Plane of Focus
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Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros’ brand spanking new “Man On Fire”, a wonderfully affecting video even given—probably because of—its simplicity.
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Hey everyone,
I’ve launched a new print sale to fund travel and costs associated with finishing a new body of work entitled Blisner, Ill. The images will be exhibited and published as a book in conjunction with Columbia College in August 2012. All proceeds from this sale will go directly to supporting this project. Your name will be including in a newspaper edition of the book that is being published at the end of summer.
Thanks in advance for your support. Reblog!!
Daniel(Image above from Blisner, Ill.)
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Life Is A Problem” from Spiritualized’s new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Jesus please be my bullet and gun
Shoot all the sinners down, every one
Kill all my demons and that will be fine
But I will be reloading all of the time -
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Where To Put the Generator? Adam Frelin’s “White Line”.
Nothing punches you in the gut with artificiality quite as profoundly as the white glare of a lone gas station at a desolate highway exit. 24/7 convenience in the most remote of locations, these fluorescent wonders stand as way-stations to consumerism, a reassurance that no matter where our pilgrimage may take us our souls will always be nourished by fountain sodas and Pringles.
Adam Frelin has made two iterations of his “White Line”, one in Tokyo in 2007 and one in the middle of nowhere (Wyoming, rather) in 2005. The 2005 version in Wyoming, in particular, captures my imagination. Nature is predominantly the realm of hard points of light — the sun and the moon are defined points of light. Part of the oppressiveness of gas stations, or really most urban environments, comes from the omnipresence of the light. You can’t hide from it. (Which is the point, probably: to deter crime). But, just like so much of our consumerism, we’ve grown so used to its oppressive omnipresence that we actually do find solace and comfort in the glowing light and reliable repetitiveness of the experience.
And so “White Line” comes at us like a tear in the night, a sky torn asunder, with such contrast against its setting that it demands our attention. But, in aggregate, this incredibly hard beam of light actually creates a comfortable, soft, diffused bath of light, almost shadowless. By setting all of this on a quiet hill in Wyoming Frelin has summed up so much about the world we’ve created for ourselves: even in a dark and remote wilderness, one of the basic building blocks of modern life — the fluorescent bulb — manages to provide us with a modicum of solace, even when the more rational reaction might be to take offense at the urban intrusion in a natural space.
(Source: ilikethisart.net)
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education, creativity, and commitment to long-term, slow-moving change
A debate concerning how artists should or should not respond to the influence of wealth on the art community.
This:
“A quick look the Gini index, a measure of income inequality, shows that the countries with the most significant art booms of the past two decades have also experienced the steepest rise in inequality: the United States, Britain, China and India. Further, recent economic research has established a direct connection between skyrocketing art prices and income inequality, showing that “a one percentage point increase in the share of total income earned by the top 0.1% triggers an increase in art prices of about 14 percent.” It is now painfully obvious that what has been extraordinarily good for the art world over the past decades has been disastrous for the rest of the world.” — from 1% Art by Andrea Fraser for Adbusters
Led to this:
“It is important that someone points out that correlation does not imply causation. Just because there is increasing wealth at the top of the economic spectrum driving an art market boom, and a stagnation of wealth in the middle and lower classes correlated to aforementioned growth at the top, does not necessarily mean that art collectors are to blame for the world’s macroeconomic problems, or that progressives should withdraw from the art economy.” — from Math Class: Art/Economy Correlation Does Not Imply Causation by Shane Ferro for Art Info
Which then led to this:
“Fraser sees inequality as a moral problem and I see it as a structural one […]. The moral problem is fixed by withdrawing from the real world and declaring everyone who isn’t with you must be evil. By contrast, the structural problem is fixed by working within the system, demanding a more fair wealth redistribution (certainly the more daunting task), getting really frustrated, failing several times, and, finally, slowly working toward a macro solution as the world shifts from a manufacturing economy to a service one — that means education, creativity, and commitment to long-term, slow-moving change.” — from “Rethinking My Post on Income Inequality and the Art World” by Shane Ferro for Art Info
Which is now leading to my $0.02:
I like capitalism, and I like it a lot. It has given us such wonders as chocolate milk, iPhones, and indie films that can cater to the tastes of small subsets of film goers. But the debate above points out one of the glaring problems of capitalism as it has been practiced for the past century. When the wealthy have huge incentives and abilities to accumulate more wealth, increasing income inequality is the inevitable result. The answer, I think, isn’t to avoid the issue or withdraw from the system, but to acknowledge the consequences of indefinitely accumulating wealth. I don’t know what the answer is (the Economist thinks it might be higher capital gains taxes), but I know there’s a problem that needs to be addressed somehow, some magical mixture of taxes and regulation maybe. Capitalism has been wonderful on balance, but we need to be mindful of what it can’t do and endeavor to plug those gaps.
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Now and then somebody signaled a right turn and cautiously left the line to feel their way toward an exit ramp. The bigger exit signs overhead were completely invisible [in the fog], but sometimes it was possible to see one of the smaller ones down at road level, right where the exit lane began to peel away. So it always had to be one of those last-possible-minute decisions.
Doc figured if he missed the Gordita Beach exit he’d take the first one whose sign he could read and work his way back on surface streets. He knew that at Rosecrans the freeway began to dogleg east, and at some point, Hawthorne Boulevard or Artesia, he’d lose the fog, unless it was spreading tonight, and settled in regionwide. Maybe then it would stay this way for days, maybe he’d just have to keep driving, down past Long Beach, down through Orange County, and San Diego, and across a border where nobody could tell anymore in the fog who was Mexican, who was Anglo, who was anybody. Then again, he might run out of gas before that happened, and have to leave the caravan, and pull over on the shoulder, and wait. For whatever would happen. For a forgotten joint to materialize in his pocket. For the CHP to come by and choose not to hassle him. For a restless blonde in a Stingray to stop and offer him a ride. For the fog to burn away, and for something else this time, somehow, to be there instead.
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon -
Instead of a video this week…
…here’s a link to this live kitten cam I’ve been watching for about two weeks now.
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Walker Pickering’s “Nearly West” Explores Where South Meets West in Texas
Kudzu from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2010Walker Pickering’s Nearly West hovers somewhere amongst Robert Frank, Walker Evans, and Stephen Shore. He seems to be channeling several eras of Shore all at once: the tight, sharp interiors feel like they could be in American Surfaces and the carefully composed exteriors could be right out of Uncommon Places.
Bulb from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2011
Pickering uses Frank’s repeated symbols, with vintage cars and worn out store fronts showing up throughout the series just as Frank honed in on jukeboxes and the flag. The road trip is there, too, but full of places that feel empty and without a human presence.
Meal from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2009
Pickering seems to be following Evans in a geographic and aesthetic sense. Many of the images feel like he’s revisited the same places as Evans, to give us an update, or to show us that there’s no need for an update, everything is still the same. Nothing seems new or even young in Pickering’s images. They almost seem like static monuments to themselves, a testament to a past that has been fading away since before it was built.
(Source: fototazo.com)
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“I’m a person who’s lucky because I have friends.”
Apparently some guy is living under the Damen Silos.
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Chicago is my kind of town.
(via successisnotanoption)
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I’m pretty jazzed about the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective opening at the Art Institute tomorrow. It runs until September 3rd, so be sure to see it!
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