the firehouse stomp

2012-01-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

2012-01-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

here is where i'm from: the distance from the horizon, that field outside desire. at recess i'd play games where you'd kick a tennis ball, or check your stocks, or stand on the hill and feel the wind rushing in behind you. has it all returned to earth? am i simply taller? i have been to that horizon, across that ocean; many miles away. i have been to that humid sound outside your window: leaves and children passing during the day; that frigid morning, the sound of the kitchen in dark. turn off the radio, crunch of snow; blasting the car with open mountain orange air; laying against the sharp angle of your back, imagining forever. grass finds its way between my toes. now let's both remember that apple: the one that set me free that time, the one we took for a ride; the gift. — again and again: let's begin again and again.

2011-10-04T09:26:00.001-07:00

oh you who sighs

oh you who sighs

may god give you relief

oh you who sighs

be patient amid your sighs

be patient amid your days of loneliness

time will pass and you will fall in love

oh you who sighs

your nights are long

and sadness makes them even longer

time becomes etched in your face

oh you who sighs

may god give you relief

oh you who sighs

//

c h a i n l e t t e r

2011-07-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

the chain seems to have been broken. the chain letter 2011 show appears to have been postponed in san francisco. i hope it has worked well in other cities, but bayside all we can do is wait.

meanwhile, my piece continues to develop. more to follow.

c h a i n l e t t e r

2011-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

my good new jersian friend stephen wuensch recently asked me to participate in chain letter 2011, a group show taking place in more than ten cities across the world, organized through a chain letter.

originated by christian cummings and doug harvey in 2006, the show will potentially include thousands of artists in simultaneous exhibition. with invitations dispensed based on feelings of 'admiration', it activates the idea of community as a living support system — jumping borders, mediums, and experience, and drawing attention to the important value of friends and champions. in time i hope to say more about those i passed my letter to.

meanwhile, come to the opening at noma gallery if you're in san francisco on saturday july 16th. 5 to 8 pm. i hope to see you there!

i n d e p e n d e n c e !

2011-07-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

open at the people's gallery! pick up a card.

k o p f b a u b a s e l

2011-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

"e-flux has been invited to develop a special project for the Kopfbau (head building) — the oldest building in the Messeplatz complex, slated for demolition later this year. In response to this invitation, artists Julieta Aranda and Anton Vidokle developed a constellation of projects situated somewhere between exhibitions of art and the concrete forms of sociality encountered in everyday life.

Conceived as an independent universe with its own bar, hotel, shops, admissions, and so forth, this project operates in parallel, and as the inverse to the neighboring art fair: operating during alternative hours and in surprising and often paradoxical ways, and ranging in scope from the educational to playfully predatory and mercantile."

among its components is the agency of unrealized projects (AUP), an e-flux project in collaboration with the serpentine gallery, julieta aranda, hans ulrich obrist, julia peyton-jones and anton vidokle:

"Unlike unrealized architectural projects, which are frequently exhibited and circulated, unrealized artworks tend to remain unnoticed or little known. But perhaps there is another form of artistic agency in the partial expression, the incomplete idea, the projection of a mere intention? Agency of Unrealized Projects (AUP) seeks to document and display these works, in this way charting the terrain of a contingent future.

Though the state of being unrealized implies the potential for realization, not all projects are intended to be carried out. In other instances, artists deliberately leave works incomplete, to record very interesting "failures" or experiments. Other planned projects involve consciously utopian, non-utilitarian, and conceptual spaces that were not made available for realization. Whether censored, forgotten, postponed, impossible, or rejected, unrealized projects form a unique testament to the speculative power of non-action.

if you happen to visit the AUP at art basel, you might find my proposal for INCEPTION: a theatrical installation based on christopher nolan's inception (a time-bending phenomenon described by a.o. scott), kierkegaard's figure of christ, boris groy's essay 'on the new', and emeryville's AMC baystreet theatre.

to be clear — even i can't be certain my proposal is there. if not, call it an unrealized unrealized unrealized project.

T H I S I S N O T T H I S I S S A N F R A N C I S C O

2011-04-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

the bruce high quality foundation university open critique and lu magnus art laboratory + salon present a night of conversation, exhibition, and peer critique with fawad khan, chitra ganesh + a special project by the the san francisco based collective, PRACTICE: erin klenow, nick sung, and najeeb tarazi. the night is curated by stephen wuensch and paris ionescu. come by, if you're in new york!

open critique is a monthly group that discusses the work of emerging and established artists, meeting in borrowed spaces in new york, and working through bruce u — a free, unaccredited, artist-run university. lu magnus is a salon-style gallery that seeks to expand upon the functions of a traditional art gallery, questioning and exploring the idea of what art is.

learn more about the event, learn more about the bhqfu, and learn more about the open critique class.

friday, april 29th, 7 - 9 pm

lu magnus art laboratory + salon

55 hester street, new york

T E A C H 4 A M E R I K A

2011-04-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Teach 4 Amerika by The Bruce High Quality Foundation

on april 28th, the bruce high quality foundation arrives in san francisco on the western leg of their national tour, Teach 4 Amerika – a polemic against the failures of contemporary art education, and a call for creative counteraction. In 11 cities across the country bruce is initiating rallies and conversations, inviting students, administrators, and artists to engage in a dialogue about local art school practices, problems, successes, needs, and desires.

PRACTICE is collaborating with southern exposure to host Bruce's conversation, and looking to provide an understanding of the regional context that they're engaging with; the dialogue is national, but what are the bay area's unique challenges and opportunities, difficulties and innovations?

we're renting, drawing, writing, deflating, editing, projecting and recording things, hoping to facilitate an urgent and important conversation. visit southern exposure for more details or to attend!

attend the bruce rally at SFAI on april 27th //
and the conversation at SOEX on april 28th //

learn more about The Bruce High Quality Foundation
+ Teach 4 Amerika

e x e r c i s e . a t . s t e n d h a l g a l l e r y

2011-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

i was recently invited to participate in a fluxus happening at stendhal gallery in new york, celebrating founder george maciunas, in two 'fluxhibitions', Mapping Macuinas and Exercise. the first examines the 'learning machines' maciunas developed to explore the correlations between historical movements in art and history—elaborate charts and diagrams of chronological causality—and the second investigates the idea that the themes at the center of fluxus are long lived, widespread and based on a concision as open ended as it is exact.

among the artists represented in Exercise are george brecht, la monte young, chieko shiomi, yoko ono, ken friedman, hans richter, giussepe chiari, nam jun paik, and robert filliou, as well as works by contemporary artists john robert moore, narumi iyama and harry stendhal, and my friends nicole demby and david bernstein who will be performing a 'conversation' at the event.

for my part, i recently stumbled upon—which is to say accidentally reinvented—the event score, a core contribution of george brecht, a research chemist, artist, and close friend of allan kaprow, robert watts, and john cage in the late 1950's. often a set of concise instructions, the event score helped push the artwork away from the world of physical objects and into the realm of thought, action, and life. installed in Exercise are a series of drawings i composed over the summer. if you're in new york tonight, please stop by!

Mapping Macuinas and Exercise february 3rd, 6:00—9:00pm

STENDHAL GALLERY 545 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011

for more information, including an essay by nicole, click here.

p o w e r s . o f . t e n

2011-02-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

PRACTICE has released a series of short films in celebration of the Eames Office's Powers of Ten, an exploration of logarithmic scale and the relative size of things in the universe. Over nights and weekends filming and editing we developed a few short reflections on the power of relating two things, the applied nature of order, and the human perspective at the heart of objective science.

This coincides with CORE77's Powers of Ten film challenge, for which participants have been asked to respond to the original film through reinterpretation, mashup, tribute, reflection, and love letter. Judges for this competition include Paola Antonelli, from the Museum of Modern Art, and Eames Demetrios, grandson of Ray and Charles Eames.

The work of the Eames Office, and the design philosophy of Ray and Charles has been a seminal influence over the years, and it's a privilege to have the opportunity to honor their insightful, generous, human achievements. Many thanks to Martin Jankowiak, Erin Klenow, and Najeeb Tarazi, for nice walks, early mornings, late nights, beautiful thoughts, and all the care and commitment required of that.

Enjoy our films here and here and here.
Thanks! PRACTICE

l o o k i n g . b a c k

2010-12-27T23:29:00.000-08:00

looking back at the year requires more consideration than I can offer in the short days before '11. there were major shifts in circumstance, and many challenges to character and temperament and capability. it was, in the end, a year of sea change, and a good one, with swift, easy currents and fathomable, awesome depths, and schools and schools of colorful, beautiful fish.

i can't say where it all will lead, except into the new year, bright with opportunity and more of the good friends and family who've borne me this far already. a toast to you on this wintry day, along the edge of something new, our next great adventure: tomorrow. cheers!

l o s . c a r t o n e r o s

2010-12-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

P R A C T I C E

2010-12-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

has returned
from mountain and social climbing,
sleeve and joint rolling, video and life editing,
sight- and over-seeing,
is video-recording life in San Francisco
for two weeks in December,
and is hungry. for nettles, lentils, and radicchio;
for a space to feed our friends.

b o o m !

2010-12-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

after late nights of driving, scavenging, stealing, and cassette recording, E. N. and i finished a sculpture recently selected for southern exposure's 18th annual juried exhibition, BOOM! it opens this friday, december 10th from 6-9pm at SOEX, 3030 20th street, san francisco, and will remain up until the 18th. i hope to see you there!

for more information, please visit southern exposure. thanks!

. . . . .

2010-11-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

i n . t r a n s i t

2010-11-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

apologies for the less than infrequent posting; i'm off on an adventure right now and can't seem to find the time for anything. i'll share more in the coming months, but for now, these photos, from a recent proposal, will have to do: life in transit.

g r a f f i t i

2010-09-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

r e a d i n g c o n v e n t i o n s c i t y r e a d e r

2010-09-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

i recently participated in julie cloutier's reading conventions, an investigation of the city, through, here, the sidewalk.

invited to inhabit a storefront on busy 16th and valencia and respond as the situation demanded, i opened cabinet drawers, assembled an archive of objects, reorganized books and made a drawing in the shape of the entirety of the windowfront, cleaned. i anticipate more involvement in the future, but in the meanwhile, please read, support and consider reading conventions.

many thanks to julie cloutier; devon, katie, and andrew at the adobe books back room gallery. visit julie at adobe books at 16th between valencia and guerrero, until september 26th.

p e t r a . e n r i q u e z

2010-08-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

my grandmother.

SX . c l o s e d

2010-08-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

we recently closed our installation with a day long celebration.

with friends, family, and the support of the neighborhood, we enjoyed a month and a half of generous patronage and in return exchanged attentive conversation, historical insight, beer, and a trio of sandwiches on homemade breads: peach jam and almond butter; hummus; and gruyere grilled cheese with onion jam, all made fresh by spirited homecook Erin Klenow.

as time passes, we continue to catalogue our findings, and are currently in the midst of collecting our thoughts on the success of our investigation. please visit the Carville Annex website to view our collection, read our journal, and keep involved with the Sunset District through the Upper Left Ethnography Project's ongoing investigation into portraiture and place.

many thanks again to Alexis, Sarah, and Lana, and the many friends we made along the way, without whom this project would not have been possible.

thanks!

SX .

2010-07-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

to advertise our closing this sunday, we got some beautiful grey on grey posters made at levi's workshop: print. endless thanks to hunter, ann marie and taylor for helping us out!

jason munn of the small stakes was busy working on a run of show posters, kids were playing with stamps, girls were printing linoleum cuts, and ideas for menus, neighborhood signs, and other projects were getting worked out, while we stood in the front window with the big machine.

for the full vandercook 32-28 letterpress experience, i urge you to visit the shop in the mission at 17th and valencia — project in hand — and read our brief account on the carville annex blog, july 11th.

SX .

2010-07-09T17:37:00.001-07:00

a collaboration between nick sung and erin klenow

the sandwich exchange is part of an initiative called the upper left ethnography project, a investigation of san francisco's sunset district; place and portraiture. this quiet neighborhood is home to an interesting history and exciting new ferment — gentrification, young blood, honest care — and the 'upper left' are intent on finding out what it means to people.

what, how + why

our name refers the gallery to the neighborhood's first business — a coffee-saloon called the carville annex. it opened at the turn of the century when there was similar activity in the sunset: 'bohemian' life emerging in a sprawling desert. it acted just as we hope to: as a community hub.

the sandwich exchange is a site-conditioned situation; its conception was generated by the place and the project generates material from the place. when we opened, four weeks ago, we were all empty shelves; we asked passersby for submissions and now the shelves are full.

using a free exchange of good-will — of food and conversation — our intentions are the same as gordon matta-clark and rirkrit tiravanija's before us: to extend beyond the boundaries of traditional gallery walls and invite the public to reflect on itself and the structure of its surroundings through participation in communal activity.

this is our primary function: to act as a locus for public trajectories; to offer the opportunity of representation to the breadth of the neighborhood; to meet strangers with whom we share a common place and enable those strangers to meet; to reveal something of the character of the neighborhood by letting the neighborhood reveal itself.

the place draws a portrait of itself.

artifacts

to make this happen, we say hello. one of us sits in the gallery almost every day, people pass by and come in, we have conversations and solicit donations of objects that represent people's relationship to the sunset; we keep a journal. we've thrown a bonfire, hosted a concert, and, in a week, we hope to have a closing party. we'll make a book with free distribution.

so far, we've collected artifacts ranging from the sand on someone's feet to a person's first muni transfer; a photograph of the block from the 60's to an immigrant's english language cassette tapes; deeply sentimental toys to smutty ephemera found on the street.

our archive is a collection of small stories.

to see the artifacts, click here.

to read the journal, click here.

observers

but as much as we represent an image of the neighborhood, we also represent an image of a critique of the neighborhood; we assume the role of conscious ethnographers.

as embedded outsiders, we bring perspective. we observe without particular goals; we take whatever we get. the situation engenders. thus far, the process has been enlightening, difficult, lonely, surprising, and joyful.

our endeavor is to be present and to reveal to the neighborhood what's been revealed to us.

the sandwich exchange is open to july 18th, from 12 to 4 pm

located at 4037 judah street, between 45th and 46th avenues

please visit the carville annex for more information

this project has been made possible through the support of:

alexis, sarah, and lana at the carville annex

the upper left ethnography project

brett macfadden

taylor, hunter and ann marie at levi's workshop: print

residents of the sunset

S X . b o n f i r e

2010-06-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

to celebrate our second week of success and to facilitate the sharing of more stories about the sunset district, a weekend bonfire. family and friends, reveling in the sublime, warming by the hob, eating, drinking, and spinning a yarn.

S X . i n s t a l l a t i o n

2010-06-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

last minute building, lifting, truck lending, sign painting, vacuuming, and coconut drinking brought a month and a half of planning to an end: this weekend we installed and opened our show, the SANDWICH EXCHANGE, at the carville annex.

facilitated by the upper left ethnography project, an initiative spearheaded by alexis petty, sarah fontaine and lana porcello, the SANDWICH EXCHANGE aligns their interests in examining place and portraiture, the sunset district and the people who live in it — but i'll go into the details of the operation later.

let me take this opportunity to thank alexis, sarah and lana, for their trust and good faith, thoughtfulness, support and generosity; tireless brett macfadden without whom nothing would be built or designed or aesthetically perfect; and, most dear, endlessly patient erin klenow, without whom there would be nothing to exchange, no sandwiches, and no adventure. thanks!

thanks to leigh anna for the photos!

s a l a d . d a y s . r e v i s i t e d

2010-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

recently, at the end of a longish day at pixar, i decided to go outside and photograph a painting by my friend christian robinson.

about a month ago i threw a party around the theme of salad days, referring to that time in our lives full of youthful enthusiasm, naiveté, idealism, innocence, indiscretion and inexperience. i'd opened an invitation to make work - artwork, music, food and activity - hopeful my friends would each interpret the theme in a surprising, personal way. i'd love now to share some details of christian's contribution.

christian - a talented young illustrator whom i met in pixar's art department - came back with our invitation: a cocktail party with dashing emu, garlic queen and bat wings! in a few weeks we twisted and hung streamers and installed a long table runner and vase, in which we set tiny white blossoms on long, thin stems. christian's subject had shifted to the nautical and earthly, bridging the boundaries of our party, city, state and material world. corals sat beside gulls and pineapples, butterflies and sea-foam hourglasses, suggesting bright other-places: somewhere to go to? to come from? some bright beachside eden? anyway, more of the fruits of christian's salad day labors — i hope you like them.

also, i strongly encourage you to visit weird vegetables, where katrina has written a thoughtful, detailed account of the evening's meal and shared some reflection on the meaning of the phrase salad days: when we are green in judgement, cold in blood...

i n . t h e . m i s s i o n

2010-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

louis de la taille, this post is for you.

these pages were inspired by my friend richard haines. a very talented fashion illustrator, he's taken the model of bloggers like the sartorialist and other street photographers and extended it to drawing. a teacher at parsons, and once designer for bill blass, calvin klein and perry ellis, he takes a catch-as-catch-can approach to sketching, working mostly from life but also from his own photography. wherever he is - on the street or subway, at a show or event, or hanging out at home - richard manages to pinpoint the details and elements of personality that inspire him. he's a model draughtsman in his deeply sincere love of seeing.

san francisco can be a very fashionable city, depending on where you're strolling. the above drawings are from an extended coffee break at four barrel coffee in the mission district. it's one of a few spots nearby where one can see the new new thing although, as always, it's difficult to draw; i certainly need to practice.

meet the wonderful richard haines at his blog, what i saw today, and watch him draw and talk about his practice here \\\\\\\\\\ .

l o s . a n g e l e s

2010-06-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

the hammer

on our trip to the a+d opening, we visited the hammer museum at the university of california, LA — a charged afternoon. we saw the stunningly evocative architectural photographs of luisa lambri, daria martin's beautiful and richly layered film, minotaur, and the appealingly molded paintings of jonas wood — but headlining the whole experience were the workbook drawings of celebrated british artist rachel whiteread.

the shows converged on the intersection of memory and form or, as evinced by whiteread's sculptural work and personal collections, "poignant notions of presence and absence." full of work that was as sharply and decisively crafted as it was ambiguous, poetic, and displaced, these shows offered the patron a means to reflect not only on intimate subjects, but on the way that we recall them. what made these four shows notable was their lack of muscular ego — their focus on the quiet and everyday.

1 2 3 4

rachel whiteread casts spaces in concrete and resin, rendering them just as she disables them: her childhood closet, a house that has been torn down, the underside of chairs, water towers in new york. this show focused on her personal working drawings, sketchbook pages and collections: shoe molds and twigs, miniature furniture, glass baubles, and light switches — small, natural and manufactured castings of daily life.

luisa lambri photographs modernist buildings, in this case the architecture of john lautner. here too, the focus strays from the monumental or even descriptive, lingering on views through his building's windows — dark, lacy lattices and blindingly interposed exposures of light; an uncommon method of documenting architectural space. her formal strategies, though seemingly restrained, show an effusive interest in the meeting of man made space and the natural environments in which they're situated.

likewise, daria martin draws distinct forms together. through subtle sound, careful, patient but anxious photography, delicate-rough choreography, and decisive, unpredictable editing, martin's short film, minotaur, presents us with an incredibly vibrant combination of dance, sculpture, photography and film. there is a blending of mediums and functions as the camera draws slowly across the surface of rodin's sculptures as if in a slow dance; as performers, in their extended movement and monumental staging, mimic the powerful physicality of sculpture, bringing it life and human scale; and as static photos effect an active yearning, as an elderly woman flips through a book, remembering, dreaming?

jonas wood rounded out the experience with his straight depictions of potted plants. working from memory, vernacular experience and collage, these large, bright paintings simultaneously evoke both the specialized modernist sculptures of history and common tabletop dressings. lingering on the small, familiar, and homely and its relationship with the larger trajectory of art, wood presents quiet, appealing portraits of the evanescent as enduring pseudo-monuments.

anyway. the next time you're in LA, visit the hammer;
you might get lucky \\\\\

s a n . d i e g o

2010-05-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

robert irwin

recently, we made a trip to visit influential teacher, theoretician and conditional artist robert irwin, a seminal figure of the light and space movement, and a giant of the american art scene.

having abandoned studio practice for 30 years, he had now turned the gallery into a studio, using quint contemporary art gallery in la jolla, san diego, as a workshop for a number of new site-conditioned pieces. these installed works in progress were revisited over the course of the exhibition — up until the very end — with irwin coming and going during the day, making judgments, adjustments, and otherwise discussing the pieces with patrons. a pretty incredible process to witness.

i was first introduced to bob irwin's work at the pace gallery in 2009, and then through lawrence weschler's seminal biography, 'seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees'. containing the wealth of 30 years of interviews, the book tracks irwin's development from average LA kid to abstract expressionist painter at ferus gallery, to 'sculptor', installation artist, getty central garden and DIA : beacon designer — site-conditioned artist. it's an infinitely compelling read, and so clearly tracks a trajectory of thought and action, is really required reading for anyone interested in art, theory, and perception. 'this is a simple, infinitely complex and completely remarkable world,' irwin seems to rediscover and restate:

"Sitting there in the Whitney's coffee shop, Irwin pointed through the glass wall up at the play of shadows on a building facade across the street. "That the light strikes a certain wall at a particular time of day in a particular way and it's beautiful," he commented, "that, as far as I'm concerned, now fits all my criteria for art." At the terminus of Irwin's trajectory, when all the nonessentials had been stripped away, came the core assertion that aesthetic perception itself was the pure subject of art. Art existed not in objects but in a way of seeing."

this sounds simple enough - that beautiful things are beautiful, that seeing them is the thing - but by the time you reach this paragraph, 190 pages into the book, you've come to an incredibly layered, rich understanding of this 'way of seeing,' as something intensely pure, pristine and ecstatic; completely accessible, but a powerful human freedom often unconsciously passed over. it's a quiet, ego-less vision; a rare and incredible thing in this world.

wonder

robert irwin's art is about perceiving ourselves perceiving — the process of creation, the insight gleaned from just being attentive. this idea is far reaching and links everything from finding the sun spot on the couch, to realizing the thing you love about the thing you're drawing; walking down a familiar street and suddenly seeing it with new eyes, watching a movie and realizing, while experiencing it, that you're being moved; talking to your mom and simultaneously realizing your closeness and your distance; noticing a kid play hide and seek with a dachshund. this is the attendance of ray and charle's eames, of robert henri, tino sehgal, olafur eliasson, and yes, disney's nine old men, who, with honesty and wonder, studied the beauty of simple motion and emotion and in it found the tremendous complexity of life. isn't that wonderful? isn't that enough?

"Malevich, of course, back around 1915 pared everything down to those empty white squares on their white ground. Everybody looked at those and moaned, 'Oh no, everything we love is gone.' And instead he replied, 'Ah, but we have found a desert of pure feeling!'—an incredibly philosophical thing to say. One could have easily equated those empty squares with the loss of God, the end of culture, the horror of death, and there's a whole artistic tradition that, in effect, does that: the existentialist tradition. But I'm convinced that Malevich was drawing on the opposite tradition: the phenomenological. Instead of angst, he's telling you, 'Wonder! Wow! A desert of pure feeling!' And he's not talking about emotion—or anyway, not just about emotion. He's talking about texture, about experience, about quality, about taking the feel of things."

the human responsibility

the show at quint was intimate: there were four pieces in the gallery, all composed of florescent light bulbs and colored gels — the simplest of tools from which mr. irwin derived the most remarkable combinations, changing as switches were flicked and, just as joseph albers demonstrated with his studies on the temporality of color perception, allowing new, remarkable life to spring from what your mind had fixed in place. the whole thing was wonderful and its implications were great, for wasn't this phenomena visible at any flashing neon sign? at any place with changing light? wasn't this beauty available to us everywhere, every day? so then we went to the beach.

"What I'm saying is, God, it's all already out there...

Turning people on to the world, in this view, means turning them on to the single most beautiful thing in the world: the human capacity, the human responsibility, for perception."

please click here to see a lecture by robert irwin \\\\\\\\\\

to learn more about the show at quint contemporary \\\\\\\\\\

and to read seeing is forgetting \\\\\\\\\\

p e o p l e . a s . p l a c e s

2010-05-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

d
fA.
sand
leithian
proposal
new home
sexy ponies
flour + water
trouble coffee
celebrating yale
castaneda/reiman
drinking by the hob
five years of mollusk
preliminary furniture plan
kanoa zimmerman freediving
corn nuts at magnolia gastropub
backyard, backalley, offocean photoshoot
business meeting: one manhattan, two pocket squares
and the most incredible introduction to erich mendelsohn

h o m e s p u n .

2010-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

i am very proud to introduce you to alexis petty: artist, designer, gallerist and art/world facilitator. i met her on a couch in a living room on a cliff once, then in a 7-11 parking lot, later at night on a beach. she's one of the truest people i know.

her most recent endeavour, the upper left ethnography project, was recently selected by local artist-run center southern exposure as a recipient for their 2010 alternative exposure grant program. in partnership with her kind and talented collaborators lana porcello and sarah fontaine, a small community of artist-ethnographers have formed, aiming to explore place through an expanded practice of portraiture, focusing their energy on the beautiful, bountiful and mysteriously historic neighbourhood by ocean beach in san francisco called 'the sunset'.

i am very pleased to announce that i will be a contributing artist to their project and in about a month's time will open a solo show out of their gallery space, the carville annex. it's going to be really exciting. expect to hear a lot more about this in the near future! it's time to start building...

s a l a d . d a y s !

2010-05-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

when we are green in judgment, cold in blood...

i recently organized a party in celebration of the spring of our lives, entertaining guests from england and canada and around the bay area, and, in honor of youthful idealism, enjoying a number of commissioned works. let me introduce and thank my co-conspirators and briefly describe their contributions:

a meal from erin's kitchen including delicate and hearty handmade tortellini, nettle pesto, borage-miner's lettuce salad, croquetas de jamón and street foraged herbs; an embarrassing-revealing close-eyed arms-up question-answer game from najeeb; beautiful ocean-spring paintings by talented illustrator christian robinson (see the photo above and stay tuned for more!); homemade meyer lemon and strawberry ice creams from blake and margaret; and an inspired ukulele performance of 'salad days' by vegetablist and recent mcsweeney's contributor katrina dodson. everyone came together to make it a really wonderful night—not the last of its kind. let's have kat sing us out, and cheers! to your, to our, salad days.

Salad Days

Lettuce take you away to a place that’s green,
Where the mint runs wild and ginger is queen.
Foxes play a tune on the fiddlehead fern;
Silly goats are lickin’ garlic just to make their lips burn

‘Scape with me up the ramps to the river.
We’ll pluck chanterelles ‘til our hearts start to quiver.
And spice things up with our arugula ways,
Then lose ourselves in these salad days.

Salad days dressed with lemon sunshine
Lying in the grass drinkin’ dandelion wine
We’ll bury our noses in parsley and sage
And lose ourselves in these salad days.

Turnip the beets, you oughta shake that fennel;
The flowers on the wall’ll get stung by nettles.
Oh the clover is swinging and the carrots say peas
Won’t you sing our fava song; it’ll radish the bees!

Endive with me to the bottom of the pond.
We’ll paddle like frogs to the artichoke frond,
Then cool things down in a nasturtium haze
And lose ourselves in these salad days.

Salad days dressed with lemon sunshine
Lying in the grass drinkin’ dandelion wine
We’ll crown our heads in parsley and sage
And lose ourselves in these salad days.

n e w c r a y o n s —

2010-05-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

this has been and continues to be, for a variety of fortuitous reasons, a year of collaboration, and i'd like to introduce you to some of the wonderful people i've been working with.

first, please meet mayon hanania, shoe designer, artist, and parisian! we recently started a blog to share sketches of our life and travel; a drawn journal. mayon draws a lot and wonderfully, delicately well. she's always flying around somewhere and surrounds herself with active, creative people. i'm very happy to be drawing with her, and very excited to see us side by side!

visit her blog, mayonscrayons and us at 20e & mission!

a + d 4 : o p e n i n g n i g h t !

2010-05-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

more to come! photos courtesy of the good dan blank.

a + d 3 : t h e d o g p a t c h

2010-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

NEW MATERIALS

around the same time as the sculptural form was coming together, i began thinking about how it could be finished and mounted. as a ribbon-object with long, faceted surfaces, i had the idea of gilding a single side, and also of adding some sort of base to supplement the one included—something to offset the clean, light material of the wood and to make light reference to sculpture's longer-lived historical materials, metal and stone; also, to give some bounce light.

we rode bikes down to the dogpatch to pick up some marble slabs and old panes of glass, ceramic tiles and little bits of debris; over bridges, through parklands, past warehouses, to rusty, dusty junkyards.

a + d 2 : t h e p r o c e s s

2010-04-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

TRUSTING THE PROCESS

for a few days i stared at the pieces. i picked them up, i put them down; i tried to make loose connections. the intention was to make some models, affixing them using props and tape and gravity, but really, there was little i could do to workshop ideas. i had to make some decisions and start gluing.

still, i hesitated—there could be no rescinding. i was facing the blank page, being asked to lay the reality of my abilities alongside the fantasy of my ambitions.

the surest route to courage was courage, however, and jumping in and making mistakes early is surely one of the most important parts of any process. anyway, an iterative, problem solving methodology is one that we practice every day at pixar, for days, weeks and even years on end; afterall, no one can expect to make all the right decisions the first time and regardless, problem solving is intrinsic to the fun. as they say, the work that results from these struggles is a record of a more important personal progress, of growth—trust the process.

BREAKING

to break the ice, i considered painting the surfaces different colors—dealing with them on a decorative basis rather than a structural one. the thought of organizing colors and shapes offered some relief, although in practical terms, it seemed a little cart before the horse. instead, i started cutting out colors, images and patterns and taping them to the pieces. finally, somehow through collage, i began putting things together.

glue took longer to dry than i thought. i could make a move, but then be forced to wait. it became evident that decisions were going to be made slowly. my first inclination was to build the improbable: an impossible juncture. it made sense to start with the largest shapes available to me. from here i extended arms out, made colluding but dynamic partners out of broad rectangles, and began a loop of angles, building a twisting pavillion that extended and came in upon itself... until it broke.

RIBBONS

i took this breakage as an opportunity to rethink what i was doing: something that was very stable, dynamic, but kind of boring, disjointed and awkward in a few places—i decided it was time to start over. but the basis for the reinvention would be a twisty little juncture that felt surprising, unlikely, and unpredictable. i decided to follow its lead and construct a wooden ribbon. i'd encourage interesting connections, complex oblique angles, and progressive proportions—and i'd let the pieces tell me where they wanted to go.

although the sculpture managed to come apart a few more times over its construction, i always took it as an opportunity to reconsider the orientation of the whole. apparently decisions could be gone back on, and although now pieces were rougher, gluier, and sometimes uneven or broken, i eventually came to see them as mere scars of creation, a record of the process.

it was on its way!

a + d 1 : n e e d

2010-04-20T01:02:00.000-07:00

THE CREATION OF DESIGN

recently, i was invited to participate in a show called celebrate 2010, at the los angeles architecture and design museum. to christen their new home on wilshire boulevard, they extended invitations to architects, artists, designers, community leaders, celebrities, and local 5th graders to construct sculptures. they gave us each a kit of balsa wood boards, pre-cut into an irregular series of triangles, squares and rectangular strips which we were then to transform in any way we pleased. their only rule was to use a uniform base, which came provided; otherwise, the doors were thrown open and every correspondence i received included, in all caps, the words, 'NO RULES!'

those of you who work in a creative field, or who have seen the process in action-as in lars von trier's ode to jorgen leth, the five obstructions-know the value of constraints: they establish the framework from which work hangs, engender and are part of the design. this dynamic relationship was described by american designer charles eames in his famous interview with madame l’amic, design Q&A:

Q: Does the creation of design admit constraint?
A: Design depends largely on constraints

Q: What constraints?
A: The sum of all constraints. Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem: the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible (and) his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints—the constraints of price, size, strength, balance, surface, time, etc.; each problem has its own peculiar list.

although i realized how lucky i was to be a part of this show, the idea of exhibiting alongside established architects was more than a little daunting. to compound any natural anxieties were the terms of the challenge: to work in a new medium, on the blank-est page ever faced—having no constraints. instead of freeing ambition, the open-endedness of the invitation immobilized me. in what direction should i go, with no idea of where i was going?

ANIMATE AND BEAUTIFY

to give myself some footing, i led myself through the exercises of rowena reed kostellow, pioneer of the industrial design program at pratt institute in brooklyn, new york. her interest in the way that spatial relations can animate and beautify, found in the book, elements of design, encouraged my critical thinking on the hierarchies of form, the control of negative space and the relationship of planes.

lessons of my college professor, gerald zeldin, also came to mind. instructor of visual language at sheridan college, he always seemed to effortlessly overlap his interests and their application: his figure drawing related to his work as a muralist, which was informed by his career as a graphic designer, fine artist and student of architecture—a useful model. a lesson on visual pathways had particular salience, in that it explored the way controlled space leads the eye and lends value and texture to depth.

with the reassurance of foundation i moved ahead with renewed confidence, but now the question became, "what to make?" every day at pixar i'm faced with this challenge. how do you take a vague notion of the way-something-should-be and create something not just concrete, but compelling, meaningful, entertaining and smart? beautiful? welp, you find something meaningful to you, something meaningful in the work, and then aim for the truest, simplest, clearest expression of that meaning.

but first i would research the hell out of it. i sketched, i wrote, i brainstormed; i collected my thoughts. i thought about who and what i was representing; pixar? san francisco? myself? a tradition? what did the sculpture need to be? what would be particular to my concerns, to my experience, to the museum and to the kit? the pieces conjoured images of the playful facade of mary blair's it's a small world pavillion, as well as the eames's whimsical solar-do-nothing-machine. i pinned up the other errant images floating about my head: the paintings of paul wackers, the early structures of buckminster fuller, the native houses at the museum of civilization, ottawa, and brutalist john p robarts library at the university of toronto. finally i had some starting points.

UNMONUMENTAL

simultaneously, i turned to reading the catalogue essays from the new museum's inaugural sculpture show unmonumental: the object in the 21st century. they described a contemporary artwork that was fractured, jury-rigged, piecemeal, insignificant, appropriating, personalized yet 'un-private'; a catch all, and a decidedly 'unmonumental' response to a world of too much choice, too much noise and too big an audience. i looked a lot at rachel harrison, carol bove and gedi sibony.

i found something so reassuring in all this: that sculpture didn't really have to be anything at all. one of the most beautiful pieces i'd seen in a while was in a show at the jack hanley gallery, here in san francisco, called bOnniE i LovE (can) YOu, cAn i sEE yOu saT oR SuN LovE jiM. consisting of rough but elegant makeshift sculptures, incorporating a lot of rods and lightbulbs and colored tape, andy coolquitt's crafted detritus-totems felt like the scourged elements of a buried archigram construction. in a small piece in the middle of the floor sat a half bottle of cobra with an ascending connection of bright old straws; it was nice!

something really appealed to me about making something that didn't have to last for ages, and what else was i thinking, anyway? i was starting with balsa wood, afterall. but it became very clear to me here that i was not to build a building, and not a useful object; i was not to do anything structural, dammit, i decided. i couldn't make something that could 'show off' any technical facility i had, so i handily resolved to do the opposite.

for a moment i considered burning the balsa wood and submitting the pile of ashes, atop a plinth, by a tiny gold lighter—a definite statement, but a bit of a cop-out, and certainly not 'celebratory'. i imagined myself, torch in hand, setting aflame a huge mound of balsa geometry."here's what i think of architecture! HA HA!"

i pushed my materials aside and had a drink. i piled the pieces on a small plate, with fork and knife, and left the kit to be consumed. after a few days-of work busi-ness and social engagements and new york city-i resolved to just start gluing some things together and see where it took me; if all else failed, i had matches at hand.

A RECOGNITION OF NEED

i liked this track of cobbled, critical assemblage, and i thought it was a good idea not to construct anything at all like a building—to look at this from a sculptural perspective. finally i felt comfortable; afterall, i'm not an architect or designer. i thought i'd also introduce some new materials: something local, natural, minorly unmonumental. little by little, i defined boundaries.

as charles eames replied when asked, "What do you feel is the primary condition for the practice of Design and for its propagation?” “A recognition of need,” had begun to form.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

click here to see the eames office's design Q&A.

i m g _ 0 0 2 1 . j p g

2010-04-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

'happiness is in the dark and at a darker beach'
devastee of ophelie klere + francois alary

which reminds me: jean-philippe delhomme

\ \\ \\\

2010-04-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

a lotta grey lately.
good gray.

a+db irwin aurel schmidt
john richardson the good fred sandbeckthe bruce high quality foundation

2010-04-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

screening // sculpture // taxes // laying on the ground // getting back up.

> > >

2010-04-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

m o n s t e r d r a w i n g r a l l y 2 0 1 0 !

2010-04-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

some photos from SOEX's monster drawing rally 2010. more than 120 artists participated including awesome personal favourites brett macfadden, david kasprzak, david wilson, jason jagel, john kearns, matt furie, and michelle blade. thanks to vlad, erin, southern exposure and everyone who came!

find images of our artwork here ^^^^^.

t a h o e / 3 1

2010-03-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

back to balsa wood and new york city in a minute. an interlude of drawings from a wintery trip to tahoe; moments of profound silence and everyone speaking at once. puzzles were solved, snow men stacked, icy lakes entered, whisky drank, fires set, german and chinese spoken, balls thrown, words played. we retreated further to homemade phở and natural hot springs; long, mountainous sunlit drives. geodesic domes.

and then this.

7 5 t h & m a d i s o n .

2010-03-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

a r m o r y w e e k .

2010-03-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

t h e A + D m u s e u m . L A

2010-03-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

more has happened recently than i can keep track of. i'd like to report on all of it, but the busi-ness continues as we move into fast waters at work and as i spend my free time preparing for

the Architecture + Design Museum LA's

A+D : CELEBRATE 2010 !

inaugurating their new permanent location on museum row, CELEBRATE 2010 brings together, "renowned architects, artists, designers, community leaders, and celebrities, as well as LAUSD 5th Graders," as sculptors for a silent auction and exhibition to support the A+D's mission to "promote an awareness of progressive Architecture and Design in everyday life through exhibits, educational programs and public outreach."

the process has been daunting and expansive, and i'm excited to share my progress with you! the event is on tuesday april 27th, tickets start at $50, and an rsvp is required.

the keynote speaker is LA city council president eric garcetti, host committee members include joel + margaret chen, frank o. gehry FAIA, murray moss, wolfgang + gelila puck, rose tarlow, and michael webb. the 'mistress of ceremonies' is frances anderton, host of KCRW's dna. if architecture and design are important to you, please look into the Architecture and Design Museum, LA, or become acquianted here >>>>. see you!

l e t t e r s f r o m c e n t r a l p a r k .

2010-03-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

t h e o s c a r s .

2010-03-12T14:27:00.001-08:00

n e w y c .

2010-03-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

corton
cafe sabarsky
the armory show
schillers liqour bar
mcsorley's old ale house
the 2010 whitney biennial
tino sehgal at the guggenheim
pulse contemporary art fair nyc

t h e s o e x m o n s t e r d r a w i n g r a l l y

2010-02-27T07:00:00.000-08:00

i'm excited to announce that i'll be participating in this year's monster drawing rally, an annual drawing marathon thrown by the starry-eyed artist-run organization, southern exposure. this local institution has been supporting the growth and nourishment of san francisco's contemporary art scene for over 30 years, and the MDR is always one of their most anticipated events.

over a five hour period, shifts of artists, more than a hundred and thirty total, show up, draw/paint/collage/design and the works immediately sell at a fixed price of $60; it's a mad dash for the ones you want. grab a beer and watch the artistic process in action.

with proceeds going towards soex's exhibitions and artists in education programs, this is a great way to get out in the community, pick up some cool artwork, and meet your favorite local artists; if you're in the mission friday march 5th, i strongly encourage you to come. I'll be drawing from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, but around all night. i hope to see you there!

< many thanks to courtney fink, without whom we would all be adrift in a sea of unprogrammed art >

click here for a full list of artists and to
learn more about SOUTHERN EXPOSURE

and the MONSTER DRAWING RALLY

g z .

2010-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

f o u r b a r r e l .

2010-02-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

q u i e t t i m e .

2010-02-21T22:52:00.000-08:00

d o g s i n s c h o o l .

2010-02-11T13:16:00.000-08:00

a quick endorsement for the dogs in school project, which i recently contributed to with friends from pixar and around the country. my piece (poorly reproduced, i'm afraid) is graphite and watercolor, with cardboard frame from kateri tekakwitha elementary school, ontario, canada and grade two photo from stiver's academy, livermore, california.

the event was organized by patrick prendergast and opened at the screaming sky gallery in portland, oregon two weekends ago; their proceeds benefit the portland farm/adult developmental disabilities arts group project grow. congratulations and many thanks to patrick! the show remains up until february 26th, so if you're in the area, please visit!

for photos of the event visit sol neelman photography.

b e r l i n . 4

2010-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

b e r l i n . 3

2010-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

the reichstag
//
the bauhaus-archiv
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hamburger banhof
//
fluxus
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julie mehretu at the d. guggenheim

b e r l i n . 2

2010-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

jewish museum

görlitzer park

b e r l i n . 1

2010-01-31T18:20:00.000-08:00

kunsthaus tacheles

2010-01-28T13:04:00.000-08:00

p i n a k o t h e k .

2010-01-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

a m s t e r d a m .

2010-01-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

h o l i d a y .

2010-01-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

thanks '09 . hello '10

2009-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

2009-12-22T17:26:00.001-08:00

the view from bernal hill. gouache, 2009. the result of a home cooked meal,
a long conversation, whisky and the best company a person could ask for.

i honestly thought i'd be able to get to this sooner than december twenty second, but here we are. the year has been a marathon, the last three months a sprint: work has been heavy, friends have been inviting, trips have been taken, projects conceived and completed. the sad thing is how little of all this i've been able to share; let me offer a few things now:

there's been terribly little drawing beyond days and nights at pixar. our film is kind of kick ass though, and so is my crew and so is our work. it's been an inspiring encouraging experience, where drawings ideas and even songs end up on the big screen. it'll be a few years before it all comes out, but i'm excited to see the fruits of our labour in a theatre.

hong kong, briefly, was incredible. the most non-western western city i've ever seen; bladerunner. i visited family and ate and talked about eating and walked around looking at food stuffs for the better part of two weeks—a most satisfying adventure. from intimate bowls of congee to the city's premiere power restaurant, through wet markets and dry markets and supermarkets, harvey nics and the wilds of central's back alleys, endless expanses of casino in macau, and endless expanses of ocean cliff trail on lamma island, this was definitely a trip to remember.

i turned 30. quite the event, if i may say: a depression era party staged in a depression era house. a month of recipe research, test cooking, and graphic design. i had a screenprinted poster and recipe cards made to compliment the meal and commemorate the event. brains were stewed, fish pickled, corn chowdered, tripe stuffed, and calve's feet halved and jellied; bread was baked from cans, ice cream and butter were served fresh, sodas were made from organic materials. a fire pit braced us from the cold december air, and in the morning we sat on the porch and drank tea. bring on 31.

a visit to the french laundry. it is a miracle. everyone on earth should get to do this once in their life. i had first read about chef thomas keller years before moving to the west coast, and his philosophies on craft and leadership have helped guide my life and career. in anxious anticipation, i waited years for the right moment to go, and i feel i couldn't have chosen a more perfect time. the experience far exceeded anything i could ever have imagined; it is without a doubt one of the most remarkable experiences of art and craft i have ever had the privilege of sharing. there was the day i got my job at pixar, the first time i ever saw new york, and this incredible evening.

these are the big motions, the ones i can elaborate on, and even then i feel a little shy. there have been other things too: thanksgiving survived, books proposed, posters designed, beaches sojourned, lectures attended, hands shaken, long walks taken and the like. but how much can i write? let me wish you happy holidays and promise to come back in 2010 with some drawings to share, hm? until next time.

hong kong

2009-10-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

explanation to come //

in the street

2009-10-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

if you can't tell, my fasincation with new york city is endless.

i'd like to start a series of intermittent posts on ways of seeing the city, of things that have enriched and expanded my experience of the place, of examples of other people's deep love for it. it makes sense that such a stimulating, challenging, beautiful place has inspired so much great work.

let's start out with a film. here, photographer helen levitt brings to life the subjects she was most famous for celebrating: the common inhabitants of the city in their daily lives.

"the streets of the poor quarters of great cities are, above all, a theatre and a battleground. There, unaware and unnoticed, every human being is a poet, a masker, a warrior, a dancer; and in his innocent artistry he projects, against the turmoil of the street, an image of human existence." h.levitt j.agee

this film is about street life: brief moments of conversation, couples gently engaged, people and animals, the elderly scolding, but mostly the young at play; it's a small city here, but alive; these are images of life. the filmmakers capture moments of the most honest behaviour, managing to make the smallest gestures beautiful. whether it's a toddler running furiously down the street, a woman walking with a mop swinging loudly, or someone idly looking out the window, dragging from a cigarette, levitt and agee manage to pinpoint moments of pure unconscious action.

watching this, i'm reminded of edison's actualities but here the camera doesn't hold back, an objective observer of the city's happenings. and whereas edison's brief documents celebrate bridge openings, theatre shows, automobiles and busy avenues, 'in the street' we take the point of view of children, of parents, of hangers-around. we become active participants in the games, someone walking through the crowd, someone sitting on the stoop. the camera is mobile here, intimate; right in the middle of the action, wandering as our eyes would. and seldom are people merely strolling, no, this street is full of activity, this is where everyone is looking, sitting by, leaning out the window to see what's going on.

there's something about the celebration of the everyday, of the overlooked, that i really admire. when you're in new york there's a sense that everyone has a story, has a real life—a struggle and a joy and a journey; that's why people go there. i feel like this film really supports that idea, captures it: that, of the millions of inhabitants in a city, each one is important, interesting and beautiful. it's a nice thought, and one i'm glad they've left us.

experiments in gouache

2009-10-06T00:00:00.001-07:00

some recent paintings made for the////global autism project////

slow and steady wins the race

2009-09-30T00:00:00.003-07:00

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there is an attraction to those who play by the rules and break them at the same time. i think that my love for SASWTR is borne of my love for their rigorous fun: in deconstructing and reconstructing the clothing we find most common, SLOW AND STEADY question form, material and class distinction.

what we're left with is simple clothing re-imagined and the divisions we draw through our systems of value made crystal clear. anyway, the stuff also looks cool. please visit SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE.

the maryam nassir zadeh showroom

2009-09-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

is this all over the internet already? i am in love with phillip low's lucite sculptures. is there anything as thrilling as pure crystalline color? sharp edges matched with brilliantly sauturated light? the maryam nassir zadeh showroom features many other amazing objects (including some beautiful arrows), but wow, these take the cake.

/maryamnassirzadeh/

jim sherraden

2009-09-26T01:03:00.000-07:00

"advertising without posters is like fishing without worms." the hatch bros.

opened in 1879, hatch show print is among america’s oldest and most famous letterpress shops. jim sherraden is its manager, chief designer, archivist and historian. above, he shares a century of hand set graphic design.

hatch show print

^^^||||||////

in ohio

2009-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

maybe i'm always grumpy, but the issue of nationality came up in conversation tonight, and i was just not interested. what more is there to say of the differences between canadians and americans? what can i say personally?

it is interesting knowing that i'm a product of social conditioning, of toronto, of canada, yet... i tend to think of myself more a product of my childhood hobbies, drawing classes, the toronto film festival, the years i spent at sheridan, working in tv animation and finally, the time spent with girlfriends and best friends—specific things.

the people you meet, the experiences you have, and the lessons you learn are the real makers and breakers. while i'll admit that my life in toronto was leaner and cleaner than this in san francisco, i'm definitely expanding my horizons here. who knew one of my favorite weekends ever would take place in the heart of ohio? nationality aside, good peeps is good peeps. thank you americans! nick

lam

2009-09-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

this one's for you, kid.

d v c

2009-09-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

<<<<>>>>

levi's casting

2009-09-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

earlier this year, while out for coffee, my friends and i were asked if we'd be interested in going to a casting for a levi's jeans ad. i said yes. it was raining and the cab ride was paid for, and i was terribly interested to see how all this worked, so we drove off, signed information sheets, got numbers and stood around and waited. we inched closer to the front of the line and then this is how it went:

first they photographed you from the front and sides, you know, to get a good representative view. maybe some closer shots, some farther back—i can't recall. the only thing i remember clearly were the last two demands: first, for the guys to take their shirts off. i did this and exposed the doughy front of my person for the photographic scrutiny of a studio full of people. next, "okay, now do something fun." which is a much more difficult request to fulfill than you'd think. my hesitant shrug was probably about as useful for them as my formless midsection.

anyway, i wasn't called back. i did however later learn that the casting was for a series of adverts featuring photographs by ryan mcguinley, youth photographer extrordinaire, and someone who's work i had been looking a lot at. had i known the shoot was for him, i would have stripped down to totally nothing, set off some fireworks and thrown myself out the window—you know, something fun.

ryan for levi's

ryan for wrangler

anyway, there's been a lot of talk online recently about these levi's ads, mostly because they follow in the wake of a campaign that wrangler launched over a year ago.

what's interesting to me are the differences in the campaigns; that such divergent, contrasting photographs came from the same photographer, and that they both evidence his handiwork—intimate, casual, surprising compositions of youth in the wild; a feeling of unencumbered, free, independent fun—and yet are totally different in tone and storytelling. i do tend to think the wrangler ads are more successful—as ads and as photographs—but all in all it's great to see how one person tackles similarish problems in similarish ways and arrives at related but utterly different solutions. it's good to see some range, and it's interesting to deconstruct the ideas in the ads, in the photographs and see how ryan has used light, composition, environment and subject to tell us a story: about the optimism of america and the freedom of youth, and of the dark, primal, wild animal inside youth.

check out the photography of ryan mcginley.

the eyes of doctor t.j. eckleburg

2009-09-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

"This is a valley of ashes—a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg.

The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground.." F Scott Fitzgerald

this is an illustration i made for Sarah Schmelling's new book of literary tomfoolery, Maidens Who Don't Float, released just a few days ago! it started as a feature on the McSweeney's website, and now New York Magazine is calling it highbrow and brilliant, and i'm calling it a pleasure to have worked on.

pick one up today!

////maidens who don't float
////the great gatsby
////sad f scott (he's always sad)
////my illustrations for the odyssey

ns

2009-08-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

jf

2009-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

summer style

2009-08-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

once

2009-08-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

bill and ikumi

2009-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

congrats!

albert maysles

2009-07-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

"I happily place my fate and faith in reality. It is my caretaker, the provider of subjects, themes, experiences – all endowed with the power of truth and the romance of discovery." a. masyles

maysles films

the commonwealth club

great taste

2009-07-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

LEE : I

2009-07-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

herb and dorothy/ reminds me of top gun/ like ballet in the sky/ the only fun thing about sf/ went for a walk/ sippy's/ found a dead body/ feet taped and wrapped in blankets

on the street... b&w. milano

2009-07-23T00:44:00.000-07:00

after the sartorialist

kt

2009-07-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

cloud

2009-07-19T03:19:00.000-07:00

coral

2009-07-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

costume

2009-07-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

2009-07-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

2009-07-15T01:38:00.001-07:00

2009-07-15T01:38:00.000-07:00

2009-07-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

the blog of* jennifer florence

2009-07-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

bklyn

2009-07-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

liberty

2009-07-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

a - b

2009-07-07T00:00:00.001-07:00

washington

2009-07-05T18:15:00.002-07:00

4th

2009-07-01T16:03:00.004-07:00

i'm out for the long weekend — have a good one!

thanks!

2009-06-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

the odyssey

2009-06-26T10:58:00.021-07:00

one of the projects i completed this year was a series paintings based on the odyssey for author Sarah Schmelling's upcoming book, Maidens Who Don't Float. a humorous retelling of literature through Facebook, the whole darn thing started with an article for McSweeney's: an account of hamlet's facebook status updates. the book will be released on august 25. pick one up when you can!

these are from the photo album of odysseus's recent trip through the greek isles. looks like fun! for more good times, please visit Sarah Schmelling's, "Maidens Who Don't Float"!