the garbage can project

Jonathan Gitelison has been working on the garbage can project since 2005 when the garbage cans outside his apartment building kept disappearing. I particularly enjoyed this video.

note: i posted the wrong link earlier. i just corrected it.

assignments from Miranda

For all you Miranda July fans out there, check out the fantastic site I found today.

Sy Safransky's Notebook

From Sy Safransky's Notebook in the current issue of The Sun.

"The muse whispers: don't write like someone who fears death but puts a brave face on it, or tells a self-deprecating joke about it; the world doesn't need another borscht-belt comedian. Don't write like a man who worries that his writing isn't good enough; is it good enough to tell your neighbor there's smoke pouring out of her upstairs window? Don't sit there coughing as her house burns to the ground because you can't think of a synonym for fire."

This one spoke to something I'm working through right now.

Articles in The Sun frequently evoke choked up sensations for me. This one got me especially deeply.

gesso and finger nails

Alpha has introduced me to the glory of gesso. I love it. I want to sculpt with it and layer it and let it dry and crack.

Bi-Coastal Cakewalk

I finished a new composition! This is a piano duet I wrote for a friend who is moving to the east coast, who also plays piano. It's called Bi-Coastal Cakewalk. It's so much fun!



Or download it here: Bi-Coastal Cakewalk

And for more fun, here's an electronic synth version:



Or download it here: BCC (electroversion)

nightmare photo morph

This is so weird and so disturbing that I can't take my eyes off it.

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Post-it note instant messaging.

When does school start at Hipster High?

Don't mean to be pushy, but whatever like happened to Hipster High? I'm still on the edge of my lime green IKEA seat (that I got dumpster diving. ha.)

Something juicy happened in my class today that would totally fit into the story.

Love Letters

I remember you. I think about you often. I miss you. I loved you. I try to find your name and see what you're up to. I check newspapers from your city. I still think you'll be famous some day. I look to see if you've written a book, or started your own business. I saw you started a support group. When I was at the airport in your city, I wondered if I would see you. I stared at everyone. I watched everyone, looking for clues of you. I saw someone with your haircut, someone with your hands, another with your smile. Someone had your eyes -- I could tell by the brightness and curiosity of them.

I want you to find me. I don't know if I'd want to talk with you -- it might ruin it. But to know you found me, watched me, observed me -- that makes me happy. I don't think we could talk now, but we could watch each other. We wouldn't speak, just use our eyes, and the shapes of our mouths -- but not voice. Maybe I'd write something on paper for you -- like this. And I'd hand it to you as you walked by in the airport. We wouldn't say goodbye, just as we didn't say so before.

imperfect photography

I admire this opinion about tactile photography that Alec Soth wrote about on his blog.

mask 5

I've just started a new wall sculpture that will take a while to complete. Some of the pieces for it turned themselves into a mask tonight.



This image is here just to show the levitation of my beak:

The most amazing Butterfield sculpture

Look at this Deborah Butterfield sculpture. It is one of the most amazing of her horses I have ever seen.

I just did a quick google image search on her because I got to touch one of her horses yesterday for the first time. I've seen many before yet had touched none. The one I saw yesterday is in the sculpture garden across from the Walker Art Center. I wanted to sit on it. I wanted to crawl inside it.

But it was not like this one. This one is my new favorite. I heart this horse.

grisly discovery

This painting is so strange.

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Seaweed eating rocks.

John Grider

I really like John Grider's mural work, especially this one.

This web site is tricky to add to your google reader, but I found a way to make the link work. Copy this link and add it to your reader.

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My glasses case in two cup holders.

if you still want to tag

this might be of interest.

it's like Ready Made magazine...

...but even better, I think. Hugo emailed me the link to Instructables, and I'm smitten. So great. Now hopefully I'll find instructions for making an adult-sized baggy kitten suit.

war and tourism

I admire this work.

Science Buzz

Alpha and I went to the Science Museum tonight to see the omni show. We were four minutes late and had to wait until the next show so we occupied ourselves with the Science Buzz.

faceless snowman

I biked past this faceless snowman and elephant today. They are both made of concrete. The snowman was about 12 feet tall.

Uptown! You can set your mind free!

Prince is hot in this town right now and I love it. Even though I can't afford the first two shows today and didn't want to wait in line all day for tickets to the third show, I LOVE hearing his name everywhere. Everyone's buzzing about Prince.

I hum in falsetto and daydream.

squeaky

My (computer) mouse started squeaking. Just now. What do you think it wants to eat?

mask 4

mask 3

mask 2

I've been hasty about both masks. I make them in a flurry. You can even see the glue on my chin under the leaf in this one because I didn't wait for it to dry and it peeled off some. There's something I like about the speed; they are as temporary as I can possibly make them. And yet, I want to make myself pay more attention to them and make that attention manifest into self-attention.

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Do you have any gum?

Zoopsia

So I went yesterday to the Getty to see Tim Hawkinson's new exhibit, and I was disappointed. Besides the Uberorgan, which was in the main lobby, the Zoopsia exhibit was only 4 pieces! They were all in a tiny room in the West Pavilion. Of course they were interesting, but there were only 4 pieces! There's been a big ad campaign in LA for this exhibit, including banners on streetlights and stuff, so I was expecting more. Oh well - at least the Uberorgan was very cool.

bright

mask 1

I'd been thinking about painting my face. Then I came home and did this. It is the beginning of something. Stay posted.

Isn't this a morph?

This image was on nytmes.com and I'd been wondering how it was taken when I saw an explanation for it. So simple.

Update: About the Photograph
Many readers have commented on the stunning image by Nicole Bengiveno in this post, so we asked her to explain how she got the shot. Her answer:
I went to a kitchen supply store and found a clear plastic measuring container large enough to fit my camera. I laid down at the edge of the pool with the pre-focused camera inside the container, reaching down and firing as the camera was bobbing up and down in the water. It was a makeshift thing. It’s part of the fun for me — figuring out ways to shoot something different.

what would you do?

I saw this and instantly felt a strong desire to: (fill in the blank)

Julius Popp's Bit.Fall

When the message is transient, use a transient medium?



I so want one of these for my living room.

(Found via Infosthetics)

sequence photographs

I can't wait to see the results of this project.

I wish I could do that

This guy asks strangers if he can take their photo. Some are great. I dream of being so bold.

parked

Polaroids

Laurie took these funny Polaroids with a funny old camera she found. I loved them. Does anyone else see Jesus? Or The Beatles?

unpacking

Find "California."