Art Collective
Scanning Facebook for a lovely face, I came across this one.
I painted a picture to comemorate canoe ride I had and liked very much.
Art and Science .By Strosberg, Eliane (Book – 2001)
Summary: A uniquely organized textbook-esque history of art and science, featuring (among others) Leonardo DaVinci, Albrecht Durer and Lois Pasteur.
Review: I know that the intersection between art and science has been studied forever, but not by me. I feel really inspired by the idea of art being a legitimate way to spend time. “Artists oriniate ideas, which when suffieciently inoocative, become a form of information.” P.30 This has been one of many books that I hope to read to flesh out the the interworkings of art and science. This book is a great starter for the conversation that takes place at the hub of artscience, though it covers a lot of obvious stuff like how important science was to the development of pottery or stained glass.
Rating: 7 models of the solar system inspired by music theory
Favorite part: “Certain forms of art may exhibit affinities to scientific disciplines.” P.17 I agree with some of these affinities, I like the idea of suggesting to an artist some scientific cross-training and vice-versa, but I don’t want a person to feel limited or think it’s wrong to put arts and sciences into categories. Be a renaissance man. Let your creative (not procreative) juices flow all over.
| Science | Art |
| Astronomy | Music, architecture |
| Math | Music |
| Psychology | Painting |
| Physicist | Stage director |
| Biology | Writer, illustration |
| Geology | pottery |
| Engineer | Sculptor |
| Chemist | decorator |
Wine-pairing: The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley. This little book contains the mescalin explorations of the author. On his trip, he looks at an art book and makes connections with the work. His prose is elegant and insightful to state of mind one doesn’t often have the opportunity to visit. This author who is famous for his science-fiction work Brave New World also appreciates the aesthetic world.
On Photography by Susan Sontag
Summary: Sontag talks about photography, its development into the ubiquitous technology it is today. The mentality of the photographer and the photographed, the art and skill of photography documents and expands reality and our sense of what is worth looking at.
Review: This book is beautiful. The prose hits hard and true on an elusive subject. She compares styles and intents of photographers worth knowing. She expanded my vocabulary of who is important to know in photography. Each sentence is pregnant with evidence strengthening her arguments about photography, what makes it a special way to collect the world.
Rating: 9 camera obscuras
Favorite part: “…the camera cannot help but reveal faces as social masks. Each person photographed was a sign of a certain trade, class, or profession. All his subjects are representative, equally representative, a given social reality–their own.” P.55
Wine-pairing: Is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? .The Net’s Impact on Our Minds and Future. This is a perfect book to splice and insert into On Photography for a post-modern view on the new direction that technology is taking our perception on reality. When I have excellent experiences, I don’t think as often, how can I capture this in a painting, but how can I photograph it to document the occasion and then it has changed to:what should my Facebook status be today?
Painting with Mike. Setting up some tripilicious backgrounds while listing to Paul Oakenfold.
My Booky Wook by Russell Brand
Summary: Russell Brand, the British Comedian with a rock ‘n’ roll reputation spills his gutsy wutsies about drug addiction, sex addiction and adventure. He starts at the beginning in this humble memoir, memories of his mom, boarding school, peer pressure and drama class. He delves into his reasons for being an irreverent character and how support from his friends have helped him harness his chaotic energy and rise to the fame he’s always wanted.
Review: Reading this book, one feels the rascal lying within. Those moments, what if I keep doing this? Or what if I say this? Those moments where you are on a cliff or a balcony of a high-rise apartment and think, what if I just jump? Russell Brand has tapped into fearlessness as a way to entertain and this book captures his spunk, his politics and a certain kind of wit only found in Britain. I love how his voice seems to call out from the page. All the British slang and retrospective footnotes make this read the most flavored autobiographical I have ever read.
Rating: 8 pieces of tin foil left in a black zipper covered jacket
Favorite part: Regarding the Footprints in the Sand poem, you know the one: “Come on God, don’t fuck me around. That’s convenient—how come the footprints aren’t deeper then? ‘Cos you’d have been carrying my weight. And they’re not deeper, are they? How come one of those footprints has got only three toes? It’s a dinosaur footprint. And that one next to it is a cat’s paw. What’s going on on this beach? Why is God at the beach anyway? With all the chaos? And war? What the fuck is God doing on holiday at a time like this?” p. 295
Wine-pairing: Naked Lunch or anything by William S. Burroughs. His graphic homoeroticism and drug induced scenes of fantastic symbolism put you on a wild–on the border of disgusting– ride, the ups and downs of a certain self-destructive kind of creativity.
I enjoyed my last painting so much, I decided to do another waterfall. The bottom of the painting started to lack interest, so I added a portrait of myself and my father as a young man.
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Summary: Patti writes so intimately the journey of artists in New York. She writes of aesthetic, personal growth and culture. She tells tales. She talks of Robert, her trusted friend, kindred soul, and how they walk through life together. Symbols rise out of the text and cast spells over the stories, making them hum with a sense of reverence for the dead and respect for life and beauty that artists breathe in and it circulates and flows out their drawing pencils.
Review: Robert and Patti make a beautiful pair, feeding off of each other’s artistic energies. This book weaves magic, the kind of beatniks, poor poets and how their lives soar because of the interesting people they meet, because of their beautiful work. Inspiring. This book revvs my own artistic heart, pining for my Robert, a moody soul looking for something. He finds it and I hope that we all do find that thing for our own life that makes it feel complete and fully alive. Smith’s words flow like a river of observation and sentiment from her eclectic heart. She gives possessions meaning. A leather jacket, a handmade tambourine. Reading about her gifts, given and received, I am reminded of my favorite gifts. The ones soaked in a person’s affections, handmade with its times taking imperfections. It took so long to make that installation, that poem, that beaded necklace with the fishing lure feathers, and yet it is unique, rough, raw, immediate, personal. That’s what I think life should be about.
Rating: 9.5 photographs infused with natural light and love
Favorite part: “The clouds kept moving back and forth. Something happened with his light meter and he became slightly agitated. He took a few shots. He abandoned the light meter. A cloud went by and the triangle disappeared. He said ‘You know, I really like the whiteness of the shirt. Can you take the jacket off?’ I flung my jacket over my shoulder, Frank Sinatra style. I was full of references. He was full of light and shadow… He took twelve pictures that day. Within a few days he showed me the contact sheet. ‘This one has the magic,’ he said. When I look at it now, I never see me. I see us.” P.250-251
Wine-pairing: On Photography by Susan Sontag. She explores the relationship between photography, experiences, sentimentality and living in the moment.
Kismet Arts Tangent 