David Byrne, Jeff Koons, and Sarah Palin

You know how our culture just seems to keep pushing and pushing and pushing those envelopes? At first you think that it's kinda exceptional to hear a toilet flushing in the background of an interview with a couple of pretty famous people:



And then the next thing you know there's a candidate for high office being interviewed with a backdrop of turkeys being slaughtered:



What next, I ask you, what next?

One messed up piece of paper.

So I was wondering what a thoughtful monkey would make of the question of whether man came from apes or angels, and monkey logic lead me to Santa.

You know, it's really hard to make a Santa image that isn't either really jolly or really cynical. I was going for confused-thoughtful-monkey Santa. We'll see how it turns out as we go.

I thought you'd like to see the dirty sock for scale.

A third option for the t-shirt cognoscenti

I decided that in my post below I had perhaps given the potential participant too few options. With the addition of this shirt I think we've got the bases covered. Visit who WOULD wear this? to make it your own.

I'm sure it's old news to you. . .

but the best thing I've seen so far THIS week is the moment Ringo reaches out to his cymbal and grabs some vinyl:

John Cage Lives!

Why did they have to take the piano into custody?

My guess is it was performing an extended dance mix of John Cage's 4'33", with a reference to the old "tree falling in the woods" problem.

Who would actually wear that?

So, with the holiday season almost here, the daily pile of catalogs in the mailbox is measured in pounds. The poor postman - it's as if a couple of Artforums arrived each day.

Invariably, several of these catalogs contain t-shirts that leave me wondering "who in the world would wear that?" You know the kind, shirts with jokes about farts and humping dogs, that kind of thing. I wonder who says "that is JUST the thing I need, perfect for every occasion", or, perhaps, "my friend would just pee herself if she got this for Christmas".

Well, harnessing the power of the internet, I thought I'd find out. I did a little study, making shirts for both the "I gotta have this" and the "wouldn't that just be the best gift" scenarios.

The "couldn't have said it better myself" shirt:





And the "finally, my shopping is finished" shirt:





If you want to participate in this study by owning or giving one of these fine pieces of clothing, you need to visit who WOULD wear this?, the FIMP fashion store.

Talking Chimp

This chimp's talking, and he's talking chimp.




You want the first etching in the edition of 10? Here's where you can bid on it.

DJ Spooky and Marcel Duchamp

Thoughtful Monkey

The thoughtful monkey has an existential crisis wondering if man is an ape or an angel.

Visibly Thinking

Well, I've been making these drawings and prints of speaking and thinking, making use of the cartoon convention of "balloons". And when you're visually pointed towards a certain thing, you start seeing it everywhere. So here are three accidental thought balloons I've come across - visible evidence of politicians thinking.

Car-Pig

Every morning I "reset the stage" in our living room. This involves putting the blocks, legos, cars, animals, dress-up clothes, dinosaurs, Cozy-Coupe, musical instruments, and other odd objects back in their proper places, so that Rachel can come and give them all a good playing with when she gets up. Without fail, there is some beautiful collision between items that wants to be dragged away from the world of play and tossed into the world of art. Toddler-surrealism is a wonderful thing. One of today's themes was animals on cars. Now I have to give her back her pig and mini-cooper.

Altered States Opening Reception Tonight

If you're in Pittsburgh tonight, you might stop by the opening reception for "Altered States" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. I have three pieces in the show, and I'll be at the opening, sometime towards the end - it would be great to see you there.

You get five shows for one visit tonight, so it's a great time to check out the galleries.

Casting Call

Auditions continue for the FIMP Repertory Theatre's production of "Waiting for Godot". Here we see Robin Hood and Father Bear as Vladimir and Estragon. Their lack of feet may make the action with the boots difficult.

Bird Talk, finished

Well, here's the finished - or at least, to be left behind for something else - version of the image that you can watch evolve in the animation below. . .

Block Snake

Here's the latest from Rachel, titled "Block Snake":





You may remember some of her previous work, which is much more expressionistic. With this piece it seems she's going all Bauhaus on us.

Bird still talking

Bird Talk, part II

Here's the latest state of a drawing that started here.

Fired Up? Ready to Go?

November 4, 2008

It's A Free Book!

The most recent FIMP Book of the Month is a guide to interpreting the body language of your fellow citizens while you're waiting in line at the polls this Tuesday.



I thought it would be a useful public service to make this book available in a downloadable online version, so folks will have something to do while waiting in those long lines to vote.

How does this sit with the two major party candidates?

This piece of paper is all about change. This isn't a book that FIMP made - this is a book that we, together, are going to make. And here's a step by step plan showing how we're going to make it.

Listen to the eloquence, my friends. He says it's a book - but it's just a single sheet of paper. Words matter, my friends, and this is just not a book we can believe in.

The beauty of our democracy is that when it comes right down to it, you get to decide whether or not you want to download this file, follow the directions in the video, and call the resulting product a book. You can get the image file you need right here:

Election 2008: Body Language

and then you might want to watch the following video, which explains how to cut and fold the page to make the eight page book. Be warned though - the video channels the rhetoric of all of the candidates' performances in this year's debates.