THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON LIVING

Melanie Hoch bought me an incredible album for Christmas; Kreng's Works for Abatoire Ferme 2007-2011. Within the past twenty-four hours this frankensteined masterpiece has become my favorite album (I'll consider all four 12" LPs and the 10" record in the box set to be one complete album.) Thank You, Mel, for being an amazing friend and sharing a very wonderful 2012 with me.
For everyone who reads C.O.P: You might absolutely want to listen to this...

"CHRISTMAS TIME TRAVELER" RETURNS SAFELY TO POST-12-21-12-CHRISTMAS EVE! (AGAIN?)

Merry Christmas, Everyone! And Happy Birthday , Mithra, you old fart (not the Son of God, but the God of the Sun- whose birthdate was lent to Christianity in order to nail down a day for the merry-making we know today to be Christmas) Christmas certainly does garishly mark the passing of a year for me and most Americans. Even New Year's Eve/Day doesn't have a marketing campaign that completely envelopes the senses the way Christmas does. We always seem surprised that Christmas is here again, and that it's over so quickly, and then we're quick to look forward to Spring and Summer. I remember teasing a friend, who was exhausted from the holidays at the start of the year, by saying, "Before you know it, it will be Christmas again!" I feel that just by repeating that phrase in my head now, I have managed to somehow skip those 360 days and here I am back on Christmas Eve. I time traveled! Even the same tree found its way into my living room, and if it wasn't for a few new ornaments on that tree I could almost assume I traveled back in time. Yes, Christmas is here again. Familiar holiday sights, sounds, and smells have been assaulting me for over a month now and I can only hope to make it safely back to my time machine to do it all again next year... or last year... or maybe on another planet...

NUTS ABOUT DROSE

Drose is a band from Akron Ohio and they have problems. The music is irritated and distressed. The singer is scared and may be a ghost. I love the minimal complexities of the instrumentation (and how that oxymoronic description embodies said tension). The singer pretty much displays the same cadence in each track, but it's a style that's pretty unique so I allow it to do it's haunting on me.
Hear for yourself! click here!
Also, kudos to the band for making one of the creepiest album covers. Look at that thing!

THE END

The Mayan calendar ends on the fast approaching 21st of December, 2012. Does this mean the world as we know it is going to come to an end? No. It's certainly more likely that I'll be filing my taxes come February.
Suppose, just for the sake of this post, that the world is going to end on Friday the 21st and maybe we're even as ill-prepared as ever. How can one say his goodbyes to everything? If you're made aware of your own passing; you can muster up some noble form of reflection, but knowing that everything will be gone along with you is a different breed of eternity.
My long farewell would go something like this:
Does a peace need to be made now? Or will it be made regardless? Will my enemies finally face their doom? Or will I just think about them a lot less? I won't miss my loved ones. That seems to make the most sense of all. Don't miss your loved ones. Friends, Family, Pets; they have connected with, and not missed, you. Beautiful architecture that I have not hardly begun to understand will finally be relieved of its duty. All color will turn off the light and sleep in an abyss of non-color and the abyss itself will suddenly be nothing more than awake. Goodbye to every small item on the far side of this planet, and at the far edge of this universe, to where I never travelled. Were those items ever real? or were they only illusions? Now they are as real as gods and I too will soon be that real. Although, anything that might survive to bear my footprint would remember the impact as having lacked any god-like oomph. Goodbye silly words like 'oomph'. Goodbye.

STUDENT LOANS

Student loans haunt me every day and they are impossible to pay. Hey, that rhymes! But seriously, I make around ten dollars and some change an hour; Take some taxes out of that and my income is basically minimum wage. Sure, my job as a custom framer and printer is stimulating enough. My work environment also encourages me to do the art that I love, and for the first time in my life I have a decent full-time benefits package, but quite simply I do not make enough money to pay rent and bills and groceries AND pay $250 dollars a month for student loans. The math is just not there. So I resort to a bit of dreaming. I've always been good at drawing but, hell, I'm even better at dreaming! I dream of winning the lottery (even though I don't play the lottery, but that one time I do, my number will definitely hit and I'll be an instant millionaire!) I dream my art will get recognized (even though my art is in a stack on the floor in my room, because even with my employee discount, I can't afford to get all of my pieces framed to prepare for a show) and I dream other dreams that also make everything okay.... sigh...
When I started this blog I was in a pretty low point of my life, but I managed to breathe and think positively and think thoroughly, and that helped me grow a lot and keep a clear and healthy mind and body. I still breathe and will not let the pressure of student loans destroy me. The responsibility is another subject, and I'm working on keeping the ball in my court. Good luck to everyone who faces the same dilemma that I am facing. It can really make you feel vulnerable and worthless at times, but that is exactly how you should not let it win. Keep your chin up, breathe, find good ways to make money to feed that hungry dragon, and stay happy. If I can do it, so can you!

SERIOUSLY. THE F?

On my other blog Almostnaught.blogspot.com I have been posting pictures of my creations. Lately, my inky brush strokes have taken on the form of, what I call, bubble people. I made one particular picture of my bubble people black-and-white and posted it as my Facebook profile picture. My co-worker Jesse saw this and was reminded of a Jan Svankmajer animated short. I'm pretty sure Jesse hadn't even seen the color version of my image but the likeness, in both black-and-white and color, is certainly there in the first two parts of Svankmajer's film. I can only hope that I'm channeling this genius somehow...

DON'T WORRY...

...Be happy.
Today I visited the Institute of Contemporary Art to see a show by graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. I recommend that anyone who has the chance go see it! The theme was happiness and boy did it ever deliver. Interesting perspectives, challenges, and motivational tag lines bombard the visitor from the moment you enter the exhibit; ultimately resulting in a fulfilling and thought-provoking experience.
If you don't make it there, you can at least watch a bit of Stefan here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_shares_happy_design.html

ALCHEMY

The other day I was framing, for a customer, a poster of a Matisse show that recently took place in some modern gallery. The poster was a bright orange 15"x 22" rectangle which housed two square Matisse paintings side-by-side in the top quarter of the poster. Underneath the paintings was the word MATISSE in big 4" high white capital letters and, below that, some other sparse info about the art venue. The poster was simple yet stunning graphic design and was certainly worthy of being framed. The poster was art designed to advertise art. I wondered if Matisse would have imagined his art ever being used in this way. Sure, in his lifetime, there were notes and advertisements that bore reproductions of his artworks, but to then have one of these artifacts revered as art itself is a strange thing. To me, this was a form of alchemy in the arts. We were no longer appreciating the art purely for what it was, and instead it had become the detail of another object. That object, the poster, considered the two Matisse paintings as only a small part of the whole. As an advertisement, the poster was implying that Matisse was the focus and would even plant that seed in the viewer's mind's eye; However, As a piece of graphic design and typography which was to be framed and hung in one's home, it was about that orange rectangle bearing images and words. This, of course, was not turning lead into gold, but the properties of an art had certainly been changed into another art...

HAPPY BELATED, C.O.P.!

My eldest child turned 2 (on the 2nd of July) and I've missed the opportunity to celebrate on time! You might say I've had my hands full with my newborn blog AlmostNaught. All excuses aside, it's time again to recognize another year's passing and thank everyone who supports me and follows my blogs! I do it all for you folks!

JUDGEMENT DAY

Somehow I've managed through my other blog- Almost Naught- to become enthusiastic about making art, thus I've been neglecting C.O.P. for some time. A fair sacrifice. My art is evolving and my mind is expanding. I'm a self-proclaimed over-thinker, so an expanding mind needs to be heavily monitored or else it will run rampant.
For example: I've noticed my sensitivity level has risen in the past month. My boss has encouraged my department to do better with sales and production and I've been taking these encounters very personally; which isn't the case(?) My girlfriend has heard me whining about needing more of her attention; which is not even really my style! And I've placed plenty of ill-judgement on the heads of strangers and friends and family alike. Just as likely as a good thought may spiral down, I can still breath and make the bad times spiral up. The spirals are just feeling a little wobbly. I'm a touch out of whack. More so than normal? Not so sure, but I have been made aware of it.
So might I suggest that you bear with me as I sort and file my scattered brain? As always, you really don't have to do anything but enjoy the show... maybe strike the gong when you've seen or heard enough!

ALMOST IS OVER THERE!

Almost Naught is my new blog. Click that link and you and I will both try to keep up!
Thanks and enjoy.

   

NUTS ABOUT EMPTYSET!

This is the fourth installment of Nuts About __(previous posts: 1, 2, &3).
Emptyset are soon releasing their new EP titled Medium. This Bristol duo always puts out well-produced heavy-as-hell minimal electronic music. Presently, I can't think of another modern act that can compete for my adoration. Listen for yourself! If you know anything about bass music, then you should certainly be impressed. If the sound is too foreign to you, don't give up, just concentrate on exactly what it is you're hearing.

(T)ART

After a couple years of Code of Posture being an insightful, if not a bit aimless, blog which has regurgitated the randomness that pops in and out of my brain, I've noticed a trend laced into my last five or so entries. Art. My art, even. I'll have you know, with this blog, I had no early intention of showcasing my art here. I'll have you also know that I'm still a bit wary of using C.O.P. as such a tool, and I'm certainly keeping a watchful eye on myself to make sure I don't go too far out of bounds. I'd be slightly terrified to know the public- friends and family alike- are getting too close. That's just how I am.

So, in all fairness, here is a heads-up and an unlikely invitation to look at what I've done. The extension of an invitation seems appropriate since even I almost didn't realize this was happening. 

This is not my art. Just a snapshot from my television screen.

NAKED LADY

MY BRUSH WITH FRISKET

So I bought a jar of liquid frisket last week and I've completed my first experiment with the stuff. Improvements will surely be made on future projects but, for now, you have to look at this thing.

IVAN SEAL

I first saw Ivan Seal's art on the cover of The Caretaker album An Empty Bliss Beyond This World. The cover art featured a still life of what seemed to be a larger-than-a-human-head ball of grey clay and a single match stick poked shallowly into its side. Because of this design, the form and shadow-play were simple yet highly visually intriguing. At the time, I figured the art to be a one-off made perhaps by the musician himself.
After almost a year later the same musician had released a couple more albums, each featuring artwork in the same style as the previous cover. My interest had peaked and a quick Google search revealed Ivan Seal to be the culprit behind these mysterious still life paintings.
Ivan's work is quickly becoming an inspiration to me as well as a challenge to explore color in my own art. His eye for the minimal combined with a knack for precisely executing a piece leave the viewer with a crude looking beast that draws you right into its world. I'm thinking I should never look Mr. Seal directly in the eyes if I were to meet him, or my own soul will be stolen and captured away into his next painting.

the image below is Ivan Seal artwork for the album Bleaklow by The Stranger. Incredible depiction of nearly no light source here.

 

DAILY REFLECTION

It's noon on Sunday and I'm indifferently anticipating the odd hours I'm scheduled to work tonight. From 6pm Sunday to 6am Monday I will be a part of a six person team assembled to rearrange a large portion of the art material store where I'm employed. Although the job will be tedious, we'll obviously be working  while the store is closed so we'll have some liberties on our side; i.e: Hopefully I'll be able to listen to my mp3 player, for which I'm constructing a handful of time-destroying playlists! Overall, This should be an interesting change of pace. A pathetic change of pace, perhaps, but I've been taking my spices of life in small and modest doses.
My typical week is made up of days that almost mirror each other. With the exception of working either the morning shift or the evening shift, it's often a "same sh!t different day" kind of world when I'm working 9-5. Sure, the world around me pokes back in different ways at almost every turn: I'll run into a friend at a random place and time, or a car almost runs me over at a random place and time. So really the week days are more accurately a series of funhouse mirrors; each one adding a bit more distortion to the last, or one mirror might even cancel out some distortion from the previous one. Who knows?!
So I'll take my tedious shift and be utterly exhausted and delirious by Monday morning, and try to master the whole thing with a smile on my face. After all, the funhouse mirror is the cheapest and safest thrill in the amusement park. I think I'm tall enough to ride the roller coaster though...

COLOR!

I purchased some colored ink! Here are a couple examples of my baby steps into color (granted the one image is still black and white, but white ink is color to me.
 

THE SHAPE OF THINGS

Imagine life without sight. No sight existing entirely throughout every single animal species. How differently life would reveal itself. Keep in mind you would not be losing your sight because it simply was never there.
Primal survival skills would require noting the acoustics of the landscape to avoid falling off cliffs, as would be necessary to find shelter. The presence of your enemies would be a bit enigmatic as would be your presence to them; After all, it would be difficult to judge each others size or form.
A sightless world's functional design may be more rounded to achieve an analogous touch-friendly guide through public and domestic spaces; An abrupt and acute angle here or there to represent landmarks along the way.
Most curious of all, our attention to the heavens would not stop short of building great spiraling ramps which lead us further and further and further upwards; century after century. All the while our explorers' arms would be stretched upwards with the hopes of making the headlines for being 'THE ONE WHO TOUCHED THE CEILING"
We would still perceive and even dream these perceptions, but we would unknowingly be missing a piece to the puzzle. As far as (the seeing) you and I are concerned, that's a pretty big piece to have missing. But what is to say that, with all five of our natural senses in tact, we aren't missing that sixth or seventh sense that would allow us to better avoid an accident, or look light years across the galaxy so as to realize the attic beyond the ceiling. As humans we possess basic rules of understanding which are directly connected to our senses, including sight, and to our brains interpretation of those senses. It's not only a limited means of understanding but also reasonably very abstract and misguided. Or as one might say, 'it's like the blind leading the blind.'

NEW BRUSH DRAWINGS

Finally I've produced some loose line work and, as is typical of my level of output, I haven't produced more than three so far. All three are made simply with india ink and a sumi calligraphy brush. Here they are!