Category: Art

Post-Apocalypse Now

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A cloud of smoke rises following an airstrike by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held area of Douma, northeast of Damascus, on February 5, 2015 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

There’s an ad I often hear on NPR featuring a film critic saying, “I can’t wait for the real post-apocalyptic dystopia to arrive so we can finally stop seeing films about it.”

Every time I hear it I think:hodgins-yes

I so often see synopses for new films or tv shows or plays that take place in this post-apocalyptic landscape, particularly written by younger, (I’m just guessing here, but…) white, male writers.

I totally get the impulse. It’s hugely dramatic after all. What do you do after the worse possible thing has happened? You fight the man and reclaim the day! Does matter how vague, contrived, or illogical the details. Hell yeah! Tune in! Continue reading Post-Apocalypse Now

What Will You Do When the Future Comes?

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“Alas poor humanity, I knew it well…”

I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of Science and Art. (Had I not turned out to be an actor and composer, I sometimes think I might have been an astronomer 🌌.)

Great scientists always seem to have a touch of the artist inside of them, and similarly artists often think analytically, the way a scientist might. Especially when it comes to pushing the boundaries on what we think we know.

This article from Singularityhub.com is pretty mind-blowing in regard to just that. Ray Kurzweil (inventor, author, and artificial intelligence expert) has frequently made predictions on the progress of computers, and has often been dead on.

But his predictions for the NEXT 25 years, oscillate between awe-inspiring-ly imaginative and science-fiction/horror-movie like creepy. Continue reading What Will You Do When the Future Comes?

OSF Breaking Down Barriers

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The Oregon Shakespeare Festival proves once again that it is America’s foremost regional theatre company with the launch of its facilitator training program on inclusion and equity issues called artEquity.

As organizations continue to seek new ways to connect with their changing audiences, it will become increasingly important for artists and organizations alike to learn how to break down barriers of gender, race, and class. The problem is that these barriers are often invisible to the artists and organizations.  That’s why this type of training is so integral to making real and lasting change. Continue reading OSF Breaking Down Barriers

Cultural Swampland

My attention was drawn a while back to an LA Times article discussing a sort of cultural revolution occurring at Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).  Longtime curator, Paul Schimmel – “an artist favorite, seen as a champion of ambitious, intensely researched exhibitions” – was recently fired and replaced by Jeffrey Deitch – “who gained his reputation by creating buzzed-about events that often drew on youth culture, [including recent exhibitions in LA] that revolved around high-recognition names, including Dennis Hopper and James Franco.”  The ousting led to the protest and resignation of many board member-artists, including Catherine Opie and John Baldessari.

The article goes on to include other realms of art interacting warily with celebrity and fashion.

MOCA is not the only artistic institution hosting celebrity versus significance face-off. Theater has been at it for years; Broadway not only remakes big, successful film musicals, now it takes on flops (“Newsies”) and indies (“Once”) while bemoaning the lack of original plays.

Now, there’s certainly nothing new about a clash between the “old guard” and the young, up-start newcomers.  “Established” and “safe” often mean the same, and the “language of the people” is constantly evolving (or perhaps “revolving” is a more apt term), so if one doesn’t at least keep an ear out, one will eventually become irrelevant.

If there are any hard and fast rules about art and fashion they are: Continue reading Cultural Swampland

Enter My Man Cave

I am always sad to admit that I have practically no visual aesthetic sense.

Mismatched Chic.  Sloppy Couture.  Abstract Amateurism.

My guy brain just can’t be troubled with having to figure out what to put where in order to make it look good.  I know what DOES look good, when I see it.  I just don’t necessarily know how to create (or re-create it).

So I was VERY excited when my friend Emily told me about her incredible blog A Room of His Own.
Continue reading Enter My Man Cave

Picasso Would Be F*cked

To Mr. Picasso:

Thank you for your interest in our Artist Residency Program.  Please answer these few questions about your proposed project, and our team will review your application for workshop space in our facilities.

Please describe your proposed project.

Um.  It’s a portrait of a woman in a white dress.  But her face and body will be disproportionate and angular.  Her nose will appear to be coming out of her right eye, and her head will appear to have been bashed in with a sledgehammer.

What would you hope to accomplish during your residency here?

I plan to paint it…?

If your project were an animal, which would animal would it be?

What the fuck?

Please write a three-word sentence to describe your intention with this project.

Make people look.

That’s not a complete sentence.

Sure it is.

Is it an imperative sentence, with “you” as the implied subject, or…?

Uh…

Otherwise I don’t get it.

I have a feeling you don’t get a lot of things.

And finally, why this project now?

Because there are too many portraits of normal looking people.  I want to do something different? I’m an artist with an idea and you’re an arts space. Why don’t you be the judge of why this now? Is it really my place to decide the importance and relevance of my own work?  You know what…this whole thing is stupid.  I’ll just work on it in my own studio.

Thank you.  Your answers will be taken into serious consideration.

Fuck you.