it, but it just looked like an upside-down face. I am continually amazed how little information is required to cue the face recognition response in the brain. After taking an animal physiology class years ago, I walked away with the impression that there are individual neurons 'assigned' to identifying a given item. When the correct combination of stimuli roll through the brain, the neuron fires. "Face!" it yells like a fourth grade kid that knows only one answer.

The real thing is, of course, much more complicated. A brief perusal of the web turned up the article "One Face, One Neuron" in Scientific American. As it turns out, the theory described above is a bit of antiquated thought known as the Grandmother Theory. According to this model, "the brain has a neuron devoted just for recognizing each family member. Lose that neuron, and you no longer recognize grandma." This theory was tossed out decades ago, but somehow I didn't get the memo.

Nevertheless, according to Diane Martindale, the author of the SA article, researchers have found that the brains recognition response uses a relatively small number of neurons. In the study discussed, researchers used electrodes to observe the brains of patients as they were "shown a large number of images of celebrities, animals, objects and landmark buildings." The participants had the electrodes placed in their brains in order to pinpoint the source of their seizures. The researchers were thrilled by the results.

"In one patient, a single neuron responded to seven different photographs of actor Jennifer Aniston, while it practically ignored the 80 other images of animals, buildings, famous or nonfamous people that were also presented.... Similar results occurred in another patient with a neuron specific for actor Halle Berry; the neuron responded not only to photographs but also to a drawing and an image of her name." Similar reactions were observed for less sexy items such as the Sydney Opera house and the Tower of Pisa.

The research suggests that there exist "explicit single-neuron signals associated with individual people." Unlike the theoretical Grandmother Cell, these neurons also fired for other stimuli. So while the neurons are 'assigned' to other tasks, they still jump up and yell at the sight of their particular superstar.

In the end, however, I'm not sure if this same model is at work for the more generalized concept of 'face.' The brain is a complicated and poorly understood organ, and I am almost wholly ignorant of its workings. I do know, however, that I see faces everywhere that I go. I see them in buildings, rocks, wood, and, disturbingly, urinals. Do you?

Bee on a Button Box

2008-06-08T02:35:00.000-07:00

I found this clip after reading about the AHL Foundation's show in NYC called "Flight of the Mechanical Bumble Bee." It is a involves work from my friend, Christopher Reiger, as well as work by SunTek Chung, whose path I crossed in Richmond, VA.
I love how much the musician's hand looks like an insect as it skitters around the accordion.
Once, while on a trip, the airline played his song while we were boarding. It wasn't very reassuring.

Mission Statement

2008-06-01T00:52:00.000-07:00

See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil.