The red things are blood cells

Photo Decorator

New Project - How to be on Law & Order

Law & Order: SVU. I've been watching it and making art about watching it - but now it's time for me to be a part of the real thing. My goal is to be onscreen in an episode of the series - in an official capacity.

I have already begun the process, and will continue to document via text and video on a site that I have yet to make. (I'll post it when it's ready.)

First Friday

September! At last!

We've got a new show at Great and Terrible that I'll be babysitting tomorrow night (you should stop by. It's beautiful.) But, before I go over there, I'll be stopping by a few other shows.

First stop, of course, is 11th and Wood Street for Vox Populi, Tiger Strikes Asteroid and, I'm sure, miscellaneous surprises.

Vox was closed for August (thank God.) and reopens with Jamie Dillon, David Kontra, Jonathan Prull (who I'm hoping to meet, as he shares my fixation with one Mr. Clint Eastwood), a curated show by Roxana Perez-Mendez, and Sarah J. Christman in the Video Lounge. (In the interest of full disclosure -- happy now, artblahg? -- I'll be starting an internship at Vox later today.)

Tiger Strikes Asteroid's website makes the claim that we'll be able to view Adam Blumberg's Punctum, which, according to the ICA blog is about midwestern men -- a tasty corollary to Prull's drawings of Eastwood?

Next, I'm going to Projects Gallery for their emerging artists show because my friends Michelle Clements and Kelly A. Kozma are showing in it. (While many of us that qualify as emerging artists are unhappy with what appears to be Projects' new policy that 'It's Who You Know', I'm happy for Kelly and Michelle, who genuinely make excellent work. Also, genuinely excited to see the show, even though there was no open call. Inflammatory post coming soon? We'll see. Oh, and Kelly's showing at Great and Terrible, too...)

Last stop is Little Berlin since they're our neighbors on Montgomery Ave. This month, they've curated some Tyler grad students from the crafts department. I'm, as of now, ambivalent, but may yet be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and by the way, here's the info you wanted about Great and Terrible --

The Great and Terrible Collective is pleased to bring you Meriviglia, a group show featuring the work of

Alyssa Hamilton
Josh Coombs
Kelly Kozma
Lisa Haskell
Megan Uhaze

Open first friday from 6:30-10:00, but wait! We're having a HUGE POTLUCK BBQ AND CONCERT to celebrate on Saturday, so come on by with a dish and a lawnchair from 5-11! We've got The Snowcaps playing around 8 and special surprises throughout the evening. We're at 172 W. Montgomery Ave.

The Latest Love of My Life

'I'm Rumbling Thunder! I'll tumble you under! I'm Bear Thicklegs!'
Illustration for The Castle of the Fly.
via http://himmapaan.livejournal.com/26159.html
(For a certain bear I know.)

I have a new video.

It can be viewed here:
http://www.danaosburn.com/video.php

First Friday Listings

me: are you going to vox tonight?

Diedra: maybe? are you? going to show somethign???

me: i have a new video

Diedra: maybe i'll bring baudrillard vid?

me: so i guess i'll bring that

Diedra: oh

how long is it?

me: three minutes, haha

no huge project, just a lil' guy

Diedra: mine too, that's perfect for that kind of thing. anything over 7 is probably WAY too long

me: yeah.

do you think it's one of those deals where you have to show up early?

Diedra: not sure.... if you go i guess i'll go too. would be fun. i just had these ideas about being super productive wknd. meanwhile i'll go out fri, sat, sun haha

me: I have like a million stops to make tonight. I'm putting a video in the first friday show at bookspace, and my friend has a painting show up

so I was thinking of going to vox around seven

Diedra: where?

7pm ok i'll be there then

me: i don't know what gallery, but i have the address 149 N 3rd Street

Diedra: old city

i might try to get to little berlin too finally

me: oh yeah, I guess I'll go there too since they're our neighbors.

and I was thinking of going to vwvoffka too

Diedra: i think they are closed to go to vox event tonight

me: really?

they have a listing...

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=142438359118442&index=1

Diedra: oh shit and i know jesse, he's meeting me to get led batteries. i'll go there and then http://eexxttrraa.com/

will you be on bike?

me: no, I'll be in my car since i have to deliver that tv and transport my associates

Diedra: i see

i'm hoping to bike, seems ambitious. but maybe we'll get lucky to show early at vox if we're on time. what a fun art evening. thanks!

me: Ambitious for sure!!

maybe i'll blog about it

haha

Diedra: do it

Ai Weiwei

Daily Serving recently published a post reviewing Ai Weiwei's works with ancient urns. In its secret complexity and seeming simplicity, in the potency and cruciality of its gestures and its tragic irreverence, these works, as they say, speak to me. For me, there is a deep sadness in this work that is linked to social questions we will never be able to resolve, and, among other things, the work raises questions about living that emphasize the necessary futility of our constant inner struggles as manifested into physical objects.

There is so much to discuss when dealing with this work, and I won't attempt to cover it all here, but I will begin by arguing a little bit with the Daily Serving blogger. The article posits that "Urns of this vintage are usually cherished for their anthropological importance. By employing them as readymades, Ai strips them of their aura of preciousness only to reapply it according to a different system of valuation....Working in this manner, Ai transforms precious artifacts—treating them as base and valueless by painting, dropping, grinding, or slapping with a logo—into contemporary fine art." Certainly, Ai's actions treat these cherished object as base and valueless. They undergo cheap processes of being painted or destroyed unbefitting the value they have been assigned by our culture. But do these actions truly strip the objects of their aura or rather do they magnify that aura? In the end, the painted and crushed and broken urns do not function as objects independent of their original identity -- they function BECAUSE of their original identity. We gain an added layer of consideration, as viewers, when confronted with the altered urns, but that consideration relies on a primary consideration of the objects' intended purposes and calls on our deep social attachments to the myth of these objects. They become even more precious because our reaction to these works is initially to believe that they are being mistreated. Therefore, Ai cannot divorce the aura from the object - and from looking at the work, I'm not really sure that was even his intention.

Show your work this week

Wednesday, August 4th

It's Video Wednesday at Great and Terrible 172 West Montgomery Ave
"The Great and Terrible Collective wants to screen your videos. Good
thing, too, because you need somewhere to show them. Thank God, It's Video Wednesday at Great and Terrible! Bring a DVD or VHS of your work to this one-night event in the tradition of the ICA's Open Video Call and the first six people in the door get to show their video on THE BEST TV IN THE HOUSE! Not only will you get to show your work in public without the hassle of juries or fees, and see the work of other local video wizards, but you get to DRINK FREE BEER and EAT FREE COOKIES!

So you see? You can't lose! Come share your work in a casual, supportive, air-conditioned environment!

Questions? Comments? Proposals for marriage? Contact Dana O at 703.975.0287 or greatandterriblecollective@gmail.com"

Friday, August 6th
Open Call for First Friday at Bookspace 1113 Frankford Ave
"Hi there!

If you're an artist and would like to show at our book space for the month of August, we are putting out an open call to anyone who would like to do so. Please bring up to three pieces that you'd like to display and we'll make it work, we have lots of space in our warehouse. Share whatever it is that you do, even if you have just one piece! The more the merrier :)

We're putting together a bit of party for this coming First Friday, August 6th from 7PM until at least midnite. We'll have live jazz, a DJ, and the usual First Friday refreshments. Bring your artwork, bring some friends and lets have some fun with it!

We're located just a 1/2 block south of Frankford & Girard Avenues in Fishtown.

If you'd like to drop off your work before Friday or would like to check the space out, we are open 11AM-7PM, Tuesdays-Sundays.

Thanks!

Bookspace
1113 Frankford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19125

http://phillybookspace.com "


Soundstages and Video Free For All at Vox Populi, 11th and Wood Street (3rd floor)
FIRST FRIDAY: SOUND/STAGES

Vox Populi, Philadelphia
August 6, 2010, 6-11pm

...Vox Populi will be closed for the month of August,
but join us on First Friday for a special one-night party with music and performance events. Construction will soon begin on our new performance space next door. Help us celebrate!

DJ Hiding Place and DJ Face Man spin foamy propaganda shakers.
DJ Jane Pain and Astrocaveman spin minimal electronics, cold wave, dark snyth jams, weird punk, 80s hits that time forgot.

"Video Free-for-All" hosted by Hair and Diamonds. Bring your DVD to screen (maximum 10 minutes per person) to help create an ongoing image-stream. Get seen.

Bobby Gonzales and Jean Suivan present "Going Out," a performance that draws inspiration from the ritual of preparing for a night at the club, going out to dance, and coming home. The duo's performance, with costumes, sculpture, and projected images, employs movement without the pressure of being "on stage" and--much like the night club atmosphere--inspires reaction in strangers through bodily proximity. The looks and movement are inspired by darkwave. Escape yourself.

Beth Heinly reads Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. The 2001 book is a self-proclaimed "artist's survival guide, written by and for working artists. The authors explore the way art gets made, the reasons it doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way." Be very afraid.

Puppetyrrany presents "Mouth Puppet Show" by Zac Palladino and Leslie Rogers, a perilous puppet show inside a human mouth, the wettest stage of all. Your reluctant participation is encouraged in "The Miracle of Birth," "Catfight," and "Italian Cooking 101." Also, "Mystic Powers" by John Sinclair will be presented. A scrolling 100-foot live-action-picture-book, "Mystic Powers" is the hero's journey as understood by 5-year-old Zac Palladino and retold using the crudest cantastoria. Be amazed."

Special Treat - Matthew Craven in Philadelphia

A little while back, I posted an image of a Matthew Craven drawing that I had a crush on at the time.

Well, first of all, I'm terrible with names, so when I was at Grizzly Grizzly on the night of the Vox VI opening, I was attracted to the drawings there, but couldn't help but feeling "Hey, I've already seen this!!" As it turned out, I HAD. Here I was in front of the original collages from "History is Written by the Winners", stuff I liked online, and didn't even remember. HOW EMBARRASSING.

Here's the write-up from artblog.

Who is Voldemort and what is he like?

I'm working on a curatorial proposal. Here's the brief:

Who is Voldemort and what is he like?

What is the cultural value of entertainment? While much of current discourse dictates that art must be oppositional in order to be valid, how do we rectify humanity's apparent need for entertainment as proven by a culture glutted with wildly popular, non-oppositional broadcast programming, blockbuster cinema, and internet memes? This exhibition aims to explore the question of who we are supposed to be opposing and why, and maintains the view that while it is important to question the ideas we consume and their sources, non-oppositional entertainment culture need not be demonized by default.

New Logo for Gypsy Jack

While I was advised against using outlined text by a trusted friend who is an excellent designer, I ended up using it anyway. I made a few versions with and without the outline and my dad really liked the outline because it added to the cheesy-kitschy feel he and I wanted for the whole thing.

The running theme seems to be "what if John Waters sold fly lures?"

I'm no designer.....

I've been hired by my dad to do the branding for his fishing lure business, and I was wondering if I could get some feedback about the designs so far. Keep in mind, this stuff is just a rough version - I already know the drawing is lame. I plan on fixing that. But, if you have any other advice, PLEASE pass it on! Thanks!

I'm learning to play banjo.

Projects Pending

It's time to make new work. I'm going to start with two words: Audacious Spectacle.

Let's see where this goes.

This Weekend's Art Circuit

Yeah, I know. Summer's weird for the Philly art scene, but this weekend has some pretty exciting offerings, and since I spent First Friday at Great and Terrible and missed out on some awesome openings, my expectations are high for my circuit tonight and tomorrow.


Tonight:
REDefined at the Midwives Collective in South Philly.

This member show promises to debut the latest creations of Sarah Hunt and Elizabeth Smith's new textile collab Squid Whale Designs, in addition to auctioning off a quilt to benefit Haitian disaster relief.

Plastic Fantastic at Fountain Green

SECRETS! SURPRISES! THE DOME! ART IN THE OPEN!


Tomorrow:

Forecast at Little Berlin

The collective announces its latest member show featuring works by its new members and of course the ol' standbys.


Also check out:
Ray Studios at Vox Populi
Concrete, Etc. at VWVOFFKA
The Deaths of Hamilton Fish at Marginal Utility

Rainy Day

I've been listening to these kids non-stop for about a month now.

Press for Mystery Flavor

Believe it or not, we pulled it off. Mystery Flavor, the inaugural show for The Great and Terrible Collective has launched!

The opening reception went well. We got to hand out amazing prizes like play dough, bubbles, plastic cowboys and Giant Citrus Flying disks, talk with Beth Heinly and Kelani Nichole of our neighbor collective, Little Berlin, show off for a rep from The ArtBlog, and celebrate with delicious watermelon!









We got some good press, too thanks to Philly Weekly's style blog and The ArtBlog:

On the left is a screencapture of our show in the "Our Picks" section of The ArtBlog's listings.

And here's a link to the Philadelphia Weekly Style Blog's article that mentions the show.

Design by Alyssa Hamilton

Mystery Flavor at Great and Terrible

Announcing a group show to kick off the official opening of the Great and Terrible Artists' Collective at our fresh new location at 172 Montgomery Ave!

Come see art by our Great and Terrible membership and enjoy beer, snacks and SPECIAL SURPISES!

RSVP on Facebook..

Can someone take me to Toronto?

Artists Explore Screen Space via Daily Serving

It's been a while. Here's why:

Kittens

LIFE QUESTION

How does one take the proverbial high road without compromising his vision?

I want to be an auto-mechanic.

Before I turn 25, I desperately would like to know how to do these three things:

1. Fix my own car.
2. Play at least one instrument proficiently, preferably the fiddle or banjo. (And by proficiently, I mean I'd like to at least have a basic understanding of music theory.)
3. Cook.

Anyone wanna read my thesis?

(Didn't think so.)

The Great and Terrible Manifesto

The Great and Terrible Manifesto

Drafted by Bailey Goldenbaum, Courtney Mendenhall, Dana M Osburn, Lisa Murphy and Rachael Ocelus on April 5^th, 2010.

We the people of The Great and Terrible Artists' Collective hold these truths to be self-evident:

• Our public gallery shall promote young artists in the region by providing exhibition and event space, and it shall provide an informal, comfortable space for people to experience art that is accessible and enjoyable and thereby foster a sense of community.

• Our artistic and curatorial decisions shall push the limits of the art and technology relationship without abandoning what traditional practices have to offer.

• It's ok for people to lick plates at our openings. Just don't lick your fingers, Bailey doesn't like that.

• Our group shall use humor and absurdity to instill a feeling of goodness while still making perceptive, insightful works that are conscious of the current world situation.

• Our efforts aim to provide a meaningful contribution to the local arts community.

• By remaining a not-for-profit organization, we can remain outside of the constraints of the art market, but by allowing artists to sell their work in our space, we will not deny artists the opportunity to support themselves and their practice.
  
  

  Made up of five emerging artists, the Great and Terrible membership works in varied media and with even more varied ideas, but comes together under a sense of camaraderie and shared social problems. Thunderclese. Clap clap. Goodbye.

(visit our FB page to see our work: http://www.facebook.com/greatandterrible )

Quick link

Index of miscellaneous texts: http://ivzhao.com/plato/

Art 21, Faulkner and Fat Fuzzy Kitties

The countdown has begun: One month to finish and install the work for the thesis show. While I feel that things are starting to come together regarding the work that I'm doing, I'm still more than a bit nervous about having time to finish everything up.

The making of my Cragen With A Thousand Faces project is being documented on an episode of Art 21, and I did an interview tonight that I feel really good about. Can't wait to see it finished.

Because I've been buying and reading so many theory books in the past couple of months, I made myself start reading fiction before bed, just to give my brain a little reward. I ended up finding a copy of The Sound and the Fury for less than $1 on Amazon and tacked it onto another order so I could get free shipping. I envy Faulkner's ability to write utterly decadent yet effortless prose, and am thoroughly enjoying my brain's little fiction stay-cation.

Optimus Prime, my roommate's cat, has been helping me with my preparations for Open Studio Night this Friday. I officially have business cards, which makes me feel a little old, and tomorrow I'm going to make a trailer for my thesis video and set up my lair...I mean studio... did I say lair?...for the visitors. The event coincides with the Southern Graphics Council annual meeting which is being held at Moore, so hopefully some of the arts professionals attending the meeting will head upstairs for some guacamole, secret videos and business cards.

One more thing:

This Friday, the Fine Arts, Photo & Digital Arts and Textiles departments at Moore are putting on an open studio event. 6:30 - 8:30 on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors, FREE FREE FREE!

I'm planning a special surprise, so make sure to come up to my LAIR in 506 for secret videos and guacamole.

Here's the FB event.

It Passed

Party on, sir, I like having health care, too.

The New Consumer

Clearly, the internet changes the game as far as the producer-advertiser-consumer relationship is concerned, as no longer is the distribution of content restricted to those big media conglomerates but opened up to anyone with access to a computer and nominal technical savvy. Clearly, we have become a new type of consumer since we share access to the means of content production and distribution and can therefore reinvent what is produced by big media to serve our need for expression. As this new market system continues to develop, it will be interesting to see how the pre-existing media megaliths like big television networks adapt (or don't adapt) while new players (google, etc.) start to wrestle for megalithic status.

I'm still developing my thoughts about this, but in the meantime, here are some articles and things.

Nicholas Bourriaud - Post Production, Culture as Screenplay: How Art Reprograms the World

Reading and the Web - Texts without Context (New York Times)

The Latest Loves of My Life

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton

Masha's becoming a star

Read Masha's interview at Art in Bars.

"Personally, after art school my soul is tortured by Arthur Danto and those daunting questions of theory and criticism. Its not a negative thing; its more about personal preference. When you are presented with all of this information and this massive timeline of ideas and images called ART you decide what you want to do with it. Some people don’t care about what their work may or not be saying when looked at in terms of everything that came before it, and that’s fine. When I make work I like to be cautious about the historical implications I may or may not be making but only because that interests me. Sometimes that can even be where the work comes from-making art about art, essentially. As for my own personal history and its place in my work; I don’t want to put very much focus on it. Its very important to me to leave it open, like a narrative that the viewers themselves can complete."

Sergio Goes & Hawaii: The Seer and the Spectacle

Watsuki Harrington, a colleague of mine at Moore, has curated an exhibition for her senior thesis that I highly recommend seeing.

Here are the details from the facebook event page:


Reception and Film Screening
Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 6:30 - 9:00 pm

Shot under the most extreme circumstances from light aircraft high above the islands of Hawaii or more than a hundred feet under the ocean during free-dives without oxygen tanks, this intimate display of photographs by Sergio Goes reflects the daring nature of the photographer, whose sense of adventure led to his untimely death July 11, 2008. The images poignantly enhance our awareness of the fragile nature of Hawaii's beauty and the ephemeral aspects of our own mortality.

7pm - Screening of "War Photographer" - Stewart Auditorium

Winner of 16 international awards and nominations, "War Photographer" (2001), directed by Christian Frei, follows the photojournalist James Nachtwey who risks his life to photograph in conflict zones around the world, such as Palestine, Kosovo, and Africa.

Cragen With A Thousand Faces

The following is an excerpt from a rough draft of one of my two thesis papers:

Like all contemporary myth-makers, I looked to the established tropes of the narrative tradition to identify those symbols and strategies that are universally agreed upon as signifiers of specific meanings. I then manipulated those tropes to reveal a system of meaning transmission that is decidedly out of line with the historically understood strategies of the narrative tradition, but, by the nature of its creation, cannot possibly divorce itself from that tradition. For example, the story of Captain Cragen, a frequently occurring character in my personal myth (originally taken from the popular television series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), may mostly align with Campbell's hero's journey, but in my myth, Cragen can be at any given time any, every and no character in the myth.

Spring Break in Review