Sunday, March 22, 2009

Master of Puppets

Last week I received a John Dear letter notifying me that I was not accepted to Grad School. I took it kinda hard and I decided to drive to Santa Fe to see Josie and have her shave my face. I promised her that I would shave my face as soon as I got accepted to the MFA program. Well...f^#k. The scenery on the way up was so beautiful that I couldn't help feeling better about things.

A new beginning. A little rusty with the blade though. Since shaving my face and putting stupid school behind me, things have been going well, I've been getting some good freelance work, and I was chosen (first place) for an artist residency in Santa Fe. So, f%&k you selection committee at the school of Lucifer.

Sorry about that. Anyways, the pampering myself wasn't over, I decided to treat Josie and I to some Indian food at India Palace in Santa Fe.

I couldn't play with my phone cuz I was inhaling food. Josie ate a vegetarian plate with a bunch of different dishes on it at once, and I had this curried Lamb that was delicious and unbelievably hot.

The next day it was off to the galleries. We stopped at a couple here and there, but the ultimate was the Wayang Kulit show at the Museum of Intn'l Folk Art.

Crazy-town. These are hand carved out of buffalo hide, I believe. Very inspiring for a woodcut guy. Let me check wikipedia and get you more info cuz my memory ain't what it used to be.

Wayang is an Indonesian/Malay word for theater. When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theater, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as "wayang", the Javanese word for shadow or imagination, also connotes "spirit." Hinduism arrived in Indonesia from India even before the Christina era, and was slowly adopted as the local belief system. The Hindus changed the Wayang (as did the Muslims later) to spread their religion, mostly by stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana . Later this mixture of religion and wayang play was praised as harmony between Hinduism and traditional Indonesian culture.

The figures of the wayang are also present in the paintings of that time, and they are still present in the traditional Balinese painting today. When Islam began spreading in Indonesia, the display of God or gods in human form was prohibited, and thus this style of painting and shadow play was suppressed. King Raden Patah of Demak, of Java, wanted to see the wayang in its traditional form, but failed to obtain permission from the Muslim religious leaders. As an alternative, the religious leaders displayed only the shadow instead of the figures itself. The birth of the wayang kulit.

Wayang today is both the most ancient and most popular form of puppet theatre in the world. Hundreds of people will stay up all night long to watch the superstar performers, dalang, who command extravagant fees and are international celebrities.

Thank you wikipedia for the history lesson. This was my favorite wayang, you can see the relation to the Hindu god Shiva. I think they called it, Batara Guru.

My other favorite puppets, Sadam vs. Bush (with a rocket on top). We all know how that battle ended up. F%&cking everything up.

More puppets and shadows.

Ogres. These guys are cool cuz they played a "destructive" and "loud" powerful warrior role, and were much larger than the other puppets.

More Ogres. "Ogres are essentially uncivilized creatures. They epitomize uncontrolled human desire and passion."

These guys are either Mythical creatures or Gods.

This was quite the interactive experience. You can play the traditional instruments, and even handle some REAL puppets. Here's Josie braking it down. During the puppet shows, the Gamelan Orchestra playing with the puppets was like the dialog, not written. The musicians wait for signals from the dalang (puppeteer). Pretty coool, it made every show unique and shit.

Dalang Josephine.

Dalang Enrique.

I sucked. You can see my entire arm and hand. You shoulda seen the real show. Unbelievable. And with the music, woo!

More interactive fun. Make your own wayang!

We took ours TO-GO cuz I got scoped for taking pictures. Didn't want to overstay our welcome, you know?

BWOOOOOOONG!!! Blog over. See you next time.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Art, Labyrinth, Burgers

Last Saturday Josie and I woke up and had our usual coffee and cig when we read about an etching show in the Santa Fe Reporter. Etching shows are rare, printmaking shows are rare, even in a lush art scene like Santa Fe's. We jumped in the car and I had Josie put my hair up because my head was spinning like the exorcist.

This tiny museum is a bit off the grid. That gave it some street cred from the start.

Josie at the front door.

On the way to the gallery we passed some really cool artifacts from the region. Like this two-headed four-armed clay dude. He or she or He-she is all tatted up.

Textiles.

Some bad-ass spurs. I wanna buy some and strap them on to my sneakers and start some new sh&t.

Hopefully you can read this so I don't have to type it. Chessney Sevier is an amazing artist, and what makes her even more amazing is that she is contemporary. She's old-school etching at it's best and I want to be her friend. She's from a family of cowboys and cowgirls from Wyoming, married a cowboy and cranks out prints of the American landscape and cowboy culture. Oh yeah, she prints woodblocks too, but none were at this show, unfortunately.

My pictures don't do them justice, but you can still see the imagination, journey, and skill. It was so refreshing to see gritty, black and white prints. She's killing the game.

Both Josie and I loved the work. We also loved the gift shop where she was selling prints for dollar amounts way over our budget. Here's Josie checking out a book on jewelry.

Exiting the Museum you are greeted by some sculpture and snowy mountains.

Josie took me to this labyrinth that was nearby. She had conquered it already but wanted me to do it. It was cool, she showed me how you can be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Get there.

We conquered it. I loved it.

This huge metal warrior guards the labyrinth.

There was a bird nesting in one of his jingle balls.

Back in Santa Fe the Soldiers of Jesus pulled up next to us. I was frightened for a second.

I also read in the Reporter that there was a Japanese artist in town that paints comic book style. I had to see it. It was at the Eight Modern Gallery.

When Roger Shimomura was a child, he was among the 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were forced to relocate to U.S. internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Shimomura's family spent two years looking out through a barbed-wire fence at Camp Minidoka in south-central Idaho.

Again, my photos aren't good enough. His lines are ridiculously clean and precise.

This piece was HUGE.

My favorites.

They look like screen-prints. Awesome.

His work reminds me of Mike Giant's work, but in color.

This is a Lithograph. He dabbles in printmaking a bit. Yay.

After the gallery hopping we got hungry. So I took Josie to Bobcat Bite, cuz I'm fu#@ing fat. I feel bad for her. Every time she asks me what I want to eat, it's always the same answer, no matter what time of day, burger.

This isn't your typical burger joint. This is THE burger joint. The best in New Mexico, maybe ever, and trust me, I've eaten a lot of burgers. Hopefully you can read the History.

Menu of trouble.

A couple of famous Green Chile Cheeseburgers. Ok, I post pictures of burgers in almost every post, don't I? I have a problem.

F&%k it.

Day Trip to Taos

Two Saturdays ago I took Josephine to see Taos. Taos is about an hour north of Santa Fe and it is known for it's Native American village, large artist community, Skiing, and everything esoteric. It's also up in the mountains where the air is fresh and thin, and everything is pretty.

Cool mural.

We stumbled upon this crazy antique shop at the center plaza. I could not resist, and I turned into pure paparazzi even though photos were not allowed. I want this set.

This guy has big balls.

More bizarro stuff from the 1920's.

After we left the fun house, we just walked the streets like the tourists that we are and found some cool still life everywhere, like this one.

Josie posin'.

Me posin'.

More still life, a Spanish colonial door and Ristra.

Taos adobe.

Taos shadows.

Taos clever t-shirt design.

After a ton of walking, it was time for some beer and crumpets. Lucky us, we always seem to sniff out the local microbrew. Eske's is bangin', yo.

Menu of trouble.

Josie got the Seco Stout and I got the Black Cat. Delicious.

I love food. I always take pictures of food. I love it. I'm a lard-mouth. I'm fat. I got the Green Chile Cheeseburger, Josie got the Brat with Sauerkraut. Off the chain, son.

Then I ordered the sampler. I needed to taste it all.

Oh, yeah.

After the Pub we had a nice buzz going and decided to head back. It was a gorgeous day and the switchbacks were fun.

I pulled over to take a whiz, look no hands!

Then we found this bridge chillin' on some Indiana Jones sh$t.

Yay.

Back in Santa Fe we decided to stop and see Milk. We saw Slumdog already, and we still have to see the other nominees for best pic. Milk was great, Sean Penn is an amazing film actor.

After Milk ended, the buzz was gone and it was time to get it back. So we got some booze and temporary tattoos cuz we are some real rock-n-rollas. Josie put a skull on her chest.

Followed by a Dillo on her tricep.

I got this Day of the Dead piece.

Followed by whatever this wussy crap is on my ribs. It was a fun day. The next morning we washed them off.

Gustave Baumann

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I wanted to leave my album up for a while, you know, for publicity and stuff.

Anywho, a couple of weeks ago, Josie and I stopped by the New Mexico Museum of Art for a Gustave Baumann show. Mr. Baumann came to the States via Germany and was one of the leading color woodcut artists in America at the beginning of the 20th century. He settled in Santa Fe and his work depicted the southwestern landscapes and scenes from the pueblo life for over 50 years. I was pumped, I mean, look at his flawless technique.

What I would do for this print. This was one of my favorites. Sorry about the reflections.

His use of color, his execution, and imagery is beautiful. Very inspiring, makes me want to experiment with some color.

This piece made me want to give up printmaking. Next to this amazing tree were the 6 blocks, 1 for each color he used. Cut meticulously, with perfect registration. Makes me think of the Japanese woodblocks done eons ago, and how color woodcuts are becoming a lost art.

Some woodcut graphic design. Gave me ideas for some wedding invitations I'll be doing soon.

After having children, Master Baumann started designing Marionettes.

He got real serious about it and began carving them from scratch. Not only that, he started making the sets too, all carved by hand. His Marionette shows are still performed today in Santa Fe during the Holiday season (using replicas, of course).

Mind-blowing. This show really opened up my eyes and helped me start thinking about 3-D possibilities.

Drunk Cowboy.

He also painted the backgrounds of the sets with oils. He was a very talented man. This native dance set was my favorite. Thank you Gustave Baumann.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Master of Puppets

Monday, March 9, 2009

Art, Labyrinth, Burgers

Day Trip to Taos

Gustave Baumann

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