Driving in the Sun

This is a new series of photographs by video and photo artist Naomi White. I think they are lush and beautiful, Driving in the Sun.


© Naomi White

Pretty Doll

I am very excited by this video:

Pretty Doll from Tchaiko Omawale on Vimeo.

It’s short and not so sweet, Lynchian-surreal, scary beautiful. Check out Tchaiko's website, she's so fabulous she gets to have a site with just a one-word name: www.tchaiko.com.

Snow Daze

More snow, i cannot resist. I am headed to the mountains next week, then the Grand Canyon for a residency at the South Rim. Although it can't possibly be true, I feel like I will be leaving winter behind and that makes me sad. I guess being included in an Artist Residency means I am getting some recognition too, so from my struggling artist blog standpoint, this is quite exciting. I am going with my husband, the fabulously talented photographer, check him out (if you haven't already), Kevin Cooley. We were jointly awarded the residency, which is pretty much an ideal way to live life.

As for nostalgia about snow, The WG News blog featured fellow Brooklyn artist, Elizabeth Smolarz's snow pictures. I think this one is my favorite.
© Elizabeth Smolarz
you cannot even tell you're in Brooklyn.

She's a conceptual artist with amazing range, traveling the world exploring completely contemporary concepts. Tomorrow she is presenting with this program, Economies in the Digital Age at Art in General.

life, continued...

Hooray for NYC winter wonderland yesterday. It's really too bad the snow is all smooshy and unbeautiful immediately. It was very difficult to shoot, I needed some sort of all-weather cover for my camera. But I enjoyed the creative energy of all these artists working on snow sculptures in McCarren Park. I peered through a plastic bag and lifted it in order to make the exposure. That did not stop the snow from getting all over the lens. Ahhh, who needs straight photography anyway?




I did not finish my story from now, gasp, TWO days ago. I know everyone's dying to hear it. At last week's X Initiative, BYOA, show (that's Bring Your Own Art), New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz flitted about, giving quickie critiques to anyone who would subject themself to it — as long as they were his friend on Facebook. I'd never heard about this, "Be Jerry Saltz's friend on Facebook" thing, although it is apparently a "thing." Before I even saw him giving the critique, a friend of a friend was gushing about it as we wandered the show. And then, we bumped into his group.

Personally, I am not too impressed by celebrity. When you examine my attitude, what I am is a recovering hater. But, as I watched the man give his critique, I was impressed. He had so much energy, and even though he was being rough on the guy, I felt like it was the kind of roughness I could maybe take. He was constructive, he was enthusiastic, even in his criticism he seemed supportive. He projected that he actually wanted the guy to make good work. Mr. Saltz did not emit the airs of a "too cool for school," pretentious New York art worlder. So, when he asked if someone had work nearby to look at, I raised my hand.

He asked if I were his Facebook friend, and I held out my iPhone and said that I was trying to become one, right at that moment. He grumbled but walked over to my photograph. And then he made my night. "Now, this is actually a very nice photograph. It's mysterious and working to present a timeless scene. And yet, the subject's costume is very much in the present, which makes the work feel modern." Or something like that.

I was so excited. Almost nothing lifts my heart more than a compliment on my work, work that it seems I have to fight to even find time to make. I watch people get compliments on their work every day, but I have not gotten my work out there enough to even know what the world would think of it. To have received validation from such an authority, I felt genuinely encouraged.

So, my night was made and I partied on with my friends, infused with my own private giddiness. The world is not necessarily so forbidding. The artist's life continues.

BYOA -- X -- Initiative

Hello! This is from the X Iniative's blowout, "BYOA: Bring Your Own Art Show" last week. I showed up and taped this lovely print to the wall, it's 20x24 inches. For such a huge, open show (and a great idea!), the event really was very well-behaved. I hope that's a good thing. Maybe it's better to have a world that celebrates gentleness over brashness, focusing on beauty and love rather than shocking the hell out of everyone. Besides, who's thought of something really shocking lately anyway? I think the right wing have a monopoly on that. Dealing with their outraged, without being outraged yourself, might be the basis for a good piece.
Here is what some others have to say about the show:
http://www.artfagcity.com/2010/02/05/blnk-byoa-at-the-x-initiative/
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/byoa/


I've been struggling to figure out what exactly I'd make this blog about. I have hardly mentioned its existence, although I can see that some dear people are actually taking some time to read it. Please feel free to weigh in on what YOU think I should write about. My unclear direction certainly contributes to my erratic maintenance.

I lead a varied, and maybe not strange, but certainly inconsistent, life. I am very focused on, but very, ahhh, dissatisfied with my work. I strive every day to become a better person and a better artist. I seek to contribute to the world.

And the world is a big, noisy place, filled with a lot of things. I do not seem to have evolved into the kind of person who can shout more loudly than everyone, a la some people. I have made it to "a certain age" and not gotten famous. So now what? Do I quit? Or do I listen to Jerry Saltz? That story tomorrow...

For now, listen to David Lynch on meditation! So cool!
http://forum-network.org/lecture/consciousness-creativity-and-brain

My roommate for the month (my kevin is away) and I are trying to be healthy, and frugal, by going to the grocery store and buying everything, all at once. We may have overdone it. Note the refrigerator temperature of 51. The film is not considered edible. There was twice as much a week ago.

Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day. This was inspired by a New York Times request for stories about veterans.

My father's death was classified as a combat death in Viet Nam. He died in 2000, at age 56, from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The military has decided that Agent Orange caused the cancer that killed him. Enough other veterans have died too, so the Department of Defense pays out compensation instead of risking the lawsuits. That doesn't help the uncounted Vietnamese civilians and veterans who have died of NHL. It's a silent killer, if not caught by routine screenings the victims suffer night sweats, severe fatigue and malaise, then simply pass away. My father endured those symptoms and all of the horror inherent in cancer therapy -- chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, etc., etc.

He was much luckier than the 58,000+ who actually died during the war, obviously. He came home, resumed a life with my mother, had my sister and me and lived as a productive member of the same society that he had initially risked his young life for. These are commendable and fortunate things. However, he never did recover from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and from the best of my understanding, he and so many others had no idea for years that this was even a thing. If he wasn't drunk or on the streets, he was fine, right? Except he wasn't. Stress can combine with other causes to trigger cancer, and given the constant levels of needless stress he endured, I think that PTSD was partly responsible for the lymphoma.

The PTSD suffered by soldiers, and, I imagine, every single person dwelling anywhere close to a conflict zone, lives on long after the conflict ends. It affects the families of these people, creating stressful or even abusive paradigms that can lead people to think that aggression is okay. Ultimately, a cultural acceptance of aggression leads to more war and the circle of pain, death, trauma and tragedy will continue.

Veterans deserve respect and honor. They have served their ideals with a passion and commitment that the rest of us can't comprehend but I hope we all try to appreciate. Unfortunately, all of that passion and commitment is going in the wrong direction. The only way to stop war and have peace in this world is to cease participating in the cycle. Until we actually withdraw from violent conflicts, someone will always want to retaliate. And as the Fort Hood incident last week makes clear, it's impossible to protect ourselves from all of those retaliations. The best defense is a good offense, and it is the very concept of war itself that is the ultimate villain to fight.