I know everyone is tired of hearing about Michael Jackson, well, I am not! I didn't start my love affair with Mike until a couple of years ago.
I didn't like him growing up, my parents weren't into him, and I was just a little too young to get into the hype. I do remember seeing him on television from time to time. It was Rob who got me into Mike, Rob still has the Thriller vinyl he listened to as a kid. The first album that got me is Off the Wall. It's the perfect culmination of Motown, disco, and everything that the eighties held for Michael, and for music. The production is immaculate, you can't find that anymore. It has real instruments layered together perfectly. Pop music today is made with a workstation!
It kind of breaks my heart to see so many people tire of hearing about him. I feel like people are missing the point. When he died most of the internet slowed to a halt. Millions of people googled him at once, AOL instant messenger crashed for 45 minutes, Wikipedia, Twitter, TMZ, Facebook all experienced problems with crashing. His music took over the top 20 spots on Amazon.com and itunes. The video for Thriler alone has over 40 million hits on youtube. All of his other videos come in around 20 million views.
Enormous pressure is being placed on CD manufacturing plants in various countries as Jackson's work goes back into full scale production to meet the popularity! I saw R5 Records, where Rob works, on the news yesterday. Huge vigils are being held around the world, with people buying his records up all over the world!
The reason this is important to me is because you won't see this again. I strongly doubt that anyone will ever outsell Mike. The music industry has change, so has pop music. The emphasis on albums has been replaced by itunes singles, musicianship replaced with workstations, and vocal skill replaced with auto-tune. Thriller became the best selling record of all time a little over a year after it's release. 7 out of 9 songs became singles! He wanted every song to sound like a single, to be strong enough to stand on it's own.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
the annunciation
Come to my art show and see all of the new paintings I have been working on. It's going to be a tribute to all of my favorite queens and queen consorts. Among the lucky; Marie de' Medici, Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth I and Mary I, and last but not least, Mary Queen of Scots. Also, I have been working on my own illuminated manuscript. Come check it out June 13th from 6:00pm-8:00pm at the Javalounge, due to unforseen circumstances my art will only be up for about a week and a half. Preview photos coming soon!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Klimt and Demitasse
Using the square template of my dear friend Richard St. Ofle I compiled a few images of things that inspired me this week.1. Pierre Bonnard's Montmartre in the Rain was recently acquired by the Van Gogh Museum. I would very much like to see it as this is the first Bonnard I've seen that I really like. This painting is more atmospheric than his usual jarring indoor scenes.
2. This is embroidery from a garment that belonged to King Gustav III of Sweden.
3. I finished Balthus' memoirs this week. He may have been the very last artist to approach painting as a craft. He mixed paint according to Delacroix's formulas. There is more to be said about him later.
4. This is the Revolving Miniatures Faberge Egg, it's my favorite.
5. This was taken by Arthur Elgort. I have twins on both sides of the family. I used to think it would be really wonderful to have a twin, but now I see that it's just creepy.
6. This is a detail from a painting of King Louis XV, of France. It was painted by Justinat Augustin in 1717.
7. This is beautiful, I found it on a website that just had a list of antiques that are for sale. I couldn't figure out where it came from.
8. Another Balthus. Joan Miró et sa fille Dolorès, 1937-1938.
9. I love Demitasse cups, I am starting a collection. They're so delicate and detailed, each one is a little work of art.
10. A detail from Gustave Klimt's Beethoven Frieze. Recently another Klimt was returned to it's rightful owner. Another painting of his, the infamous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Blauer was auctioned off for 135 million dollars. The story of that painting is very interesting, complete with a surprise ending!
The painting was confiscated by Nazis. Somehow it fell into the hands of Austrain government. Adele's niece and nephew, who lived in the United States were the rightful inheritors of her estate. They waged courtroom battles in Austria and America, eventually they won. They displayed the painting for a short time before selling it to a gallery owner, who promptly returned it on the condition that he could hang it in his gallery whenever he wished. His gallery, Neue Galerie, houses recovered art that was seized during the Holocaust. They refer to this painting as their Mona Lisa, I like it much better than the Mona Lisa!
11. It's summer, the heat is horrible. It's time for escape; the ocean, hiking, aimless drives, swimming, and hopefully staying away from sun burns.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
sky cam diptych
April 7, 2009 4:38pm and 7:14pm.
April 23,2009 5:35pm and March 21, 2009 6:44pm.
May 4, 2009 7:14pm and 7:26pm.
April 2, 2009 2:44pm and 3:11pm.
March 23, 2009 6:38pm and April 17, 2009 7:29pm.
May 6, 2009 2:05pm and 4:23pm
May 5, 2009 8:05pm and 8:23pm.
April 4, 2009 7:08pm and April 5, 2009 7:44pm.
April 7, 2009 11:07am and 4:38pm. In the morning the first clouds of a storm begin to move in, by late afternoon you can see rain falling in the distance.
April 4, 2009 10:53pm and May 4, 2009 7:56pm.
May 1, 2009 2:26pm and 6:11pm.
May 5, 2009 11:46am and 11:56am
May 5, 2009 11:58am and 12:58am
May 5, 2009 12:11pm and 12:17pm
I imagine this project will slow down as summer heats up. Even now, every day looks the same. With no rain, clouds, or visible changes in the weather, this becomes a bit boring. Summer is one high pressure ridge after another, a barometer holding steady.
Friday, May 15, 2009
canonize us
This is my first semi-successful landscape painting. I know it may seem that landscapes have little to do with the work I have already done, but in time the ideas will merge. The geographic space we share is what links us all together. The landscape should be seen as a spiritual bond between all people, it should be exalted. Instead we fuck it up. Whatever. Dead bodies lying in grass fields coming soon.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mothers Day
My grandmother Jeanne is very dear to me. She has influenced my tastes and ideas very much. She is Swedish and has visited my family there, I love to hear stories about the home they have there. She grew up in Santa Cruz, married a man who worked undercover doing secret government business(she was only 17), lived in Germany, and had five children. My mother is the youngest.
She has beautiful ettiquette, likes real mail but knows how to use a computer, and has two great grandchildren. Unfortunately we lost my grandfather suddenly before my little sister was born. I feel very lucky to have memories of him. My grandparents were disaster specialists for the Red Cross and have been all over the world on aid missions. She has been involved in the Red Cross for at least 25 years.
She is Jackie Kennedy to me.
So, on mothers day we always visit her. Here are some shitty iphone pictures of my trip. She showed us all of her china and told us stories about our favorite demitasse cups. Our favorites are from Occupied Japan, from the Wedgewood company, and also the Noritake designs from Japan.
This is part of our family tree, were Viking.
This is a spinning wheel my grandmother brought from our family home in Sweden. As a child it frightened my cousins and I, we saw it as the evil things from Sleeping Beauty.
She has beautiful taste in china. This one is from Occupied Japan. She has many from Japan, England, Finland, Germany, and Sweden.
This is the bottom of a demitasse cup from Japan, this is my favorite.
This is the cup, it's very small and lovely.
This is my grandmother's piano, we love it. My sister and I played it together for a long time.
My grandmother is an avid birdwatcher. This bird feeder has always been there, hummingbirds would come up and drink from it all day long and she would tell us neat facts about them.
She recently found this at her house, the only date inside is written and it says 1916. There was no publishers information, so we called it "emersons zine"
She is a wonderful gardner and her backyard has been a magical place for all her grandkids. Every celebration happens in her gardens. She has a gardenia bush right next to her front door. The smell of gardenias reminds me of saying our hello and goodbyes. I painted this for her.
I also painted this for her. Pears are our mutual favorite fruit.
and this is my sister:
She has beautiful ettiquette, likes real mail but knows how to use a computer, and has two great grandchildren. Unfortunately we lost my grandfather suddenly before my little sister was born. I feel very lucky to have memories of him. My grandparents were disaster specialists for the Red Cross and have been all over the world on aid missions. She has been involved in the Red Cross for at least 25 years.
She is Jackie Kennedy to me.
So, on mothers day we always visit her. Here are some shitty iphone pictures of my trip. She showed us all of her china and told us stories about our favorite demitasse cups. Our favorites are from Occupied Japan, from the Wedgewood company, and also the Noritake designs from Japan.
This is part of our family tree, were Viking.
This is a spinning wheel my grandmother brought from our family home in Sweden. As a child it frightened my cousins and I, we saw it as the evil things from Sleeping Beauty.
She has beautiful taste in china. This one is from Occupied Japan. She has many from Japan, England, Finland, Germany, and Sweden.
This is the bottom of a demitasse cup from Japan, this is my favorite.
This is the cup, it's very small and lovely.
This is my grandmother's piano, we love it. My sister and I played it together for a long time.
My grandmother is an avid birdwatcher. This bird feeder has always been there, hummingbirds would come up and drink from it all day long and she would tell us neat facts about them.
She recently found this at her house, the only date inside is written and it says 1916. There was no publishers information, so we called it "emersons zine"
She is a wonderful gardner and her backyard has been a magical place for all her grandkids. Every celebration happens in her gardens. She has a gardenia bush right next to her front door. The smell of gardenias reminds me of saying our hello and goodbyes. I painted this for her.
I also painted this for her. Pears are our mutual favorite fruit.
and this is my sister:
Monday, April 27, 2009
Part Two
Like most other teenagers I read YM, Seventeen, Teen magazine, Teen Vogue, all of those worthless publications. I read them mostly when I was young, from twelve to fifteen probably. Every month I read stories about stalkers, rapists, and abusive boyfriends. I can still recall many of these stories.
The most unsettling story I can remember is that of a woman who lived in a small one bedroom house alone. One day she noticed a man with a video camera outside in her backyard. He noticed her, but he wasn't afraid and he didn't leave. She started noticing him on a very regular almost daily basis. She tried to call the cops, but they usually refused to come out. On the instances that the police came to check on her, the stalker was always gone by the time they arrived.
This went on for at least six months on a very regular basis. Sometimes her boyfriend would come over, but he spent alot of time out of town and couldn't always be there. Some nights she could see the red light from his camera flashing through her curtains. One day after getting out of the shower she saw him outside her window again. This time he walked right up to the window and was still taping her as she freaked out and tried to call the police. He wasn't unnerved by this at all, and it seemed to encourage him. He no longer hid in her bushes, he stood right up against the glass of her bedroom window as she frantically tried to close the blinds and curtains.
The next time he showed up she became very upset, ran outside, and started chasing him. She jumped in the bed of his truck as he was trying to get away. She then called the police. When they arrested him, they found countless tapes of her; eating, bathing, sleeping, watching television. She said that he recorded many hours of video outside her house while she was completely unaware of his presence.
There are many stories like these in girls magazines, stories involving rape, stalkers, sexual harassment, and abuse. Although I think these are good cautionary tales for girls to read and keep in mind, I remember many more of them and keep my curtains closed and my doors locked.
The most unsettling story I can remember is that of a woman who lived in a small one bedroom house alone. One day she noticed a man with a video camera outside in her backyard. He noticed her, but he wasn't afraid and he didn't leave. She started noticing him on a very regular almost daily basis. She tried to call the cops, but they usually refused to come out. On the instances that the police came to check on her, the stalker was always gone by the time they arrived.
This went on for at least six months on a very regular basis. Sometimes her boyfriend would come over, but he spent alot of time out of town and couldn't always be there. Some nights she could see the red light from his camera flashing through her curtains. One day after getting out of the shower she saw him outside her window again. This time he walked right up to the window and was still taping her as she freaked out and tried to call the police. He wasn't unnerved by this at all, and it seemed to encourage him. He no longer hid in her bushes, he stood right up against the glass of her bedroom window as she frantically tried to close the blinds and curtains.
The next time he showed up she became very upset, ran outside, and started chasing him. She jumped in the bed of his truck as he was trying to get away. She then called the police. When they arrested him, they found countless tapes of her; eating, bathing, sleeping, watching television. She said that he recorded many hours of video outside her house while she was completely unaware of his presence.
There are many stories like these in girls magazines, stories involving rape, stalkers, sexual harassment, and abuse. Although I think these are good cautionary tales for girls to read and keep in mind, I remember many more of them and keep my curtains closed and my doors locked.
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