Mike asked me an interesting question as we were hanging work last friday in Kaya:

"So, do you want to make work to exhibit?"

Now, anyone who knows me knows I'm a terribly classicist prude when it comes to all things art, and religion, related. I suppose he is asking if making work needs to be justified, and if so if hanging it is justification. Some say "the process" is the real art, and that the finished piece is simply an "artifact" of that process... but to answer Mike's question, and because I'm stepping into the void myself, here is why I do what it is I do.

I don't know if what I make needs, or necessarily deserves, a gallery space; I've never really considered myself an "artist." Artists have an artistic vision, an inner expression they want to share with the world. This has always befuddled me; I've never had such a consistent outlook on life or art. Much of the art world bothers me for some reason or another [this isn't the place to analyze it] and, like most of my personal life, I've discarded labels which don't work all that well anyway.

I believe in exploring, and use the camera to do that. Others may use other things, but I explore scale, locale, space, and time.

Yes, I explore time. And that is why I shoot film. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-digital [if I were, why would I write on the internet?] and digital is fantastic for everything it does. But if you were to look into my camera drawer you wouldn't find anything made after I was born. These tend to be Kodak box cameras made in the 20s, 30s, and so forth... they are simple, cheap, reliable- and easily modifiable.

In other words, I can add, remove, and modify lenses and shutters... manipulate space and scale, and understand how this thing works in a visible way a digital circuit can never show.

I can explore, in an unexpected sense, the times we're living in now- yes, these times are history of their own right- and give them a taste of times past.

So do I want to make work to exhibit?
Occasionally I do, but that's not why I'm doing it.

World Digital Library to Launch Later This Month

The site will be launched on April 21 which will include manuscripts, maps, rare books, films, sound recordings, prints and photographs. Access to all this information will be free of charge.

The contents of this World Digital Library include relatively modern contributions such as the early films of the Lumiere brothers, stretching back to ancient texts and artworks.

Should be a nice tool for research as well as getting the old creative juices flowing.

mp3 experiment

so jake and i have had a sort of revelation this morning. we will talk about it at our next meeting. until then.... keep this video in mind

(btw this is mike, i had to change names)



The Mp3 Experiment New York from ImprovEverywhere on Vimeo.

IMPROV EVERYWHERE

Leibovitz pawns off rights to her images

Well this is pretty crumby, but get this. Annie Leibovitz and the late great Susan Sontag had been partners for some time up until Sontag's passing in 2004. Well it seems that Sontag bequeathed several properties to Leibovitz but the problem arises from the fact that...as we all know, same-sex marriages are not recognized as legitimate marriages, and so the tax laws state that you have to pay up to 50 percent of the value of inheritance in taxes. Being that Leibovitz was left these properties by Sontag, she has to pay nearly 16 million dollars in taxes to the government....WTF! Of course if, lets say for instance that you and your partner were recognized as a married couple and you were then left a large chunk of change, then you would not have to pay a single dime. So with that being said Leibovitz has had to take out a loan against properties she owns as well as putting up the copyright, negatives, and contract rights to every photograph she has ever taken or will take in the future as collateral. Makes me want to protest.

Time for a TON of BUTT

Ok all you mother truckers. If you are interested in making those buttons for the club, the template can be gotten from


http://www.americanbuttonmachines.com/Button_Templates.html


towards the bottom we have the 2.25" Diameter Badge-a-minit round templates

happy designing!

Art*O*Mat

I just found this site recently. I know Missa was talked about it in one of our meetings. I REALLY like this idea, I almost want to go to Detroit or one of the other locations just to see one of these.