Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 06:45PM 
My apologies for the lack of posts lately ... I've been in Philadelphia without the internet.... how did we survive?
Photo Credit: Rene' West 2010
Dynamite Museum Signs in Art Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 07:31PM 
In anticipation of the Liberty Bell and and the City of Brotherly Love.
Photo Credit: Rene' West 2010
Dynamite Museum Signs in Art Monday, March 1, 2010 at 08:04PM It's hard to believe that February was the 20th anniversary of Photoshop. Mac Life has a great article about the history of Photoshop and pictures of the packaging for every upgrade. I remember all but the very first version....
When it first arrived at Tarrant Co. College, I was a student and ran the lab at night. We had one copy of it in the faculty workroom for research purposes. It was a fascinating program even then, and as a collagist, I immediately saw its potential as the best pair of scissors and glue stick ever invented. The first project that I did with Photoshop, the images were larger than the floppy disk would hold (approx. 1.5 mg), so I was going to save to this giant tape disk drive called Syquest (60 mg) but it crashed and I wound up "saving" them by doing a screen shot on 50 ISO color film. So from my first digital body of work, I was merging digital and darkroom, and never really stopped.
I bought PS 3 for my home computer and remember reading art history while waiting for the lasso to finish selecting an area. When the marching ants were deselected the selection could no longer be moved, and there was only one undo. So when the Layers and History Palettes were added they were truly revolutionary advances in digital imaging.
Other memories of those early years.... my first scanner was a little hand-held vacuum sweeper looking thing that would do a 4x6 inch photo in one swipe. To scan images it had to be moved in a perfectly straight line by hand, and larger images had to be seamed together. My first digital camera had a goofy detachable lens that could be mounted on the wall to spy on people in the other room (1mg? image size). And I remember buying the first Zip Drive in the metroplex for 300 bucks - each disk held 100 mg ($20), I was so excited to have this little gadget, I drove out to get it the minute the store clerk called, when I got there it was still in the warehouse.
Much has changed in 20 years. What was once a curiosity, has quickly become the standard. Commercial photographers and photo-journalist shoot almost exclusively with digital cameras; and sadly, too many darkrooms are being ripped out and replaced with computer stations. The temptation to manipulate images is greater than ever, and without negatives to authentic an event, the veracity of photographic images is more questionable than ever before. But the potential of the software to expand photographic possibilities is beyond my wildest dreams.
Three cheers to the Knoll brothers!
Digital Photography, Photoshop in Photography Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 08:19AM Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:40AM 
Photo Credit: Edweard Muybridge, Walking and turning around rapidly with a satchel in one hand, a cane in the other, Animal Locomotion Plate 49, 1887
Collotype - made into an animation, National Museum of American History
Film in Photography, Science Monday, February 22, 2010 at 08:33PM The first time I ever heard Laurie Anderson was the song “O Superman” at a friend’s house in Wichita, Kansas. My friend had just come back from London with a bunch of 45’s of obscure music. I loved it, I laughed out loud (literally), I ran out and bought the cassette, Big Science. I played it non-stop in the car until it went the way of all cassettes. Then I saved the box – just to remember. Since then I’ve bought almost all of her albums and she never disappoints. When I began to study art she popped up again this time as a performance artist.
Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson began working as a performance artist in the late 60's. Even the early work was related to music: her first piece in 1969 was a symphony created out of vehicle horns; and her second Duets on Ice (70's) she froze ice skates into a block of ice and played violin on street corners until the ice melted. She eventually signed with Warner Bros. and wound up in my living room.
Twice now I have had the pleasure of watching her perform and she is mesmerizing. Oftentimes she is the only person on a giant stage and she fills it with her presence. Part of it is her ability to tell a story, and part of it is the way that she uses images on large screens and unusual electronic devises. She has invented a skull drum, tape-bow violin, body suit with midi triggers, and a 6 foot talking stick. She has also used a voice modulator for many years to modify her voice into a large cast of characters.
Recently, she was commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad to create a multi-media production entitled, Delusion, which opened at the Vancouver Playhouse on Wednesday, February 17. Alexander Varty of Straight.com describes it as:
"the Buddhist artist’s Diamond Sutra: a shining, heartfelt meditation on the ephemeral pleasures and lasting pains of this existence."
I really want to see it, but so far there are no dates scheduled for summer or anywhere near me.... but that could change.
For more info about Laurie Anderson check out her website, Wiki page, and You Tube.
Enjoy!
Performance Art in Art, Music Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 12:05PM An early film from the Dada era: a collaboration between Fernand Leger and George Antheil. The music and film were not screened together until the 1990's.
Fernand Leger, Ballet Mecanique (part 1), 1924 with music by George Antheil Fernand Leger, Ballet Mecanique (part 2), 1924 with music by George Antheil.
Below is a robotic musical performance of Antheil's music created with 16 player pianos, percussions, electric buzzers., etc.
Leger is best known for his paintings of mechanical people and is also associated with the Cubist and Futurist movements in art.
Image Credit: Fernand Leger, Mother and Child, Oil on canvas, 1921 - This image disappeared without a trace in 2008 from the Wellesley College's Davis Museum.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 08:30AM 
Some of that infamous Amarillo wind did a number on this one....
Photo Credit: Rene' West 2010
Dynamite Museum Signs, Photography in Art Monday, February 15, 2010 at 09:13PM 
Image Credit: Mark Khaisman, Space of Suspense #2, packaging tape on clear plastic, 36" x 48", 2005
This week I have been busy working on a piece for an auction and was asked to work on a material that I have never worked with before - corrugated plastic. To compound the problem the piece needed to be waterproof. Since my main medium is photography this presented some unique challenges that had to be worked through, and while I cursed my fate more than once and actually had to start over - in the end, I liked the surface because it was light-weight, durable, and forgiving.
Which leads me to why I think getting a degree in art is such an asset to an artist in any medium. The under-grad experience in particular really pushes students to explore all types of mediums, concepts, and strategies; and to find solutions to a variety of problems on flat surfaces and in sculptural forms. This develops confidence in materials, forms, methods, and even in the use of power tools. Pushing students outside their comfort zone, results is a well-rounded knowledge of materials, an appreciation for other mediums, time-management skills, a good work ethic, and the ability to successfully work through an idea.
Nowadays the trend in education is to teach to the test. This approach fails to give students faith in their ideas, or to develop the skills necessary for critical thinking. In the study of art there is no correct solution to an assignment, but rather a multitude of approaches all of which can solve the problem successfully. Initially this can be confusing for new students, but it is the main reason that I am such an advocate of a degree in art. In order to advance as a culture we need innovative thinkers with the courage to explore new ground.
The artist that I have chosen to highlight in regards to the topic is Mark Khaisman a Russian artist who currently lives and works in Philadelphia. Khaisman's images are drawn with nothing but packing tape. I doubt that when he first started drawing this was his medium, however once the skill to see is developed an artist can draw with anything. Because the images are illuminated from behind, and can fit into light boxes originally meant for advertisements, he has been able to exhibit his "Tapeworks" in airports and other non-traditional sites (image of installation below). Breaking out of the confines of the gallery has made the work available to a much larger audience. I do not know which came first the packing tape drawings or a commission to do art on light boxes. But the resulting images are absolutely amazing no matter how the idea was originally conceived.
My piece is drying now, and I really like it. The solution to the problem came from my knowledge of a variety of mediums, something I learned as an under-grad studying art. Working with a new medium really fired up my brain cells, so all and all it was a good week.
