The Abramovic Method Games

As a founder of MAI I got an early access to a series of simple exercises called The Abramovic Method Games.  Here are some screenshots of the Zen like games. The Artist is Present game - you can play the game on Pippin Barr's website here:

Complaining to a Tree is my favorite game. There is a story I remember that involves a tree, the story gets pretty Balkan as Marina Abramovich is a Serbian, I am a Bulgarian and my late grandfather, who gets involved in the tree story, is a Macedonian.  My friends and I were visiting my grandfather at his house on the Black Sea - it was my birthday and I fell really sick with fever. My grandfather immediately said we ought to find an oak tree to hug for me to get better. We, the whole gang, got into a car and drove off to go find an oak tree.

Obzor, where my grandfather lived, sits where the Balkan Mountains dip into the Black Sea. The area is covered in woods and we drove up and down the road  looking for a good-sized oak tree grove.

We found the trees, we all hugged one and I got better. The point is, from my personal experience, complaining to  a tree helps. If you get a chance - you should do it too. (I assume no liability in case you take my advice and instead of going to the doctor- you go looking for a tree. I remember Tree Hugging was big in California when I used to live there but have no time to google the context. It seems the Tree Embrace is not a very Balkan idea after all).

You can Complain to a Tree here:

Counting Rice and Sesame - play the game in your browser here:

I am a Marina Abramovic Institute Founder

An Art Gallery in the air - Sochi Olympics Ceremony sets inspired by Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism and Agitprop imagery and typography

Wassily Kandinsky in his "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" devoted two chapters to the symbolic meaning of the triangle and its tri-dimensional counterpart, the pyramid - II. THE MOVEMENT OF THE TRIANGLE and  IV. THE PYRAMID. Kandinsky was also the first chairman of the Russian Constructivism movement which inspired the geometric vision for the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony yesterday. It was spiritually and typographically resting on the Russian Constructivists and Agitprop designs of the 1920’s. Here are several images from the Opening Ceremony sets:

Russian Constructivists artwork that inspired the above sets - the Avant Garde movement in art and architecture in the 1920s. An El Lissitzky's composition:

Iakov Chernikhov and his compositions that pre-visioned computer graphics by a century:

Vladimir Tatlin's Tower:

Agitprop posters and typography:

Bauhaus poster:

Turksib (1929) Poster:

Sochi Olympics Ceremony costumes:

In comparison,  Avant Garde, Bauhaus inspired ballet costume designs by Anatol Petrytzky circa 1920s:

Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth", in conversation with Bill Moyers is free on souncloud

The role of the artist I now understood as that of revealing through the world-surfaces the implicit forms of the soul, and the great agent to assist the artist was the myth.

-Joseph Campbell

I worked as an artist for George Lucas and I am very familiar with "The Ranch" in Northern California, where Lucas held 4th of July parties every year. The following conversations between Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell took place at  George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, right before Campbell's death in 1987.

If there is a single text that has influenced my view of the world - The Power of Myth is that text. In it Campbell says:

"Everyone is a hero in his birth. He's undergone a tremendous transformation, from a little water creature living in the realm of the amniotic fluid and so forth, then coming out and becoming an air breathing mammal that ultimately will be self-standing. This is an enormous transformation and a heroic act."

On Art and Artists Campbell wrote:

" Myth must be kept alive. The

people who can keep it alive are artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the

mythologization of the environment and the world."

Joseph Campbell also wrote "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", a seminal work of comparative mythology.

Durer is at the National Gallery in Washington, DC

"What beauty is, I know not, though it adheres to many things... We must gather it together from far and wide"  Albrecht Durer. This quote was inscribed in one of my favorite galleries in New York - The Morgan Library and Museum.

The exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC runs until June 9th, 2013 - http://www.nga.gov/

Art Basel Miami

Extinguished a bit of a thirst for art at Art Basel Miami this past weekend. Visited the very same galleries I have seen dozens of shows of in New York, but felt as if meeting someone from church ... at a Maskenball.

Also overwhelming was the amount of small dogs and high heels.

Fruit, vegetable, bee and man

I have been a vegetarian all my life - I destroy great amounts of fruits and vegetables and spend time around New York's green markets choosing produce. I like to smell it, touch it and feel it. Bees and I think the same things. Seeking quality things take time to grow and be found.

What happened to the red ceiling of XQUISITE CORPSE ? I decided to wear it

I wanted to swim in it all along.. that's why I scouted the Garment District in Manhattan for 50 yards of the most beautiful red ( as soon as I find the card of the store on 38th st - I will publish it. The most amazing place, swimming in beautiful fabrics and amazing people. I owe our red to them )

The red ceiling..

Come out and paint - XQUISITE CORPSE Open Studio

XQUISITE CORPSE Open Studio ( and party )Saturday, March 10, 12-6 pm and party 6-11 pm 526 West 26th street, studio 723, New York, NY 10001

A Collaborative art project.. with a twist. Please be cautious, this will not be a usual art party, you may need to wear art on your sleeve. The XQUISITE CORPSE will drink the new wine and art will be made by all and not by one! Paint, painting surfaces and booze will be FREE, make sure to wear comfortable clothes, if anything.

http://xquisitecorpse.mirenarhee.com/

XQUISITE CORPSE is part of High LIne Open Studios - Chelsea - 2012 and Armory Arts week New York.

Thanks to  Ian Mack.

A few great things - Damien Hirst's Spot paintings, The Happenings at Pace

I had heard so much criticism about Damien's Spot paintings before going to the three New York shows, that I had the sneaky suspicion I am going to love them. They gave me pleasure - pleasure is hardly an argument - you either like having it or not. The flavor colored paintings made me want to lick every single dot, were named after various chemical substances and defied Jerry Saltz's argument "You see one, and you really have seen them all." In fact, they all tasted different. When I think of Damien - I also can't help but think of Zaphod Beeblebrox. Hey, if that artist's intent is to make a lot of money - that is not a reason to reject the work - although this is not my intent but can't speak against that being someone else's. The spots aren't things by themselves and they do not create a traditional artistic value (via the artist's hand ). We all know from math that a dot cannot be defined as having a substance, it's a destination. Each room of the three Gagosian galleries was brilliantly hung - thus all the paintings in a room worked together with scale to triangulate space and create a giant, Three-dimensional musical piano ( you know, the toy ones - i had one when i was a kid ).

It was a pure pleasure to indulge in the simple language of color, to occupy the space within the dots and just listen to the music.

When I think of Damien - I also can't help but think of Zaphod Beeblebrox. Hey

The exhibition Opening at Pace gallery's Happenings: New York, 1958-1963 was packed with the Who's Who in the art world today. Although the crowds for the most parts obscured the actual show - I think it was more or less the point. The exhibition opening was, all over again, a Happening on its own.

Works by Jim Dine, Simone Forti, Red Grooms, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, Carolee Schneemann, and Robert Whitman.

Ai Weiwei at Mary Boone, questions, answers and the pigments of imagination

Ai Weiwei's Sunflower seeds at Mary Boone gallery in Chelsea.

One thing I learned - when art asks questions - please, do not answer. Asking is fun. Answering, on the other hand, is not.

Christopher Russell's strange, beautiful grey obelisks at Julie Saul gallery. Grey is a pigment of your imagination..

The New Matrix of Artist's Emotional States

The Indian Painter's palette and its most seductive colors

..I have seen to have survived many centuries and hold their power, on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art mounted a lavish Indian painting exhibit and I managed to catch the last day and take notes, photography was not allowed.

The ultimate geek list of pigments used in Indian Painting:

White pigments: 1. Lead White ( basic Lead carbonate ) 2. Zinc White ( zinc oxide ) 3. Chalk ( calcium carbonate )

Red/Orange: 4. Cinnabar ( Mercury sulfide ) 5. Vermillion ( Synthetic Mercuric Sulfide ) 6. Lac ( primary colorant Laccaic Acid ) 7. Red Lead ( Lead tetroxide/orange red ) 8. Realgar ( Arsenic disulfide/bright orange red mineral ) 9. Saffron ( Crocetin and Crocin )

Yellow: 10. Opriment ( Arsenic trisulfide/soft yellow ) 11. Indian Yellow ( Magnesium euxanthate/ originally from the urine of cows fed mango leaves ) 12. Gamboge ( yellowish orange )

Green: 13. Verdigris ( Basic Copper Acetate/dark bluish green pigment ) 14. Malachite ( Basic Copper Carbonate ) Mixtures to make green - Indigo and Indian yellow

Blue/Violet: 15. Ultramarine ( Natural Ultramarine is the ground, separated blue particles - lazurite - from the gemstone Lapis Lazuli ) 16. Azurite ( basic Copper Carbonate/frequently found adjacent to Malachite ) 17. Indigo ( Indigotin )

Earth Pigments: 18. Iron Oxides

Black/Gold/Silver/Tin: 19. Carbon 20. Gold Ink ( Gold particles with gum ), similar with Silver and Tin ink

21. Beetle wings ( to represent Emeralds )

Inks: 22. Carbon inks ( Lamb black ) 23. Metallo-gallic ink 24. Indian ink ( naturally ) 25. Willow Charcoal 26. Lamp Black ( soot from fat, oil, tar ) 27. Ivory Black

Gums: 28. Ghatti gum 29. Suresh 30. Gum arabic

Were-Rabbit on the wall, a Bulgarian style feast, with a twist

As part of an Action Art project over the holidays, I invited my artists friends over for a Bulgarian style feast, with a twist.. As Bulgarian tradition dictates, you have to paint on the walls for food:) The twist was that my friends and participants didn't know that all the walls were tarped for painting.., I advertised the event as a sit down dinner with all the trimmings of a family event. I wanted to completely detach the action from a specific result and let things unfold.

..and here are the results

\\ Ink, brushes, charcoal, sharpies, pastels on butcher paper, red lights

The next day, I took photographs of all the walls in natural lighting..

In addition to drawings, there Were-Rabbits, poems and cryptic messages..

even a Were-Man..

Occupy Wall Street and Magritte also showed up.. with parts of a Christmas tree

100 percent Ultra Violet

I went to Ultra Violet's studio this past weekend to take photographs of her and her work. Ultra Violet said the first person she met off the boat ( arriving from France in the 60's ) was Salvador Dali.  She became his muse, and later on, became a muse to Andy Warhol and a superstar in his Factory.

What do Ultra Violet, Quantum tunnelling and Bhagavad Gita have in common?

Surmounting Uncertainty. Ultra Violet

says 99 percent certainty is 100 percent certainty.

Quantum Tunneling

Quantum Mechanics says a particle has a definite probability of being anywhere in the entire universe. Although any real distance from the particle’s expected classical path is infinitesimally small, since Quantum Mechanics is a statistical theory those small probabilities must be counted! Quantum Tunneling is a fascinating effect that arises out of these small probabilities. ( I certainly, 100 percent didn't write this )

Bhagavad Gita

Philip Glass' Satyagraha is based on Bhagavad Gita and sung entirely in Sanskrit, without titles for the audience. Bhagavad Gita says the world is not for the doubting man.

Math for Artists: Exponents and Radicals

A friend of mine I used to work with at Lucasfilm recently shared this.. He is a brilliant technical mind, the guy behind the most advanced technology of special effects simulations created by Pixelux Entertainment. Naturally, artists and engineers at Lucasfilm were locked in eternal friendly battle of the minds, where engineers of course always had the upper hand since  entertainment industry today is essentially a high-tech industry. So we had many inside jokes regarding the math abilities of artists. Math is a language, and choosing Peet Mondrian's colors is no accident, for Math is not only an abstract language but also a visual language. Visualization in mathematics, or mathematical notation, was invented in the 16th century and it immensely liberated mathematical discovery. Like musical notation, modern mathematical notation is strict and a few symbols could convey very complex ideas.

I went to mathematical high school and participated in a few Mathematical Olympiads, although I am the worst student of math as I relied mostly on my pattern recognition ability rather than study. When I moved to the States I did some of the  comprehensive IQ tests and scored pretty high; but my pattern recognition was the highest at 147. I have my own definition of pattern recognition and it's the ability to predict an outcome based on two or three reference points. As in life and math, trouble is if you think you have two or three reference points but in fact only one is a solid ground and the rest.. simply conjectures.