Erotic photography that bridges the gap between hot and grotesque

I can't remember how I originally came across Clayton James Cubitt's work, but it struck a cord within me.  He captures the raw, grittiness of visceral, sexual experience in an alluring and disconcerting manner.  You want to look, but then you want to look away.  

I enjoy erotica that shows the cognitive reality innate in contemporary sexual fantasy.  Don't we all want the good and the bad?  His work stands strongly apart from his identity as a creator.  Each image poignantly faces the viewer head on.  Moreover, Cubitt tackles the high vs. low debate through his thorough attention to his chosen subjects, rejecting socioeconomic derived standards. 

Cubitt works as a fashion photographer in addition to his private photographic ventures.

Take a few minutes to browse through his digital portfolio.  I am surprised and delighted by the depth of his whole catalogue.

Ah the 60s, Claes Oldenburg, Neo-Concretism and the disappearance of the artist as creator

Currently, the Whitney Museum in NYC hosts 2 exhibitions featuring Claes Oldenburg's art.

A product of his time, Oldenburg, like many artists in the Americas and Europe, strove to remove identifiers pointing to his role as creator / artist from his work.  The art exists as an entity removed from its originator, fulfilled through the collaborative role of the spectator / viewer and through the metamorphosis of normative, decontextualized objects via the manipulation of size and texture.

American Pop art, in many ways, is consistent with the neo-objecthood of Latin American Neo-Concretism, except that it requires even less initiation into the subject matter.  Oldenburg chooses images to which any spectator can relate and react, because they are so common, removing the hierarchical constraints of Western cannonical art.  And with works like Giant BLT, 1963 and French Fries and Ketchup, 1963, Oldenburg  demonstrates the indicative nature of distinctly American iconographic imagery.  That's what we are -- a nation of deli sandwiches and fries.  A decade after becoming a naturalized citizen, Oldenburg showed his compliance in his flaccid sculptures showcasing American culture, while bridging the gap between the classes through Pop Art puffery.

The exhibition runs through August 2009.

I'm reviving this blog, god willing...

If anyone reads this post, let it be known, I am determined to revive this little blog.  If only to give it the proper chance it deserves, as when I quit posting, Eyes In Disguise had just begun.

Where it will lead, we shall see.

Hopefully to the amusement of myself and others, except for any lurking internet stalkers out there, to whom I say: fuck off!

ooookkkkk...........

here goes, who knows what today will bring.

Haha-cute animals are a bunch of manipulative, conniving jerks-according to this guy

I just came across a blog called fuck you penguin...

I for one am vulnerable to the multitude of deviously cute little creatures, whose pictures and videos are plastered from here to the moon and all over the interweb.  But enough is enough! How many hours will I waste looking at their smug, adorable faces before I flee my computer forever? Probably, I will waste many more.  A few of which will now be focused on reading the snarky commentary of FYP.  Its tag line simply states "A blog where I tell cute animals what's what"...indeed!

One amusing example reads: 

"Platypus: The ultimate buzz-kill"

"What. The. Fuck. I don't even know what to say, Platypus. YOU MAKE NO SENSE. You're like some kind of anti-drug message, designed to make high people totally freak the fuck out. You are so weird, Platypus that they don't even have a universally agreed-upon word for the plural form of you.  That's because if you see two of these animals together, the fabric of space and time will literally tear apart. Remind me to never close my eyes again, Platypus, you duck-billed asshole." ahahhah

One Animal I Can't Believe Exists...

Really? A pink fairy armadillo?  That sounds pretty damn ridiculous if you ask me, but none-the-less it is as real as its Texas cousin, though much much more mystical.

We were at the Museum of Natural History in DC the other day, and upon seeing this guy, Alexandra and I decided that there was no way such an animal could exist.  

But they do, in Argentina.  Unfortunately they are endangered due to destruction of habitat. 

Not only does the pink fairy armadillo have pink armor, it also has furry white sides and can bury itself within a few seconds (You wish you were this cool).  They eat termites and ants, and apparently do not make good pets, because they cannot survive in captivity for more than a few years.  Sad.

Roll Models exhibition--National Museum of Women in the Arts

The photography I find the most compelling is sharp, intimate and vivid, documenting symbolic or emotionally direct instances of human existence that some people find discomforting, subversive and occasionally inappropriate.

Whether through social self-submersion within a subculture via role playing or the exploration of coming of age femininity portrayed through dream-like lucidity, two contemporary female photographers grabbed my attention in the current Role Models exhibition at the NMWA in DC.

The first, Nikki S. Lee is a Korean-American photographer based out of NYC that has been shooting projects focused around her chameleon image as a woman in contemporary American society as she morphs into stereotypical feminine characters within different socioeconomic and social groups around the US.  She has been working on these projects since the early 90's and actually spends time with each group, conforming to their aesthetics, before shooting any images.  A master of composition, she achieves an effective level of sincerity in each role through careful attention to dress and gesture that is touching and visually authentic. I found this especially true of photos from the Ohio Project and the Hispanic Project.

The other photographer who piqued my interest was Justine Kurland, who like Lee, works with staged photography.  Many of her images in the Role Models show were from her trip to New Zealand, lending a ethereal, romantic quality to her work, as she documents the semi-feral nature of adolescent school girls. 

Other notable photographers in the exhibition include Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Sally Mann, Catherine Opie, Angela Strassheim and

 Collier Schorr.  The exhibition will be on display through the end of January.

Are you ready for the future?

The National Gallery of Art in DC has an instillation in the concourse between the east and west wings of the museum that is a massive LED light sculpture made up of something crazy--some 41,000 computer controlled LED nodes spanning the full length of the 200 foot tunnel.

Ok, you are now passing through the future.  

Multiverse, created by American artist Leo Villareal, is programed to emit abstract light patterns.  The instillation will be on display until 2009.  

I recently had the unsuspecting pleasure of standing on the escalator, er,  walkalator, as it shuttled me through Multiverse from the main building to the modernist/contemporary side. The concourse instillation itself was one of the more stimulating experiences I had in DC. Combing movement and programed light patterns creates a interactive and subjective experience, with no repetition occurring during a single passage.  It was kinda psychedelic and definitely an effective addition to the interior architecture of the NGA.  

Check out this video.  Note--Ambient music was added in post production.

Retro Photo Set from Flickr

Sooo many good images in this Flicker archive.

So check it out...

Haven't posted in a while, but...

Now, I'm back. Still getting the hang of this thing, and there should be more authors (ahem, alexandra...). 

via Boing Boing

Jovontaes, Electric Damn and Tony Wain and the Payne--Sat. 13th at NFB

Attention Weekend Warrior:

So, if there was ever an incredibly miss-matched line up for a show in Asheville, this is probably it.  All good bands, but what else do they have in common? Not a damn lot.

Jovontaes (formerly Tight Leather) hail from Lexington, Kentucky. As Tight Leather, they've played here a bunch of times with The Chops and The NEC.  Somehow I ended up with like three of the t-shirts, although I'm pretty sure I didn't buy any of them.  To me, they sound like psychedelic garage rock, or something of that sort.  Here's a video of them performing.

Electric Damn most of you probably know.  Classic Asheville: fast, heavy and fucking insane!

They might not be around too much longer, because I think Josh F. is moving? So see them while you can.  Plus Bradly is a rad vocalist.

Lastly, Tony Wain and the Payne.  I mentioned them in my second post of this lovely little blog. If you ever woke up and found someone sleeping next to you, and you didn't have a damn clue who they were or where they came from...you probably met them blacked out at a Tony Wain show.  That sorta thing just happens around these guys..and gal.  But you already know all this.

Guerilla Swing Projects in Europe

I think there should be more of an effort to make guerilla projects for the purpose of fun.  We live in a busy society that is not only stressful, but also pointed away from spontaneity and playfulness. And I think that absolutely sucks!  

I read a statistic that 71% of adults played outside and on the street as children.  Now, only 21% of children do the same.  What the hell are they doing then? Locked inside playing video games? Getting fat and turning into social mutants? I dunno, but I do think there is something seriously wrong with a society that shoves play and fun out of the public sphere.  

A UK artist started a public art and social commentary project called "Playful Spaces" where he is doing gorilla instillations like this one of a swing in a bus stop.

Another artist, Kamila Szejnoch from Poland, transformed a communist monument in Warsaw into a giant swing.

Where would be a good place for something like this in Asheville? I know we could all use a little more fun to get through the winter slump. Ideas?

Broccoli Obsessed Kitteh

This little kitteh is a bit odd.

Barbie of the Undead

Zombie barbie! Step by step guide to turning boring old barbie into a zombie.

Curtosy of Paranaiv.

Beards? I'm not so sure.

I noticed the trend over the past few years of hipster guys growing gruff facial hair. For a minute there it was like every guy wanted to look like a hippy or Devendra Banhart, although I'm not sure there's a real distinction between the two.

Don't get me wrong, plenty of people have facial hair AND practice good hygiene. So it doesn't look like there is necessarily a direct correlation. Either you're the type of person who walks around with food crud on your facial hair, or you're not. Period.

Anyway, over the past few days, I've come across several guides to beards/facial hair online completely by accident. I thought, "huh?" Because it seemed like this trend had subsided. Maybe not. Maybe it's already back. Who knows. But here I am, sharing them with you. Can you believe there's a hierarchy?

All about beards is quite the Web site, featuring such highlights as "Beards on the street: the beards of today, maybe from your neighborhood," and "Add more beards to the world! Spread the word about beards!"

Uhh, that's really odd.

Click pictures for larger image.

Biological Ceramic Creations

Heather Knight, a local ceramic artist had a booth at The Big Crafty this past Sunday, and I was stuck by the freshness of her biologically influenced ceramic creations.  The bowls and sculpture call upon the forms  of sea urchins and coral as inspiration. The effect: modern, bright and animate.  In the same way that the mid century artists sought to redefine the art object, Heather's pieces possess the essence of a living creature, emancipated from their maker.

All while maintaining a rich texture and a simple, clean aesthetic.  

Her work is for sale on Etsy and at her studio. (link above)

3-D star ornaments

Brush up on your origami skills. 

The instructions are really thorough with pictures of each step.