Decorate the bus!: Italy's Amalfi Coast

 Amalfi Coast, Italy

Bravo's floor tile took me to letterpress journals, to floating scarves, to books of frabric samples, takes me back to - floor tiles.

I was lucky enough a few years back to study philosophy in Italy for a few weeks (what up Lacan!), even luckier was when it was all over I still had parts of my brain intact and a couple of extra weeks to do all those things of the body that philosophy seems to discredit (or at the very least ignore). Eating and sleeping my way across the Italian countryside, I got off a regional train on the side of the road outside of the coastal town of Amalfi, walked down seven hundred and fifty steep concrete steps, and when i finally reached the street below - looked up to see the biggest display of decorative tile I could ever imagine.

If you love The Real housewives of New Jersey as much as I do, this might not seem too out of place, but believe me - this was something special. While I waited patiently at the bus stop to take me to the sea side (the other side) of the mountain, I thought to myself - back splash- geometric design or landscaoe?

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That musing on tile patterns didn't last long, as it turned out, while laying in the Mediterranean sun,  I got pretty home sick. I didn't want any more caprese salads, and opted instead for a good ol'back home cheeseburger and chocolate milkshake. The only problem being that the only milkshake I could find was on the alcoholic drink menu, and I had to explain to a very confused waiter that I wanted it without the shot of Kaluha and no rum either. The cheeseburger was square instead of a circle and I could taste a hint of alcohol in the milkshake, both taking me away from the childhood memories I was trying to rest in. The saving grace of that meal: A man at a nearby table asks the waiter where his heart is. The waiter does not hesitate and places a hand on his chest, "here."

JFK might not have been so glad to see me, filthy from an all night plane ride, but I couldn't wait to use the bathroom there and get back on good ol'back home Interstate - 95.

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For my next feet of Auto-blog-ism  - - expect pigment and journeys even further into the psyche. 

Mathematics and Birthdays

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The inspiration for this post came from a few different directions. Last week The Sea celebrated a birthday. Let's just say I "put off" (read: kind of forgot) birthday shopping until way way late. Luckily beautiful girls make it easy to buy them beautiful things. The Sea loves the aesthetic of life. If The Sea could have one of everything in a simple repeating pattern and a vintage inspired modern color - I bet she would trade her pitbull's first born for the chance.

She would've loved a set of these letterpress journals from Pistachio Press pictured above, unlucky for her my only shopping options were by foot and Etsy ordering (and waiting for delivery) was out of the question.

So that was the first inspiration for today's post - the second:

I have been armpit and over head deep in the studio these days, contemplating my navel, your navel, the way I see things, the way you see things, and how these things might all be connected. 

Thinking about Automatism, I thought about auto-blog-ism.  By following the thin thread in my head, over the next week of posts, I will display this feat of human intellect and inqury, here, now, at The Mountain and The Sea. (Or perhaps it will be just another display of the new and the dazzling internet-inpsired ADD.) Either way, I think it will be fun.

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Notice the floor tile in Manuel Alvarez Bravo's photograph "Fallen Sheet", in our last post, beautiful repetitive geometric design - brings me to  thinking about the addition of texture to pattern when skimming the notebook selection of Pistachio Press, takes me to the weight of these scarves, both physical and visual.

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Taken by Stop-Look-Repeat these images are ghost-y surrealist screen-shots of Epice's winter collection. In their nearly see through abstraction, these scarves become animals, they become harbinger's of the forest-past.

Leads me to think more about fabric, and what I might trade a day-old baby pitbull for.

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Viola! Norwich Textile's webpage on "Understanding Pattern Books".

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These books like whole-grain coffee cake, healthy and delicious.

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Which leads us next to the land of espresso and ceramic tiles. (You'll just have to come back and see...)

In the meantime, I encourage you all out there to Auto-ism with me. Can you make it around the world in 4 disparate thoughts? Through time and back again? Notice this week how your inspiration moves through and in turn moves you.

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Manuel Alvarez Bravo - Fallen Sheet- 1940s

Manuel Alvarez Bravo - Somewhat Gay and Graceful - 1942

Manuel Alvarez Bravo- Laughing Mannequins - 1930s

I can't find my mind, can you? After a particularly busy start to Fall (... a particularly long break in blog posting...) and a particularly long night - nothing makes me feel better on this lovely lost Sunday afternoon then to look at the surrealist photographs of Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

What to say? Born in 1902 in Mexico City with the last name BRAVO - there is nothing more that needs to be said. (Read more about all those details, here.)

First Friday! @ Napoleon!

(Dana McElroy)

So you may or may not have put it together yet - but here I'll give it to you straight - I am involved in a new project! An artist-run exhibition space located right here in Philadelphia. We call ourselves Napoleon, and hope to bring the city of brotherly l0ve a whole cornucopia full of delicious little tid-bits for mind, body and soul, over the months to come!

This month we are proud to present Commonplacing - a group exhibition curated by the members of Napoleon. Artists exhibited include: Loo Bain, Joe Boruchow, Shelby Donnelly, Hannah Rose Dumes, Nelson Figueroa, Anna Gray + Ryan Wilson Paulsen, Dana McElroy, Ryan Parker, Max Seckel, and Edward Marshall Shenk.

The Opening Reception will take place tomorrow night! First Friday, September 2nd from 6pm-10pm, at Napleon's place located on the 2nd flr. of 319 N. 11th Street.( Vox Building.)

Get the whole scoop and links to the artists individual websites by going to Napoleon's blog, here.

I'll tell you what - tomorrow night is going to be a blast. The art looks good, all we're missing is your beautiful face.

See you all tomorrow!

Wednesday Work: Iain McKell

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Iain McKell - The New Gypsies

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Simply gorgeous.

Makes me hungry.

You?

See it at Clic Gallery, NYC. Opening August 29th through October 2nd.

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Wednesday Work: The Collective Unconscious

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Last Wednesday's post on Jon Rafman got me thinking. Rafman, to remind you, collects images taken by the Google Street View team and re purposes them as his own through the action of editing. His message is made his by those images which he chooses to include, and those images which he chooses to exclude. In this way you could consider images part of a universal visual language, ie. the same ways in which we choose existing words from the communal dictionary to create a thought that is uniquely ours - we choose images from a world of communal sight, to create a thought that is uniquely ours....right?

As a photographer, I make images. As a photographer, I take images.

"I think, therefore I am." To update Descartes, perhaps the statement should be, "I photograph, therefore I am."

The distinction of who is a photographer and who isn't these days seems a bit silly doesn't it?

So, I started thinking. Thinking about knowledge and the freedom of information, and the collective unconscious, an idea proposed by psychiatrist Carl Jung. In his thesis Jung states, " in addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche, there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes," Meaning, beyond those things we learn and experience, there are things that we. all. just. know. , regardless of our individual experiences.

Where am I going with this? , Here - When you are dealing with a medium as popular as photography it is hard to say what is -artist- and what is merely a function of being -human-. It is difficult to ascertain true authorship.

Which brings me, Here - back to today's Wednesday Work! There are many lovely blogs, websites, and projects out there started by individuals but whose ownership of can be claimed by many.

The first I would like to share with you today is a collection of images, constantly growing and continually curated by Philadelphia artist, Heather Veneziano. The images appear web-based and cross over large time frames, continents, and original intent.

The image above, and the the three to follow all posted on August 12, 2011, at Heather's blog: an odd kind of sympathy.

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The second project I would like to introduce today is of the same vein, but working the concept from the other side. Take Picture Don't Steal, and interactive photography project developed by UK-based art director Matt Greenwood, calls on the want of the passer-by. Greenwood places disposable cameras, affixed to street poles, with the simple instructions "Take Picture Don't Steal". Greenwood then collects the images and posts them to the TPDS website. With cameras in place in Miami, FL, NYC, Toronto, the UK, and other's popping up around Europe, a different kind of pictorial collective unconscious is growing.

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And all of this not yet to mention Facebook or the growing number flickr/picassa/tumblr accounts! Writer and critic Susan Sontag nailed it way back in 1977. In her collection of essays, On Photography, Sontag surmised "recently, photography has become almost as widely practiced amusement as sex and dancing-" and to think, Sontag was merely referring to photography since the advent of roll film and the point and shoot! Now we've gone digital...
What to do with all of these images?

The fate of the photograph - unclear - but to take one more Sontag quote out of context, another from On Photography, Sontag states "the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it."

Where do you find yourselves today, dear readers? On the side of the glass-half-empty or the glass-half-full? (I know - Oh so serious...)

Well, I am feeling optimistic and at the chance of invention, I feel the exhilaration of inspiration.

Take that energy and run.

See more of an odd kind of sympathy, here.

And more of Take Picture Don't Steal, here.

Wednesday Work: Jon Rafman

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Lack of privacy never looked so good!

For this week's Wednesday Work we bring you Jon Rafman. An artist out of Montreal, Canada, Rafman uses Google Street View as his image-capturing device (his camera). A concept which begs the question: what is a photographer? What is a photograph? As photographers, are we artists, or are were curators - editing a collection of images made by the world itself? (Or in this case Google Street View.) I've seen a lot done with Google Image Search, and conversation about the future of photography and the integrity of the photographic image in light of the internet and digital photography, abounds - but I've never seen it like this!

We truly do live in a terrifically horrifying and beautiful world.

See the project "9-eyes.com", here.

See more work by Jon Rafman, here.

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Seriously - go see the whole thing! here.

Are you in Philly? Tonight: Daniel Klass Beckwith @ NAPOLEON

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An Exhibition of Sculptures
from Richmond, Virginia from Daniel Klaas Beckwith
infinite fadeaway: Invisible objects where Heisenberg's uncertainty holds; and things may not be viewed and named simultaneously. The continuation of understandings or curiosities, taken as a halo to be worn out.
murder
Knowledge is entertainment alone, and honesty is all that exists.

Opening: TONIGHT: August 5th, 2011: 6pm-10pm

@ NAPOLEON

319 N. 11th St.

Philadelphia, PA

Gallery hours: Saturdays and Sundays 2:00pm - 6:00pm

and by appointment.

Show runs through August 31st.

See more of Daniel Klaas Beckwith's work, here.

Culture Hall - Online Resource

Matt Allison via Culture Hall

Ever want to find a whole bunch of good new art to look at online fast? I know I do. So I was psyched when I found a link to this online resource, Culture Hall.

Culture Hall is a "curated online resource for contemporary art" where you can dig through a plethora of online portfolios. Artworks are organized not only by artist's name, but also by genre- making it easy to get a quick fix of fresh art.

Pour yourself a nice tall glass of iced tea, add that lemon wedge, and go ahead and visit Culture Hall, here.

A Thursday...for shameless self-promotion: The Future of Love

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The Future of Love
(-or- The Story of Cap't Capianna)
by Tamsen Wojtanowski
5"x8". soft cover. 19 pages. 2011.

See it here.

Wednesday Work: June Yong Lee

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I am a lover of film - good ol' fashioned hard and slow and wet photo process methods. The true power of digital - well beyond the fact that is is "easy" (I am aware of the misnomer) - is the power of digital photography as a new media, a new way of seeing the truth that lies before us.

That is precisely what June Yong Lee does with his series, Skin. Taking photographs of an individual's skin, but digitally removing the skin's form as it sits on an individual's frame- we see the skin only, the skin anew, as a vast landscape that begs to be explored.

See more of June Yong Lee's work, here.

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Wednesday Work: Hilary White

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Hilary White. Big deal round Fishtown this winter, with a beautfiul showing at Part Time Studios. 2D - 3D. Currently with work at Sweet Jane Vintage. Invigorating in person - so you should go.

Sweet Jane Vintage/ 1820 E. Passyunk Ave., Philly, PA 19148/Tues-Sat 12-8, Sun 12-6.

PS. Images look better when you click on them, than they do in the body of the post.

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Wednesday Work: Christopher Hartshorne

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

This week's Wednesday work is Philly's own Christopher Hartshorne.

Walking those winding, unassuming stairs up to the second floor of the "Vox building", (a derelict property, just north of China Town, that has been re purposed housing apartments, at least one suite of textile factory-type work, and a myriad of artist-run spaces, including: Vox Populi, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Marginal Utility, Grizzly Grizzly - and the NEW NAPOLEON) I didn't think we were going to make it. Fresh from a down pour of summer thunder storms and a happy hour bar boasting half price everything until 8PM, the sweat was dripping off of our faces, pooling in blotchy splotchy patterns all over our clothes. We round the corner past the elevator doors and into the deplorable bathroom situation that is the second floor - quick past the growing crowd of gawkers in the hall,

And we were made a new once through the threshold of NAPOLEON's door.

The room was white, the air was cool, and we were met with large oversize huge gigantic prints made from woodblock, printed just so, on long rolls of paper delicately pinned to the walls and strung over utility pipes - I found my feet.

This is why we made the trip.

The beautiful movement and abstraction and depth of Christopher Hartshorne's woodblock prints let you in. They let you go - there - where? That's up to your imagination. They deftly set the stage, one with many different avenues and options, but they don't tell you what to say. A variation of line work mixed with subtle color shifts, the work a grotesque adventure, a memory, or a want - all depending on if you had 6 dark and stormys, or just 2 pale ales, at the happy hour bar, and your ability to synthesize alcohol.

I received the image in two parts, which I show together up top. Below, the two images as they were sent as separate. The image size, 96"x38". Now that's some big wood.

Go see the show for yourself!

Gallery hours at NAPOLEON: Saturdays 1-3. 319 N. 11th Street. 2nd Floor. Philadelphia, PA. Up through July.

And check out more of Christopher Hartshorne's work at his website, here.

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

Nebula Christopher Hartshorne

reBIRTH

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Commandeering the blog reigns here, to send another message of rebirth. (Didn't we do this last year?) Rebirth, rejuvenation, invigorate, stay hydrated. It seems I have a cycle, dear readers, to suffocate in June. But alas, what can you do? I did, I read a self-help book. (It made me feel less crazy - bonus.)

In lieu of falling prey to any more inspirational gurus, I call to you - it's summer! Don't fight your urges! This season do two, if not three, or all of the following: (Enter your own list here, or feel free (!) to follow along with my list below.)

Learn how to do something you didn't know how to do before, but pretended that you did.

Finish that project that you keep telling yourself is almost done, but it's not.

Get. in. the. car. and drive. No, really.

Eat better.

Skip the sunburn, buy the sunscreen.

Get the play station, or the smart phone, or the net book, or whatever piece of technology that you've wanted but have continually talked yourself out of for the last year.

Walk the dog.

Keep your eyes open.

Turn off the TV - it will all be there come winter.

Call your friends, they miss you.

And when you're done with all that, read more (look at the pictures!) about Julius Gerhardt, mastermind of the wildly freeing outfit above, HERE.
PPS. Still working on that mad-unvieling, but you know how these things go...it's taking longer than expected...await with bated breath....

Wednesday Work: Hiroshi Sugimoto

Circling around to the grand unvieling of our big news, in excited anticipation we would like to "set the stage" with images from Hiroshi Sugimoto's theatre series. Shot with a large format camera in the late 1970s/1980s - Sugimoto captured in a single image the entirity of a movie watching experience. (So it is not an empty theatre or a blank screen, but a theatre which has both been filled up and emptied out, and a screen with a whole movie playing over top of it - over exposing the negative film to create an empty white glowing box). Experiments in time, but also begs to question: what does it mean to experience a thing?

Sugimoto has this to say about his work in the theatre: "I'm a habitual self-interlocutor. Around the time I started photographing at the Natural History Museum, one evenig I had a near-hallucinatory vision. The question-and-answer session that led up to this vision went something like this: Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? And the answer: You get a shining screen. Immediately I sprang into action, experimenting toward realizing this vision. Dressed up as a tourist, I walked into a cheap cinema in the East Village with a large-format camera. As soon as the movie started, I fixed the shutter at a wide-open aperture, and two hours later when the movie was finished, I clicked the shutter closed. That eveing, I developed the film, and the vision exploded behing my eyes."

Hold on tight to your seats, dear readers, the vision is about the explode behind your eyes - our experimenting towards realizing a vision and the grand unvieling - next, Wednesday Work.

Read more about Hiroshi Sugimoto and see more of his images, here.

Wednesday Work (Thursday Throwback?): Carleton Watkins: Yosemite (1863)

This past Saturday was "National Record Store Day", did you all attend to your neighborhood favorites? After feasting on bagel sandwiches overflowing with mozzarella cheese and marinated basil and tomatoes, we stumbled into a fairly new used records&books on 9th, down in Philadelphia's Italian Market. I couldn't decide on a record. But I did pick up a few used books. One, Susan Sontag's novel "America", has this Carleton Watkins image above on the back cover, and I was reminded: Susan Sontag can write, and: Oh wow - look at that photograph.

Carlton Watkins' photographs do what all good photographs should do (in my hungry opinion), they elicit adventure, they call for ambition, they show the viewer how much and how big it is out there - all the while without bringing with them any fears. There are no fears of falling in Carleton Watkins' photographs. We are viewing great feats of nature, but never are we at the cliff's edge. There is no physical danger here, nor is there chance of psychological or emotional harm. There are no others in Watkins' photographs with which we are to compare ourselves. We are not being watched or watching. The land is ours and ours alone, and the land is there to be taken.

Evading many of the trappings found in traditional formal photography, the rectangle or square, the whole thing placed behind glass - Watkins shot for stereoscopes (the View-Master, its like that), his images were cut down, placed in circle shaped mattes.

Watkins' worked on what he loved. He worked and worked and worked. He made photographs. I can't imagine he was thinking about a market, or an audience, (I could be wrong here, but let me have the dream, pretty please....)

I WANT TO BE (like) CARLETON WATKINS.

Follow your spring dreams readers. And read up on your history players. You can't hustle unless you know the game. These are my words of wisdom: T-Dubbya OUT.

(Carleton Watkins, photographs and info - here.)

[Aaaaand, if you're not into throwbacks (but really, either way) give this guy a listen: Hennesy Youngman]
Seriously.