Algos-Anatomica

2011-10-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

I get the NYFA Current newsletter, and they usually have some very good articles. This month they feature the installation artist Gelah Penn and basically use her artist statement for their article. Granted it's a bit longer than your average artist statement, but I was very impressed. It is accessible, clear, straightforward, but at the same time analytical and intelligent. A good mixture of the personal (which art should be) and the more "academic" (which too many artist statements try to be). In the article they also use photographs of the installation and the influencial images from Noir Cinema in comparison. It really helps the viewer understand the artists intentions. A link to the article is below.
Criss Cross by Gelah Penn

2011-10-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

"I love my kids. Dead man was not my fault. Love, Dad,"
Two cars, same road, same turn, same spot where they go off the road, end up in same ravine, but the catch is, not at the same time. Almost a week apart. Lavau was the last to go over the edge of the ravine and survived for six days. The other man had been killed and was found decomposing in his wrecked car. The odds of this occurrence are almost incomprehensible, even taking into account how dangerous that stretch of road is.
It's so improbable, it sounds made up. And eerily it is reminiscent of J.G. Ballards book from 1973 called Concrete Island. Here is a link to Ballardian's website about the book.
Concrete Island.
The story is of a man who crashes his car off of elevated high-way into a concrete island below and becomes trapped. Despite the fact that his is surrounded by humanity, cars, and man-made structures, he can not find any escape back to civilization.
Below is the story from the AP on the California crash... fact is almost always stranger then fiction.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Two separate missing persons cases. Two families wracked with worry for days. Two wrecked cars, nearly on top of each other. One man alive, the other dead.
The fates of 68-year-old David Lavau and a man believed to be 88-year-old Melvin Gelfand met at the bottom of the same rugged ravine, 200 feet below a curvy stretch of mountain road where both men had lost control of their vehicles and crashed, authorities said Friday.
It appeared to be sheer coincidence that led the men to end up in exactly the same spot of the Angeles National Forest some 50 miles north of Los Angeles.
Lavau lived in the ravine for six days, eating bugs, leaves and drinking creek water to survive, with Gelfand's badly decomposed body in another car only a few feet away.
Lavau was rescued Thursday by his three adult children, who searched a highway between their father's home in northern Los Angeles County and Ventura County, where a detective told themLavau's bank and cellphone records had placed him, sheriff's spokesman Capt. Mike Parker said.
They drove slowly along the mountain road, stopping to peer over the treacherous drop-offs and call out for their father.
Near him they found a body in a Toyota Camry that belonged to Gelfand, who had been reported missing on Sept. 14, more than a week before Lavau's disappearance, said Los Angeles police Detective Marla Ciuffetelli of the missing persons unit.
"I love my kids. Dead man was not my fault. Love, Dad," read a note Lavau scrawled on his dusty trunk, his family told the Los Angeles Times.
Lavau was at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital with three rib fractures, a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm and fractures in his back, said emergency room physician Dr. Garrett Sutter. He was expected to be released in three to four days after surgery on his shoulder and to make a full recovery.
"He was very desirous of a lobster taco," Sutter said.
Dr. Ranbir Singh, the hospital's trauma director, said Lavau told him he was driving to his home when he was temporarily blinded by the headlights of an oncoming car. He braked, but failed to gain traction. The car flipped and plunged down the embankment.
The body found in the other car could not be visually identified due to decomposition, but Gelfand's son-in-law Will Matlack said the family had been contacted by the coroner's office, which was trying to match fingerprints or dental records to make a positive identification.
"The coroner said it's 99 percent a sure thing," Matlack said.
At the bottom of the ravine, Lavau could hear cars and see their lights on the road above and was hopeful he'd be discovered, but as time passed, he grew more uncertain.
Lavau's children had reported him missing last Friday, though they were not certain when exactly he had disappeared.
"Each family member and friend thought that he was with someone else,'" Parker said.
Parker said by the next day the sheriff's detective assigned to the case turned up bank records showing Lavau had made a purchase in Oxnard in Ventura County, and mobile phone records showed he had been in the area.
The children then organized themselves into a search party.
"We stopped at every ravine and looked over every hill, and then my brother got out of the car, and we kept screaming, and the next thing we heard Dad saying, 'Help, help,' and there he was," Lisa Lavau told NBC's "Today" show.
Sean Lavau slid down the embankment to reach his father, who was airlifted to the hospital while firefighters helped his children get back up the ravine.
Parker said it was "remarkable" the family was able to make the find in the sparsely populated area about 50 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
"We admire this family for doing what they did. You've got to love them." the sheriff's spokesman said. "I think there was a higher power involved."
Parker said the fact that the family found their father was no reflection on the work of the Sheriff's Department, which followed all the proper procedures for a missing persons case that had no evidence of foul play.
"What else could we possibly do?" said Parker, pointing out the speed with which detectives turned up records showing Lavau's activity. "I was surprised we did as much as we did. I'm glad we did it."
The California Highway Patrol was investigating the accidents.
Gelfand
Daughter Joan Matlack said he was supposed to be heading the other direction toward a casino off Interstate 5 south of Los Angeles.
"We don't know what happened, but it seemed like he was either lost or disoriented," Matlack told KCAL-TV, "Because he was in the complete opposite direction. He went north instead of south."

2011-09-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Replace Sea with Woods, and this is a good representation of my mind right now...
from Moby Dick:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having
little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on
shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of
the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating
the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth;
whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find
myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up
the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get
such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to
prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically
knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea
as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a
philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly
take to the ship.

2011-09-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

A story of living rent-free... to the extreme. I am sure more details will emerge on this story.
Perhaps they tried a wikiup...

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin police are investigating the story of an English-speaking teenager who appeared in the German capital last week saying he had lived the previous five years in the woods with his father, a spokesman said Friday.
Michael Maass said the approximately 17-year-old boy appeared Sept. 5 at Berlin's city hall and was then taken in by a youth emergency center.
The boy told authorities that after his mother had died in a car accident about five years ago, his father had taken him to live in the forest, Maass said. The two lived in a tent, and in earthen dugouts according to his story.
"He said that he had lived for the last five years wandering around with his father," Maass said. "We don't know where."
The boy — who says he doesn't remember where the family came from — claims he followed his compass north after his father recently died following a fall in the woods, hitting Berlin after walking two weeks, Maass said.
The boy told authorities he only remembered the name his father called him by — Ray, according to media reports — and not his last name, Maass said. He speaks fluent English and only a few words of German, Maass said. He did not have any information about what accent the boy has.
The boy appears to be in good health and police have issued a Europe-wide appeal to try and determine his identity. However, police said they were not immediately releasing any photos of the boy.
"The missing persons bureau is investigating," Maass said, noting that at the moment, they only had the boy's story to go on.

2011-09-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

I love that the national park service uses the term "backcountry camping" It's a phrase I may adapt more and more. On Fire Island you are able to camp out in the dunes (not between March and early Sept when it is Piping Plover breeding season) or the beach. Except for the cost of the ferry to Watch Hill, it is free. There are only 24 slots available though, so on busy weekends in summer they fill up fast. No pre-registering, it is first come first serve only. A link to the Fire Island National Seashore is below.
Fire Island
While we only hiked out about a mile or so, we were forced to carry 5 liters of water, since no potable water was on site. But hind site perhaps you set up camp and then hike back out the one or two miles and retrieve the water separate. Carrying around 35 pounds even for a little while was the most grueling part of the adventure.
Since there are four separate ecosystems in a very narrow space, the abundance of wildlife is amazing and easy to see. For the first time I think I saw almost every creature featured on the Fire Island brochure we were given. There is the salt water marshes on the bay side of the island. There I saw a Great Egret, Mute Swans, an American Bittern, Cormorants, and I believe American Black Duck. Deer were everywhere, while walking to Davis Park on the boardwalk they ran out in front of use like squirrels. In the dunes area I spied a little fox on three occasions, twice running along the shoreline looking through clumps of seaweed searching for food. In the morning I saw a Harrier (or it could have been a Merlin, not sure) harassing and chasing a murder of crows. Eventually once the brave one had cleared the area of his enemy he took to hunting smaller birds near the marshes. Well off in the distance, there was a very large raptor with white underneath and black above, but I only saw him for a second. I think it was an Osprey. Of the smaller birds, I spent part of my time chattering with a Grey Catbird who was hanging out near some Mockingbirds and I got a bit confused if one species was mimicking the other at times. I brought out my Iphone app Audubon's Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic and found several Catbird calls which I played. I believe I freaked out my little friend who kept coming closer to check out who was making these weird calls. Also in attendance was a very fancy Rose Breasted Grosbeak, a Northern Flicker and a yellow streaked variety of Warbler, which I really can't identify. On the beach their was a party of gulls, mechanical little Sanderlings and dive-bombing Terns. It was quite the spectacle of nature and am eager to come again when the only creature I wasn't eager to meet has finally left, the mosquito.
Here are some bird calls from the species I saw. Cornell University website has some really comprehensive information on Ornithology.
Northern Flicker
American Bittern
Rose Breasted Grosbeak

2011-09-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

More images from backcountry camping trip Fire Island National Park....

Camping Site in the Dunes

My Big Agnes Flycreek 2, home away from home ...

Sunset on Dunes

A great future campsite

Tree washed up on beach, perhaps from othe side of pond...

2011-09-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Fire Island Backpack Sept 10-11th at Fire Island National Park

Cormorants

Entering Watch Hill Marina

Dunes affected by Hurricane Irene

Bent Trees

Saltwater Marshes

Fawn in Reeds

Saltwater Marshes

2011-09-07T07:05:00.000-07:00

The Legend of Boggy Creek depicts Bigfoot as a lonely, sad, sexually frustrated and eventually criminal trespassing creature tormenting the women of Arkansas. The one theme explored in the film is the social isolation that the Foukes monster must feel being the only one of his kind, and how periodically he is drawn to civilization like a moth to a flame... Since I was a child I have been terrified / fascinating with the concept of a Bigfoot. It's a weird hybrid of man and wild animal.. huge and strongly built. The prospect of meeting one alone in the woods, despite very few stories of direct attacks, sends a primal shiver through the nerves. Whether you believe the myth or not, it feeds into this sense of chaos of nature, that we could be prey instead of predator, and that there are "creatures" out there who live according to different more feral laws than our rather civilized ones. We have a hard enough time coping with other humans in our world, stepping into another realm where we are more less foreign gives us quite the disadvantage. In a recent documentary on the Learning Channel, one suggestion of what the Bigfoot could be relates to the shamanistic traditions of certain first nation peoples of the Pacific Northeast. According to the commentator, the process of becoming a shaman meant going out into the wilderness and leaving your tribe for years, and learning the ways of nature on it's term. Some went feral and tribe members who stumbled upon them in the woods started to think of them as wild people or human animal hybrids. I put a link to the video clip below. I have not been able to find out much information via the web on this practice, but it is intriguing. But back to Boggy Creek, which is the only song I know of that seems sympathetic to the plight of Bigfoot. But beware to women who step into Boggy Creek for he is looking for love. Enjoy this song to Swamp Stalker

Learning Channel video

2011-09-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to a wonderful autumn day ! Cloudy, a little rain, a sharp cold breeze and pleasant 60 degree temps. My mind is wandering toward upcoming camping trips... so what better way to get in the mood then watch movies on BigFoot, the ultimate backwoods man. I was watching "The Legend of Boggy Creek".. and if you have watched this movie before you know the great soundtrack. Here is a segment on canoe camping... cheesy lyrics, a guy making dinner, and some great images of vintage camping. What this has to do with Big Foot or the Swamp Stalker I don't know. But enjoy.

2011-09-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

I finished 3 new panels a few weeks ago, and beginning another two.. This new technique and style harkens back to 3 panels I did for a the Erph Gallery show in 2009. But I wanted to push the style even further, incorporating more found objects, including twigs, leaves, flowers, roots, insects, and other organic and inorganic material from nature. The photographs are from the series Bodies of Dirt..
I also posted them on my website. Still have to write a better statement.
Bodies of Dirt Phase 2

2011-09-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Last week on Friday, before Hurricane Irene came to my little town of Brooklyn, I called on my friend who was in a park nearby his apartment in Washington Heights. He suddenly exclaimed " What the hell there is a snail crawling on me ! Holy shit I am covered in snails ! They are everywhere !" I thought he was evoking his rather gross sense of humor, but by his insistence, I realized he wasn't exaggerating. According to him, the ground was covered with snails, like some bad horror film. A few days later on Sunday afternoon, I was out in Red Hook and looked down on the ground to see what looked like a worm massacre. I wondered if God's smallest creatures had a special sensitivity that could feel the storm coming on. Was their reaction to escape from places they felt would flood? Seek higher ground somehow and escape the wrath? Or was it just mass confusion leading to suicide. Something to look up.

2011-08-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

While the rain aspect of the storm was over, there was still lingering high wind gusts into Sunday morning. The one aspect of the storm I got to revel in... except for the quality of the air. I don't think NYC ever smelled or felt that "fresh". A hurricane is like nature's version of a power wash to the atmosphere. Pollen, pollution, that weird garbagy smell that always lingers in the city was scrubbed clean. For a while.

2011-08-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

The storm came and went early this morning, and for very complicated reasons, depsite my enthusiam for mother nature's spectacle, I fell asleep. But I did manage to get up and go out on Sunday and get some video and pictures. Here are some mediative videos of the remaining wind near Red Hook.

2011-08-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Images taken on my Iphone during the AMC Plattekill Clove Slosh July 31st. Definately a place I would love to return to with a better camera.

.Plattekill Clove's many waterfalls

Taking the plunge from the ledge on the right

Tranquil pool of green

Beautiful gorge formed by running water

One of twenty or so waterfalls in the Clove

Rainbow Falls and weird ghost light

Hell's Hole to Devil's Kitchen, the way out

2011-07-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went backwoods camping, or backpacking (I am trending toward backwoods camping even though it takes longer to say, it sounds more nostalgic and more rustic, less sporty). We climbed up Overlook mountain, went down to Echo Lake, stayed the night at Devil's Kitchen Lean-To and then we did the last leg on Devil's Path. It was a wonderful trip and got to meet other backpackers, which ended in a bit of a debate. Why do you backpack? Its heavy, grueling, fraught with potential mechanical injuries, not to mention potential heat stroke, heart attack, or major constipation. What was surprising to me is the number of people who said they do it for the challenge, like a sport. When I asked what about the chance to experience nature, see the wilderness, take in the landscape, explore, experience the thrill of being out in the woods at night etc.. I got quizzical looks. Most were interested in talking about equipment choices. Not everyone was in the at camp.. but since there are so many other sports which can give you a physical challenge such as triathlons etc.. where at the end of the event you can go home, shower and sleep in your temper-pedic bed there must be something else going on.. unconscious, on some cellular level that haven't understood yet. That we go to the woods to go back home... shake off civilization for a little bit, revel in fear and awe and come out alive. Anyway, here are some pictures I took from my new Iphone, and yes I want to get a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2, because I am a equipment whore too..

2011-07-01T05:19:00.000-07:00

In a new group show in Greenpoint this month... As part of Ugly Room art exhibition called "Cutters"
Here is the blog website with images....
http://uglyartroom.blogspot.com/

2011-06-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

How about sleeping outdoors in NYC.. only you are not homeless and you do so with all the enthusiasm of a great adventure... According to the National Park Service, NYC may have the first large scale campground in an large urban environment... at Floyd Bennet Field. Right now there are only five scary campsites, where I have seen some sketchy non-camping types loitering near. But the park service which runs Floyd Bennet says they plan to expand to 90 campsites and eventually 600. Sounds a little overcrowded to me, but hey this in NYC. Bring the deet and pepper spray. Here is the article:

NEW YORK – Many visitors to New York plan their trips to include shopping, a Broadway show and a hotel with fresh, clean sheets.

Sleeping bags under the stars? Not so much.

But Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday that the National Park Service will develop the nation's largest urban campground at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, a former airport used by Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes.

"We want to make New York the leading example of what we can do around the country with urban parks," Salazar said.

Floyd Bennett Field was the city's first municipal airport but is essentially unused for aviation, except for police helicopters. It has been managed by the park service since 1972 as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Salazar visited the former airfield and said the campground there will expand from five campsites to 90 over the next two years and may ultimately grow to 600 campsites. "You don't even realize you're in the middle of the city," he marveled.

The development of the Floyd Bennett Field campground is one of several initiatives aimed at improving access to the outdoors in the New York region under President Barack Obama's America's Great Outdoors campaign.

Salazar said the park service will work with local agencies in New York and New Jersey to link existing waterfront parks through a New York Harbor trail and greenway network.

The park service operates more than 26,000 acres of natural and historic properties, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, in the New York region.

Salazar said the park service is beefing up its use of social media to reach younger audiences with stories of the region. For example, historic sites overseen by the park service will be featured in smartphone applications and video podcasts available on iTunes.

2011-06-14T04:31:00.001-07:00

2011-04-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

I have in the last year become a fan of Mythbusters...a show in the past I dismissed as "nerdy" till I realized there is some science behind the show and they crash and blow things up. Not to many other shows have rocket sleds splitting cars in half. It is pure creation even in destruction. The "scary -go round" from this weeks episode is case in point. But bloody avatars for military. Makes any artist envious.
Mythbusters

2011-03-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

A rare, ancient lead codex from early christianity was recently uncovered... some photos below show how beautiful the work is... even if it is a hoax...
Article: Codex

2011-03-20T06:22:00.000-07:00

So much for Super Moon... I went out yesterday to Red Hook to photograph the super moon, but I only got a few mundane shots. The wind was whipping up at 30 miles an hour and the tripod was not stable under those conditions, so I got mostly motion blur. But she was a beautiful moon. She was that lovely orange red color, but I must admit she didn't visually appear that much larger. As a super moon she would be %18 closer to the earth, but I guess that would effect gravitational pull.
I did see more crazy stuff on the street over the past few days, including a screaming woman knocking over peoples garbage, pounding on car windows and yelling that "Jesus is a son of a bitch". I guess super moon's effects are to be felt not seen.
Above is one sort of decent shot I took, and of course some shots from the web. Including this cheesy video from NASA explaining the phenomena.
http://www.space.com/11176-supermoon-science-scoop-biggest-full-moon.html

2011-03-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to keep up with all the footage of the tsunami in Japan but have become overwhelmed... I am trying to find those videos that show the actual tsunami wave coming in... it is the first time in history that a wave was captured in video or film. But anyway, I was at a more mundane location on Sunday, Brooklyn Bridge Park and did a few shots.... love the green algae....

2011-03-12T16:52:00.001-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13crash.html

2011-03-07T05:17:00.001-08:00

Kilauea Volcano had recent eruption, this is an amazing video from AP of the eruption....

2011-03-07T05:03:00.000-08:00

The New York Times has an article on how a Catholic church in Greenpoint is using their closed down school building as a haven for artists, a location for film shoots, and gallery space. It is frustrating in NYC to see unused space that decays until some seedy developer comes along to make more huge profit. The fact that this parish is allowing artists to make whatever donation to use the space is remarkable.
St. Cecilia's
and on the other hand a artist haven in LIC is set to be demolished soon... 5Pointz...
from Gothamist: 5 Pointz

2011-03-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

I was watching some video art yesterday during the Armory Week but this video, a perfect example of Decisive Moment I would love to have been able to make myself... but no artist in the world could recreate this... making it so perfect.

2011-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last of the photos of crap in snow...

2011-02-20T05:33:00.000-08:00

I updated the design of my blog last week... some of it is a template.. but overall I think that it has a less congestive feel, especially for writing than the other design did. Also in recent years I have been drawn to rust red as a color... somewhere between the passionate pure red, and the more organic, somber earth brown. Just where my head is. Sometimes though I am still drawn to green which is the color I choose when I want more nature and less humanity.

And talking of the remnants of humanity... some more images of shit left after the snow melted. These pictures where taking last weekend. More later..

2011-02-17T07:05:00.000-08:00

Found this link to a video on Wired Science of a time-lapse of Bladderwort (carnivorous plant) catching and consuming it's meal. Music is bad, but images are amazing. Below are floating Bladderworts in a bog in Florida.

Carnivorous Bladderworts video

2011-02-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

On and off I have been part of the Etsy community. It's one side cheap and bad, but the other side is a wonderful place to find unique artistic items affordable to most. It's a new environment to foster creativity and the potential to make a little extra money at it. An ideal society of craftspeople, artistians and artists fully enjoying their labors is the fantasy that Etsy provides. Not necessarily the reality, but we all need a little fantasy once and a while. Here are some featured artist on Etsy that use nature and the beach for inspiration and have managed to create a living from it. Good for them and an inspiration for me...
Anzfer Farms on Etsy and their blog www.anzferfarms.com/

2011-02-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

More on the melting snow mess of NYC. Just was in Manhattan and they are so missing out on the beauty and wonder of what NYC is really all about. I went out this morning to photograph a bit, and here are some photos... more to come.

2011-02-09T07:38:00.002-08:00

The snow is slowing starting to melt finally, revealing NYC for what it truley at heart...
An article in the news shows what you can find hidden, garbage, Christmas trees, bodies...
Snow Surprises

2011-02-09T07:38:00.000-08:00

The snow is slowing starting to melt finally, revealing NYC for what it truley at heart...
An article in Daily News shows what you can find hidden, garbage, Christmas trees, bodies...
Snow Surprises:

2011-02-03T05:57:00.000-08:00

The latest storm hit hard in my old town of Chicago. Here are some photos, including Lake Shore Drive turned into a parking lot. the other photo I am still trying to figure out.

2011-02-02T05:06:00.000-08:00

Thinking back to slightly warmer weather in Oct. I began work on the images I took at the Platte Clove residency this fall. I added them as a new gallery page on the website. I frustrates me that it isn't as easy as walking out my door to be in the woods. To just grab my camera and photograph the severe weather, the ice on the trees, the thundersnows. It's just not the same in Brooklyn. When you photograph the city, no matter what it's about the city. When you photograph in true wilderness somehow it is more pure. I want to get up to Platte Clove this winter to photograph with the snow and ice. Hopefully in the next few weeks.
Platte Clove 2010

2011-02-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

The first Dark Sky community has been recognized by the International Dark-Sky Association... Sark Island in England. No street lights or cars along with other limits on external lights at night keep the town light pollution at bay so the the night sky is very dark enabling one to see the stars light we did over 100 years ago. Here is the article in Space.com. And a link to IDA.
New York City is considered one of the most light polluted cities in the world. A 10 on the Bortle Scale. We only see 1-2% of the stars in the night sky. But there is a dark sky park about five hours from NYC, and they have camping also. Just leave the flashlight at home. Cherry Springs State Park in Pennsylvania. If you are interested in finding out where there might be a place closer to you, this link is a bit confusing at
first, but indicates what the night sky will be on the Bortle Scale in your area. http://www.cleardarksky.com

2011-01-31T05:14:00.000-08:00

Before I became a vegetarian 18 years ago, my favorite meal was my mother's roast beef with frites... cooked with the middle raw and bloody and the outside charred with tons of dripping butter; it was pure heaven. But ethics got in the way of one of my favorite foods, red meat. It probably has added a few years to my life and saved some clogging of arteries, but I dream someday of being able to savor that roast beef once more. Several scientist are working on growing cultured meat in the lab with some success. Evidently there is some "gross out" factor for the public about eating just muscle tissue with out a whole slaughtered animal to go with it. As if the meat industry doesn't package meats all nicely dressed and cut up so that there is little association in the publics mind about a living animal which needs to be raised in horrific conditions, then brutally slaughtered, then hacked up by under paid wage slaves under filthy conditions. The following article is from the weekend paper about a lab in South Carolina, and there is also a lab in the Netherlands. PETA is offering a one million dollars to the first lab to successfully pull off a mass-producible version of cultured meat. Hope one is a roast.

By Harriet McLeod – Sun Jan 30, 10:00 am ET

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – In a small laboratory on an upper floor of the basic science building at the Medical University of South Carolina, Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D., has been working for a decade to grow meat.

A developmental biologist and tissue engineer, Dr. Mironov, 56, is one of only a few scientists worldwide involved in bioengineering "cultured" meat.

It's a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts of land available for growing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the hoof.

Growth of "in-vitro" or cultured meat is also under way in the Netherlands, Mironov told Reuters in an interview, but in the United States, it is science in search of funding and demand.

The new National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, won't fund it, the National Institutes of Health won't fund it, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded it only briefly, Mironov said.

"It's classic disruptive technology," Mironov said. "Bringing any new technology on the market, average, costs $1 billion. We don't even have $1 million."

Director of the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at the medical university, Mironov now primarily conducts research on tissue engineering, or growing, of human organs.

"There's a yuck factor when people find out meat is grown in a lab. They don't like to associate technology with food," said Nicholas Genovese, 32, a visiting scholar in cancer cell biology working under a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals three-year grant to run Dr. Mironov's meat-growing lab.

"But there are a lot of products that we eat today that are considered natural that are produced in a similar manner," Genovese said.

"There's yogurt, which is cultured yeast. You have wine production and beer production. These were not produced in laboratories. Society has accepted these products."

If wine is produced in winery, beer in a brewery and bread in a bakery, where are you going to grow cultured meat?

In a "carnery," if Mironov has his way. That is the name he has given future production facilities.

He envisions football field-sized buildings filled with large bioreactors, or bioreactors the size of a coffee machine in grocery stores, to manufacture what he calls "charlem" -- "Charleston engineered meat."

"It will be functional, natural, designed food," Mironov said. "How do you want it to taste? You want a little bit of fat, you want pork, you want lamb? We design exactly what you want. We can design texture.

"I believe we can do it without genes. But there is no evidence that if you add genes the quality of food will somehow suffer. Genetically modified food is already normal practice and nobody dies."

Dr. Mironov has taken myoblasts -- embryonic cells that develop into muscle tissue -- from turkey and bathed them in a nutrient bath of bovine serum on a scaffold made of chitosan (a common polymer found in nature) to grow animal skeletal muscle tissue. But how do you get that juicy, meaty quality?

Genovese said scientists want to add fat. And adding a vascular system so that interior cells can receive oxygen will enable the growth of steak, say, instead of just thin strips of muscle tissue.

Cultured meat could eventually become cheaper than what Genovese called the heavily subsidized production of farm meat, he said, and if the public accepts cultured meat, the future holds benefits.

"Thirty percent of the earth's land surface area is associated with producing animal protein on farms," Genovese said.

"Animals require between 3 and 8 pounds of nutrient to make 1 pound of meat. It's fairly inefficient. Animals consume food and produce waste. Cultured meat doesn't have a digestive system.

"Further out, if we have interplanetary exploration, people will need to produce food in space and you can't take a cow with you.

"We have to look to these ideas in order to progress. Otherwise, we stay static. I mean, 15 years ago who could have imagined the iPhone?"

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

2011-01-27T07:21:00.000-08:00

Another winter storm hits the Northeast... and I was amazed at another phenomena, Thundersnow. This is the at least the third storm producing lighting this season. And so far I have failed to get out and photograph it. But, hell it is only mid-Jan... and this winter doesn't seem to be letting up.
More info on thundersnows...
and some photos I took yesterday night... from my open window, wimpy I know.

2011-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

More bad things happening in snow...
the first is what happens when sledding goes bad.. such as going over the edge of a 8 foot wall on a sled. This was taken in Fort Greene Park after the Tuesday snow storm dumped a few more inches and made the snow piles white again. Unfortantely an overly enthusiastic sledder miscalculated how far they would go and ended up taking a dive off the stone walls surrounding the park. No blood was found at the impact site. Perhaps just a few broken bones.

Next was evidence that Fort Greene / Clinton Hill is full of bleeding heart liberals... I guess someone got a little fed up; tore it out and threw it into a snow bank.

2011-01-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

It's been two weeks since the big storm and the snow just gets more colorful. Confetti, blood.... New York has it all...

2011-01-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes one wants to escape from the city... go upstate to the Catskills, Adirondacks or leave for warmer more remote climes... or some just go underground. Three guys spent five days traveling through four of the NYC boroughs all underground, using only tunnels, subways, and sewers. I see a Hollywood writer thinking about a proposed film where a meltdown at Indian Point nuclear power plant makes being above ground too dangerous. So a group of people trying to make their way to the furthest tip of Queens ( to find loved ones of course) use only the underground network to travel out of the city. Actually not to bad, but would have to do a bunch of fact checking...
The guide on this five day exploration has a pretty great website with videos and amazaing photos. It's reassuring to see being a bit insane can actually be fun.
Undercity

Explorer Walks From Bronx To Brooklyn, Underground CBS New York – News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of NY

This past Christmas I went to a more accessible ruin.. Dundenberg Mountain up in Harriman State Park. The site was going to be a railroad leading to a hotel at the top of the mountain at the turn of the last century.. but the developer ran out of money. The train trip was actually to go through the mountain at certain points via huge tunnels... most never got finished.

2011-01-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

From New York Daily News....
XFactor Amazing X-Rays

2011-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the New Year... refling through someones old magazines I saw that the Japan Society has been hosting a monthly movie event called "Zen and it's Opposite". Here are some quotes:

“If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.”
Linji Yixuan, Ch'an Master (? – 866)

“I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs.”
Alexandro Jodorowsky (1929- )

Japan Society

Last fall I spend most of August and Sept working on a proposal for an installation... which I realize now had ties to this concept. But for now I am sorry I missed the first few movies. I will be heading over to PhotoPlay in Greenpoint to see if they have any of those titles.. but they are having more movies each month. January is "Hell". Perhaps I will go there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hKeU7-vG4

2010-12-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

Dec 27th and still New York, or least Brooklyn is under two feet of snow. No plows till today and sidewalks are just getting shoveled. This is a video of why I sometimes dream of escaping from New York. First is the flagrant attitude of public servants when it comes to others property, and second is the angry stupid commentary of the videographer in his underwear. The only thing missing of what a true New York experience would be is an ensuing fist fight and riot with the various people on the street. Happy New Year.

2010-07-26T06:46:00.001-07:00

With the onset of this heat wave in NYC, I am recalling the great Chicago Heat Wave of 1995. For five days the temps were 100 or more degrees But added to that was extremely high humidity so the heat index reached 119 °F (48 °C) at O'Hare airport, and 125 °F (52 °C) at Midway Airport. Over 700 people died due to heat stroke. I was working as a dogwalker that summer, driving around in my old car that had no AC. The worst day the temps got to 106. After being outside in the sun and already feeling extreme heat exhaustion, I had to make a phone call on a payphone in an large parking lot near my apartment. It was 5pm and there was no shade. For some reason the phone company had shut off my phone and I had to wait for over an hour to get through to an operator. I should have left and gone inside when I started to feel the heat stroke coming on, but a person becomes delirioius and irrational in that state, so I just stayed. Eventually I stumbled home (which had no AC) and managed to make it down to the basement where I passed out. My roommate was freaking out and when I came too I told him to put me in the shower with cold water running. I stayed in the shower for a long time, there was so little water pressure because every hydrant was opened by the kids in the neighbhorhood looking for some relief. I remember finally feeling my body temp going down and my mind becoming a bit clearer, but I was in a bad state the rest of the night. It's like when you have an extreme fever, you pass into a state of delirium and hallucinations, that almost feels pleasant. I guess at some point the body can only take so much before it says to the brain to shut down. I think that is how so many died. The elderly in a weakened condition already started acting irrationally in the heat and probably not doing some simple things to help keep them cool. In several instances some people who were found dead had working AC in their apt. but had never turned them on. Here is a description of heat stroke and heat exhaustion... one common mistake people make is that if you drink plenty of fluids you should be fine even in extreme temps. But if you are in the sun and there is high humidity our bodies ability to dissipate heat shuts down and body temps rise despite being hydrated.

Heat exhaustion: Heat exhaustion is a warning that the body is getting too hot. Those most prone to heat exhaustion include elderly people, people with high blood pressure, and people working or exercising in a hot environment. A person with heat exhaustion may be thirsty, giddy, weak, uncoordinated, nauseous, and sweating profusely. As with heat syncope and heat cramps, the body temperature is usually normal in heat exhaustion. The heart rate (pulse rate) is normal or elevated. The skin is usually cold and clammy.

Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a serious, life-threatening condition that occurs when the body loses its ability to control its temperature. Victims of heat stroke almost always die, so immediate medical attention is essential when problems first begin. In heat stroke, a person develops a fever that rapidly rises to dangerous levels within minutes. A person with heat stroke usually has a body temperature above 104 F (40 C), but the temperature may rise even higher. Other symptoms and signs of heat stroke may include confusion, combativeness, bizarre behavior, feeling faint, staggering, strong rapid pulse, dry flushed skin, and lack of sweating. Delirium or coma can also result from heat stroke.

I have heard of several people committing suicide by heat stroke... will attempt to find out more.

2010-06-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

Scent has such a direct connection to our more primal brains. Catch the whiff of an odor you haven't smelled in many years, and suddenly you are transported back to that place and time as if in a dream. I remember once visiting an basement apartment and upon entering was hit with this smell that was exactly the same as my Aunt's cottage in rural Ohio.
A strong dose of mildew, old wood, decaying leaves, and the fresher air of the surrounding forest. Despite the fact I was in Brooklyn, I suddenly was overwhelmed with memories and emotions of that place and just sat and let the odor and thoughts take over for a while. It was a beautiful experience.
Just a few days ago, I came across an article that was mocking some strange perfumes... not traditional to say the least, but based more on evoking raw sex, strong emotions or scents that I feel are more tied to memory. Florals and citrus smells are pleasant, but life's events don't usually surround musk oil. Think of all the odors of the beach.... fish, brine, and seaweed.. not easy to market as perfume. But there are a few who are daring evidently.
Demeter Fragrance Library is putting out some novel ordors... a few favorites I would like to sample are
Mildew ( will this smell like my Aun't cottage?), beeswax, bonfire, dirt, dust, funeral home, fresh hay, frozen pond, rubber, russian leather, earthworm and thundestorm... but there are a ton more....
To check out their website go to
Demeter Fragrance
Yet another maker of fragrance... french of course has some unusual scent combinations.
Sécrétions Magnifiques by Etat De Libre D'Orange is the bottled essence of of coitus. Here is the company description:

Like blood, sweat, sperm, saliva, Sécrétions Magnifiques is as real as an olfactory coitus that sends one into raptures, to the pinnacle of sensual pleasure, that extraordinary and unique moment when desire triumphs over reason. Masculine tenseness frees a rush of adrenalin in a cascade of high-pitched aldehydic notes. The sensation of freshness is gripping. Then the fragrance reveals a metallic side, precise and as sharp as unappeased desire. We are on a razor-edge… skin and sweat mingle, and tastes of musk and sandalwood. The slightly salt marine effect stirs, arouses, and sets your mouth watering. Tongues and sexes find one another, pleasure explodes and all goes wild. Confusion reigns supreme. A subversive, disturbing perfume. It’s love or hate at first sight. Sensuous jousting is rarely satisfied with half-measures…In between Don Juan and the Woman who offers herself, arms are laid down…who will be the first to surrender?

But they also have some other wonderful ideas of fragrance:
Virgin and the Torero and Like this Tilda Swinton (love that actress)
www.etatlibredorange.com
But if you feel the need to go directly to the source... try Vulva ! Yes it smells like it sounds.. and you can get a t-shirt for some odd reason.. Love the description
"Vulva is not a perfume... it's an intimate scent for your own smelling pleasure..." for guys to jack off too evidently..
Love the pictures.. really drive the point home so to speak
Vulva

2010-06-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Got to view the full moon for a bit between cloud cover last night at a roof top bar. I was excited to hear about the lunar eclipse until I realized that the moon will have already set before the eclipse would start on the East coast.
Maybe next one...
which will be in North America December 21st and it will be a total eclipse... pray for no cloud cover !
Here is the info from NASA in PDF.. translated for North America as starting just after midnight...
Total Eclipse December 21st 2010

2010-06-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

'God Particle" as sound.... was very excited to go to the LCH website and hear what God may sound like... but though they can build the CERN's Large Hadron Collider, they can't seem to build a decent website to deal with the traffic to their site. Bad design too. They are claiming to be improving the site for better traffic.
Check out http://lhcsound.wordpress.com/ when it's up and running.
Meanwhile you can check out article
'God particle' symphony: CERN scientists simulate sounds of Higgs boson - CSMonitor.com
What the hell is a Higgs Boson: confusing article at wikipedia may help....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_boson
otherwise let's wait for the music... sometimes theoretical science is best experienced directly if possible for an artist than broken down to mathematical formulas. Our minds don't always work that way.
Meanwhile for those in deep need for both science and a supernatural religion you can check out Godparticle.net.

2010-06-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Summer Solstice... the longest day of the year (sort of) and the first day of summer. Also is celebrated as Midsummer's Eve usually with the lighting of a bonfire... here are some pictures I linked too from the web....there is something to a conflagration, even a small fire when I go camping feeds some primal aspect to my psyche. It bonds groups of people and amplifies yet focuses their mysticism and violent inner natures. So beautiful to see yet you can never really join with it without huge sacrifices.
It's a pity we can no longer have these huge fires as part of the rituals of modern life. But I think you need to be a culture that understands these traditions, like in Northern Europe or a small of enough community of people to empathize with one another so that the rituals evoked do not go overboard. In American large cities people light fires in riots or to celebrate a basketball victory (and turn over someone's car while their in it ). Unfortunately we have whole aspects to our cultural that are to immature to be playing with fire.

2010-06-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

When I was at the orientation on Sunday at Platte Clove we took a hike down to the waterfall...We had a few people from the Catskill Center with us that day and one was a conservationist who knew a lot about the forest. I had assumed that the woods that were found around scenic waterfalls in the North East were usually left uncut as they were a source of revenue for the landowner who had visitors pay a toll to see the falls. And that the surrounding forest looked very untouched to my eyes. But this man said I was wrong, and that this was more likely a "mature" forest, getting closer to a "old growth" forest since it is hitting about 150 years since it was last clear cut. He said this land was probably cleared for pasture and for forested for hemlock, which was used in the tanning industry and grows in abundance in that area. He also could identify birds by their song, which he said is the easiest way to know which birds are in the area than trying to see them in dense upper story of the canopy. I looked up a few websites with birdsongs and of course there are Apps now you can download to your Blackberry or Iphone. A bird singing nearby he identified as the Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Check out the song at Whatbird.com
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Whatbird.com

2010-06-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my trip to the Catskills. I went camping with the Stogie and got to experience some severe weather on Saturday night. Of course my thoughts ran to 20 people who died when a flash flood sweep through their campground last week. Most of the them were sleeping in tents near the river when the water started rising very quickly. We had a lovely spot, but we were near a dried out river bed, and the stream was a bit further back, but you could see where in flood conditions the water would rise so high that the river would be right next to our tent. But it was a great trip and we got to spend some time up near Platte Clove which was very lovely since it was covered in fog. On another note, evidently Jesus was struck by lightning in Ohio. It was a giant Jesus with hands outstretched to heaven, nick-named the Touch Down Jesus. Seems appropriate that Jesus would be killed by nature in Ohio.

2010-06-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

Well, my first solo show of Bodies of Trees is up at Artspace in New Haven CT. Got done installing this last sunday and the official opening is Thursday June 10th at 6pm... I will try like hell to be there.
Here are some pixs of the images. There are 9 pairs of images total. Each image is on 20x24 inch MDF and then the image is covered in shellac. Some images have inclusions such as hair or rust imbedded into the surface. There is an old saying... "Nature abhors a straight line" For some reason when it comes to my work, I never want to see it perfect... slightly flawed. Here is a link to the website http://artspacenh.org/galleries/longwall/

2010-06-02T04:20:00.000-07:00

A very sad day.. probably not going to be noticed as much as the death of washed up child tv star, but significant non-the less. Louise Bourgeoise died at 98. I guess to have lived most of your life doing exactly what you were meant to be, up until the very end is not such a sad thing after all. Here is a link to NY Times article:
Louise Bourgeois

2010-05-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

SOLO SHOW OF BODIES OF TREES
I have final confirmation on my solo show this June. It will be at Artspace in New Haven CT. It will be of my series Bodies of Trees and will show 12 pairs of that photographic series. I am working on mounting and display right now. So far the dates are June 8th through July 17th. Here is a link to the ArtSpace website.

2010-05-07T05:46:00.000-07:00

Did you know that beavers are the only other animal on earth that can so extensively alter it's environment to suit it's needs? The other of course is humans. Recently they have discovered the world's largest beaver damn, which can be seen from space... take that Great Wall of China.

OTTAWA (AFP) – A Canadian ecologist has discovered the world's largest beaver dam in a remote area of northern Alberta, an animal-made structure so large it is visible from space.

Researcher Jean Thie said Wednesday he used satellite imagery and Google Earth software to locate the dam, which is about 850 metres (2,800 feet) long on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park.

Average beaver dams in Canada are 10 to 100 metres long, and only rarely do they reach 500 metres.

First discovered in October 2007, the gigantic dam is located in a virtually inaccessible part of the park south of Lac Claire, about 190 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Fort McMurray.

Construction of the dam likely started in the mid-1970s, said Thie, who made his discovery quite by accident while tracking melting permafrost in Canada's far north.

"Several generations of beavers worked on it and it's still growing," he told AFP in Ottawa.

Mike Keizer, spokesman for the park, said rangers flew over the heavily forested marshlands last year to try to "have a look." They found significant vegetation growing on the dam itself, suggesting it's very old, he said.

"A new dam would have a lot of fresh sticks," Keizer explained. "This one has grasses growing on it and it's very green."

Part of the dam may have been created by naturally felled trees, and the beavers "opportunistically filled in the gaps."

Thie said he recently identified two smaller dams sprouting at either side of the main dam. In 10 years, all three structures could merge into a mega-dam measuring just short of a kilometer in length, he said.

The region is flat, so the beavers would have had to build a massive structure to stem wetland water flows, Thie said, noting that the dam was visible in NASA satellite imagery from the 1990s.

"It's a unique phenomenon," he said. "Beaver dams are among the few animal-made structures visible from space."

North American beavers build dams to create deep, still pools of water to protect against predators, and to float food and building materials.

A 652-meter structure in Three Forks in the US state of Montana previously held the record for world's largest beaver dam.

Thie said he also found evidence that beavers were repopulating old habitats after being hunted extensively for pelts in past centuries.

"They're invading their old territories in a remarkable way in Canada," he said. "I found huge dams throughout Canada, and beaver colonies with up to 100 of them in a square kilometer."

"They're re-engineering the landscape," he said.

2010-05-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

It's the 40th Anniversery of the Kent State shootings. It was always a popular subject in my house growing up. First because my family was quite liberal, two because it was in Ohio where I am from, not far from Cleveland, and three, because my mother was pregnant with me at the time. She always said it was the first time she felt me kick was when she heard the news.

Here is a link to a wikipedia news article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

Death of 'Caveman' ends an era in Idaho | Local News | Idaho Statesman

2010-04-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

I have often wondered if this might have been a valid life choice. It's like a fantasy you keep in your back pocket, a little to cowardly to

take the risk. I have always had great reverence for the loner, hermit, and eccentric... trying to be hermit in Brooklyn is possible but probably not as

rewarding. You still have to pay rent. Look at this layout, all for free !

Death of 'Caveman' ends an era in Idaho | Local News | Idaho Statesman

2010-04-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

After having done my taxes I made virtually no money from the making of art last year. But probably spent well over $3000 on making it. I did have to buy a new mac when my old one had a complete melt down.
I also still owe 10,000 or more to my old alma mater SAIC. I have come to the conclusion that there is something screwed up in my own perspective on making money (somehow not yet worthy) or that the system for treating art to be far beneath the value of infomericals, bad made-for-tv movies and shitty bubblegum pop albums is horribly screwed also. Then I saw this article in NY Times where a lawsuit is being brought from a collector who feels he is blacklisted for not being able to sell art as a commodity. I am so far from worry about such issues, but it does help to remind me that art is really a rich persons game. And I think to myself "why are these "collectors" so concerned about buying only a hand full of big name artists instead of helping to invest in future talent and keeping the art market open to many more?" I guess because we are American greedy bastards after all. I also love this picture. Of course this bastard only buys giant sculptures of really ugly shoes....

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/arts/design/17blacklisting.html

Lawsuit Describes Art ‘Blacklist’ to Keep Some Collectors Away

By RANDY KENNEDY

Published: April 17, 2010

A federal suit filed in Manhattan describes a rarefied contemporary art market in which artists refuse to sell work to collectors they fear will profiteer. click on link above to read rest of article.

2010-02-23T05:53:00.000-08:00

Woke up to more Feb. weather... my favorite... 37 degrees and driving rain. Perfect hypothermia weather.
But none the less... found a quote from Thoreau while going through my papers.
Hoping for spring to run through the swamp.

When I would re-create myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most  interminable and to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter as a sacred place,  a Sanctum sanctorum.  There is the strength, the marrow, of Nature. - Henry David Thoreau, Walking, 1851

2010-02-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

And I wonder why I am so miserable. It must be Cleveland. I just found an article online from Forbes.com that my hometown of Cleveland ranks as the most miserable US city. I haven't lived there for years, but it is interesting to note that I also lived in Chicago and now NYC. All on that miserable list. What does that say I wonder.

Cleveland leads a slew of Midwestern towns on our annual list, but thanks to high taxes New York and Chicago make it too.

The city of Cleveland has had a colorful history. The Cuyahoga River, which runs through the city, famously caught fire in 1969 thanks to rampant pollution, and it wasn't the first time. In 1978 it became the first U.S. city to default on its debts since the Great Depression. Cleveland sports fans have had to endure more anguish than those in any other city. The city has been dubbed with a less than endearing nickname: the Mistake by the Lake.

In Pictures: America’s 20 Most Miserable Cities

This year Cleveland takes the top spot in our third annual ranking of America's Most Miserable Cities. Cleveland secured the position thanks to its high unemployment, high taxes, lousy weather, corruption by public officials and crummy sports teams (Cavaliers of the NBA excepted).

Misery was on the rise around the country last year. Sure the stock market was up big, but so were unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcy filings. Meanwhile housing prices, the U.S. dollar and approval ratings for Congress continued their downward spiral.

The widely tracked Misery Index initiated by economist Arthur Okun, which combines unemployment and inflation rates started 2009 at 7.3 and rose to 12.7 by the end of the year thanks to soaring joblessness. That is the highest level since 1983.

Our Misery Measure takes into account unemployment, as well as eight other issues that cause people anguish. The metrics include taxes (both sales and income), commute times, violent crime and how its pro sports teams have fared over the past two years. We also factored in two indexes put together by Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling that gauge weather and Superfund pollution sites. Lastly we considered corruption based on convictions of public officials in each area as tracked by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.

We expanded the list of cities under consideration this year to include the 200 largest metropolitan statistical areas (in years past we've examined 150), which led to a shuffling in the ranks. Any area with a population of more than 245,000 was eligible.

Cleveland nabbed the top spot as a result of poor ratings across the board. It was the only city that fell in the bottom half of the rankings in all nine categories. Many residents are heading for greener pastures. There has been a net migration out of the Cleveland metro area of 71,000 people over the past five years. Population for the city itself has been on a steady decline and is now less than half of it what it was 50 years ago.

Cleveland ranked near the bottom when looking at corruption. Northern Ohio has seen 309 public officials convicted of crimes over the past 10 years according to the Justice Department. A current FBI investigation of public officials in Cuyahoga County (where Cleveland is located) has ensnared more than two dozen government employees and businessmen on charges including bribery, fraud and tax evasion.

On the housing front Cleveland is dealing with thousands of abandoned homes. The city contributed to its foreclosure problem by providing down payments to many people that could not afford homes through the federally funded Afford-A-Home program. Cleveland led by Mayor Frank Jackson sued 21 large investment banks in 2008 who he felt were complicit in the subprime and foreclosure crisis that hit Cleveland hard. A federal judge dismissed the suit last year, but the city is appealing the ruling.

A 19% decline in foreclosures last year is possibly a glimmer of hope that the housing situation is starting to improve, although Cleveland still ranks in the top third of all metros for foreclosure rates according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed property. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County were awarded $41 million last month from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This money will go towards demolition of homes, foreclosure prevention and the rehabilitation of homes.

There are certainly bright spots in Cleveland. Downtown has experienced a revival over the past 15 years helped in part by the construction of three new sports venues for the city's NFL, NBA and baseball teams. The Cleveland Clinic is one of the top medical centers in the U.S. and the largest employer in northeast Ohio.

Mayor Jackson's chief of staff Ken Silliman calls 2010 a very exciting year for Cleveland. He points to three projects in development for the city. The first is the Cleveland Medical Mart which is a convention center that targets the medical and health care industries. Next is a casino plan. In November Ohio voters approved casinos in four cities, and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is leading a group that hopes to have a Cleveland casino up and running in three years. Lastly is the Flats East Bank project, which ran into funding issues during the financial crisis. The waterfront development will include an office tower, hotel and space for retail and dining.

"Clevelanders over the years have developed a tenacity to deal with these kinds of situations, and we are very aggressive in attempting to solve our problems rather than awaiting someone else's solutions," says Silliman.

Other cities on the list include Memphis, which came in third thanks to the second-worst rate of violent crime in the U.S. and an alarming rate of convicted public officials. Detroit, ravaged by the ailing auto industry was forth. Flint, Mich., was fifth. Also on the list?Chicago (No. 10) and New York City (No. 16). Torturous commute times and nosebleed-inducing taxes are the high prices locals pay for the cultural opportunities and corporate headquarters located there.

Our most miserable city last year, Stockton, Calif., nabbed the second spot on this year's list. Unemployment and crime continue to be major issues. Stockton ranked seventh worst in both of these areas. Stockton residents have average commutes that are among the highest in the country and, like all Californians, they suffer from onerous sales and income taxes.

Stockton Mayor Ann Johnston says the city is working to fix its problems. It has seen a reduction in crime in recent months as it targets troubled areas with an increased police presence. On the economic front, the city recently expanded the Port of Stockton, which it hopes will attract new companies. Stockton is an agricultural community, but the Mayor says the city is working to diversify its economic base and echoes Silliman's comments about Cleveland. "We're an All-American city," says Mayor Johnston. "And it's not because we sit on our hands and do nothing. It's because we recognize our problems and work to solve them."

2010-02-14T05:05:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, it's Valentine's Day. Not exactly my favorite holiday. But I thought I would post about a show I sorely missed back in Nov. at the Italian Cultural Institute called Feminine Futures. The show was about women in the Futurist Movement in Italy especially Valentine de Saint-Point. I never really looked into her work, but while reading up on this show I stumbled upon her "Manifesto of Lust". Amazing that this was written in 1913. I can't agree with everything stated in the Manifesto, but it is a powerful document that suggests that all of us are crippled by sentimentality and novel romantic ideas. Much like ideas of moral religious laws are used to oppress women, instead acknowledging true lust is a revolutionary and empowering creative act for both sexes. Here is the text from Valentine De Saint-Point's "Manifesto of Lust"

A reply to those dishonest journalists who twist phrases to make the Idea seem ridiculous; to those women who only think what I have dared to say; to those for whom Lust is still nothing but a sin; to all those who in Lust can only see Vice, just as in Pride they see only vanity.

Lust, when viewed without moral preconceptions and as an essential part of life's dynamism, is a force.

Lust is not, any more than pride, a mortal sin for the race that is strong. Lust, like pride, is a virtue that urges one on, a powerful source of energy.

Lust is the expression of a being projected beyond itself. It is the painful joy of wounded flesh, the joyous pain of a flowering. And whatever secrets unite these beings, it is a union of flesh. It is the sensory and sensual synthesis that leads to the greatest liberation of spirit. It is the communion of a particle of humanity with all the sensuality of the earth.

Lust is the quest of the flesh for the unknown, just as Celebration is the spirit's quest for the unknown. Lust is the act of creating, it is Creation.

Flesh creates in the way that the spirit creates. In the eyes of the Universe their creation is equal. One is not superior to the other and creation of the spirit depends on that of the flesh.

We possess body and spirit. To curb one and develop the other shows weakness and is wrong. A strong man must realize his full carnal and spiritual potentiality. The satisfaction of their lust is the conquerors' due. After a battle in which men have died, it is normal for the victors, proven in war, to turn to rape in the conquered land, so that life may be re-created.

When they have fought their battles, soldiers seek sensual pleasures, in which their constantly battling energies can be unwound and renewed. The modern hero, the hero in any field, experiences the same desire and the same pleasure. The artist, that great universal medium, has the same need. And the exaltation of the initiates of those religions still sufficiently new to contain a tempting element of the unknown, is no more than sensuality diverted spiritually towards a sacred female image.

Art and war are the great manifestations of sensuality; lust is their flower. A people exclusively spiritual or a people exclusively carnal would be condemned to the same decadence—sterility.

Lust excites energy and releases strength. Pitilessly it drove primitive man to victory, for the pride of bearing back a woman the spoils of the defeated. Today it drives the great men of business who run the banks, the press and international trade to increase their wealth by creating centres, harnessing energies and exalting the crowds, to worship and glorify with it the object of their lust. These men, tired but strong, find time for lust, the principal motive force of their action and of the reactions caused by their actions affecting multitudes and worlds. Even among the new peoples where sensuality has not yet been released or acknowledged, and who are neither primitive brutes nor the sophisticated representatives of the old civilizations, woman is equally the great galvanizing principle to which all is offered. The secret cult that man has for her is only the unconscious drive of a lust as yet barely woken. Amongst these peoples as amongst the peoples of the north, but for different reasons, lust is almost exclusively concerned with procreation. But lust, under whatever aspects it shows itself, whether they are considered normal or abnormal, is always the supreme spur.

The animal life, the life of energy, the life of the spirit, sometimes demand a respite. And effort for effort's sake calls inevitably for effort for pleasure's sake. These efforts are not mutually harmful but complementary, and realize fully the total being.

For heroes, for those who create with the spirit, for dominators of all fields, lust is the magnificent exaltation of their strength. For every being it is a motive to surpass oneself with the simple aim of self-selection, of being noticed, chosen, picked out.

Christian morality alone, following on from pagan morality, was fatally drawn to consider lust as a weakness. Out of the healthy joy which is the flowering of the flesh in all its power it has made something shameful and to be hidden, a vice to be denied. It has covered it with hypocrisy, and this has made a sin of it.

We must stop despising Desire, this attraction at once delicate and brutal between two bodies, of whatever sex, two bodies that want each other, striving for unity. We must stop despising Desire, disguising it in the pitiful clothes of old and sterile sentimentality.

It is not lust that disunites, dissolves and annihilates. It is rather the mesmerizing complications of sentimentality, artificial jealousies, words that inebriate and deceive, the rhetoric of parting and eternal fidelities, literary nostalgia—all the histrionics of love.

We must get rid of all the ill-omened debris of romanticism, counting daisy petals, moonlight duets, heavy endearments, false hypocritical modesty. When beings are drawn together by a physical attraction, let them—instead of talking only of the fragility of their hearts—dare to express their desires, the inclinations of their bodies, and to anticipate the possibilities of joy and disappointment in their future carnal union.

Physical modesty, which varies according to time and place, has only the ephemeral value of a social virtue.

We must face up to lust in full conciousness. We must make of it what a sophisticated and intelligent being makes of himself and of his life; we must make lust into a work of art. To allege unwariness or bewilderment in order to explain an act of love is hypocrisy, weakness and stupidity.

We should desire a body consciously, like any other thing.

Love at first sight, passion or failure to think, must not prompt us to be constantly giving ourselves, nor to take beings, as we are usually inclined to do so due to our inability to see into the future. We must choose intelligently. Directed by our intuition and will, we should compare the feelings and desires of the two partners and avoid uniting and satisfying any that are unable to complement and exalt each other.

Equally conciously and with the same guiding will, the joys of this coupling should lead to the climax, should develop its full potential, and should permit to flower all the seeds sown by the merging of two bodies. Lust should be made into a work of art, formed like every work of art, both instinctively and consciously.

We must strip lust of all the sentimental veils that disfigure it. These veils were thrown over it out of mere cowardice, because smug sentimentality is so satisfying. Sentimentality is comfortable and therefore demeaning.

In one who is young and healthy, when lust clashes with sentimentality, lust is victorious. Sentiment is a creature of fashion, lust is eternal. Lust triumphs, because it is the joyous exaltation that drives one beyond oneself, the delight in posession and domination, the perpetual victory from which the perpetual battle is born anew, the headiest and surest intoxication of conquest. And as this certain conquest is temporary, it must be constantly won anew.

Lust is a force, in that it refines the spirit by bringing to white heat the excitement of the flesh. The spirit burns bright and clear from a healthy, strong flesh, purified in the embrace. Only the weak and sick sink into the mire and are diminished. And lust is a force in that it kills the weak and exalts the strong, aiding natural selection.

Lust is a force, finally, in that it never leads to the insipidity of the definite and the secure, doled out by soothing sentimentality. Lust is the eternal battle, never finally won. After the fleeting triumph, even during the ephemeral triumph itself, reawakening dissatisfaction spurs a human being, driven by an orgiastic will, to expand and surpass himself.

Lust is for the body what an ideal is for the spirit—the magnificent Chimaera, that one ever clutches at but never captures, and which the young and the avid, intoxicated with the vision, pursue without rest.

Lust is a force.

2010-01-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

Lumen show is now up and had a really nice opening. The show can be seen at Middlesex County College in the Studio Theater Gallery. 20600 Woodbridge Ave. Edison NJ. The show is open 11 am - 5 pm Mon-Friday Jan 21st thru Feb. 11.
Here are some pictures of my piece "Contained Garden" before I set it up at the show. Now it looks like an overgrown empty lot in the desert. But this gives you an idea of the piece. There should be some pictures from the exhibit up on Asha, the curators website site soon.

2010-01-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

We can love trees...

This was a really sad story I saw earlier in the week. Taken from Associated Press

A 240-year-old American elm tree that has graced Yarmouth, Maine, since before the American Revolution will be cut down on Jan. 18, ending one man's half-century effort to stave off the ravages of Dutch elm disease.

CAPTION

By Steven Senne, AP

The tree, known as "Herbie" would have succumbed in the 1950s if not for the care of Frank Knight, now 101, who calls the 110-foot tall tree "old friend."

See video above or clickhere.

Over the years, Knight, a former town warden, has nursed Herbie with insecticides and fungicide injections to battle the dreaded disease, writes David Sharp, of the Associated Press.

But the battle is now lost and the tree will be cut down in two weeks.

"His time has come," Knight tells the AP. "And mine is about due, too."

2010-01-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

Just added a new web gallery to my site... for Bodies of Dirt. Though this is an unfinished project in my mind, but I think there are enough images to warrant a new section.

I also added the images from Platte Clove.

2010-01-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

2010... A new year and hopefully a better one.
I finally got some organization into my life and am going to be working on my Contained Garden installation today. Usually I go out foraging for plants in empty lots and roadsides for installations, but since it is Jan 1st...and there has been lots of snow on the ground, I will try to sow some seeds I collected and have gone to Home Depot for plants. I have always been fascinated by the defense mechanisms of plants. When you have to be rooted to one place, you tend to come up with some violent and imaginative ways to defend yourself (rather than running away) Cacti and succulents are some of the more interesting ones. Their spine configurations resemble something prehistoric and otherworldy. I will incorporate some of them into my work, and they are a good plant for my cats, since they love to eat any plants I bring home.

2009-12-30T04:03:00.000-08:00

This article is from Wikipedia.... I have been reading about bioluminescence and have often wanted to work with certain fungi for a project.

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in the form of light emission. Adenosine triphosphate(ATP) is involved in most instances. The chemical reaction can occur either inside or outside the cell. In bacteria, the expression of genes related to bioluminescence is controlled by an operon called the Lux operon. Bioluminescence has appeared independently several times (up to 30 or more)^[vague] throughout evolution.^[1]

Bioluminescence occurs in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as microorganisms and terrestrial animals. Symbiotic organisms carried within larger organisms are also known to bioluminesce.

Attraction

Firefly larva

Bioluminescence is used as a lure to attract prey by several deep sea fish such as the anglerfish. A dangling appendage that extends from the head of the fish attracts small animals to within striking distance of the fish. Some fish, however, use a non-bioluminescent lure.

The cookiecutter shark uses bioluminescence for camouflage, but a small patch on its underbelly remains dark and appears as a small fish to large predatory fish like tuna and mackerel swimming beneath it. When these fish try to consume the "small fish", they are bitten by the shark, which gouges out small circular "cookie cutter" shaped chunks of flesh from its hosts.

Dinoflagellates have an interesting twist on this mechanism. When a predator of plankton is sensed through motion in the water, the dinoflagellate luminesces. This in turn attracts even larger predators which will consume the would-be predator of the dinoflagellate.

The attraction of mates is another proposed mechanism of bioluminescent action. This is seen actively in fireflies, which use periodic flashing in their abdomens to attract mates in the mating season. In the marine environment this has only been well-documented in certain small crustaceans called ostracod. It has been suggested that pheromones may be used for long-distance communication, and bioluminescence used at close range to "home in" on the target.

Repulsion

Certain squid and small crustaceans use bioluminescent chemical mixtures or bioluminescent bacterialslurries in the same way as many squid use ink. A cloud of luminescence is expelled, confusing or repelling a potential predator while the squid or crustacean escapes to safety. Every species of firefly has larvae that glow to repel predators.

Communication

Bioluminescence is thought to play a direct role in communication between bacteria (see quorum sensing). It promotes the symbiotic induction of bacteria into host species, and may play a role in colony aggregation.

Illumination

While most marine bioluminescence is green to blue, the Black Dragonfish produces a red glow. This adaptation allows the fish to see red-pigmented prey, which are normally invisible in the deep ocean environment where red light has been filtered out by the water column.^[4]

2009-12-29T05:03:00.000-08:00

The end of an old year in favor of a new year... has me thinking of the cycles of life, change, resolutions, and inevitable consequences. I will be exhibiting an installation called "Contained Garden" at the end of Jan for a group show called "Lumen" put on by Asha Ganpat. The artwork will be presented in a dark gallery space and the only light will come from the artwork which will all be self-illuminated.

Here is my artist statement for the piece:

Contained Garden is a terrarium installation that includes living plants, dirt, vines, dried spines, human spinal column and human calvarian cut skull. The installation is illuminated with grow lights from above and lights placed within the terrarium. The effect is an overgrown surreal landscape reflecting the beauty and abjectness of nature. The skull and spine are overtaken by grasses and vines as life overtakes death in an endless cycle of mortality. Vines and roots spill out of the terrarium, seemingly growing from below the wrought iron stand, as if nature cannot be contained, even in art. The soft subtle sounds of the woods at night emerge from the terrarium beckoning the viewer to come closer.

2009-12-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

In my wanderings over the internet I came across a site of quotes regarding nature:
www.spaceandmotion.com Quotes
"Deep Ecology is concerned with the Metaphysics of Nature, and of the relation of the Self to Nature. It sets up ecology as a model for the basic metaphysical structure of the world, seeing the identities of all things- whether at the level of elementary particles, organisms, or galaxies- as logically interconnected: all things are constituted by their relations with other things ... Applying this principle of interconnectedness to the human case, it becomes apparent that the individual denoted by “I” is not constituted merely by a body or a personal ego or consciousness. I am, of course, partially constituted by these immediate physical and mental structures, but I am also constituted by my ecological relations with the elements of my environment- relations in the image of which the structures of my body and consciousness are built. I am a holistic element of my native ecosystem, and of any wider wholes under which that ecosystem is subsumed ... From the point of view of deep ecology, what is wrong with our culture is that it offers us an inaccurate conception of the self. It depicts the personal self as existing in competition with and in opposition to nature [We fail to realise that] if we destroy our environment, we are destroying what is in fact our larger self." (Freya Matthew) (Fox, 1995)
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. " (Frank Lloyd Wright, 1869 - 1959)

2009-11-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

other images from Ampersand

2009-10-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Some recently roughly scanned images from Ampersand Mountain...

2009-10-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

I spent some time this past week photographing around Ampersand Mountain and near the Lake Country of the Adirondacks. The first afternoon was a sad an attempt at climbing up to the top of Ampersand which failed because of ice and a stubborn clumsy bulldog. But the next day I lugged my Mamiya RZ into the surrounding old growth forest at the base of the mountain and spent five hours studying all the beauty and abjectness that a late autumn ancient forest has to offer. Being so still and quiet while setting up each shot offered an opportunity to really see the woods, and hear and smell and touch. Wildlife emerged out of holes and from a distance. Climbing off trail to get to some particular fallen tree, my hands grasped layers of moss and lichens, soft and wet. We never got to see the view at the top of Ampersand, but many of the hikers rushing past us never got to see the forest like I did. It takes patience to be still, but I think spending several hours just sitting on a log in the middle of the woods, is just as rewarding as a panaromic view.

2009-10-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

“If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet… maybe we could understand something”
-Federico Fellini

In a few days I will be spending a week in the Adirondacks. The intention is to photograph for the Bodies of Dirt project in the surrounding Primeval forest areas. According to a book on Ancient Forests, the Adirondacks has one of the largest tracks of first growth or Primeval forest area in New York State. Roughly 300,000 acres. I have been to some old growth areas in the Catskills recently but am particularly excited by the huge scale that areas in the Saranac Lake region have to offer. The opportunity for silence is another experience i will savor. Being in a forest area covered with lichen and moss, with a mixture of evergreen and broadleaf woodland seems to dampen sound, everything is brought to a whisper, even the wind. It invites contemplation.

2009-09-12T15:55:00.001-07:00

Sound for proposed installation idea : Phobic Garden

Does men's choral singing sound like flying stinging insects?

Hmmmmmmmm

2009-09-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

new brochure for Clandestine Garden almost done, will be creating a PDF version to email for those who are interested.

2009-09-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Space smells weird....

In a news report astronauts describe the fact that space does have an odor.

One of things Ford wasn't ready for is the weird smell.

"From the [spacewalks] there really is a distinct smell of space when they come back in," Ford said from the station in a Friday night news conference. "It's like...something I haven't ever smelled before, but I'll never forget it. You know how those things stick with you."

In the past, astronauts have described the smell of space as something akin to gunpowder or ozone.

2009-09-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Red for a while: Clandestine Garden in Red

As I have been walking around during the day I have noticed the most wonderful shades of red foliage and flowers that are being planted for late summer. What a beautfiul site to see shades of maroon, deep purple, blood red and rust mingled together with very little green in one garden installation. Strange how your mind works out an art project before it even exists. Perhaps that is another evolving theme for Clandestine Garden, red of nature and red of man-made objects... such as the rust from the damaged area of a crash car mingling with the red of a flower.

A recent study conducted at Cornell (hard to believe but true) showed that men were more sexually attracted to women who wore red than other colors, like blue.

Matadors use red capes to antagonize bulls (along with spikes in their dicks)

A red flag means warning... be cautious

Red cars are thought to be unlucky. We give lovers red roses. Red cool-aid was served at Jones Town.

Red = lust

Red= violence

Red = passion

Red = love

Red= rage

2009-09-02T19:39:00.001-07:00

Tek-Tanik
New Show: Tek-Tanik at the Arts Guild of New Jersey. Opening Sept. 11th with reception Sept 13th from 1-4pm. Curated by Evonne Davis.

Here is her description of the group show: I have 4 works in the show, including two pairs of images from the Body of Trees series.

September 11 – October 9, 2009
Reception: Sunday, September 13, 2009 1-4 PM
Featured Artists: Kate Bonner, Tammy Renee Brackett, Kyle Coniglio, Lisa Di Donato, Lisa Elmaleh, Dahlia Elsayed, Jacob Galle, Michelle Levante, Patick Millard, Stephen Mishol, Matthew Nicolosi, Joan Pamboukes, K. Shelton, Dmitry Strakovsky, Emma Wilcox, Sue Zwick
Evonne Davis, Guest Curator

tectonic |tek'tänik| adjective
1 Geology of or relating to the structure of the earth's crust and the large-scale processes that take place within it.
2 of or relating to building or construction.
DERIVATIVES
tectonically |-ik(?)le| adverb
ORIGIN mid 17th cent. (sense 2) : via late Latin from Greek tektonikos, from tekton 'carpenter, builder.'

“The idea behind this exhibit is influenced by an appreciation for Charles Darwin, Kiki Smith, Noam Chomsky, Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Smithson, e.e. cummings and others.

|tek'tänik| will attempt to explore the relationship between our physical environments and our emotional/psychological environments. Where we are physically has a great deal of impact on how we feel and identify on many levels, short term and long term. This exhibit will deal with issues of environmental health and relates those issues to health of community and spirit.

Questions asked will include: How do we create and recreate ourselves around our spaces? Does the shape of our internal lives reflect the literal shape of the structures that surround us? What impact has the wealth of technological advancement made on our thought/emotion processing?

Often we are unable to analyze an event or experience until we occupy a changed space giving us distance not only linearly but physically from the event we try to understand. As our environment changes so do we. We adapt to changes large and small.”

– Statement by Evonne Davis, Guest Curator

2009-08-28T04:45:00.001-07:00

Phantom Motorists: How do we make urban legend and ghost stories? While reading a wonderful book I found in the trash called Weird US, I came a across a section on haunted roadways. Strange headlights are seen in the distance, phantom hitchhikers beckon from the side of the road, and sometimes even jump in your car unexpected. Sometimes these roads are just in isolated areas which gives them that spooky qualitiy. But usually there is a common ingredient to creating a haunted place... a violent act usually occured somewhere nearby and enough people talked about it to create a mythical version of the events. What if Clandestine Garden could become such a place... a highly concentrated series of people coming and experiencing a place of violence in an isolated wooded parkland of NYC. Could art and enough people create a haunted place that becomes well known afterwards?

2009-08-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

I will also particpate in a group show at the Arts Guild of Rahway NJ...

Four peices were selected.. when the shows opening will be don't know just yet.

Show is called Tectonic and is curated by Evonne Davis of Aferro Gallery fame.

Here is one of the images for the show.

2009-08-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

I will be presenting at Conflux Festival 2009 !!! Clandestine Gardens looks like it will happen...

Needless to say I am very happy.. I will be putting together a portal all things Clandestine Gardens in the next few days... and thanks Glowlab for letting me participate. More images from the site.

2009-08-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

Clandestine Gardens:

I applied today for Conflux 2009.. some of the writing they suggested you read on psychogeography was very inspirational and would like to learn more about the Situationists.

But here are some quotes I took:

"The erotic charge of psychogeography was undeniable, the rousing sexual conquest of having fully explored and overcome the exoticism of the city – this was accentuated by a famous piece of situationist graffiti, "I came in the cobblestones." The SI promised, "We will play upon topophobia and create a topophilia."

Here is my proposal and a bunch of stream of concious notes I took for the project:

Clandestine Garden will be located in Fort Washington Park at the site of a fatal car crash near the Henry Hudson Parkway. Using this debris left behind, relocated plants and other items I will create a feral garden installation suggesting violence and beauty of the space, a pilgrimage site. A platform from branches will allow visitors to spend time here. Solar lights will be set up for visiting at night. A journey must be made through the thick wooded area to gain access to the temple. Fear is overcome. The lure of the space fills the visitor and they react accordingly. Whatever inspiration comes to mind…Pray, meditate, plant flowers, paint, have sex, have a picnic, write a poem, whatever comes to mind and to document their experience through photos, video or writing which they will be encouraged to share online. A website with a link to Twitter, Facebook and email will be set up to document each visitors experience, turning topophobia into topophila.

and some further thoughts:

In areas such as heavily rustic and overgrown parkland, which is further isolated by the abrupt cut of a highway and a tangle of cloverleaf overpasses a sense of forboding and phobia is to be expected…

Areas so isolated that the debris of fatal car crashes are left behind, as if the quick pace of disentigration will take back our man-made objects that much sooner in such a remote area..

Sites of extreme violence have always been places where people have visited. A sort of distopic tourist destination.. they hold a powerful emotional reaction… a room becomes imbued with ghosts, the imagination of what had happened there takes hold. Gettysburg, Aushcwistz, Ground Zero are now all major tourist attractions. Platforms are erected, displays of that violence are shown.

The sites of fatal car crashes are similar in feel, but become more personal in nature. Fake flowers, teddy bears, large ribbons, crudely made crosses and sign posts indicate dates and names of the victims.

The insanity and disbelief of such thick and overwhelming nature… let loose and uncontrolled in the largest city in America.

But we are in Manhattan… the screech of cars is terribly close.. like the rush of fast flowing river, but mechanical and not as soothing…

These wooded places are places of crime, violence, and sexual tension.. a location for a prostitute to take her john, a gay meetup place, or a perfect location for predatory rapist. It holds some privacy, but also holds the sexual tension of being “caught” in public, the added danger of being seen and exhibitionism. There is also the air, the trees, the brambles, the thorms, the dirt, the rock edges, the discomfort, that harkens back to a more primitive experience of our sexuality… something only remembered on the cellular level till we re-enter these spaces and feel the lure of freedom

Hester Pryne lets down her hair and loosens her bodice as she enters the woods…

2009-08-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

My first official review of my artwork... by a freshman Seton Hall college student... you have to start somewhere I guess.

This was for my peice in the Lilliput show "Microscopic Love".

"Microscopic Love: In the beginning it is seen from afar and then when it's the beginning of the relationship you have to spend time to dissect and break apart to see what is inside. Then it is broken apart unitl able to see the person from the inside. The love is a symbol of a wall and it is broken down in the relationship and that is when everything is seen and you open up and are free and also express yourself freely. Everything is more relaxed, clear and then you are able to form the relationship, which is shown by the heart at the end of the video. The person who is receiving the love sucks up all your love and that is what they feel when they say that person "loves me".

I don't know if this my full intention with the peice but I kinda like it. It has a nice young optimistic spin on love, not quite my jaded idea of relationships between lovers... but I like this spin on it....

Here is the end piece of the video shown on a small Ipod screen. It is a drop of blood suspended in seminal fluid and then a heart drawn in blood on a peice of glass then semen is added to dissolve the heart.

2009-08-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Rather silly to write about a show you just in instead of when it begins... but Seton Hall Walsh Gallery just ended it's Lilliput show as of July 27th. Here is a small excerpt concerning my piece...

"Lilliput: Tiny Art for Big People" features works by 47 artists from far-flung locations including South Orange, Michigan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. There were no specifications directing artists as to theme, but they were instructed to submit pieces no larger than 1.5 inches in any direction."

"Among the entries was a series of six toothpicks whittled into forms including a lumberjack, giraffe and hummingbird by Michael Drummond; a series of doctored stamps including one with the face of Bernie Madoff and the inscription "Commemorating greed" by Michael Thompson; a video installation with a microscopic view of blood and semen with the recording of a heart beat from an EKG by Michelle Levante; and a two-part installation in which video taken from one pedestal is beamed onto a tiny TV set in front of a miniature chair in another part of the room by Boris Petropavlovsky and Anna-Alisa Belous." Cotton Delo, South Orange Patch.

2008-09-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Defining Death..... the medical way.

In an article from LiveScience today, AWARE is a new study that is meant to discover what happens to the brain when it

is on the verge of dying. This an effort to explain the idea of near-death experiences.

My mother claimed to have had one in her many hospital stays in my youth. There was the white light, the soul floating above her mortal body on the hospital bed etc.

According to the study 10 to 20 percent of people who live through cardiac arrest tell of lucid thoughts and memories during that time.

I don't believe in the soul or afterlife... death is the end literally. A body becomes an empty shell which should decompose back to the earth gracefully. But the last thoughts of a lifetime of thoughts that then disappear forever has an almost mystical quality to the them.

2008-09-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

More Car Crashes.....Men worse drivers than women .

While researching more on car crash statistics, I found this article. This was published after Morgan Freeman was injured in a car crash last month.

Evidently the leading cause of accidental death in men under 75 is car crashes. Twice as many men die in crashes as women and 81% of all drunk drivers are men.

2008-09-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

It's the end of the World.... but I am fine

the CERN particule accelerator was finally tested successfully yesterday.... but not at full capacity which might be in another year. Evidently there are some concerns that this science is so powerful that it could destroy the world, perhaps by creating tiny black holes right here on earth. The quest for knowledge is fraught with dangers. Curiosity killed the cat, what the hell is it going to do the human race? I think it is quite exciting, and an interested to see what happens.

Here is the yahoo article: Largest Particle Collider Conducts successful test

From Live Science about the potential to Destroy Earth

2008-08-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

And one more thing for the day....
I am in the Exit Art show called "It's Not Easy", part of their SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics) exhibitions.
Up till August 29th.
Here is the link:
Exit Art

2008-08-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

J. G. Ballard. Autopsy of the new millennium
An interesting show, that being in Spain I will miss.
"This exhibition offers an itinerary through Ballard's creative universe: his times and obsessions, his dissection of the secret keys of the contemporary, the traces of his own life in his fictional body of work, his artistic and literary referents, and his precise, disenchanted intuitions of a future life governed by the concepts of aseptic dystopia and disaster."
Ballard Exhibition

2008-08-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

Artist-in-Residency at Platte Cove this fall.
I am really excited about spending a week at Platte Cove this October. This is part of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development arts program. Artists are invited to spend time in this lovely cabin doing whatever it takes to be inspired to create new works, whether writing, visual arts, music etc. No restrictions or expectations except to create. I will be there for four days and plan to spend most of the time outside photographing a project I have been fighting with for a while. No running water, only an outhouse. No phones, no internet, hardly an cellphone service. Just the woods and your self. But luckily Dora will be able to join me. Hope she behaves.
The orientation was in June and it was amazing the surrounding landscape. Waterfalls, steep trails, deep valleys, cliffs, mountains, streams, pools of clear water and full of wildlife. And being there in the early-mid fall season will be even more inspiring. It is funny though how disconnected we sometimes become from nature. A few of the fellow artists who will be at the cabin (at different times) were also at the orientation. It was interesting to see how people from different situations navigate walking and moving through the woods. We climbed down to the foot of the falls, and I started to coin a term in my head called "city legs". Despite the fact that the trail wasn't too difficult, many people found it "scary and treacherous" and had to be helped down. Some were older, but some were very physically fit. It was such an alien landscape with dirt, roots, mud, rocks, steep inclines etc, that they couldn't easily physical adjust from concrete. Though god knows their are plenty of broken up sideswalks in NYC to negotiate. It was more how overwhelming nature can start to feel. A realization that we have strayed so far from the womb that when we find ourselves nearby again, we feel like awkward children. We are not at ease. It takes a while to recall our instincts and start to trust them.

2008-01-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

Susannah’s Red Hair: A place of violence in Pelham Bay Park

History: The massacre of Anne Hutchinson and her family in 1643

In August 1643, Anne Hutchinson was massacred along with five of her fifteen children and several servents at her home in what is now Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx by a tribe of Siwony Native Americans. Only Susannah, her ten-year-old daughter was spared because of her red hair, which the Siwony had never seen before. They adopted her into her tribe and named her Autumn Leaf. While the exact location of the massacre is in dispute, legend claims that the massacre occurred near Split Rock or the surrounding area in Pelham Bay Park.

A sketch of an idea I worked on one day in Pelham Bay Park... probably won't continue with the project though I really was interested in the story....

2008-01-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

I came across this article and hope to have some time to learn more. It brings to mind the absurd notion of the benevolence
of our gods... and concepts of good and evil as applied to nature outside of humanity.

Astronomers Describe Violent Universe
By SETH BORENSTEIN (AP Science Writer)
From Associated Press
January 11, 2008 6:44 PM EST
WASHINGTON - The deeper astronomers gaze into the cosmos, the more they find it's a bizarre and violent universe. The research findings from this week's annual meeting of U.S. astronomers range from blue orphaned baby stars to menacing "rogue" black holes that roam our galaxy, devouring any planets unlucky enough to be within their limited reach.
"It's an odd universe we live in," said Vanderbilt University astronomer Kelly Holley-Bockelmann. She presented her theory on rogue black holes at the American Astronomical Society's meeting in Austin, Texas, earlier this week.
It should be noted that she's not worried and you shouldn't be either. The odds of one of these black holes swallowing up Earth or the sun or wreaking other havoc is somewhere around 1 in 10 quadrillion in any given year.
"This is the glory of the universe," added J. Craig Wheeler, president of the astronomy association. "What is odd and what is normal is changing."
Just five years ago, astronomers were gazing at a few thousand galaxies where stars formed in a bizarre and violent manner. Now the number is in the millions, thanks to more powerful telescopes and supercomputers to crunch the crucial numbers streaming in from space, said Wheeler, a University of Texas astronomer.
Scientists are finding that not only are they improving their understanding of the basic questions of the universe - such as how did it all start and where is it all going - they also keep stumbling upon unexpected, hard-to-explain cosmic quirks and the potential, but comfortably distant, dangers.
Much of what they keep finding plays out like a stellar version of a violent Quentin Tarantino movie. The violence surrounds and approaches Earth, even though our planet is safe and "in a pretty quiet neighborhood," said Wheeler, author of the book "Cosmic Catastrophes."
One example is an approaching gas cloud discussed at the meeting Friday. The cloud has a mass 1 million times that of the sun. It is 47 quadrillion miles away. But it's heading toward our Milky Way galaxy at 150 miles per second. And when it hits, there will be fireworks that form new stars and "really light up the neighborhood," said astronomer Jay Lockman at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia.
But don't worry. It will hit a part of the Milky Way far from Earth and the biggest collision will be 40 million years in the future.
The giant cloud has been known for more than 40 years, but only now have scientists realized how fast it's moving. So fast, Lockman said, that "we can see it sort of plowing up a wave of galactic material in front of it."
When astronomers this week unveiled a giant map of mysterious dark matter in a supercluster of galaxies, they explained that the violence of the cramped-together galaxies is so great that there is now an accepted vocabulary for various types of cosmic brutal behavior.
The gravitational force between the clashing galaxies can cause "slow strangulation," in which crucial gas is gradually removed from the victim galaxy. "Stripping" is a more violent process in which the larger galaxy rips gas from the smaller one. And then there's "harassment," which is a quick fly-by encounter, said astronomer Meghan Gray of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
Gray's presentation essentially showed the victims of galaxy-on-galaxy violence. She and her colleagues are trying to figure out the how the dirty deeds were done.
In the past few days, scientists have unveiled plenty to ooh and aah over:
- Photos of "blue blobs" that astronomers figure are orphaned baby stars. They're called orphans because they were "born in the middle of nowhere" instead of within gas clouds, said Catholic University of America astronomer Duilia F. de Mello.
- A strange quadruplet of four hugging stars, which may eventually help astronomers understand better how stars form.
- A young star surrounded by dust, that may eventually become a planet. It's nicknamed "the moth," because the interaction of star and dust are shaped like one.
- A spiral galaxy with two pairs of arms spinning in opposite directions, like a double pinwheel. It defies what astronomers believe should happen. It is akin to one of those spinning-armed flamingo lawn ornaments, said astronomer Gene Byrd of the University of Alabama.
- The equivalent of post-menopausal stars giving unlikely birth to new planets. Most planets form soon after a sun, but astronomers found two older stars, one at least 400 million years old, with new planets.
"Intellectually and spiritually, if I can use that word with a lower case 's,' it's awe-inspiring," Wheeler said. "It's a great universe."
---

2008-01-12T19:22:00.001-08:00

Dec 29th, 2007
These pictures were taken in Forest Park, Queens. A strange park in NYC, in that it is acres of hiking trails and dense wooded areas. But there is the constant reminder of urban surrounding by the garbage hidden in the leaves, broken bottles, lost toys, and misplaced underwear. Every once and a while you happen upon two men enjoying themselves in nature, and with each other.
I love trees, and in winter it is like their bones are revealed, a certain extreme nakedness shows their wonderful architecture. Their branches against a grey sky at times look like veins or a mass of wiring hopelessly entangled. So much beauty if you just look up. Just don't look down sometimes or you'll find yourself entangled in some teenagers lost bra. I'll get around to photographing that later.

2007-11-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

I have just done some updating to me older site and more traditional photography site: photozoology
www.photozoology.com
I will be working on updating my www.michellelevante.com site also, and trying to keep up with some new posts.

Here is some text about my favorite tree that grows in Brooklyn:
Tree of Heaven -Ailanthus altissima is a common tree in disturbed urban areas, where it sprouts up just about anywhere, including alleys, sidewalks, parking lots, and streets. Ailanthus altissima is native to Asia, and began its journey west by being introduced to Europe in 1751 by a French Jesuit preist who brought it from Nanking, China to England. The first known specimen was brought into the United States a few decades later by William Hamilton, who planted this species in Philadelphia. A. altissima is considered an "Invasive" species by some. But in reality most of the habitats it invades are places where not many other species can grow. Its only fault may be decreasing the biodiversity of urban weeds; the other species it outcompetes are often non-native themselves. And we are all to blame for this, since the recent success of this species is due in part to the alteration of the landscape by humans.

2007-11-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

On Oct 30th at an event for the Artist Collective at Galapagos Art Space, I put together a terarrium installation...
the focal point was a human pelvis and spinal column. I entwined weeds, such as Bitter Sweet Nightshade and thorny vines around the spine. In the pelvis, I place a gourd with a green pepper and the spines from a dead cactus. On the ground were Destroying Angel mushrooms, a poisionous species. In the skull I grew grass. I was wondering if perhaps I had some health code violations placing it in a bar.....

2007-10-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Upcoming events: A one night installation at Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, part of event hosted by Artist's Collective and a benefit for MoveOn.org. It will be Oct 30th from 8pm till closing. I am working out the details but it will include 3 aquariums, plants, rotting gourds, and human bones.
Also, 6 prints will be on display at a new art supply store in Newark, named oddly enough Newark Art Supply. It's part of another Halloween themed show called Morbid Art. I guess I am getting pigeon holed, but appropriately so.

2007-09-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Arts Council accepted two photos into their upcoming show Site Matters: Brooklyn Represents
Sept 28th - Dec 14th at their gallery at 55 Washington Street 2nd floor. Opening reception is Friday the 27th at 6pm.
www.brooklynartscouncil.org
Finally someplace in Brooklyn.
I have been actively seeking an empty lot for a garden installation to start next year. But NYC is rife with politics and fear of
lawsuit, and of course greed. I will be revising my installation idea to "work" around these issues. The solution should
deal with these issues rather than dance around them and will become part of the work.

2007-08-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

A small segment of the film Microscopic Love in now on the website. I am also going to be cleaning up the website a bit, and creating a seperate Gallery page. I think it will make things a bit more organizied. I also added the night shots and last day shots from Garden Fate, which is in the Movie / Installation section. I don't know when they plan to finally tear down the building, but hopefully I can be there to see some of it and photograph it.

2007-08-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

Well, Microscopic Love was changed to a time-lapse film for the Lilliput Show I did at home and presented on an Ipod screen. The show stated that every peice be presented no larger than 1.5 inches in size. I guess I took it to literally. But I will have segment of the movie up on the website soon, and of course, check out the show which is great at Red Saw. They also have a cool catalog of the show you can purchase.
http://www.redsawart.com/wb/pages/current-shows/main-gallery/lilliput.php
And below is my artist statement.

Microscopic Love: The Intimate Fluids Through A Microscope

While doing research for this project I came across this article on seminal fluids:

The normal environment of the vagina is a hostile one for sperm cells, as it is very acidic (from the native microflora producing lactic acid), viscous, and patrolled by immune cells. The components in the seminal plasma attempt to compensate for this hostile environment. Basic amines such as putrescine, spermine, spermidine and cadaverine are responsible for the smell and flavor of semen. These alkaline bases counteract the acidic environment of the vaginal canal.

It is fascinating that nature would make reproduction such an adversarial event even on the microscopic level, and I started to imagine work revolving around this idea.
Microscopic Love is a series of time-lapse film segments of seminal fluid, blood and vaginal secretion viewed through a microscope or macro-lens. Each segment is a manipulation of one or all of these fluids, such as freezing, blood drying and coagulating, or one fluid taking over another. The sounds are of a patient with bronchitis and the sound of a human heart, both taken from a website for medical students to diagnoses irregular heat rhythms and breathing

2007-07-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

Red Saw Gallery in Newark, NJ was gracious enough to accept me into their show Lilliput. I am submitting a timelapse film. Here is the proposal I wrote and some images as part of the proposal.
Microscopic Love: The intimate fluids through a microscope

While doing research on some ideas for the Lilliput show online I came across this interesting article about seminal fluids:
The normal environment of the vagina is a hostile one for sperm cells, as it is very acidic (from the native microflora producing lactic acid), viscous, and patrolled by immune cells. The components in the seminal plasma attempt to compensate for this hostile environment. Basic amines such as putrescine, spermine, spermidine and cadaverine are responsible for the smell and flavor of semen. These alkaline bases counteract the acidic environment of the vaginal canal.
It was fascinating that nature would make reproduction such an adversarial event even on the microscopic level, and I started to imagine work revolving around this idea.
My project is in two parts; one will be photographs taken with a microscope of the fluids of sexual reproduction and of violence, such as semen, vaginal secretion, saliva, and blood. Using these substances I have written words with an extremely small brush that revolve around the theme of adversarial mating, such as Love, Lust, Fuck, etc. Some of the fluids will be manipulated by freezing, burning, or adding harsh chemicals. The images will be presented as slide transparencies and viewed using a small slide viewer.
The second phase will be an evolving piece set up in the gallery, using a microscope and a time-lapse camera attached to a laptop. In a Petri dish, I will add the three fluids of blood, semen and vaginal secretion, creating a microscopic image. I will then introduce a bacterial and / or mold substance to the piece which will slowly eat away at the fluids over the next couple of weeks. (Nothing dangerous to the public will be used). Viewers can see the current image on the laptop or choose to view the time-lapse film of what has transpired up that point.

2007-06-24T13:49:00.001-07:00

Another week, more growth and Chapter One of my film is now up on the website.
www.michellelevante.com, under the link Movie.