Defy Monday: Life Before Cell Phones

This past weekend, I traveled to upstate NY. Upon my return to Philadelphia, I realized I had left my cell phone behind.

OOOOhhh Noooo.

Then I remembered that I'm returning there next weekend, so until then, I'll live free from social overload for one week. I think most people faced with this situation might not feel so free, they might feel a little more like lost.

Pondering this today, I had a memory of my 80's childhood. My dad running errands. My mom forgetting to add something to the grocery list. My dad either having to return to the grocery store for the forgotten item, or worse, being paged over the intercom when my mom would call customer service.

Does anyone remember the days before cell phones?

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Remember? When you got the option to say, "sorry I missed your call, I wasn't home!"

Well, these days, there are no excuses. Thanks to cell phones, internet capable smart phones, and facebook, not to mention email (already verging on extinct, tweet tweet,) you have to go far far far away from civilization to escape your social counterparts.

To be in your 20s or 30s is to be part of a weird pivotal generation where the younger folks have never used a pay phone (those are vintage now, right?) and most older folks seem to complain about all this new-fangled technology.

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My last phone conversation was with my mom, who told me about my dad's new Droid,

"it does everything, I mean you wouldn't believe it, that little thing does E-VER-Y-THING, It's Amazin'!"

So, it's the same ole "I walked to school in 12 feet of snow when I was a kid" story... times change and technology advances. Now what to do with all these unnecessary phone booths lying around, taking up space and looking like trash?

Repurpose, as art - of course!!!

Check out the work of street artist Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign, the anti-ad art crusade:

Street artist Poster Child gets back to nature with this one. And be sure to read his manifesto.

More info on Poster Child can be found at www.bladediary.com

Defy Monday, but really, do this every day... make some treasure out of trash. And get a vacation from your cell phone, occasionally, anyway.

Wednesday Work: Wedding Season

Have you all been to as many weddings as I have this wedding season? Maybe I am at that age, but even so - it sure seems like there have been A LOT of weddings this summer.

Last weekend with an impromptu invitation to a wedding reception of friends in Ithaca, this weekend a little more stressful family affair farther upstate. (Really? My cousin that is soooo good at mimicking while whistling while not speaking, in the game cranium is getting married? He can do that?!? Fantastic.)

Anyhoo, weddings weddings weddings!

Have you seen the photography of Love Me Do? They are a bunch of local ladies here in Philadelphia with a great take on wedding photography.

They have an ever-growing portfolio, which you can check out here. And an extensive blog where they update wedding images as they shoot them.

When the time comes I would love to work with Love Me Do, unfooooortunately in front of the camera I become an Abraham Lincoln on the $5 bill, though he still might have more of a smile than I am able to pull off. Have you seen the awkward "farmer and his wife" - yes that's me, the farmer- balding, perplexed, uncomfortable. (Look it up.)

"Boobs are for weddings." And cupcakes are for work days. Is this one over yet?

Hope you all have a good weekend - we'll be at a wedding! (Congrats Andrew!)

DEFY Monday: Summer Refresh

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Okay, so summer has been here for a bit. We've done the thing. Sweat the sweat, drank the drink, got out of town a bit, with more getting-out-of-town to get got.

I don't know if you've heard about the East Coast heat wave, or maybe these are just the good old dog-days, but my anticipation of summer has turned into some dirt-encrusted heat exhaustion.

I need a new pair of cut-offs.

So I am taking inspiration from our temperate climate July fly the cicada, in an overnight transformation molting extravaganza make-over this guy goes from tree dweller to flying the skies. Brand-new and free, a breath of fresh air in the bogged down days and nights of heavy humidity.

A ruler straight nod to the coming fall? I am not saying get serious yet, this cicada bug does not - known in a classic Mexican mariachi song, romantically, as the one that sings until death.

I am just saying - take a shower!

I am going home to put my slip-ons in the washing machine and to shorn myself a new pair of jean shorts.

Learn more about cicadas, here.

And for more transformational art, check out Cicada Magazine, with works like the one below from Sam Bosma.

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How's that for sporadic? Oh you get the picture, now get out there and DEFY Monday.

Wednesday Work: speaking of Matte Stephens...

Rupert and Leonard wait for the tram on their Swedish holiday.

You've seen Matte Stephens' paintings and work whether it be for American Express, IBM, Disney or The Boston Globe - or from our last blog post - to name a few, but have you seen Matte Stephens' felted "action figures"?

Mr. Owl and Uncle Rutherford

Felted Action Figures.

I am not usually all too interested in those things (styles, ideas, etc) that I see everywhere. They often seem ungenuine, or at the very least less accessible to the individual, to myself as a person. They instead just become a commodity, an extension of the corporate working to establish something else, usually a product.

While I enjoy Stephens style, my enjoyment was purely an aesthetic one until I saw these little guys. These felted "action figures".

I'll say it again: felted "action figures".

Whimsical and endearing, I especially like the way they move from felted form to 2-D medium. See the felted figure above, and their corresponding gouache paintings below.

Mr Owl.

Uncle Rutherford.

Not only action figures and portrait paintings, Stephens weds his work with titles imbued with a sort of magic realism.

Titles like: "Felted Rooster School Bus and Mr. Owl".

And, "Alfred, Louis and Francios after 12 years of preparation were surprised to find a cafe at the top of Mount Everest".

I like that Matte Stephens' work consumes him.

Large Owl paper sculpture.

In this image titled "Large Owl paper sculpture", notice not only the sculptural object, another extension of Mr. Owl, but also the clock on the wall behind it. Stephens' style all-consuming of his reality.

These seem less like paintings for paintings sake, or ads for hire, and more like these characters, combined with their background stories and daily lives depicted in various paintings, it seems this is not work for Stephens, but in fact, that these are Stephens' friends.

This inspires me, not only as an artist, but as a person too. To see not only that which is before me, presented to me, available to me in my daily routine, but to see more, to create those things and those stories that allow me an outlet - that give me a little magic; it is a unique occurrence indeed.

The further on into adulthood I go, I am beginning to see just how important it is to be reminded of the potential and the magic all around us.

Thank you, Matte Stephens.

Lumberjack Breakfast.

Lillian playing with abstract thought.

See more of Matte Stephens at his blog, here. Buy some of Matte Stephens work from his etsy shop, here.

DEFY Monday: Finding the Exit Strategy...

Sometimes, you need to work until you can't work any more. When we can see our 15 hour workdays turning into our dream, we tend to just keep on trucking. We ignore the signs that we might be working too hard, when stress levels are peaking and all muscles are aching.

Then, all of a sudden, there's a little voice that says, "hey, yeah, you, the workaholic, please, Take A Break!"

But, where do you go to relax when you can't go home, when home is your project?

You find an exit strategy, you get out, get gone, and find a way to let your mind go beyond painting, shelving, and cleaning.

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Relaxing In San Francisco, a Matte Stephens Illustration

Exit Strategies:

1. Kraftwork

(No, not the amazing electronic German band, the bar!)

Why we love it:

• Great Divide, Raspberry Ale: We don't normally prefer fruity beers. But this one, we love. Not too sweet, and it's super refreshing on a hot summer night.
  
  
  

• The Menu: Everything you wanna know about what beer to order is right there, blueprint style!

2. Laying on the floor, the Mountain's all-time favorite exit strategy

• Stretch
• Cry
• Get a whole new perspective while you stare into the sky (or in our case, a ceiling!)
• If you're lucky, this whole horizontal thing will turn into a catnap.

3. And last but not least, when it's all too much, leave for a day or two.

• Call a friend or relative that lives close-by (not too close,) and take a mini-vacation.
• No close relatives, no problem. Just grab a tent, a flashlight, and a few essentials, get in your car, and start driving. Drive right on outta the city and right into Mother Nature's arms. Have a wonderful night's sleep under the stars.

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Ok, now that we've figured some things out, like when to say when!...

We're back to work!

Wednesday Work: Office Art

The worst thing on a hot summer day in July?

Office work.

Check out this site Office Art, celebrating works made at work.

I especially love the image above by Maria Elena Murguia, and her description of the work even more.

"An unhappy office, two passive aggressive emails, and a crashing deadline fills one day to the brim, but later when it becomes still and dark, these melt away and become completely insignificant compared to the joy of mushing a cupcake on a scanner bed."

I'm there with you Maria, I'm there.

DEFY MONDAY: Sleep!

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Did you have a good 4th?

Are you all staying cool out there?

With mass amount of DIY home-improvement going on this past weekend (read: house interior in severe disarray = shambles; ie. clutter & crazy), this Monday all I want to do is sleep - and a cool white cube with clean white sheets sounds like the perfect place to do so.

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This work by artist Chu Yun, called for women ages 18 to 40 to apply to be a part of his installation at the New Museum, as part of their "Younger Than Jesus" (an installment of their yearly "Generational" exhibition) showing in 2009.

Women who were chosen to participate were asked to then take a sleeping pill before being "installed" into the gallery space to give their sleeping "performance".

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It looks lovely to me, but I would be mortified upon waking to find a crowd around me, like the one below. Other artists in the exhibition included Ryan Trecartin, Corey Archangel, and Liz Glinn.

You can read more about Chu Yun and the "Younger than Jesus" exhibition here, and here.

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Would you ever audition to be part of an installation?

What are your thoughts on sleeping in public?

Check out another interesting "performance" based installation by Marina Abramivic here

and a hilarious response to the piece (involving a telepathic Bjork) here.

I think my face is asleep right now.

Beat the heat, Beat the heat, my mantra as I finish painting our new apartment.

[fingers flashing peace] TW, OUT.