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THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE PLACES AND THE IMAGINATIVE RUSES OF A PECULIAR CHARACTER
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Life: On a Boat

1 07 2009

My friend Ole Brodersen is living  On A Boat. For reals though (minus T Payne). He and a crew of his Norwegian comrades set sail from their native land last August in a wooden sailboat, with a history of over a hundred years. Ole is an amazing photographer and shot the below shots throughout their trip. I was able to catch up with the crew for a few days as our time overlapped in New York. A large group of jealous friends wished the Norwegians farewell one evening on the Hudson river, as we sang songs with gusto, shared stories with fervor, and wished the night would last forever. Ole and cronies are currently sailing home across the Atlantic, which they estimate will take them roughly 2 months in their vessel. I will update and have Ole share some more photos and a story or two of their travels. But for now, here is a snapshot to wet your pallet, and cultivate some wanderlust.
















Date : 1 July 2009 at 4:07
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Travel, fun

Redivivus Rendezvous

25 06 2009

I just got back from two amazing and inspiring weeks in New york.

I went to interview a cadre of creatives that are shaping the culture of today, modern day heretics if you will, paving their own way in the modern world.

David Ellis , Oliver Vernon, Nicola Lopez, Jacob Feige, Gaia, Ira Lippke, Jimmy Fontaine, Nini Ordoubadi, David Graves

These photos are an amalgamation of some of the things that went down during the trip.

Includes but not limited to: Bagels. Art. Interviews. Beer. Sailboats. Street Art. Honeybees. Coffee. Bike Polo. Whiskey. Tea. Norwegians.

Shot from the new High Line Park.

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David Ellis creative den.

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Oliver Vernon’s work space. Below is a piece his father made years ago.

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Traffic Jam.

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Had some tea time with Nini Ordoubadi in here resplendent home.

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Nini’s gallimaufry of selected teas.

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Gaia had some fresh pieces he was finishing for a show in DC.

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Nicola Lopez’s fabulous studio space tucked somewhere very tricky to find in BRKLYN.

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Bike Polo Sundays at the park in L.E.S.

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David Graves is a beekeeper who uses space on top of buildings throughout the city to cultivate his honey harvest. 50,000 bees in this one location!

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The next generation of bike polo enthusiasts.

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David Ellis paints on everything, mobile and immobile. He really enjoys the mobile showcase though.

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Haha really?

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A great piece my bud Connor Harrington did in Meatpacking District.

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Ole and Jrob.

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Some friends from Norway are sailing around the world and they were in NY the same time as I, and we had a farewell shindig to wish them a safe journey back home.

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Priceless.

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Date : 25 June 2009 at 21:30
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Travel

A Call to Action

3 06 2009

Just posted a couple of new posters in the Newport Beach area. Enjoy, and stay thirsty my friends.

INSPIRE.

On 17th St at Tustin Ave. intersection in Newport Beach.

RESPECT.
On Pacific Coast Hwy at Prospect intersection in Newport Beach.

Words of wisdom for the week:

“Hard times should not encourage conservatism and retrenchment, but greater experimentation.”

Date : 3 June 2009 at 0:14
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Art, Wisdomly Words, fun

Appropriated Poster Campaign

26 05 2009

Below is a series of appropriated posters that I painted over and reinstalled into bus stops. These are the first posters to hit the streets in an ongoing experimental campaign to raise cognitive awareness and more importantly to inspire benevolent action that we often forget, oversee, or might be in opposition to our often hedonistic culture. These first batch of posters can be found in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. More to come. Many more.

PATIENCE. On 17th St. at Orange Ave intersection in Costa Mesa.

FORGIVE. On Dover Dr. near Pacific Coast in Newport Beach.

BELIEVE. On Pacific Coast Hwy near Superior in Newport Beach.

LET IT BE. On Newport Blvd. at Hospital Rd. intersection in Newport Beach.

Date : 26 May 2009 at 18:58
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Art

Upside Down and Inside Out

21 05 2009

Andy Warhol once said ” I dropped something today and it broke, and it made me want to drop something once a week to remind me how fragile life is.” Last week I laid on the beach thinking about this quote amongst many other things, during the 20 minutes that I lay in excruciating pain on the beach staring at the overcast sky. I injured my back while surfing, landing on my board upside down on the lower part of my back, and could barely walk for a couple days thereafter. Subsequent to this I have been so thankful that I can walk, ride a bike, play tennis, paint, etc. It always fascinates me that it takes something bad to happen, in order to realize the good things in life that I often take for granted. Anyway, it has been a while, here is a bit of what I have been up to.

I finished this piece of Three 3 foot triangles, each representing a country that I visited in Asia, Thailand, Viet Nam and Indonesia.

A couple weeks ago I interviewed the very talented art duo Connor Harrington and Chloe Early the day before their fist solo show in the US, at Kinsey Desforges gallery in Culver City. Connor and Chloe are of Irish descent, and both now residing in London are at the forefront of the British cadre of artists.  We sat in the hot sun on the roof as Connor frantically worked on a wall mural. Both interviews are for the coffee table book I am working on, but here are some photos below to show their talent.

Chloe’s somnambulant yet lucid landscapes.

Connor’s visual battlegrounds of masculinity in the modern world.

Date : 21 May 2009 at 7:11
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Art, Interviews, Uncategorized, fun

Solo Art Show

14 04 2009

Thanks to all of you who were able to make it out to the opening reception of my solo show in Laguna Beach on Saturday evening.

The turnout was great to say the least, and the night was filled with martinis, laughter, art, music, and lots of friends. Here are some photos of the evening.

If you were unable to make it, feel free to drop by Skylab Gallery M-F between 10Am-5PM. There will be a closing reception held on May 7th, during the monthly art walk in Laguna, so feel free to come and celebrate that night as well.

Words for the week: The free exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take direction as it wishes, undirected and unencumbered.

All photos by Sir Braedon Flynn (thanks Brady!)

Date : 14 April 2009 at 4:24
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Uncategorized

Solo Art Show Extravaganza

8 04 2009

I currently have paint all over me and smell like resin, and probably will till this weekend.

I have a solo art show in Laguna Beach this Saturday night.

Come one come all! Hope to see you there.

Date : 8 April 2009 at 5:55
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Art, fun

The Journey is the Destination

6 04 2009

Rarely do I put things like this up, but this is indeed a necessity. This post is more of a journal entry, than a blog, but nonetheless I hope you enjoy it . I have been so inspired and deeply moved by the short but very intense life of Dan Eldon that I wanted to share a bit about his life with you.

Dan was a shooting star in the sky, there for a moment for all to see then quickly fading away, left everyone breath taken. Growing up in Kenya, Dan was the son of an American mother and a English father, wildly exploring and getting lost in Africa. With studies and traveling taking him to countless foreign lands, Dan quickly crafted a philosophy of curiosity, creativity, adventure, and compassion. At the young age of 19 he led a group of 14 of his peers through sub-Saharan Africa to deliver money they had raised to a refugee camp. Dan’s mantra for life was “The journey is the destination” and “Safari as a way of life.” Just shy of his 23rd birthday Dan had traveled to more than 40 countries, and been recognized as the youngest Routers photographer ever, helping to alert the world of the tragic famine in Somalia. Dan was a chaotic mix of talents, moods and destinations, which is obvious by looking at images of any of his journals. At a young age Dan began to take a journal with him everywhere. The sudden end of Dans light came as a brutal reminder to those who knew and loved him-that life is precious, and sometimes, far too short.

Dan was stoned to death while working in Somalia during the civil war in 93. He was making his way through the streets of Mogadishu to the suspected headquarters of a Somali warlord where scores of people had just been killed in a bombing by United Nations forces. There, amid the rubble, he and three other journalists were set upon by an enraged mob and stoned to death.

Dan’s family and friends found solace in his thousands of photographs and especially in his journals. In 17 scrapbooks Mr. Eldon had created meticulous collages of the adventures and passions of his teenage and young adult years growing into a man who saw his camera work as a quest for justice.

That same year Dan’s sister, Amy, filmed a documentary, “Dying to Tell the Story,” in which she traveled to the scene of her brother’s death in Mogadishu and interviewed journalists who had worked with him. “I needed to stare down the darkness I was facing,” she said.

A year later Kathy and Amy Eldon founded the Creative Visions Foundation to provide support to activists “who use media, the arts and technology to inform, inspire and empower others.” They donated the journals to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but when the museum said it intended to p

lace the works in its archives, Kathy asked for them back.

“I didn’t want the journals to be hidden and preserved for a hundred years at the cost of people being inspired and energized,” she said. In December 2005 she agreed to let Lisa Candela, a photographer who had been struck by Mr. Eldon’s work, organize a small show of the pages in New York.

Ms. Candela said, “Dan’s story was what I was searching for in myself — the journey, the humanitarian, the living life fearlessly.” She received 350 rolls of Mr. Eldon’s film from his father, Mike, who is divorced from Kathy Eldon and lives in Kenya, and spent the next few months scanning each journal and photograph.

She set aside his edited proof sheets and made new ones from his negatives. “I wanted to test myself,” Ms. Candela said. “I wanted to see if I was the eye to be selecting his images.”

“To laugh and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to leave the world a better place, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
That is to have succeeded.”

I wrote this in my journal a couple of years ago after reading Dans story in the book ” Dan Eldon: The art of Life”, in one sitting.

So moved by a man i have never met…

So intoxicating are the stories yet so sobering is the truth. He would have wanted it to end no other way; to go out like a shining star with everyone gazing in perplexity and utter fascination. Leaving those behind with self examination, questioning their purpose and life, in a life lived so commonplace. He would have wanted them to think, realize and compromise no more with the beauracracies of living the normal modern life. I cried as if I was with him when he was killed, imagining the blood shed, the chaos, the misunderstanding, the barbaricness of mankind. So motivating is his story, known only by a few, that of which are left with clearer minds of their hopes, passions, and deepest desires brought to the surface and never to sink again, but to live like he did. So I hope I can also live out my dreams like he did, and when I pass, my story to carry on and inspire others, to do as their hearts desire. No holds bar. Live like you mean it. After all the journey is the destination.

Date : 6 April 2009 at 4:22
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Art, Wisdomly Words

The Dichotomy Between the Known and Unknown

30 03 2009
Today I want to say this:
Lets be bolder, kinder, and wiser. Lets make a difference where it counts. Lets create our own paths. Lets stir up the pot a bit. Or a lot.
I found this list of Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto, written in 1998, to be truly inspirational.
  1. Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
  2. Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth.
  3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there.
  4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child). Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
  5. Go deep. The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
  6. Capture accidents. The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
  7. Study. A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
  8. Drift. Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
  9. Begin anywhere.John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
  10. Everyone is a leader.Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
  11. Harvest ideas.Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas to applications.
  12. Keep moving.The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
  13. Slow down.Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
  14. Don’t be cool.Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
  15. Ask stupid questions.Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
  16. Collaborate.The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
  17. ____________________.Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas of others.
  18. Stay up late.Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.
  19. Work the metaphor.Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
  20. Be careful to take risks.Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
  21. Repeat yourself.If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
  22. Make your own tools.Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
  23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
  24. Avoid software.The problem with software is that everyone has it.
  25. Don’t clean your desk.You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
  26. Don’t enter awards competitions.Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
  27. Read only left-hand pages.Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our “noodle.”
  28. Make new words.Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
  29. Think with your mind.Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
  30. Organization = Liberty.Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between “creatives” and “suits” is what Leonard Cohen calls a ‘charming artifact of the past.’
  31. Don’t borrow money.Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
  32. Listen carefully.Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
  33. Take field trips.The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
  34. Make mistakes faster.This isn’t my idea — I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
  35. Imitate.Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
  36. Scat.When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else … but not words.
  37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
  38. Explore the other edge.Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
  39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces — what Dr. Seuss calls “the waiting place.” Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference — the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals — but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
  40. Avoid fields.Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
  41. Laugh.People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I’ve become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
  42. Remember.Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
  43. Power to the people.Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.
Date : 30 March 2009 at 3:17
Comments : 1 Comment »
Categories : Uncategorized, Wisdomly Words

Guerilla Aid

24 03 2009

Lots of good stuff coming up for the month of April. The first event is a group art show to benefit an amazing non profit called Global Colors. This benevolent art show is put on by 2 of my closest cronies on April 4th from 8-11pm in downtown LA. I am greatly obliged to be one of the 5 artist’s featured in this show, and will have some new works up, so come check it out and learn about guerrilla aid is all about.

But tickets at www.wearesewcreative.com.


Date : 24 March 2009 at 20:05
Comments : No Comments »
Categories : Art

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