m a n t a r a y g l o w . c o m

Broke many of the "rules" I had written for myself (see below). Set out to make something with some humor and came up with a nightmarish little video instead. After watching it my girlfriend said, "you must be really depressed..." I was like, "what!?" 

Though now I can she what she meant.

It's not the most upbeat thing. That said, I don't think it's a depressing video at all. Nightmarish, but not depressing.  Whatever. It's just an experiment. Not even an experiment, but a game. 

What not to do next time: rely so much on editing. I shot like 20 minutes of footage and edited down to a little over a minute. "Experts' say that video becomes alive during the editing. That's true with this one. I added sound effects, played around with the exposure, slowed down or fastened the tempo, repeated images to create a rhythm, etc. 

That's not what I want to do next time. I don't want the stuff to "come alive" during the editing or with effects. I  want to edit, but as little as possible, like Warhol. 

Also, got to use a tripod next time. And avoid panning or tilting. There's this idea that moving the camera brings action or movement to an image. I'm not so sure. I think camera movements distract the viewer from the real movement, which is in the subject. 

Anyway, I wouldn't even call this a completed thing. Just me playing around with the camera and imovie. 

As a side note. There's a long J.D. Salinger profile or, I guess, obituary on today's NY times. Good stuff ( better take advantage of the times while it's still free).

RIP Mr. Salinger. 

1. The first requirement and maybe the only one would be: no big ideas. 

a. No meditations on time.

b. No meditations on ontology.

c. No "de-constructions" of any sort. 

d. No meditations. 

e. No overt political statements. 

2. Use of humor.

a. Has to at least have the potential of being funny.

b. Jokes are gold. 

c. Seek out goofiness.

3. Things of interest.

a. People's gossip

b. People's most petty concerns

c. People's appetites 

d. People's  ideals vs. real life. 

e. Pop culture. 

4. Forms. 

a. Interviews. 

b. Recording people doing things that they do (jogging, working, cleaning the house)

c. Fictionalized scenes.

d. Juxtaposing found footage and recorded stuff.

5. No bad sound.

a. Meaning: better silent than that terrible sound most art videos have. Or make it sound good. 

6. Inspirations.

a. The supreme master Nam June Paik: go with an idea even if childish or ridiculous--especially if childish or ridiculous. 

b. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Oh, the simplicity!

c. Drella. 

d. David Hockney. 

e. Eleanor Antin's early videos. 

f. Rock and Roll. 

g. King Tubby and the spirit of Dub. 

7. Problems.

a. Have no external hard drive. What to do with all the footage? Computer could burst open. 

b. Have no friends to do projects with. Would like to have art group/gang of sorts. For now, working solo.

c. Asking people to be in project. Always embarrassing. 

d. No money, not even for bus ride. 

e. Live in small town; no urban stimulation. 

8. Good things.

b. Above all: have flip camera; no need for tape. 

c. Think there's a tripod somewhere around here. 

d. Have computer with imovie. 

e. Have time to play around.  

f. Have a bike to get around. 

In this spatial experiment from 1980 Israeli video artist, Buky Schwartz, plays with the notion of space and perception. 

The artist starts by unrolling a long carpet-like roll of paper on the floor. A half-drawn figure of a chair (the two front legs and part of of the seating pad) can be seen at an angle. He then brings out an actual chair and puts it on top of the drawing. Since the drawing and the actual chair match in size and angle, the real chair fits perfectly on top of the drawing.

For a second there, it looks like a drawing, but he then sits on it. After that he goes out of the picture frame and comes back with a can of black paint and a brush and starts to paint on the paper roll. The viewer can’t see much of what’s going on because this happens behind the real chair.

There’s a sense of mystery and expectation. Once he’s finished painting, Schwartz stands on top of the chair. He steps down and puts the chair away and walla! He appears to be standing on top of the drawn chair; an optical illusion, of course. One almost feels like clapping, as if it were a magic trick.

And in a sense it is a magic trick. There’s a bit of acting involved. Schwartz pretends to jump off of the drawing. The effect is throughly convincing. It looks as if he were jumping from a chair to the floor when in reality he’s just jumping from left to right. One looks at the drawing in disbelief. There is no real chair there. Still, when the artist rolls away the paper, the first reaction is “He’s made the chair disappear!”

There's no editing and the camera remains set in a medium-shot from beginning to end. No real story emerges. Though with video ( in general, as a medium) something of a story always tends to come out. In this case: man prepares trick, performs trick, picks up and leaves. It might not seem as much of a story, but it beats, say, Warhol’s endless shot of the Empire State building.

A jarring noise coming out of some type machinery, is heard during the whole experiment/project. It probably comes from somewhere in the studio. Some type of meaning might be construed from this noise, but my guess is that it wasn’t intended. It’s just background noise. I muted the video as it becomes really hard on the ears right away.

What’s the point of The Chair? It seems open ended. It’s fun to watch, if anything. 

It also messes around with the notion of reality, for instance. It shows that a drawing can pass for the actual thing if placed at the right angle. It makes one look more closely at everyday things--they might just be imitations of reality.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find this or any of Buky Schwartz’ projects on Youtube, but here’s the link to The Chair on viodeoart.net.

Buky Schwartz has kinda caught my eye, so I’ll blog more about him in the next few days.

I'm thinking of changing this blog's focus. In truth this blog has no focus. It's al over the place. Well, most of the stuff I write about has to do with the arts or politics, but the "the arts" are so vast...

I enjoy writing about theatre, music and the news. Also, sometimes i feel like switching to Spanish, but since most of the events and things that go on around me happen in English...and it seems that most people who visit the page are English-speakers...I'm going to keep it as is, language wise. A focus is needed here--that's for sure. 

Things I really like and that I could learn more about/ write about exclusively:

--photography

--video art

--experimental video

--contemporary art

--novels, poems

According to some older folks from the area, a few years ago wine tasting used to be free. Now most wineries in Sonoma and Napa county charge for a round of tastings. If you look a little hard, however, you can still find a few free places. Korbel, the widely known American champagne—or sparkling wine, to be more precise—does not charge for tours and tastings.

A good option for broke students or recent graduates.

Plus the Korbel headquarters is just a short drive away from the impressive Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, a destination in itself.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Even the best Sonoma County Korbel does not resemble Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin. But then again, to taste Veuve Cliquot at its headquarters one has to fly to Reims, France (and be willing to shell out a decent wad of cash).

And so we went to the Korbel Champagne Cellars. And it was much better than expected. I cannot imagine a nicer area—rolling hills, blue sky and fog, and the clear winter light just kind of nestling above the vines.

Then there’s the tour. Much of it, granted, is pure Korbel marketing. There’s a clear effort to make the brand seem classic, classy, spiritual, and even progressive (it was the first woman-managed winery in the area, or something). But that self-promotion is only expected.

To be fair, one does get some good info between the self-promotion; specially those of us who don’t know much about champagne-making.

According to the tour guide, when the Korbel brothers came to America from the old Czechoslovakia they tried their hands at ventures like cigar-box making and the production of Slivovitz–a cool but strong plum brandy popular all over Eastern Europe.

Only after failing at their other ventures did the Korbel brothers settled for sparkling wine.

Old Storage Room. Photo by Rexana Khan. 

Korbel was founded in 1882 and the tour takes you to the original storage rooms. Seeing how champagne used to be made and corked in the past was my favorite part of the tour. In the beginning each bottle had to be turned over manually in order to distribute the sparkle-creating yeast, I think. Sometimes it blew up on the worker’s face.

The champagne tasting is done in a big room with various bars. The room, by the way, could have used a couple of couches. But then again, if there were couches people would probably stay there for hours and hours, demanding free champagne.

The tour guide pours four kinds of champagne, starting with the driest and ending with the sweetest. Not much can be said about the champagne. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either. Good enough (except for the Brute Rosé, which is too-candy like).

Would I buy a bottle? Sure; in fact, I did. And let’s just say I had some Slivovitz money left. 

I'm in LA--more exhibits to come. 

Right now Los Angeles is one of the best cities, if not the best one, for contemporary art. It has so many galleries, it would take months to visit all of them. Some artist are even choosing LA over New York because of its dynamic art scene.

I was hanging out in LA with my friends Pablo and Casey. Not really knowing what they’re into in terms of contemporary art, I decided to go see Kellesimone Waits’ “Power Plays” at the Frank Pictures Gallery. It seemed accessible as it deals with mostly current political figures and seemed to have a social message (as opposed to, say, some abstract postulation about the nature of reality, or something).

Kellesimone is also singer Tom Waits’ daughter, which was also another reason that brought us there. Not a bad thing–just another element to play with, something to talk about at the café afterwards.

As you can see in the video, Pablo, who has an incisive -if ruthless- eye, had a mostly negative reaction to her art. Well, to be fair, not an altogether negative reaction. He didn’t love it. “Too cartooney” or not deep enough was his main complaint. Casey liked the paintings a little more. She found them, if anything, entertaining. She also took the artist’s statement into consideration and found the art successful in light of the original intent.

Hilary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, 2009

acrylic on canvas

60″x42”

Our main criticism didn’t have to do with the concept behind “Power Plays,” which I found unique and quite interesting. It was a mostly technical criticism: some of the portraits did not fully resemble the politician being portrayed.

The painting where Hilary Clinton and Nacy Pelosi are engaged in some type of sexual wrestling is a good example. One has to look very closely or read the title, otherwise it kind of looks like them, but not enough.That quick second of doubt (“is that her?”) takes away from the potential comedic reaction one may have.

Lack of resemblance is not something only up-and-coming artists like Waits have to deal with. The same may be argued of, say, Elizabeth Peyton’s portraits. Maybe photography is so prevalent nowadays that viewers ask more of portraits. Maybe contemporary artists are not as craft-oriented as artists a hundred year ago were. In fact, many work from photographs.

That said, I think Kellesimone Wait’s “Power Plays” is a strong group of paintings. She plays with some interesting ideas. The result of seeing political figures in sexual positions is both funny and telling at the same time. The limited palette (pink, brown, black) and the simple composition help focus the paintings. “Power Plays” brings a usually all-too-solemn group of people-- politicians--down to earth. My favorite painting was that of Margaret Thatcher.

What can I say? I have a hard spot for sexually risqué blondes with saggy tits. 

Margaret Thatcher, 2009

acrylic on canvas

24”x30”

Manu Chao and his band, Radio Bemba, made up of musicians from all over the world, combine politically charged lyrics, catchy melodies and a punk rock delivery with trumpets, accordions, Spanish guitars, bongos and pre-recorded loops (think political speeches or Tarzan screaming in the jungle).

“Baionarena,” Chao’s new 30-song album recorded live in 2008 at Bayonne, France, makes clear two things about the French-born multilingual world rocker. First, his patent sound—full of Latin, Jamaican and Eastern European influences—is better suited for small venues. Second, his career as a solo artist has been just as fruitful as his early work with seminal gypsy-punk group Mano Negra

Musically speaking, “Baionarena” isn’t a complete success. Manu Chao’s previous live album, 2002‘s “Radio Bemba Sound System,” did a better job at showing musical complexity. During some songs, the highly amplified guitars and drums in “Baionera” smother the feverish acoustic catchiness that make Manu Chao songs so festive (the big venue is partly to blame).

That said, the album packs a great number of hits and captures the band’s live energy in an immediate, highly energetic way.

Though some songs don’t come through clearly because of over amplification, “Baionarena” has several powerful renderings. “Casa Babylon,” for instance, a Mano Negra hit, comes through very cleanly because, among many reasons, the trumpet becomes more notorious than the electric guitar.

“Desaparecido,” from 1998's masterpiece “Clandestino”--which is Chao’s best album to date--brings in acoustic elements with even better results. At midpoint in the song, Chao stops singing his catchy chorus and allows the Spanish guitar to interact with the public and various loops, including that of a police car siren. He only interjects to make short statements that blend with the music.

The whole concert displays the powerful, emotional connection between the musicians and the public. “Hiver,” one of the last songs from the second CD, has Ska elements and is delivered in French. In this song, Manu Chao’s punk rock influences show in its speed and power. An unexpected little gem.

“Baionarena,” which includes a DVD with six music videos, a short documentary and the full concert recorded live at France’s Bayonne Arena, has several accomplished moments. All the powerful songs are too many list. Suffice it to say that Manu Chao has had a fruitful career and this album captures him playing a big concert at the height of his power and popularity.

So by now something's clear:  drag queens own Christmas shows in San Francisco.

But the're all so different. 

The great Countess Katya Ludmilla Smirnoff-Skyy, reigning diva of the opera world, is the classiest drag queen in the Bay Area.

And she knows it too. Between incredible poperatic deliveries, she likes to enlighten the audience about her wealthy past, her endless talent and her bitter departure from the former Soviet Union.

Her new life in "the America" is the subject she likes best. Apparently she arrived with little more than "a title, a voice, and a fabulous collection of imperial jewels."

Katya's Holiday Spectacular continues through Jan. 2 at The New Conservatory.

Read entire show review on EDGE

One of the best things about being a music freak in the post-Napster world is that we no longer have to wait for college radio stations to showcase new independent bands. There are hundreds of places where new music can be found. The bad thing is there’s just so much bad stuff. Sifting through the thousands of shitty bands to find something decent could take days.

And by then most people are too tired or annoyed to listen anyway.

After much looking, my discovery today is a nine-song EP titled “Prozac” by an unsigned French band named Epitomize. Read whole review on Weekinrewind

What’s better to get you into the Christmas spirit than a hefty drag queen dressed as the mother of Jesus spoofing a bunch of Top 40 hits by stars like Laddy Gaga and age-old Biblical stories by important figures such as The Holy Spirit?