the kinder create with loose parts
dressed all in yellow.
clearly in their yellow period.
—
“yellow is the color which is closest to light.
we associate the rays of the sun and the stars with it.
it is the radiance of the spirit.”
– ueli seiler-hugova
one of the kinder drew this portrait of me in class
and
it is one of my favorite portraits of all time.
—
‘every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
-oscar wilde
the kinder drummed on paint while listening to music
creating vibrant, splashy, coloring-bursting art
—
“creativity is intelligence having fun.”
– albert einstein
popcorn is art and one of my favorite snacks
(though it’s no flamin’ hot cheetos!),
something to consider on national popcorn day.
Raining Popcorn (2001) is a piece commissioned by the Faulconer Gallery of the Grinnell College in Iowa. The commission would take artist, Sandy Skoglund many months to complete. In Skoglund’s art practice, the conceptual subject matter works in conjunction with the physical materials she uses, drawing on historical references, and instilling them with psychologically complex meaning.
Produced in 2001, just before the September 11 attacks, Raining Popcorn references the complex roots of American contemporary culture and overconsumption. The unifying subject throughout the piece is popcorn, so pronounced and repetitive it replaces nature. The popcorn becomes an all-encompassing reality, lining the walls, the floors, the subjects, and alas growing from trees. This obsessive environment constructed by Skoglund derives from the artist’s desire to combine sculptures of animals, live humans, and nature into a space that involves thought and play, as part research and part recreation.
The abundance of Popcorn acts as a reflection of the cultural environment, being noisy, excessive, universal, and part of popular culture. Currently, Americans eat 13 billion quarts of Popcorn a year, produced mostly in the heartland of America, from Illinois to Ohio. The piece is a response to memories and experiences Skoglund felt as a graduate student in Iowa.
The painstakingly handcrafted quality of the endless popcorn creates a fantasy landscape, one that raises questions about climate issues and our surrounding environment, as well as fantasy and reality. In Raining Popcorn, Skoglund’s objects and composite staging have a base in truth; they are not a product of photoshop or digital manipulation. It is critical for the artist that the photographs evidence something genuine. The constructions are explicitly staged to be photographed from one unique viewpoint.
—
“americans love popcorn, and their love doesn’t quit.”
-rosecrans baldwin
—
Credits: Sandy Skoglund, Raining Popcorn – Holden Luntz Gallery
Every fall in Osijek, Croatia – Nikola Faller, academic sculptor and Osijek land artist, creates this magic.
Her drawings are made by raking leaves.
—
“every photographed object is merely the trace left behind by the disappearance of all the rest.
it is an almost perfect crime,
and almost total resolution of the world,
which merely leave the illusion of a particular object shining forth,
the image of which then becomes an impenetrable enigma.”
-jean baudrillard
—
image credits: plava planeta, suzana vida-suz
Ann Arbor has innumerable large- and small-scale murals already, but they have new company as the result of a crowdfunded project to bring art to walls and alleys around town.
In July, the Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) raised more than $50,000 to commission 10 murals around the city. The fundraiser was through Patronicity, and once the goal was met, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) matched the donations to double the money available to the mural artists. At the onset of the project, 10 artists paired with local business owners on the sites of their future murals. In October, two additional murals were announced, raising the total to 12. This initiative is part of the ongoing A2AC Art in Public program that aims to make art “accessible and equitable to everyone,” relying on community-based donations.
Since the Art Center helped crowdfund two other public murals in the recent past, those have been added to the A2AC Murals Map, which features a walking tour of all the works. Currently, 13 murals are finished, with the 14th debuting sometime in 2021.
“one can speak poetry just by arranging colors well.”
-vincent van gogh
pat metheny, side-eye tour, orchestra hall, detroit, michigan
detroit symphony orchestra paradise jazz series
october 2021
amazing experience
—
We’re all familiar with the sense of wonder and joy we experience when we hear a song or piece of music we love, but there’s something even more magical about hearing that song performed live. Although many artists offered streamed performances online during the pandemic, these didn’t quite leave us with the same enchanted feelings as concerts. So what makes live music different? Columbia associate music professor Mariusz Kozak explains why live music is so powerful.
Live music allows us to experience what philosopher Alfred Schütz called a “mutual tuning-in.” This term refers to the phenomenon where we experience the passage of time and emotions with others. This is part of the reason humans need social interaction to thrive. When we attend a concert, we’re experiencing the tone of the music—fast, slow, happy, sad—with others around us. This creates a sense of intimacy with the crowd around us. This is also why research shows that babies who are bounced in time to music with an adult display more altruism towards that person.
This pleasurable effect gained from synchronizing with those around us is what makes live music and dance so powerful. Although most people probably relate to this feeling when remembering their favorite concert, this feeling is not limited to conventional music. It can also be experienced through collective visual synchronization. In the deaf community, facial gestures and movements are to convey emotions in music performance. The collective interpretation of the emotions behind these facial gestures also promotes a sense of unity.
The Blackfeet in North America use the same word to refer to music, dance, and ceremony, indicating the essential role of gathering to fully appreciate the benefits of music. Close friends can even experience this synchronization when walking or talking together.
Experiencing music in the presence of others cultivates a feeling of unity and empathy within us which exceeds anything we could experience by ourselves. As we head back to in-person concerts and relish this feeling once again, know that the true power of the music you’re hearing might not come from the artist, but in fact your fellow concert goers.
– Mariusz Kozak, Associate Professor of Music and Music Theory, Columbia University
kinder quite naturally, know what to do
—
“in a time of destruction, create something.”
-maxine hong kingston
the kinder created a new house for the fairies
after their old house broke apart
and they had nowhere to live.
after learning about detroit artist, tyree guyton,
they created the house in his artistic style
and placed it in the garden
where beautiful flowers were just beginning to bloom.
“life itself is an art form”
-tyree guyton (creator of the heidelberg project)
https://www.tyreeguyton.com/about
I didn't have my glasses on.... 