A Special Message from Optimus Prime

...and a Happy New Year!

The Twelve Months

Over the past couple years, I've noticed some of the holiday traditions I've enjoyed for years have slowly disappeared. The thought was a little sad at first, but as nothing lasts forever, I realized it meant the opportunity to create new traditions.

Last year, one of these adoptions included sending out holiday cards. This year, I decided to continue the tradition, but I couldn't decide on what the illustration would look  like. Many options developed, including a few displayed below:

I was not satisfied with any of these options. I started thinking about what I could do in 2012 that would be better, more iconic, than just another winter holiday themed image. "Important" numbers started flowing through my mind: 2012, 12/12/12, 12/21/2012. The choice was obvious.

The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Part of my interest in The Twelve Days of Christmas involved an incident over Thanksgiving, where I mistakenly claimed that one of the gifts in the song included "lepers leaping." As I remember it, my brother was quick to point out that it was "lords-a-leaping," and that receiving a group of lepers would be quite a poor gift indeed. Through this incident, the realization was made evident: I could not name all 12 gifts. The lack of this knowledge freed my mind and allowed me to imagine new gifts that could be given, such as leaping lemurs (quite the improvement over lepers), Danny Partridge stuck in a tree, or...

What were the original 12 gifts?

The question was stuck in my head and needed to be solved. A quick internet search later lead to an unanticipated result: there were more than just 12 gifts to choose from.

Now, any practical contemplation on the song would infer that yes, there would be many different versions of the song. Even today we have variations of the melody, including The Twelve Gifts of Christmas or The Twelve Days of Yaksmas. Yet, I never would have imagined that there would be previous incarnations of the song that included much better gifts, such as ships that sail or bears that fight!

Of particular interest to me was an old French folk-song. 

The Twelve Months

In the book Chants populaires des Flamands de France: recueillis et publiés avec les mélodies originales, une traduction française et des notes, published in 1855, author Charles de Coussemaker writes about the song Le premier jour d’l’année, also known as Les Douze Mois or The Twelve Months.



In his description, he cites the song as being a traditional folk song derived from pre-Gaul druidic tradition.

The first verse...



...asks the question “What will my love give me on the first day of the year?” and answering with “one lone partridge that flies in the woods.”

The remaining verses...




...though slightly different than the gifts we typically associate with the Twelve Days of Christmas, follow the same format, asking what one’s love will bring, and answering with everything from the familiar turtle doves as well as a variety of other birds, to the strange, extravagant, and odd gifts of branches, windmills, and horned bulls.



De Coussemaker then follows up with a paragraph (seen above) describing how in it’s current state, the song has been extremely distorted. Despite that fact, he felt it important to publish in the collection out of respect for the country’s druidic heritage. He then concludes with a sentence about how the song has spawned several versions of the song where symbolic religious value is assigned to each hour of the twelve hour period.

In case any of you want to play and or sing this song for yourself, the musical notation is displayed below:

Life on Mars?

Though nothing will be confirmed until the first week of December, Curiosity may have dug up organic material, which could indicate the possibility of life on Mars.

David Bowie may finally have closure.

How to Mix the Perfect Story*

 1. Use characters you would like to spend time with.

 2. Place said characters in a world you would want to live in.

 3. Put them in situations you would prefer to never face yourself.

 Place all three into a shaker, add ice, mix, pour, enjoy!

 BONUS RULE! Add or subtract rules as per personal preference.

As always, please use rules responsibly.

*"Perfection" is subjective, therefore the author of this post cannot be held responsible reader's inability to meet expectations. 

GIF and only GIF

The Oxford American Dictionary has declared GIF as the word of the year apparently. I guess that means I can republish this:

If you haven't watched it already, you should definitely check out the PBSOffbook video about GIF.

It is fantastic. Really, you should check out all of their videos. The only piece of criticism I have towards them is the fact that they only put out a new video every other week. That said, if that is what it takes to keep up the quality of the videos, let them take two weeks!

 Question: If GIF is considered an artform, what are the most successful ways of displaying them in a museum setting?

Possible solutions include:

1. Projectors upon a wall.
2. Utilization of specially designed digital photo frames.
3. Connecting directly with portable digital devices with methods such as NFC, QR, or other scan based transmission of data.

Finally, if you want an example of great GIF work, check out the following:

Dain 8)

If We Don't, Remember Me

From Me to You

OFF THE WALL - CLASH OF THE RACQUETEERS

Since June, the majority of my free time has been spent training for the 2012 Northshore Inline Marathon and creating a deluge of art for Halloween. However, having completed the marathon in September, and with Halloween wrapping up a few days ago, my nights and weekends have been rather aimless.

Until now...

Since 1994, I have been in a constant state of competition with one man. Prior to our meeting, neither of us had peers we could classify as equal. Whether it be a feat of art, intellect, or sport, the two of us would fight tooth and nail to best the other. Now, 18 years later, nothing has changed.

So may I present an event of moderately epic proportions:

HOW IT STARTED

The following account contains moments of truth. Be warned.

• MARK: Hey man, want to go to a Burlesque Show?
• DAN: Gonna pass on that one. Wanna play some racquetball tomorrow?
• MARK: Sure, what time?
• DAN: Let's say noon.
• MARK: Sounds good!

The next day...

• MARK: So how much does it cost to play?
• GYM EMPLOYEE: $10 for a day pass, or $50 for a punch card.
• DAN: How many sessions are on the punch card?
• GYM EMPLOYEE: 10, plus you will get the first day free.
• MARK: That means we could play 11 matches of raquetball.
• DAN: That means you can lose 11 matches of raquetball.
• MARK: That sounds like a challenge. 
• DAN: No, more like truth.
• GYM EMPLOYEE: *staring at computer screen*
• MARK: I bet I can beat you best out of 11.
• DAN: You're on.
• GYM EMPLOYEE: So you guys...want punch cards?
• DAN & MARK: *slamming down money* YES! 
• MARK: *shaking Dan's hand* May the best man win.
• DAN: May the best man win. How do you play racquetball again?

Diagram of a Raquetball Court

BASIC RULES

The winner will be determined by the best of 11 matches. The winner of each match is determined by the best of three sets. Each set consists of two 15 point games plus an 11 point tiebreaker if needed.

Points are earned when the serving player successfully ends the rally.

A rally begins when the serving player bounces the ball once in the service zone and commences with a successful serve that lands behind the receiving line.

A serve must hit the play wall, and is allowed to hit one additional side wall before landing behind the receiving line.

The receiving player may allow the ball to bounce once on the floor or hit the ball on the fly. Once the receiving player has hit the ball, it must strike the front wall before striking the floor. Unlike during the serve, a ball in play may touch as many walls, including the ceiling, as necessary so long as it reaches the front wall without striking the floor.

Should the receiving player end the rally, no points are earned and the receiving player now becomes the serving player.

Any disputes will be settled through a series of sub-competitions and/or outside arbitration.

WINNING

The first player to win 6 matches is considered the winner. As part of the competition, the losing player must then make a piece of artwork (henceforth referred to as THE TROPHY) in the media chosen by the winner. The winner is then allowed to retain THE TROPHY upon completion. Should the loser not complete THE TROPHY within 30 days from the final match, the loser must forfeit $100 USD to the winner.

So far: Dan 1 - Mark 0

This early defeat is humbling. It looks like I'll have to retreat back to training and discover the secrets of racquetball.

Stay classy, and stay tuned!

Something Smells Fishy...

Ichthyosapien 61912
Digital Painting
2012

Lately, I've been working on a project that I have been thinking about for a long time. Originally, the project was a series of essays connecting classic movie monsters with fears and phobias. Though I may return to the lengthy written discourse the project originated as sometime in the future, for the time being, the project lives as a series of portraits called Social Monsters.

The first portait, Zombie 5412, actually marked the first time I made an artistic rendition of the walking dead, as I wrote about previously. Originally, it was created for a friend, but the enjoyment it brought encouraged me to complete and entire series of related portraits. Icthyosapien 61912, as seen above, is the third portrait of the series and one of the more challenging pieces I have ever completed. In fact, the image seen above is the second version of the piece. The first was much more heavily inspired by Creature From the Black Lagoon.

The goal is to complete the series in time for Halloween. If I feel inspired, I may write the full essays to accompany each image explaining what fears and phobias each monster represents and why. For now, I'm content just making the images. What are your thoughts?

The 8-Bit Arts

Mega Man

Sense memory is an amazing thing. A single, errant scent, sound, or taste, and a person can be thrown back decades in time to relive experiences long forgotten. For anyone who invested hours of their childhood playing the NES, the modern art scenes inspired by 8-Bit acts as a bridge to worlds familiar yet foreign.

Blip Festival NYC 2012 just concluded. Had I access to a TARDIS, I would definitely check it out. Lacking said technology, I'm left basking in they afterglow remotely.

Moleman 2 - Demoscene - The Art of Algorithms has been released for a few months, but since it is a documentary about an art scene that is still generally unknown by the general public, it felt important to showcase.

Loved is an example of what I hope for more of in the future of video games. If you have a couple minutes, I highly recommend that you play it. The game is relatively short, and worth more than a few plays.

There is still an incredible amount of 8-Bit inspired arts out there. What are your favorites? Also, Happy Memorial Day!

Sun Flowers

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."

 -Mark Twain

My mother has given me so much over the course of her life, but the one gift I have valued over all others is the gift of imagination. Through it, she has given me the heavens and the earth as well as a light to guide me through the brightest days and darkest nights.

This year, to say thanks, I reached up and stole a piece of the sun to create these "sun" flowers especially for her as a small token of appreciation and a symbol of the light and love she has always provided.

How I Learned to Stop Bashing and Love the Zombie

Zombie 5412
Digital Painting
2012

For years, I've avoided zombies. They are far from my favorite monster. I'm much more of a werewolf guy myself. However, as a first, I feel this zombie portrait turned out alright. I may even try another in the future. Any opinions?

The Journey Towards Cloud Consciousness

There will come a day when iPhone level tech become so pervasive that every child will be given a device upon birth. The device will then track the child's educational growth and adapt in both programming and hardware to match the child's maturity level. The data that the device records will follow the child into adulthood, acting as a lifetime resume, giving employers metrics regarding the individuals learning curve that will influence the hiring process.

The device will follow the individual into old age, acting as a companion and a caretaker, tracking things as common as an inventory of paper towels or toilet paper and automatically reordering before the individual runs out, to as specialized as mental and physical acuity, scheduling trips to the doctor when necessary.  Eventually, the device will act as the AI necessary to keep the individual's consciousness alive by transmitting all the knowledge the individual collected as well as patterns of curiousity and creativity based on algorithms into the ethereal web, forming a Cloud Consciousness, and allowing the next generation of DaVinci and Einstein to collaborate with the living over the course of centuries.

Toys like this are only the first step towards that future, and it will be beautiful. :)

8 Bit Bonanza

Yesterday, I crafted a font called 8BitBonanza. The font is based on memories of old videogames, specifically the hand-held variety. Feel free to download and use it for whatever you like. If you do something cool with it, let me know in the comments!

Enjoy!

Project Glass and Three Visions for the Future of Art

Back in 2003, I wrote a story involving a pair of glasses called ASpects, or Augmented Spectacles. It was a silly name, containing the anachronistic duality of a conceptual item. Having to wear glasses myself, the idea of turning my physical hindrance into a technological advantage had been a dream since being introduced to Geordi LaForge. Now, in 2012, Google introduces Project: Glass. For some, it sounds like hi-sci-fi, with the harshest critics claiming vaporware. For hopeful futurists, it is like being told Santa Claus is real and is bringing you cyborg vision.



Google itself has done a fantastic job describing some of the prospective everyday uses for the technology, but what about more specific applications? Certainly it will bring a new level of discourse to business, providing stock traders with up-to-the-second tickers available right within their field of vision. Should a sports model be available, it would surely be outlawed on the professional field of play, as applications could theoretically be developed that would allow batters to determine the speed of a pitch, and providing them signals regarding whether to swing or not. What applications could the art world develop for use of this prospective new technology?

I propose three options. Not the last word in any sense, but examples of possible uses:

1 - Use in Development

Painting a canvas is messy, especially when you lack a steady hand. Even an artist with dedicated focus can pull back and find they have added an arc instead of a line to the portrait. An obvious option involves the use of a straight edge to guide the brush, but then we run back into the dilemma of mess. Projecting a line or shape onto the canvas is another option, but then you still have to factor in shadows.

With AR glasses, an artist could establish some of the more difficult lines and arcs and synch a virtual screen over the breadth of the canvas, giving the artist a guide to follow that doesn’t smudge the paint or place the artist in uncomfortable positions while trying to keep out of the light.

Hanging the piece would also become simpler, as an onscreen level would show how far left or right you need to nudge the piece to be parallel to the ground. 


2 - Use in Media

What will be most interesting is the use of AR glasses as a medium itself. The lines between traditional and digital media will blur to the point of indistinguishable from one another as artists begin coding their canvas to synch with what the viewer sees. A landscape painting will suddenly become a haven for a pre-programmed imaginary friend living in the Cloud.

Portrait without AR Glasses

Portrait with AR Glasses

3 - Use in Collection

You’re seated in a coffee shop, reading a magazine, when you view one of the most gorgeous sculptures you have ever seen. The AR glasses scan the tag that accompanies the image and discovers that the piece is being exhibited at a gallery across the city, is for sale, and has received five-star ranking from countless critics within the city. With the bat of an eye, you have purchased the piece remotely and are given directions to the gallery so you may pick it up in person, as well as browse what else they may have in their collection that is similar to the sculpture.

As I mentioned before, there are countless other possibilities, and I’m sure we won’t even uncover a small sampling of them until the glasses are available and within the hands of the public. What other uses can you envision for AR glasses in the art world?

The Show Must Go On and On and On...

Narcissus and the Golden Man

"That is, an artist who creates lots of work probably experiences

prolific days and slower days." - Buffy Sainte-Marie

Despite my resolve to remain patient, February and March became a sort of time trial. During the course of the past two months, I found that I could produce a show from start to finish in an incredibly constrained amount of time. Though I have never been one to procrastinate, I have always felt that I work best under pressure, and thus have produced ten pieces of the best art of my career all in the span of 20 days.

Stories 01, or Red

The reason for my artistic surge was the Altered Esthetics Solo Exhibition Program. The program is meant to assist new and emerging artists in launching their careers. Back in August, when I first heard about the program, I was searching for a challenge that I could utilize to up-the-ante of my creative talent, having felt that I was growing complacent. So, I chose to apply. Part of the process included a proposal of the type of show you would like to produce. Feeling overly ambitious, I crafted a carefully worded proposal about creating a show within a show, about art from art. Being selected for the program, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to implement my proposal to much success.

The show ran from March 2nd - 29th at the Spring Street Tavern in Minneapolis, Minn., with a reception held on March 10th. Altered Esthetics even wrote a nice blog post about the show. The show itself consisted of images from two individual series of images; Stories and Between the Lines.

Stories was a series of six images inspired by fairy tales that had hidden within them the essence of all great stories, thus telling a story in itself.

Original thumbnail for Between the Lines 02

Between the Lines was a continuation of the idea behind Stories, but with a different theme. BtL was at its core a purer representation of the original proposition that was submitted to the program. At its base, BtL was ten images that could stand alone as individual pieces of artwork. As a collection, it told the story of an artist's journey. Finally, hidden within the pieces themselves, much like Stories, were keywords that, when combined, spelled out the overall theme for the show itself.

Overwhelmingly, comments about the show and reception have been absolutely positive. I am incredibly grateful to have such supportive friends and family, as without them, the pieces would not have been as strong, and the show would not have been the success it was.

For those of you who missed the show, yet would still like to see it, there is hope. I am making arrangements to produce an extended version of the show in the form of a viewbook. Details are still amorphous at the moment, so keep an eye on this blog, as I will inform you of its completion as soon as it is ready.

In case you are impatient, have a look at Stories, and see if you can solve the puzzle:

New Year and Next Steps

As the Steve Miller Band was kind enough to teach us, time keeps on slipping into the future. In the past, I have meditated on the concept of time, its existence as a unit of measure, and how it has become an omnipresent entity while doing my best to stretch and compress this dimension to fit my personal needs. From where I currently sit, I can count eight different clocks within my line of sight, each set at a different time due to careful ignorance or the toil beset upon them by their immortal ward.

Recently, there has been a cartoon circulating that displays a Mayan showing off his calendar wheel, expressing concern to his fellow Mayan that it ends in 2012, to which the craftsman replies "that's really going to freak somebody out some day." Though I understand the humor in the second Mayan's statement, I am more intrigued by the calendar craftsman himself, and the calendar he displays. Yes, it expires in 2012, but it is still useful for thousands of years. Though our tools and measures and calendars may expire, time always marches on. So why measure at all? Why not just live in an endless cycle of sleeping when tired and waking when not, regardless of the sun's position in the sky? It's not a new notion that setting our schedule by the setting of the sun is rather antiquated, especially with the growth of 24 hour conveniences. Da Vinci is said to have slept in 20 minutes spurts every four hours, a technique that added hours to his work day, yet would be heavily frowned upon in the modern workplace. Or maybe this isn't a matter of keeping to cycle, but rather keeping sane?

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By keeping a cycle, and noting specific beginnings and ends, one has set aside points at which to assess their actions and determine whether changes need be made, even if the changes only fortify the plans one had previously been pursuing. Hence, resolutions.

Woody Guthrie wrote a list of resolutions that are familiar without being common or restrictive. For me, I like to keep my list short and sweet, as it is easier to remember and accomplish:

slow down, plan ahead, proceed with confidence.

Though it may seem small, it actually cuts a wide swath in the actions of my life. If you want something more detail oriented, I present you with the following list: 

1) Read/Write/Draw more -

Over the past couple years, I have grown complacent when reading, and have developed a form of speed-reading that encourages quick sprints across the body of a text in favor of the deep diving necessary to keep information. It is not a bad thing, as it has developed a sense of thin-slicing, but it has limited the amount of information I gather from any source and has made it more difficult to make it through long pieces of narrative. This growing tendency toward thin-slicing has also had similar effects on my writing and art. Slowing down will grant me the time necessary to re-engage literature, art and life, and hopefully reduce the number of unread books on my bookshelf drastically while simultaneously increasing productivity and communicativeness.

2) Reduce overhead -


Like many, I have fallen into routines that waste time, money, and resources in general. By planning ahead, it is my hope to cut out many of these habits so as to live a simpler, more care-free life over the course of the next year.

3) Eliminate "I am horrible/fantastic" - 

Recently, I came across a piece of advice that boils down to "I am horrible/fantastic: Don't think either." I have a habit of leaning towards the horrible spectrum in most of what I do, despite occasional evidence to the contrary. Whether it is in art, writing, or life in general, the idea of proceeding with confidence falls within the golden mean, or walking a path between vice and virtue, to allow for maximum happiness.

So there it is. My resolutions for 2012. What are yours?

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
- Winston Churchill

In other news, the start of 2012 also heralds a transition into the second five year period of my 15 year plan. Of course, this brings with it good news and bad news.


The good news: I met all the goals I made for myself in the first five years.

The bad news: I just barely made my mark.*

Considering the bad news isn't so bad, I see no necessarily reason to redress the first five years any further aside from using the lessons learned to head into the next five years with even greater confidence and courage.

With that, I wish you all a fantastic new year, and the best of all that can come from it!

---

*As I wrote this, I realized though the pun was not intended, it was still quite apt.