I just wanted to share this artist because well when i watch a really good movie or hear a really good song i can feel myself smiling but when i look at artwork, even if it manages to convey something important to me, i dont usually find myself smiling. But when i saw this man wesley hitts photographs i found myself smiling. Even at images that seem kind of random, i feel he managed to capture it in a way that made me feel a certain happiness. I think that is a real talent because well i dont know if its just for me but i feel he just manages to capture moments so well. Anyone with a camera can take a picture but it takes someone who is really talented to get that just right.

http://www.hittphotography.com/

i cant upload the pictures here becuase of copyright issues but you can go there to see them

Pregnant Man

I remember Mr. Reyes once talking about what it'd be like to have men give birth. Well, after Mr. Lee Mingwei does, we shall know.

What does a pregnant man have to do with art?
Well, Lee Mingwei is an artist himself, and he's done a lot work that's been featured in many cities, including New York. I thought he did traditional Chinese paintings, but he's actually a contemporary artist. For example, one of his projects was called "Guernica in Sand." It looks nothing like Guernica though, I admit.

He also used different materials, like cloth and wood and... tea sets? And a few of his projects reminded me of Do Ho Suh, the Korean artist we watched a film on in the beginning of the year, who built houses out of fabric.

Check him out. For his art and his pregnancy.

http://www.leemingwei.com/mingwei-web/mingweiFrameset-1.htm

A Dead Dog as Art?

So...
I was looking around and found this TERRIBLE TERRIBLE news that happene a year ago.


A Costa Rican artist found himself in hot water with the animal protection people in his home country after using a starving, sick street dog as part of an exposition in Managua, Nicaragua, in August. Guillermo “Habacuc” Vargas allegedly found the dog tied up on a street corner in a poor Nicaragua barrio and brought it to the showing. He tied the dog, according to furious animal lovers, in a corner of the salon where it died after a day.

...

According to the artist, his “art” was a tribute to Natividad Canda, a Nicaraguan burglar killed in Costa Rica by two rottweilers guarding property he had entered at night. The incident caused friction between the two countries. Habacuc told the daily La Nacion, “I won’t say the dog died. The importance to me is the hypocracy of the people where an animal is the focus of attention where people come to see art but not when it’s in the street starving to death.” “The same thing happened withpoor Natividad Canda. The people sympathized with him only after he was dead,” the artist added.

Picture included:
http://petloverstips.com/ForTheLoveoftheDog/news-updates/a-dead-dog-as-art-petition

Is this art...
I think this is just a crime!!!!! A true artist should be able to express what he wants to express w/o any torture of any animal...
This poor poor dog died for the artist's art...
I just thought since we are all artist we should consider the question
"what is art"
even though art is something that we cannot really judge...

John Maeda advice

I recently came across John Maeda's blog where he gives advice about design:

I gave a talk at Parsons School for Design in New York City last week, and the school kindly put me up in an old hotel in Washington Square. After I got off the elevator, I was immediately confronted with the skinniest hallway I had ever seen. Entering my actual room, I was surprised at how spacious it was because the ultraslim hallway had signaled to me that I might need to be prepared to assume the Munchkin position in my room.

This experience reminded me of the three C's I try to teach my students as the three core principles of design:

Content: There needs to be a message or meaning. Everything needs a reason to exist, otherwise it shouldn't.
Context: Content doesn't live in a vacuum. A Chanel bag sitting on a shelf at Wal-Mart will only confuse.
Contrast: An element is made stronger when a counterelement is offered. Salt tastes saltier after one has had some sugar.