"Beauty is the enemy"

...Glorify the grotesque
Uprooting ugliness to be their heroic standard
Ugliness my flag
Ugliness my flag
Be warned, you are marred
Misshapen
Measly
Your desperation is disfigured devotion
Beauty is the enemy
Acceptance of ugliness is the
redemption of sanity
There is no beauty, only ugliness
There is no glamour, only ghastly blemish
All romance disfigured
All morals monstrous
All beauty our enemy
They are the elect to whom grotesque things bring only rapture
Genocidal chatter
Merely nodding
Ugliness is a form of genius...

[ cEvin Key / Genesis P-Orridge ]

Arthole Radio this week - Selavy Oh interview

On Wednesday 25th February Arthole Radio will broadcast live from 9pm UK time (1pm SLT/PST). Amy Freelunch returns with an interview with Selavy Oh, which promises to be a fascinating and revealing insight into one of Second Life's most talented and respected artists.

Arahan Claveau: 9pm UK/GMT (4pm EST/1pm PST)
Amy Freelunch: 10.30pm UK/GMT (5.30pm EST/2.30pm PST)
-INTERMISSION-
Nebulosus Severine: 9pm US/EST (6pm PST/2am UK/GMT)
Amy Freelunch: 10.30pm US/EST (7.30pm PST/3.30 am UK/GMT)

Copy and paste this link into your streaming media player:
http://slan13.ipr365.com:10320
(e.g. in Windows Media Player press CTRL+U, and then paste the URL of the live stream in the 'Open' box).

Show archives here.

One of my older works.

Title: Untitled (September 9, 2001)
Year: 2001
Dimensions: 14 in. X 17 in.
Media: Charcoal and pastel on paper

At the time I drew this piece, I had been in the midst of a very long, very dry art phase. I hadn't drawn or painted anything of note in years before I was suddenly compelled to draw this. The imagery came to me in a dream, if I remember correctly. I had no idea then, and still have no real idea, why I was so driven to create this; it was just something I HAD to do.

The eerie thing about this piece -- if you'll notice the date, it was exactly 2 days before life changed for every man, woman, and child in America. Prophetic....?

The only person to have ever seen this piece before today was my roommate. I have not wanted to really think about it for years.

Even in Second Life, there is a line for the ATM...

BUNNYKEN 2 RETURN OF THE BUNNYKEN

NOW I HAVE TWO:

I won Bunnyken #2 on Ebay last week, and he arrived in the mail just as I was about to leave for work on Tuesday. So I brought him with me.

Needless to say, he was quite a conversation piece.

ALL HAIL BUNNYKEN!!!!!!

Last chance to see...

The 'Kiss the Sky' Hyperformalism exhibit, curated by Dancoyote Antonelli, is closing after this weekend, and I will be taking down my two works late Saturday/early Sunday, February 15th.

Pulse Points (I, II, III)


Your Path To Divinity

Additionally, I will be taking down my Arthole Level 1 installation, 'Paranoia/Watching The Sky For Planes' late Sunday, February 15th. After this date, Level 1 of the gallery will remain closed while Arahan & I prepare for Arthole Season 3.

SLurls: Kiss the Sky
Pulse Points (I, II, III)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Arts%20Lab/250/110/301
Your Path To Divinity
http://slurl.com/secondlife/NMC%20Arts%20Lab/8/131/301

SLurl: Arthole
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kress/168/88/391


[ "Kiss the Sky" blogged on New World Notes:
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2009/02/last-chance-to-see-the-sky.html ]

Arthole Season 2.5 - This weekend!

Saturday February 7th 2009 --

Arthole welcomes our new guest artist, Dekka Raymaker.

Join the artist from 1pm SLT/PST for the launch of his work,
'The Church of Whoami' on Level 3 of the gallery.

Previous work by Arahan Claveau and Nebulosus Severine will remain on-site for viewing as they prepare new projects for Season 3.

SLUrl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kress/168/88/391

Fuck SL photography

Jay from Brooklyn Is Watching recently discovered a piece I had impulsively thrown together at BIW last week:

Unfortunately, the full meaning of the piece was lost -- there had been another box there, placed by someone else, when I created mine; but it had been either returned, deleted, or taken down.

Jay had this to say on the BIW blog in response to my piece:

Thanks for coming back nebulosis (sic). I would agree with you generally speaking. And I would also say… um… so? There are a hellovalot more of what i call “blah blah blah blah” galleries out there than there are galleries showing anything interesting. ( these are galleries that have their hands over their ears and are saying “blah blah blah, im not listening to you… its still 1865 its still 1865 its still 1865″ — then down the street is another one that is saying “its still 1945, its still 1945″ etc etc. ).

Most of the stuff in the world is crap. always was always will be… what was it that drove you to particularly point this one out? And do you have any awesomely bad examples to point to that we can all enjoy?

To which I responded:

I definitely agree, Jay, that most of the world is crap. But what drove me to rez this particular piece was a box that isn’t there anymore.

Sometime last week I had been strolling through the grounds of BIW and came across a box with a mosaic of generic avatar portraits all over it, with the hover-text “Touch/Click me for invitation to a gallery of SL Photography” — and it just annoyed the shit out of me to see it — so I rezzed the box that you are sitting on in the above picture.

Fortunately, I took a picture of the two side-by-side; I’ve just posted it to Flickr (and I expect it will piss off some people):

Below the pic I added a caption, elaborating a bit further:

The box on the left is something I rezzed at Brooklyn Is Watching last week, in response to the box on the right.

(The box on the right has floating text which reads:
"Touch/Click me for invitation to a gallery of SL Photography"

The box I rezzed also has floating text, which reads: "Touch/click me for no apparent reason -- SL photography is fucking bullshit")

While SL snapshots/photos can be interesting to look at, I don't consider 99.9% of them to be anything more than mere snapshots -- I don't care how much Photoshopping went into it.

There are & have been a rare few individuals who can elevate it to an art form, but SL snapshots do not equal "instant-art" any more than random real-life snapshots do.

Perhaps the thing that irks me the most about SL photography -- and what has put me off about it as a medium altogether -- is the bandwagon mentality. It's trendy; it's a "me-too" hobby; it appeals to the 15-seconds-of-fame seekers. Most people who get into it never before had an artistic urge in their lives; and once they get bored with Second Life, they most likely will never do anything creative again. It's just a passing fascination for them.

ART is not a fucking hobby or a trend or a fad, it's a fucking way of LIFE, it IS life; and if you don't feel that way about your art, then you're NOT a fucking artist, you're a hobbyist at best & a phony at worst, so don't CALL yourself an artist simply because it sounds cool.

And, as I said -- I find many SL snapshots to be interesting to look at, but I don't consider them to be art. I don't take my SL pics seriously, either. They're fun to take, fun to play around with, and a cool way to document what I've been up to in SL, but in no way does come NEAR to calling upon my emotions and efforts in the the ways my REAL artwork does.

These statements & observations might piss you off, but I don't really care. You don't have to agree with me; it's simply my opinion.

So there you have it.

As far as awesomely bad examples — you can’t throw a rock in Second Life and not hit half-ass SL photography. How I wish I could throw it all into a fucking blender and just hit Purée.

Tag search in Flickr for Second Life (plenty of lacquered up tits & ass - *yawn*):

http://flickr.com/search/?s=int&ss=2&ct=6&w=all&q=%22second+Life%22&m=tags

Thought for today

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

- Bertrand Russell

My painting in the 2009 Salon des Independants @ Hygienic Arts in New London

At the last minute, I decided to enter a piece in the 30th annual Salon des Independants at Hygienic Art in New London, CT. I started a new painting, but hated how it was coming out, so I then finished a painting I had started for last year's Salon but never got around to finishing.

[* I entered a different painting last year, which didn't sell, & I forgot to pick it up, so I have no idea what happened to it... I have no pictures of it or any other record of it, unfortunately. I could have SWORN that I blogged about the experience, but I can't find a post anywhere in any of my past journals... argh]

My entry for 2009:

Title: All Loveliness Is Anguish
Year: 2008/2009
Dimensions: 11 in. X 14 in.
Media: Acrylic on canvas.

Here's a bit more information about the event:

Hygienic Art, Inc. was created as an incorporated structure in the fall of 1979, when artists employed by a federal Comprehensive Education and Training Act (CETA) grant decided, as a final project, to hold an outsiders' art festival. The show was modeled after the "Salon des Independants," a late 19th century art movement in Paris in which artists had protested the aristocracy by exhibiting their works in cafes located in the 'seamy' areas of the city. The artists in those exhibitions gave rise the the great French Impressionist movement.

The exhibition was presented at the Hygienic Restaurant, New London's only 24 hour eatery, which had been open since 1919. The rules were simple; no judge, no jury, no fees, no censorship, one piece per artist and all were welcome. The show was an immediate success and the Hygienic Art Exhibition became an annual creative arts festival, attracting over 450 artists and an audience of thousands...

...The show has moved around over the years taking root at a pizza joint, rock clubs and other historic sites around the city. Wherever the people were the art was hung. Andn there was a lot of art (last year nearly 500 showed their work) and lots of people to take it in (the show, fondly dubbed New London's only Winter Tourist Attraction, averages more than 3000 visitors on its opening night alone).

Everything changed in 2000 when Hygienic Art, Inc., the non-profit organization formed to oversee the show annually, made a bold move to save the historic Hygienic Restaurant building which was quickly sliding down a path to demolition in the name of redevelopment. The building was purchased, rehabilitated and now houses the Hygienic Galleries as well as a Cooperative of developing artists. Hygienic Art soon took aim at the property next door, a vacant dirt lot, and built the iconic Art Park which now plays host to music, theatre and other community events.

(Above excerpts taken from the Hygienic XXX Collectors Program)

Design: Karli Hendrickson

I arrived at around 4:30 pm, hung my piece, then wandered the space for awhile, checking out all the other art.

My painting on display (I was entry #502):

The official opening was at 8 pm, and since we had time to kill, my friend & I decided to have dinner at the little bistro across the street, Brie & Bleu.

We had originally intended to just order something small, but ended up getting a bunch of stuff to share, it was so difficult to choose! We started with the Tuscan white bean spread with toasted baguette slices, then added the Antipasto plate, which included mixed olives, prosciutto, and cheeses (brie, a 5-year Gouda, & Blue Stilton); my friend ordered the soup of the day, which was a hearty chicken tortilla; I had one of the daily specials, fish tacos (blue corn tortilla, shredded cabbage, white fish & some kind of creamy sauce) with a side of pico de gallo & rice. We also ordered a bottle of wine recommended by our server -- the Don Ramon 2006. After dinner, we lingered for a bit, my friend got a coffee and we shared a chocolate pot d’crème garnished with sliced strawberry.

We wandered back to the gallery for awhile longer, but it had gotten REALLY crowded so we didn't stick around -- there was literally no room to walk around by the time we left.

A few examples of the work on display:

(click the photos for artist information)

[The piece on the right reminds me of a sculpture by Tim Noble & Sue Webster called Pink Narcissus; my friend Dekka Raymaker recently posted 2 pics of it on his photostream --
flickr.com/photos/dekka_raymaker/3233845803/
flickr.com/photos/dekka_raymaker/3237110310/ ]

For more pictures from the gallery, please click here to see the rest of the photoset. This is not a comprehensive collection of the work on display by any means (there were well over 500 pieces); I don't have a good camera (only my cellphone), so I simply took pictures of the ones I liked best to remember them.

If my painting doesn't sell, I have to go back in about two weeks to retrieve it -- I hope I remember to this time!