#also I want it noted that painting vs photography was so so hard because I love them both

[ereborne]

Tagged by @next-hero-in-line (weeks ago, but I’m going back through my drafts and I found it!)  Thank you for the tag!

This or that!

Painting or photography // dusk or dawn // spring or autumn // movies or tv shows // chocolate or Nutella // audiobooks or podcasts // card games or board games // fiction or nonfiction // cookies or brownies // dragons or unicorns // bath or shower // blue or yellow // rollercoasters or bumper cars // left side or right side of bed // zip up hoodie or pullover hoodie // straight hair or curly hair // gummy worms or gummy bears // rain or snow // sneakers or flip flops // bowling or mini golf // pasta or pizza

🏷️Tagging:  @kaylithographica, @goingsparebutwithprecision, @nikkifromtabs, @irrigone  if you’d like!

[sophiepatztone]

Week 1: September 4th

I began with three topics:

the role of the artist in society

photography

context

Because 'context' is so abstract, I couldn't really figure out a way to explore it without going into a more specific type of context like written context... oral context... lack of context? It didn't really make sense, but it did merge well with photography, specifically my interest in subject, intentionality, and truth in photography. How does context guide our understanding of these things?

So I began trying to understand two topics. I brainstormed some intentions, but ultimately decided to let my research be open-ended so I wouldn't restrict myself to a specific idea too early in the process.

I want to…

Criticize the role of the artist in society? Why make art that people won’t understand? 

Criticize the lack of accessibility (understanding) of Contemporary art.

Speculate about the future of the artists’ role in society? 

Defend/ empower the artists’ role in society?

I want to…

Critique photography as an agent of truth? Of objective representation? 

Speculate about the future of photography as AI develops? 

Express… photography’s role in conceptualizing societal aesthetics 

Here is a summary of my research findings (follow the links to see my full research and sources):

The role of the artist in society

Societal (NARP (Non-Artistic Regular Person)) perceptions of Contemporary Art are negative... "it's hard to understand, doesn't make sense, looks like something anyone could've made... etc."

“Beautiful. If you read between the lines, you can clearly see this is meant to portray absolutely nothing.”

Considering Intention vs. Reception is super important. Take Richard Serra's Tilted Arc for example... people saw it as a huge obstruction, ugly, dangerous

Art education in K-12 schools is lacking material that covers modern and contemporary topics, which inevitably leads to a lack of understanding and criticism

Artists themselves see a "mass rejection" of Contemporary art. It can't be understood without explanation, therefore a normal person can't walk up to it and understand it without help of words.

"Art is no longer simply traditional paintings depicting certain people or places; it’s more fluid and less definable. It can't be boxed in. Anything that conveys emotion, alludes to an event, or evokes thought using visual elements can be considered art."

Contemporary art is about the process and the intentions.

Deskilling movement in art. Denial of the autographic mark, becoming about the subconscious.

I looked at public art in Hoboken, taking note of things I walk past every day and may not pay attention to, eg. mural on the parking garage on 2nd and Hudson, paintings on those boxes on the streets.

Hoboken public art categorized as honorary, tactile, community-based, referential, contemporary

Photography

Photography not only captures but influences what we think is aesthetic or significant. How do photographers curate the world through their perspective and how does this impact a viewer's perspective?

"They suggest that photography is not a mere recording of reality but a form of interpretation, where the photographer's vision and the viewer's perception play significant roles."

The denotative vs connotative meaning of a photograph

"What does photography do, today, if it can no longer testify directly to the state of things (except in exigent circumstances or mediated by time and space)?"

I went to the Met a few weeks ago and looked at the product photography exhibition... familiar products are "so altered by the camera as to constitute something entirely new"

"the nature of the medium in which works of art are made determines the proper ends of the fine arts" -Greenberg

I also looked at perspective and subversion of perspective, how we can psychologically interpret something as different than it actually is based on tricks of the camera.

With "photography" I am trying to focus more on theory to avoid thinking too much about form, but if you're still reading this let me know if I'm going in the wrong direction. During my reflection in class, I realized that my topics are beginning to dovetail into more specific subtopics, so this is what I will be looking into this week.

Intentionality (or lack thereof) in art

K-12 art education and how it influences public perception of art

The social responsibilities of artists

and

Photography's role in the production and exchange of commodities (sub-topic commodification)

Photography's influence on what is considered significant and aesthetic (or not)

Circulation of images

Photographic images and their intentions + receptions artistically and/ or commercially

[chemochronicles]

I am not alone. You are not alone. 9.18.17.

Ever since I was a little girl I've pictured a life for myself... One that resembled the life I was given. (Unfortunately for me, I was the spoiled youngest child of an upper middle class family, haha - talk about a reality check as a millennial living in expensive southern california!) That picture has changed as I have grown as a person, but it never strayed too far from the lives of everyone I've been surrounded by throughout life so far... I pictured my 25 year old self to be married (check!), travel often, with children that look like tiny adorable versions of us, a modern farmhouse, pretty flowing beach hair, a successful photography business, a lifestyle blog and the physical ability to care for the aforementioned list... I pictured myself having the strength and energy to lift my babies into my arms, to sew the cutest linen clothes for them, to teach them how to grow their own food on our homestead, and to build healthy and meaningful lives with their tiny growing hands. I picture myself pursuing my portrait photography business again. Creating fine art prints in my own studio that would create photos that remind parents why they get up in the morning. Making art that takes a mother's breath away when she sees it on her wall each morning and makes her feel things. Makes her grateful. I want my life to consist of working with my hands... showing up, living. Lately those things are pretty hard for me to do (show up and live, I mean).

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:8-10

The days are growing longer. I am weary. I don't want to complain, I am not angry with God. I know He has me here for a reason, He has my women's bible study going through the book of James this semester and I know that's no coincidence. I want to paint a picture for you what a day in my life looks like. NOT for your sympathy. NOT for your recognition or praises. FOR you. FOR you to be thankful for each little gift you've been given that you might be completely unaware of and are possibly wasting. (Like I did, before all of this) OR maybe this is for you, just to know that you're not the only one who's life isn't as cute and perfect as the  (probably insecure and depressed) people you follow on instagram! YOU ARE NOT ALONE. And neither am I. And with that said, I'm actively making an effort to be aware of MY gifts too. Life has been very hard so far, but I still have good things. And you do too. Let's not waste them by letting Satan distract our attention away from God's goodness.

In 2010, when I was diagnosed with aggressive leukemia at 19, I thought life was really hard. And it was... but honestly, when I look back at those three formative years that were taken captive by chemo, that was actually easier than dealing with my Chronic Graft vs Host Disease today. That season of cancer was preparing me for this... This slow...and steady... endurance.

It seems like each morning I wake up with new symptoms, each more scary and with more potential to be life threatening than the one before... I have no idea what my life will look like next month, or next year, or in 10 years if the Lord still has me living on this earth. Will I eventually need to be in a wheelchair from how this GVHD is effecting my muscles, and bones? Or carry around with me a supplemental oxygen tank for GVHD of the lungs? Will I need dentures from gum disease and tooth decay that this GVHD of the mouth has given me? Don't even get me started on the ramifications if any of those one things happened... let alone all of them. The emotional toll of living life in extreme dependence of God and everyone around me... The stress that would put on Caleb to live like that?? The potential.. the anxious thought and fear keeps me in prayer.without.ceasing. I'm learning, unfortunately, that those things do happen to some people with GVHD. Not everyone, but some! It's moving in that direction for me more than I expected (I didn't expect it at all. I expected the pretty picture that I painted for you earlier)... and I already know that if I don't continue doing physical therapy stretches on my mouth throughout the day I will lose the ability to speak and eat without a feeding tube.

I'm overwhelmed and out of breath (literally on the couch gasping for as I type this in "notes" on my iPhone... this symptom is new) I'm thankful to have the strength to attend church, but I miss being able to see my friends off in the distance, to hurry to them and to hug them without any physical struggle holding me back. I miss being able to smile at strangers and acquaintances without hesitating. Because of GVHD of the mucous membrane (that's the inside skin/all openings including the mouth/gums) I haven't been able to eat a normal meal without difficulty since June. And I haven't had a flavorful, spicy meal in 2 years. I'll likely need gum surgery and at least one tooth removed in the next few months, and I'm only less than 2 years past my transplant And that's only the mouth.. I also have this GVHD blister on my lip that won't go away, it's been there for two months and sometimes it will crack and randomly gushes blood a few times a day and hurts to the point of forming tears... Which can get awkward when you're by yourself at Trader Joe's! That's the only visible issue I think. But you know what, actually... it's happened enough times in the last two months that I'm kind of used to being more confidently transparent with strangers. Which I feel like has been helpful, to be honest about the struggle in a lighthearted way. It normalizes trials. (Hey! #normalizetrials! I'm joking but did I just make up a thing?! 😉 except I feel that we should add "with joy" because otherwise that hashtag would become a toxic tunnel of self absorbed whiners. #normalizetrialswithjoy, there we go!) Because life is hard for everyone. Not just me, not just orphans in Africa, not just foster kids, not just the wealthy people in the world who can't buy their happiness, and not just you, whoever you are and whatever burden you're bearing (or about to bear).

If the peace and joy that I have that only comes from The One True God, can point someone (anyone) who feels lost towards having this same hope and joy for themselves, well then... this very long (and possibly permanent) season of suffering would be worth it for me. I do miss kissing Caleb though. If you're a prayer, can you pray that my lip heals so I can kiss him again!? It's not a silly prayer. Kisses matter. 😘

Caleb and I started reading Randy Alcorn's Heaven this week and it has ministered to my soul in such a sweet way, and I had this realization...

I may never be a mother...

I may never be healthy again...

I may never have the life that I expected God to give me...

I may never live to be 30... or 40... or 50...

(or maybe those never's may never happen!)

And God is still GOOD?

God is still Good.

Earlier this week... I wanted to die---(Ok, ok I'm sorry to be dramatic! Correction: Heaven sounds really *incredible* and chronic pain really *isn't*.) After reading and speculating about heaven, and after a very long and painful day, I prayed that God would either heal me or take me home. I begged him not to give me a life of long-suffering at the extreme of others with cGVHD that I've seen. I prayed it as I sobbed uncontrollably in my bed, muffling my tears in my pillow, hoping I wouldn't wake Caleb (who was waking up at 4am that particular morning.) I prayed it over and over for hours. For nights on end. Life has been painful and physically exhausting which is emotionally exhausting. It is physically difficult to move my muscles to get out of bed. To move from my room to the kitchen and to go to the bathroom. It hurts to sit and it hurts to stand and it hurts to walk. I am only comfortable in one position, and that is when I'm laying on the couch sitting up with my legs relaxed in front of me. With my cute ferocious little pomeranian, Danger happily snuggling on my lap. I thought that I would start to feel better as time went on after my cancer treatment, but this past year or so I seem to only feel worse... I'm doing everything humanly possible to improve my quality of life and ability to function... and though my efforts may be toning down many symptoms, it's still hard to function.

And THEN I read Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. "

My health is a heavy WEIGHT that I carry around on my back. My sin CLINGS SO CLOSELY like an annoying fly that lingers by my food on a hot summer's day. That sin tempts me to want to throw in the towel. But Jesus WEPT in that garden the night before He was crucified. He SUFFERED. He asked God (with willingness and submission) to take that cup from Him, and I'll continue to ask God (with willingness and submission) to take this cup from me. And Jesus still died on that cross even though He didn't want to endure that. He still gave God honor and glory as He endured that trial that He didn't enjoy. And because of that devastating experience that Christ endured because of MY SIN... I have hope of eternal LIFE. So who am I to just give up on this life and these hard things that God has allowed me to endure, because I'm uncomfortable and in pain? I know I'm not the only one out there who’s in pain. But am I the only one out there who’s in this much pain, yet has this much hope? I hope not... 

If Jesus Christ can walk on this earth perfectly and suffer the ultimate long, painful, blood curdling pain SO THAT I HAVE THE OPTION to choose hope over this meaningless, sin-filled, cesspool crap-town of a depressing world, then I refuse to disrespect His name by giving up the hope that He paid for me with His own blood. Jesus didn't die so that I could live a comfortable life on earth, too preoccupied with all the pretty things to need Him. So that I could throw a tantrum when things didn't go my way. He died because He loved me (even though I didn't do anything to deserve it). So the LEAST I can do is endure through this hard life for His sake, like He did for me out of His pure undeserved love. Except I'm not capable of doing it perfectly like He did. So He did it perfectly for me. Then died in the most brutal, slow and painful way ever. Then He conquered death by resurrecting like it was prophesied thousands of years prior. It's pretty cool! And He's coming back soon. And I am so ready for it.

So if you'd like to pray, please pray for my health and for my heart. And for my sweet husband who never stops dying to himself for me (even without stomping his feet or slamming the door or rolling his eyes) and for everyone else he comes into contact with.

MORE SPECIFIC HEALTH PRAYER:

I started a brand new medication last month, it's the first official FDA approved medication for Chronic Graft vs Host disease, it was prescribed to me a few days after being approved last month. It's so new that there's really hardly any research done about it, not even any contraindications known if you google it. IF it's going to work for me, it'll start to kick in within the next week or two. If it works, it hypothetically would help ALL of my cGVHD symptoms Lord willing for as long as possible. And If it doesn't, the rest of my life will likely consist of chronic pain, fatigue and lots of endurance. And growth. And regardless, even still: God's goodness. As I'm writing this I'm laying on the couch with my adorable fluffy puppy snuggling in my lap, having trouble breathing and feel dizzy, but I'm comfortable. It's hard to even focus on writing and articulating thoughts when I feel this way, but I need to get them out. I need you, whoever you are to know exactly what gifts you've been given and to take the time to appreciate them. Or to know that you're not alone in your pains, but press on! Lets normalize trials with joy and be honest with others. Let's not minimize other people's pain. Your pain isn't invalid just because it's different then mine. ❤️

My sister reminded me today of Joni Erickson Tada. What a light she has been to so many... and I can only imagine that she probably had those dreams as a girl like I have and do. And God had a different plan for her... and she is so beautiful, so whole. Full of so much joy. I am no comparison to someone like Joni and all she's endured with such grace... but what we have in common is that our lives have not gone according to our plans, our lives have not been comfortable and they have been filled with physical and emotional pain. But we both have hope in so much more than our physical comfort. We have hope in the gospel.

This is what I'm preaching to myself:

ALL OF JAMES 1 ALL THE TIME

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 From Paul, who went through way more pain and persecution and trials than my tiny brain can ever comprehend. "Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Hebrews 12:7-11 "It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

So in light of that Heavenly Father's disciplining love...

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:35, 38-39

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” -John 3:16-21 

[closetofanxiety]

Show Review: NXTAmherst

(They didn’t allow photography inside the show so here’s a picture of Amherst people doing their favorite thing, holding signs and chanting)

Hey! While you folks were watching CORPORATE WWE’S NO MERCY PPV, I was living it up indie-style! Er, corporate indie style. Along with my friends Mark and Mike, I went to see an NXT house show in Amherst, Massachusetts, where I lived from 2000 to 2002. How would the residents of this famous bastion of liberalism take to the grappling action of NXT? What kind of superstars would make the journey to the Pioneer Valley? How many people would we see who we previously saw wrestle in dive bars? LET’S TAKE A LOOK:

What: NXTAmherst, the last stop on a brief tour of the northeast

When: Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: The Mullins Center at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Who: A very, very small crowd. I’d be surprised if there were 600 people in attendance. I have definitely been to bigger indie shows.

Show Notes: Mark brought his camera along to the show, which he’s done at previous NXT and WWE house shows. NOT THIS TIME, PAL. We were informed at the door that “absolutely no photography” would be permitted inside. “Ya gotta keep your cell phones in your pocket,” the guy told us. What gives, Triple H? ARE YOU BANNING PHOTOGRAPHY BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT PEOPLE TO SEE THE EMPTY SEATS? Whatever the reason, we had to walk back to the car, deposit the camera, and then walk back to the Mullins Center, a cavernous basketball arena that they had cut in half for the show. Even then, it looked deserted. When we finally got inside, they told us we had “qualified for free upgrades,” and went from sitting in the stands to chairs in the sixth row back from the ring. They moved nearly everyone onto the floor because there were so few people. Amherst: not fertile ground for the NXT Xperience.

The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) vs. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss

The show started, as WWE shows do, with the national anthem, something people in the Pioneer Valley are not used to. Especially considering the hoopla over NFL players declining to stand for the anthem yesterday. When the ring announcer asked us to stand and remove our hats for the national anthem, a guy in front of me said, “Oh, what the fuck,” while someone else said “We should all take a knee.” This is not talk radio country, is what I’m saying.

Anyway, the match. A perfectly fine wrestling match. You could, if you were so inclined, hold this up as an example of wrestling to someone who’s never seen it: the babyfaces were fired up, the heels were shitty and cheated, the crowd lustily cheered the good guys and booed the bad guys. Montez Ford in particular looked fantastic in his dual role as face-in-peril and high-flying action man. Sabbatelli and Moss are a little generic for my liking, and I have to admit I hate the Street Profits’ gimmick. Hey, they’re black guys from the mean streets, and they’re about to GET FUNKAY. How many black wrestlers in the WWE have never had to dance as part of their gimmick, at least a little bit?

Good match, though. Street Profits win.

Rating: Three Banned Cameras.

Oney Lorcan vs. Lars Sullivan

I haven’t been watching NXT regularly, or any WWE TV regularly, so I’m not hip to this Lars Sullivan cat. In the 1980s he would have been a guy on one of those knockoff Road Warriors teams, kind of a random big dude, probably with face paint and a name like Havoc Crash or something. 

But it’s 2017, and he’s just a very big dude without face paint or a cool name, who does a gorilla press slam and avalanches in the corner and that’s kind of it. Oney made Sullivan look like a monster by bumping like a lunatic, though. At one point, Sullivan lifted Oney over his head and threw him, hard, into the ring post while they were brawling on the floor outside the ring. It was crazy! 

Short match, not a lot from Sullivan, but Oney worked hard. I feel like Oney is going to be the Sami Callihan of 2018: the guy who NXT Just Didn’t Get, and who comes out for an insanely good sprint through the indies. Hard to imagine Oney wearing a cat mask, though. 

Rating: Two and a half Banned Cameras.

The Iconic Duo (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) vs. Dakota Kai and Kairi Sane

Pretty stoked for this! I did not realize we were going to get to see Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai in person. 

I run hot and cold on Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. I’ve liked some of the stuff they do, but their mean girls shtick is running a little thin for me. Not for a guy sitting to my left, though. “Peyton Royce, that’s my girl! I love you! I love you, boo! Come to my house!” I bet that works, buddy. I bet she comes over to your house after the show. Congratulations on your pending nuptials to Peyton Royce.

(btw I can’t tell Peyton Royce and Billie Kay apart, they’re like the new Make and Blurphy)

This was OK! Dakota Kai played face-in-peril, suffering from the dastardly antics of the Iconic Duo. We didn’t really get to see her do much of the stuff she can do, and we saw about 15 percent of what Kairi is capable. I mean, it’s a tag match in front of 500 people, I don’t expect them to have a nine-star classic. 

We got to see the diving elbow, which was great. The “walk the plank” thing is much more OK in person than on TV. I kind of hate it on TV. I realize that’s heresy. Just call me John Wycliffe, baby.

Rating: Three and a half Banned Cameras.

Hideo Itami vs. Roderick Strong

There’s no one in NXT I feel worse for than Hideo Itami. He couldn’t have been Nakamura, because he didn’t have that kind of superstar vibe, but he could have been Asuka: a relentless engine of pure ass-kicking. Those two major injuries, though, have probably foreclosed on any chance he ever had of being a contender, or even of making it to the main roster.

He’s still good, though, and this was a good, stiff, nasty match between two dudes who can really get filthy. Strong was firmly in his Mr. ROH nice guy role, which was fine, because Itami was a sadist. Just like with Kairi and Dakota, there was the sense we were only getting a small portion of what these guys can do, but they did it well.

This was the only match for which the crowd was “indie-style,” I guess, in the sense that they cheered for the clear heel, Itami, as well as the face. Getting people to dislike you in pro wrestling has become one of the hardest things. Everyone should study Maxwell Jacob Friedman, the guy is a master at it.

Rating: Three Banned Cameras.

SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe) vs. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole BAYBABY, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly)

What is SAnitY’s gimmick? Like, what are they? I had to answer this question because a guy sitting next to me, not a big wrestling fan but there with his young son, was baffled by them.

“What are they supposed to be?” he asked.

And then I realized, I don’t know. They are ... man, I don’t know.

“Are they, like, actors in a play?”

I almost laughed at first, but wait: that’s kind of perfect.

Whatever they are, they were wrestling the ROH Outsiders. Listen, I like those three guys a lot, but there were points during this match when I started to understand Vince’s point about indie wrestlers being small. I don’t think of Eric Young as a big guy, but next to each member of UE, he looked huge. Taller by a few inches, sure, but also just a much bigger frame, more muscle. 

And if EY looked big, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain looked like fuggin’ giants compared to reDRagon and Adam Cole. Fortunately, Adam Cole has an insane amount of charisma (the kind of thing You Can’t Teach) and Bobby and Rilo Kiley are skilled workers.

They mostly bumped around for the Actors in a Play. I haven’t seen much of NXT lately, as I mentioned, so I didn’t realize that (a) SAnitY are good now, and (b) the Ring of Honor guys are ... what, exactly? 

At times during the match it seemed like they were classic shitheel cheaters brutally imposing their will on the hapless babyfaces, and then would abruptly switch to being cowardly pussies getting their asses handed to them. Kind of odd booking here.

The match ended with Undisputed Era taking a deliberate countout, which isn’t bad, really. The crowd hated it, but it made sense, given the idea that these are dudes who Don’t Give a Rip about playing by the rules.

Rating: Two and a half Banned Cameras.

INTERMISSION

Mike and Mark walked the concourse while I stayed at my seat and surreptitiously looked at my phone. So intense was the No Photos edict that I had seen Mullins Center event staff approaching people and forcing them to delete pictures they had taken. But I got a phone call during the first half of the show and wanted to see what that was. Also, I am a rebel without a cause:

EFF YOU HUNTER, I DID A PHOTOGRAPHY WHEN YOU SAID NO ONE COULD DO A PHOTOGRAPHY

Back to the show:

Johnny Gargano vs. Raul Mendoza

Match of the Night right here folks. Raul Mendoza came out to crickets, followed by a “Who are you?” chant. He was in the Cruiserweight Classic and lost to Brian Kendrick in the first round, but I had to google that. I had no memory of this nondescript-looking cat. This looked to be a squash match for Johnny Wrestling.

BUT HOLD THE PHONE, MABEL. Raul Mendoza can fucking GO. He put on a clinic, busting out high-flying lucha libre moves, countering Johnny’s offence, using the ropes like he was born amongst them. And he did all this while being kind of a chubby dude, hence one of my favorite types of wrestlers: shockingly agile, but with love handles.

Halfway through the match, the crowd totally turned, and was chanting “MEN-DO-ZA! MEN-DO-ZA!” Gargano also looked great here, to give the man his due. That spear from the apron he hits looks so much better in person, especially from six rows back. I thought he broke Mendoza’s ribs when he it.

Ultimately, Johnny won with the GargaNo Escape, but classily let Mendoza have the ring, as chants rained down on him. If this had been an indie show, we would have been chanting “Please come back! Please come back!” So good. I want to see more Raul Mendoza! I got a fever, and the only cure is a strong dose of Vitamin Mendoza!

Rating: Four Banned Cameras.

Sonya Deville vs. Liv Morgan

The cool down match. Sonya Deville has an MMA gimmick, Liv Morgan has a Carmella gimmick. This could have been a lot shorter. Deville is impressive looking, physically, and Morgan needs work. A Deville squash would not have been out of order. The highlight of this match for me was that Mike was pretty well in his cups by this point, and he was very, VERY pro-Liv. He was upset when she tapped to a triangle choke.

Rating: Two Banned Cameras.

NXT Championship Match: Drew McIntyre (champeen) vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas

I have tired of Drew McIntyre in what may be record time. When he came to NXT at WrestleMania week, trailing intrigue from EVOLVE and TNA, I was like, “Hmm, OK, I’m engaged.” And then he had a hot-as-heck match with Oney Lorcan and I was all YES I am Ready for Drew McIntyre. And since then, eh. I don’t know. The win over Roode felt blandly predictable. Not a lot of juice in that feud. And now you have a noble babyface champion in the grand WWF/E mold, which is to say, he’s boring and without a discernible character.

Almas is Almas. Or maybe he’s La Sombra, as three guys in Bullet Club shirts sitting near us kept chanting, along with random shouts of “tranquilo!” We get it, guys. You are knowledgeable fans who know the real score. They also called Killian Dain “Big Damo,” Dakota Kai “Evie,” yelling out “Drake Younger!” at the former CZW man who is now a referee, etc.

Twenty years ago, an NWO shirt was a sure sign that someone was a casual wrestling fan, the kind of person scorned by the hardcore crowd at ECW shows. Today, a Bullet Club shirt is usually a signifier of the opposite: this is a person who is going to tell you how “KENTA” was so much better in his matches against “Dragon,” oh wait, sorry, you probably know him as “Daniel Bryan.” 

Another crowd thing: people love doing that “One-Two-SWEEEET” thing during a two-count. Little kids were doing it, who hopefully haven’t been corrupted by Wrestling Twitter yet. It’s just a fun thing for kids. That’s fine. Kids can shout whatever they want at wrestling shows. Everyone else, though: stop doing this.

Anyway, this match was boring. There was never any sense that Almas could actually win this thing, so there was no drama. Both guys worked hard, though. After the match, Undisputed Era ran out and beat on Galloway. Babyface after babyface ran to the ring to help, only to get beat down themselves. It started to feel like one of those PWG shows where Super Dragon and the Young Bucks beat up everyone on the roster. Then SAnitY came out and beat the hell out of Undisputed Era. Then everyone else beat the hell out of Undisputed Era. Then Undisputed Era left, because they got beat up so badly. It was 8 vs 3, and they lost. WWE has a weird way of making heels sympathetic underdogs. It says a lot about greed-swollen psychopath Vince McMahon.

Rating: Two Banned Cameras.

[gyongyiphotoarts]

WPS Idea pool

https://www.anasamoylova.com/work-1/#/sublime/Week 2-3  WPS - Initial proposals

This module allowed us to choose from 3 different methods of presenting our next project. We had to hand in our initial project proposal this week in order to be divided into our chosen groups - we had 2 choices to nominate, my main one was Page, as I’d like to create a lovely book for a long time now. However I am still unclear whether which idea I would like to start to work on, so I handed in two proposals - both are very sketchy so far.  Here I’ll copy & paste both forms, although I might have a brand new idea combining aspects from both proposals! All I know is that I’d like to work in a studio, creating still lives, working with a Hasselblad medium format camera and to shoot on colour film…

The first idea, ‘What is music?’ has formulated in my head a few months ago now, while I was travelling to work. Not an original idea, but I can be so enthusiastic if I find a great new song or artist! I guess this teenagerish dream of creating psychedelic still life compositions have been always lingering in my subconscious :D I did a few notes on how I want to start to work in the darkroom, I have to dig it up and upload it here.

The other idea is an ongoing struggle of mine - I don’t like to live in London as much as I used - but I am ‘grounded’ here because of my choice of getting an art degree in the city - after 8 years it’s harder and harder to leave my family and friends behind when I visit them in Hungary - but I know that I would never had the opportunity to study photography in my country, as the ‘art’ community is closely knit group, and if you don’t have a fine-artsy style you have no chance into getting into one of the leading art unis, like the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest. Of course, I have never applied there, as I never had the confidence on doing so - that is why I have always liked this country, as everyone has a chance to build on their confidence and skills without any underlying judgements (as in Hungary people are very critical with each other and for some reason we don’t like to help each other, and I am strongly missing the sense of inhesion within my nation) - so the basic struggle is the sense of belonging, feeling lost between two worlds…

Anyway, here is the proposal:

For this particular idea I feel like to take a few self - portraits - which I really hate in general, but it would be interesting to include myself in a way. I am heading to the studio next Wednesday afternoon for a test shoot.

As I have mentioned, my second idea have already changed slightly - instead of juxtaposing images of London and my hometown in a book - I still want to create still lives, construct them, as I like to have control over my work. Taking Lorenzo Vittuli’s strikingly colourful images as well as Anastasia Samoylova’s assemblages for first inspiration, I am very much drawned to create similar photographs AND to include my self portraits as part of the assemblage?

Both artists are working with colourful pieces of tools to enhance the meaning and aspirations  behind their work.

Lorenzo Vitturi - Dalston Anatomy and Money Must Be Made

Using found material on Riddle Street Market in Dalston, his constructed still lives are strikingly colourful, picturing different cultures representing themselves on the market - only using tools and materials found on the market, cleverly piecing them together in his studio. This abstracted characterization of a place is very creative. Like he is bringing individuals back from the market to his studio, giving them ‘another’ life, a new identity. Indeed, he is juxtaposing still lives with portraits on diptychs, I guess that’s what he was trying to do. 

I cannot get over how his books are beautifully juxtaposed. Colours and textures are flawlessly following each other page by page, occasionally interrupted with a blank white page to start a new series of picture flow. The portraits he took on the markets are often rephotographed, by adding a new element to the prints as a brushstroke, coloured pigment powder and cut outs, sometimes layering a couple of photograph to give a dimension to the composition. On his website there are many diptyches from the Dalston series, juxtaposing still lives with portraits. 

I have seen his work in the Photographers Gallery 3-4 years ago, but I cannot find the photos on my Google Drive :( I remember this diptych from Dalston Anatomy, I guess the most popular one, but I remember this electric blue caught my eyes even back then.

Anyway, more inspirational photos I love:

http://www.lorenzovitturi.com/

African cultures vibrant colours must have soothed his heart while he was at the Lagos market documenting the gentrification of the area. His photos are also made for the purpose of capturing the essence of the places he is visiting - ohmy, I just realised what a cliche I have noted here. Like is not that obvious. ohwell, well done for me for this brilliant observation. 

Anastasia Samoylova - Landscape Sublimes 

https://www.anasamoylova.com/work-1/#/sublime/

‘Landscape Sublime project explores the connection between the natural environment and its representation through photography. I construct temporary assemblages out of internet-sourced images that I re-photograph with a digital camera to produce the final works. ‘

Her working process is based on found materials as well, only from the endless pit of the internet. Her main focus is on working with cliche imagery, using themes such as ‘Flowers, Lighting, Desert etc’, to recreate these sublimes in her studio, reprinting the images, folding and warping them, making like ‘building boxes’ of them in front of the lens, to create interesting compositions and to rhetorically ask questions about the endless image making flow of today’s society with digital camera became so widespread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CaGzzcXIac

Here are my notes and quotes from this video - ( as I’m too lazy to rewrite them here for the post, sorry :D ) 

she is interested in the perception of landscapes (…icebergs etc) not in the actual landscapes

‘the personal and collective idea of the environment, shaped by the existing images of that environment...’

her approach to photography - unmediated reality 

‘there is no such thing as non constructed image’

‘...the process of assembling a still life for her is a metaphor for the memory that blends pictures of different elements of the scene into a collage environment....’

using one main image, and then build the composition from there, adding more elements 

hours and days of production, assembling the photo, figuring out the light bit by bit

using mirrors, wrapping paper to reflect light

strips of images, curled up ones

core of Autumn Roads image - several conflicts, unanswered questions - found image - created image, straight vs composite image, landscape vs still life, natural vs artificial 

she says every photograph transforms space in one way or another…a photograph creates a new construction of a place…as framing does already

photographs are always constructed , which means that photography conveys a constructed reality

Looking at her photographs one cannot help but notice the 3D effect she is creating with her building blocks - and at the same time the photograph, specially on my laptop screen is flat, so she is tricking the eye and invites the viewer for closer observation. I would love to see her prints in real life in a gallery!

My assemblages would be representing each places - London and Bekescsaba -, using different materials, )maybe like Samoylova, photographs to build up a little construction...but what kind of paper she has been using to print her images? as there are no reflections on the prints at all, and she did state that she is using flash when photographing her assemblages)  and colour schemes ( Hungarian and UK flag colours?) 

How can I incorporate the self portraits ? -  having them printed out and then cutting myself out of it would suggest that I am lost in those places...? 

This work needs a lot of attention to detail and experimentation in the studio. In this case I need to book my Wednesday afternoons to work in studio - the previous day I have to gather my tools and ideas for the following day.

Tomorrow I’ll only play around with a few lights, might bring in some items to shoot some still lives. I’ll have a more finalised plan by next week on what to photograph :D I feel like I need additional research. 

Anyway, I guess constructing the photos in the studio is bloody hard and demands loads of effort and concentration. Also creativity. I don’t consider myself to be able to express my imagination on this level ( anyway, I cannot compare myself to anyone professional heh) , I guess I need tons of research in Dutch still life painting, some research in symbolism ( I have done my own research in reading about Dali and Frida Kahlo a few months ago, so hey, at least I’m tying.) and studio still life photography. New Objectivity, Formalism maybe...using striking shadows and colours...maybe Vivian Sassen’s work will be worthwhile to have a closer look again.

[oversizedpencil-blog]

Pitch bible evaluation

Research

after receiving the task brief, I started researching on pitch bibles and specifically ones for animation films and shows, I watched a video lecture titled “How to Create a Pitch Bible“by heather Kenyon, and looked at examples of pitch bibles for existing successful shows, I made a note of the things that were included in them, the length of the bible, style and content.

Inspiration

I was inspired by different genres of animation and film but I tend to lean to realistic stories and slice of life genres, therefore I looked at some animations to help me come up with an idea for a story. Films included, From Up on Poppy Hill (2011 film), Only Yesterday (1991 film) , Le chat du rabbin (2011), and other stories and art work. These films have many things in common, including the subtlety of the story, genre and type of characters, yet they all include a hint of adventure, and goal.

I started gathering images and artwork that inspired me, including photos of the place, the Casbah in Algiers, photos of people who live there, to help me illustrate characters that fit in the environment and represent reality. I made a mood board of these images which I thought could help me with putting all the film ideas together.

 Idea

Coming up with a story idea was a difficult part but thankfully I had a few film ideas I jotted down previously so it wasn’t such a bad start. After establishing the kind of characters, story, and movie genre that appealed to me, I decided that I wanted my film to have a female lead character; I also wanted to include other strong female side characters that leave an impression. In terms of story, a warm story that transforms the protagonist into a better person by the end, is what I wanted to go for, also a warm and colourful setting, despite the struggles and tragedy in the story, I wanted it to leave a positive message and impression on the audience therefore The theme I wanted to go for is a family theme, a father and daughter relationship, a slice of life story.

In order to show the Casbah from the point of view of someone who is discovering it for the first time, I chose a character who moves to the Casbah for the summer, yet they are unhappy to be there. The story revolves around the young girl learning to love the Casbah and its people through living the childhood of her father whom she didn’t know properly. The camera plays an important role in the story as it is what sets the series of events in the story and what links Aya to her father. I think having an object associated with the film or story is important as it sets it apart from other stories or films and helps link the different events and parts of the story together.

The goal of the story was a difficult aspect of the writing process and It took the longest to develop; in fact I was tweaking it until the very last stages and was constantly changing. I chose the conflict to be a man vs self type of conflict, as in the character is fighting to achieve some sort of emotional cause rather than anything physical or an evil outside force interfering. The idea of her trying to connect with her fathers , his past and childhood seemed right and plays a big role in her character development from a moody and irresponsible young girl, to more open and confident about her identity.

 Character design

The characters I decided on for the film were, a young girl (Aya, 14), her grandma (Tata Jamila) , uncle, an old man (Aya’s dad’s childhood friend, Amou Bashir), and maybe another female character, side characters included father and mother, and children in the neighbourhood.

These characters went under a lot of development and changes, for example I intended on having a second female character, a young girl, but towards the end of the process, I decided not to include her as I felt she deserved to be a lead character for a different film. The character of the grandmother was there from the start, as I wanted the young lead character to have a close role model to look up to and ask for advice throughout the film. I also included some neighbourhood kids that are the same age as the lead character; this was to keep the innocent and playful hint to the film, as I didn’t want Aya to be the only child.

The next step was to start sketching out character designs and jotting down story ideas on the go, I found that good ideas came at random moments and not when I sat down and looked for them, therefore I wanted to be ready when I got a new idea. I used photos from my mood board and photographs of people and places in the Casbah to draw inspiration for character design, background design and even story idea, using the locations I saw in the photos. Most of these photos came from own my photography and from the following photography account https://www.flickr.com/groups/casbah_of_algiers/  

 Setting

Deciding on the setting for the story was the easiest part, I have always wanted to write a film and set it in Algiers or Algeria in general, as I feel a connection to the place and think that it is very underrepresented in the media and films. The place fits the story theme and the atmosphere I was going for, as the Casbah is a very family and neighbours orientated place with deep history, I feel it contributes to that atmosphere. I wanted to use bright colours because I think it reflects the theme and style of the film, and for the message to be bubbly and radiate a warm family atmosphere

What would I improve on/change

If I were to do this project again or improve it, I would focus on improving Concept art, for example my painting skills, environment, background  and colour studies to achieve the look I was going for, or commission a real background artist for the job. I would have also spent a longer time on developing the story, as I think it can be improved in more than one way, because at times, I felt that it was a little unclear and didn’t seem to have a clear purpose.

That being said, this project taught me a lot and I helped me improve my story and character development skills in an intensive task that involved using many of the pre-production skills we learned previously and put them to the test.

presenting

I feel that the pitch presentation went well and that it flew nicely overall. Adding an animation that i made previously of the charcater of Aya picking up the camera in the enviornemnt was a good way to show the style of how the animtion, charcater design style and backgrounds would fit together.

I belive I covered all the important points about my film idea and explained them well. on the other hand I could have elaborated on the stories and adventure that happen in the middle of the film, how Aya interacts with the charcters, her relationship with each of them and how she changes throughout the film.

Overall I’m satisfied with the film pitch bible; even though I think there is a big room for improvement. Although I found it very hard to develop the story, I’m satisfied with the end result, and can see myself returning to it later for further development and maybe even production.

[uschickens]

Getting to know you meme

Okay. Okayokayokay. I said I was going to post more, actually engage more, so that requires, you know. Actually posting more. (Plus @momosandlemonsoda has graciously tagged me twice now, with no response from me, and that shall not stand!)

So. That meme thing going around.

Part I

name: Fannishly, I’m uschickens pretty much everywhere. Back in The Olden Times, I used Vix as my first name with uschickens, as in short for Vixen, as in a fox in the henhouse, which, like so many things with me, is so obscure as to only amuse myself.

star sign: Sagittarius, which seems a little ::skeptical headtilt:: at first, until you pair it with my Gemini rising and Virgo moon, and then it becomes a lot more we-know-but-hey-john-mulaney.gif

height: 5'5" (165.1cm)

time: 11:12pm

birthday: every handful of years, it coincides with Thanksgiving, so I get cake AND turkey.

nationality: american

fave bands/groups/solo artists: Like, currently listening to, or of all time, or or or??? This is a loaded question! Recently, Taemin’s Never Gonna Dance album hooked me hard. My other most-played playlists are called “last of the hardcore troubadours,” “frenzied banjos,” and “forest gods,” so I’m working the alt country/folk pop/whatever Florence and her Machine and Hozier have going on. Oh, and the Sleep No More soundtrack, so 1930s jazz, Hitchcockian strings, and edm all mashed together.

song stuck in your head: not even a song, just the one line from Taemin “we were just two kids/too young and dumb” over and over and over on repeat.

last movie you watched: I...have not watched a movie in a long, long time. Possibly a Knives Out rewatch? It Part Two? No, all my media consumption time lately has been devoted to...

last show you binged: All Things Tomb. I started watching reboot in, hmmm, late October? Early November? And with very few exceptions, various dmbj adaptions have been ALL I watched since then. It’s...kind of a problem. It goes in fits and starts, not a true binge since reboot, except for some blocking-out-the-outside-world plunges into Ultimate Note in early January. Reboot is the Tomb of My Heart, with Sha Hai a microscopically close second. Chen Minghao is my one! true! Pangzi, with surfer!Pangzi from tlt2 being a worthy predecessor. I am mostly here for post-Bronze Gate Wu Xies, and I vastly prefer the more realistic fighting style of reboot!Xiaoge than emo!XG, mathnerd!XG, or dancer!XG. But this was supposed to be about a binge, not my Standard Tomb Opinions Dissertation.

when you created your blog: 2010? There was a brief period when apparently I used tumblr for...interior design porn?? Rather than porn porn??? I quickly learned my lesson.

the last thing you googled: firstly, that would be the last thing I duckduckgoed, if we’re being strictly accurate, but I digress. It was [Richard Diebenkorn Guggenheim], part of a long-running conversation with my dad, who is a landscape painter currently going through an abstract expressionism phase. It’s getting wild up in here, folks.

other blogs: as I said, uschickens everywhere, by which I mean Twitter and dreamwidth and ao3.

why i chose my url: back in The Early Days of Livejournal, I lurked even more than I do now, so when I finally took the plunge, I couldn’t resist going with a name that really captured my inner Do Not Perceive Me, crossed with big band music and Louis Jordan. Ergo my tag line was “ain’t nobody here but... [us chickens]”.

how many people are you following: fuck if I know

how many followers do you have: fuck if I care

average hours of sleep: NOT. ENOUGH. But better than it used to be; see also my Twitter for some of the more bizarre paths my mind goes down when I’m in the middle of a juicy bit of insomnia.

lucky numbers: 3

instruments: a couple decades of piano and a solid eight months of French horn.

what i’m currently wearing: the dress I wore to work over pajama bottoms. I’m getting ready for bed, I swear. Halfway there!

dream job: ::hollow laughter:: I feel I would be excellent at being independently wealthy, at which point all my time would be devoted to travel, food, and writing about/photographing that travel and food, plus whatever experimental theater/circus/dance performances I happened to run across. But I shudder to think of actually relying on that sort of writing/photography to earn my keep, because there’s no faster way to kill my joy in a thing than to make it an obligation. Is “dilettante” still a thing? I’d be very good at that.

dream trip: do you want that chronologically or alphabetically? I have spreadsheets! I *will* be going to Singapore once all this ::gestures vaguely at the world:: sorts itself out. There’s a weeklong food tour in Mexico City for which I have lust in my heart. I want to rent a beachside with a million bedrooms for a month and just have friends show up for as much or as little of that month as they want. When I want true escapism, I look at the Aman hotel website, pick a location at random, and decide which suite I would like for a) myself, solo, b) myself with family, c) myself with friends and d) whichever characters currently live in my brain.

fave food: ha, I couldn’t pick a favorite band, and you want me to pick a favorite FOOD? Gumbo. Spaghetti and meatballs (but only good ones). Georgian khachapuri and aubergine satsivi. Fresh strawberries and cream.

top three fictional universe you’d like to live in: something written by Diana Wynne Jones, because it’s always a good mix of fantastic and pragmatic, with fundamentally decent people. Probably Howl and Sophie’s neck of the woods. Star Wars, because fuck it I want a lightsaber. And faster than light space travel. And I can’t think of a third offhand, but something with magic. Because if you’re going fictional, go big fictional or go home.

Part II

last song: the moody acoustic version of the Guardian theme song.

last movie last stream last podcast: We’ve already talked movies, and Vix Does Not Stream, so let’s go to the only thing that means my laundry gets folded in a timely manner - podcasts. I would be remiss in not mentioning the primary ‘castular joy in my life, the I Saw What You Did pod, which is two fortysomething women of color talking nerdily about two movies based on a theme each week. You’ve probably never seen most of these movies, and it doesn’t matter in the slightest. They themselves are a delight, and it’s exactly the sort of chewy discussion over media that I adore, especially because it is not done in an exclusionary, clerk-at-that-one-independent-video-store-who-always-seemed-to-be-sneering-at-your-choices way. Highly recommended. But, uh, the one I really should talk about is All About Agatha, a very good podcast reading and ranking all of Agatha Christie’s novels in order, because it is an excellent segue into...

currently reading: ...the fact that I am a solid 80% of the way through all of Agatha Christie’s novels in audiobook. In, like, the last two months. I haven’t read a book with my eyeballs since ::gestures vaguely at the world again:: (wait, no, I made it through the dmbj novels, for better or for worse), as reading with my eyes seems to be reserved for fic these days. But I am plowing through these audiobooks like it’s a part-time job. What even is life if not narrated by Hugh Fraser at this point? I’m not sure if I recommend the endeavor or not, but I and my knitting and my mystery audiobooks will be over here getting our Miss Marple on as long as possible. (For the record, the audiobooks have edited out some but not all of the egregious bits of racism but left most of the anti-Semitism. So, uh, there’s that.)

currently watching: Mystic Nine, my last full Tomb series. The only I’m not going into preemptive withdrawal is the presence of several side stories on iqiyi with English subtitles. Naturally not the ones I really want (heeeey, Liu Sang vs haunted paint can, plus whatever the hell is going on with Hei Xiazi from last month), but needs must. I suppose after that, I’m back to a reboot rewatch, for fic research purposes, if nothing else. I mean, I suppose I could watch a non-dmbj property? Like the backlog of recommendations I’ve been collecting?? Sounds fake, but okay.

what is antipoetry to you: I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s another form of poetry. Something something even by rebelling against the form one is inherently bound by its concepts, especially when one tries to define oneself in opposition to something one cannot help but be shaped by it blah blah.

currently craving: I could say something existential about what the pandemic has made me yearn for (live! theater! with! friends!), or I could talk about the roast pork from Big Wong’s that I’m seriously contemplating for lunch tomorrow, but what I want most right now is for the goddamn construction crew that dug a hole in the road right outside my window starting at 10pm would finish and go away ASAP.

[caveartfair]

What Sold at EXPO Chicago

Courtesy of EXPO Chicago.

Twenty years ago, when Kavi Gupta opened his eponymous gallery in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, the art scene in Chicago was “completely dead,” he said. Chicago’s own artists tended to flee to New York as soon as their work was deemed significant, but rent was cheap, and he was able to eventually buy two large exhibition spaces as well as an 11,000-square-foot warehouse that includes a workshop to help artists fabricate large-scale works and vast amounts of storage space.  

“We can do so much with our artists here,” he said, from fabrication to inventory management, thanks to the availability of large, inexpensive space in a city that stretches out across 237 square miles. “That’s being in Chicago, you can’t do that in any other city.”

Today, Gupta’s gallery represents some of the world’s most sought-after artists, including Mickalene Thomas, Irena Haiduk, who showed at Documenta 14, and McArthur Binion, who showed at the Venice Biennale this summer. His booth at EXPO Chicago, which opened Wednesday, was bustling with visitors and had seen brisk sales. And the West Loop has become a trendy neighborhood with new condo buildings and several of the city’s best restaurants, including avec, where many exhibitors and collectors had dinner post-fair.

Gupta credited Tony Karman, EXPO Chicago’s director since 2011, with helping revitalize the city’s art scene. Chicago has, for decades, had some of the world’s most prestigious art institutions and a sophisticated group of collectors, but Karman, Gupta noted, has brought everyone together in support of the city’s cultural scene—from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose photo and personal note appear in the fair’s promotional materials, to the institutions, collectors, universities, and even non-profit organizations from the U.S. and abroad.

“He’s using [the fair] as this thing that’s beyond a trade show,” Gupta said. “He’s using it as a catalytic moment to shift the cultural makeup of the city.”

By Thursday afternoon, Gupta had placed Chicago-based artist Nick Cave’s Hustle Coat (2017), two 2016 paintings by James Krone, Onappol-Lechard and Onish-Th’Apaar, as well as works by Manish Nai for a range of $18,000 to $75,000. Nai was also featured in the In/Situ program of large-scale works placed around the fair, and curated by Florence Derieux. Tony Tasset’s Untitled (Snowman) (2017) sold for between $120,000 and $150,000.

Installation view of Galerie Gmurzynska’s booth at EXPO Chicago, 2017. Photo by @gmurzynska, via Instagram.

Installation view of works by Manish Nai at Kavi Gupta’s booth at EXPO Chicago, 2017. Photo by @aliceranahan, via Instagram.

Karman had a lot to work with when he came to the fair. As many dealers noted, the city’s support for the arts extends back at least a century, when local families such as the Palmers and the Bartletts went to Europe and bought the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings that now form the core of the Art Institute of Chicago’s famed collection. In 1978, Chicago became one of the first cities to pass a Percentage For Art Ordinance, requiring public art as part of the development or renovation of municipal buildings. Most visitors get a taste of it at Millennium Park, home to Anish Kapoor’s famous reflective silver Cloud Gate (2006; also known as the “Bean”), but public art is visible all around the city, on the many open plazas in front of office and municipal buildings. It’s a reminder of how much space the city has to spare, and provides a sharp contrast to New York, where, despite having its own percent-for-art ordinance in place, space constraints make it hard to imagine a real estate developer leaving a single square inch unmonetized.

Chicago is the country’s third-largest by population, after New York and Los Angeles, and has a diverse economy spanning healthcare, insurance, financial services, technology, agriculture, manufacturing, and the arts. The city and its surrounding metro areas are home to 32 Fortune 500 companies, and Mayor Emanuel is hoping to add Amazon to that list (Google’s Midwest headquarters are in Chicago, too).

With its high-skilled labor pool, “Chicago as a business destination continues to attract marquee companies,” said Mac MacLellan, Central Region President of Northern Trust Wealth Management, citing Boeing, McDonald’s, and agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland Company.

It’s that professional class that Karman is hoping to cultivate into a new generation of collectors. He’s doing so by working alongside the city’s institutions, many of which have vibrant young collectors committees, and by bringing the world’s top galleries to their backyard. In its sixth edition as EXPO Chicago, the fair featured 135 galleries from 25 countries, many of them—Gagosian, Tina Kim Gallery, Lévy Gorvy, Galerie Frank Elbaz, and Standard (Oslo) included—appearing for the first time. Karman has gone out of his way to court them; many of those interviewed said their reason for coming was, simply, “Tony convinced me.”

“There is no question that in the very short time of this fair, individuals that had both the means and the potential want now are beginning collections that I guarantee will begin to rival many in the future,” said Karman. “And it’s because the international art world came to them.”

Karman also credited the mayor for “getting it,” by recognizing how important culture is to a city’s vitality and economy. He said the city made producing the fair and its ancillary activities effortless, and even partnered with EXPO to present public works such as a digital billboard series, “OVERRIDE,” of works by 12 international artists currently on view around the city.

Installation view of Lévy Gorvy’s booth at EXPO Chicago, 2017. Photo by @socle.studio, via Instagram.

Karman has also brought major curatorial depth to the fair, thanks in large part to the Curatorial Forum (now in its third iteration) he launched, which sponsors roughly two dozen curators to spend time in and around Chicago’s museums, artists, and dealers, visiting studios and galleries, and also in dialogue with one another, during the fair.

Matthew Witkovsky, curator and chair of the Art Institute of Chicago’s photography department, said that gave the fair a less commercial tone than others he has attended.

“The things that come out of a fair like this are different,” he said on opening night. “They have more to do with exhibitions, with site-specific projects, or making connections that will help sustain an artist’s career. That could come a bit at the expense of selling that one work on that wall, but it’s a tradeoff.”

Despite the fact that EXPO claims the mantle of an international fair, there’s no getting around Chicago’s hometown boosterism, and many booths played to that local pride in hopes of seeing their works join the city’s great collections. Prominent Chicago collectors spotted at the fair included the dancer Jay Franke, Marilyn and Larry Fields, and David and Nancy Frej.  

Mathias Rastorfer, a partner at Switzerland’s Galerie Gmurzynska, paid homage to the city’s strong tradition of public sculpture in his booth, which greeted fairgoers at the entrance with a bronze sculpture by Joan Miró in front of a black-and-white photo of the 39-foot-high concrete statue of the same form that sits in Chicago’s Brunswick Building Plaza.

Inside the booth were four fantastical curtained-off “rooms” made from colorful vintage textiles and sewn by Fendi’s seamstresses in Rome and Milan, intended to evoke the private viewing rooms of Renaissance nobility. Much as the aristocracy would use them to withdraw from the chaos of daily life to spend meditative time with their artworks, today’s collectors can take a breather from the fair in one of these little solitary oases. The works inside, and on the walls, all had a Chicago connection. Gallery staff had spent months researching its artists’ links to the city, such as Christo���s wrapping of the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1969, or Robert Indiana’s studies at the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1950s. As of Wednesday night, Gmurzynska had placed an untitled work by Kurt Schwitters for around $400,000 and an untitled Louise Nevelson from 1959 for around $160,000, both to private Chicago collectors.  

Rastorfer and other dealers described Chicago collectors in general as “sophisticated,” “serious,” and “thoughtful.” Nearly everyone contrasted EXPO’s slow and steady pace to, say, the rush of Art Basel in Miami Beach, but most seemed confident they’d have a successful fair.

The new sun will warm our proud and naked bodies, 2016. Wardell Milan David Nolan Gallery

Blue Holes, 2016. Mel Kendrick David Nolan Gallery

New York’s David Nolan Gallery was also capitalizing on Chicago’s famous hometown boosterism. Nolan, who sits on the fair’s selection committee, brought several of his Chicago-born or -based artists, including David Hartt and Julia Fish. By the start of the weekend the gallery had sold a mahogany sculpture by Mel Kendrick for $70,000, Wardell Milan’s much-discussed The new sun will warm our proud and naked bodies (2016), and an untitled 2016 graphite drawing by Chicago artist Jim Nutt. Sale prices ranged from $15,000 to around $80,000, said George Newall, associate director at the gallery.

“There’s a huge dedication to local artists, real pride and support,” said Newall, “but also a great taste for the international scene. It goes both ways.” He said the gallery has established strong relationships with collectors who come back year after year for “repeat purchases,” and described the community as “very warm and engaged.”

Local gallery Corbett vs. Dempsey started in 2004 and has become a champion for Chicago artists, even as it expanded its roster to include national and international artists. One early step, said partner John Corbett, was bringing those Chicago artists to international fairs such as Art Cologne and Frieze Masters. Seeing their work hanging alongside other world-class artists in an international context bolstered the confidence of local collectors in the strength of the artists’ work, and the gallery’s program more broadly.

“It’s a way for people back home to understand the viability of the work,” Corbett said, adding that he has since stopped doing both of those fairs due to the exhaustion and expense. And with a great fair in his own backyard, he and his small staff (they are six in all) can reduce their fair travel.

At EXPO, he had sold a Karl Wirsum drawing, as well as works by Chicago artist Morris Barazani, including Solid Sky; a textile work by LA-based Christina Forrer; and pieces by Magalie Guérin, Lui Shtini, and Bryan Calvin, only one of which was pre-sold. He described Chicago’s art market as somewhere between New York’s and Dallas’s—not quite as small and tightly knit as in Dallas, where the overlap between collectors and museum trustees is almost 100%, but not as diffuse as New York’s. He said that there was nonetheless still “a long way to go” in cultivating the next generation of collectors.  

“What we’re seeing right now is the potential for a real transformative thing happening in Chicago in terms of arts patronage in the broadest sense,” Corbett said. “How that actually plays out is still to be seen, but I think a fair like this is extremely important in that ecosystem.”

Frank Elbaz, owner of the Paris- and Dallas-based Galerie Frank Elbaz, was one of Karman’s new recruits. Participating in EXPO Chicago made sense as part of his strategy to cultivate a deep U.S. collector base (setting up shop in Dallas was another component of this strategy), but he said Karman’s aggressive courtship was decisive. Karman invited the gallery to visit Chicago and set up a jam-packed schedule of meetings with collectors and museum curators over the course of two days for gallery director Danielle Cardoso Maia.

“Like that, you can smell the city,” said Elbaz. He and Maia concluded it was fragrant.  

“For most European people, Chicago, it’s like the Sleeping Beauty” of the U.S. market, Elbaz said. “We knew the Chicago art fair was big 30 years ago, but now maybe there is a kind of revival, thanks to Tony Karman and the fair.”

Elbaz said he and his team had put in a lot of work ahead of the fair connecting with the curators and collectors who would be in attendance (their names were provided by the fair). He sold a work by Mangelos to a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a piece by Julije Knifer to another collector. Neither work sold right out of the booth to someone walking in, but both were peripheral sales that wouldn’t have resulted without his presence at the fair, he said. That left him a little time on Thursday to watch on his laptop as his football team, Nice, beat Zulte Waregem in the Europa League, 5-1.

Dan Colen, The Underground Rises Again, 2015. Courtesy of Leévy Gorvy. © Dan Colen, 2017.

Carol Rama, Senza titolo, 1968. © Carol Rama, 2017. Courtesy of Lévy Gorvy.

Lévy Gorvy was another international gallery with a first-time presence at EXPO Chicago, lured, again, by Karman’s enthusiasm and efforts. Emilio Steinberger, the gallery’s senior director, said Karman had done a great job bringing curators and museums from not just Chicago but the surrounding area. The gallery decided to bring only artists it represents on a primary market basis, to give its program and some of its less well-known artists exposure to the region’s collectors.

“It wasn’t rushing in like Basel, or Frieze; it was a really nice steady flow” on opening night, Steinberger said. The gallery sold several works off the bat, ones that Steinberger said he’s “wanted to place in the area.” Those included a large untitled 2004 painting by Pat Steir for an asking price of $550,000, an untitled 1968 work by Carol Rama for an asking price of $350,000, and The Underground Rises Again (2015), a large white canvas with metal studs by Dan Colen, who joined the gallery this year, for an asking price of $250,000.

Amsterdam- and New York-based Grimm Gallery, which was returning for the second year, took two booths, one in the main gallery section, and a project booth for a solo presentation by U.K. artist Charles Avery. Grimm sold American artist Matthew Day Jackson's Destroyed by Fire ( Painter on His Way to Work) (2017) for $60,000, and several paintings by Caroline Walker for between £2,850 and £3,100. Gallery co-owner Jorg Grimm said he was very pleased with the booth’s prominent placement near the entrance to the fair, and noted he had made connections with prominent curators, including Steven Bridges from The Broad, where one of his artists, the Chicago-based artist Daniel G. Baird, is currently being exhibited. He also met Jean de Loisy and Jean-Baptiste de Beauvais from Palais de Tokyo; the French museum is one of EXPO Chicago’s partners for a group show at the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Also returning to EXPO Chicago was New York’s Bortolami. The gallery’s Emma Fernberger said the gallery had been doing the fair for at least four years, brought back year-in, year-out by the city’s sophisticated, serious collectors. The institutions, she said emphatically, are “fantastic.”

“It’s slow, but it always winds up being successful,” Fernberger said. “We have great relationships with the institutions here and the collectors, and they’ve always been very supportive of us, so it always feels nice to come back here.”

As of Thursday, the gallery had placed a large blue-and-white striped work by Daniel Buren, On Ash – 2 25 elements, November, 1989, situated work (2017), for around $160,000. Fernberger explained that the works were double-dated because the originals had burned down in a storage fire, so he revisited the series in 2017.

Installation view of work by Genevieve Gaignard at Shulamit Nazarian’s booth at EXPO Chicago, 2017. Courtesy of Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles.

Younger galleries also did well at the fair. Los Angeles’s Shulamit Nazarian sold a number of works by Genevieve Gaignard, currently in a show at New York’s Studio Museum of Harlem, by Thursday. They included the final prints of Basic Cable & Chill  and of Kathleen, both within an edition of three photographs, for around $3,000 and $4,000, respectively, and Ain’t I a Woman, for around $6,000, as well as two sculptures for $4,250 to $6,000, and photographs from each of the works that debuted at EXPO. Senior director Seth Curcio said the works had all gone to private collectors, about half of whom were based in cities outside of Chicago, the other half local.

Los Angeles gallery Anat Ebgi returned for a second year, after winning the Northern Trust Purchase Prize last year, through which Emerald Waters (New Beverly) (2016) by Neil Raitt was acquired for the DePaul Art Museum. Director Stefano di Paola said the attention from last year’s prize helped the gallery’s sales this year; he’d already placed five out of six works by Alec Egan for between $6,500 and $20,000, with a few of them coming from pre-sales.

“Chicago is very relationship-based and the clientele is very thoughtful,” di Paola said. “I find that they’re very into political work, work by artists of color, these non-normative narratives,” he said, calling these themes “an important facet” of some of the private collections he had been able to see, and from his discussions with collectors about their interests. That makes sense for a fair that drew the likes of Martin (Marty) Nesbitt, one of former President Barack Obama’s closest friends and the chair of Obama’s foundation, who is also a prominent local collector.

Wendi Norris, a San Francisco gallerist, was returning for her fourth time, with a selection of works by three artists, all in the $15,000 to $20,000 range, which Norris said was her “sweet spot” for EXPO. As of Thursday, she had sold five works by Firelei Báez, two to the J.P. Morgan Chase Collection, two to major museum trustees, and one to a private collection. Several of the works that sold were not at the booth, but were sold at the fair. All of the works carried a notable political, social or environmental message, and Norris agreed with di Paola that the appetite is strong for political works among Chicago collectors.

This year’s edition of EXPO Chicago featured not just political art, but also political causes. Human Rights Watch had a booth with a work called Tea Project, 780 cast porcelain cups, one for each of the 780 Muslim men detained, almost all without any charges, in the U.S. detention site at Guantanamo Bay. The cups are modeled after Styrofoam teacups, engraved with flowers from the detainees’ countries, and are displayed alongside tea recipes from each of those countries. The Natural Resources Defense Council had a stunning sculpture by Chicago-based art collective Luftwerk, White Wanderer, inspired by the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica, which broke off into the sea this summer. Both non-profits were given their booths free of charge, thanks to Rhona Hoffman, a grande dame of the Chicago art scene who founded her eponymous Chicago gallery 41 years ago. Hoffman sits on the Midwest board of both organizations, and had asked Karman to invite them in and use the fair as a site to bring those causes to fairgoers’ attention using art.

She put it another way, though.

“I’m giving away Tony’s real estate!” she said, laughing.

Luckily, it’s Chicago, where there’s plenty of space for everyone.

—Anna Louie Sussman

from Artsy News

[andy-abroad]

Luxor_02

June.10.2017 Hello hello- Today has been a great day, and a long day, but a great day! It started this morning at 6am. My alarm went off. I was pretty tired, but super excited. I didn't have the best night's sleep. Although there is a ceiling fan in the room that works very well, it was still so hot. The sun sets in the direction of my room (like at home) so it turns it into an oven. The walls, and even the mattress just retain heat. It took a while to fall asleep, but I got some rest and woke up ready for the day. To beat the heat, I asked the tour to come at 7am, instead of 9. 6am was also an option, but I thought that was a little aggressive. I woke up and immediately forced myself to eat the burgers I had saved from last night. It wasn't the most pleasant, but I knew I needed energy, so I washed it down with some water. I got ready and packed a few things in a bag. I knew I wasn't going to sketch. It just wasn't going to happen due to the heat, so I only brought my Polaroid, my external charger, water, and sunblock. I applied sunblock all over and before I knew it, it was 6:55. Also, side note, so glad I bought these linen pants. They breathe so well, and protect my legs from the sun. They were so awesome in Egypt. I definitely didn't want to wear shorts out of respect, even though they know that I'm a tourist. I met my driver downstairs and my guide. One is Muslim (driver) and the other is Christian. We started the day by driving to the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It's about a 40 minute drive, as the bridge is located away from the city. This was done to protect the purity of the waterfront, and to preserve the atmosphere of Luxor. There used to be a ferry, I was told, but they stopped its use as it stirred up the river too much. On he way there, the guide sat with me in the back and explained a bit of history and a bit of Luxor as it is today. They are still a huge agrarian based economy, with one of the largest sugar cane industries in the world. They are also known for their fruits, especially bananas. Mangos, dates, figs, grapes, all thrive in the fertile soil. It's true. When I was flying in, the Nile was like a cut in the dry sand, with green all around it. Upon arrival at the temple complex, we took a small train (like the ones at the mall for kids) and rode up to the entrance. It was cut deep into the rock. Here I learned that Christians actually used it as a monastery, and had destroyed some parts of it. Also, I learned that it was the polish people who restored the temple. It is a three story complex, and until about 100 years ago, the bottom two floors were buried in sand, which actually preserved the paint quite well. All the paint I saw today was original, meaning thousands of years old. They don't restore the paint out of respect to the passage of time. I was really... in awe of the structure, not because of its presence physically, but more due to the fact that like other works, it's something I studied for so long and finally got to walk and see. My guide was very knowledgeable and took me around the whole complex. At the end, he gave me free time to wander and see it at my own pace, which was awesome! It was here that I walked into the last chamber. One of the docents pointed at something on the wall. I looked. He kept trying to get me to take photos, and when I turned to leave he asked me for a tip. Very annoying. He just pointed. I walked briskly away and met back up with my guide. As a side note, my guide was very good, but I think he was not feeling well? I am not sure. He was very out of breath and just had a hard time throughout the day. It was a bit troublesome at times, as I know he, like so many others, are more than a little desperate for job stability. More on that later. Our next stop was the valley of the kings, or where the Pharos were buried in secret as to protect themselves from grave robbers and such. This complex is still being excavated, but has recently been abandoned, more or less, because the government will not spend money on it. It was also here that I learned the location of king Tut's funeral mask is not in Luxor, but at the Cairo museum!!!! I am definitely regretting not going to see it, as I didn't have the time. I do have that 5 hour layover in Cairo tomorrow morning, maybe I'll try and go! Haha. In the valley of the kings, I got to go into the burial chambers of several kings, including king tut's but no photography was allowed, and they were strict about this. It was impressive to see all of these tunnels cut out of sheer rock. The labor it must have taken, the treasures they must have held. My guide told me that the ancient government stopped paying these craftsmen well, so they rebelled and started robbing the graves. The funerary rites and beliefs of the afterlife were so intricate and really played out on the walls and paintings. After the tombs, we walked back to the car and I drank water. I learned from my precious mistake of not bringing my own water and quickly downed it all. At this point, my guide wanted to take me to where "local artisans" paint and sculpt in the inherited style, but I strictly told him I wasn't interested. I said I didn't want to buy anything and he kept telling me That it was mostly for cultural value, but I held my ground. I could tell he was disappointed or annoyed, but I really just wasn't up for being sold more things. He also Said this was a chance for him to drink water and take a rest, as out of respect he didn't like to drink in front of people during Ramadan, which I felt badly about, but I chose to be selfish. We drove back to the east bank, the bank of life, which took about another 40 minutes. During this time I looked up how much I should tip a tour guide. I found out that I grossly over tipped my woman in Cairo. I was also upset because I began to realize that she didn't do a good job at all of explaining. Even if my guide today was being a bit repetitive, he asked me questions and really wanted to have a conversation about what I wanted to learn about. Anyways, we got to Luxor Temple, which I had walked around yesterday but didn't enter. Here, he gave me a ton of information about why it was built, how, and by whom. It took two hundred years to complete, and was worked on by several Pharos. It even depicted events from the Bible, like Joseph's time in Egypt and the collection of grain in preparation for a famine. Like so many other structures, the Muslims, Christians, and other invaders all did their part to destroy or reuse these spaces. A mosque was built on top of one of the gate walls, as it used to be buried in sand, while the christians painted frescoes of the last supper in one of the back rooms. It was really interesting to see the layers of history and of conquest. At the end of this, I needed to get some money from an ATM (one located right across the street). I grabbed my cash and went to get water. The price for 1.5L of water is 4 Egyptian pounds, here, it was 15! I couldn't bring myself to buy it, even in dollars it's 25 cents vs. 75. In retrospect it's silly. My guide agreed that it's a steep price, but that it's not just because I'm a tourist, but also because his shop is right across the street from the temple and rent is higher. I felt very foolish. We got to our final destination, Karnak temple, which is where I was last night. While my guide was paying for the tickets, I grabbed a bottle of water. It was 20 Egyptian pounds, which I happily paid. My guide and I laughed about that. Again, my guide took me through all the rooms, explaining the importance of each, and showing me really interesting things cut into the stone. Here, there were depictions of slaves and of conquests. There was also a portion showing soldiers cutting off hands. The soldiers cut the hands off of their prisoners to keep count, but also to torture and kill them slowly. Yikes! I took a ton of photos, had some free time to wander, and then it was time to get lunch. On my way out, I picked up two post cards and a stamp. The man tried to charge me 50 Egyptian pounds. If I were alone I would have haggled down to maybe 25, but I settled at 40. Throughout the day my guide and I had a conversation about the tourism industry and the economy. It was really sad to hear that many guides that went to school for it had to go and work in the fields because they get no support from the government, and not many people come on holiday. We got to lunch and originally my guide was going to go home to eat, but he decided to stay. We went to a nice restaurant. I was also really mad about eating falafel, because I think the woman took me somewhere cheap and pocketed the rest of the money in Cairo! I ordered some chicken, and a lot of 반찬 came with it. A great lentil soup, some pickles the way mama makes, a cucumber salad, and really delicious grilled eggplant. It also came with pita bread. I enjoyed my food and my guide and I continued to chat. He didn't eat which was kind of awkward. He told me that he's in the process of trying to immigrate to Canada with his family as the job situation is not so great in Egypt. He says more and more people are seeking to leave, especially Christian's, as the government is somewhat oppressing them. I finished my meal, tipped the waiter, and we were on our way back. We dropped the guide off at the train station down the street from my hotel. I tipped him and thanked him for his time. I over tipped him as well, but he deserved it, and earned it! We then made our way to the hotel I tipped the driver as well and headed inside. I saw the man who took me on the boat and just hurried to my room. I quickly took off my money belt and sat for a bit. I drank water and wrote a post card. I wanted to send it before I left so I searched for a post office, and luckily there was one down the street. It was closed but it had s little slot to drop off mail. I really hope any of my post cards make it. I also hope that slot was for mail. It was in Arabic so I couldn't tell! I walked back to the hostel, grabbed some waters and a mango juice, and took a nap. The heat is super tiring. I know I keep saying that, but it's true! I woke up from my nap, went downstairs to pay for my cab (only 75 pounds in comparison to the 150 I paid at the airport...), showered, packed and organized, and now I'm here! While cleaning, I realized I drank 14L of water (4 gallons) in two days! I learned my lesson from last night and have opened my window. The ventilation is helping regulate the temperature. I think yesterday the fan was just pushing the hot air around, that didn't really have anywhere to go. The downside is that the street is noisy, and I'm trying to sleep early as my flight tomorrow is at 5:30a. I have a. 5:30a flight to Cairo, a 1:25p flight to Kuwait, a 9p flight to Mumbai and I arrive at 4a. It's going to be a long day. Anyways, I will leave it here. Until tomorrow--