Digging Pitt Gallery, Zero Sum #10, and an apology

If you're in Pittsburgh, you should put a visit to Digging Pitt Gallery on your list of things to do. Not only are the exhibitions consistently interesting, but the director John Morris maintains an extensive set of flat files, making the artwork of over 140 local, national, and international artists available to anyone who comes in the gallery. And as of recently, I'm one of those artists, so there you go.


If you want to see what's looming in the sky above this happy postal worker, you should visit the auction for Zero Sum #10 on eBay. It's a nice chunky collage of a painting.

One of the curious and amusing features about this blog for me is that the counter at the bottom allows you to see what brought people to the site - how they were referred. Ideally they would arrive here having done a search on google for, say, "nice chunky collage of a painting", and be happy to have found something related to their online quest. Sadly, it seems that for some reason a large proportion of FIMP's visitors arrive here looking for information on one of two topics - the Fiji Islands, or Mermaids. Quite a few are looking for instruction on how to draw mermaids. And despite the fact that this is the Fiji Island Mermaid Press, they find no relevant information whatsoever on their topics of interest.


Barnum's mermaid, as depicted in the New York Herald in 1842

One of these days, I need to discuss the origin of this grossly misleading title. For now, I'll just tell you that the Fiji Island Mermaid was one of P.T. Barnum's exhibits, a gaffe made up of the top half of a monkey sewn to the bottom half of a fish. I'm a big fan of Mr. Barnum, his display of this object, and his encouragement of the public to debate its "reality". It reminds me of a lot of things I find interesting about art.

So, my apologies to those web-surfers who have washed ashore on FIMP and been grossly disappointed. I'll have to work up a "how to draw a Fiji Island Mermaid" one of these days. . .

Zero Sum #8

If you've been thinking "Gee, it's been a long time since I've seen a mixed-media painting that included a quail, four postage stamps, and a zeppelin hangar", than you should go check out Zero Sum #8! Get all the vital stats, and even consider buying the thing, by visiting the Zero Sum auction on eBay!

A Mime of the Times

Subscribers to the FIMP Book of the Month Club will be receiving "A Mime of the Times" in their mailbox any day now. You know, they say you should be a life-long learner. This month I learned not to trust people at the costume store when they tell you how easy it is to wash that stuff off. And I learned why so few mimes have facial hair.

Zero Sum Art Project gallery update.

The Zero Sum Art Project has reached Zero Sum #7. Keep track of the whole project by either visiting the Zero Sum Art Blog or the Zero Sum Art Gallery Space on FIMP.

Goldstein records

goldstein records
Originally uploaded by jgk79.

Seen at the Austin Museum's New York 1974-1984 show. Having recently been bitten by the vinyl bug I was very appreciative of the multi-colored 7" vinyl as objects to be admired - as well as containing some crazy sound effects that Jack Goldstein recorded.

Most of my fascination with records has been with the physicality of the object that contains the music. I like the weight of the disc in my hand, especially the nicer heavier ones. Having grown up with digital stuff, ones and zeros spitting out music is not magical to me. A little groove vibrating a needle to spit out stereo music is still fascinating.

All I could think about for the rest of the time I was at the museum was putting those wonderful little discs on a phonograph and playing them. I don't think the museum staff would have let me, so I refrained from pulling them off the wall.

Not nearly as magical, but a more ephemeral way to hear the discs can be found here.

Unimpressive

It's a new video from the Cinema Department at FIMP:



So, if you wanted to have yourself a FIMP film festival, which would last about 4 minutes, you could watch The Tower of Babel and I've Wanted More Than Anything To Have Your Respect, after you have recovered from "Unimpressed".

A detail

Here's a detail from a collaborative collage that Justin Kasulka and I have been knocking about. It's my turn. I hate to touch it, though - Justin's done such nice stuff. So I'll post a piece of it here before I abuse it in the studio.

An ever-growing Zero Sum Art Exhibition

I've added a Zero Sum Art Gallery on the Fiji Island Mermaid website, so that you can follow the continually growing collection of Zero Sum Artworks, along with all of the accompanying statistics of the project. Check it out, and let me know if there's anything else that you would like to see there.

Snacks or Treats? A Quiz.

So, I was doing a little inventory in our house to see how many foods we had that were shaped like things. Here they are:



If these are meant for human consumption, they're called "snacks", if they're for one of the pets, they're called "treats". Your quiz is to identify which are for babies and which are for animals. Bonus points if you can identify which animal gets which treat.

It's semi-interesting to note that the intended eaters of these snacks/treats don't care at all about the shapes. The shapes are solely for the amusement of the treat/snack dispensers, not the eaters. This might not be the case for kiddie cereals, a source of lots and lots of food shaped like stuff, but, alas, we currently only have very boring flaky type cereals in the house.

Zero Sum #6

The Zero Sum Art Project keeps rocking along. This is a detail from Zero Sum #6 - you can see the entire piece in detail by visiting the auction on eBay where it is being sold.

A Little Mystery.

Almost every day when I'm out walking I see this yellow utility box.



Someone worked a math problem on the side of the box, using a broad magic marker and a very large hand. Each number is about 6 - 8 inches tall.

Now, when you're walking about, you often see codes and symbols spray-painted on the streets by various city employees, describing the locations of various electrical and phone and water and sewage lines, in preparation for tearing up the road or somesuch thing. You also often see graffiti, highly stylized signatures and "tags" spraypainted on just about anything that doesn't move, that some see as art and others see as vandalism.

So here's what's bugging me. What is this long-division problem?

At first this box just blends into the environment. The numbers have the look of something that a utility worker would have left behind for some officially sanctioned reason. But if you pass by it everyday, and eventually look at it closely, you realize that it's not a code or anything that carries any kind of significant information. It's 27 divided by 4.

Would someone working on the phone lines work such a problem on the side of a utility box? This isn't spray-painted on a piece of road that is going to be torn up - it's been sitting there for months, a permanent addition to the landscape. Wouldn't a utility worker use a piece of scrap paper? And wouldn't this person be able to work out that six fours fit in twenty-seven in his or her head? I kinda hope so!

So, I'm guessing it's not something left behind by someone actually working on the phone lines. In that case it must be a graffito.

But who would bother to work a long division problem as their "tag"? It doesn't identify the tagger in any way, the writing isn't stylized, it makes no statement beyond the answer to the math problem. . . If it's graffiti, it's the least effective example I've ever seen.

Or, maybe it's the most effective. It's the only one I've felt compelled to "blog" about, anyway.

New Year's Resolutions!

If you're a FIMP Book of the Month subscriber, and you haven't made those all-important New Year's Resolutions yet, don't worry! FIMP to the rescue! You will soon receive "New Year's Resolutions: or How to Be a Better Person". Now, the post office is closed tomorrow, and I think it just might be closed Tuesday too, so the books will go out Wednesday, which may mean you have to float aimlessly in 2007 for a week or so. But soon enough all will be well, and you will be able to stride confidently into the future knowing that you have made those changes necessary to be healthier, smarter, and better.

Temporary technical difficulties, please stand by

The Fiji Island Mermaid Press mothership, fimp.net, is moving to a roomier server in order to provide you with more images and pages and such in the future. Unfortunately, for the next day or two, most of my images on the web and the FIMP website itself will be out of commission. Tragic, yes, but necessary. It will all be sorted out soon, don't worry.

Sharpie on newsprint

A few of you may recall that a couple of months ago the "Book of the Month" was "Baby Monitor". When I was working out the pages for that book I made this quick thumbnail sketch with a Sharpie marker on newsprint. I liked it, and stuck it up on my wall, and today I noticed how the newsprint was burning itself up as newsprint does, so I thought I'd scan it and share it with y'all.

If you're celebrating anything this time of year, or even if you're not, I hope you have a fantastic finish to 2006!

If you were to step into my studio. . .

this is the "still life" you would find.

If you want to see the painting/drawing made from this pitiful little suspended plane, visit the Zero Sum Art Project blog.

Zero Sum #4

It's Zero Sum #4! See it "life size" by visiting the Zero Sum Art auctions. A very odd little drawing, with a toy plane and a diagram demonstrating nose to mouth resuscitation. Life's like that, y'know. . .

This is why the internet was invented.

I just needed to share this with you:



I saw this first at a delightful blog, plastique monkey, which is well worth a visit while you're making your cyber rounds today.

Keep this man busy!

John Azoni needs your help. He needs you to come up with a task for him to perform. That's right, you tell him what to do, and he just might do it.

I like this project a lot. It involves both collaboration, and the setting up of a rather absurd situation involving rules to be followed. Both things that I play with a lot. So help the guy out, and give him a task or two.

What To Draw and How To Draw It

What To Draw and How To Draw It - Model

The continuing adventures of the Zero Sum Art Project

Zero Sum Art #3

Things are bumping merrily along at the Zero Sum Art Project. Here's Zero Sum #3. Learn all about it, and even bid on it, by visiting the Zero Sum #3 auction.

Got My Game Face On

Subscribers to the FIMP Book of the Month Club should be on the lookout for "Got My Game Face On", which went to the post office this morning.

While you're out and about on the web, you might want to check out the auction for Zero Sum #2.

You know they're having a bad season when. . .

from the afternoon paper here in Pittsburgh.

The Zero Sum Art Project

I've started a new little thing called the "Zero Sum Art Project", exploring the strange alchemy involved in turning base materials into art. If you want to learn more, or be on the ground floor and own the first little Zero Sum drawing, visit my new eBay account made specifically for this event, at zero_sum_art.

Update: I've created a separate Zero Sum Art blog to record all of the ins and outs of this project in absurdly obsessive detail, for your blogging pleasure.

Hey Mom and Dad!

If your kid really wants a Sony PlayStation for Christmas, and the store is all sold out, DON'T try giving him a Home Weather Station instead:

Surprisingly enough, most kids can tell the difference.

And More Looking.