World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is this weekend (December 1) and it is a day we should renew our support in eradicating this disease. As I was reading through some of the events that UCLA, where the HIV virus and AIDS was first discovered, will be holding I discovered a link for an online resource. UCLA Libraries now has images and information about the AIDS posters created throughout the world over the years. Many of them were created by world renowned artists. Take a look and take a moment this weekend to remember those we've lost from this disease and those we still have that live with it each day of their lives. AIDS Posters Link

It came to me in a dream.

Yesterday, as I was mulling around the house, I was taking stock of the refuse from the house I live in. This place has had a rotating base of residents, and at times things get left behind. The best place to discover such trash-soon-to-be-turned-to-treasure is within and behind the abandoned shed in the backyard. I had seen this old sink back there before, but never considered it as a possibility as a work of art. So, in my mulling, I pulled it out and cleaned it off with the hose in the backyard. I hadn't actually determined exactly how I was going to incorporate this abandoned sink, but I thought it was too good to pass up. For awhile I just sat, and sat, and sat processing the form, function, and all things related to this sink. I came up with nothing. I moved on with the rest of my day and then, last night, it came to me. As I laid in my bed slowly moving to a sweetful slumber, my subject, which I had been debating over in my mind for some time, came to me: the Vet. For those of you that don't know what the Vet is, it is where I live. With so much garbage left lying around, why not use this found salvage, compose it into something dynamic and use it to portray the essence of this shelter. It's hard to explain this house and it's personality, but I think I may just be able to do that in this process.

I Want to Make Art

It's been a desire of mine for awhile now to not just see, interpret, analyze, critique, and write about art, but also make art. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do and have this amazing idea. The last week or so I've given a lot of thought to what subject I want to tackle. I've always felt art is a creative expression of some part of the human existence. Sometimes that is manifested in very literal, illusionistic pieces, like those of the Italian Renaissance, Dutch Baroque period, and so on. Other times they are non-objective works that are abstraction such as Jackson Pollock and Donald Judd. Both, one way or another, display a facet of life. What I'm trying to figure out is what aspect of my existence do I want to portray. What subject gets me so excited, that I want to produce something that says "This is part of my reality." I've had several things in mind, which at this time are too nascent to even put out there. Hopefully I will come to a conclusion soon as to my subject matter. Then I will tackle what I want to say about it, and what the best method of doing that is. Wish me luck!