Everything is Everything

Lupe Fiasco - Killin Beats

2012-02-09T17:06:00.001-06:00

Exhibition

2012-01-09T13:21:00.004-06:00

I'll be showing some work in a group show this Saturday at the Brooklyn Artists Gym. Please stop by if you have time.

The Iraq War. . .oh yeah. . forgot about that

2011-12-15T14:32:00.003-06:00

This is the way the war ends
This is the way the war ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

I looked all over trying to find an alternative; but even the internet, with its innate ability to make anything real, can't pretend to know the point behind the war in Iraq. The "cost was high" it kept saying. Then, it threw blame on the man who started it. Then, it gave credit to the man who ended it. I always heard that "one monkey don't stop no show", if that's true, then how can one man be given credit or blame for any one thing, when so many people participated in it?

Well, on til the next one, o on til the next one.

Washington Post | Iraq War Image Gallery
sorry about the adverts

Practice makes. . .

2011-12-05T17:23:00.003-06:00

Marvin Gaye warming up before a concert in Belgium, circa 1981. He works through an interpolation/medley of "Get to This" and "Distant Lover". Listen carefully at 3:45 as he changes keys and tempos to intro Distant Lover yet he sings the lyrics to "Get to This". The transition seems so delicate as if to be accidental, but those with good ears know better. Then at 5:35, he finds the perfect time and chord to reintroduce "Get to This". If this was practice, that show had to be amazing.

In Progress . . .

2011-06-10T17:10:00.004-05:00

Thermography Study #4
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

Design

2011-06-10T16:49:00.009-05:00

Crab Damask Pattern detail

Crab Damask Pattern

Thanks to Matt Handler @ MadPattern

Please check out his work.

Architecture

2011-06-10T16:01:00.007-05:00

The IAC Building

Designed by Frank Gehry.

Simple. Complex. Beautiful.

New Work

2011-05-26T13:04:00.006-05:00

Thermography Study #3
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 inches

Lego Sculpture Zero House

2011-05-26T12:23:00.013-05:00

In Progress. . .

2011-04-15T12:36:00.014-05:00

Skin Spectrums
Thermography Studies
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 inches

In Progress. . .

2011-04-15T12:32:00.004-05:00

Griff's
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 inches

Lego SculptureWing House

2011-04-15T12:03:00.015-05:00

Video

2011-03-23T16:08:00.004-05:00

Burn by Catalyss
Music by Thom Yorke

Screw Art

2011-03-23T15:30:00.016-05:00

California Based artist/sculptor Andrew Myers creates portraits by individually drilling then painting the heads of screws.

Please visit his website Andrew Myers
Thanks to Alice @ Modern Metropolis for the photos

20 D Batteries Mothafocka

2011-03-23T15:04:00.012-05:00

If I have to walk down the street and listen to your cellphone conversation, then you should have to listen to my music.

TDK reinvents the Boombox for the Radio Raheem in all of us.

If you want more Visit Lyle Owerko he wrote a photo book, The Boombox Project, about his obsession with Street Bangers. There is also Stereo 80s to find parts, editions and refurbished Boom Boxes
Photos © Lyle Owerko

Video

2011-03-10T15:57:00.003-06:00

Royal Reformation
by Paul Nicholls

In Progress. . .

2011-03-10T15:54:00.002-06:00

Griff's
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 in

New Work

2011-02-26T13:50:00.004-06:00

Lean
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 in

In Progress. . .

2011-02-26T13:45:00.003-06:00

Griff's
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 12 in

New Work

2011-02-06T00:48:00.002-06:00

Hunchie
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

In Progress. . .

2011-02-06T00:42:00.004-06:00

Lean
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

In Progress. . .

2011-01-20T12:20:00.005-06:00

Hunchie
Watercolor on Paper
9' x 12"

Lego ArchitectureIn Progress. . .

2011-01-20T12:11:00.005-06:00

Lego Version of the Zero House.
A Zero emission domestic project by the firm Specht Harpman

New Work

2011-01-03T12:49:00.005-06:00

Soldier
9" x 12"
Watercolor on Paper

Fairchild #1
9" x 12"
Watercolor on Paper

The Talent Show P.S. 1

2011-01-03T12:30:00.007-06:00

Feng Mengbo

Long March is a fully functioning video game created by the Beijing-based artist, Feng Mengbo. Lifting imagery from classic games like Street Fighter II and Super Mario Bros., along with propaganda motifs from Communist China, Mengbo invites visitors to direct the hero-a Red Army soldier-via a wireless controller and combat the various enemies in his digital path.

Amie Siegel

Video Project on 16 individual screens about compulsive voyeurism and the process of human deterioration

In Progress. . .

2011-01-03T12:26:00.007-06:00

New Work

2010-10-16T00:16:00.005-05:00

The Great War
Oil on Canvas
45" x 60"

The Great War - detail

The Great War - detail

New Work

2010-10-16T00:08:00.006-05:00

Self Portrait No. 2
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

Self Portrait No. 2
detail

RIP Mr. L.I.U

2010-09-29T12:16:00.008-05:00

A few days ago a good friend of mine was murdered, then the same person who murdered him went to his baby mom's house(no disrespect) and stabbed her in the stomach with a butcher knife. She was 8 months pregnant. I don't why or who, but I do have this point to make. If you have someone in your life that you have beef with, swallow your pride, approach that person and please squash it. If you care about someone in your life and you see them everyday or you haven't seen them in a while, don't assume they can read your mind, give them a call, sit them down and look them in the eyes and tell them that you love them.

No one knows their time nor their hour, so get right, do right by others and just LIVE.

RIP Yancey aka Lou aka L.I.U. Khalfani

Art

2010-09-17T13:43:00.006-05:00

Bath
18" x 24" - Watercolor on paper

In Progress. . .

2010-09-17T13:42:00.004-05:00

The Great War
48" x 60" - Oil on canvas
Share

Photo

2010-09-17T13:38:00.006-05:00

Brooklyn Caribbean Parade
Share

Games

2010-09-17T13:16:00.003-05:00

This jewel called LIMBO was put out by the Danish Studio Playdead. If Al Hitchcock had made video games, I feel like he would have come up with something similar. As far as I know, its only available on 360, which is or is not good, depending on your position.

Three simple controls, move, jump and action, allow you to navigate and manipulate a strangely evolving amorphous world. Your goal, is to find your sister, who has either lost her way within this noir matrix or has been kidnapped.

Best played with a clear head in total darkness with the sound way, way up. You're gonna need your gray matter for this one.

In Progress . . .

2010-09-02T13:30:00.006-05:00

The Great War - Oil on Canvas - 48" x 60"

Support your local hustler, click or cru

2010-09-02T13:22:00.011-05:00

silk screen on styrofoam by Patrick Martinez

Television

2010-09-02T12:33:00.006-05:00

Am I being overly dramatic when I compare the above images? Are they so dissimilar?

I went into an electronics store the other day and saw a row of people willingly strap themselves into some contraption and allow themselves to be "entertained" by the latest version of Television, 3D TV. I couldn't help but think of poor Malcolm from Clockwork. He had become so overwhelmed with ultraviolence that the powers felt that the only way to cure him was to strap him in and deprogram the seditious urges of his mind. I don't know who was scarier, the roving lunatic, or the tapioca for brains "person" that emerged after his treatment. I like a little boob tube as much as the next person, but sometimes we need to take a step back and ask ourselves is this really what we want to look like? Will $100 glasses to watch $3,000 tv become normal? Then again internal combustion engines that run on liquefied remains of plants and animals was once considered strange. Does anyone else feel really confused most of the time?

Heaven or Hell

2010-08-30T15:43:00.002-05:00

by Marco Brambilla which plays according to which direction you travel in an elevator at the Standard Hotel in NY.

Lower Ninth Ward - 5th "Anniversary" of Katrina

2010-08-27T16:00:00.004-05:00

Would it be better if they just told the truth? If they held a press conference and simply said, "After all these many decades of feeling neglected, abused and swindled, yes your feelings are correct, we truly don't give a Fuck about any of you. We're only in power to spend your taxes, create loopholes and kickbacks for our friends and suppress any movement that threatens the scheme we've constructed. Thank you for your time, from here on out, you're on your own," would things improve?

Tour the Lower Ninth and see the changes(or similarities) to the neighborhood since Katrina's dreadful arrival and departure.

Art

2010-05-13T15:48:00.004-05:00

The Deluge
oil on canvas
48"x60"

Glutton Girl
oil on canvas
48" x 60"

Glutton Girl detail
oil on canvas
48" x 60"

Bio Sculpture

2010-03-22T14:52:00.005-05:00

As a figurative painter I'm obsessed with the human body. "Human Body: The Exhibit" illustrates that our bodies may just be this worlds' most amazing piece of Art.

Photo

2010-03-22T14:40:00.003-05:00

New Work

2009-11-25T15:56:00.004-06:00

Untitled {Legal Tender}
Carmine Ink on Paper
3' x 2'

Untitled {Legal Tender}detail

Bauhaus

2009-11-25T15:28:00.004-06:00

The Bauhaus, a pedagogical and highly prolific art movement, began in 1919 and was shut down by Hitler and friends in 1933. The Original Bauhaus is definitively the foundation of Modern Design. I love hiphop, a highly sample based musical form. One of the most enjoyable aspects of hiphop is figuring out where certain samples originated. Visiting the Bauhaus exhibition at MOMA was like listening to the Isley Brothers, James Brown, Bob James, Hall and Oates, Isaac Hayes and Willie Hutch, then going through my hiphop collection and figuring out that most of it was a footnote to them. As you look out onto the landscape of Modern Craftwork and Design, everything is a footnote to the Bauhaus.

Puppets

Baby Cradle

Poster/Adverstisment

Cut Paper and Marker Collage

Tim Burton at MOMA

2009-11-25T15:03:00.004-06:00

Tim Burton, the weird macabre Orange County native, is the most profilic modern American film director. You can throw out Spielberg, Lucas and Lee but no one has covered as much ground as Burton. When you think of kitschy and original cinema a list of his titles come to mind: Beetlejuice, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, James and the Giant Peach, Sleepy Hollow, Nightmare Before Christmas,(these are just my picks, he has more) and most recently the underrated Sweeney Tood: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. His version of Alice and Wonderland is due next spring and he also has a retrospective at MOMA. The comprehensive display of work includes paintings, photos, amateur and student films, music videos, commercials, and digital slide shows, as well as a complete set of features and shorts. At MOMA until April 2010

Art

2009-11-25T14:53:00.003-06:00

Bruce Nauman
Neon and Neon Tubes

Ghilad Etzvick
Polyurethane and Plastic

Circa 1986

2009-11-13T15:09:00.013-06:00

First of all, lemme say that I don't want to go back in time. Reagan was president,
Hoopers were wearing ho shorts,

dudes dressed like Ninja Pimp Cowboys,

and girls walked around like they got dressed in a spider web,

Yet, if felt like back then, people were more outside. I don't mean as in a location outside, like outside in the club. I mean that people spent more time outside of themselves. Now, everybody's inside,even when they're outside. They're inside a cell phone or computer screen,or wrapped inside their own cloak of cool ego, Mister or Miss Untouchable and Unapproachable. We need to get up off "The Lazy", we need to become active again. How come we don't holla at each other anymore? I know all of you got people that are doing things, how come you don't connect? What's all the competition about? Darwin was right,but only to an extent. No Doubt competition breeds a stronger, more creative scene,but stagnation and isolation only leads to extinction. Here are some tracks that have helped me feel life again. So, let's reminisce, but not too much, the future is still much more interesting than the past and we all know that anything is better than the present.

The Inspiration

Schoolly D - PSK What Does That Mean?

T La Rock - It's Yours

Too $hort - Girl (That's Your Life)

A.C. Evans Studio

2009-10-01T17:21:00.008-05:00

It ain't much but its mine. I finally got me a little workshop in the "colorful" neighborhood known as Red Hook. I have to make some improvements, but it has a good feel, I think its gonna do what it's 'sposed to do.

Peace out to Ben Evans, the workshop originator (see below)

I see you homie, let get's in there and get it.

Lego project #2

2009-10-01T17:14:00.005-05:00

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

Unfortunately, this was accidentally knocked over and destroyed, so its "unfinished", but whoever really finishes anything?

Photo

2009-10-01T17:09:00.007-05:00

Goodbye Summer

Legos

2009-08-31T14:03:00.004-05:00

I, a grown man, have been playing with Legos.

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

In progress. . .

2009-08-31T13:04:00.007-05:00

This project (a quintych) will be called Scary Movie. It's almost finished. It began when I started watching people watch TV. I thought about the various "living rooms" I had visited and the strangely consistent way in which we create altars or "centers of worship" out of our Media/Entertainment Centers. These "centers" are often located in the center of our domiciles and act as the ultimate destination of our attention, our activity and over time, our interests.

After watching TV for a while, the project moved on to Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media, as well as extensive "research" of Halo 3, Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series.

GAME OVER
ENTER CREDIT
10 . . 9 . .8 . .7 . .6. .

In Progress. . .

2009-08-07T13:40:00.010-05:00

Photo

2009-08-07T13:36:00.005-05:00

Art

2009-08-07T13:28:00.010-05:00

Select pieces from the collection of the Judith Rothschild Foundation at MOMA

In Progress. . .

2009-07-10T14:02:00.006-05:00

Painting

2009-05-01T12:44:00.003-05:00

The Couple

Wet

Photo

2009-05-01T12:29:00.006-05:00

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a real movie set thanks to Matt. The filming took place on the roof of a Skyscraper at 38th and Lex.

New York Cipher

An amazing exhibit of heads made from scraps of felt, velvet and wool

In Progress. . .

2009-04-10T11:53:00.001-05:00

Photo

2009-04-10T11:51:00.003-05:00

In Progress . . .

2009-03-20T12:19:00.002-05:00

In Progress . . .

2009-03-03T17:00:00.004-06:00

ICA Boston

2009-02-11T15:36:00.006-06:00

by the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro

ICA Boston

I also saw some good work.

Shepard Fairey has Obama in his posse

2009-02-11T14:41:00.012-06:00

Shepard Fairey
Supply and Demand
ICA Boston

Man, we got it easy. I mean really, really easy. How simple must it be to exist in a world where every space is codified, measured and stamped with a logo telling you how to dress, what to read, when to think. It is an intellectual cliché to state that we live in a pervasive, vicious socio-economic system that values objects more than the people that create them. Our “culture” is dreamed up in round table discussions complete with Poland Spring and Diet Coke. Add some bagels or Pizza for realism, some coffee, some Blackberries (on vibrate of course) and there we have the genesis of the great American Ad campaign.

Maybe Shephard Fairey’s brainstorming sessions are a little different, but the end result is the same as in THE BOARDROOM. It just so happens that Fairey's “office” grew in around a half pipe. The tables were stacked with silk screen kits. The trash cans were full of empty beer cans and the ashtrays overflowed with roaches, butts, baggies whatever. Despite all this or because of it, he was able to saturate the market.

If you don’t know him by name you’ve seen his images. Think about that strange Buddha, Andre the Giant visage with the word “OBEY” in red and white beneath. You’ve seen them pasted to a wall or sign or on a billboard going somewhere. Mr. Fairey’s most famous piece of “street art” became THE LOGO for the 44th President. The image made the cover of TIME and has been inducted into the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. Like any good advertiser, Mr. Fairey has made every surface and every medium fair play in a grand cat and mouse game with the consumers and producers of our Media Culture. Fairey’s work is an extension of the ancient human art of cataloging, of telling others where you’ve been and where you’re willing to go. His work is a flag on the moon; a physical stamp, a direct descendant of TAKI 183,DONDI,and Warhol. Yet Fairey's work is also an extension of the mass irony and cynicism behind any great American Brand Name.

There doesn’t seem to be any future revolutions, nor any future revolutionaries. Fame is the new generation’s ultimate act of subversion. The up and comers are now faced with the strange dilemma called “Responsibility”. Now that we got what we want, what’s next? Maybe Fairey’s work represents the first time modern subversive culture (punk, hip-hop, skateboarding, anything DIY) has used its power to actually win a quantifiably major Political battle. Or maybe its just another sign of the power and uncanny exactness of yet another well thought out, well run, highly profitable, good ole run of the mill American Ad campaign. Whatever it is, the worst thing to do after any win is to rest.

Shepherd Fairey’s exhibit “Supply and Demand” will be on display at Boston’s ICA until August 2009.

View more OBEY work

In Progress . . .

2009-01-30T14:49:00.003-06:00

Photo

2009-01-30T14:37:00.003-06:00

In Progress. . .

2009-01-02T15:53:00.009-06:00

PHOTO

2009-01-02T15:49:00.002-06:00

Rakim closes Hip-Hop era at New York’s fabled Knitting Factory

2008-12-23T11:56:00.005-06:00

In Brooklyn on the way home from work, I looked around and saw Rakim's name, not graffited to a wall, but on the ground at the head of a flyer. I read further and saw the name Black Thought, then Keith Murray then Just Ice and decided that whenever, wherever or however I had to be there. The Knitting Factory, which is re-locating to Williamsburg, threw a finale to close the doors on its long history of Hip-Hop performances. It would be redundant to say that the show was crazy. I mean how could it be bad?

Welcome to Church. . .

First and firemost, I hate how people, even Rakim himself makes use of the name "The God" or "Rakim Allah". I don't believe in worship. Its not good for solo artists to look at themselves or their work as something made by a deity living on Earth. But it goes w/o being said; Everyone doesn't have to think like me. The Late Chad Butler captured it perfectly on "T.I.'s album King , "T.I., when the nigga first came out, he ruffled a whole lot of niggas feathers, but what he was trying to put in these stupid ass niggas earholes is that its a whole lot of kings down here." Basically you have to ask yourself "Who Do You Believe In?" and when you answer try not to be fooled by the question's deceptive simplicity. It’s a question that man has asked since man began forming questions. Who Do You Believe In? Is it God? Allah? Nothing? Yourself? Self-belief is tricky, it can become so strong that it becomes self-worship. Once other people start to feed you your own belief system (some may say bullshit) then the circle becomes complete and a type of religion begins. Maybe that's what Rakim is talking about. The good artists give you a piece of themselves; a crystallization of their personality. The hustlers sell dreams, they try to convince you that you have something when you have nothing. Then there are those that sell the images, the tangible trinkets of success that help you pretend/and show others that you are living the dream. Any Church worth its weight in the collection plate is selling hope but also a dream of salvation in another realm. By listening to scripture, rhymes, verses the listener can achieve some other worldly experience. That is The God's philosophy.

Since its inception, the marketing of Hip-Hop has been about a collection of things that look and sound like they're authentic but actually are replicas made by people who knowingly can’t create their own style. They scope the beginnings of a movement, re-create then re-administer and hope they finish counting the money before the jig is up. Hip-Hop never existed, well not as you think. Yes it probably began when Kool Herc DJ’d his sister’s birthday party in a basement in the Bronx, but that is like saying the sun didn’t rise until you were actually up to see it. Kool Herc didn’t invent Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop invented Kool Herc. Therefore, if something never existed then how can it die?

Hip-Hop is a Timeless Expression that represents a Timeless Struggle. What was special about the finale at the Knitting Factory is that Rakim seems to never have forgotten the second part of the M.C. acronym. The Crowd. Even though his name was on the marquee, the show really wasn't about him. The show wasn’t so much directed at the crowd but directed by the crowd. Honestly, how inspirational can a preacher be if there aren’t any butts in the seats? Every Church finds its power in its congregation. Even Jesus himself, who had an incredible range of Psalms and Verses plus a devoted street team (12 Disciples) would have been forgotten had it not been for the crowds and masses that spread his message. Hip-Hop has no shortage of believers, its just that there are so few artists who can deliver The Message. I was lucky to see a few on last Friday night.

Rakim, Black Thought, ?uest Love, Just Ice, Brand Nubian, et al and etc.
Thanks for the show.

A
M
E
N

In Progress. . .

2008-12-12T15:22:00.002-06:00

Photo

2008-12-12T15:20:00.001-06:00

Z-RO got that Crack

2008-12-12T15:10:00.002-06:00

In 2002 I had a job temping at a law firm and I can’t remember the last time I worked with such a cast of characters. There was this guy Aldo who used to sleep in the janitor’s closet and this woman Roberta, about 5 foot 2 and maybe a buck o’five, buck ten with clothes. She had a blond weave and the tracks used to fall out at work. I guess the glue dried overnight or something. I caught her plenty times nodding off and drooling on the legal documents. I still laugh about that place six years later. Anyways, I met this guy Bobby who introduced me to Z-RO who has a new album out called Crack. I can still hear Bobby’s voice today all slow and calm, “Say main, you missin out, you ain’t heard ‘bout that boy ‘Ro man. That boy there is something serious.” I took Bobby’s tip then went into data mining mode and soon after I copped King of da Ghetto (released in 2001) then the Guerilla Maab album Rise (released in 1995, underrated Houston classic) and felt generally embarrassed that I slept through some of my hometown’s best rap music. Over the years Z-RO has had some up and down albums, which mirror his sporadic life. You know how the story goes, label issues, jail time, drug/alcohol abuse. Despite it all, he’s managed to release albums consistently. King of da Ghetto is the album I wanted to write but wasn’t talented enough to put together. I listened to it for six months back in ’02 and returned to it periodically over the years. The songs are so pregnant, so full. It really is an album illustrative of an artist who definitely wants his financial rewards, but also needs music for therapy, self-improvement, self-reflection and inspiration. Crack came out last month and it brought me back to King of da Ghetto. I wrote down the second verse from a song called “You”.
I can’t stop listening to it.

“You” by Z-RO ©

(Hook)
That’s You
Oughta be ashamed of yourself, jus a shell of a man playin games with yoself
That’s you
making the real women look fake only hurting yourself with the decisions that you make

That’s you that beat yo kids cuz somebody said he done something but you won’t even go see if he did
That’s you
Still living at your parents home, you got a good paying job but won’t even pay for the phone
That’s you
With that unattractive attitude, people don’t want to be around you because you be ruining they mood
That’s you
That’s thinking somebody owe you something
Won’t be satisfied until somebody show you something
That’s you
Rolling your eyes and poppin your neck because you with a high roller but homie only want you for sex
That’s you
Think you the shit because your body is tight
What you gone do when God decide to change that overnight?
That’s you
That can’t stay in a woman’s place, hit a man, hoping he hit you back so you can take his freedom away
That’s you
That enjoy makin people lives hard but when trouble come round your way
You go running to God
That’s You
Oughta be ashamed of yourself, jus a shell of a man playing games with yourself
That’s you
making the real women look fake only hurting yourself with the decisions that you make

Rap-A-Lot and Z-Ro ©

Don’t Steal Music

Painting

2008-11-14T15:55:00.003-06:00

Fin

Commentary

2008-11-14T14:37:00.003-06:00

The sky is falling.
Markets all over the world are without direction.
Financial theories are being exposed as snake oil.

Just North of New York City I saw gas below $3 for the first time since I began noticing the rise in prices. The Dow Jones rather this present “Economic Meltdown” feels like my old car, a 95 Mazda 626 LE. I knew something was wrong. There was always the smell of something synthetic every time I turned the ignition, then the idling at red lights and stop signs, the thin collection of oil on the ground in my rear view mirror. I got from A to B so who cares, right? One day I was late and turned the key and nothing happened. I laughed and thought, this is what happens when you skate on thin ice. Finally, I was forced to deal with a broken contraption. My luck had run out, but when you get by on bullshit can you really call it luck? There are two differences between Wall Street and Vegas. 1) Vegas don’t close and 2) they have clocks on the Mercantile Exchange floor. After that, it’s all the same sad dream of making it big by offering little.

Instead of thinking of the rise and fall of a collection of commodities as a thing, it seems to make more sense to view the "market" not as a number but as a lost character in a supermarket, engorged on whip cream, empty calories and junk food. The other night a man of the network news stood in front of Macy's in Herald Square and used apocalyptic language when referring to the fact that a lack of people aren’t buying the lack of quality goods in the world's most famous strip mall. These shucksters selling crap are in distress because their hustle ain’t hitting no more. The magic of this game is that you have to pay to live and businesses know this so they play a game of chicken with their customers. Who’s gonna give in first? Any business tries to convince you that they can do for you better than you can do for yourself. Our food tastes better that yours, these clothes are more stylish that last years, this book will make you smarter, this phone will make you more efficient. Don’t get it twisted I’m not a left wing anti-capitalist, I have a great belief in the idea that if you provide a good product people will eagerly reward you with good business. I appreciate the Darwinism inherently built into this economic system and honestly I can’t knock the next person’s hustle. Do what you do to get paid, but I can not allow myself any sympathy for people that try to get over then claim innocence when they get caught.

If you make bad loans to bad candidates at adjustable rates just to expand your balance sheet then you deserve for your bank to fail. If you make cumbersome trucks that guzzle gas because you can’t see past your earnings to the enevitable market shift then you deserve to go bankrupt. If you sell burner bags to some cats who you thought wouldn’t come back on you just to make an extra forty bucks then you can’t be surprised if you get run up on. I don’t feel sorry for schemers. You and you and you--You deserve it. There are rules to this. You don't bite the hand that feeds you and you don't get high on your own supply. I’m hoping that the government bailout will be put to good use, and that the people that were burned get their money back. But I’m a realist first. Their investments are gone, up in smoke, in an offshore account, down the tank of a G5. I’m also hoping that whatever new scheme the heads of state and finance conjure up will eliminate opportunities for future swindlers and con men but where there are always those that put in work and grind the right way, there will always be those that want to get something for nothing.

Time is Relative

2008-11-07T17:04:00.005-06:00

What is kinder; to believe the best of people and burden them with nobility beyond their endurance or to see them as they are and accept it because it makes them comfortable?
-Elsworth Tooey
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Congratulations to Mr. Obama on a great accomplishment. There was not a newspaper published anywhere on this planet that didn't have his story on its front cover last Wednesday morning. I had the great opportunity of watching the results at Times Square; Ground Zero of the American media complex. There was a young man amongst the crowd in baggy jeans and a fitted who declared “Quiet Quiet, Let the man speak” as Mr. Obama began his acceptance speech. On the subway ride home a woman in hipster garb and unkempt afro spun around one of the poles inside the train and screamed in ecstasy “Barack Hussein Obama” is your new president. Even the most cynical Republicans had to concede that their party had lost to a formidable opponent. Yet amongst the euphoria and expectation there was something unsettling about the moment and future ahead.

A week ago there was a story on the news about a newly constructed atom smasher on the outskirts of a German hamlet. Confronted again with Einstein’s’ General Theory of Relativity (E=MC2) I remained frustrated at an obscure equation, a symbol of a type of intelligence thoroughly over my head. Suddenly as the commentator explained the theory, something clicked. The formula made logical sense, not because I became instantly smarter but because I looked at the information there and allowed it to display itself. I forgot about the foreboding world of math and simply thought about nature and the relationship of cause and effect. There are two objects both moving on their own paths, at their own speeds when suddenly they are directed towards each other and are forced to collide. A direct by-product of their uniform destruction is energy, life, creation.

Looking at the Red/Blue division of the United States and realizing all the political and cultural barriers that Obama has collided with, it is no surprise that the haters came out in full force. After you examine the states awarded to McCain and Obama it is clear that the lines of the Civil War are as bold as ever. The ideas behind this National political division have not been defeated but only reinvigorated because of Obama’s victory. Just as this political atom smasher of ideas can create an Obama, an equally opposing force is gathering speed and preparing itself for impact. As Brad Jordan once said, “You’re only as good as what you go up against.” Mr. Obama will be a fine President, but he is neither saint nor savior. He should be applauded for reviving a sense of hope in the Democratic system but even his skilled tongue cannot rewrite the laws of nature.

In Progress . . .

2008-10-23T14:29:00.002-05:00

Vulgar Masterpeice Theatre

2008-10-23T12:08:00.007-05:00

I use the British spelling for "theater", because Great Britain or particularly London is the origin of that limey duo that is Gilbert and George (G&G). The misanthropic world of Francis Bacon has mixed with the whimsical aloofness of Andy Warhol on the fourth and fifth floors of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. G&G met in art school and have been been making Art for fifty years in the East End of London. They have figured out how to embrace and denounce the power of their own petri dish; that strange cauldron of a thing called the modern Art scene. They sneer at the insiders from the outside looking as if they've figured out the perfect balance between separation and participation. To say they oppose conventions would be naive. How unconventional is it to do a piece of art, stick it to a wall then sit back and let other people do all the work? Yet their exhibition will leave you exhausted, humored, inquisitive and confused.

G&G seem to be saying that if man is made in the image of God, then logically speaking God is an image of man, nothing more and nothing less. Like any other image, men and gods can be as malleable, disposable or influential as a picture of Jesus behind a church choir, a Campbell's Soup can, or a hamburger on a grill above an interstate highway. Images are archetypes, which not only tell us something about the people that construct them but also something about the people that consume them. G&G, while using the tools of man (the acetone of film, the camera lens, the digital printer) to construct images that serve as deities have ultimately recast themselves as a theatrical troupe wherein they are the actors, directors and producers of a performance that has no final act.

"Gilbert and George" will be at the Brooklyn Museum of Art until January 2009

In Progress . . .

2008-10-17T13:57:00.003-05:00

Photos

2008-10-17T13:49:00.008-05:00

This was taken in the Cathedral at St. Denis, just north of Paris. Inside those jars are the hearts of the old Bourbon monarchs-Louis 14th and on and on.

New York City waste, there is a pill bottle in a puddle on the sidewalk.

In Progress. . .

2008-10-09T12:45:00.002-05:00

In Progress . . .

2008-10-02T12:32:00.001-05:00

Painting

2008-10-02T12:30:00.002-05:00

Speed

PHOTO

2008-10-01T16:25:00.006-05:00

Heaven

Menil

Reflection

Bun B is outperformed by absent MCs in Houston

2008-08-21T19:30:00.005-05:00

When my friend Cory told me that I should get to the Bun B show early because Bun was to perform on the smaller of the two Wherehouse Live stages I had to cancel some pre-show plans. I wanted to get there early. I mean Bun B, in Houston. I was excited. I had never seen UGK in person and this was my chance to see one of my favorite MCs. I thought it would be like seeing Nas in Queens or Wayne in New Orleans. We made it to ten feet off center stage near eleven. Bun appeared near midnight, midnight fifteen and after touring through (not in this order); "Pocket full of stones (Original Version), You’re Everything, Draped Up, a MIA Paper Planes Remix, I'm a Gangsta, an interpolation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Give it Away, Let Me See It, One Day, Big Pimpin, Players Anthem 2007 (I Choose You) and maybe one more Bernard Freeman turned his back and disappeared near midnight forty. A few people in the overtly eclectic yet painfully middle class crowd started shouting "Bun B, Bun B". It was all in vain. I thought that he would return, maybe with Devin or Lil Keke or somebody, anybody. When the band started to pack up their shit I knew it had all come to an end. It felt like half the show was yet to come. I had to remind myself that this was a "free" corporate show and that a back room deal had most likely stipulated everything down to the minute.
Houston deserved better. A Corporate Sponsored Show promoting an Internationally known recording artist in his adopted hometown could have been much worse, but it definitely should have been much better. First question and this is directed to the promoters/backers or whomever. What's up with Bun being sequestered to the small stage? Did you really think he wouldn’t draw? Third question, Who the hell let that New York guy play hype man? What the hell was he talking about? Half of his yo's were unintelligible and when I could make out his words I wished he would just shut up. Despite those shortcomings, Bun B is still Bun B.
I'm usually skeptical of the appeal of diamonds. When Bun approached the front of the stage he was so glittery you couldn’t help but look at him. There was a heavy chain of rocks draped around his neck. His Ten Commandment pendent dangled firmly at the center of his black T-shirt, which read “MOTHERFUCKA CAN YOU BUY THIS?” in white all capped block letters. When I saw him I was reminded of that ever-present duality that is Bun B and UGK. They have always retained a balance between garish insouciant consumption and inspirational empowerment. At first sound of Bun’s voice I went back to all the different moments deciphering his words or smiling at his sly jokes and sharp metaphors. We in the crowd had all come to hear him speak. We had all come to pick up some game. His breath control looked effortless and every word was clean. Yet after he spit, a hole opened up on the stage and no one including his anonymous co-MC was big enough to fill it. Bun B has to manage something that can’t be managed, only accepted. I’m talking specifically about the massive space vacated by Pimp C. Bun’s voice is a bedrock of skill, bravado and understated charisma but without that smoke something, sweet james jones Twang I can’t help but feel that something is still missing. I like Bun’s two solo albums, but other than “Draped Up” and "The Story " I can't think of one song without Pimp C or a guest MC that I've really felt. Listening to a Bun B album we’ve always been given a supporting character. In his live performance, there was no one there to cover the gaps between the verses because it was singularly a Bun B show.
After Bun’s verses, we’re accustomed to Pimp, or Jay Z or Rick Ross, or Wayne or Scarface, 3-6, David Banner or EightBall and MJG. All those artists have had accredited industry success and I give Bun props for being generous with space on his albums. Kudos to him for reaching out and trying to create not just a Bun B album but an amalgamation of all the South as to offer. Yet it feels as if Bun’s generosity has undermined him and all the bit players in his orbit have eclipsed his ability to shine.

Painting

2008-07-29T17:11:00.003-05:00

Le Roi et La Reine No. 2
-elle est termine

In Progress. . .

2008-07-24T16:22:00.003-05:00

Prose

2008-07-24T16:21:00.001-05:00

It’s that face again, that ever changing artifact of self.
A sphinx in a mirror.
Sands of time, weathered, deformed, a shell left to dry in the morning tide.
But then a period comes.
It’s the anticipation of something new.
Then, summer arrives and the dew turns to food and all is green and lush.
In the back of the space behind your eyes there is a light beyond the fog.
Your nose and eyes are dry but underneath there is a floating floor, a school of fish.
Friends or Foes?
Float Float
As you arrive, tired, limping, gray, skin loose, you wait, but nothing comes.
Breathe. Exhale.
Breathe.

Painting

2008-07-11T17:02:00.005-05:00

Gilded Youth

Broadway Billiards

In Progress. . .

2008-07-11T16:59:00.003-05:00

Photo

2008-07-11T16:54:00.003-05:00

Painting

2008-04-28T19:27:00.002-05:00

Fine Young Cannibals

Photos

2008-04-28T19:24:00.002-05:00

In Progress. . .

2008-04-28T19:21:00.001-05:00

Broadway Billiards

Painting

2008-03-17T15:57:00.003-05:00

Abstack #2

In Progress. . .

2008-03-17T15:54:00.001-05:00

This will be called "Fine Young Cannibals"

Prose

2008-03-17T15:47:00.003-05:00

Stop. Go. Wait here. Go there. Come in. Stay out. Be a man. Be a woman. Be white. Be black. Live. Die. Be your real self. Be somebody else. Be a human animal. Be a superman. Yes. No. Rebel. Submit. RIGHT. WRONG. Make a splendid impression. Make an awful impression. Sit down. Stand Up. Take your hat off. Put your hat on. Create. Destroy. Live now. Live in the future. Live in the past. Obey the law. Break the law. Be ambitious. Be modest. Accept. Reject. Plan ahead. Be spontaneous. Decide for yourself. Listen to others. Talk. Silence. Save money. Spend money. Speed up. Slow down. This way. That way. Right. Left. Present. Absent. Open. Closed. Entrance. Exit. IN. OUT.

W.S. Burroughs

Photo

2008-03-17T15:44:00.001-05:00

Art

2008-02-18T15:12:00.002-06:00

Undercurrent is finished.

In Progress . . .

2008-02-18T15:10:00.001-06:00

I don't have a title yet, any suggestions??

Photos

2008-02-18T15:09:00.002-06:00

Video

2008-01-16T16:06:00.000-06:00

Everything is Everything

Lupe Fiasco - Killin Beats

Exhibition

The Iraq War. . .oh yeah. . forgot about that

Practice makes. . .

In Progress . . .

Design

Architecture

New Work

Lego Sculpture Zero House

In Progress. . .

In Progress. . .

Lego SculptureWing House

Video

Screw Art

20 D Batteries Mothafocka

Video

In Progress. . .

New Work

In Progress. . .

New Work

In Progress. . .

In Progress. . .

Lego ArchitectureIn Progress. . .

New Work

The Talent Show P.S. 1

In Progress. . .

New Work

New Work

RIP Mr. L.I.U

Art

In Progress. . .

Photo

Games

In Progress . . .

Support your local hustler, click or cru

Television

Heaven or Hell

Lower Ninth Ward - 5th "Anniversary" of Katrina

Art

Bio Sculpture

Photo

New Work

Untitled {Legal Tender} Carmine Ink on Paper3' x 2'

Untitled {Legal Tender}detail

Untitled {Legal Tender}detail

Bauhaus

Puppets

Baby Cradle

Poster/Adverstisment

Cut Paper and Marker Collage

Tim Burton at MOMA

Art

Bruce NaumanNeon and Neon Tubes

Ghilad EtzvickPolyurethane and Plastic

Circa 1986

The Inspiration

A.C. Evans Studio

Lego project #2

Photo

Legos

In progress. . .

In Progress. . .

Photo

Art

In Progress. . .

Painting

Photo

In Progress. . .

Photo

In Progress . . .

In Progress . . .

ICA Boston

Shepard Fairey has Obama in his posse

In Progress . . .

Photo

In Progress. . .

PHOTO

Rakim closes Hip-Hop era at New York’s fabled Knitting Factory

In Progress. . .

Untitled {Legal Tender}
Carmine Ink on Paper
3' x 2'

Bruce Nauman
Neon and Neon Tubes

Ghilad Etzvick
Polyurethane and Plastic