this blog is a visual notebook of inspirations for a group of bandit bloggers. we post things we see and like. our lives don’t revolve around singular topics and neither does our blog. sorry! nothing is in-or-out of context here. enjoy xx
echo, at once dead and very much alive, alone maintains narcissus’ beauty. his claim to self, that, as gaston bachelard puts it, becomes as is reflected. “je veux paraître, donc je dois augmenter ma parure.” (bachelard, l’eau et les rêves, 1942, p. 34).
the gentle stream brims with cosmic rigidity. the bank of clear waters, where things rest and can be thought to have been made, is where they take the form they pictured. a demented slumber. hypnosis. really, it is only in the depths of cloudy/violent/ruthless bodies that material imagination is most potent. there we can truly delve into matter, to find ourselves in the midst of that most gentle and fragile condition: excess. only wade these waters.
wherein do we bridge and travel past form, into matter. to much relief bachelard affirms “la matière est l’inconscient de la forme”. it is within then. materialistic phenomenology allows us this oneiric passage from one into the other.
but echo is also 34 years old. it is the life work, masterpiece, of developer and new yorker stacy holt. where form is the passkey to matter. a message board of few members, it once held great interest for a kind of crowd capable of hanging together. artists, writers, students, politicians, musicians, designers, doers, all under the banner of “and now?” a place to congregate and produce desire. a moment of permanent instigation that has been housed in a thoroughly complex mechanical network. grinding out the signals into something truly malleable that allowed its participants to call and answer to “and now?” in plastic reverie.
indeed.
though it has always been that paste, this originating material of dreaming and entry into, this giving molasses, hardens and brittles when it is driven away from its source. gross doing. mean endeavor. potential in progress left solid. scorched earth, salted terrain, prey to a drying heat. crackling sound, echoing unto itself into a vast murmur.
who decided this?
because once it’s all finished, and what we bathed in can now be held, all that will be left to ask really will be “and now? “ by lsd
george porcari x roland barthes – still life with books
george porcari x michelangelo antonioni
THINGS: A STORY… if you are in cali, be sure to visit george porcari’s exhibit at “as is gallery” on 1133 venice blv in los angeles. one of our favorite contemporary artists on the west coast. the show is up from april 22, 2023
george porcari x roberto rossellini
“these still life works were started in 2008 and continue, on and off, to this day. i have been in a deep immersion with books from early on when my dad would regularly take me to the gardena public library – he hated buying books and loved to read. from being an avid reader i went to work at the strand bookstore in new york city in 1980…”
george porcari x john cassavetes
george porcari x joan didion
george porcari x jean luc godard
george porcari x jean luc godard
“i never considered reading something one does strictly for “self-improvement” (god forbid) or even for pleasure, although these may play a role. my primary reason for reading was to enter into a relationship with an author that could, ultimately, transform my brain – in effect one is a different person after reading a book with which one has had a profound emotional connection. that’s what you look for in books – transformation, ecstasy, understanding, communion. these are some of those books in my life…”
george porcari x james joyce
george porcari x charles bukowski
george porcari x cesar vallejo
“while working in the library i would get a cold every new year like clockwork – always during our three week year end vacation. in 2008 i decided to turn my self-isolation to working from home by making still life’s – a genre i had never liked (and still don’t like) in paintings or photography. all the pictures were shot in my apartment using natural light and/or the light available from nearby lamps. the title of the show things: a story comes from georges perec’s wonderful book things: a love story. while i may have removed the word “love” from the title i think love is very much at the heart of the matter when it comes to these particular books, and the still life’s are a small way of paying back and saying thanks.” – george porcari, 2023
some notes by judy zellen on the exhibition including discussions with the artist: “the subject of each photograph in george porcari’s exhibition things: a story is a narrative that can be constructed from the relationship between what appears on the cover of a book and the objects porcari has also placed around it in the image. titled still life with books, each picture is followed by a number and dated 2008-2023. Shot with natural light in porcari’s los angeles apartment, the pictures have wide-screen proportions to reference cinema, yet are tightly cropped to juxtapose the books with carefully arranged commonplace household objects. while many of the volumes are about filmmakers such as jean-luc godard, michelangelo antonioni or roberto rossellini, others are works of literature by authors like joan didion, roland barthes, charles bukowski and georges perec. the choice of books is specific and in many of his photographs, porcari has chosen a book where a black and white portrait of the author or filmmaker is centered in the frame.
though referred to as “still life’s,” the photographs in things: a story resonate as extended portraits that use the title of the book and its cover image as a point of departure. for example, in still life with books 2, porcari chooses the edition of “roland barthes by roland barthes” where the author is depicted in a black and white photograph with his right hand gently placed below his lips as if in a moment of contemplation. the book rests on what appears to be a slim, silver DVD player or radio receiver next to a pair of headphones, a green ceramic bowl with asian calligraphy, as well as other miscellaneous objects that are cut off at the edges.
The focus of Still Life With Books 40 is joan didion’s “the white album.” porcari places the hardback book in an empty freezer and stands it upright on one of the shelves, perhaps in reference to this passage: “we live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the “ideas” with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.” during a conversation with porcari at the opening, he intimated that he put the book in the freezer based on his close reading of it.
still life with books 47 features a paperback version of “godard on godard” face up on a table surrounded by various computer cables and hard drives. the bright red lettering on the books cover is echoed by the round top of a pill bottle as well as the red heart in a “i heart…” button that is partially obscured by the aluminum arm of a desk lamp. the black and white photograph surrounded by red text on the cover of the book depicts a couple gazing into each other’s eyes with the woman’s hand gently placed on the man’s neck. underneath the book is a cartoony drawing of a white gloved cartoon hand (perhaps from bugs bunny) on blue material, that appears to be an extension of the man’s arm, adding a touch of humor and irony to his representation.
still life with books 130 contains césar vallejo’s “aphorisms” placed in a grimy sink and shot from above. the book is next to the drain and adjacent to a soapy cup from which an orange handled utensil emerges. again, porcari selects a volume with a black and white portrait of the author with his hand curled around his chin. the grainy image has an affinity with the texture of the sink. why it is placed there is anyone’s guess, but like didion’s book in the freezer, this strange juxtaposition makes for an interesting image.
although porcari’s photographs are filled with cultural icons and references, they are not one liners directed to those in the know. they are intimate and personal images that include books that are significant or have personal meaning for porcari. they are also beautiful and intriguing photographs that invite viewers to think about the bigger picture and perhaps the relationship between their books and the other objects that surround them.”
read read more of judy zellen here … start taking notes people… – by uh
lin yung is a photographer and art director who loves to experiment with optical illusions and whimsical compositions to create images that draw the viewer into their spell. his photographs are on the edge between beauty and bizarre using a sense of poetry and grace in his work. he has a really particular style of working which is minimalistic and ethereal aesthetics. by kn
laminated particle board with knots – corner joints
an early example of a wooden art object by cuban american artists jorge pardo, prepresented by friedrich petzel gallery in new york. its a beautifully designed table, with details on the joints, the curved legs, the floating top, and the under structure but made of disposable laminated particle board (aka bad wood) often used to obscure construction sites.
each of the tables 4 legs are finished with a different brand of varnish, purchased from a variety of targeted stores, such as in an art store, a hardware store, bulk store and so on. all of them are the same but marketed to different people… and therefore priced rather differently – while the ingredients remain the same. the table is a table intended for a sort of a discussion about the state of our world and its manipulation of its subjects. of course don’t ask the cuban artists to explain his work, he will laugh you out of the room. by uh
love the new moncler designs by london-based menswear designer craig green
a nod to the frenchies… the michelin man would be proud of mister green
samurais looked cool in japan – people who try to look-like samurais in aspen, a whole ‘norther story!
skepta drinking his cool-aid : no… you don’t look cool dude, you look ridiculous
again not that these are intended to be worn, although no doubt kanye and his fans will, there’s also those who wear pineapples on their heads, or anything that is obnoxious, attention is on the decline, but this exercise in shape and proportion is simply a breath of fresh air for us. they make us love moncler for their bravery… and that alone is worth every penny they spent…
drooooool…
asymmetric anyone?
love these silhouettes – Hattori Hanzō
invincible in the tube
sculptural
and there’s always a variation of the label to insure your money is well spent…
maison martin margiela label
the label is very margiela-knock but that’s ok, you can copy legends. we did it too. well done moncler for the statement, love the trickle down variation also on ssense.com and congrats to you on having a silly market that will wear anything you dish out as long as its reassuringly expensive – its called desperation by uh
untitled XIX, 2015, 1 of 16 from “a lexicon of paisley” – by leonora hamill: mixed media collage, printed matter and jacquard fabric, 25 x 31 cm, unique
love the series by our artist/photographer friend leonora hamill, currently on display in london at the podbielski contemporary. “a lexicon of paisley” is a series of twenty-six collages that constitute a visual index of the paisley motif. the works return to the persian origins of the motif called botehwhich encapsulates a variety of botanical forms. against a backdrop spanning the british industrial revolution, the napoleonic era and the summer of love, the series pays homage to paisley fabrication techniques as well as to early photographic processes. it evokes the simultaneous conflict and symbiosis between east and west, past and present, and craftsmanship and manufacturing processes. podbielski contemporary somerset house, strand, london WC2R 1LA. if you are there check it out. by uh
a visual collective outlet of inspiration
