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Friday, July 27, 2012

Vladimir Kush

While it's still July (and thus time for art and artists), I'd like to introduce you to Vladimir Kush, a Russian surrealist. Or, as he refers to himself, a metaphorical realist. He paints, mostly with oils, and sculpts based on those paintings. He's been compared to both Hieronymus Bosch and Salvador Dali. And maybe he's my hero, a little.

"To the Safe Haven"

Vladimir attended art school from a young age, and when conscripted by the army at 18, spent most of his term painting propaganda murals. When he left military service, he studied at the Surikov Moscow Art Institute and spent several years in his native city before emigrating to These United States. To enrich us all with his mind-boggling art.

"City by the Sea"

Many of his pieces involve the sea, and if not the sea, then another wide open space. I've noticed he also likes butterflies rather a lot. Good thing, because I like them, too.


"Book of Books"
If you'd like to see more of his work, you can go here or here. Or maybe even his actual website. I recommend reading his credo.

- Genny

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Work


This is just a little baby post, but I've been thinking about this concept lately and wanted to share it. What first sparked the idea was our interview with Lara Candland Asplund, and then again by this lovely comic by Jillian Tamaki:


It's hard not to be self conscious about your work, but it really hinders progression I think. So right now I'm really into the idea of doing art for the sake of completing work. In the long run that's what makes me happy, doing the work, not what other people think about it, or worrying about the quality. For me, that's where some of the most beautiful artwork comes from; people breaking down barriers and not limiting themselves to self consciousness or criticism.


-Tess

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Marina Abramovic


Marina Abramovic, a Serbian performance artist, is probably the edgiest person you’ll ever hear about. She’s pushed so many boundaries and opened up new levels of performance. As Lady Gaga put it in this interview, she is “limitless”. I would definitely agree with that. In her performance "Rhythm 0" she set up a table with numerous objects and let the audience do as they please with her. Included were some pretty dangerous weapons, an audience member pointed a loaded gun to her head before another took it away.  For six hours she allowed the audience to do anything, after the time was up she stood up and walked towards the crowd. They all ran away.                          

                                                                           

In a more recent performance titled “The Artist Is Present” she sat completely motionless at a table in the MOMA across from museum goers and simply stared at them. It brought most participants to tears.  
Something about her is poetically unsettling, and I love it. She’s so boundless it feels dangerous. I think she’s a testament of just how much power and influence we hold inside ourselves, if only we knew the change, we as individuals, can make. I don’t know of any other artist who has accomplished what she has with human emotion. I recommend reading more about her, it’s definitely worth the while. 

-Tess

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Just A Thought.

Aesthetics is a whole chapter of it's own on the subject of "art." I like beautiful art, as do most people (whether it be visual, sounds, etc.) It's appealing, and usually makes me happier. (Though what is appealing to one may not be to another-- this is a very broad subject.). But, lack of aesthetics can also contribute to art. And, there can be ugly art that challenges societal norms, to shock people, to bring out emotion in human beings (maybe to bring up a controversial political view, for example? (Though that can be pretty, too)). In general, art that isn't as pretty has a harder time being appreciated. Some don't even consider it art. Maybe because it makes them feel emotion, but not an emotion they want to correlate with "art" itself, because I think that "art" has the connotation of being pretty. (But I'm only dipping into one layer on this subject.). There is a chapter in a book that goes more in detail on this subject. 


I consider most things to be art; but there are lots of different kinds of art, like bad art, and some art I disagree with, and some art I love and can't get enough of. Is "bad art" art? The word is in itself, is my current thought. It's just a brand.... that I loathe. (And I know I say this now, but I bet that someone could change my mind easily because art is so broad that I'm probably missing some points to the definition of "art." Again, I'm only going over aesthetics.). Anyways, aesthetics are a huuuge contribution to art, whether it be full or lack of it, or somewhere in between. I like pretty art a lot-- but "pretty" can go into different levels I think. There's pretty art with no meaning, and pretty art with meaning. The meaning can be as little as the nail on my pinkie toe, or as full as jelly in a doughnut. Anyway, it all depends on my mood, really.


This is a piece by artist Damien Hirst. He is famous for putting dead animals in tanks of formaldehyde and putting it on display. Some consider him to be controversial-- he isn't a true artist-- that he is creating only for the purpose of money. A quote from him in the BBC article, 


"As an artist, all I do is make an object for a single person to have a reaction to. ...Hopefully you make something that will excite people - things they won't forget, that will wake up parts of their brain.'"

I'm still unsure of what my thoughts are on Damien Hirst. There's a relevant quote I found in an interview in the extra features in the documentary, My Kid Could Paint That. 


“If that white canvas doesn’t speak to you, you may wish to try to find out what it’s doing there…. Or you can choose not to. It’s your choice. Art is not an obligation.” --Michael Kimmelman Lack of beauty in his work is a big part of what makes his work controversial. Also, I think understanding the meaning of his art is harder to comprehend. It seems to appear for the majority of people, art is harder to accept if it's not pleasing to the eye. This is just a thought, but successful artists who create unpleasant art are considered by many "pretentious" and "scamming people for money," which I believe there are those kinds of people out there, but I also think that a lot of artists are misunderstood as well. I suppose it's all subjective, there's no "right" or "wrong" when it comes to opinionated things such as "beauty."
-Jess


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Artists: Theme Music



1. Smells Like Content - The Books
2. Problem With Solutions - Jim Guthrie
3. Enough - Young Man
4. Tokyo - The Books
5. Buck And Judy - Deerhoof
6. Genesis - Grimes
7. Slow With Horns/Run For Your Life - Dan Deacon
8. Scenic World (Second Version) - Beirut

-Tess


Monday, July 2, 2012

Poet Lara Candland Asplund: An Interview





Lara Candland Asplund is not only a poet, but a mother of five, a strong feminist, a cook/ food lover, a musician, a yogi, a blogger, and a marvelous English teacher. Somehow, she's found the time to answer our questions we have for her.


When did you start writing poetry?


Lara: I vividly remember my first poem. I think I was about eight, and was having anxiety about stuff I was hearing on the news about nuclear weapons, so I wrote a poem called "The Garbage Can Man" about a dude who survives a nuclear apocalypse because he's protected by the metal garbage can he lives in. I've always loved to go to my poetry place, my own little protective garbage can, if you will. I mean, I hope it's not totally narcissistic, but I love escaping into some weird little world that emerges from a poem. It makes me happy and content.

Tell us about your music project.

Lara:  I have a duo called Lalage with my husband, the composer Christian Asplund. From the beginning of our relationship, almost twenty-five years ago, music was at the center. We first saw each other in the practice rooms of the Harris Fine Arts Center, me with my violin, he with his viola. Our first date was to hear the Bach Double Violin Concerto with the BYU Chamber Orchestra, a piece that's still one of my favorites. Before we left on our honeymoon, right after our wedding, we went to a Violent Femmes concert. 



We went on to play in an improv ensemble with Meyer Kupferman at Sarah Lawrence College, then to found Seattle Experimental Opera in Seattle in the '90's. So we've always collaborated and listened to a lot of music of all kinds. Lalage is an extension of stuff we've always done: improvisation, work with texts, interest in sound and experimentation. With Lalage, we work with live voice manipulation. I start drones, pitches, text fragments and Christian builds a soundscape from those with looping, pedals, etc. I think it's pretty cool, and we love working on that project together. Our first CD is the hour-long live show we did on the Sonarchy radio show in Seattle a couple of years ago. 




What do you write about? What inspires you?


Lara:  I don't have a particular subject that I write about--it shifts as I become obsessed with something and then lose interest. My first published book, Alburnum of the Green and Living Tree, is focused on trees, and I still love trees as much as I love humans. Recently I've been writing poems inspired by Moby Dick and the Baghavad Gita, and there's another subject that's been emerging in the past few weeks, but I can't tell what it is yet. I never choose a subject to write about. I just start writing and it seems to find me. When I write, I don't even feel like a sentient being.

What are you currently working on?

Lara:  I'm currently working on writing a new poem every day and a blog post every day. Inspired by yoga, I've tried to see artistic work as a practice more than as something that produces good or bad work. I've consciously practiced not judging the work I do, just focusing on doing work every single day. I used to feel pressure to only do "good" work, now I just feel happy and excited to work. It's a lot, lot better than it used to be when I first decided I wanted to become a writer. Now I don't worry as much what anyone thinks of what I do. My goal now is to do it and enjoy it, because that's the part of it that's my job. Judging, responding, reading--those are the jobs of editors, judges, and readers. So I try to keep those things out of my mind as much as possible.

I'm also submitting a lot of work to journals this summer. I made a rule for myself that I can't submit or promote work unless I'm also creating new work. I can't spend time on that unless I'm spending time on the primary activity, which is doing the work. There's nothing wrong with trying to get your work to an audience, but that should be a by-product, not the main focus. I don't ever want to make my life about a career rather than about creation, but, as Tess so aptly pointed out on your blog, we can get obsessed with self-promotion and attention and approval, and that's always harmful to the artist. I'm learning to protect the artist in me.


What does being an artist mean/ what does art mean to you?

Lara: 
Being an artist, to me, means paying attention, loving the world, every part of it, and recognizing that creation and destruction, birth and decay, truth and lies, ugliness and beauty, all those seeming oppositions, are all beautiful and good and necessary. It's a kind of acceptance and appreciation of what is, not what we wish could be. I try to make things that embrace the real and true, and recognize that "real and true" includes a lot of hard things as well as the happy, pleasurable, ecstatic things. It means being brave and learning to not be afraid, and it means, for me, working on this every day. Also, keeping your eyes, ears, nose, hands and mouth open to all the things this amazing place we live on has to offer.

-Jess