October 31, 2008
Bill Bowers
Zombie Love
Aqui-ali's Flickr set of a zombie flash mob in San Francisco staged last August makes a nice entry for today.
October 30, 2008
Bill Bowers
Manhattan Research LTD.
You may not have heard the name Raymond Scott before, but you definitely have heard his music. In his early career, in the 30s and early 40s, he started a six-piece band he named the Raymond Scott Quintette (he thought his spelling and use of the word was more 'crisp' than sextet).
Scott composed "on his band" — by humming phrases to his sidemen, or by demonstrating riffs and rhythms on the keyboard and instructing players to interpret his cues. It was all done by ear, with no written scores – a process known as "head arrangements". Scott said, "You give a better performance if you skip the eyes".
His most notable pieces were adapted by Carl Stalling for Loony Tunes and Merrie Meoldies cartoon. Powerhouse and War Dance for Wooden Indians were two of his more popular.
In the late 40s, Scott started Manhattan Research which was a complete departure from his early work and opened a new exploratory chapter in music compopsition. He collaborated often with Jim Henson, scoring several pieces, like Bees, for Sesame Street.
"Raymond Scott was like an audio version of Andy Warhol; he preceded Pop-Art sensibilities, and he played with that line between commercial art and fine art, mixing elements of both worlds together. I love and respect Raymond Scott's work, and it influenced me a lot. I'm a big fan.''
- Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO
Scott composed "on his band" — by humming phrases to his sidemen, or by demonstrating riffs and rhythms on the keyboard and instructing players to interpret his cues. It was all done by ear, with no written scores – a process known as "head arrangements". Scott said, "You give a better performance if you skip the eyes".
His most notable pieces were adapted by Carl Stalling for Loony Tunes and Merrie Meoldies cartoon. Powerhouse and War Dance for Wooden Indians were two of his more popular.
In the late 40s, Scott started Manhattan Research which was a complete departure from his early work and opened a new exploratory chapter in music compopsition. He collaborated often with Jim Henson, scoring several pieces, like Bees, for Sesame Street.
"Raymond Scott was like an audio version of Andy Warhol; he preceded Pop-Art sensibilities, and he played with that line between commercial art and fine art, mixing elements of both worlds together. I love and respect Raymond Scott's work, and it influenced me a lot. I'm a big fan.''
- Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO
October 20, 2008
Bill Bowers
The Amazing Mr. Sun
Over on boston.com, in The Big Picture section, they've posted some very amazing close-up photos of the sun. The animation of the Sun as seen by NASA's Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) remind me of the film Solar by Robert Hodgin.
October 14, 2008
Randy Yau
Killer Cuts
Tokyo-based visual artist Ryohei Tanaka has taken the simple art of folding a piece of paper and cutting it with scissors to a whole new level.
In his latest short-run edition book "Killer Cuts & Killing Shapes," hundreds of intricate caricatures spawn from Tanaka's clever cuts as his childhood artistic pursuit with scissors continues.
In his latest short-run edition book "Killer Cuts & Killing Shapes," hundreds of intricate caricatures spawn from Tanaka's clever cuts as his childhood artistic pursuit with scissors continues.
October 13, 2008
Bill Bowers
Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse
Using tilt-shift and time-lapse photography, photographer, Keith Loutit shows his native Sydney in a whole new light. His piece, The North Wind Blew South is a nice compilation of coastal locales set to music by Headless Heroes.
And since we're talking tilt-shift, artist Olivo Barbieri started the Site Specific project (photographs and films) in 2003 where he uses the same technique to document several cities: Rome, Turin, Montreal, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Amman, and most recently, Seville
And since we're talking tilt-shift, artist Olivo Barbieri started the Site Specific project (photographs and films) in 2003 where he uses the same technique to document several cities: Rome, Turin, Montreal, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Amman, and most recently, Seville
October 10, 2008
Bill Bowers
Muto
MUTO is a wall-painted, low-tech graffiti animation by BluBlu. It just goes on and on, which is great, since every frame is absolutely brilliant. The sound effects are really great as well and really brings it to life.
October 9, 2008
Randy Yau
Big Googly-Eye is Watching
I've been following the work of Golan Levin for quite sometime but never expected this. In his latest interactive installation "Double-Taker (Snout)," the role of spectator is reversed as an autonomous eight-foot robotic snout responds in unexpected ways to the presence and movement of people.
The goal of this kinetic system is to perform convincing "double-takes" at its visitors, in which the sculpture appears to be continually surprised by the presence of its own viewers — communicating, without words, that there is something uniquely surprising about each person passing by.
The goal of this kinetic system is to perform convincing "double-takes" at its visitors, in which the sculpture appears to be continually surprised by the presence of its own viewers — communicating, without words, that there is something uniquely surprising about each person passing by.
October 7, 2008
Bill Bowers
Two Way
Once VP of Creative Advertising at Miramax Films, Robert Rainey, is now pursuing an MFA in photography at UNM. His recent work, Two Way, "explores notions of class, race, gender and sexual identity ... by subverting the traditional genre of couples portraiture by inserting myself as the generic, blank, antiseptic, counterpart to a person..."
October 6, 2008
Randy Yau
Earthworks
In similar scale and materiality as the great land artists of the late '60s and early '70s, Jim Denevan draws large-scale sand murals with a mere stick. Where Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" stands the test of time, Denevan's earthworks embrace the ephemeral while his works are washed by the sea within hours of completion.
Denevan's meditation between man and earth are also practiced through his culinary open-air dinners—a series of traveling meals cooked with farm-fresh ingredients served on the farm itself.
Denevan's meditation between man and earth are also practiced through his culinary open-air dinners—a series of traveling meals cooked with farm-fresh ingredients served on the farm itself.
October 1, 2008
Bill Bowers
Drop Clock
An "aesthetically intriguing motion clock screen-saver – Drop Clock. Every minute of real time is numerically expressed with heavy helvetica dropping in to water in super slow-motion. Developed by tha ltd.
