Soo I’m flying to Miami tonight for We Media 2010, a gathering of techies, entrepreneurs, and media wonks. I’ll be blogging for them as well– so if that’s your thing, check it out :P
In the meantime, I wandered through New People in SF this weekend, and discovered the work of Peter Callesen. He’s a Danish artist that uses printer paper to create multi-dimensional paper sculptures.
Introducing Kate McCarthy, an Australian artist who paints colorful graphic creatures over textured layers of paint.
“I have memories of of the pure joy of creating things for no reason when I was a child, I think we all do… While I used to labour over paintings, I now throw colours and shapes straight onto the canvas, allowing them to trigger something within the audience.”
YES YES YES YES YES. Also, happy Friday ^___________^
{via Juxtapoz}
So you already know that I’m a fan of iLL-Literacy’s work and their approach to it. This fall, they dropped iB41 for free. Now they’ve emerged post- winter hibernation, all psychedelic and spirals and shit, to ask ya freeloaders to contribute to their latest track. At least the musically-inclined ones.
Check out the track and see what you can do.
iLL-Literacy – Doyoudonotsee?
I’m pretty sure that this thing called collaborative music is gonna swallow up the fatty record industry (or at least force it to take a fatty diet) and re-position music as we know it. I know this cos I often predict the future. Anyway, I’ve already ranted and raved about open source and sharing and the like in a previous post, so I’ll stop right there w/ the nerdery… and let the guys who made it do the talking!
I’m really liking this guy’s artwork. Lawrence Yang is a web geek by day, artist by night. He paints intricate, colorful pieces that mesh nature and technology, watercolor and ink, plus a whole lot of other stuff that simple words cannot articulate!
I also like his approach toward balancing work and art. He makes it sound so simple and enjoyable… as art (and work) ought to be.
A lot of the reason that I paint comes out of what I do during the day. Information architecture is this really cerebral, abstract thing so you have to think about information and how to organize and structure it for a website. I really enjoy it a lot but it really makes my head kind of implode. So usually by the time I get home my brain’s fried and I just need to relax so I’ll just sit down and paint the demons out of my head. That’s a lot of my inspiration.
What I do during the day really balances out what I do at night. I think I need to have both structure and chaos so the art is the chaos and the structure is my job and they sort of balance me out into being a normal functioning person. I think too much of one or the other would make me insane.
For more, check out his bloggy and look out for a group show coming up in March at Giant Robot SF.
The struggle has always been inner, and is played out in outer terrains. Awareness of our situation must come before inner changes, which in turn come before changes in society. Nothing happens in the “real” world unless it first happens in the images in our heads.
-Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera
I created this piece as part of a racial justice poster project. When coming up with ideas for the design, I knew that I wanted to create something that speaks to and pays tribute to the personal, internal growth from which movements for justice are born.
In the 23 years of my little life, I’ve been blessed to have walked alongside crazy cool people with wild, contradictory, profound stories. What I’ve gathered is that we’ve all come to understand and work for racial justice in different ways. Sometimes they mesh, other times they clash. At the same time, activism is changing. In this age of information, good PR is reality, something that every powerful institution is utilizing with deadening precision. Glossy commodified justice is circulated and consumed, while everyday struggles are left unreported, ridiculed, or tokenized.
For me at this point in time, this means taking it back to basics. Even as an artist, it would be stupid to think that one poster I make or even a lifetime of work could herald a movement or a better world. There are too many creative and dedicated people out there for it to be that easy. What I can do is share the things that have affected and inspired me: to learn, to be a better person, to do more for the people I know and would like to know.
I really like this quote by José Rizal cos it sums up something so simple yet easy to forget:
He who does not know how to look back at the place from which he came will never arrive at his destination.
Or in everyday speak:
No history, no self. Know history, know self.
This has been a root and guiding principle in my own life. It’s also been a sort of restorative when shit gets complicated or overwhelming. I like to think that racial justice isn’t a fight but a part of who I am. This piece is an effort to visualize the natural and restorative core of racial justice: a retreat into the elements, the mind, and one’s own trek through life.
But enough with the cheese! To show my appreciation for the zombies stoners good people who visit my bloggy, I am giving away a few prints. Yes yes… free stuff!! They are full-color digital prints (17 x 11″) via Autumn Express in San Francisco. Just email me at dnm.choi (at) gmail (dot) com and mention the blog, we’ll talk.
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