Tuesday, February 15, 2011

time for yer close up ... or 10 seconds of "fame"

as noted the other day.. here is my word video. now please don't get the idea that i couldn't have been more creative with this.. i'm sure i could have. however, there are about 2100 people, er words, that could potentially submit their word videos. we can't all have our 5 minutes of being utterly clever...and believe me people really think they're clever. really! 
personally i get it. i don't need to be seen for this folks. i'm a word. it's not about me!
ya heard me right, it's not about who we are but rather what word we are! 
i am start!


feel free to search the youtube to see what people have posted... OR keep checking in the the berkeley art museum to see if there's link posted with all words in one spot. 
for the record mc61 did shoot one while playing a ninja wii game...but i just felt like keep it straight and simple. that's gonna be easiest.  

Sunday, February 13, 2011

...it was on the tip of my tongue

i walked to the bank the other morning. it got me thinking about the jan issue of art news. it was talking about the new wave, new age of street art... you know going back to "old school" style meaning less tagging of names and more art like actual painted scenes, painted shapes... more meaning?!


question when did street art become the pc word for graffiti.
question why does graffiti get such a bad rap. i mean, during my walk i looked at some ugly biege buildings. i looked at some trash littering the side walks and streets. graffiti is unsightly? hmm..
i don't about that. i think the opposite, we need more graffiti!



oops i poop hearts!







something was erased from the blackboard..now we'll never know what it said.
ahh love the love..


 i like the outlet sticker. 
and this other sticker, what is that a knuckle butt mouth??


this isn't graffiti, i realize that however, i like the way it looked.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

bird is not the word!


funny how you forget certain things about yourself. i mean life changes, we change. 
when i lived in chicago i was all about walking, taking photos, went dancing every sunday night at the empty bottle for rick shaw's deadly dragon sound system. (sheesh it's been so long i can barely remember the name of it..) knew some pretty (er, famous) creative people and wore some of the best vintage little dresses, jackets and shirts. you know when goodwill and vintage stores were totally inexpensive and accessible!   i also got my first tattoo in chicago. 
then seattle: sadly ditched a lot of my cool vintage pieces and learned to love jeans and basic t-shirts again. i really started riding my bike so you know can't dress too fancy. went and saw great music shows. had a few small photo shows and sold pieces during the art walks and to three 'office' environments. plus my tattoos grew.
the other day i received an email calling out to all words... see i'm a word. i am a piece of shelley jackson's SKIN project.   http://ineradicablestain.com/skin.html      

not that i forgot but let's say it hasn't been as relevant lately? it's funny because receiving this email made me realize that my word had become like a favorite book on my bookshelf. i know it's there. i can see it. i can reference it at any time. i just don't necessarily think about it every day. or need it everyday. it was significant at one point but...    ..when i submitted to become a word i talked about books and how by having a word on my skin i would be like a favorite book. my skin will fade and weather over time. disintegrate over time and eventually become part of the earth (well sort of, you get my drift). i talked about some other thing but that's not important right now..
 
i got an email...(ding, cue light bulb) oh yeah, i'm a word!
apparently ms. jackson is asking her words to video (their?), her words, even speak the word then post it to youtube where eventually the berkeley art museum will post a link for people to hear this piece.  something to know about this particular piece is that the only people who have been able to read SKIN are the actual participants, the words! it hasn't been published!
if a lot of her words get their butts in gear this could be pretty significant. me, i'd love to hear everyone saying her words and hearing the story read.

there isn't much time for this whole thing to go off, words have to submit their words by monday! so needless to say over the next day or so i will be making a little video my word.
i would also love if when every word has been tattooed that all the words come together so we can be read in one day.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

travelin' along, there's a song that we're singing...


do you take the same route to work every day? is it the comfort in seeing the same familiar people or landmarks that make us take the same routes. or is it the possibility of seeing the same place change ever so slightly. i pretty much take the same few streets to work whether i'm riding my bike or walking.




however the view is much different depending on how my journey is going... obviously if i'm riding i have to pay more attention to cars cutting to my right because they have to get to the highway entrance right away. i mean right now! i can't wait for you..  

but if i'm hoofing it, that is where i start to notice different little things. nothing significant just stuff. 
out there.                             
on my path. 
its kinda nice start my day like that.


i don't know if it's me, if it's only around the beginning of a new year, but it seems like obtaining what happiness is, is an issue. a topic. how does one get it? does one already have it? will having money make it better, make one happier? 
am i happy with where my life is? where are things going? 
am i happy living about fifteen years in the pnw?   do i want to trade in our misty existence for some of that reflective light and snow?
am i happy with my job? should i be doing something else? 
           and if i were to do something else would i even know if i was happy.
if you're happy and you know it clap your hands! oh yes, if it was only that simple. 
personally i think i am happy. my life is good. currently it's not an action packed, eventful life day in, day out. if i want more from it than that is up to me, be the change you want right? i've been taking little steps here and there. i ask myself what makes me happy... being creative. i do feel a little hole when i'm not doing something creative. discipline is an ongoing challenge for me. i have structure elsewhere, at work, with mc61.. but when it comes to my personal commitment to what makes me "happy" i wander off into the tall grass a little too often. 
   
recently i was reading the feb issue of juxtapoz, an article on artist escif (i like to think it's pronounced 'as if') one of the last paragraphs i thought was perfect..   
"i have been told at times that my work is very sad and that it's not a good gift for the cities. my objective is not to do something sad, but something sincere. the cities are flooded with advertising colors that repeat to us time and again how happy we should be. happiness does not come with the desire of everything we will not be able to have. happiness comes with accepting what we have and to love it as if it was the last thing we are going to have"
i liked that. we are bombarded by so many non-essential things in our daily lives. oh the pressure to finding this happiness..not to mention the added heap o' stress that may come from all that pressure to get it. ... then we're so distracted we don't even realize we've probably obtained this thing called happiness. it's like

last weekend i was in seattle, it was a quick work related up and back type gig. none the less we managed to spend time at one of our favorite haunts, even though it's in the market area, and had drinks with one of our favorite people. i'm sure some would think what waste of a day.. i mean we could have been outside being active.  
i don't care. 
for me that is something i don't do all the time and it's important to have those 'special' times with close folks. that's sort of what makes me 'happy'




 seeing those columns makes me happy too. happy they are still surviving the modernization of miss millie! 
way to look out for the classic stuff sea-town!



 meanwhile across town.. 
for some reason the view from the hotel reminded me of u2's unforgettable fire, which i read a long time ago bono said he wrote while staying in a hotel in japan..   carnival. the wheels fly and the colors spin. through alcohol. red wine that punctures the skin. face to face. in a dry and waterless place... 
 

i have to admit i kinda liked being back in the sea-town. i did more walking there then i've probably done the past few months in pdx. funny how sea-town manages to bring that out of me.