Analog North

Shanghai at night and under construction

This is it my 10th post and most likely the last entry for a long time. Lets recap, I am studying New media at BCIT right now and as the first term comes to a end I have to think about what got me to this point. I also need to write at least 200 words to make this final blog entry up to snuff so I will start not from the beginning but the middle.

I had just graduated from Art school in Calgary and was working as a fine arts instructor. My professor sent me an email with an opportunity to work as a resident artist in Shanghai I applied and got accepted. I flew to china a month later. I had no idea this decision would make my life so complicated, excellent and rich but complicated. When I landed in Shanghai SARS broke out my mom wanted me to come home but I had just got there and was enjoying the food so I chose to stay.

A year and a half passed I had a exhibition of my ceramics met lots of cool people and backpacked all over the country. I took a job managing a ceramic art studio in a City called Jing de Zhen, known as the birthplace of porcelain. Around that time I also started dating my now wife. I moved back to Shanghai and faced the crossroads go home and get on with my life in north America or stay in this Huge city where there is a party every night, and I have a beautiful girlfriend and every day is different and exciting. Again Shanghai won.

I quickly got a job teaching Art at kids Gallery an after school art center. I commuted for about an hour and a half every day including weekends to the international suburbs of Pudong. My classes resembled a tiny UN meeting with kids from absolutely everywhere. I was quickly promoted from teacher to supervisor and then acted as the head of fine arts. I got married in Vancouver to my Shanghai bride a fashion designer whose career was starting to take off. The center grew from two classrooms to seven; I kept on making art and had two more solo exhibitions.

After almost three years I started to worry. I liked teaching kids and managing adults but I couldn’t imagine working at an art center until I was 40 there is nothing wrong with this but I didn’t want it for myself. I quit hoping that it would force change I ended up picking up quite a bit of freelance illustration work and wrote Art curriculum for a few art centers, I also worked as a tour guide for a relocation company basically I was floating all over the place.
I looked into going back to school to get a education degree but that seemed to be redundant and could take almost 3 years way, way, way, too long for my wife to wait. Thank god for BCIT one year, new media, BOOM! I can use my BFA and my management experience and hopefully be emploShanghai at night and under construction

yed by April 2010 my wife will be able to move to Vancouver life will be sweet…until the Mayan calendar runs out in 2012…SHITTY!

The Internet has mixed entertainment with free speech and voyeurism resulting in embarrassment for many and fame for some.  Netiquette like manners are key to a harmonious society. I agree with the core rules laid out in Virginia Shea’s article the core rules of netiquette. Shea aim’s at personal users and professionals who are using the Internet for basic communication purposes meaning email, blogging, and social networking. I believe that rules like “Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you” are either instilled upon you at early age or your never going to act in this way.

What is really interesting is how celebrity and other seemingly successful organizations break Sheas’ rules and are therefore more successful. Take Perez Hilton for example, his negative ranting and badgering of the Black Eyed Peas resulted in him getting punched in the face by the Peas manager. I’m not justifying any physical violence but Hilton was relentless, direct and abusive towards the band who after all is just another group of people.

Media will always profit from twisted perceptions of the truth and it will never change in fact it will get worse with unedited rants (like this) that are so easily circulated via the web. My suggestion, get hip to it, don’t take anything too seriously and never believe anything you see on the net, laugh and we will all be fine.

And now I wish to make some changes to Virginia Shea’s rules:

The Core Rules of netiquette (if you wish to be a famous train wreck and use the Internet for bickering and light hate crimes)

Rule 1: Remember the Human, then ignore their feelings.

Rule 2: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life, when you’re drunk.

Rule 3: Know where you are in cyberspace and leave an ignorant comment behind.

Rule 4:  Respect other people’s time and bandwidth, unless your YouTube or facebook and or want to be successful.

Rule 5: Make yourself look good online by lying about your looks and credentials.

Rule 6: Share expert knowledge as if you discovered it.

Rule 7: Help keep flame wars under control by visiting the fight of the moment and increasing site hits so that it burns hot and fast.

Rule 8: Respect other people’s privacy, unless you’re the government, media, law, or want to be famous.

Rule 9: Don’t abuse your power, unless you want to be successful.

Rule 10: Be forgiving of other people’s mistakes by ending finger pointing rants with LOL.

I have decided to include a selection of some of my past art work complete with re-done artist statements. It’s interesting to go back and read about what my artwork was at the time. It is truly is the hardest thing for me to write about my artwork. I find it impossible to ignore that I am the maker and write purely as an observer. What usually happens is my rough drafts are so insane, narcissistic and hypocritical that I give up all together. This artwork now is like a time capsule, they act as markers of where I have been. When I look at some of the pieces I can remember what I was doing, feeling, and experiencing while I was as making it. The bulk of the work is from two shows, “Animal in China” and “I Heart Dream and Romance” I may decide to post more another time.

Animal in China

Living in a different culture and being ‘misunderstood’ and more than often ‘not understanding’ has impacted the way I see and respond to my environment. The work I create has taken on a surreal nature, existing in a world where things do not have to be understood to be valid. It reflects my interest in the ‘in between,’ the difference between understanding and confusion. Mythical creatures and images are the personifications of this unknown.

For me there is no hierarchy between Chinese art and that of the west and I enjoy drawing from both traditions to generate my work. I look at religious symbolism and Folk Art, using imagery as narrative to tell a tale about the world around me. Frequently my work may have humorous or curious abstractions or have erotic or carnal overtones. I believe in the inexplicable and enjoy the ambiguity of the collaged marks, and imagery that I put together. I am not interested in ‘perfect’.  Flaws are a positive conceit.

I Heart Dream and Romance

After having been living and working as a ceramic artist in China for years, I took on paper cuts as another medium to illustrate. Paper cut is a traditional form of folk art in China. Paper cut artists, using the unique fold-and-cut technique; illustrate their daily lives, folklore, and their religious beliefs. I use the same technique and intend to take paper cuts to a different dimension. My work is about modern life and cultural dynamics. What the works present is provocative visual reference of the everything-goes pop culture, which has made its way into a transforming society such as China, and fused with traditional aesthetics. Through my work, the age old craft 
transforms to an ultra-modern visual medium.
I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1978. I studied in Canada at the Alberta Collage of Art and Design and the Kootenay School Of Art. I received a BFA from the Alberta Collage of Art and Design in 2000

During my Information Architecture class we were given an assignment we were asked to search for websites that use organization systems that were either inexact/ambiguous or exact schemes. During the search I stumbled upon Z.VEX Effects the most soulful electronics I have seen period!

Firstly the name Z.Vex isn’t just some electronic sounding made up name, it is the company owners name. Zachary Vex spent 10 years as a recording engineer and producer before dropping and “achary” and founding Z.VEX EFFECTS. Every stomp box in his arsenal is hand made and hand painted in Minneapolis. Guitar players will appreciate the quality, versatility and originality in effects named “Super Hard On”, “Machine” and “Wooly Mammoth” (for Bass). Z Vex has included a number of demo Videos and sound clips that showcase the effects possibilities. My favorite so far is the “Fuzz Factory” notice near the end of the video he tweaks the knobs and makes a Guitar sound like an 8 bit Atari.  These pedals seem to do more than the average effect and the custom paint jobs make them definitely something I want to play with.

Another pedal named the “Lo-fi Loop” creates the sound of quote “terrible recordings”, “your dads eight track” or “a warped record”. This obvious love of older damaged sounding recordings you would expect Z.Vex to shun the digital and curse the kids with their IPods and Mp3s. But no, ingeniously he has brought all the sound of the good old days of audiophilea to contemporary times with the iMP AMP. The iMP is an amplifier intended for sound sources like IPods, CDs and laptops and can give them that rich Hi-Fi sound when played through un-powered speakers. The iMP uses mini military grade vacuum tubes from the eighties to generate this quality sound. Vacuum tubes are pre transistor and pre-pre-microchips. The best part is its tiny, not shuffle tiny but it can fit in the palm of your hand. Most of the electronics are exposed so you can see the LED’s and the tubes glowing when the unit is warmed up.

So Zachary Vex, if you read this I am a student studying hard so I can buy your gear. Any chance you want to send me a sample? I’m sure that it will come in handy during the audio portion of my course and who knows I may use one of your products in a new way that might influence a new sonic era and isn’t that what this world needs?

It could happen!

The Original

All right My Scanning and Color Corrections class is over, I learned much about color theory, printing and adjusting photos using Photoshop. It was a useful class but I feel like it was so short there was not enough time to improve dramatically before the final. The instructor Grant Baily was good and it’s a shame there will be no more classes with him.

While all this new information is in my head I took the opportunity to go through some old photos and try retouching them. My middle brother Rob was in town recently so I choose this photo of him and I when we were kids (I am on the left). The photo was taken at Alice Lake just out side of Squamish. I am sure that moments after this was taken a Firewood-tug-o-war between my brother and I ensued resulting in me getting a large sliver in my hand causing yet another fight between the two of us.

I see the value in being able to manipulate photos to make crappy ones usable and make sure they print well but on a personal level I wanted to test to see if more than just detail and imperfections are removed will I lose that nostalgic quality inherit to old photos?

Well here are the results the original is at the top and the retouched is at the bottom. I spent very little time adjusting the photo and I don’t think there is anything that has been lost or gained. In conclusion what have I proved? Not much. I guess the most valuable lesson learned from this exercise is: Firewood is terrible for tug-O-wars.

This is the re-touched one

My New media course is starting to get busier although I am told that this is nothing as compared to term two. So far the workload is bearable and is giving me lots of time to procrastinate and do things that may be deemed irresponsible uses of my time. The following is a list of my top three favorites:

Searching for stuff that I would like to buy once I am done school and Employed.
Of all the frivolous material things I would like, an old school cabinet style arcade game is currently on top. They sell them at one of my favorite stores in Vancouver John’s Juke’s. Of note is the “KISS” pinball and “Robotron”. The website is looking a little rough may be they will give me a machine if I re-design the website .The Ultimate would be to get a “Galaga” machine that was always my favorite there is still one on the ferry to Gibsons but it is in rough shape and barely works.

Pretending I am a Rock Star AKA Playing Music with my Friends and drinking Beer.
In high school I was in a band with my 2 best friends when I moved back to Vancouver the drummer called me up and asked me to jam. Lately we have been rocking out in a basement there is nothing more invigorating and primal than making some noise. We have started recording onto our Mac’s using garage band. Its remarkable the quality you can get with a good USB mic and applying some effects post recording. I only wish we could have had garage band when we were in High school we would’ve been famous.

Fishing
I am crazy for fishing! Its in the blood my Grandfather loved it, my dad likes it, for me its like  a disease. I have been fly fishing since I was a teen. Mostly for trout in lakes and rivers on the sea to sky highway and sometimes in the Fraser Valley. I spend much time on Sharphooks.com planning out my next excursion. It is a very useful site and can take a bit of the guess work out of choosing a good location the only problem is that many of the reviews are five years old.

Helen Lee's, "MASH" in Front of Shanghai's Low Rise Skyline.

Helen Lee, born in the end of the Cultural Revolution of the mid-Seventies, Helen first saw a China very different from today – one that had largely closed itself to economic, political and cultural exchange with the rest of the World.  She imagines a present day China that keeps a connection with the outside context through the 60’s and 70’s and developed Chinese view of Global fashion trends.

The collection” Mash” makes reference to the combination of different subjects that would not typically be seen as candidates for combination.  The name is derived from the musical genre known as “Mash-Up” where a musician/DJ will take two or more songs or styles of music and fuse them. In this way the artist presents these past culture relics in a wholly new and contemporary way.

For this Spring /Summer collection, we see Helen focusing on cultural and trend differences between China and the rest of the World during the Cultural Revolution.  She selects the best elements from a closed China and an open west and presents something that is new yet somehow familiar.

Unlike others who have looked back to China’s fashion during the Cultural Revolution, Helen aims to do more than just update the traditional uniform (zhongshan zhuang or 中山装) of the Cultural Revolution.  She looks to use this as a form on which to apply Global 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s design elements.

The most popular colors from Cultural Revolution period – navy blue and grey – are used to unify the design of the collection but the addition of colors “from abroad” – purple, red, silver and bright blue – brings a full-bodied yet mysterious feeling.  Premium fabrics such as satin and silk knit jersey create a soft, flowing feminine and quality feeling and counter the formality and stiffness of Chinese fashion from this period.

Together, these are crafted into modern garments that showcase and flatter their wearer but retain a subtle link to the classic uniform style.  Pants are eschewed in favor of fitted dresses and skirts.  Detailing such as beading and layered cutouts are added to tops, sexy polo-style shirts and high waist shorts appear in the collection.  Accessories are based on the shape of 1970’s vintage shopping bags but rendered in glistening PVcand netted fabric to make them post-modern

Juxtapozed Style with Smog

Recently my eldest brother came to Vancouver on a short business trip, he lives in Calgary with his wife and two kids. After we caught up he presented me with a 64 / 89 mm card that had been colored by my nephew Jack. I immediately recognized that it was an Artist Trading Card. I was first introduced to Artist Trading cards in Art school but it wasn’t until I started teaching childrens’ art classes for the city of Calgary and later at Kids’ Gallery in Shanghai that I ever really made one.

You see back in 1996/97, Zurich, Switzerland an artist named M.Vänçi Stirnemann influenced by sports trading cards initiated ATC http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/index.html . The Idea is an artist makes original, self produced, small editions, and then they can trade with other people who also produce ATC. It is not about money at all rather the value is in the personal connections.

It is an International phenomenon but for whatever reason Canadians are crazy about especially Calgarians  http://www.artisttradingcards.org/. In fact there are more trading sessions in Canada than in any other country so move over Hockey.

There are many online galleries featuring ATC personally I find the small format allows me to open up creatively because the process is not jumbled by stupid thoughts like “how will I make money with this “ or  “this is a large expensive canvass and I better not F# it up” or the most crippling “what’s the point”. ATC are no commitment, no baloney, bliss.

And of course they are a great project for kids here are some ideas on how to start http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html.

Here is the card my Nephew Made for me:

And with my new Photoshop skills here is the one I made for him:

Of course I can’t forget my niece Anna so here is one for her too.

Wait Wait Wait!!! Hold on one minute here! Before I commit my blog to the big bad blogosphere I might as well make it about something more than just My art and My experience. Instead I would rather focus on the primitive aspects of life i.e. Dead technology, nostalgic notions, and everything else hand done. The concept sounds vague and by intention it is however I am sure once the ball gets rolling there will be continuity and I will do my best to connect everything to the curious, the hands-on, and the analog.

Stay Tuned….