texture and patterns

...from a door in Brooklyn...

rainy paris...

love bean

~

There is no solution
because
there is no problem.
~Marcel Duchamp


There is no problem
because
there is no solution.
~Shigeko Kubota

upside,right side, down

upside down and right side up, or is it the other way around?...

The Swimming Pool @P.S.1

Swimming Pool by Leandro Erlich

Please do not touch.

apparently at MoMA, if you touch something you will have your pinky and ring fingers cut off by an invisible light shield, then blood will gush out.
I'd recommend refraining from touching the art.

things are not what they seem nor are they otherwise.

Astronomy time lapse

time lapse of sky views thanks to Nasa HERE

we are so small, it will all keep moving like it always has and always will

if only every night with you were an...

Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities

Room 26 is composed of selections from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. It contains unique and rare visual and textual documents, many from some well known intriguing people! See the website for more about it as well to see some of the documents....
http://brblroom26.wordpress.com/

branches

Asmat Ancester Figures

I have a fascination and appreciation of trees for I see trees as a source of life and wisdom; connected deep into the earth while reaching for the sun, moon, and stars and through it all keeping track of years, decades, centuries with internal rings.
I am also fascinated by different views and philosophies on life and the spiritual.
Yesterday, I paid a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I had not done in quite some time, and while browsing through my favorite section in the Met, the art of Oceania and Africa, I was intrigued by these Asmat Ancester Figures.

"Asmat Ancester Figures
Humans, trees, and wood sculpture are inseparably linked in the cosmology of the Asmat people of southwest New Guinea. The human body is equated metaphysically with a tree: the legs and feet are the roots, the torso the trunk, the arms and hands the branches, and the head the fruit. In some origin traditions, humanity was born from wood figures carved by primordial being named Fumeripits. Fumeripits built the first men's ceremonial house, but he grew lonesome living alone, so he cut down trees and carved them into human figures for company. The lifeless figures did not relieve his loneliness, so he made a drum. As he drummed, the figures, whose elbows and knees were joined together, slowly came to life, becoming the first Asmat.
Almost all human images in Asmat art depict recent ancestors, whose names they bear. Freestanding ancestor figures such as these were created in some areas for ceremonies celebrating the inauguration of a new men's ceremonial house. During the rites, performers reenacted the origin of humanity, dancing with intentional awkwardness to simulate the movements of the first humans, whose elbows and knees had just become separated. Although the seated figure represents a recent ancestor, its elbows and knees are joined by tabs of wood, likely a reference to this episode from the origin of humanity."

year two thousand eight in photos

Overall, I found myself left with a great feeling of sadness after viewing all these photos.
There are moments of such beauty and awe in life but then so many horrible and painful moments and events. The worst part is most of the pain and destruction in the world is caused by humans against humans or humans against their own habitat and cohabitants.
These photographs also reminded me to step outside of myself, my life, my city and see the bigger picture, reminding me that no matter how bad I think I may have it at times, there are things far worse that I cannot even fully grasp just by seeing photographs.
I am very small.
It is pointless to say that maybe 2009 will be better because the changes that need to happen in this world to bring about peace will take life times, not just one new year, but it does not hurt to be optimistic of course.
Part 1
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
Part 2
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_in_photographs_part_2_of.html
Part 3
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_the_year_in_photographs_p.html

fleas and life

why no, come to think of it, i have yet to become acquainted with any fleas at the flea market tho i have been enticed by other knick-knacks and the such and i am familiar with a mermaid who once sang about such things. i have also heard that a 7 up is better than a 7 down tho i am now curious as to a 7 right or 7 left. those lamps without lampshades, i have heard they are quite fascinating and brighten a dull room just as the color yellow might brighten a dull aura or mood.
all these piles upon piles of things we are surrounded by; i bet jim henson, the future father of my first born child, would have some thoughts on the subject. but first i must go put his sperm in the freezer for safe keeping...
(written January 8, 2008)

meditations on the beautiful imperfect repeated cycles of life

This past Saturday evening I was fortunate enough to go see the dance performance 'Steve Reich Evening' at the Brooklyn Museum of Art http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=115). It was choreographed by Anne Teresa Keersmaeker to the music of Steve Reich.
There is a part of me that does not want to even attempt to put words to this incredible performance for I know there is no way I could possibly do it justice. But in a vain attempt I will say the performance dealt with the repetition of sounds, movements, and objects. It was a meditation on the patterns of the imperfections inherit in life as well as the simplicity and power of the cyclical.
Overall, a beautiful and overwhelming experience encompassing stunningly beautiful sounds, movements, lighting, and messages. An example to me of finely tuned forms of impeccable art coming together and making vast statements while remaining sensually appealing. Both a heaviness in the strength of it all as well as a lightness as the dancers floated, glided, and elevated energetically across the stage.
Below are some images from the performance (which I did not take, it should be noted):

"Flying With One Engine"

This past Friday evening I went to see a documentary being shown at the Tibetan museum called the Rubin Museum (http://www.rmanyc.org/index.xml?context=/), which on a side note, I highly recommend visiting. The film I saw was called 'Flying on One Engine' and was about an Indian doctor named Dr. Sharadkumar Dicksheet. There are many reasons why this man is special, other than the fact that he has now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Price eight times. He began his work as a plastic surgeon in the United States but after a car accident that left half of him paralyzed and a battle with cancer in his larynx as well as numerous other serious health conditions severely restricting his mobility and way of life he could no longer continue the life he once led.
For several years now, he has been living in Brooklyn on the money he receives from social security for half the year while he gets donors and medical supplies. He spends the other six months of the year in India performing thousands of free surgeries on Indian children, most of whom suffer from cleft lips.
He works 12 hour days during this time without any break and on a good day can perform 70 cleft lip surgeries in one day in an assembly line format.
He chooses his patients carefully, only those whose operation is simple enough to take one surgery. Something important he said was that he knew his limitations. His surgeries are only aesthetic but by just giving the child an physical appearance with less of a distinct physical deformity raises their chances at leading a normal life in a society that does not make an easy on someone who looks dramatically out of place. He also chooses to perform the surgery on more girls than boys as to give the girls a better chance at life because females with the cleft lip are much less likely to be able to marry and thus leading to a high probability of leaving them destitute later on in life.
Something else I began to wonder about during the film was how and why one is born with a cleft lip. After doing some wikipedia research, I found that a cleft lip is formed while a baby is still on the womb and developing. During the first two months of pregnancy, the shape of the embryos head is formed by five tissues coming together and if these tissues fail to meet a gap appears, thus causing a cleft lip.
"The cause of cleft lip and cleft palate formation can be genetic in nature. A specific variation in a gene that can have abnormalities causing the Van der Woude Syndrome increases threefold the occurrence of these deformities has been identified by Zucchero et al in 2004^[7] as reported by the BBC.^[8]

Environmental influences may also cause, or interact with genetics to produce, orofacial clefting. Some environmental factors that have been studied include: seasonal causes (such as pesticide exposure); maternal diet and vitamin intake; retinoids- which are members of the vitamin A family; anticonvulsant drugs; alcohol; cigarette use; nitrate compounds; organic solvents; parental exposure to lead; and illegal drugs (cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, etc).

If a person is born with a cleft, the chances of that person having a child with a cleft, given no other obvious factor, rises to 1 in 14. Research continues to investigate the extent to which Folic acid can reduce the incidence of clefting.

In some cases, cleft palate is caused by syndromes which also cause other problems. Stickler's Syndrome can cause cleft lip and palate, joint pain, and myopia. Loeys-Dietz syndrome can cause cleft palate or bifid uvula, hypertelorism, and aortic aneurysm. Cleft lip/palate may be present in many different chromosome disorders including Patau Syndrome (trisomy 13). Many clefts run in families, even though there does not seem to be any identifiable syndrome present." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleft_lip_and_palate)

That said, I highly recommend the film if you should have a chance for not only is it an interesting story about an interesting man, it is also a very well done documentary.
Flying With One Engine
http://www.flyingononeengine.com/

oh, for banter accompanied by space for free ranging breathing particles

I am sure we have all found ourselves in a situation where we are engaged in a conversation with someone who has no concept of what your private space might entail. As they talk they get closer and closer to your face until you feel their breath on your face, yet not in the romantic sense, not in the least. You keep gently taking a step or two back, but to no avail for they keep coming at you, invading the personal sphere you have around you, which, until this instant, you wrongly assumed was acknowledged by all in the invisible and polite sense.

Yet, this person has no concept as to the few inches your reserve for free ranging and roaming particles. Rather this person seems to think that in order to converse with someone, you must have your faces as close as possible without actually locking lips. Now, I don't care how loud the venue or bar you are situated in is, this amount of closeness is not at all necessary for exchanges of words, ideas, and laughs. I am only left to wonder as to why they cannot seem to gauge the personal clean air breathing space I had reserved prior to meeting them, while I have taken so many steps backwards that I am now up against a wall and trapped by an mouth with an endless motor, which keeps moving far to near as a sense of claustrophobia sets in.

You cannot deny having had this experience, and if you can, then I suggest you take a step back from the partner you are involved in friendly banter with.