A Beautiful Bitter Pill

The world is currently riddled with problems, where exactly they stem from I can't say for sure. Some have posited that they are results of the industrial revolution, some say the technological revolution is to blame, some say the revolution of capitalism, maybe it was just all the revolutions combined, maybe it's because there wasn't enough revolution... whatever it is: the World's got issues. Though I am not alone in my thinking this way, mine has been a very low-profile sentiment. Maybe everyone feels it to some extent but only a rare few want to whole-heartedly admit to the facts; for the most part the blind eye is faithfully turned, ignorance is bliss and all that. But the only way to start affecting change is to be open to it, you can't change something which you are pretending does not exist. Step one of any Anonymous step-based program is always admitting to the problem. Well humanity it's time some eyes start opening, it's time for step one on the proverbial 12-step. You see maybe I have the "answer" or, more likely, maybe you have the answer, the only problem is: not enough people are listening. However, a wonderful thing is starting to happen, a new trend is forming, slowly but surely: Awareness is getting popular. It's developing a following, groups are forming, like-minded people are getting together and saying "lets expose some problems!" The real wonderful thing about the internet and this trend is that, not only are they doing it in a well researched and eloquent way, but they are also making it really interesting and enjoyable to watch. The people behind RSA Animate are doing some fantastic things and though no real solutions or answers are being posed (nor do I think the timing is right for that) but truths are being unveiled through online speeches in a slow-drip fashion which is gradually building up to a potentially water-fall like pressure in it's exposition of well... "where we've gone wrong".

Though this video is not the best the site has to offer it does give a nice baseline and explains what the goal of this little think-tank currently is, so check it out: 21st Century Enlightenment

or check out all the brilliant thoughtful RSA Animate short lecture series.

And if you haven't already been exposed to TED Talks, well add that to your agenda:

I only have one real problem when I watch these videos:

the fact that they don't have 100 million views, that they aren't the most viral thing on the web!

So go! Spread the word, tell your friends! Awareness is that new shit, get on it!

Trophies and more.

So, I had a very busy yesterday: creating four trophies for the 2010 Skylands Classic Disc Golf Tournament. I usually spend about a day per trophy like this, but for a very special client, with a very tight deadline, I was able to bust out all four in one day.

Included in the shots below is a nice working shot with some cool stuff lying around on the table, the completed trophies, as well as a picture of the Dressage Horse I did at the end of 2007 which took all of my ability at the time and was made over the course of two weeks (and to think, if that took me more than 5 days now I'd be ashamed!)

Also: Igby.

Enraptured by Spiders

I've recently been reading a book called Life of the Spider by John Crompton and it's really quite an enthralling read. You see we look down upon these tiny creatures in our oh-so-human way, but really they are cunning and capable beyond anything we can imagine. The author has a whimsical (albeit old-school misogynistic) tone which is quite funny and delightful. The most truly amazing thing about this book (spiders aside) is the amount of time and energy that went into making it. You see in our current day and age we are so hyper-connected that all research has already been done for us, and the multitude of experiments that are going on are going on in thousands of places simultaneously and have all been done before, new ground is seldom tread. However, when this book was written (1950) there was still so much to learn from hands on research. So what do you have: a small community of dudes who love to sit around look at spiders in jars for hours on end. In one particularly case the author sites another author who had his son stay up all night watching one particular spider to finally figure out its late-night eating habits. Thats what makes the book so interesting, it's intrinsically tied to a world which barely exists anymore. A world which necessitated hands-on experimentation, where people as individuals still made meaningful discoveries and contributions.

Besides the interesting dichotomy that one can draw between that era and our present times, the spiders themselves prove to be inspiring beyond all measure. The things they do to survive and procreate are simply astounding. One character in particular who I was fond of was the Tube spider who burrows into the ground and lives inside a small tunnel which he covers over. The end of the tunnel protrudes above the ground and is a cause for much curiosity amongst other local insects and when they start to snoop around he bursts out of the ground, snatches the insect, and runs back inside to feast. Thats it, thats pretty much the entire life of this spider, sitting in wait at the bottom of a quarter inch wide tube. And to think, he doesn't even have a cellphone down there.

Igby! Go down!

So I had my little festival not too long ago now, and with that festival came the arrival of my very rambunctious new companion, Igby. You see we (my father and I) had not intended upon getting this dog, he merely happened to us. What was the following: I was outside in the courtyard where my festival was held, cleaning up beer cans and husks of corn when my dad yells to me from the window that "Something just ran through your garden.... I think it was a dog!" So I run out of the courtyard to the vast expanse of field directly behind it. Lo and behold, I see something black and white and extremely doglike careening through my fields, so I start running myself. After I ran about half the length of the field (maybe 200 yards) I was able to glimpse the dog again, at the farthest reaches of my property, about to enter into the dense forestland. So I start clapping and calling and much to my surprise he responds! He comes running back in my direction and follows me back into the courtyard and proceeds to help me clean up by eating as many corn husks as he can handle. So I take him down towards the house, I give him a little food and a little water, but I had some friends who I was meeting for breakfast that morning, so we decide it's probably best if we just leave the dog and maybe he'll wander instinctively back in the proper direction (who knows...). After spending a good long time eating breakfast we return home without any expectation of seeing a dog on our property, and indeed he is not there, but not more than 20 minutes later he shows up at the front door and well, he's been ours ever since. Igby, named after the somber movie which sat on my shelf, had a collar but no tags when we found him. We tried to locate an owner, but to no avail. He's been somewhat well behaved with a tendency towards being really hyper, but I think thats largely due to the fact that he's just a puppy....

So yeah, I got dog.

Tread lightly, tread nicely.

For now I proceed with caution as my fingers graze their desired keys... I've left this most wonderful template solitary for quite some time now and I almost fear as if entering into it once more I will find a woe begotten mistress or an old woman with a shotgun (or something equally terrifying)... But alas, it's just good old blank-slate-blog-entry format, and so to hit the ground running (and when I have due momentum I'll post some rather delectable rants) I'll upload some nice new photos of a nice new sculpture, a nice little mural I painted on the front of my house, and some nice old photos of the wonderful event which I had not too long ago (oh and the nice new dog whose backstory will be blogged about shortly)... So without further ado:

Nice new sculpture.

Nice new dog (Igby).

Nice new mural (Severe Thunderstorm Warning) .

Nice people.

Nice little setting for my nice little event.

Nice.

ODB as you can see (video)

Maitre' Duo

Here's some pix of my latest creation, a two headed chef (one of the pictures is set to a background of my blossoming Nasturtium flowers), and also me looking silly playing soccer.

The Flashburn Festival

Come one, come all!

Also I've had some sweet press recently

Inclusion in issue number four of the online based Sodium Magazine

And this nice little interview at the New York Folk Arts Examiner

ODB is for the children (complete)

Here's a nice array of photos of the newly completed ODB memorial sculpture. The head stands about two feet high and is made entirely of steel. The teeth are coated with brass and the hair has been blackened with a hot oil technique. The word "Wu Tang Clan is for the Children" followed by "RIP ODB" adorn the outer edge of the base and "1968 - 2004" is inscribed in weld on the bases surface. A video of the sculpture's production coming soon.

ODB is for the children

First look at the new ODB sculpture: still not entirely-complete.

More pix coming soon.

ODB is for the children (sneak peak)

Wheres (Ralph) Waldo (Emerson)

You see there is something irksome about the current mindset of our populace (and do forgive me for constantly ranting about the current state of this fine world we live in, but, well, it's my blog), and that is the relative lack of a mindset. Or maybe more appropriately it is the zoned out narrow mindset which stops people from developing their own creative composite mindsets. I mean why don't we have any more Mozart's? Where are all the Einstein, the Tchaikovskys, the the Henry David Theraeus, the Emersons, the Shakespears. I mean where are the fuckin Beatles? What happened to individuals with powerful ideas making startling differences? What if Freud was born 30 years ago, and after finally making his way out of jail (likely for molesting a minor or cocaine possession) decided he would dedicate his life to something, but first he has to catch the first four seasons of Lost? Or what if modern day Michaelangelo was around, and could only fit stone carving in between episodes of Desperate Housewives? Granted we can rationalize that the resolve of these epic characters was such that they were able to ignore distraction and focus on their goals and aspirations... but they didn't have all that much else to do when you think about it. There was no glowing box which you could stare it inanimately for hours to suck up your personal productive time. Necessity is the mother of all invention, but what happened to necessity? All that time where people used to sit around with only the company of their thoughts and the potential of their hands is gone. We want for so very little and we're so very occupied that nothing actually happens anymore. (Harumph.)

And here we are again.

I know I said I was gonna blog with increased regularly... and I didn't at all. I've been busy. But I'll give a quick visual update. So as a quick week in review: Most of my time has been taken up by a sculpture for Buona Fortuna Pizzeria in Monticello, NY (Cafe Victor).

Also a lot of soccer games, tending to the garden, trying to get more commissions, potentially hiring a marketing assistant/PR agent, working on a bust of ODB, gathering photos for a different portrait, fixing up/finishing bernie, NBA Finals, World cup, building a fence around the garden. Hence : less-than-usual contact with the outside world. But big Bernie is getting plenty of attention. Here's a roll of shots taken (over the course of an hour) by my dad sitting outside of Benji and Jake's in Bethel, N.Y.

My favorite was the guy with guitar who was singing a nice drunken version of John Prine's - Fish and Whistle.

State of the union: Oy vey.

Bernie, my 10 foot sculpture, has somehow managed to continue to squeeze out my time. You see I thought I was pretty much finished on sunday when I installed him lakeside in Bethel, NY, but boy was I wrong. After an exhausting weekend I allowed myself one day of collapse and then a half day comprised of drilling holes in concrete and hammering metal rods down into said holes and then welding said rods to the base of aforementioned sculpture (thus firmly securing said sculpture [please forgive over indulgent past tense]). The following day was spent grinding, sanding, wire brushing and painting Bernie until my hands were discolored and had a strange painful itchy feeling (the results of excessive vibration). The next day (today) I spent making a sculpture to fit in his mouth (give him a little more pizazz), and lo and behold the sculpture is too big for his mouth and just looks silly! Not to mention there is still a full more day of painting! The gift that keeps on giving! But this weekend my motto is the following : Fuck Bernie, I'm going to the city.

A couple more of Bernie.

Still not completely finished he needs to be wire brushed, get his tie painted, get a first layer of protective coating, weather for a couple weeks and then get coated again. A sculptors work is never done.

Big Bernie.

Here's some pictures of the finally completed Bernie, standing in at 9' 10" tall and weighing an easy 850 lb.

Here's an earlier picture of Kenny and myself maneuvering the head into place (also note: the day before install he had no eyes, no hands, no feet and no neck.)

All finished up, Bernie lays down for a nice trip over to the Bethel where he was soon to be installed.

My excellently efficient work crew who helped lift and carry and transport this massive sculpture (from right to left: Michael Ponce, Brandon Huebsch, myself, Dan Green and Josh Green).

Here's a picture of Bernie being fawned by some local ladies.

And here he is in hall is glory:

An old poem

Careful Complacency

//

Please place complacency carefully in the place adjacent to where your sub basement used to be.

Usually the used look that ensues civility in so serene in its own placidity that the dim witted seem geniuses who've been struck dumb accidentally.

I have a reason to believe that there's reason to leave,

the legion of lesions that you are yet to receive,

are seasoned in the easements of the next lines reprieve.

We're all so quick to deceive but you'd be quick to perceive

that through disbelief you'll quickly achieve

that very much needed sigh of relief

so long as you recite all the words that the righteous repeat

and yes, you maintain the right to retreat.

Just be aware;

that there are people out there, who will eat your soul like a treat

cause we're all sides of beef who've just recently learned how to speak,

and we've yet to outgrow that mammalian wont of eating the weak.

So to speak, so it goes

it's all part of show

that we star in for reasons god only knows

//

Gridlock

So I've been, ostensibly, off the grid for about a week now. That turn of phrase however, doesn't hold the weight it used to. Way back in the day (1998?) when someone said they are going "off the grid" it generally meant they were leaving their house for an extended period of time, possibly to some remote-ish location, where the mere thought of connectivity with the outside world was a complete joke. Now it doesn't matter where you go; the entire united states is pretty close to one big wifi hot-spot; everyone has a cell phone; most people have cell phones that have the entire internet on them; everyone has a laptop that's wifi capable... so if your off the grid you have to be making a serious concerted effort. And if you're someone who has a blog, a twitter account, a facebook account, a digg feed, subscriptions to multiple RSS feeds, a Tumblr profile, etc, etc, (you get the idea) and all of a sudden you stop posting, or even slow down your posting pace, than you are making a bold statement about your distaste for the social medias as a whole; because we all know that it's probably easier to stay connected to all of these things than it is to escape them... even for a couple days. So when I said I was, ostensibly, off the grid, I meant more that I was only writing/checking on my blog/twitter/facebook one to three times per day.

I think the main issue for me is the fear that these social networks are each chipping away at our sense of reality. The more we immerse ourselves in them the easier it is to become dependent on them. The opiate of over-connectivity. We develop connections and create relationships which are based entirely on the exchange of digital typefaces viewed on liquid crystal displays. What happened to steadfast, three dimensional, reality?

....

Well despite the overarching hypocrisy I'll be posting with renewed vigor once again (including daily updates on the state of Mr. Glove).

Photo Shoot

Man do I love messing around with Macro Lenses.