Category: Art

I love cars as objects. Old cars were so much more artfully designed than new vehicles — not that new cars aren’t designed with the beauty of efficiency, it’s just the primary purpose isn’t appearance, as is so evident in old rides. I came across a 1971 Fiat 500 around the corner. The 2012 model suddenly seems to be everywhere. But the 40-year old’s mirror alone proves my point. Look at this beautiful object, comme gli seni di Venus de Milo.

Here’s the whole car, with its 2012 update below Even the Hipstamatic distortion can’t help the youngster look hip.

I keep lusting after those older models (I’m forever in love with the 1960’s Porsche 356 roadster), but the last time I owned a 70’s vehicle, my sedate Mercedes sedan, repairs almost broke the bank.

But it’s not the same to look at these in photos; thank god I still get to see them sometimes, like rare birds and beasts.

For the past five years, I’ve been spending more time in nature than I had for the previous 20. It was odd as a photographer, because nature photography is such a hackneyed subject. I tried to capture some of the joy of that subject (which is overwhelmingly immense) within the medium that creates such tiny images of its spirit. My favorites so far are the Elements Wall (2010) and the Boite du Bois (2008). Sometimes, though, I just can’t stop myself from filming a la everyman, and with Wendy along to show the effects of the real thing, here’s a highlight from our week of Nature, Rensselaer County, New York.

We discovered the gorgeous Barberville Waterfall just 15 minutes from the cabin. It made for a blissful walk and lunch and the river rocks made a pretty, if uncomfortable, seat.

There were so many places along the 1 mile Nature Conservancy trail below the falls, that it was impossible to pick one place that would be good for lunch. This one had lovely views in both directions; Wendy saw a meadow, I saw Wendy.

The rock along the river bed and bank had sheared off in huge geometric chunks. The larger bolders looked sculpted; this riverbed loveseat was typical.

Elafur Eliason creates his own “lightows“

this is what it looks like…

from the midst of the storms of challenge and uncertainty, we aim for equipoise…

“The key experience for any artist, in all the arts, is the solitariness of the studio, the thousands of hours we spend alone with our work . . . I think it’s a folly to imagine another person being able to even come close to the richness we create for ourselves in our work.”

—- Thomas Nozkowski

I heard this today attributed to the Buddha. It clearly encapsulates the philosophy whether he said it or not. I wonder often if the artist’s way has the same philosophy in general, though I think Julia Cameron has this generally in mind though her recommended process. It was just so good to hear again that I wanted to write it somewhere, and this seemed like an appropriate place:

There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.

A while back, I noticed creative Brooklyn artists had created a new medium for graffiti: mix and match subway posters. There’s a new image m(b)aker in town. This time the grafitti is more artisinal and more site specific to our Italian-American neighborhood.

In Terry Gross‘s interview, Brian May, guitarist of Queen, put on an unexpected (by me) hat, and explained that everything in the universe is made of the dust of supernovae. He noted that Joni Mitchell was therefore accurate when she wrote, “we are stardust…” in Woodstock.

May, it turns out, studied the dust streaming through our solar system for his PhD, which he went back for after Queen and obtained in 2007. According to Wikipedia, he is currently the Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.

‡ See I Am Love (Io Sono l’Amore) — again.

I occasionally find an artist I hope won’t become too popular. It’s a feeling of jealous possession. I can’t remember ever having this feeling about a film — until now. This amazing film is like a dreamy drug rush that makes it seem possible to leave behind a world of fascist perfection and all it offers its chosen ones for the romantic perfection offered by, say, la Boheme. Neither ideal can deliver in life, but through the most daring cinematic luxuriating I’ve seen since Tarkovsky, Luca Guadagnino with a cast led by the chameleon Tilda Swinton provide a suspended moment to show us what that ideal might look like. It’s a beautiful sight, but has a price tag that will nearly break the bank of mere mortals. The chosen ones, as usual in ideal and life both, just get richer. Don’t go see this — I want it all for myself.