A Snap Shot of My Reality

Sept 3, 2009
Johnson, VT

Never have I thought that I would find the following items congregate on my desk ... bu they have found their way here and this will be my reality for the next 21 days.

A botttle of Jose Cuervo Tradicional
A bottle of Kahula
A Pad Lock
Scissors
Canon G9
A Bananna
A Bottle of Water
Kleenex
American Spirit Light
A Lighter
Post-Its
Film
Yellow legal pad
Pens and Sharpies
Tweezers
Promo Cards for "Wok the Dog"
iPod
Travel Speakers
Moleskins notebook
Wallet
Watch
Eye Drops
Gloves
Compress Air
MacBook Pro
LaCie 500g Hard drives
Masking Tape
A glass with a sip of Tequila left from last night

Have I somehow figure out the secret hand shake, pass the rite of initiation, and finally entered into the full fledged ranks of "masters"?

Johnson Vermont and Artist Camp

Aug 31, 2009
Johnson, Vermont
Elevation 157m

I arrived this morning after a red eye flight to Burlington Vermont. I am here because I have been awarded a fellowship for a 4 week artist residency program. We are picked up by a shuttle service and we drive an hour out side of Burlington to a small town called Johnson.

It is beautiful here. Blue sky, puffy white clouds, green hills, trees everywhere and hillside dotted with cute wooden houses. It is so quaint and picture perfect that you think you are on a movie set. The kind of Americana that exists here is pretty, yet something in its quaintness that solicit some kind of violent reaction in me. I don't want to say that this reality here is not "real," but yet, there is a part of it that is not real. I don't know how to explain it. I am hoping that its one of those you get it or you don't kind of thing.

The Vermont Studio Center has about 30 buildings in the town of Johnson, and when I say town, I mean a street where you can see one end of it while standing at the opposite end. We get our room assignments, our studios, a tour of the Center and the town. During the tour, we are told that there is no liquor here in town, beer and wine only. For liquor, you would have to visit another town where there is a state licensed liquor store. I then imagined Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski (if they would ever attend a residency program) walking out at the mention of the inaccessibility of liquor, tossing their cigarettes behind saying, "What kind of artist do you think we are?!"

Clearly I will not be creating any new images for "Wok the Dog" while I am here in rural Vermont, but I have 63 rolls to edit and scan and a few other projects that I am trying to flush out. There is plenty to keep me busy. I think the idea of the residency isn't so much about what you CREATE as much as it is that you have this time, this space, slotted and set aside for you to work on your art, whatever that may be. But naturally the Asian overachiever in me is all about WHAT CAN I MAKE and HOW MUCH CAN I GET DONE? I swear, between being a type A and implented with the overachiever gene, I will either rule the world one day or end up in a straight jacket muttering, "must do more!"

At the welcome dinner, Jon, the founder, talks about the idea of VSC and the opportunity and sacrifice that we made to be here. One thing that he talks about that really touched me is the idea of the community. Not only are we afforded the time and space to work without having to worry about meals, we have been granted this community of national and international artists of various age, experience, career development and discipline to be a part of. A community that understand the isolation that is required as we work and practice but also a chance to not be in our heads and our minds only and be inspired and perhaps even take a part in someone else's work. I really like the idea. Now, I just have to find that balance between keeping my head down and get as much done as I can verus just hanging out with my friends. The overachiever thinks we can do it all, even if it means we sleep less and work late.

Created for Commerce, Mistaken for Art, Does it Still Count?

April 15, 2009
Taipei, Taiwan

A video of a flash mob dancing at the train station to "Do Ra Mi" from the "Sound of Music" has been quickly passed around on the internet and gotten over a millions hits on YouTube. I saw the video myself last night and immediately send it along to a few friends who I know would love and appreciate it.

On Huffington Post today, it is revealed that the dancing and video was all part of a promotion for an upcoming reality TV show. The note on Huffington Post quietly implies that since the video is made for commercial purposes, it somehow is less than what is it.

Sure, it was choreographed and staged for a Capitalist cause (and a brilliant promotional piece at that, my hat off to the producers) why should that lessen the joy that we take from it? Yet at the same time, I know for a fact that if I had send along the video with a note to my friends that said, check out this brilliant promo for a TV program , they might still like it, but would they love it the way that we all did? Can we separate the actual intention of the work from the reaction that we derive from it? Why does the intention of it taint our enjoyment?

When I watched the video, my thought was only of joy and there was only a smile on my face. Granted there was a bit of curiosity in me as to what the piece was made for (I assumed that it was just a piece of performance art) but really, I didn't care. It made my day and took me out of my misery.

Maybe the real question here is why do we not spontaneously dance more often? If we did, then maybe our cynicism would not step in and take away some of the joy that we got from watching all those people dance to a delightful song.

Anyone want to join me?

Art Fairs a Plenty

March 8, 2009
New York City

Between Thursday and Friday, I have attended The Armory Show, Volta, The Bridge Art Fair and Scope. I have in addition went to 7 gallery openings and saw the current exhibit at the Guggenheim for free via the pay what you wish program every Friday night. In short, I have seen more art than I can tell you about.

The best art fair out of the 4 that I attended was Volta. The Armory Show comes a close second, but with over 200 exhibitors, the sheer amount of art to digest is overwhelming and after a certain point, I am not sure what I am looking at any more and if I cared still. Volta is a much smaller fair and I really like the fact that each gallery only exhibits one artists and the booth feels more like a show than a collection of art the dealers are hoping to sale.

This year, I actually saw a piece that I like so much that I would purchase if I could afford it. It is a painting by Drago Persic shown by the engholm engelhorn galerie.


The work beheld me and I had an emotional experience with it as I stood in front of it. Although its a painting in the style of photo-realism (which I am not always a fan of), I immediate knew that it was a painting in front of me (which is by no means a criticism of the artists technique) and I loved it! I didn't want to walk away from it and after a while I went back for a second look.

I have always understood that selling art needs to be an emotional pitch. If the collector is not buying as an investment or buying to add a certain name to their collection, but to really make a purchase for the art itself, then they need to really really love the work. Not only did I love this painting, I could see myself living with it.

I was not surprised to see that there were very little "straight" photographs in any of the fairs. The most you will see are vintage prints by the likes of Diane Arbus, Robert Frank and etc. All the contemporary photographs that I liked or understood all have been manipulated so that:
a) the actual print is altered so that its not just a straight photograph



b) something that occurs within the image itself is tweaked so that its not just a photograph


and as I type this, I begin to wonder if the contemporary art market has something against photography? The photographic work that I did see that has not been altered are usually images of cityscape (none of them which I cared for) or images of empty spaces (which I am not sure why that is a consistent theme and why are we are we so concerned with it?).



But all of this observation really reinforces what Jim McHugh had told me about that I am selling to the wrong side of street and that if I could somehow just take my current work to the next level, then....we be playing a different game.

All in all, I got a lot of great ideas and inspirations for how to take everything up to the next height and now I just have to spent sometime in the experimentation of that.

End note: I finally understood that I often like art that makes me laugh, even if its just a little, as I left the Armory Show, I saw this in the subwaywhich I must admit, are as brilliant as many of works of art that I have seen these past few days.

PS. My apologies for not providing names and galleries for all the images and examples of artists shown here in this blog. There was really just way too much content and art for me to have cataloged it all properly. Please do not offence to my lack of organization.

Fluctuating Value of Art and Artist

February 14, 2009
Los Angeles, CA

Last week I attend a lecture by Milton Estrow, Editor in Chief of ArtNews Magazine at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The title of the lecture was "How to Look at Art without Feeling Inferior." I was not particularly interested in the topic of the lecture, I was interested in seeing Mr Estrow speak in person.

Last year as I was sending out press packets in promotion for my exhibit for "Wok the Dog," I had received a hand written reply from Mr Estrow himself, that he received the press kit and would pass it along to the appropriate editor at the magazine. I was blown away! WOW! Mr Milton Estrow was impressed enough with my press kit that he personally wrote me a note in return. The note speaks volumes of him as a person.

The hour he spoke was filled with anecdotes and quotes from various artists and critics. The one thing that struck a note with me from the evening is the ever shifting "value" of the artist and the art. In essence, both artistic and monetary value of artist and the art we create will always be in flux. One minute we are eating cat food out of the tin can and the next we are fetching millions at auctions. Art is always subjective and tastes is ever shifting. Mr Estrow urged us to ignore the critics in some ways and ultimately judge for ourselves the value and greatness of the art and the artist. Does it speak to you? Does it make you feel? If so, then F*ck what the critics may have to say.

Its a nice reminder of REALITY. Its always encouraging the be reminded that you will not always be on top forever, nor will you always be in the slush pile forever either. This too shall pass. If you can stay passionate to your vision, then your day as the art world darling will come. But remember, that too shall pass.

At another event last night, June Newton made this remark about her late husband, Helmut, (who is one of my FAVORITE photographers), "I didn't used to think he was a genius, but now that he is gone, I do think he is a little bit of a genius." Even your stock price fluctuates with your own wife and muse, how could we expect anything less from everyone else?

The Meaning of Life According to Shepard Fairey

January 30, 2009
Los Angeles, CA

Yes, there has been a lot of posting about Shepard Fairey here of late...but there are just so much to say about it...but here he speaks for himself!

A Shepard Fairey Primer From USA Network



Among the accolades Shepard Fairey has been receiving recently is "Character Approved" a new award from USA Network that honors leading innovators who are shaping American Culture.

Now when I tell you that I want to change the world with my art. Do you still doubt me?