Van Neistat: Pre-WORLD WAR 2 vs. NOW

 

[VIDEO] Filmmaker Van Neistat had already done two other videos discussing books which describes an 80 year cycle of conflict, crisis and then peace. Every 80 years the cycle will repeat itself. It causes me to think about these current times we're living in.

Let's think about the last decade-plus. The housing bubble, the pandemic, the so-called racial reckoning and right now the war in Ukraine. Once we get past the crisis and usually that crisis results in a war - OH NO - then we get peace and prosperity.

It's best to let Van further explain.

The books he had referenced with regards to these cycles are - thankfully Van lists them in the description

• The Fourth Turning Is Here by Neil Howe - https://a.co/d/0ew4ZXO 
• The Fourth Turning by Neil Howe, William Strauss - https://amzn.to/37J9FYn

I may need to click through and make a purchase myself and read...

Neistat's guide to videoblogging

[VIDEO] I've only posted one other Casey Neistat video here on this blog in the and it wasn't that long ago - just last month in fact. That earlier video posted to YouTube on May 20, 2019 shows an expensive NYC apartment high above the city. It was cool to see a unit under construction in a skyscraper. If only someone had done something similar when the former John Hancock Building was first constructed.

Well Neistat I've learned is a very famous YouTuber and perhaps the above video would help those of you who want to be famous YouTubers. Neistat is a self-taught filmmaker and yes there's a video with regards to him stating that he's a high school dropout. I will always encourage young people to stay in school and do very well, however, to do some of the things you want to do in life school isn't always necessary.

For example, if you have a willingness to DIY - do it yourself - to learn on your own you don't have to go to film school. The tools you can use to create your own masterpiece is right in front of you. If you have a computer you can get some inexpensive film editing software. Of course as far as filming start with the camera on your smartphone - iPhone or Android. If you don't want to use your phone find an inexpensive camera that allows you to shoot video.

I've been interesting in doing my own videography for years and I'm still learning. While I only use the iMovie app on my phone which Neistant references in this video, I'm eager to learn other editing software that are on the market. If you want to have an understanding of something it's OK to make mistakes. It's always a learning process....

Semi-related - Videoblogging: A YouTuber's process...

Prager U: Why is Modern Art so Bad?

[VIDEO] The vid above is from Prager U featuring Robert Florczak who seems to bemoan the lack of artistic standards. He's attempting to describe the whimsical aspects of modern art where he says art has been reduced to personal expression as opposed to the universal standards of quality. He also introduces the term of artistic relativism, which means I can create art that is relevant even if it's not that good!

Before I get to my thoughts on going to art museums in the past some thoughts on this video. I have little issue with this idea of art as personal expression. Perhaps good art can provoke and yes there are artwork out there that offends and makes it memorable for sure though is it good art and could it stand the test of time. And he makes the final point about if people don't want to buy certain pieces of art thus eventually they'll stop making the art that isn't making money.

Meanwhile...

It's been a number of years since visiting an art museum. My first visits was to Chicago's Art Institute for a humanities class when I attended Harold Washington College. It was a cool visit to see artwork that probably would only been seen in a textbook. My favorites where Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, Lineman by Ivan Alrbight, and Cabin in the cotton by Horace Pippin.

A few years later I got an easy A from an art survey class at Morehouse. I visited two Atlanta, Georgia museums during that time the High Museum and the Apex. My professor's academic interest was more or less in African or Black American art, our research project was on the Harlem Renaissance and it wasn't even demanding. Our research paper was expected to be far short of the 8-10 pages expected for an average college research paper.

At the time at the High Museum he wanted us to check out Egyptian artifacts. My observation of that exhibit was that the ancient Egyptians were very obsessed with death. The mummification, the afterlife, the trinkets left with the mummies as they entered the afterlife, it clashed perhaps with our culture of life. For the most part in America we're not that obsessed with death to the point I believed the Egyptians were. I'm sure there were other exhibits of interest there, however, they weren't of note because I barely remember them. Perhaps it's time to pay them a visit the next time I'm in the ATL.

The Apex museum had more of an emphasis on Black American art. What I do remember was an odd video presentation featuring a dancer who seemed to go on and on about the history of Sweet Auburn. Auburn evidently was an important thoroughfare in Atlanta for Blacks of it's time. Also to be honest I barely remember my time at this museum other than that presentation. At the time a young woman who was at the register was asking me questions about what I saw on that visit. She wanted to make sure I learned something on this day. Another place to visit when I return to ATL for a visit.

CNN: The genre that made Black Panther - afrofuturism

So what exactly is "afrofuturism"?

Afrofuturism intersects science fiction, technology and ancient African mythologies.

"It's people of African descent looking at themselves in the future and what their society and their culture will look like ten years from now, twenty years from now, a thousand years from now," Fikayo Adeola, founder of arts and animation company Kugali, told CNN.

The term Afrofuturism was first coined by author Mark Dery in a 1993 essay "Black to the Future," but the ideas were around long before.

From the 1950s, American jazz musician Sun Ra -- who is considered one of the earliest proponents of Afrofuturism -- drew on ancient African influences as well as space imagery in his music and performances.

"This was in an era where African-Americans looked very much like second class citizens. Afrofuturism was a tool that they could use to imagine a better future, and the movement continued into the contemporary era," said Adeola.

Afrofuturism spanned literature too.

"Science fiction authors like Octavia Butler took it to the next level bringing in futuristic technology and interactions with aliens. The science fiction genre wasn't very inclusive of black people in the early days.

"It was very much up to these early African-American authors to say that actually 'no, there are other people in the future,'" Adeola explains.  

Well while I'm not a Marvel fan this one movie that's worth seeing. Black Panther isn't the first Black superhero ever, however, with his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War he made an impression. An African king who doubles as a masked warrior to protect his people and his characterization is perfect for Marvel's universe. Just to explain I do see a difference between the Marvel Comic and the DC Comic universes.

As for afrofuturism, I want to find out more...

September 11, 2001

This morning I was listening to Mancow and on occassion they will play audio from that very day. I was listening to Mancow on that day and while it didn't process in my mind what they were seeing live on TV in their radio studio I would see it live later. It gave me goosebumps as they played the audio again and again.

I have nothing really to add in discussing this. We're still fighting terrorism and not just Islamic fundamentalist terror. I believe men are good, but unfortunately there are a segment of men who are bad. We saw them in action for sure on 9/11.

Either way hit that Sept. 11 tag to see other posts that mark this infamous day. And for you enjoy and like this ig post from Alex Ross, who is a comic book artist. This painting and other paintings of superheroes are without a doubt realistic. I'm a fan even if for the moment he's not doing my favorite DC Comics characters such as Batman or Superman.

For today, I'm a fan of his work and wish I could buy a print of what you will see below!

A post shared by Alex Ross (@thealexrossart) on Sep 11, 2017 at 6:54am PDT

Saw the Tupac movie recently

Over at E.M. I wrote a post about seeing All Eyez on Me this past Friday. Many gangsta rap/Tupac fans were eagerly anticipation this biopic of Tupac Shakur who died so young in September 1996.

In that post at E.M. I start off by saying it's rare a negative post is written about a movie. Most of the time when going to the show it's about entertainment and you just go up find a movie to see and there's nothing groundbreaking about the movie. Instead you watch be entertained and then you just forget about it. It's not often you watch a movie that is entirely memorable.

I could compare this film with the hit movie from two years ago Straight Out of Compton. I'm not sure the Tupac film could even compare even if an important character included the infamous gangsta rap producer Suge Knight.

To be sure, though this film has brought back so many memories of the 1990s music scene. The young people are listening to vastly different music and some of it has very little meaning. Tupac at least started off with a message especially in providing a voice to the voiceless.

Here's hoping Tupac's story inspires someone, especially a young person to take up his mantle. Provide a voice for the voiceless through a variety of mediums whether social media or with art such as music, painting, sculpture, or writing.

Lee Bey: Moo & Oink's leftovers revealed in an uncovered ghost sign

I'm sure paying a visit to a neighborhood Moo & Oink store was something of a tradition on holidays such as 4th of July. The stores that had existed for that chain has been closed since 2011 and the brand lives on in various grocery stores in the area. Therefore you can still by bbq meat items that are Moo & Oink branded.

Lee Bey an architecture blogger writes about the ancient signage at a shuttered Moo & Oink store near 71st & Stony Island. That is what you see pictured above. There are plans for this property and hence the work that's being done here and exposes the ancient artwork.

Another thing is that it's a bit of a holiday tradition from my family to purchase chitterlings from Moo & Oink from around the Christmas holidays. The stores are closed now but that doesn't mean that we can't at least go to Pete's Produce for example to buy them. However it appears that this item is out of season currently!

A Martian Dream: Here's What the Red Planet Would Look Like With Earth-Like Oceans and Life - The Atlantic

A Martian Dream: Here's What the Red Planet Would Look Like With Earth-Like Oceans and Life - The Atlantic

The pic above is how our fourth planet would look like if it was earth like. With some landforms in the northern hemisphere it looks like they would've had a large continent similar to this fabled continent on Earth known as Pangaea. Well not so fabled as well there is a theory or perhaps it's proven that at one point all of Earth's continents were one massive landmass. Continental drift created the continents as we know them today!

In any case I can't wrap my head around Martian geography as well I know very little about it. I know about Utopia Planitia as this is the area where the Enterprise of Star Trek: The Next Generation was constructed. However I can't even begin to point to it on a map!

Well this show what Mars can look like with terraforming. And perhaps this could spur more interest in sending people to the Red Planet. Time can only tell.

Via Instapundit!

Should I photoshop more?

I need to play with photoshop some more. A few years ago, I made this image using some instruction I found online. Another piece of handiwork of mine you can see at my other blog The Sixth Ward where you will see the masthead that I made with minimal effort.

Why am I talking about this now? Primarily because I recently revamped my "must reads" section in my sidebar and I see how so many of the blogs that I have added to it have their own "icons". Is it time for this place to get an icon.

Frederick Douglass

The image you see to the left is one candidate, but I almost feel like it's necessary to be more creative than what you already see. Also you shall notice that many have their headshot for an icon. In my case, that's not likely to happen. Of course, I could always utilize good old Frederick Douglass for the honor!

Also over the years I've entertained possibly making a masthead for this blog. Not sure what I haven't so far, but just like for The Sixth Ward the masthead here would also be done with minimal effort. Besides in some respects photoshopping will be done in as close to a minimalist style as possible.

In any case perhaps in the near future, my artistic skills will allow me to come up with something that will prove to be appealing to any future reader to my humble blog!

I watched 60 Minutes Sunday night

[VIDEO] I saw the most recent edition of 60 Minutes when it aired. I really enjoyed the story about the investigation into the life and death of artist Vincent van Gogh. Tonight however I wanted to share the whole episode that in fact started with the life of two homeless families. There was no way it could be justified to favor one story over another.

Both stories are very sad but surely both stories have something that everyone could relate to. Even if you can relate to a homeless family hopefully you can still find ways to help them out. Even if you couldn't relate to a troubled dead artist hopefully you can still relate to him in some way and even find a museum where his art work is located. And even still you can help support a struggling living artist today who hopefully can prove themselves to have the stature of a van Gogh in the future.

So here's all 42 minutes of that edition of 60 Minutes. Feel free to sound off!

The currently hidden "Flamingo"

This evening I was walking around downtown Chicago after work and as usual took a meandering path and walked past Federal Plaza this evening and snapped this shot and shared it on instagram & Twitter. Federal Plaza are a series of buildings and a plaza designed by Mies van der Rohe located along Dearborn & Clark between Jackson & Adams.

What you see hiding in that plastic and scaffolding is a sculpture - Flamingo - created by artist Alexander Calder. It's being restored currently and Lee Bey who comments on architecture in Chicago even talks about this piece:

The 30-ton work is now shrouded in a mysterious-looking opaque scaffold box – providing a bit of a visual punch itself. Inside, workers and conservators will spend the next month applying a zinc primer designed to make the sculpture more durable.

Next will come a topcoat of paint which will bring back the work's visual vibrancy and allow the industrial steel beauty to stand up against the elements, according to the complex's owner, the federal General Services Administration.

It's good to see the federal government doing right by one of the the city's most celebrated works of public art. Designed by Alexander Calder, Flamingo was a big deal when it was dedicated – Calder himself came – in 1974. In fact, Calder was a fan of circuses and he led a procession of elephants, 40 hours and calliopes up State Street as part of the dedication activities. Calder also dedicated his mobile, Universe, in the new Sears Tower the same day.

This is how it looked when it was still out in the open hopefully we'll see it look new in the near future!

 BTW, the pic above shows the Dirksen Federal Building. The courthouse where Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan two of Illinois' former governors had been tried and convicted of corruption charges. Those and other corruption cases have been tried there. And outside a huge sculpture, a work of art. Imagine that!

Eadweard Muybridge: Man in motion

Found this article via The Economist. He was a British photographer who mainly practiced in California. His motion studies work is seen as the forerunner to the motion picture. Well if you don't understand "motion picture" it's what we call movies or film today. In fact we can even connect this to video since it's another medium of motion picture.

Muybridge is best known for his demonstration that movement could be broken down into fluid sequences of individual moments. That insight was made use of by a succession of artists, from Auguste Rodin to Francis Bacon. Muybridge’s motion studies can be fairly credited as the forerunners of the cinema. There is also evidence that in 1888 he shared with Thomas Edison some thoughts on combining a new projection system he had invented—the zoopraxiscope—with Edison’s phonograph. And the grid pattern of his bestselling books on locomotion survives in the format of comic strips.

A travelling exhibition, which began at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and has now opened in London, reveals Muybridge as much more than simply the pioneer of motion, however. Good close attention is paid to his biography, even if there are still important gaps. The very first line of the opening wall panel admits: “Where Muybridge learned his skill as a photographer remains unknown.” Other parts of his life are more familiar, in particular the fact that he coldbloodedly killed his wife’s lover. He was acquitted in part because a jury could not believe that a man who could lug the heavy and cumbersome photographic equipment of the time up into the Yosemite Valley could be entirely sane.

Muybridge did not just invent another name for himself. He excelled in a new industry, and made up more than just its technology as he went along. He was adept, for example, at marketing himself along with his photographs, and there is plenty of evidence of that in this show, from his illustrated trade cards and well-designed logos, to the many photographs of himself, quite naked, posing as a model in some of the motion studies.

For each major undertaking Muybridge invented the appropriate kind of photography to suit. His investigation of galloping horses for Leland Stanford, a California politician and racehorse owner, is well known. In each stride horses lift all four hooves off the ground at once, something that George Stubbs, the most famous horse painter of the last 300 years, had guessed at but which, until Muybridge, had never been proved. The beautiful cyanotype proofs for “Animal Locomotion” have recently been restored and are being given their first public outing in this show. There are also examples of the work Muybridge did up and down the Pacific coast for the national body in charge of lighthouses, including a sequence of unusual large-format seascapes completed in the 1870s, at precisely the time that Thomas Stevenson (father of Robert Louis) was designing his lighthouses around the coasts of Scotland.

When will this exhibit come to Chicago? I want to see this.

Oh yeah the galloping horse above well that's one of Muybridge's famous photographs.

Lee Bey: The Eye opens on State Street

I took this picture earlier this month. This eyeball was at Pritzker Park on Van Buren & State. Thanks to Lee Bey, we know more about this object:

The three-story steel reinforced fiberglass eye sculpture–called, appropriately enough, “Eye”–debuted this week at downtown’s Pritzker Park.


The work is by Oak Park artist Tony Tasset and is actually modeled after one of his own eyeball. Produced by the Chicago Loop Alliance, the giant unblinking blue eye, veins and all,  will be joined by Tasset’s companion piece, “Cardinal”,which is 156 street banners along State Street featuring the state bird. The banners are designed to flutter like a flipbook, giving the illusion of the Cardinal flying down State Street from Congress to Wacker.

I like the “Eye.” It’s a commentary on our Age, if you ask me. Security cameras, cellphone cams, red light cameras, youtube videos—we are all watched as we watch. Life is increasingly like that brilliant “everybody’s gotta watch everybody else” scene in “Casino”. That and I was fascinated by the detail Tasset was enable to incorporate. The longer you look at it, the more details you can find.

Well Bey came to a much deeper meaning about this piece than I did. My thoughts on this is that it was something different and didn't think much about it with regards to symbolism. You know, this thing has become an instant hit since Bey wasn't the only one who has been taking photos of it.

Entrepreneur teaches biz skills to artists

I got this funny idea once, that artists really aren't into the business aspects of what they do. They may even eschew business as part of what they do. Funny thing is they have to be good with business in order to make money. In this Crain's article it is said that art is an entrepreneurial endeavor.

It really is! Unless you got a job teaching art or you're lucky enough to do a comic strip or compose illustrations you're largely on your own! If you want to go down like Picasso, Warhol, or anyone like that you would do best on your own!

Well that's the point here. If you're an artist you might want someone to teach you how to use your skills so that you can be successful in that world. Hopefully such artists won't be penniless for their lifetimes only to discover that when they die their art can only be discovered.

Perhaps this course can teach the next Shepard Fairey!

Google on MLK Day

I'll have to hand it to Google they can sure come up with an appropriate tribute at the appropriate times!

Take a look at this Obama poster

There may be a small chance that I may get yelled at for copyright infringement. Lawyers or law buff may or may not agree, but I did get yelled at by at artist at the Seaway Art fair last year. Thankfully that artist wasn't there at the 2009 Seaway art fair, however, my mother made an important purchase in the form of this poster I snapped a pic of the day after Christmas.

2009 has been the year of Obama. Triumph with his historic election as the first African-American  President of the United States. During his brief term as our President we have seen many ups and downs and right now it looks like his popularity isn't so high as it was when he was starting his administration.

Of course I should say that when hope is very high and when that hope isn't met there is bound to be disappointment, right?

Either way, why do I post this poster. Well to start the artist, Keith David Conner, put a lot of black history into his painting, The Journey. We see black hands in shackles, workers in a cotton field, blacks in their caps and gowns (as I was this past May), and then blacks with pickets signs supporting candidates for Mayor, Senator, then President. We see a ballot with Obama's logo and then Obama taking the oath of office for the Presidency on top of the image of the White House.

The thing about this poster is that it almost reminds me of this genre referred to as socialist realism. If you want to see one example of this genre refer to this post I wrote about a former dictator of Romania.

Since socialist realism is often used to either promote socialism or as a propaganda tool for Communist regimes, that may not be the goal that Conner was going for. If nothing else the goal was to connect President Obama's ascension to the Presidency with Black history in America.

We see slavery, share cropping, activism and enfranchisement in this painting. And this is an important record of a major milestone achieved here in The States back in November 2008. This is why I suggest to my mother that she should buy this poster.

The next question by the next election day is how will American view Obama by 2012? Will we still see paintings like the one in poster form above? What do you think?

Video from the State Journal Register:

A two-section cast bronze sculpture was unveiled in downtown Springfield Thursday to serve as a permanent reminder of the Springfield race riot, which occurred almost 101 years ago. More than 100 people gathered in Union Square Park to dedicate the sculpture, created by artist Preston Jackson, during an hour-long ceremony that included speeches, prayer and music.

More fun with Obama posters - respect edition

The website is still there and just a little hat-tip of respect for the man who took the oath on Tuesday to become President of the United States.

A nice little graphic

A nice little graphic that I found today. New York Times highlighting their coverage of the Obama inauguration.

The Obama team in their campaign has certainly some uncoventional campaign art. I don't think political art will ever be the same again. It should be something that's imitated by a number of political creative teams.

Obama's New New Deal: As bad as the old new deal?

There has been a lot of allusions to the New Deal in the ascension of Barack Obama to the Presidency, but I don't have great faith in a "new" New Deal. This is supposed to be an election of change perhaps there needs to be a break from past solutions. This vid from Reason seeks to dispel the idea that FDR's new deal saved America.

Also for your reading pleasure, Obama's role in political art in the 21st Century. Also from Reason via Instapundit!