A Prayer Answered

Sept 23, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Have you ever had experience of wishing for something to happen and it does? I spent my teenage years as an atheist because of all the anger and frustration of youth one naturally experiences. It seemed to fit, its made sense then that there could be no higher being, a greater power, or to quote Nietzsche, "God is Dead." But as I gained in years, a faith of sort found me.

I am certainly not a declared religious, I don't attend service and I don't particularly subscribe to the preaching of any one sects. There is no name for my god. As a matter of fact, I am rather disgusted with most organized religions and the men who conduct morally questionable businesses in the name of their faith.

Whether the reasons for my "prayers," "wishes," to come true is due to the power of a higher being or simply as self help book would like to call "positive thinking" I know not. Yet prayers are answered.

Which then leads me to a greater metaphysical questions, does god answer all prayers? I can't help but think of the pilgrims of Tibet or of the poor and suffering, of those who fervent pray. Are their prayers ever answered? It would seem to logical that if their prayers were answered, then they would be better off than they appear. I am not sure. I don't pretend to understand the greater design, or if there is one. I think I will simply be thankful for my blessing and do what I can to make this world a better place.

I am however, interested in any thoughts anyone may have on this matter.

The Opening

Sept 8, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

I had the opening reception for my first solo exhibit yesterday. It was a bit of a whirlwind day. I am not sure that I have had time to digest it all emotionally yet.

We had a great turn out and I sold a couple of pieces already. I am already thinking about what is next but - tomorrow - I have no capacity to contemplate that today.

There was a conversation with the artist as part of the reception and I talked briefly about the essence of the project. Its a good thing that I had some practice from the New York EnFoco exhibit as I kinda knew what points to hit and how to sum it up in a way that was accessible.

There was an elderly gentleman there who came in his wheel chair and he thanked me for what I am doing. He talked about how the current generation has no sense of death and how there is no longer news coverage of bodies coming home from war. He thought it was great that I was photographing the market and making people aware of what is what.

I was really touched by what he said and how he thanked me. I am aware of the greater implication of this project, but in the effort of not getting off on a tangent or making the project more serious and politically difficult, I tend to just stick to the basics. I thought that people could draw their own conclusions and inferences themselves. Not only did he understood the point that you can't truly respect human life without respect the lives of animals that die to feed you, he said so in public.

After my brief talk, few people came up to me and shared some personal stories of their. Stories of them growing up on the farm or how this one woman's grandfather wanting her to know where food comes from and took her into the barn and killed a chicken in front of her when she was 5 yrs old. I was overwhelmed and all I could manage to say to them was "Thank You." It was not until later last night did I began to understand how great it was that my art had touched these people enough that they would want to come up and share a bit of their personal history with me.

I am touched....

Lights in the Sky

Sept 6, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

We saw NIN tonight perform at the Forum. I have been a long time Nails fan, as some would say, his angst is my angst...

Attending this show, my expectation was difficult. I really wanted to see them but the timing was inconvenient as I have friends in town tonight and we have the opening reception for my show tomorrow. There is a lot going on. But regardless, I made time and we went. I really had anticipated for this just to be another rock concert. Some light moving about ( I was trained as a lighting designer), some haze, some video projections, the band performs some new materials from the new albums, then we are done. What I was not ready for, was to be surprised! I was not ready for my passion to be fueled and desire to create change to be awakened.

Trent Reznor has integrated multi-media into his show so well, that it really has become a live art piece, much more than just a rock concert with some multi-media elements. For the first time in nearly 10 years, I looked at the lighting rig and all that was happening and wished that I had taken a part in the creation of this show. I am not doing justice in describing everything that went on here and if there is every a DVD of this tour, I highly recommand that you check it out.

NIN utilized the multi-media and lighting to challenge your sense of space and depth as well as to enhance the message they had in their music. They pull no punches (which I loved!). For "The Hand that Feeds" - there was an image of George W Bush in the background, about 2/3 way through the song, W morphed into an image of John McCaine. For those of you who are not familiar with the song and lyrics, here is part of the lyrics:

You're keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
Because you do
What you're told
But inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

What if this whole crusade's
A charade
And behind it all there's a price to be paid
For the blood
On which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine

Yes!!! Art should be used as weapons against the unreasonable, the unjust, the tyranny. It should always provoke and awaken and not be passive and pleasant.

Art is Resistance!

Practice what you preach

Sept 6, 2008
Los Angeles, Ca

Tomorrow is the opening reception for "Wok the Dog" exhibit at the LA ArtCore. My very good friend Brian is coming home from Portland to see the show and be supportive.

In honor of Brian's return home and of the show, I thought that I should practice what I preach in which ever way possible as an urban dweller, so I am roasting a duck. I bought a duck from Chinatown ($13 for an entire duck) and it comes with the head, beak, feet and all. I am beheading this duck myself. We played a little "Don't Cry" (Guns n' Roses) in honor of the duck and the life it had and down went the cleaver. I could probably find a way to hunt as Michael Polland did or raise my own chicken and kill it, but the heart of the ceremony today is more about that I am looking at this duck head on and am doing the final deed myself. That I do flinch from that final act that seperate a life from meat.

People ask me if I have a reaction to all of these markets and all the killing that I see. Of course I do. Yet somehow when I am far from here and the killing and butchering is not done as an assembly line, it bothers me a lot less. It seems a lot more humane and a lot less random, detached. While when I was down in Chinatown, I saw part of the assembly line that is behind the counter of men cleaning the poultry and it made me sad, depressed and disgusted all at the same time. Strange how even though dead is dead, the way in which the final act is performed could matter so much.

So for this meal that I am preparing today:
Roasted Duck with Spices (Jamie's Dinners, Jamie Oliver)
Sweet Potato Brioche (Crescent City Cooking, Susan Spicer)
Orecchiette with Roasted Tomatoes (The Kitchen Diaries, Nigel Slater)
Pan Fried Kale
Summer Berries with Bay Leaf Custard (Kitchen of Light, Andreas Viestad)
Brown Butter Cookies (Fat, Jennifer McLagan)


Anyone else would like to join us today or next time?

Scratch N' Sniff

Sept 5, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Yesterday while down at the gallery showing a friend of ours my "Wok the Dog" show as that he could not make it to the opening reception on Sunday, I came up with this idea of incorporating "Scratch n' Sniff" as part of the next presentation of the series.

Say there would be images along the wall of the gallery as per an usual exhibition of an photographic series. Then there would be an installation of 4-6 images in the center of the gallery that would have been treated with "Scratch N' Sniff" technology - the images would be typical of the series, meat vendors, piles of meat and what not, such as the image above. When you scratch the image, there then would be the smell of say pork chops, fried chicken, hamburgers, roasted duck and etc - adding another dimension to the overall objective of "Wok the Dog".

I posted this idea on Facebook this morning and I have gotten quiet a few very enthusiastic responds from friends. Elif Savas, who is always brilliant, even suggested that we treat the image with some red paint or what not so that after you scratch it with your nails, there would a bit of red paint stuck to your fingers. I think that is rather awesome.

So now, I have to figure out how to make scratch n' sniff!