On art (mine, yours and (occasionally) how to)

Phenomenal at MCASD

2012-01-23T18:20:00.001-08:00

I just got back from seeing the Phenomenal Show at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego -- very impressive. I had seen photos and read about the influence of looking out over the Pacific horizon, but nothing captured what it was like to see the works in person.

The pieces were all fairly dynamic, either from the way they were constructed, e.g., the Mary Corse piece in this video

Mary Corse from richard ferrante on Vimeo.

or others which changed substantially as as you walked by. For example, in this piece by Robert Irwin

the "blending point" (where the band blended with the background) changed as you walked around it.

Very difficult pieces to photograph. I recommend the Art in America article and associated slideshow:

"VLY" traffic control box on North Harvard

2012-01-09T19:24:00.001-08:00

Some really nice work by VLY, much better than any of the other boxes I'm familiar with in Allston/Brighton.

Interesting Tiffen DFX Filter Trick

2011-12-26T17:08:00.001-08:00

I've been a fan of the Tiffen DFX Filters ever since version 1 and version 3 is definitely the best yet.

When using them to process some broken glass shots of Detroit (what else!), I ran across this interesting effect if you apply the x-ray filter twice

Original

One application of the x-ray filter

Double application of the x-ray filter

The double filter almost looks like something you could actually see under natural lighting conditions.

Portfolio App available for iOS

2011-12-12T08:35:00.001-08:00

on iTunes for iPod touch, iPhone, iPad

It's free, so go check it out

Initial Views of Hong Kong

2011-11-27T08:27:00.001-08:00

Here's some quick shots of Hong Kong

A construction site:

This is some of the most amazing natural lighting I've ever seen -- this shot is "as is"

Hisun Wong's "Pressed Flowers"

2011-11-14T17:15:00.001-08:00

I recently came across Hisun Wong's work and found it pretty striking -- I don't normally like flower photos, but these are special (image takes you to his website).

A Different Fountain in DC

2011-10-24T19:44:00.001-07:00

A Little more Allston

2011-10-09T16:30:00.001-07:00

Top to bottom

Hurricane Irene in Allston

2011-09-26T16:31:00.001-07:00

Some shots of damage after the storm.

A Little More on Ryan Trecartin

2011-09-10T09:31:00.001-07:00

There is no there there, and that’s the way it should be.

Ben Davis published an interesting review of Ryan Trecartin’s work on Artinfo which includes the memorable line:

in many ways, his characters behave as if they seized upon YouTube's motto, "Broadcast Yourself," as a mantra, only to find that there was no real self to broadcast.

However Davis meant it, I don’t think of it as a criticism. Rather, it hits on a key aspect of Trecartin’s work. Trecartin presents us with a semi unconscious viewpoint conditioned by twitch (1) driven, novelty seeking web surfing. It doesn’t feel the need to provide the scaffolding of a coherent ego or impose a single narrative viewpoint upon the event stream.

What is interesting about this approach is that it is very much in tune with the way in which we, as beings embodied in the world, actually encounter things. No, not at a conscious level, much of our experience gets filtered out, and categorized as unimportant prior to being presented to our consciousness for consideration (2). Whether it is at the sensory level, where we are (blissfully?) unaware of background noises and smells while our vision automatically adjusts for changes in lighting, color while filtering out persistent distortions, our consciousness is this rarefied abstraction sitting atop a massive machinery hacked out over tens of thousands of years of evolutionary development (bringing to mind the image of a cruise ship, with the galleys, engines and gyroscopes humming under the decks while we sit next to the pool in the sun with an umbrella drink).

What I find appealing in Trecartin’s work is its attempt to present us with the speed and quasi randomness of free-associative surfing while being very restricted in it’s palette: no basso profundo or 1950‘s nuclear families for Ryan.

It’s like the output of a highly tuned, disciplined preconscious subsystem: a giant grandmother cell (3) tuned for screechy, garish situations of screechy, garish people with adjustment issues, in slow feedback loop with itself, until it finally collapses, exhausted, waiting for the next go. If you have part of your brain tuned that way, you can enjoy it: high speed, twitch driven surfing without the distractions or the risk of repetitive stress injury.

I don’t mean this as a slight, this ability to capture an experience, intensify it and focus it is what makes Trecartin’s work engaging and since I, like most people, have more parts of my brain than that particular aforementioned “grandmother” cell, any actual high speed surfing done that way in real life would soon find me veering off topic pretty quickly.

This points to an interesting tension: although it’s preconscious and at the speed of a slow twitch, it’s much more focused and restrained in what it surveys. It is as if it was a brain completely in service of and controlled by a single grandmother cell. Put another way: “a slowed down, focused consideration of high speed, twitch based surfing.”

Footnotes
1: See wikipedia on twitch gameplay

2: There are many references for this, one that I’m fond of is “Vertical versus horizontal modularity” Fig 10.1 of S.L. Hurley’s Consciousness in Action (Harvard University Press 1998)

3: I’m using the term somewhat loosely see wikipedia's grandmother cell entry, ond/or see A framework for consciousness by Crick and Koch for more detail

Updated My Website

2011-08-29T18:42:00.001-07:00

Finally updated my website (it had been a while).

Fountain in DC

2011-08-14T10:53:00.001-07:00

(under repair?) from a trip last winter.

Context:

Details:

The Art of Cruelty

2011-08-01T17:27:00.001-07:00

I wanted to strongly recommend The Art of Cruelty by Maggie Nelson

Its not so much about cruelty, as about art, using the desired impact of cruelty as a probe to interrogate ways of making and experiencing art.

Among her most salient points:

Works that open themselves up to the possibility of cruelty, e.g., performances by Yoko Ono or Marina Abramovic are more able to shake ourselves of our preconceptions than those that are ostensibly cruel -- something truer now in our age of torture-porn than when the works were originally performed.

How Pope L's links between precariousness and "have-not-ness" fits into this framework.

How Bacon regretted the decriminalization of homosexuality, since he derived so much pleasure from the risk, taboo and threat of punishment.

She brought the whole argument to bear on Ryan Trecartin's I-Be AREA with enough force that I watched the entire piece, which certainly was a memorable experience. I liken it to an image vomitorium, in the "common misconception" sense -- but I mean it in a good way.

Last Arizona Cacti Set

2011-07-17T08:21:00.001-07:00

For 2011 at least

Streets of Berlin

2011-06-27T14:25:00.001-07:00

Lots of construction

RYOJI IKEDA the transfinite

2011-06-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

This show (now closed) at the Park Avenue Armory was awe inspiring. The Armory's new programming is definitely to be commended.

I put together some clips to give you a quick (~ 40 sec) impression.

Ryoji Ikeda at the Armory from richard ferrante on Vimeo.

More cacti

2011-05-30T06:19:00.001-07:00

In general I'm pretty happy with the shots from this trip.

I started to see some of the cacti as fish

2011-05-08T08:35:00.001-07:00

for obvious reasons

Revisiting Arizona: 1

2011-04-13T12:35:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went back to the Saguaro National Park and took some more cactus shots.

Here's a few, pretty much as shot.

Seoul Slideshow

2011-03-28T16:13:00.001-07:00

Finally finished this up

Seoul: More Walking About

2011-03-14T19:40:00.001-07:00

Seoul Construction

2011-02-28T19:22:00.001-08:00

I believe this is the steel framing for the new design center

Seoul Fountain

2011-02-14T16:31:00.001-08:00

Cool fountain in Seoul, most of the shots were processed with the toy camera adjustment in Aperture and the modified a bit from there (I like toy camera more than apertureland, but I rarely shoot faces)

Walking About Seoul last fall

2011-02-02T14:47:00.001-08:00

Some things that caught my eye.

Seoul Skyscrapers

2011-01-17T12:44:00.001-08:00

Seoul definitely has a number of distinctive skyscrapers -- very useful for navigating your way around the city.

Here's photos of my three favorites

This one is currently under construction:

Suspended Skull

2011-01-02T17:43:00.001-08:00

A new sculpture (just fyi, the room's walls are steel)
Full view:

Detail:

This is the light I did to illuminate it, black steel threaded pipe with an 7W PAR 30 LED.

Nina Canell's Telepath

2010-12-19T18:10:00.001-08:00

I was in Stockholm recently and came across the work of Nina Canell at the Noderna Museet.

I found it striking, so I'm sharing. I believe this piece is called telepath

Here's a detail:

Seoul Cafe

2010-12-06T15:52:00.001-08:00

Some very cool ducting I saw at a cafe in Seoul

Seoul Wheatpastes

2010-11-22T14:45:00.001-08:00

Here's some wheatpastes I saw on a recent trip to Seoul.

These are pretty "normal" size

This one is over two stories tall.

More Florida Trees

2010-11-09T09:22:00.001-08:00

For completeness

Florida Trees: Fun with Filters

2010-10-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

Two different versions of the same shot

Not Dark:

Dark:

Venice Collage

2010-10-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

A collage of a "fire hydrant" in venice.

Photoshop CS5 Content Aware Fill

2010-09-13T19:57:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note on how amazing this is. The quick selection tool followed by a content aware fill is enough to remove the vacuum in less than two minutes total!

Admittedly the result isn't perfect, but a clean up of the edges would only take another minute or so.

Morocco slideshow

2010-08-30T19:27:00.001-07:00

Finally completed a slideshow of my Morocco trip last year: Fez & Casablanca

Florida trees -- spectral and menacing

2010-08-02T17:58:00.001-07:00

OK, the images are a bit processed.

Kenk

2010-07-21T14:51:00.001-07:00

A "Graphic Portrait"

Kenk is one of the best graphic novels I've seen in a while (although it is really more of a "graphic documentary").

Not only is the production process unique and very effective

Each frame of the graphic novel is pulled from a still of digital footage, a photograph or original source documentation.

but also the dialog is this cool cross between being almost believable, a tad self delusional, and a bit of a con.

Much recommended.

Couch

2010-06-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

Not sure exactly what it is that I like about this, but I do like it.

It's by Jessica Jackson Hutchins, a writeup is here.

fez vats

2010-06-14T15:59:00.001-07:00

A couple shots of vats in fez -- moderately processed

Inside the Detroit Train Station

2010-05-27T18:54:00.001-07:00

Two shots

The first, some nice large scale work

The second a very clever and well done stencil that looks like someone standing in front of one of the windows (if the windows were intact).

New Sculpture/photo

2010-05-12T04:46:00.001-07:00

Here's a photo of a new sculpture, but since the material in the lower section is just sawdust, I don't think the sculpture itself has any permanence.

Bulldozer shot from the Guardian

2010-04-27T05:31:00.001-07:00

A pretty cool image

Detroit Slideshow

2010-04-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

Slideshow of my Detroit photos from last year.

Detroit train station

2010-03-29T19:26:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what these are exactly, but I like the look

Detroit Packard Plant

2010-03-15T14:27:00.001-07:00

Here's a couple of (heavily processed) shots near the Packard plant in Detroit

Detroit: one lock, three views

2010-03-02T12:42:00.001-08:00

I like photographing padlocks -- here's three treatments of a single lock in Detroit.

Delhi Slideshow

2010-02-15T14:41:00.001-08:00

A full slideshow of my Delhi shots, from locks

to trains

Including trees

Broken Glass in Detroit

2010-02-02T17:04:00.001-08:00

Where better?

Sally Mann

2010-01-18T15:59:00.001-08:00

I really liked this photo (haven't seen it in person yet).

I saw it in a review of her show at Gagosian Gallery

Very nice work.

More Delhi Shots

2009-12-22T07:03:00.001-08:00

The lock and the light is from the Red Fort

the wire is a random street shot

Zhang Huan

2009-12-08T16:45:00.001-08:00

I just found this page from Artzine on Zhang Huan

Here's a piece with which I was previously unfamiliar.

I never like the big stuffed animal pieces (teddy bears 16 ft high etc.) that were big in the 80s/90s, but this is fundamentally different.

Even though I don't find it as conceptually rich as some of his other work, this 2003 piece is still one of my favorites.

Delhi Trees

2009-11-24T17:54:00.001-08:00

Photoshopped, filtered etc.

The light

and the dark

Russian Constructivism Redux?

2009-11-09T19:33:00.001-08:00

It feels a bit like that to me.

My latest sculpture

fes calendar?/graffiti?

2009-11-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

Saw these in fes, at first I thought that it was graffiti.

However after having seen them in a few places with different icons in the date boxes, I'm not so sure.

If anyone knows, please leave a comment (the writing above it is probably a clear explanation, but since I can't read Arabic, my ignorance is unabated).

Construction Equipment in Delhi

2009-10-19T19:37:00.001-07:00

From my Jan trip, suitably enhanced

Container Architecture

2009-09-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

Just got a copy of Container Architecture by Jure Kotnik.

The best book about buildings made from containers that I know of.

It has photos of a lot of interesting structures including
Speybank by Luc Deleu

and
kunstlab orbino

Is this really better?

2009-09-08T16:04:00.001-07:00

As promised, the Allston X-men mural has been painted over.

I have to ask though on what planet is this

better than this

even in its unfinished state?

(credit to Jim Davis/Boston Globe for non-blank image).

East Boston

2009-08-25T17:31:00.001-07:00

Some shots I took in East Boston this May

One Lock and Chain

Two Marine

and one Engine

Updated my Website

2009-08-11T16:45:00.001-07:00

richardferrante.com

Added slideshows of

spain

and south chicago

Spain Churches

2009-07-27T14:32:00.001-07:00

Two "roof" shots

Spain Doors

2009-07-13T16:12:00.001-07:00

A couple doors I liked

Barcelona 'Water Columns'

2009-06-29T19:54:00.001-07:00

Here's some (processed) photos taken last year in Barcelona.

These are all from the same building which has a section supported by columns resting on concrete pads in a pool of water (with the attendant corrosion and decay)

Skull Altar II

2009-06-15T19:46:00.001-07:00

Just finished a new sculpture. It is centered around a cow skull.

Given the base skull it is pretty big 30 in wide x 48 in deep

Here's a detail shot

I call it Skull Altar II because it is reminiscent of Skull Altar an earlier piece of mine, although I will admit that the first piece has more of an "altar" feel.

Brushes

2009-06-01T14:40:00.001-07:00

There's been a lot of buzz lately about the Brushes iPhone app. It is used by David Hockney, was used to generate a cover for the New Yorker and has a bunch of interesting images created with it in a Flickr pool e.g., this one.

I certainly think it has potential, but I haven't warmed to it yet (too busy working on a sculpture, which will hopefully be the subject of my next post).

One thing that I found interesting is that it's treatment of brush overlap was more like Photoshop than a painting program. Namely if you cross over a line without lifting your "brush" (finger in this case) it does not increase the intensity of the line at the point of intersection, unlike the painting programs I'm used to (primarily Corel painter).

Example

Brushes

Painter Pro.

This is probably a good way for brushes to work, since as far as I can tell it would otherwise be hard to create an arbitrary area of uniform color, but it did throw me off on my first attempt.

Lincoln Street Green Strip

2009-05-18T14:47:00.001-07:00

There was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Lincoln Street Green Strip (which I wrote about previously) today.

Here's some photos I took of it last week.

In my mind, the noteworthy aspects include that it:

Is a significant improvement

Reflects community input

Came in in budget (apparently)

Is designed to be low maintenance (mostly volunteer, if I understand correctly).

I think the latter is especially important during the inevitable times of stress on the city's budget (like now).
Here's the artists' description

No detailed masking

2009-05-04T15:01:00.001-07:00

Here's something that I wouldn't have thought possible without detailed masking around the "sharpened supports"

Before

After

It was just a Tiffen Filter combo of (from bottom to top)

Bleach Bypass 5

Depth of Field: Highlight Blur (with an increased range parameter)

Color looks: Sunset

PS: Yes, I also think its cool

chain bridge

2009-04-20T17:24:00.001-07:00

Near the Chicago Ford plant

South Chicago

2009-04-06T19:55:00.001-07:00

Some heavily photoshopped shots from my Gary Indiana, South Chicago Illinois trip last year.

Pittsburgh Slide Show

2009-03-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

Just posted a slide show of my Pittsburgh shots on my .me site

Farthest Allston

2009-03-02T14:39:00.001-08:00

Sometimes my travels take me into other sections of Allston, even venturing beyond the Mass Pike!

In one of my walks a few months ago I found this amazing vent that appeared to have fallen off of a building.

It served as a good basis for some Photoshop work.

This final image is as is -- no Photoshop.

Installation Art? ATM??

2009-02-16T15:56:00.001-08:00

You decide (I can't)

I know I could go in and ask (there is a conduit leading back into the building), but I'm enjoying the ambiguity.

This is one of the oddest things I have seen in Allston in a while, and whatever its intention, strikes me as a pretty profound commentary.

Site for Best

2009-02-02T19:41:00.001-08:00

I came across this YouTube clip of some of SITE's work for Best stores -- my favorite is the "sunken car" parking lot starting at ~ 41 seconds into the clip

Still More Pittsburgh

2009-01-19T04:10:00.001-08:00

These are the last of the series.

The first two are some equipment I found abandoned along the side of a road

The last is a small substation

More Pittsburgh

2009-01-05T19:45:00.001-08:00

Here's some more Pittsburgh shots.

The first is of a random basement vent

The other two are of a metal tub and some braid that happened to be going by on a recycling barge (I was on a bridge overlooking the barge)

The Lights of Pittsburgh

2008-12-23T17:33:00.001-08:00

Well, that's not really accurate -- since they don't actually light up any more.

Some shots from my trip last summer (the usual Photoshop + Tiffen filters -- but less that you might think: they were pretty weathered)

Mixed Media

2008-12-08T19:38:00.001-08:00

Just finished up a new sculpture and it is mixed media to say the least -- including a skull, glass, steel and even a photo (behind the glass) from my Arizona set.

It is approximately 14 inches high.

Books

2008-11-24T09:48:00.001-08:00

I've made a couple of books available off of my website

I did one on Blurb the other one using Apple's Aperture program.

Blurb definitely makes selling easier and at some level I liked the output better (slipcover on the hardcover version), but Aperture gave me more flexibility around background images etc.. That flexibility also made Aperture easier to use, although getting a result that I liked was harder aka too few constraints.

A how-to note: I created the flash file by printing a PDF in Aperture and then running it through swftools using the instructions on Tao of Mac on how to build swftools, and then disabling the print/zoom/etc menu by following this Oct 2007 post by WorldCrafter

New Sculpture

2008-11-11T17:58:00.001-08:00

A small sculpture I recently finished

Barcelona Favorites

2008-10-27T19:42:00.001-07:00

After Madrid, I went to Barcelona -- here's my favorite street art.

These two were in the professional/commisioned range

This one was more "of the street" I saw similar work in a few places

Madrid Favorites

2008-10-20T13:32:00.001-07:00

Here's my three favorite street art pieces in Madrid -- not saying that they were the best in the whole city, just the best ones that I came across.

This one is definitely my favorite -- I really like the "rivet" effect.

Madrid

2008-10-14T16:11:00.001-07:00

I was recently in Madrid and was surprised at how much street art there was -- more than anyplace else I had been.

This is a heavily decorated park

An example corner.

detail

There also appears to be a free mixture of 'sponsored' and 'spontaneous' work. This shot is directly across the small street from the corner.

NYC Subway

2008-09-30T16:00:00.001-07:00

I initially shot this set looking for textures and backgrounds to use for photoshopping but I ended up with a few shots that stand on their own -- well "on their own" in photoshop with Tiffen 2.0 filters.

The Tiffen 2.0 filters are a substantial improvement over the 1.0 version. They allow multiple layers and individual layer "transparency" control. My current workflow involves keeping layers of my favorite filters up in the "Effect" pane. I keep them turned off but can quickly turn them on without having to wade through the filter selection hierarchy (which I'm sure is clear if you shoot with a lot of real physical lens filters, but isn't the point of this package that you shoot first and filter later?).

BTW Version 2.0 is a bit crash-happy on OSX 10.5.5, but I'm getting in the habit of doing a quick save before calling up the filters.

What I did with the stacked pipe slices

2008-09-15T19:46:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out

Detail

Full view

La Brea Tar Bubbles

2008-08-28T17:33:00.001-07:00

Some shots from my LA visit last month -- I hadn't realized that the tarpits were still bubbling.

Stacked Pipe Slices

2008-08-12T13:36:00.001-07:00

I'm working with some pipe slices and like the way they look stacked -- I'm not planning to grind them, simply use them "as is" after slicing the pipe on my chopsaw.

The background is arbitrary and designed to facilitate photoshopping.

Robert Irwin's garden at the Getty

2008-07-25T16:12:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was in LA -- one of my prime goals for this trip was to see how the gardens at the Getty had grown in. When it was installed Irwin had said "see what it looks like in ten years". Coincidentally, (well, probably not) this is the Getty's tenth anniversary.

I've never been particularly fond of the museum itself, and I'm not familiar with the collection, but when I first saw the garden ~9 years ago, I enjoyed it a great deal. Irwin started out as a installation artist and it shows.

I have tried to find photos that capture it, but it really must be experienced: the views in every direction change significantly as you traverse the path.
Here's a shot from the Getty web site

a nice image from flickr

and two of the nicest ones from Paula Panich a writer/writing coach

who is coincidentally giving a writing workshop at the Getty in September.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Irwin's work at the Dia Beacon

which is also impressive albeit not as all encompassing, but much closer to those on the east coast.

New Large Painting

2008-07-14T19:45:00.001-07:00

I just finished a new "Large Painting" 90 in h x 92 in w (large for me anyhow) and am pretty happy with it.

An overall view

detail

it is specifically designed to be viewed with that particular photo spot shining at a grazing angle from the upper right corner -- otherwise the colors are off.

Allston Landscaping

2008-07-14T19:26:00.001-07:00

There's a new landscaping project going in at the intersection of Royal and Lincoln streets in Allston (kmz file).It appears to be part of the North Allston Open Space and
Public Realm Greening Plan. This is very cool, given that the plot previously was "unkept" at best.

These are in process photos, I will put up completed photos in a later post.

Here's a view up Royal St.

Looking down onto Royal St.

plus a few shots of the installation.

Even though I talked one of the members of the team that are doing this I forgot her name (I'm awful with names). If you read this and want to be credited/linked to let me know -- I would like to give credit where credit is due.

This is a very cool addition to the neighborhood.

More St. Petersburg

2008-07-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

I finished my St. Petersburg set/slideshow, and even though I had previously posted about its gorgeous roofs and rain gutters, I begin the set with an "electric pencil"

and end with a truck.

Similar Subjects

2008-06-14T10:36:00.001-07:00

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre shoot subjects similar to mine, but a much different look

I like their photos, so I'm sharing

Not as close up and apparently less use of photoshop.

Their blog is here.

Volcano shots

2008-06-14T10:15:00.001-07:00

I think of these as being the "view from the Hellmouth"

I saw this in bldgblog and thought I'd share.

A 3K x 2K version of the last photo can be found here.

The Roofs of St. Petersburg

2008-06-13T14:10:00.001-07:00

The other end of the buildings (from the gutters) -- in my mind not as unusual as the gutters but cool nonetheless.

With the usual heavy debt to Photoshop and the Tiffen filters.

The Rain Gutters of St. Petersburg

2008-06-09T14:04:00.001-07:00

I was in St. Petersburg ~ a year ago and finally finished processing/culling the photos.

The gutters were simply amazing. Interestingly I talked to someone who had lived there for a couple years didn't remember them as being noteworthy -- I guess it all depends upon what you grew up with.

Yes, all of the photos were enhanced. If I remember correctly I used the Tiffen filters on all of thse

Serra at Momenta

2008-05-27T13:53:00.001-07:00

I saw a post for the Serra installation at momenta on greg.org.

I found the top nighttime image particularly striking (photograph from greg.org)

However, upon looking at it again, it doesn't have the 'enveloping' quality that I like in a lot of Serra's work
Such as his retrospective at MOMA last year -- which was, if anything better than all the reviews said it was.

Or his pieces at DIA Beacon (photograph from DIA)

Green Bicycle

2008-05-22T19:50:00.001-07:00

Thanks to whoever did this green bicycle in Allston.

I pass it almost every day and I enjoy seeing it.

Staten Island

2008-05-15T14:28:00.001-07:00

Last fall I chartered a fishing boat from si fishing (I would recommend him and recommend chartering a boat from someone licensed -- too many surveillance cameras in the area to do otherwise) to take some shots of "abandoned ships" in Staten Island -- .kmz file here.

I got some really nice shots, some of which used the Tiffen filters described previously

Some of which had some minor photoshop tweaks

and some of which oddly (for me) just worked as is

urinals.net

2008-05-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

I was at Bukowski's in Cambridge the other day, and noticed that they had installed a nice urinal.

It made me remember a site I had visited a few years ago urinal.net, happily it is still around.

There's a lot of urinals on this site, some just noteworthy for their existence
but some are "true works of art" (whatever that means). My favorites are these at the Kohler Art Center.

This one by Clark Sorenson (slightly marred by its use of conventional/old school plumbing)

And then the reward for urinal with the best view

Coffee Table

2008-04-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

I recently finished a coffee table. I only do furniture once every few years. The pieces are strictly for personal use so I’m willing to put an inordinate amount of work into them and their functional utility could well be termed “quirky.”

I was pretty happy with the way this one turned out: it is both solid and (semi) functional.

As you can see, this is a pretty minimal piece. I’ve always found that minimalism ups the ante when it comes to fastening and quality of execution. Each joint was problematic. The base is a 6”x6”x30” piece of laurentian green granite. My initial plan was to have 3 square holes waterjetted through the granite and to place the tubing through the granite. After being surprised by the cost of the waterjet ($800!), I had to come up with a different approach. I decided to bolt them on fastened with nuts on the other side (sketch below). However, since the base is granite, I knew that my little hammer drill wasn’t going to get me very far.

I ended up renting a Hilti TE 76 from Home Depot for less than $100 (including drill bits) and was able to drill all three half-inch holes in about 10 minutes. This drill was a truly amazing piece of equipment.

Assuring proper alignment of the post to the base can only happen with a machine cut surface, so I moved the internal nuts an inch up the post and drilled four holes, welded shims on the nuts for a fairly tight fit and then welded the shim/nut assembly to the post and ground it flat -- a flat surface like that is pretty easy to maintain with hand tools.

For me, with my limited welding skills, welding posts to plates always induces warping in the plate (I’m not so bad that I warp the post!). This was a classic “weld and bang it flat” situation, and even after flattening I had complete bond failures when I released the clamps. I solved this by:

Better surface prep.
Clamping everything in place, aligning the post, unclamping, gluing (epoxy) and then reclamping.

Steel was finished with Jax Iron, Steel & Nickel Blackener- from the Compleat Sculptor, a good resource for these types of things.

2008-04-19T13:23:00.001-07:00

Just finished a new sculpture --- returning to a "burned wood" theme I explored a few years ago.

The backing board was torch burned walnut, the branch is 'found'

I obviously still retain my fondness for rail slices.

Street Art in Shanghai

2008-04-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I took last month of Shanghai street art.

There is surprisingly little of it in the sections that I visited, everything shown was on (or off of) Moganshan Road.

Tiffen Digital Filters

2008-04-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

My photographs normally involve a fair amount of adjustment/enhancement/re-creation in Photoshop. I recently came across the Tiffen dfx plug in filters and wanted to see what they could do with some of the photos that I took last year off of Staten Island.

Here's an example:

First the original

Now "excessively" sharpened

Now with one of the film filters applied

The only reservation I have is that the full filter pack is ~$300 -- I do like the result though.