Also decorating my chandelier with ingredients of a subway car. The subtle and not so subtle life of red - about the reds that are gentle - old masters technique of gentle blending, starring a jar of Damar varnish made with Damar crystals melted in turpentine.
.
Yet it is hard to express and create love, trust, wellbeing. Maybe it just seems that way from where I stand. In reality it is really hard to put together - say - a table - yet you can yank a leg with one gesture and destroy it. Sometimes I am not sure what to do.
. . .
. . . . . .
The subway has always been an endless animation, with hands of various sizes coming and going, getting strung firmly for a bit and then letting go. Also the great stories of the subway, sometimes you hear a life’s story by the time you get off. Often strange and sometimes with villains in various disguises. . .
.
Just seen now the Les Misérables ( the movie, it is beautiful ) and i think of this great book and the incredible ideas in it that fascinate us century and a half and more later. The idea that man is born free, that thought is important, that the rights of peoples are important, that having Monarchs rule over peoples is idiotic, and that examining civilization from a moral perspective is a noble pursuit.
some excerpts:
The book which the reader has before him at this moment is, from one end to the other, in its entirety and details ... a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God. The starting point: matter, destination: the soul. The hydra at the beginning, the angel at the end.
.
.....
I don't know whether it will be read by everyone, but it is meant for everyone. It addresses England as well as Spain, Italy as well as France, Germany as well as Ireland, the republics that harbour slaves as well as empires that have serfs. Social problems go beyond frontiers. Humankind's wounds, those huge sores that litter the world, do not stop at the blue and red lines drawn on maps. Wherever men go in ignorance or despair, wherever women sell themselves for bread, wherever children lack a book to learn from or a warm hearth, Les Miserables knocks at the door and says: "open up, I am here for you".
...
Waterloo, by cutting short the demolition of European thrones by the sword, had no other effect than to cause the revolutionary work to be continued in another direction. The slashers have finished; it was the turn of the thinkers. The century that Waterloo was intended to arrest has pursued its march. That sinister victory was vanquished by liberty.
thank God I can read.
Imagine having to spend a life as a slave, having never learned about the world, the great noble things in it, never read a decent book or seen a great painting, never learned about science or the planets, never created anything beautiful or meaningful, having to serve soup to people who treat you badly. oh my.
,
I have discovered that just like any good pet macs have special hidden talents to please their owners - right click any text in you OS X and add to iTunes as a Spoken Track - choose the default Alex voice, it is pretty good - and voila - now your mac can read to you any text, book, website.
I frequently add whole books and make instant audiobooks to entertain myself while I work. In the past artists used to have musicians and clowns entertain them in the studio, I have my mac read to me.
Here is the folder on dropbox -i'll be dropping stuff in here once in a while:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gyg34txz05kgact/AADAynfol9TNzg5D7FaecoKLa?dl=0
Here is
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jy0khl2h1f8pqm6/Jean%20Baudrillard%20-%20Disneyworld%20Company.m4a?dl=0
Here is the article online:
http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=158
The perspective of others is about the perceived reality of others and I am really not fond of news as i much rather listen to smart people pondering odd stuff, it really makes using my organs of hearing all the more worthwhile.
.
Mundane is the most reliable circus and a source of endless entertainment so i wouldn't discount it at all - it is just that we can appreciate it more when we raise above it. Like in a hot air balloon, when you see the patterns on the nearby fields and the curvature of the earth becomes clear. We need to reflect on ourselves and what surrounds us and ask good questions.
.
Here is the annual question which is posed by edge.org to the greatest minds working today.
2017 : WHAT SCIENTIFIC TERM OR CONCEPT OUGHT TO BE MORE WIDELY KNOWN?
https://www.edge.org/responses/what-scientific-term-or%C2%A0concept-ought-to-be-more-widely-known
.
is a series of drawings, installations, simulations with Unity 3D using the pen and ink drawings, animations, and of course photographs i took of the subway which strangely have nothing to do with my vision for the world i am creating. The nyc subway has always provided great comfort and stories and I find it more interesting than any stage production. It has always provided endless fascination for me and filled my imagination.
Installations: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9XJDcVINfMCv3r27CLejJRb_0_kKi_q
Drawing: http://mirenarhee.com/drawings/mirena-rhee-hands-chart-pen-and-ink-drawing.jpg
Photographs: http://dimmerlight.com/portfolio/subway-grids/
.
Bits and pieces of things from Alan Watts.. .
it seems to have a sense of wonder and enthusiasm is bad form...
.
I personally promise to hang onto every idea and whim that crosses my mind. To indulge in frivolous speculation and to use words from different languages in one sentence. I am interested in answers not much contrived, genuine things and fools persistent in their folly.
.
.
The subtle and not so subtle life of red - drawing and painting..
Also decorating my chandelier with ingredients of a subway car.
Also starring a jar of Damar varnish made with Damar crystals melted in turpentine, tubes of paint. .
Happy New Year from me wishing all the most pleasant and gracious things. ..
This is a self portrait developed using old masters techniques and materials, it is built with subtle and very transparent glazes that i usually leave to dry for six months before applying the next layer. Here the pigments i use are genuine vermillion, ultramarine, ivory black, yellow ochre, mars black. These pigments are very gentle and the painting shifts if applied too vigorously so i give them lots of space. I also use a glaze i made myself using stand oil and damar varnish, which I also made from scratch melting damar crystals in turps for several weeks. Each glazed layer has a sheen that reflects light and the final effect will be more luminous as a result. .
I continue to dry my laundry on the Subway.. Ingredients of a Subway Car is an ongoing project including pen and ink drawings, installations, 3d simulations and animation.. .
To me any shard that sparkles is just like any other shard that sparkles, they have or haven't previously been beer bottles. We haven't solved many of our problems efficiently but it seems a lot of carbon shards I have seen in New York are better taken care of than many humans. We need to cut the shard loose.
And always wondered why is that the case? How has this particular shard captured our imagination. Who wants it? I mean it used to be that shards indicated status, and status served to preserve social order for the better and calm of society. Now that we have publicly funded institutions in place to do that i think we need to release the shards from that duty. They are somewhat pretty but not in my mind pretty enough do deserve more than a days wage. If i see a shard decorated individual of course i am not going to think more or less of them on account of the shards. So what is it?
I have identified 10 easy steps that we, together, can fix this country.
And number four is…
4. Cut the diamond shops loose and have free computer and learning places in there instead for people to go get free education.
What I see here is nothing more or less than polished pebbles just like any other polished pebbles and I am not gonna argue with anyone over it, I am just not going to ever bring it up again. I could see a ceremonial use for it when dancing in circles for rain for example and just for kicks but to have these shards take prominence or precedence is a waste of space - imagine if in our minds and hearts actual valuable things take place like learning how to break the speed of light, maybe instead of toiling for rocks we can toil the genome or figure out how to break out of gravity and get on real voyages and real far.
.
. . .
add-on 2019 - In case you need to perform a shamanic ritual and need to decorate yourself in crystals, or have gotten a job as a shaman and need to sew these into your uniform or headdress - I know a great shop in the garment district that has a million dollar necklace they sell for 25 bucks.
Story began on Election Day when I asked New Yorkers to write me a message on a canvas I wore on Union Square, and a couple of weeks later I took the same canvas, flipped it over and asked Londoners to write me a message, on Leicester Square. This was my second time in London ever and I didn't really know the city that well. By the time I arrived it was late afternoon and I realized the location I had picked for the piece in London was pitch dark by 3pm. My only shot at doing the performance was the next day, due to weather.
It was evening when I strolled down The Mall in London and saw a couple of policeman sitting in a cruiser in full riot gear. I told them my predicament that I need a relatively well lit place with tons of traffic to do an art piece next day and we chatted for a while and they said, sure, do Leicester Square. And that was it. .. .
Pre for an animation
..
..
on another note - Lisbon smelled so good this one morning.. i don't think i have ever been in a place so fragrant with sea smell... that early and that airporty.. 7 am\
.
