...War

"In the Art of Peace we never attack. An attack is proof that one is out of control. Never run away from any challenge, but do not try to suppress or control an opponent unnaturally. Let attackers come any way they like and then blend with them. Never chase after opponents. Redirect each attack an get firmly behind it." - Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido

In complete contrast to this quote is Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the book title I have chosen to connect to and use as a title for my painting. It would be easy to turn such a painting into a political one, but I'm not really in the mood. Politics (on a college campus) are ultimately a function of anger and a total waste of energy. I am going to approach the painting from a more philosophical stance. It would be difficult to ignore the modern (corporate) significance of the book, however, so I will let it seep in a bit.

My current sketch for the painting is of a cell tower and a tree. The cell tower is very geometrically drawn, whereas the tree is by nature more chaotic looking. I think you can see where this is going... However, I may change my subject slightly. The obvious thing to do with "The Art of War" would be to present two objects in conflict - so what if my piece was of one object? Such a painting could easily become cliched; a painting of a cell tower is too simple. In any case, puzzling over the intellectual aspect is not all that important to me. I want this painting to be about the act of painting itself. Those kinds of paintings tend to be the most interesting to me currently...and I don't know how well I would be able to connect a complex intellectual idea with an image yet. It's not something I am quite ready to tackle...nor is it all that interesting to me. I start the painting this weekend.

listening to...
The Arcade Fire
The Avalanches
Atmosphere
The Bad Plus
Badly Drawn Boy
Basement Jaxx

watched...
The Karate Kid 2
Trainspotting

reading...
The Art of Peace
The Art of Mesoamerica
Shaman King

...Abstraction?

The newest painting project is a landscape, sorta - I have to do 10 drawings of the landscape from different perspectives, then choose one to paint, and abstract it "completely". I may draw from Abstract Expressionists such as Anselm Kiefer if I'd like, but I don't have to. Also, the title of the painting has to be the title of a book from a list Lynnette gave us. The painting does not have to be about the content of the book; it only has to have a connection to the titel. I chose the simple yet irresistible The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

This assignment is the first of its kind - it's very open ended. It's also the first non-observation based painting. So the decisions I make will come from my head. It will be a real test of creativity and decision making - and even harder, reconciling the two. At times I have a tendency to let my creativity get out of control when I actually have it in me, which makes my problem solving skills go bye-bye. It will be interesting to see what materializes.

I would like to take an approach similar to Ralph Steadman, a hero of mine. Bailey just got me an awesome book with a ton of his stuff in it. It really is much better to see an artist's work in a book than on a screen - but then it's also much better to see the works in person than in a book. In any case, I love the fact his style consists of very controlled parts as well as utterly chaotic ones. The muted shades and dark ink outlines he uses to color in his figures would be an interesting way to deal with my assignment, or so I think now. Only when I start painting will I be able to tell which direction it will take.


In other news, I have become increasingly clumsy as of late. I woke up this morning and immediately smashed my face on the wall for the first time ever. An all-time low.


Watched...
Visitor Q
Rocky I
Rocky II

listened to...
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs
Air (all)
Apollo Sunshine - Katonah

...___________

So I figure now is as good a time as any to explain the title of my blog. I only chose "rocktheart" because "theartof" was taken. The Art Of... - that's it's real title. I want to write about the art of things...in an effort to get at the heart of things. Ok, so I just made that last part up, but it sounded good at the time so I'ma leave it. The truth is that I don't want this to be an overly philosophical blog, because those tend to be pointless. I'm sure I'll get into that stuff again in one way or another, but I want this blog to be about the art of things more than the meaning. However, I don't know what exactly I want to focus on (as usual). I do not know what I am interested in the art of (awk), and thus the title of this blog. God this post sucked. Oh well.

watched...
Shaun of the Dead
Point Break (unintentionally hilarious - and $6 at the new Target!)

listening to...
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Add N to X - Loud Like Nature
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Decemberists - The Tain

playing...
Turtles in Time (SNES)

done...
Resume
Cover Letter

...Thought Projection

It's an extraordinary feeling; to have your brain feel so brimming with ideas that any moment it will burst and the ideas will shoot forth from your eyes like a projector. I'm not a great speaker, so they cannot come out my mouth. But I'd like to be considered an artist at some point in my life, so a huge life goal for me is to be able to convey what goes on in my head artistically.

I always have a lot on my mind, but not all of it is always so interesting and relevant as it is right now. This state of mind is difficult to keep up. Trying to take mental notes of all my ideas while operating on even the most basic functional level can leave me ridden of any energy whatsoever in a matter of hours. This amount of time is generally not enough for me to realize the conversion of thought to product. And since I like to work when my idea is clear, coming back to something at a later time generally proves disastrous.

Dumplings are ready. Sweet.

...the Mentality

note to self: attempt to get back to the artistic mentality of a child. 1 of ___ mission statements.

watching...
How to Draw a Bunny
El Mariachi
Samurai Champloo

"Well, I put things in a mailbox, and they get spread all over - maybe it's an extension of cubism." - Ray Johnson

...Procrastination (#1)

So this is my first official procrastination on my new blog. I'm excited. Right now I'm actually on spring break (at home), which makes this procrastination seem a little strange. But I should probably be working on my resume, since the gallery and auction house that I just recently became in contact with want it and a cover letter by early next week. There's also the book I have to read at some point for Japan through Literature and Film: Kobo Abe's The Woman in the Dunes. Other than that, I have to do a bunch of preliminary drawings for my painting of an abstracted landscape, keep my Japanese fresh, possibly work on my speech for the Japanese Speech Contest, and do my reading on the Late Formative Period for Pre-Columbian Art. This break is too short. Not to mention that I am in the midst of a very daunting task regarding my iTunes library: I am going to try to listen to all of it in alphabetical order (deleting the bad stuff), a task that will take me 26 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes and 12 seconds.

Listening to...
9 Lazy 9
A Silver Mount Zion - Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upwards

...the Return

It's been a couple years since I had a blog. I remember enjoying being able to just sort of throw my thoughts out there and occasionally get a response to it. However, it's difficult for a person who is constantly questioning himself to write something down and come back to it later without wanting to completely erase it. That's been a problem I've had in the past with my art as well, among other things. But I digress, I'll make a bunch of other posts soon explaining myself in full - but for now I just want to explain why I decided to start a new blog.

I used to hate how when blogging got more popular, I would run across posts about the "oh my god AMAZING shopping spree" someone went on, or other completely noninteresting things. I'm not saying that a blog should be deep, just that there should be a good, solid reason for you to write, and I really can't grasp whatever those kinds of people might be getting at, beyond following the fad. Personally, I think having a blog keeps my shitty ass writing skills from going too far to shit, and it's entertaining way to pass the time / procrastinate. Also, I need to be able to write out some of my thoughts - I want to be able to look back on them, dumb as they may later seem.

I don't feel much like describing myself right now...next time.

listening to...
One Speed Bike - El Gallito
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
The 6ths - Wasps' Nests
Latino Crush - Slashin' Up Rotten Sounds

watched...
I HEART Huckabees
Citizen Kane
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Minority Report

"Architecture is frozen music." - Goethe