This Week After Dark

This week's theme in Ten Thousand Pixels is "After Dark". The top image in this post is Steven LaRose's first contribution as a new contributor to the blog.

Pittsburgh Small Presses

The May exhibition at the "Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery" is "Pittsburgh Small Presses". About a dozen of Pittsburgh's small presses will be represented, including the Fiji Island Mermaid Press. The show opens this Friday, May 2nd, with a reading from 6 - 8 pm, and the reception continuing to 10 pm with live music.

The Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery is located at 5015 Penn Avenue in Garfield.

one of the "Principals"

This week's theme over on Ten Thousand Pixels is "blood on your hands", highlighting the top Bush administration officials who discussed and approved the use of torture as one of our tools in the "war on terror".

I thought the image above stood out as just a wonderfully creepy and interesting composition. Those eyes going in two different directions, and that half-mouth, in that little square. . .

Cubist Garden Rabbit

To this point, most of my two-year old daughter's artistic efforts have been in 2-d media; crayons, markers, and photography (see here and here).

Her forays into 3-d have been primarily installation/environments, using various scatter techniques. These are often quite ambitious and energetic, but lack some of the discipline of the traditional sculptural media. Today she has produced her first non-Lego free-standing sculpture, an untitled piece that obviously owes a great debt to both Cubism and our 100 pound dog, who during one of his mad romps actually managed to knock the ear off of a concrete rabbit.

The Chairman of the Board, Mermaid Style

Subscribers to the FIMP Book of the Month Club will already have received "Hats Versus Cigarettes", an explanation of Big Tobacco's conspiracy to kill hats as a way to save cigarettes. Attentive readers may have noticed the FIMP logo above, in which the usual Fiji Mermaid was replaced with a Frank Sinatra/monkey/fish hybrid. I amused myself by digging around in the FIMP filing cabinet to find more examples of times when I've tweaked the logo, and I thought they just might amuse you. So here they are.

Two Stories

Burnt Cookies

Understanding Quantum Mechanics

We the People

Explorations of the Human Form in Contemporary Sculpture

Interested surfers might want to see a mostly complete list of the 85 or so Fiji Island Mermaid Press books produced so far.

Crossings

Here's a pair of linocuts I just finished for "Crossings", a book to be produced soon by Clampdown Press. I'll keep you posted as to the availability of the finished product. This pair of prints will be the title page and the facing page - the geese crossing from one panel to the other. . .

Circles and Snowmen

This week's theme for Ten Thousand Pixels is "Circling". Today's post is one of hundreds of glass eyeballs in my studio here. I think that one's for a deer.

There's only four days left to vote for FIMP's "Outsider Snowman" in the March Snowman Contest at Today's Snowman. Don't let "American Snowman's" flag lapel pin sway you - Outsider Snowman is the real hope for snowmen everywhere in these difficult times.

Tiny Preview

This week's theme for 10,000 Pixels is flight, and today's post is a detail of a block I'm currently cutting. The prints are going to be the title page images for a chapbook, and you'll see the finished results here in a few weeks, but I thought you might like a little sneak preview.

Shelf-Portrait

There are two things in my life that are slightly incompatible:

1. I love books, and certain books I like to keep in as fine a condition as possible, and
2. I have a two-year old daughter.

My daughter is absolutely amazing, the light of my life, but she's really hard on books. She loves 'em, but her love is often shown in more physically demanding ways than is good for the health of the book.

We have bookshelves all over the house, and none of them are safe from our energetic toddler. Except one. I have one very high shelf over my computer in my studio that is, at this point, toddler-proof. So, over time, the books that I most want to preserve have migrated to that shelf. This hasn't become a place for my favorite literature, as most of that is in paperback form, and I figure that paperbacks are built to self-destruct over time anyway, so there's no sense in being too protective of them. What has accumulated there is a few of the art catalogs in the house that I just couldn't stand to see lose their dust jackets or get dog-eared.

The thought struck me that, in grabbing things that I wanted to keep out of the baby's hands, over time I've created a self-portrait of sorts. Sort of accidentally answering one of those "if you could take such-and-such to a desert island, which would you take" type questions. So here, for what it's worth, is the list of those books, a window into those things that I like to look at and want to keep, a "shelf-portrait".

Light and Lens by Robert Hirsch. This one and the linocut exhibition catalog are sort of oddballs in that my own work is reproduced in them, and so they maybe aren't as much a portrait of my tastes as an example of my vanity.
William Kentridge
The Art of William Steig
Drawings of Jim Dine, an exhibition catalog from a show at the National Gallery of Art
Gregory Gillespie, an exhibition catalog from a show of his late work at the Forum Gallery
International Triennial of Graphic Arts Prague 2004, the aforementioned exhibition catalog containing a few of my linocuts.
In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegleman. This is the first "artist's book" up there.
Brucke, a catalog of woodcuts, with some of the essays for individual prints written by an art-historian friend of mine, Tina Yarborough, who is a professor at the small college in Georgia where I used to teach.
Gregory Gillespie, an exhibition catalog from the Hirschorn from 1978
The Art of Richard Diebenkorn
Poetry Speaks
Drawings by David Hughes. You should visit his website.
The Book of Shrigley. You should visit his website, too.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, of course, but illustrated beautifully by David Hughes.
The Essential Joseph Beuys
Anselm Kiefer, an exhibition catalog from the show at the Philadelphia Museum in 1988. Some day I should tell you about the women wearing white gloves who were turning the pages of his gigantic sand covered books, and how their gloves turned progressively browner and browner, and how amusing I thought that was, and how incredible I thought that exhibition was. Well, I guess I just did.
Anselm Kiefer, a catalog from Marian Goodman Gallery
Arnulf Rainer, from a great show I saw in Chicago
Kleinzueg, an artist's book by Arnulf Rainer, by far the coolest wedding present we received.
Walter Pichler
Artist's Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook
John Virtue: London Paintings, a catalog from a beautiful show we saw at the British Museum in New Haven. Ironically, considering the reasoning behind why this book is on this shelf, this was the first show that my tiny daughter ever attended with us. She slept through the whole thing.
Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collection of Ricky Jay
Jay's Journal of Anomalies, by Ricky Jay
Dieter Roth: Graphic Works
Roth Time, the catalog from a great Dieter Roth retrospective that MOMA put on when it was in its temporary exhibition spaces during the big recent renovation.
Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck, by Ricky Jay and photographer Rosamund Purcell
Art in its Time by Paul Mattick. I'm not quite sure how this one got up there - it's not in the "must not be dinged" category - more something that must have ridden the studio tides up to that shelf.
Imaginary Economics by Olav Velthuis
Black Box / Chambre Noire by William Kentridge
and finally, a big goofy notebook labeled Every Dumb Idea, which is just a receptacle for everything that crosses my mind that might become a print, drawing, artist's book or whatever. It's not a precious book, just something I need at hand when I'm working on the computer, and it makes a good bookend.

So there's my portrait in catalogs. What would be on your shelf?

Astronauts to Work on Giant Robot - It's About Time!

Today's headlines included this story from the Associated Press:

Astronauts to Work on Giant Robot

and really, it's about time. All I can say, is the pictures from NASA better come back looking something like this:




because, to be honest, to this point the future has kind of sucked, robot-wise.

When I was a kid, the future we imagined was not a digital one. It was one full of really cool mechanical stuff - flying cars for every household, ray-guns, hotels on Mars, and robots that looked pretty much like people but were smarter and didn't mind doing all of the heavy lifting for us. They looked something like "Robot" from Lost in Space:




Now, the future that I've grown into has some really amazing stuff, but it's all about computers, which just aren't that cool to look at. Where are the floating cities? Why are cars still burning gasoline, of all things, instead of being nuclear-powered? Why aren't we battling invading aliens?

Now, admittedly, there are a few things out there that have been better than expected.




The iPhone does kick Kirk's communicator's butt. The communicator couldn't even take pictures or play music. But you know, compared to giant laser-beam-wielding flying killer robots, the iPhone really isn't much. If the future does have to be all about computers, then we should at least expect fully sentient ones that go bad once in a while, like HAL:




Is that too much to ask? But maybe, with the news from NASA today, we're actually heading into a future that will look much more futuristic for a change. Time will tell.

Time Waits For Snowman

Since FIMP is participating in this month's contest at Today's Snowman (you will go over there and vote for "Outsider Snowman", won't you?) I thought I should post the pages to the book in which he starred, Time Waits For Snowman. Ars longa, snow brevis. . .

"How To" 10,000 Pixels

"But the images are so small, and pixellated - they look nothing like my work!"

You often hear artists bemoan the quality of reproduction of artwork on the web.

I've started a new blog that celebrates small images reproduced at 72 ppi. Why fight it? Embrace it. What CAN you do with a mere 10,000 pixels?

This week's theme is "How To". Last week was "anonymous".

Surf on over to 10,000 Pixels and check it out. Let me know what you think.

In unrelated upcoming event news, the snowman from FIMP's The Brief, Tedious and Unfulfilling Life of Mr. Snowman is going to be a contestant in March's snowman contest at Today's Snowman. I hope "Mr. Snowman" can count on your support in these trying times, when you need an experienced snowman who's ready on day one and the like.

Give The People What They Want: "Art Project"

Curious visitors may have noticed the tiny sitemeter logo at the bottom of this blog. This meter provides all kinds of interesting statistics, beyond a simple count of how many people have viewed the site. Of these, I find the "referrals" stats the most intriguing. These referrals tell me how each visitor found the site - what search terms they may have used that led them to one of the entries on this blog. Now, the sad truth is, many of the folks that visit this blog are undoubtedly disappointed by what they find. Searchers for "how to draw a mermaid" or useful tips on visiting Fiji find nothing of use whatsoever here. So, I decided that I could try to give the people what they want. One of the common searches that brings surfers here is "art project", and I'm afraid that they're not finding what they are looking for. So, to correct this lapse in content, here's a FIMP special edition "art project":

HEY KIDS!

Looking for that perfect art project that explores both Minimalism and macaroni? Here it is - your own diorama of Eva Hesse's "Repetition Nineteen III"!




To make this project, you'll need 19 pieces of small rigatoni, two pieces of foamcore, and a picture of Eva Hesse (optional).

1. Arrange the foamcore to make the clean white modern space of the Museum of Modern Art.

2. Deploy the macaroni somewhat randomly on the museum floor.

3. Place Eva Hesse behind the macaroni.

Luckily, the placement of the macaroni is variable, as Hesse stated that "I don't ask that the piece be moved or changed, only that it could be moved and changed. There is not one preferred format." This eliminates the need for glue.

You can learn more about "Repetition Nineteen III" by visiting the Museum of Modern Art's website. Be sure to pay attention to the sexual connotations of the empty vessel forms, as this is info that you can use to embarrass your teacher and get him or her to move on to the next student's project.

10,000 Pixels

Another day, another blog.

The People Have Spoken!

Well, to be more precise, nine people have spoken. And of those nine, 6 of them voted for "Hats Versus Cigarettes" as the topic for March's Book of the Month. I'm just hoping that those fervent supporters of "How To Draw B.F. Skinner" can rally behind next month's topic now that all the ballots have been cast and the chads have finished dangling and whatnot.

Time's Running. Not necessarily "out", just running. . .

Today's the last day to vote for "B.F. Skinner" or "Hats Versus Cigarettes" as the subject of March's Book of the Month. Scroll down a post or two and add a comment as your ballot.

The wilting flowers are part of a piece I'm working on for the first post-Blogger show installment of the Zero Sum Art Project. When all the petals fall off, we'll have the next piece. You'll just have to stay tuned and see. . .

FIMP at the Oscars

With the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, it seems like a good time to bring back "I've Wanted More Than Anything To Have Your Respect", my acceptance speech for Oscar Night:



The text is sewn together from previous winners in the "Best Actress" category.

If you want more FIMP Cinema, you can check out the following:

Unimpressed

Uncle FIMP's Storytime

The Tower of Babel

Sculpture between your ears, part II

So, a couple of months ago I offered you some Free Bad Luck, a sculpture that I felt was just as effective when made in your head as it would be if I went to the trouble of actually knocking it together. Here's another one.

Get yourself four chairs. The one's above are just a suggestion, this is your sculpture, use any chairs you want. Add a longish rectangular table. Put three chairs on one side, and one on the other. Now, here's where it gets fun. You're going to make two sculptures, one in which the single chair is the most powerful one, and one in which that chair is the place you don't want to be. For the first sculpture, slide all four chairs up to the table, three on one side, one on the other. Who sits in the single chair? The CEO, the person in charge. For sculpture number two, take that single chair and slide it away from the table, maybe five or six feet. Now who's in charge? That single chair has become the hotseat, and the three chairs have become the inquisitors.

I was given that little mental sculpture by J. P. Darriau, a wonderful sculpture professor at I.U. who taught a drawing class that was taken by all of the printmaking graduate students. He was certainly one of the most unique and engaging professors I encountered there. I'm guessing he picked up this idea from Augusto Boal's Games for Actors and Non-actors, specifically the "Great Game of Power". J.P. tended to dump an enormous amount of interesting stuff on his classes, and just hoped we would sift something useful out of what he threw at us. It was great.

For those following the election news, "Hats Versus Cigarettes" is winning the race for next month's book, with 6 votes, compared to three votes for "How To Draw B. F. Skinner" and one vote for combining the two. Scroll down a couple of posts, and vote for the book you want to see made. Voting closes on February 25!

More Opportunities to Make Your Voice Heard

Are you here to vote on the next "book of the month"? If so, just scroll down to the next post, or let me take you there.

But if you've already voted here, yet you still have a hankering for democracy in action, might I suggest a visit to Today's Snowman, where you can help choose the winner in this month's snowman contest.


Today's Snowman is the official website for Bob Eckstein's "History of the Snowman". Now there's a book that must have FIMP's seal of approval.

And as if that's not enough, Mr. Eckstein, Snowman Expert, provides us with this strangely satisfying video compilation of exploding snowmen. Enjoy!

FIMP Gets out the Vote!

Moments ago, I delivered this month's artist's book to the post office. It is essentially an invitation for subscribers to the FIMP Book of the Month Club to vote on the subject for next month's book. That invitation is extended not only to those subscribers who can anticipate the arrival of this to-be-determined book in their mailbox, but also to the casual wanderer of the web who might happen upon this page. If you're reading these words, you should leave a comment and vote on next month's book.

So, now that everyone knows why they're here and what is what, here are the candidates:

A "how-to-draw" book, claiming to teach you how to draw B. F. Skinner using his methods of operant conditioning, or



An explanation of the relationship between smoking and hats, and a modest proposal based on that relationship.

Now, in keeping with every other book of the month, I will only guarantee two things. Whichever topic is chosen, the reader of the resulting book will neither be taught how to actually draw B. F. Skinner, nor learn anything remotely useful about the relationship between smoking and hats. This is ART, dammit, it's not supposed to DO something. That's just a given!

So, leave a comment with your vote. Make your voice heard! Your single vote might make all the difference. Actually, yours might even BE the only single vote! Think of the awesome power that is at your typing fingertips!

Voting will be closed on Monday, February 25, so you've got plenty of time to fully weigh the merits of both candidates. Choose wisely!

Big Tiny People

I've been making lots of collages recently, and some of them incorporated vintage postcards from Paris. I was swabbing the decks of my drawing table this morning, putting the new "Book of the Month" together, and I found a tiny scrap of a card. There were several people walking in the foreground, each about 3/16" high. Here they are.


These are figures from a photograph. The scrap has lost its specific reference - the landmark that was the reason for the postcard - and I'm left with these completely anonymous people. They seem very particular in some ways - they aren't from here and now - but they're also tiny fragments of incomplete information. Aren't they kind of wonderful?

Improv Everywhere

You just gotta love these guys. Their mission? "Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missions involving thousands of undercover agents. The group is based in New York City." Sounds good to me!

Tiny Big People

While watching one of the most exciting Super Bowl games I can remember, I was making gesture drawings of the players. . .

Before and After

I recently finished a piece that is going to be on display in an exhibition at the Southern Humanities Council Annual Conference. Invited artists were asked to make a piece around the theme "Home is Where the ______ Is". I thought you might enjoy seeing the thumbnail sketch and the finished product. I went from this:

to this:


Home, cyanotype and acrylic on paper, 12" x 12"

Now I'm the first to admit that things don't always get better as they get more complicated. There are qualities in the sharpie sketch that might have been lost in the finished piece. But it's a process - I keep working, and try to pull things out of the stream that are worth saving.

I know that this thumbnail drawing was one instance where the quick drawing ended up the "keeper", compared to the finished product.

Self-portrait

Self-portrait
disposable camera, 2008

My two year old daughter continues her work in photography, adding this dramatic self-portrait to her portfolio.

Apparently she is concentrating on portraiture, as her first image made with the disposable camera was this unsentimental rendition of her dad.

Her work in crayon, marker, and installation art (tending towards "scatter pieces") continues with gusto.