Happy 4/20!

Happy April 20th!

This is DEFINITELY NOT traditional art. BUT, nevertheless for me this is very much an art...I present to you my new temporary Idol of the day. This guy has rolled a POUND of "herb" using a ton of little papers!! Just imagine how that must hit!

Miniature town tells many tales

Mark Hogancamp, an ex-navy man, was beaten and repeatedly kicked in the head by five men outside a bar in Kingston, New York eleven years ago. His injuries were so brutal that, after being hospitalized for 9 days in a coma, he couldn't walk, talk, or eat without assistance. His own mother barely recognized him. For twelve months, the ex-Navy man received state-sponsored physical and occupational therapy, which totally helped him regain his lost motor skills. Without medical insurance, however, Hogancamp couldn't continue to pay for treatments. So he embarked on his own rehabilitation project, building a miniature Nazi-besieged, World War II era town in his backyard at 1/6 scale.

He populated the model town with miniature alter egos of him and his friends. Each one is a personality in his anachronistic narratives, which he tells through staged photographs that read like frames in a comic book.His town is called Marwencol. The name is a combination of three names of real people: Mark (Hogancamp), Wendy, and Colleen...two women he has crushes on. “There was one rule in my town,” says Hogancamp, “That [people] be friends, be friendly with each other, behave. So they did, they were.”
There are giant holes in Hogancamp’s memory from before the attack — the entirety of his Naval service, for example. At one point during his rehabilitation, Hogancamp even had to rediscover that he enjoys wearing women’s clothing and that this was the reason his attackers beat him.
To see all the images go here!
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2011/04/marwencol/?pid=703

Also, here's the trailer for a indie film made about him. I cant wait till I can get the DVD!
 

If circus skills are not already considered an art, then they certainly should be. There is just as much skill in discipline in certain circus acts, such as trapeze, as there is in dance- which is considered a performance art.
    According to a Wikipedia article, “Contemporary circus combines traditional circus skills and theatrical techniques to convey a story or theme. Compared with the traditional circus, the contemporary genre of circus tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content.”

bongssssss

Although this image would likely be scoffed at by members of the art community, as well as by the average person, there is nevertheless an undeniable craft to the creation of such an object that is not often recognized.
    Glassblowing is a glass forming technique which was invented by the Phoenicians at approximately 50 BC somewhere along the Syro-Palestinian coast. The earliest evidence of glassblowing comes from a collection of waste from a glass workshop, including fragments of glass tubes, glass rods and tiny blown bottles, which was dumped in a mikvah, a ritual bath in the Jewish Quarter of Old City of Jerusalem dated from 37 to 4 BC.
    In the world of fine arts, this would be regarded as nothing more than a craft or hobby. But why is that, when a painter who masters the technique of oil painting is easily regarded as an artist? It is the same question I might ask of the talented potter, whose ceramics are overlooked when compared to a ceramic sculpture.
    The art critic may have opinions of his/her own, but my own opinion is that every creator deserves some appreciation, despite his/her medium or subject matter.
...also, these bongs are sweeeet! check out this one. my next addition!!

Gutai art, a Japanese artistic movement that existed around the same era as abstract expressionism, believed in the beauty of ruin and decay. The Gutai manifesto itself, written by Yoshihara- the movement’s founder- reads:
"Yet what is interesting in this respect is the novel beauty to be found in works of art and architecture of the past which have changed their appearance due to the damage of time or destruction by disasters in the course of the centuries. This is described as the beauty of decay, but is it not perhaps that beauty which material assumes when it is freed from artificial make-up and reveals its original characteristics? The fact that the ruins receive us warmly and kindly after all, and that they attract us with their cracks and flaking surfaces, could this not really be a sign of the material taking revenge, having recaptured its original life?...."
    If an entire art movement can be built around this idea of the “art of destruction, “ I believe that the image shown below is art as well.

    This is an image of the ruined interior of the United Artists Theater in Detroit. The cinema was built in 1928 by C Howard Crane, and finally closed in 1974. It was once a gorgeous theatre, built in a Spanish-Gothic style. And here it is now, the gorgeous ruins of that same theatre, an inspiration for ghost stories and other supernatural superstitions. Gutai artists strove to emulate the idea behind architecture such as this, yet there is hardly a need when such wonders exist right before our eyes.

Leeroy vs. Stalker?

This seems interesting! stumbled upon it the other day, pretty well produced. The concept seems quite interesting as well...check it out!

    Although many would perceive this video as nothing more than a mere jest, I believe that there may be more to it than meets the eye. Satirical humor is usually straightforward, despite it’s best efforts to confuse its audience in a way that is eccentric yet comical.
According to an article on Wikipedia, modern critics call the Greek playwright Aristophanes one of the best known early satirists: his plays are known for their critical political and societal commentary, particularly for the political satire by which he criticized the powerful Cleon (as in The Knights). In other words, satirical humor was once held at the highest esteem- a performing art. In the modern world, television shows such as the Colbert Report, South Park, Tim and Eric, etc. are well-known examples of this brand of humor-now grown to a subculture i call deadpan.
The reason I give this video the title “art” is because, unlike many of the popular examples of television shows I just listed, it is ambiguous as to whether or not this poor performance this poor woman puts on is intentional or not: the perfect satire.