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September 7th, 2009
10:29 pm - "MU" (無), Burning Man 2009
Mu is an art installation I put together for Burning Man this year. The installation - 11 banners, 2 feet x 10 feet tall - was a collaboration between myself and calligrapher Eri Takase (http://www.takase.com)
I just wanted to write a few thoughts about the project following its installation at Burning Man.
First: Burning Man art projects are hard.
Burning Man is a rough environment, prone to very strong winds and dust storms. I put up the installation on Sunday, in a pretty stiff windstorm (no idea what the wind speed was - felt like 60mph, but it probably wasn't!) and the bamboo I was using to mount the banners on basically started to disintegrate by splitting up the sides. I'd planned for this to some extent and put hose clamps at the failure points, but it was clear that the poles wouldn't last very long.
So, after writing poetry and refining about a dozen ideas for content, coordinating with Eri for weeks on the calligraphy, printing and sewing over 440 sq ft of canvas, hauling bamboo all over Seattle, casting cement bases and machining parts for the poles, bringing everything 750 miles down to Nevada, coordinating heavy machinery to dig holes for the installation and working all day in the desert sun - I had to pull down the banners, fill in the holes, and call it defeat. What a heart-wrenching day as an artist.
Second: Community is power.
Towards the end of the week, some friends who built the giant Rubik's Cube (http://www.groovik.com) offered me the use of some scaffolding pipes that they weren't using. They were 13 feet tall - perfect for the banners!
I decided to put the installation back up on Friday, even though we were leaving on Saturday and would have to take it down the next day. Art is not always rational or reasonable, after all.
Third: Fortune favours the bold
Imagine you're in a desert. You're looking for 11 holes that you dug, because it would be easier to scoop dirt out of loosely packed holes than to dig brand new ones.
A few problems:
- The installation was as near as possible to the middle of the Playa.
- The desert is BIG.
- It has been about a week since the holes were dug, so the dust and tracks have all moved around.
- And any distinguishing markers at the site were cleaned up when the installation was originally taken down (Leave No Trace event, right?)
The Burning Man placement people said their GPS was out, so they couldn't send anybody out to help locate the site. In other words, we were fairly screwed. I ended up driving around a 24 foot diesel truck for about 15 or 20 minutes, looking for the spot the installation was originally in. I finally gave up and decided that we'd just need to dig a new hole, see how strenuous it was, and figure out how many we'd be able to put in. Maybe just one.
I got out of the truck and walked around to see if anything was more visible from foot than from the truck. I walked about 20 feet out, in a big circle. On my way back to the truck, I noticed something that looked like two rows of disturbed earth. Somehow, I'd given up and parked the truck less than 20 feet away from the spot where the original holes were.
Fourth: Community really is power
Two separate groups of people came over as we were working on putting the banners up the second time and asked what we were doing. "Putting up an art installation - would you like to help?" They all pitched in.
At least one thing was amazingly cool about this. It was the first burn for all of the strangers. Several of them told me that they'd been wandering around looking at all of the art and felt a little bad about not contributing. They were super happy that they were getting the opportunity to participate and work on an art project. More than one of them said that doing so was a highlight of their week. I'm humbled and honoured to be able to contribute to their Burn experience in such a way.
Fifth: Sometimes doing an unreasonably hard thing is TOTALLY worth it
After we put up the installation, I went back to camp to grab my cameras and photograph it in the beautiful light of dusk. I stayed until it was pretty much too dark to shoot anything else without a tripod. As I was leaving, a couple of fellows came up to look at the installation. I overheard one of them say to the other, "This - the banners with the moon rising behind it - this is the most beautiful thing I've seen all week". Hearing that blew my mind, and almost had me in tears.
In memoriam:
Mu was fully up from about 5.30 PM on Friday, 4 September 2009 until about 11.30 AM on Saturday, 5 September 2009. Saturday morning was cooler than usual, so a surprisingly large number of people were out in deep playa when we went to take the installation down. I hope that this means that quite a few people got to see the installation, despite its unusually ephemeral nature.
The project wouldn't have happened without help from quite a few people: Eri for lending her amazing calligraphy and talent to the project; Tim Jackowski's translation help; Sylvia Olveda for providing some of the bamboo; Mez Naam for providing the remainder and helping me schlep bamboo across Seattle by hand; Kevin for help machining hardware; Serena Batten's loan of a sewing machine; Rachel @ BM's DPW for augering holes for the banners; Alison Park-Douglas, Marcus Trione, Miller Sherling, Brady Forrest, Josh Lind, Cat Koehn, Elan Lee, James Thrush and the Burners we met on Playa for help setting up and tearing down; Barry Brummit, Mike Tyka and the Grooviks Cube camp for transporting the poles and for the loan of some scaffolding when my original engineering ideas failed; everybody who came to the fundraiser to help defray costs for the project.
Prior to Burning Man, I did a fashion photo shoot in Seattle in an aircraft hangar in Magnuson Park, with Heather Nichols (hair), Calvy Tran (make up), Shirley Chiu (jewelry), Robert Fisher (rockstar assistant) and Kelby from Heffner Management as the model. Clothing came from Synapse 206 (http://www.synapse206.com). I meant to do another shoot on the Playa with some clothing from Neodandi (http://www.neodandi.com), but the timing and first failure of the installation made that impossible.
Thank you and much love to you all!
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June 18th, 2009
12:12 pm - Print sale online!
Hi everybody,
Thanks to all of you who made it out to my opening at Art Walk this month. Several people from out of town were asking how to see the prints available, so I've decided to continue the sale online!
Information is available here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=44777699986
The event contains links to 3 galleries of prints available and has info on how to purchase.
Thanks!
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March 3rd, 2009
10:28 pm - SEAF
Yay - 1 image in SEAF this year. No, I won't be posting a preview.
Hint for those of you following along at home (not hard to cheat and look back, I've posted 4 times in the last 2 years more or less) - the shoot I posted an image of in December didn't make it in, so their choice wasn't totally obvious to me!
/me realizes that he's been shooting a /tonne/ but not posting here or on Flickr very much. Hope to change that at some point in the near future. That pesky life gets in the way of social networking / self-promotion, eh?
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December 20th, 2008
10:17 pm - Makes me raw...
Adobe are some devious bastards. Withholding a feature like, oh, RAW support for new cameras from older versions of Photoshop and Lightroom is not exactly a marketing strategy I'm terribly happy about, I have to say.
*sigh* 30 day trial it is, to get through this batch I shot with my friend's Nikon...
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December 11th, 2008
11:53 pm - Me here now
So, WTF have I been up to?
Got back from Europe
Couldn't play for a while, chained to a pager
Taught a photo lighting workshop
Had a photo shoot fall through and wound up drinking way too much instead with the cooks and employees at a Japanese restaurant after hours - no idea why they didn't kick me out with everybody else
Had some more photo shoots that didn't fall through
This was the first test shot to check lighting @ a recent shoot - mostly unretouched, this is slightly back-focused.
Had an art opening with the best sales day so far this year
Made some interesting contacts for hair, clothes and makeup
Going through 4 years worth of fashion magazines and pulling out tears (YIKES! when did all those build up?)
Have a really damn busy couple of weeks coming up shooting with aforementioned hair, clothes and makeup, including a pretty damn big production I'm putting together just before Christmas
Realized that borrowing $10,000 in clothing means that I need a slightly different insurance policy (damn, designer clothing adds up quickly...)
I'm amazed boredom exists in this world - who has time to be bored??
Me, I just take on far too much work and try to make something creative out of my time. No rest for the wicked.
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November 30th, 2008
11:01 pm - Next show: Thursday, December 4
Dear friends of my poor, neglected journal,
Come and see what I've been busy working on! My next show is opening this Thursday, December 4 at Studio Brick in Seattle.
The Water Trade - Pictures of the Floating World
This is a mini-retrospective of work shot in Japan or inspired by traditional Asian arts over the course of this decade.
Many of the images represent a return to my background in black and white printmaking and street photography - shot hand-held with available light on antique medium-format film cameras. I found that this approach, in addition to being practical, suited the subject matter. Fleeting glimpses of strangers captured from the point of view of the anonymous observer, surreptitious views detached and yet also wholly interested.
Studio Brick is located at 214 1st Ave S, in the lower-level arcade of Pioneer Sq's historic Grand Central building, between Washington and Main.
If the main entrance is closed, you can access the arcade via a staircase to the left of the main building doors, next to the bookstore. Go downstairs and walk to the south end of the hallway.
Opening reception will be from 6 - 9 pm on Thursday, December 4th.
Also, handmade jewelry will be available from Velvet Mechanism - unique pieces created from vintage watches, clocks and other hardware - perfect for holiday gifts!
Hope to see you there =)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/busy.gif) busy
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August 29th, 2008
01:48 pm - Art and meat (or, this post has no intellectual merit)
It's amazing how much more full the gym is after the Olympics.
I've been masquerading as a meathead weightlifter myself, although that's more because I'd been more or totally neglecting my physique during the summer given that I'd been so busy with art. (6 shows!!! 2 promotional events, photo workshop teaching...)
It's kind of amazing what you can do to your body in the space of a week or so. M, Tu, Th, F in the gym and I'm back in something approximating reasonable shape, although I pretty much hurt EVERYWHERE on Wednesday.
This post was brought to you by the number 1 and the letter B.
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August 21st, 2008
01:43 pm - Were it not for being French...
At this moment, I'm wearing grey wool trousers, slightly pointy shoes, a light blue shirt with a British collar and a grey sweater tied around my shoulders.
It occurs to me that I would look like a complete fucking asshole if it weren't for the fact that I have that funky hair, earrings, and ambiguously Asian thing going on.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/chipper.gif) vaguely amused
Current Music: Dark Cloud
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August 11th, 2008
11:24 am - What a busy month it's been
The sake tasting tomorrow evening should be a lot of fun. If you missed the original post about the event, you can get details here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33160426404
Art Walk this week was relatively quiet, but a good number of friends came by, which was great. I've working on so many things that I feel I haven't had much time to spend with friends. Should take a bit of a break in September.
Last night, I just finished haging another show at Poco Wine Bar, which is opening on Friday. I'll stop by tonight and take some photos. Peter, the owner of Poco, opened the bar for us since we unexpectedly had my friend Tim stop by for a brief layover in Seattle on his way home to DC. So, we had a nice little dinner @ Cactus followed by a private party @ Poco. I love my friends.
Current Music: art
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August 8th, 2008
10:19 pm - Christ
Yesterday, Art Walk.
Sunday, hanging another show in Seattle, "Awake/Asleep"
Tuesday, sake tasting I'm hosting w/ Sake Nomi.
Saturday next week, opening for "Awake/Asleep"
The following weekend, a wine tasting I'm hosting with Poco Wine Bar and then I'm teaching a photography workshop.
And then there's all the in-between stuffs. Like my day job, and trying to find time to see my wife and friends.
A model I'll be testing with soon asked me "you're so busy! but this is all stuff you love, right?"
Yes and no. It's really nice to be exhibiting and having people enjoy my work! But I'm also looking forward to actually shooting again, rather than just working on marketing and promotion and stuff =)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/depressed.gif) slightly out there
Current Music: Groove Armada
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August 5th, 2008
08:17 pm - Final opening - Blick zum Objekt @ Studio Brick
Blick zum Objekt - Industry as Sacred Space
check out the July issue of the Seattle Sinner for print version of this image!
Hope to see some of you at Art Walk this Thursday!
Studio Brick
214 1st Ave S (between Washington and Main)
Lower Level Arcade
6 - 9 pm
If you caught Blick @ Artopia earlier this Summer, that was a preview installation (I only hung about 2/3 of the series), so please do come by Brick if you enjoyed the work.
I also have a related exhibit of environmental photographs opening next week at Poco Wine Bar. Will send out details shortly, but as ever, the best way to stay up to date with events is to subscribe to the mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/studio-brick =)
Current Music: art, photo, blick
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August 4th, 2008
07:36 pm - Event timing
I'm planning a couple of events at my humble studio while my industrial figure show is up, one of which is a sake tasting that I've tentatively scheduled for Tuesday the 12th.
However, it looks like my friend with the sake bar wouldn't be able to get away from his shop until 8pm.
For those of you who were interested in coming, how would that timing work out for you? Too late? Just right?
Thanks!
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July 31st, 2008
05:14 pm - Quote of the day
...in response to "what are your favourite iPhone 3G apps?"
I really like Google Reader on the iphone, but that’s
one of those old fashioned “websites” that you just “go to”
instead of some fancy application.
On that note, what apps are you kids using (descriptions helpful!)
Pandora - streaming music with a learning algorithm, good for finding new choons
Jott - speech-to-text notepad, will transcribe your notes and also save an audio version; notes can also be accessed via web app
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July 21st, 2008
04:19 pm - Model networking sites?
What model / photographer networking sites are people using aside from Model Mayhem and One Model Place? Any others that you've found to be particularly worth checking out?
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July 20th, 2008
10:15 pm
Up at 7am,
set up the studio,
full multi-look photo shoot,
lunch,
another full photo shoot with different looks,
clean up studio,
home + shower,
hand-cooked steak dinner...
Sometimes I feel like I should wear a fucking cape.
In the works:
Thurs, August 7 - Art Walk @ Studio Brick
Tues, August 12 - Sake tasting w/ Sake Nomi @ Studio Brick
Fri, August 15 - Art opening @ Poco wine bar
Sat, August 23 - Wine tasting w/ Poco wine bar @ Studio Brick (take a break from Burning Man prep and enjoy a flight of summer wines and art!)
As ever, if you're interested in getting news of events:
http://groups.google.com/group/studio-brick
Sake Nomi: http://www.sakenomi.us
Poco Wine Bar: http://www.pocowineroom.com
And check out the Blick zum Objekt tear in this month's Seattle Sinner! http://www.theseattlesinner.com
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July 17th, 2008
09:43 pm
Huh. My iPod which I'd given up as dead has suddenly come back to life. I thought I'd give it one last try before chucking it and behold! It booted up.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/groggy.gif) VERY tired
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July 15th, 2008
10:46 pm - Opening from Tougo Coffee
July 28. One image of mine as seen through the door.
And Brian, the owner, with some work of Evgenia's in the background
No, I'm not very good at snapshots, but you can see my real work @ Tougo through the rest of the month =)
Current Music: photo
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July 9th, 2008
11:02 pm - Blick @ Artopia
Here's a photo of the installation @ Artopia just before it came down. Apologies for the quality of the pic - it was just a last-minute snapshot before striking the show, hence my (ahem) lovely outfit.
The photos were hung from tensioned wires in a cross-shaped torus, forming 4 virtual rooms which were each 3 photos x 2 photos on a side.
This snapshot shows one of the "rooms". The neat thing was that the wires from which the images were suspended were barely visible in the regular lighting, so the exhibit really looked as if it were just floating in mid-air. The images were displayed in clip frames, which I felt added to the overall minimal look.
I lit the whole thing with a bunch of reflector clip lamps, which somehow just felt right. Needless to say, this presentation did have a totally different look and feel than a more traditional gallery hanging.
(I also kind of hope that I never have to hang anything in quite this manner again... Although it did look damn cool once it was all done.)
If you missed the earlier shows, Blick will be showing @ Studio Brick for August's Art Walk. Ping me if you'd like to get on our announce list - we're also having some fun events like wine and sake tastings throughout August.
Next up is "A Sense of Place", a show @ Tougo Coffee in Seattle (18th and Union). There's a reception @ 7pm on Thursday evening (tomorrow!) Come on by and say hello - I have 3 really large photos in the show. It's still kind of startling to be walking down the street and then see a huge image of mine front and centre through the window of a shop =)
Current Music: blick, art, photo
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11:14 am - Music: Stateless, Lali Puna
This is one of those albums that I started out liking only one song on. Then two. Then three. It's grown on me ridiculously.
http://www.amazon.com/Stateless/dp/B000PKG7N4
They sound a good bit like Coldplay, but with different melodies and a more electronic bent to many of their songs.
I'm also currently digging Lali Puna. They remind me of a cross between Mum and Imogen Heap. There's a remix album called "I thought I was over that" that's very worth checking out.
http://www.amazon.com/Thought-Was-Over-That-Remixed/dp/B0009E26UY
Current Music: Stateless - Exit
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July 7th, 2008
09:49 pm - Working boy
Well, it's been a busy and interesting couple of weeks.
Saturday June 28 was Artopia in Georgetown. Definitely the most ridiculous hang I've ever done - I was exhibiting in a big industrial space with no walls. When you're a photographer, this makes life difficult.
I ended up making a 3-dimensional cross-shaped torus, with 3 x 2 images on each quadrant. The images (a line of 6 images bisected by a line of 4 images) were all vertical shots from Blick zum Objekt framed at 20 x 24 and hung back-to-back. With a LOT of help from my friend David (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) trvth), I strung up wire through a fairly complex schema of eye bolts that I'd devised, put these under tension and hung the photos from them. I think we got started around 9pm and got home around 3am, allowing for a couple of breaks to sequence / group images and take a wine breather.
I'll post photos of the hang at some point. It was the kind of thing that was either going to look really really good or fail miserably, as I didn't have time to try a mock-up. Luckily, it ended up looking great - the images were just suspended in midair, and the torus arrangement made for separate viewing rooms. It was DAMN hot in the building, but I got some extremely good feedback on the work and the presentation, which is always gratifying.
Will have at least one post facto sale and possibly a photo shoot or two come out of this - good stuff since a lot of the gallery people I'm talking to say that sales are tanking across the board. Yay economy =/
Exhibiting is a tonne of fucking work.
Thursday July 3 was Art Walk at Mnemonic in 619. My schedule was a total mess due to Artopia, so I'm afraid I put bloodengel and velvetgarden through way more stress and waiting than I meant to - sorry about that!
Lots more good feedback about the work, although the 619 crowd in my humble experience isn't much of an art buying crowd. Still, it was nice to see the full series of work up as I'd "only" had 20 pieces up in Artopia.
Alison was there registering voters and selling items from Velvet Mechanism, and my friend Stuart was helping in the store as well. Thanks, guys!
There was a persistent rumour that onlyjanica was in town, although we weren't able to attract her to the show =(
Next up, I'll be hanging a photo from Japan in Tougo Coffee in the Central District (opening reception is on Thursday evening) and planning the wine and sake tastings for Brick in August!
Blick will also be having its last hang for the time being @ Studio Brick in August.
I am looking forward to getting back to shooting, rather than spending all of my time working on exhibits and marketing =)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/neko/kaokitty/pensive.gif) pensive
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