Art Competition

If you can incorporate the last line of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" in a work of art, poetry, photo, etc. you can win a prize!

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2009/11/competition-sampling-darwin.php

Sponsored by New Scientist magazine. Click the link for more info!

One Way Street

This is a mixed media painting based on Walter Benjamin's essay "One Way Street."

"One Way Street," mixed media, 64x66 inches, 2000

M-set Buddha

As you may or may not know, I have a solo show at the Brookline Art Center in August. I'm using fractal geometry and the perception of patterns and how they fit into the "larger picture." When working with fractal geometry, the most obvious visual imagery to use is the Mandelbrot Set. Most of you may know the Mandelbrot Set, or M-set, from those funky, tripped out posters of wildly colored patterns often found in college dorms. The focal point of the M-set is quite recognizable and has been described in many ways, such as... a tortoise that's been crossed with a swordfish in seaweed with its babies in tow. (Go check it out, you'll see it immediately.) Every time I see it, landscapes emerge.

...and silhouettes of Buddhas.

So I made a sketch of what it would look like if it were not a shadowy figure. So freakin' cute. I like how he's so fat he has trouble getting his legs into the full lotus position. Unfortunately, I feel this view takes away too much from the M-set form.

Next, I tried it from the back side. I like this better because it keeps the silhouette mostly true to form. (...and you can see his butt crack. Ha!) Mind you, these are only sketches and better versions of these will turn up as works of art.

Humor

"One Dog's Shit's Another's Delight," mixed media on paper, 11x14 inches, 2000

Pop quiz! Which statement is FALSE about this drawing?

a.) This mixed media drawing is about people's tastes.

b.) The brown stuff is poo.

c.) Jokes are in a non-hierarchical relationship to feelings.

d.) Like Plato's cave, it's all shadow play anyhow.

If you picked "b" then you are correct. You get a gold star for today.

Lo-Fi

"Lo-Fi," pencil on paper, 11x14 inches, 2000

"Lo-Fi," pencil on paper, 14x11 inches, 2000.

These are continuous-line drawings. I made these by whittling down a pencil to its lead and made each drawing without lifting the lead from the paper until the drawing was complete. Very lo-fi.