shut your trap and take some snaps.

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Gvstav Klimt: The Magic of Line

Living in the LA area brings forth slews of opportunities as art exhibitions/walks, concerts, festivals, and flea markers are usually readily available to her denizens. Gustav Klimt's exhibition at the Getty is just another way for art afficiando's to gather round in ye old air conditioned museum room and gawk at his erotic sketches. Or maybe just a way to help college students pose a few impressive lines to the ladies next to their Klimt "dorm-room posters that lets everyone know they're artsy," as one LA Weekly columnist put it. Mind you, I am writing this as I face my wall adorned with Mucha and Klimt drawings. 

Cliche college posters aside, there is no doubting that Klimt is an exceptional painter, muralist, and sketcher. There have been whispers in the naysayers arena who purport Klimt's work is "superficial and merely demonstrative." Which can be true in many senses if you are looking primarily at his paintings like The Kiss (college room poster #1 and Danielle Steel book cover. yikes.) or Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (college room poster #2). But the Getty does a great job at steering away from his quintessential golden paintings and leave attendees with over 100 drawings on loan from the Albertina Museum in Vienna. Old characterizations of superficiality are thrown away and replaced with simplistic lines showing Klimt's uncanny ability to render his models as living and breathing creatures. One sketch that really encapsulates that last sentence is called Fishblood (shown below).

This sketch garnered a second look from me as I realized it was done on some sort of quasi cardboard box material. The backsides were folded and it actually appeared sloppily bent, save for the beautiful art work presented on the front. As I thoroughly scanned the painting (at one point my face almost fogging up the glass), I couldn't help but notice Klimt's perfectly intricate lines maneuvering their way across the canvas and the women floating across with this captured sexual abandon. I was immediately envious at Klimt's ability to draw with such profundity and precision as I am a person who can barely draw a stick figure without screwing up the triangle and box shaped outfits. As I sauntered from sketch to sketch there was no doubt a prevalent theme of angelic women floating in a dream state, lost in a current of autoeroticism. I then wondered to myself what his intentions were in drawing all these women in such positions. Were these femme fatales just a mere fantasy to Klimt whom he womanized and lusted over? Or were these women vessels in which a certain state of truth could be gleaned? Although Klimt rarely commented on his work and no real intention can be known, he did favor the epigram "Nudas Veritas" meaning "in nakedness is found truth." (Whereas I favor the epigram "In Vino Veritas" -- in wine [there is] truth. I think Klimt and I wouldv'e gotten along swimmingly). Klimt actually painted a beautiful golden spectacle of art titled "Nudas Veritas" and included a Freidrich Schiller quote alongside it: If you cannot please everyone with your deeds and your art, please a few. To please many is bad.

"Kissing is the supreme achievement of the Western world."

I am not the biggest Tom Robbins fan since I picture him writing his books next to a thesaurus furiously sifting through the pages in search for antiquated/obsolete words that ultimately detract from his stories. Maybe his friendship with Terrence McKenna and Timothy Leary were too influential on his books for me to handle...? However, I do respect his original tales that are usually threaded with indelible quotes and ultimately make up for his bizarre lexicon. In this particular entry (given to me by a devout T.R. fan), Robbins writes about the necessity of kissing in a 1990 issue of Playboy. And it goes a little something like this:

"Beware the man who considers kissing nothing more than duty, a sop to the "weaker" sex, an annoyingly necessary component to foreplay. That man has penis plaque in his arteries and will collapse under the weight of intimacy. Send him off to the nearest golf course while those of us who are more evolved celebrate the unique graces of the kiss. No other flesh like lip flesh! no other meat like mouth meat! the musical clink of tooth against tooth! the wonderful curiosity of tongues!"

Two things: I need to use the phrase "penis plaque" more and oddly enough yesterday was national kissing day. I didn't know this until after I decided to write this post. I'm thinking I might have received telepathic messages from the high frequencies of yesterdays snogging.

wanderlusting.

I'm a little ashamed at how little I have been writing in this blog after I told myself I would make a conscious effort to write regularly...but life and friends and perfunctory tasks and the LA hustle and bustle seem to always get in the way. I also have a bit of a problem admitting I actually write on a blog as a Los Angeles resident. Might as well become a struggling actress and work part time at a cafe while I'm at it...right?

Anyways, I wanted this blog to be specifically designated around non personal issues and concentrated towards issues I found intriguing and/or inspiring. The last thing I wanted was this thing to become an online diary. I have a little red notebook I carry around with me where I jot down interesting facts and musings about things from Astrology to information about my new obsession with "The Dollars Trilogy." Sergio Leone is a spaghetti western deity, by the way!! Writing on here was supposed to be a digital manifestation of my little red book. I also wanted to steer away from personal ramblings about my life because I believe that websites like Facebook and Tumblr have come to a state where privacy, anonymity and mystery become null and void. Personal lives become publicly exploited and the information scattered around my news feed become bombarded with mundane commentary from people I wish never met or from people I wish I could suddenly see asphyxiate. And then it makes me wonder why people like to expose themselves so much to the world...join a nudist colony, guys!! ... amiright?! Also, seems like vis a vis conversations lately have been over run with gossip and "he did this" and "she did that's" which ultimately make me question the strength of an honest and genuine humanity. Sounds harsh, I know. This seems to be the mental climate I've been living in for a while. I am one step away from living in a musty old room, clad in a "Catitude" muumuu and denouncing the rowdy neighbors kids. (can't wait).

2011 Asia Travel Video

Another accomplishment I have made during my post grad lull is my introduction to the magic of iMovie. I spent five months studying abroad in Asia and traveled to Cambodia, Thailand and Korea. The entire time spent there I took footage of the sights with my dingy iPhone, hoping when I returned to the states I would manifest some sort of video replete with music to chronicle my time there. I had been holding off starting, until I finally forced myself in front of my computer to begin what I thought would be a tedious process. There was a small digital stare down, but my computer finally prevailed and I started the project. It took me a solid day to complete the entire video (with the help of a few youtube tutorials), but the whole process was fairly easy and informative. I'm kinda addicted now to be honest and am waiting for the next adventure just so I can make another video. I strongly urge everyone to utilize the iMovie application on that mac of yours. If you don't have a mac, then you don't deserve iMovie. That may not be "P.C.". . . but this is a Mac world. Anyways, this is what culminated:

Digital Darkroom

I had the pleasure to witness a wonderfully orchestrated exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography a week ago called Digital Darkroom. I wrote a news article on the Space when I was attending Santa Monica College when the place first opened in 2009 and I was excited at the chance to go back and see what photos they chose to adorn their walls this time.

This particular exhibit involved seventeen artist showcasing their inimitable talents with the use of "different digital techniques: compositing highly layered imagery, working in 3D and lenticular images, [and] using lighting in highly inventive ways.." Being an enthused photographer myself, I was thoroughly blown away and was caught reminding myself to breathe amidst all these images.

                                                Picture I took of my freakishly beautiful friend. 


The exhibit showcased photographers Josef Astor, Pierre Beteille, Joel Grimes, Ted Grudowski, Claudia Konin, Chris Levine, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, Brooke Shaden, Mike Pucher and a slew of other talented artists. However, a few artists stood out in my mind -- namely Brooke Shaden, Pierre Beteille, and Jerry Uelsmann -- who were able to capture reality in a lens that induced it with imagination and a Tim Burton like eerie surrealism. 

                                                              Brooke Shaden

                                                                                             Jerry Uelsmann

                                                                                                   Pierre Beteille



I was particularly blown away when I read the various photographers biographies. I am at a fork in the road in my own life and it is the dreaded post grad limbo period every college kid bewails thinking about. When I read biographies about people who inspire me, I always gain some sort of insight not only on how they positioned themselves in such a desired vocation but also try to relate it to my own life questions. I was pretty surprised to read that many of these photographers fell into these positions by chance. Happenstance and luck have guided these renowned photographers to their current profession, which gives this worried post grad a little hope. I don't know what I want to do with my life and it seems my English degree in hand won't shed any light on such a puzzling question. It just sits there, staring at me, furtively laughing at me and the amount of money I paid for it to mount ever so gloriously on my wall. Anyways, I digress. The point I am trying to make is this: Reading those biographies gave me hope about my future. It is okay for the time being that I don't know what I want to do with my career. Some things just fall into place and evolve your life into a pleasantly unrecognizable state. I may have an English degree, but that doesn't mean a job in photography or music or film or any other field that doesn't pertain to my degree won't fall into my lap and take full force.

Second point I want to make: Go to the Annenberg Space for Photography. For all you Los Angelinos with mothers you adore (or don't adore for that matter but respect the fact that she housed your naked sea monkey self in her uterus for nine months), take her there for Mothers Day. There's free food, fine art and pictures will be taken of you and your mom to commemorate the day.

back in L.A.

Hey ya'll. I am back after my three month blog hiatus. This is my first entry since graduating with my bachelors degree in one hand, a big fat academic bill in the other and not a clue in my mind of future vocations or happenings. Current status: living with the parents in a quaint suburban area of Culver City and surrounded by the glamor and materialism of Los Angelinos. It's really a drastic turn around from the hippie dippy/patchouli soaked Santa Cruz. Coming back to LA after living in such a counterculture kind of area, really puts my birthplace into perspective. There is still much to investigate on this side of the tracks though and living with the parents will not deter my adventures, nor will it dampen the exploratory possibilities of living in such a desirable city. I did drive through Beverly Hills today on my way to Franklin Canyon and I was given a huge eye gulp of  everything Santa Cruz is opposed to: the overpriced shops selling clothes that could only fit my sisters American Girl Doll and the suited men and women hustling for their afternoon sub and salad at Lagasse's new eatery. Does this sound kind of harsh? I didn't intend for that to sound as jeering as it did, but I can't help notice the permanent corporate culture congregated in that area.

However, unbeknownst to many Los Angelinos Franklin Canyon Park is nestled right in the hills adjacent to Coldwater Canyon Dr. and Mulholland Dr. A great getaway from the normative corporate miasma of Beverly Hills and hustle and bustle of the city. The canyon is the purported geographical  center of LA and did I mention Twin Peaks was shot here on more than one occasion ... oh yeah the strapping slicked backed haired Kyle Mclaughlin has walked these areas as Special Agent Dale Cooper with his tape recorder in hand and the log lady sauntering from tree to tree close by.

Now that I am a recent graduate, what better to do with my time than glue myself to my couch and finish the second season....