Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Freshly Baked: From The Studio



Colin Munroe x Wale - Will I Stay


"Homecoming" John Forte + Talib Kweli from The ICU on Vimeo.

John Forte X Talib Kweli - Homecoming

U.S. Secretary of Arts


One of the coolest shake-ups President Obama wants to bring into office is his plan to expand the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and revitalize the arts.

His three top priorities are 1) Expanding public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations. 2) Creating an Artist Corps. 3) Publicly championing the importance of arts education.

This has brought high-profile artist Quincy Jones to the suggestion to President Obama for the creation of a Secretary of Arts. He has started an online petition to create the Department of the Arts, because he says that the arts bring spiritual benefits. This could bring the arts and the government under one umbrella. But some argue that the arts should not be connected to the government. The opposition argues that the government should just fund the art, “then go away.”

Richard Kessler, executive director of The Center for Arts Education of New York city thinks is a great idea though. He said, “The mere existence of a cultural policy platform is an amazing thing, a good thing. Nothing like it existed before in the history of our country.”

As we know, artist help define society. I believe that more knowledge to young students about the arts is a great thing to care for. But do we want the government to oversee the arts? Perhaps this idea of a Secretary of the Arts can bring a direct representation to the White House about the lack of funds for arts like scholarships, art centers, and public art. If your country would needed you to paint, would you paint? As an artist, I would love to have government support, but as long as there is no regulation between what I want to paint and what the government thinks I should paint.

If you're interested in signing the online petition go here.

Zombie Attack!!!


Apparently there are zombies on the road ahead. Hackers switched the message that it was being displayed on this electronic road sign near the University of Austin last week. This sure takes zombie-invasion warning to a whole other level.

F6 Gallery: Electro Shock Show

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Judith Lea Perkins @ Kettle Art

VACH Art Exhibit call for artists - deadline April 2

The Visual Artists of Cedar Hill (VACH) are having their 2nd Annual Regional Judged Art Exhibit April 16-19, 2009. The show is open to all artists age 18 and over. Membership in VACH is not required for entry in the show. Over $2,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded! Judge for the show will be Dawna Hamm Walsh who has had an extensive career as an art educator and is an experienced art juror. Dr. Walsh currently serves as the chairperson of Dallas Baptist University's Art Department.
Up to 3 entries per artist are allowed in a combination of any of the following categories:

1. Oil
2. Water Media
3. Dry Media
4. Mixed Media Collage (2-Dimensional)
5. Photography & Digital Art
6. 3-Dimensional Art

A printable copy of the prospectus, as well as a membership application, is available on the VACH website at www.thevach.org. You can contact barbara@thevach.org for additional information. Members joining after the January meeting pay half of the yearly membership fee. Get your entry forms in soon, as the entry deadline is April 2, 2009.

R.I.P. Andrew Newell Wyeth (July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009)


Andrew Newell Wyeth was a visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century, and was sometimes referred to as the "Painter of the People", due to his work's popularity with the American public. On January 16, 2009, Andrew Wyeth died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, after a brief illness. He was 91 years old. The cause of death is not known. Listen to the NPR broadcast about Wyeth here.


Christina's World
Andrew N. Wyeth, 1948

What is Art?


"The Art Instinct," it argues that the instinct to create art is part of the mating process. That is, we create art to impress potential mates. Now this fascinates me, because for a couple years now I've thought that the impulse to create work that garners critical praise and popularity is a means to get sex and love. "Do you like my painting/acting/writing/music? Wanna do it?" I can't even see myself being in a relationship with someone unless they liked my art.

Do you create art with conscious thought about attracting mates?

Jonah Lehrer reviewed Denis Dutton's new book over the philosophy of art. He writes that this book goes over different expline over the meaning of art and exploring the art instict. Overall it sounds like a good reading for philisophical value or if you're an art major. Pick up a copy.

"Dutton is an elegant writer, and his book should be admired for its attempt to close the gap between art and science. It really is time that art critics learn about the visual cortex, musicologists study the inner ear and evolutionary psychologists unpack Jane Austen. Unfortunately, like so many other aesthetic theories, Dutton's ideas are ultimately undone by what they can't explain. This is the irony of evolutionary aesthetics: Although it sets out to solve the mystery of art, to explain why people write poems and smear paint on canvases, it ends up affirming the mystery. The most exquisite stuff is what we can't explain. That's why we call it art."

Read the rest of the review here!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Stop The Violence Movement

Ratatat - Shempi + Gettysburg (Live in Paris)



This is a November, 2008 performance of the duo Ratatat playing in Paris. If theses two guys are not the saviors for bad electronic music, then it's a lost cause. But I'm sure you will judge for yourself that one bass, one guitar, and bunch of other music synthesizers can sound and look good.

Objectified



"'Objectified' is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. it’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. it’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. it’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. it’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.”

Bars & Tones by André F. Chocron

This will either annoy you or put you in a good mood.
Save it for when you've had "one of those days."


Bars & Tones from André F. Chocron on Vimeo.

Sole Power X Rec Shop: JAMUARY