Thursday, October 9, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Kim Abeles
I first saw the "The Smog Collector," series by Kim Abeles made from 1991 to 93 in a collection of slides on political art 10 years ago. It was a piece that really helped me see the bridge between ecology and art and how art could be a tool to incite dialog about ecological issues. Abeles created this series of work by placing stencils on glass objects and leaving them outdoors to accumulate pollution from the contaminated LA air. Images in her stencils include lungs, face masks, tips on flight smog, and china plates.
I am interested in the way she has allowed air pollution to interact with her piece and provide her with a smoky almost etched final product that has become a striking document to bring awareness to LA’s smog.
I am interested in the way she has allowed air pollution to interact with her piece and provide her with a smoky almost etched final product that has become a striking document to bring awareness to LA’s smog.
“they were here”
Addie Wagenknecht recently spoke at UT about her digital and ecological projects. Her piece tilted “they were here” connected with me the most. It was installed at Clement Clarke Moore Park, 22nd St. and 10th Ave. in NYC during April 2008. The content of her installation came from a recent Audubon Society report from NYC the states “20 species of birds are declining at a rate of 68 percent”. I appreciated her simple way of showing this by placing static two-dimensional white birds into trees around the park. Instead of the text with the statistics about declining bird populations you can see the ghost birds standing in for their missing friends. I wonder how the resident birds responded to their ghosts silhouettes? I also wonder if the residents that have lived in the area have noticed a decries in local birds.
I have scene the white ghost concept to be an effective form in other styles of public street art. The international “Ghost Bike” project paints bicycles white and sets them up where bicycle riders have been killed. The white bikes are very striking and have increased awareness to bicycle deaths and street safety. Friends and family of the lost bikers often add flowers, text, and objects to remember the lost loved one.
I have scene the white ghost concept to be an effective form in other styles of public street art. The international “Ghost Bike” project paints bicycles white and sets them up where bicycle riders have been killed. The white bikes are very striking and have increased awareness to bicycle deaths and street safety. Friends and family of the lost bikers often add flowers, text, and objects to remember the lost loved one.
Swoon
"These portraits are x-rays of my city plastered back upon its surface. Through the hundreds of holes that I cut into them, I am trying to interact with the walls beneath them." -swoon
“I like my artwork to have a lifecycle. I’ve done paintings using stencils. But for me the paintings don’t do anything. They just stay there. But in working with paper, as I do now, the pieces become alive. It’s organic. The paper curls. It ages. It rots. It’s responsive.” -swoon
I have been an admireror and fan of Brooklyn based artist Swoon for many years because of her commitment to the “old world skill” of relief printmaking and how her wheat pasted, post aerosol, life size prints tell stories that capture the attention of their passers by. I first noticed her work wheat pasted on Rivington Street in NYC as I walked to work every day. Her work shows the influence of German Expressionist wood block prints as well as Indonesian shadow puppets.
A recent piece from her series commenting on the disappearance of young Mexican women that work in sweatshops in Ciudad Juarez can be found on the streets of the Mission District in San Francisco. Her combination of relief wood prints on craft paper with white cut outs creates an amazing shire size wall mural that draws the viewer in to ponder the content. Swoon subjects her work to the transformative qualities of the outside urban world. Over time her pieces fade, vines to grow up them, other tags accumulate, paint is dripped on them and they magically become part of the urban streetscape.
“I like my artwork to have a lifecycle. I’ve done paintings using stencils. But for me the paintings don’t do anything. They just stay there. But in working with paper, as I do now, the pieces become alive. It’s organic. The paper curls. It ages. It rots. It’s responsive.” -swoon
I have been an admireror and fan of Brooklyn based artist Swoon for many years because of her commitment to the “old world skill” of relief printmaking and how her wheat pasted, post aerosol, life size prints tell stories that capture the attention of their passers by. I first noticed her work wheat pasted on Rivington Street in NYC as I walked to work every day. Her work shows the influence of German Expressionist wood block prints as well as Indonesian shadow puppets.
A recent piece from her series commenting on the disappearance of young Mexican women that work in sweatshops in Ciudad Juarez can be found on the streets of the Mission District in San Francisco. Her combination of relief wood prints on craft paper with white cut outs creates an amazing shire size wall mural that draws the viewer in to ponder the content. Swoon subjects her work to the transformative qualities of the outside urban world. Over time her pieces fade, vines to grow up them, other tags accumulate, paint is dripped on them and they magically become part of the urban streetscape.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Architecture 2030
Edward Mazria from Architecture 2030 spoke last Friday at the School of Architecture. I first became fascinated with his “Passive Solar Energy Book” from the 80’s as an undergraduate student 10 years ago. Passive Solar energy was my first introduction to ecological design and provides a great example of ancient technology mixed with practical building orientation principles to save both heating and lighting. His talk however was focused on Climate Change and he gave out some striking sustitics that really made me think about where global energy is going.
Global energy demand is: 48% Buildings (heating and cooling 40%, building 8%)
27% Transportation
23% Industry
He focused his talk to his audience of architecture/design students for them to see the key role they play as designers to come up with innovative ways for buildings to be energy efficient. He also shocked us with US costal maps he has done of the effects of 1 meter of rising sea levels. (AL Gores maps were 3 meters and just one meter will do unbelievable damage) I found his mix of energy facts, sea level maps, and challenge to designers to be inspiring despite the reality of the climate crisis nightmare we face today.
Architecture2030.org
Global energy demand is: 48% Buildings (heating and cooling 40%, building 8%)
27% Transportation
23% Industry
He focused his talk to his audience of architecture/design students for them to see the key role they play as designers to come up with innovative ways for buildings to be energy efficient. He also shocked us with US costal maps he has done of the effects of 1 meter of rising sea levels. (AL Gores maps were 3 meters and just one meter will do unbelievable damage) I found his mix of energy facts, sea level maps, and challenge to designers to be inspiring despite the reality of the climate crisis nightmare we face today.
Architecture2030.org
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