Times Square Evangelizers: The End is Nigh – But seriously they might be right

Monday, October 20th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, The American Diorama, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

I snapped these two pictures over a year apart on the same corner of Times Square in NYC. The images are part of an ongoing series I’m calling “The American Diorama” that looks at contemporary Americans through the fictional lens of 19-20th century colonial sociologists.

So, I saw the guy with the yellow sign this Friday and he announced, “People! Your money isn’t real. Get smart to what’s important in this life.”

While I don’t insist that choosing Jesus as one’s personal savior is the best way out our society’s many problems, we should listen to this guy. Money is the ultimate abstraction and the current economic turmoil/bubble burst resulted from us humans and particularly the ones working in downtown Manhattan worshipping our own financial inventions.

Let us all get back to the real world. Take 10 deep and measured breaths and focus on the analogue. This rallying cry from your humble narrator who just spent an hour crafting a digital blog post. <sigh>

love,
Tonky

Julian Laverdiere: Obelisk Erector [a.k.a. Prime Mover]

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Contemporary Art, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

NYC based artist Julian Laverdiere generously beamed over some images of his own investigation of the obelisk trope.

The piece shown above is a diazo print of a graphite drawing depicting Prime Mover, a fictitious cultural siege device that transports an obelisk and erects it where it is needed.

While working for Julian as a studio assistant, he explained how the Romans hauled artifacts like obelisks from Egypt and plopped them down in the middle of public squares and built fountains around them. A very curious way of adopting a sense of history for one’s own culture.

More work here. Click the link now: http://julianlaverdiere.com/

-Tonky

Global Airplane Paths & Their Signification Post WTC attacks

Monday, October 6th, 2008 | Power & Politics, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

I am creating a limited edition poster showing global flights paths without the map. Imagine a peppering of black dots connected by colored lines. They should sell for about $100 ea.

Maps showing airplane paths are testaments to the profound interconnectivity we humans have attained. I contend these maps have taken on a different meaning since 9.11.01.
Growing up I would gaze with wonder at maps showing flight paths and think how close and accessible the world is.

Today, flight path maps still evoke a feeling of sublime interconnectivity – but now our hope for a plural global utopia seems premature if not naive.

While the WTC attacks could have been prevented with $20 locks on cockpit doors and a competent administration at the helm of our intelligence agencies, better yet would be to have had leadership that inspired worldwide trust in our great country instead of hatred

All sensible people desire peace and to feel connected with their fellow human. A prerequisite for peace is mutual trust.

I pray that Barack Obama will be elected president because he is an honorable statesman who can repair international trust in us and who will fight the conditions that breed terrorists, so we can once again hope for peace.

*WTC Attacks Memorial Mural by Scott LoBaido located near Gowanus Canal | Brooklyn, NY

John S. McCain III – Vintage Photos

Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | Power & Politics, Under The Patina of Knowledge | No Comments

I spent some time looking around the Library of Congress’s online catalog today and found these great images of a much younger and possibly more idealistic John McCain.

The color images show Senator McCain with President Reagan during a 1987 photoshoot shortly after his Election to the Senate in 1986. Notice the placard on Reagan’s desk that says “It CAN be done” …

The B/W images were taken in 1973 by Thomas J. O’Halloran for U.S. News and World Report for an article written by Senator McCain shortly after his return from the POW camp in North Vietnam. The article is quite amazing and after reading it, even the staunchest progressive couldn’t help but honor the man’s sacrifice. Click here to read it.

As the Lt. Commander McCain points out, he missed both Martin Luther King’s assassination as well as the Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon while imprisoned. Any news he eventually did receive was filtered through the lens of the Vietnamese’ negative propaganda machine.

So, of MLK, he heard only of riots and strife following the assassination and not of the national solidarity that ensued. This would be like someone today hearing only of the racists beatings of Arab Americans following the WTC attacks and not of our outpouring and grief and compassion for the innocent victims of all wars.

I wonder if Senator McCain’s brainwashing influenced legislative decisions he’s made regarding civil rights and making MLK day a national holiday. More pertinently, would his brainwashing influence the decisions he would make if elected president?

-Tonky