gotta love this guy #12 (ChatRoulette)

c'est moi! (presque)

30 things at 30 from Fabricio Lima on Vimeo.

sand

City rain.
Wouldn't it be happier
Landing on soft sand?

life drawing

Life Drawing at The Book Club from Wriggles & Robins on Vimeo.

magpie

Afternoon tea
When the magpie whistles
Quietly.

hubris

Each week I have been watching on SBS (Australia), a documentary by the formidable Ken Burns entitled The Dust Bowl. It is a very moving portrait of the Southern Plains during the 1930’s where people living there were doubly penalized by not just the Depression, but by the dust storms which plagued their lives for a decade. It is a side of American history which seemed to have circumvented my own life; it is the decade of Roosevelt and the New Deal. I am struck by the obvious disconnect with the history of my mother’s wealthy family who built a summer house in 1932 comprising over twenty five rooms overlooking the Atlantic ocean. Needless to say, this family was staunchly Republican, and I grew up under the shadow of this one sided thinking. My mother lived on a small island of wealth surrounded by an ocean of poverty. 

Of course, it is a documentary of grand proportions which does not blame anyone except perhaps that all American quality which we know as Hubris.  We attacked the great plains with an unbridled passion for creating what we thought would be a life of plentitude by ripping out the grasslands which had protected the Plains for a millennium. Its the story of Boom and Bust which seems to propel the American spirit. Somehow, it made me think of George W. Bush and how he and his cohorts conned so much of the American populace into invading Irak just 10 years ago this week. 

It may be too late to save us from our Hubris, but still, we live in interesting times.  Maybe, just maybe, through the freedom of the internet, knowledge and wisdom have a better chance of touching the younger generation among us. 

SHARKS!

eagle

Without moving
An eagle goes up 
Under the rain cloud.

Razzi and Casper

From the New York Times last week I fell upon these really interesting drawings made by young school children in Staten Island. Back in November, 2012, a pony and a young zebra escaped from their owner's home and cavorted through the quiet streets of Staten Island. These were done in response to the event. 

I find them fresh and original; revealing 'Beginner Mind' which many artists try to seek as adults later in life. Only a fortunate few manage to hang on to it through childhood and adolescence, for it seems to peel off us like bark from a tree as we become developed 'conceptualizers' and 'experts'.

l'air de rien #172 (Brisbane Triennial Art Exposition 2013)

l'air de rien #172 (Brisbane Triennial 2013) from cloudsandsea on Vimeo.

for those monday blues..ha ha dept.

Jazz that nobody asked for from Benny Box on Vimeo.

very clever!

TXT ISLAND : animated shortfilm by chrisgavin from Chris Gavin on Vimeo.

dandelions

In the wind
They dance
Two dandelions.

hidden

Hidden
From whom
Spider web?

story of my life

mood

In a sad mood
You too!
Morning mirror.

sumo

The sumo wrestler
Brought down
By kiss of a tick.

wet

Tears of rain,

Lean on my wet shoulder

Dear clouds.

rain

When the rain stops
All at once
The frogs want to speak

michael!

Lego Dance by Annette Jung from Talking Animals on Vimeo.

l'air de rien #171 (Michael Hofmeyer goldsmith studio)

DHarma from cloudsandsea on Vimeo.

everybody does it (yawn)

Yawns from Everynone on Vimeo.

cemetery

White cemetery
My bathroom sink
Where ants come to die.

New Yorker

squabble

In the eucalyptus 
They squabble too
The morning magpies.

a tall tale!

the Scared is scared from Bianca Giaever on Vimeo.

lilies

White lilies
Line the road
To the garbage dump.

fin art

Fin Art from Boyte Creative on Vimeo.

ivory

How pretty!
That elephant trinket
Made from ivory.

revenge

All day long
I kill time - but now
Evening takes revenge.

Alas

Alas... morning mind!

It grows bright flowers

Which die each night.

crumbs

No thanks
From the magpie
For the crumbs I throw.

gotta love these guys #11 (lighthouse keeper)

They Are The Last from Kauri Multimedia on Vimeo.

Gotta love this guy #10 (Planetarium museum)

Cool Hunting Video Presents: The Planetarium Projector Museum from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.

emptiness!

The emptiness!
A room without flowers
Or children.

frog

Happy frog!
From the drainpipe
An evening song.

rain!

Rain! fill my tanks,
The buttercups, 
And my sorrow too.

gotta love these guys! #9 (potholes)

STORYBOARD: A Day With New York City's Pothole Repair Crew from Tumblr on Vimeo.

pink

Tickled pink
The young tomato plants,
Evening breeze.

Milky Way

Milky Way!
Where I'll be buried
Someday.

Asia Pacific Triennial 2013, Brisbane

The other day I made a trip to the Asia Pacific triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane. I had seen the last two and looked forward to this outing with friend Dieter Neumann. Almost immediately, I sensed that it would be an underwhelming experience. Alas, yes,... but with one big exception in the work of Lorraine Connelly-Northey whose renditions of Aboriginal women's handbags hang on the long large wall of the top floor. They are fashioned out of old metal materials found in dumps everywhere; barbed wire, thin wire mesh, plumbing pipes, old wired bed frames and other bits and pieces. I am rarely spellbound by 'Contemporary' Sculpture but I find these simply beautiful; transcendental even, in that way that great things always are. To see just this work by her is worth the 2 hour drive from Byron Bay. To be fair, I am not seduced by so much 'Contemporary' work. (What does it mean to call something Contemporary anyway?) To me, its pretentious and invented for the masses by Dealers and otherwise ambitious young museum curators who graduated from University in the past 20 or so years. (sigh.. I won't go on with my obvious contempt for this academic drivel.) However, these kinds of shows are geared to our most infantile need to be entertained. (They are, by the way, a big hit with children under the age of 17) 

If we are not being entertained, we seem to be  banged over the head with social or economic issues which, I feel, are often better treated in a documentary film format, or Photographic journalism then under the banner of 'Art'. (Why the Art tag anyway?) There is a persistent didactical condescension which seems to ooze out of so much work these days that it gives me a headache. I believe it must have something to do with the Post-Modernist education to which many of these graduates adhere. 

But, if in Brisbane, do go see this show. There are things which will get your mind moving which I know is a good thing but, wouldn't it be nice to simply be moved by a work of art than entertained by it?

Go see the work of this very gifted artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey. 

fingertips

Fingertips of 
Uncertainty, 
The rain this night.

a - z

The ABC of Architects from fedelpeye on Vimeo.

punch!

A punch 
In the face-
The East wind.

heart

Under the ripe moon
This sweet mango
Of my bitter heart.

mangos

Sweet mangos, 
The tree
Just out of reach!

gotta love these kids #8

Surrey Square Primary School animation workshop from peter millard on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!