World Domination

Google might be taking over the world and as much as I love Google, their new business plan doesn’t sit very well with me. There are 2 things as of late that I don’t like. The first is a set of glasses that connects to your phone and allows you to see everything that happens with your phone. Say for example, you receive a text message. It will pop up in your glasses for you to see and you can speak out load to respond to the text and the phone will do the rest. It’s almost like Siri in the form of glasses. You can ask for directions and a map will pop up in the glasses with turn by turn directions. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, are our cell phones really that important that we can’t walk down the street without them? Do we need to see what’s happening on our phones all the time? I’ve seen the demo video for the product and it does look like a cool new invention, but it’s also an awful invention. Imagine someone driving with these glasses and seeing all these texts and email alerts popping up in their line of sight. You think you’re going to continue to pay attention to the road? Hell no. People already look like cyborgs with their blue tooths and now we’re going to add these glasses? I’m out. I can understand having these glasses maybe for a themed type of thing. Maybe an interactive ride at a theme park or a new way to guide people through museums with information about the piece of art their looking at, but for everyday, I think this is a little much. There is absolutely no need for glasses like this. Maybe I’m too scared of technology because I’ve seen too many movies and read too many books. I just don’t see the need for people to literally see the activity on their phones 24/7. Leave it in your pocket and if it vibrates, look at it.

The second invention by Google is a virtual museum called the Google Art Project. This one I’m a little torn about because it is kind of cool. Google has set up a museum guide similar to Google maps where you can guide yourself through museums around the world. They figure that if you can’t visit the museum, they will bring it to you. This is a good idea for people who just can’t travel around the world, but to me the best part of a museum is experiencing the museum itself. Being able to walk around is all part of the experience. Seeing a picture of a piece of art or virtually walking through a museum doesn’t even begin to compare to seeing it in person. I completely understand not being able to travel to the opposite side of the planet, but I have a feeling that if a teacher assigns a student to go to a museum and the kid is too lazy, they’re just hop on this site. But I guess kids will find ways around anything so maybe that’s a bad argument. So maybe Google does have something good here. I guess that I just have to raise my kids to actually want to go to a museum.

Minimalist

I love creative, minimalistic art. When it's done well, it looks awesome and it makes you want to hang it on your wall. Someone recently made minimalist posters for all of Tim Burton's movies and they all looked awesome. Simple, but you know exactly which movie is being depicted.

The most recent set of minimalist posters that I can't get enough of are new Pixar posters. Lee Wonchan created a poster for almost every Pixar movie and they're super cute. I think some of them could have been different, but I still like them. For example, I think Up should have been a balloon. But the rest are really cute. See for yourself.











I think Toy Story has to be my favorite. Ratatouille is pretty cute too. Which one do you like most?

Art Insane

I love art and museums as much as the next person, but who knew a giant 2 story rock would draw so much attention! Hundreds of people showed up at LACMA when the rock hit the end of it's 11 day journey from Riverside, which cost the museum $70,000 to transport and $10 million total after installation. If you're unfamiliar, this rock is going to be the next out door art installation at LACMA, similar to the light posts exhibition "Urban Light" on Wilshire. When complete, you will be able to walk under the "levitating" rock suspended 15 feet over head. It sounds pretty cool, but at the same time it's just a giant freaking rock that cost a shit ton of money. The installation isn't expected to be completed for another few months, but since it's so damn big, I'm sure you will be able to see it in it's shrink wrapped form for quite some time before final installation. There aren't many places to hide a rock that size. I will definitely go see the rock just because it's stirred up so much attention and as I mentioned, I enjoy art. But I feel like LACMA could have put this $10 million elsewhere. It could have gone to a new educational exhibit. It could have gone to anything really. Art is a big deal, especially in bad times because it helps us all escape our realities, but when we're in a recession, I feel like that money could have gone towards something else...

Pumpkin King

Tim Burton is kind of amazing. There are times where I think that whatever he has to do with is going to be insane, but now that I got a glimpse into his life I feel like I have a better understanding. I still think he's a little nuts, but in a good way. I went to see his exhibit at LACMA on Saturday and it was incredible. Makes me wish I could draw. I loved the way it was laid out. You start in his early years when he was living in Burbank with his parents feeling alienated and then the exhibit takes you through his time when he was studying at Cal Arts to his time working at Disney and then to his most recent movies and adventures. He has a freaking insane imagination. He draws all of these crazy little creatures with scary teeth, but it's amazing what he can do with these little sketches. He can create such simple drawings with many layers. It's kind of fascinating. He must have some crazy nightmares and he must just draw all the time. I didn't know about half of the little stories and characters he created until the exhibit. The thing that makes me sad though is that all the plaques kept saying how alienated he felt and how he turned to drawings to create his own worlds. Makes me sad that such creativity came out of sadness. There was one sketch of him and his mom sitting at the dinner table and neither one of them looked happy. There was another of his parents just watching TV and it makes me wonder if his childhood with his parents wasn't great. But I guess amazing creativity has to come from somewhere, right? Either way, if you haven't seen it, you definitely have to. It's at LACMA until Oct 31.

Manic Monday

This weekend was filled with food poisoning or something so I didn't really do much, but I did watch a lot of TV. I saw a commercial for this artist named Victor Muniz. The commercial showed him making art with trash and anything else he could get his hands on and it was amazing. I had to rewind the TiVo and watch it again. The cool thing about it is that his work looks amazing and it's not until you get closer that you realize it's trash or toy soldiers or something. See for yourself.

This one is made with trash through and through.
I believe this one is made with coffee.
This is probably my favorite. It's made with different colored toy soldiers.
This, I believe, is maple syrup.

Incredible!

Fail Blog Friday

I love art. Any kind of art is welcome. Painting, theatre, music, cooking, etc. The one art that I just can’t stand is experimental. To me, experimental art is masturbation. People do it just to please themselves. They don’t give a shit about their audience. I went to LACMA when I was in college and saw this one experimental piece where this chick had dressed up like the painter Freda and she peed on stage. That was her act. She would inject herself with something and then proceed to squat over a bucket and pee. That’s not art. Then, there was another room where this chick was pretty much naked. All she was wearing was an Indian Chief’s head dress and a dildo and she was jacking off with the dildo. That’s not art either.

The most recent piece of crap I heard about is being created by this guy named Richard Whitehurst in Columbus, Ohio. He is creating something called The Rape Tunnel. The piece is set to go up on October 30^th. Here is his description of this tunnel:

In the 4D Gallery main room, I’ve constructed a 22 foot tunnel out of plywood that leads into the project room. There is no way in or out of the project room except for this tunnel. As you travel through the tunnel, it gets smaller and smaller, making it so that you have to crawl and put yourself in a submissive position in order to reach the tunnel’s destination. At the end of the tunnel the subject will find me waiting in the project room and I’ll try to the best of my ability to overpower and rape the person who crawls through.

Really? Anyone who enters this tunnel knows what they’re getting into. It’s not a surprise, so doesn’t that make it consensual and not rape at all? To tell people they will get raped if they go through a tunnel and they enter the tunnel on their own, doesn’t that mean they’re welcoming the rape? To me, that’s not rape. Anyway, the idea is sick. Of course, all the feminist groups are freaking out about this. This isn’t the first time he’s done something ridiculous like this either. Prior to this rape tunnel piece he created a tunnel just like this, but instead of raping people at the end, he would punch them in the face. Turns out he broke a models nose and she sued him. He thinks it’s great because his “art” has a lasting impression on her because she will never forget how her nose was broken. After reading that, I freaking hate this asshole. That’s not art!!! I would have sued too. He claims that he doesn’t care what effect his art has on people, just as long as it affects them. Any artist can say that, but a punch in the face and a broken nose is not something I would want to strive for. Raping and hitting people can ruin someone’s life. Art isn’t meant to ruin one’s life. Usually art enriches life.

All I have to say is that I really hope this guy goes to jail. Like I mentioned earlier, it can be argued that this isn’t rape because it’s consensual, but still. I kind of want to go to Ohio and stand outside this tunnel and make sure no one enters. This makes me so mad!

Nonfail Blog Friday

I love art contests and photo contests and the like. We all have so many cool ideas in our heads, more than many of us give ourselves credit for, and I think these contests and projects really allow some people to shine. It also allows some of us to just have fun or a place to release. I love browsing Google Images for cool pictures. I always fine some really artsy stuff and I collect them. I either use them in blogs or just save them in a folder for a rainy day. I love how each picture speaks to everyone differently.

Recently, I was shown a sketch book project. You pick a theme or have the project creators pick one for you and then they send you a sketch book. You doodle or do whatever you want in the sketchbook and send it back and then it becomes part of the permanent collection at The Brooklyn Art Library. They even have a tour where the books are put on display for people to look at and even buy. It’s very exciting. I am definitely going to take part in this. I used to have to do something similar for my English class in high school so this will be fun. Happy artistic Friday!