Tagclouds may be revealing and all that, but they’re also quite boring. Visually I mean. Fortunately, there’s something you can do about it with Wordle. IBM programmer Jonathan Feinberg wrote some algorithms for laying out and displaying words. His site reads the content directly from your blog or you can copy and paste text from your site, to make your own, cool wordcloud.
Loads of possibilities with fonts, colourschemes and layouts will make it a lot prettier to look at I tell ya…
Just look at that beautiful CultBlender Blog Wordle… I’m especially happy with the prominent place the word ‘pigeons’has…
It’s easy to be all ‘2.0′ and ‘open source’ when you’ve got nothing to lose. It’s an entirely different thing if you’re one of the biggest rock bands of our time (and indisputably the most influential band of the fin de siècle of the 20th century). I’m talking about Radiohead here. After they let their fans download their newest album directly form their website for free (paying was optional) and their innovative idea of selling the several separate tracks to their single ‘nude’, they’ve now put the source code of their new video ‘house of cards‘ online for all the vid-techie-fans out there to manipulate. (I’m a BIG sucker for ‘making of’ films, so that site’s an absolute treat for me…)
When I bought the DVD of the brilliant David Payne film ‘About Schmidt’ it included as an extra, some edits of the opening sequence, made by different editors. Very entertaining and inspiring to watch. The various remixes of ‘nude’ mainly proved the brilliance of Radiohead themselves; none of the remixes came close to the original. I still can’t wait to see some of the ‘fan-made’ video version of House of Cards. You may call Radiohead whatever you want, but you cannot deny the fact that their innovative ideas for making their fans experience their music keep revolutionizing the music industry.
In a previous post I briefly mentioned the artwork of Jason Shawn Alexander, whose work is currently exhibited in a group exhibition with, among others, Sarah Folkman. But Alexander is not an artist one can briefly mention without giving him your full attention, even if this is only for one blogposting.
Alexander’s work is a lot of things, but ‘cheerful’ is not one of them. As he puts it himself, on his website: “The subject is suspended in moments of pain or sorrow.” A description like that could point in the direction of adolescent paintings, filled with gore, but it could also describe the paintings of brilliant artists like Francis Bacon. Fortunately, Alexander’s paintings have a lot more in common with the latter. That is; had Bacon been employed by Stan Lee to do a comics version of his paintings. Alexander, who is also a very gifted illustrator, is a virtuoso with the brush.
Alexander does not overdo it with all the pain and suffering. He leaves his audience room to come up for air; “The ultimate expression, however, is one of survival, if not hope.” And he doesn’t overdo it with the realism either; even though his talent as comics artist shines through, on closer inspection the undeniable personality of the brush is there. It’s not work that would have looked just as good, had it been a pen and ink image.
Perhaps it’s not the sort of stuff you’d take your mother to go and see on a sunday morning (not that I know your mom’s taste), but that can be said for many works. To me, the paintings feel true and the images sincere.
Works by Jason Shawn Alexendar were recently in a group exhibition in the Corey Hertford Gallery. After taking a quick peek at his blog, I guess the results were pleasing to the artist. And as a fan of great painting, I can only agree to that,
“The increasing digitalization of our culture has consequences for art.” Not a very strong opening for a press release for the show ‘Deep Screen – Art in Digital Culture’at the Stedelijk Museum CS in Amsterdam. It actually made me yawn with utter boredom instead of filling me with energizing anticipation of information to come. It also made me doubt whether or not to go see it. When a show is promoted with one of the most commonplace clichés, what does that say about the quality of what’s to see? Will it provide me with anything new and exciting, or just more annoyance?
The Deep Screen hosts works by some ‘big names’, such as Geert Mul or internet-art pioneers JODI , as well as artist who I had not yet heard of like Meiya Lin -part of her video can be seen on youtube (below)- and Marnix de Nijs & Edwin van der Heide (a video of their installation ‘Spatial Sounds’ can be seen above). The works of the more senior artists seems to have focused on the digitalization itself. What does that digitalization mean for our culture? The younger ones, some of which will barely have a memory left of a non-digitalized society. used the technology as a given. for them it’s just another way to express themselves of their message and a medium for their art. In most reviews I’ve read, the journalist seems to feel that the second form is the superior one. They suffer from the ‘been there, done that’ syndrome. As if everyone is already aware of every aspect and finesse that is influenced by this digitalization after the ‘The Matrix’ trilogy. However, I feel that there is still a lot to be said for art that takes a step back and makes us aware of what this digitalization really means for our culture, but also for other matters such as world politics and science. In that sense, the digital medium means a bit more than a painting and makes for far more interesting research into the medium.
A more interesting question is, does digital art still have a place in a museum? Isn’t; the most interesting digital art to be found outside of museum and gallery walls? What does the SMCS building add to seeing an animation instead of watching it online somewhere? That question, unfortunately, still remains unanswered by Deep Screen.
Beautifully painted, utterly uneasy, often disturbing works. I have declared before that I am a great admirer of the work of Kendrick Mar. There are many other artists that try the same trick: “I’ll paint a beheaded teddy bear and make my parents worry about my emotional state.” More often than not: this only leads for very immature and shallow works (granted: it does usually make me wonder about the emotional state of the maker…) Not so for the works of Luke Chueh (pronounced Luke ‘Chu’). This wonderful artist manages to paint sceneries that have all the aforementioned qualities, but add that extra layer that separates the men from the traumatised boys.
Over the last couple of years Luke Chueh’s become a very popular artist. His works are very accessible to look at, without seeming to want to be pleasing. Chueh says his work is ‘character driven’ which helps in this age where you can stick a Disney or Looney Tune sticker on just about anything imaginable; we’re used to this sort of iconography. (Much like those cartoons; Chueh’s characters make for very good toys indeed.) However, in contrast to the overly commercial happy cartoon animals, Chueh’s work seems to carry a message (even though his paintings are enjoyable without seeing it).Take his work ‘reach‘ for example, where an obese bunny can’t bend over to pick up a carrot. This can easily be seen as a comment on our consumption society and fat-addiction.
Unlike a lot of paintings depicting ocean sceneries and mountain views, this sort of work is generally very personal, even though in this case I would not go so far as to label it: unprocessed childhood trauma. Chueh’s work is clever, wonderfully executed but personally I prefer the work of artists like Kendrick Mar that use a lot of the same iconography. Chueh graduated from the California Polytechnic State Uni with a BS in graphic design. Since he had a hard time finding employment after employment (any companies that turned him down should feel very stupid indeed) he resorted to painting stuff to keep busy. That background is still very visible in his work. They’re not so much paintings as they are painted designs on a painted background. Which is not criticizing his work by any means, but merely my personal preference.
Should the non-US readers of this site/blog want to see some of the works of Luke Chueh in real-life, as I can imagine, he has working relations with galleries all over that states from NYC, to Detroit to LA. Have a look at his site for some cool works and info on expositions.
We’ve known it for a long time and we stood by, watching it happen. The Chinese are coming. And they’re ready to take over. Bad news? Not really. Okay, so there’s a lot ‘not quite right’ yet about China and the Chinese politics… that does not mean it’s all bad over there. And you certainly can’t blame all Chinese. Especially not the Chinese citizens I would like to discuss here; Chinese artists.
Fact: China is a big place. And there are a whole lotta Chinese people. So, statistically, there should be quite some very good Chinese artists among them. for the last couple of years we’ve been seeing more and more of them, their works are no longer a rarity in Western contemporary art galleries. And that’s not just because the works are, by default, politically charged since they’re from China (although it does help: paint a building with some Chinese writing on it and the work immediately gains in meaning when it is shipped to the western hemisphere, deny it as much as you like).
Too much talk, not enough images. For your enjoyment, some images of talented and hyped Chinese painters. (click on artist’s name for a link)
I, for one, am a pleased person. I’m not sure if you have noticed it yourself, but we are currently living in a figurative era. Paintings depict something. The abstract painter is, on the average, persona non grata for the time being. Of course, as always, there is a big difference between the large, international galleries in the cosmopolitan centers of the world and the smaller galleries in the faraway rural towns where the well meaning, moderately talented, paint dripper can still find clientèle. And there are still a couple of abstract painters that are simply good enough as an artist to still cut it, but over the whole: figuration is king. And I, for one, am absolutely thrilled.
Obviously, not all figurative painting is good. I have seen more less-than-mediocre paintings of cows, flowers, Tuscany hills and ocean sunsets than I can handle but still. If those painters would have been guilty of abstract paintings, matters would have been much worse. Three types of abstract painting I find particularly annoying and why they are so enormously outdated:
1. Paintings about painting
Marshall McLuhan may have said (in one of the most mis- and over-quoted phrases in history) that ‘the medium is the message’, over the whole I’d still say that the medium carries the message. Obviously, this whole thing about investigating ‘the medium of paint’ and ‘interactions between painting and audience’ is a phase we had to go through, after all; knowledge is power (another over-quoted phrase). All the research into to painting as a medium that needs to be done, will be conducted by the people at Talens and their competitors. Artists may move on to different pastures.
2. Painting your personal inner-life Granted: most artist are selfish narcissists and believe that their deepest emotions and feelings are important and unique enough to be shared with the world. However, the more talented artists have discovered that they can take their art a bit further than by merely splattering a visualisation of their inner-life on a canvas (or chopping it out of a piece of lumber). It also gives people who don’t give a toss about your difficult childhood or pains of existence something nice to look at while you engage in your public self-help therapy. So it’s just a nice thing to do.
3. Painting the soul of things Artists that make abstract works because they aim to paint the souls of their subjects should hand over their brush and go hug a tree somewhere. Furthermore: painting the soul of an onion is very, very rude towards the onion.
I know, there is still a lot more abstract painting going on out there, a lot which I have no appreciation for whatsoever either. But especially these three have lost their conceptual basis as well. There just not worth doing anymore since it has all been done many, many times.
Figurative painting Actually, this posting has not said much about why figurative painting is good and a lot about why (most) abstract paintings suck. I apologise. A painter communicates in a visual way and should use a language that the audience is used to. If a writer wants to get a message across, he/she doesn’t write in a made-up language (except for certain poets, but that kind of poetry has been sufficiently dealt with, sort of like abstract painting). Creating a scene in which your public can recognize something to make them perceive the world in a different manner, that’s what I consider a work of art.
Finally…
About this unkind post. Should I have hurt your feelings, please feel free to make a sad painting. Should I have merely annoyed you and you feel I am a completely stuck up son of a something… you might be right. Feel free to leave a comment. I’ll approve it.
As we announced a couple of days ago, CultBlender is working on the definitive tool to make the final, objective and irrevocable verdict whether a work can be called ‘art’ or not. One aspect we will surely be part of the tool is that a work of art should move you in a way. There are some artforms however, where the movement is not merely a result of the art, it is a part of it. And I am not talking about the art of driving a Formula One car here.
The internet is a great place for making discoveries and expanding you world, but for theatre based arts it’s usually insufficient to give you a sufficient experience. Dancecompany ‘Zure Room‘ (translation: Sour Cream) have made a ‘Zure Room for beginners’ video, an introduction to their work that’s perfectly fitted for Youtube and all those who wander the world by roaming the internet in their small, damp, sweaty and unlit rooms. Art that moves, Movement as art, it’s all moving towards the digital age.
I remember a primary school teacher saying to her class (including me), “Everyone can draw”. This is, of course, bollocks. It’s the same to say that just because there is an overwhelming majority of mankind that can produce oral sounds everybody can sing. It’s a nice and generous thing to say, however it’s also a lie. Various seasons of those horrendous talent-scouting tv-programs like ‘popidol’, ‘fame academy’ and so on, have made this painfully clear.
Most of us are able to put down lines on paper which may be concisered ‘the act of drawing’. The end result of this intentional scribbling is, more often than not, not very appealing. Not everyone can draw. I would like to focus on the works of some of us that can.
There is some much mediocre drawing going on around us that the true art is very much under-appreciated. Drawing is perceived as a children’s hobby or something you do while on the phone or in a boring meeting. If you truly want your work to be considered art you should have used a form of paint, or perhaps ink. A drawing isn’t a finished work.
On the picture log ‘This isn t happiness‘ I found works by the artist Chris Scarborough that prove differently. Chris makes brilliant drawings. Any application of paint whatsoever would have made his works much less effective. His drawings, to me, seem to be what the drawing of Belgian artist Michael Borremans would may have looked like, had he chosen a career in Manga art. Beside his drawings you can also find (photoshopped) photo-works on Scarborough’s site, which give further evidence to the idea that he enjoys investigating undervalued fields of the art-spectrum; many of his portraits (with the blown up eyes) may be mistaken for copycat works of Loretta Lux. Again, many people can think they can pull that stunt off (just browse through Flickr for the proof of this) but very few have the vision, the technique and the finesse to be able to create something good, like Chris Scarborough has. His various photography works of plastic people are no copycat works at all.
Should you be visiting NYC anytime soon, you can have a look at his works at Foley Gallery until may 30 (2008). Judging by what he shows at his site, it’s worth the effort.
I have a special interest in online storytelling. CultBlender artist JMDKM and myself have written the storyline of ‘Trip Fontaine‘ an online non-linear road novel. Upon completion, it is also a genuine art 2.0 project, where readers (or: visitors) add their own art to the project and thus expand it. Making it a true multimedia experience.
I stumbled across a very poetic online interactive story recently (Even though the makers themselves call it ‘a game’), called ‘the graveyard’. The only character in this story is an anonymous elderly lady who you walk across an ominous graveyard towards a bench. On this bench you sit the old lady down and a Flemish song starts. If this song isn’t your cup of tea, you simply get up and walk out of the graveyard again. End of game. Well, end of the demo game that is. You can also buy the full version which doesn’t add much…or: adds everything. The full version also provides you with the possibility of death. (let’s hope that they do not mean the possible death of your hardware or yourself.)
The images of the short walk are really nice, they give you the actual feel of being on a rainy stormy graveyard at the early evening. visitors that are born ‘n raised in the computergame era will undoubtedly start looking for ways to shoot enemies that jump up from behind tombstones, but I didn’t see any enemies, nor weapons. The walk towards the bench is slow and your character obviously has difficulty walking. Annoying, but you also start to feel sorry for the old lady. Then, when she sits down the song starts playing and a lot of different possible storylines go through your head. That experience is what made The Graveyard worthwhile for me.
Adding to the ‘interactive’experience, from the website you can also click on to the Graveyard forum where I found a very useful link to a graveyard photo-community Death by Light.
Conclusion: I recommend this Graveyard experience to anyone that would liek to have a bit of a poetic online experience.
