Laser Graffiti

I hadn’t heard about Laser Graffiti till I heard that Kid Static was scheduled to create it at the Mos & Doom show that was at the Congress Theatre on February 13th and now I’m enamored.

Laser Graffiti seems like a huge projector, projecting graffiti onto the sides of buildings. According to muonics, engineers of the one I’m going to show you below: “In its simplest form the Laser Tag system is a camera and laptop setup, tracking a green laser point across the face of a building and generating graphics based on the laser’s position which then get projected back onto the building with a high power projector.

They give you the recipe for creating one here. If you do make one, be sure to call me so that I can come and help you try it out. It seems that this system is mad politician friendly and just overall cool.

But really, I’m tired of typing about it. You watch the Graffiti Research Lab and Laser Graffiti in action. All I’ll say is that this is about as urban art as urban arts can get.

Venus

Angel Otero at Kavi Gupta AND Chicago Cultural Center

It’s not often that an artist will have two exhibitions running simultaneously. So when one does, you better open your eyes and look. Angel Otero works will be showcased at Kavi Gupta Gallery until January 30, 2010 and the Chicago Cultural Center from January 23-March 28. You may want to do yourself a favor and stop by the Cultural Center on January 28 at 12:15 for his gallery talk. We’ll be there. To learn more about Otero visit his space at http://www.angelotero.com

We like Otero because he is only 28 years old and hails from Puerto Rico. He just recently finished his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and has already added to Chicago’s art experience.

Here is some information from the Chicago Cultural Center’s site. Also, have we mentioned how dope the Chicago Cultural Center is before? Just about all events are free and it’s a joy just to be in the building. So if you can’t make it to see Touch With Your Eyes: Recent Works by Angel Otero (although I can’t see how you wouldn’t) stop by as soon as you can. Ya Heard Me??!? V

“The deeply personal and passionate paintings of Angel Otero have made a mark on the cultural scene over the past few years. Otero, having just completed his MFA degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this spring, was one of only four awardees nationwide to receive the prestigious Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the visual arts this year, which will support his work over a two-year period in New York.

This exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center will be Otero’s largest solo show to date; it will bring together some 12-15 new works from the artist’s studio and private collections as evidence of his masterful use of materials, as well as revealing his ideas that stem from growing up in Puerto Rico and training in Chicago.”

The world’s tallest female-designed skyscraper

I saw this story on Fast Company first. Read that here.

According to the Studio Gang Architects website: “In an increasingly dense city like Chicago, views from a new tower must be negotiated between existing buildings. Aqua tower considers criteria such as views, solar shading and function to derive a vertical system of contours that gives the structure its sculptural form. Its vertical topography is defined by its outdoor terraces that gradually change in plan over the length of the tower. These terraces offer a strong connection to the outdoors and allow inhabitants to occupy the building façade and city simultaneously. The result is a highly sculptural building when viewed obliquely that transforms into a slender rectangle from further away. Its powerful form suggests the limestone outcroppings and geologic forces that shaped the great lakes region.”

Architect: STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTS
Architect of Record: Loewenberg & Associates
Owner: Magellan Development
Program: Hotel and Residential High-rise with retail and commercial spaces
Size: 1.9 m SF including parking, 823 feet high
Completion: Summer 2009, currently under construction
AWARDS:
2008 American Architecture Award; Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design

 

This is hot! We don’t get magnificent structures in the city often, but when one is created by a woman, we have to stand back in awe. This gives the entire city something to look up to. Learn more about the Studio Gang Architects at http://www.studiogang.net.

Arts=Smarts Afterschool Program

I used to drive by the Little Black Pearl weekly and was always bedazzled by the fine space. It was only when looking into rental space that I learned of the wonderful things going inside that architectural gem, making it a true community gem. With that being said….

Arts-smarts

They also have scholarships available for this program. If you have a little one or are an artist looking to give back, call them up.

A letter

The Gotta E.a.T. Project is still here and we’re still pressing on. We feel like we’re under fire as there is a crisis going on in our city which has found its way into our classroom. Until we contribute to the solution we are still a part of the problem. Thus we are pressing on. We have a lot of outstanding efforts planned. We will contribute to the arts and education inside and outside the classroom. We can’t expect “them” to solve the problems for us. They only brought the chosen few into the discussion. We gotta do better for our people.

“It’s important to me that we give our students a reason to be excited to come to school everyday. The only way that happens is if children have the exposure to a broad range of activities, and music is a huge, huge piece of that. What worries me the most is that children who often need the most access often have the least.”
–Arnie Duncan, US Education Secretary

“The arts must be at the heart of every child’s learning experience if…
they are to have a chance to dream and to create, to have beliefs, to carry a sense of cultural identity.”
–James D Wolfensohn, former chairman of The Kennedy Center

Yours in the struggle

-Venus

I think about it all day every day

It ain’t at all sunny in Philadelphia

What’s going on in Philadelphia?

It was about two weeks ago when the country found out that Philadelphia’s state senate voted to close the cities free libraries ( as so eloquently described in the Huffington Post here).

But today we have learned that they will also pose a 6% tax increase on the arts. How can you tax the arts you ask? I asked the same thing.  As reported by Peter Jackson of the Associated Press, (find the complete article here.) the state plans to hike up the price of admissions museums, historical sites, performing arts events, zoos and parks. That is how.

It seems to me that the state’s elected officials are trying to ensure that their constituents remain in the dark, become mindless drones who work everyday to pay taxes to line their pockets to ensure they stay in the office.

Here’s my math:

 No books = no new ideas. No arts = no self-expression. No after school programs = let the kids make play out of each other (as we have seen in Chicago.).  No access to the internet for low-income household = no means to look for a better paying job, learn about the world around them, hell download coupons for free chicken. No GED or ESL programs =  no future. Taxing the arts admissions prices is practically ensuring the non-profit organizations supporting the arts will shut their doors. They do not have profit in which to operate from when their patronage drop. They operate based on tickets sold at the door, based on healthy subscribers and benefactors. Philadelphia’s government is going to make a practically impossible task (trust me, the Gotta E.A.T. Project knows from experience) plain impossible.

All of this = brain drain and places Philadelphia and Pittsburgh right beside Detroit.

Btw, this is by no means a diss to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, that’s a separate blog post. 😉 VB

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement 1956-1968

Road to Freedom

If you have been looking for a good reason to get to the Field Museum besides the Pirates exhibit check out Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement 1956-1968. It has been running since June 5 and will end on September 7. This photo exhibit of Civil Rights snapshots taken by professional and amateurs highlight the rawness of the time period intensified in a way only possible through a photograph.

The Chicago resident admission price to the museum is $21.00 for adults and $19.00 for students with an ID. The upcoming free Monday’s are August 10th and August 25th. For more information visit: http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/temporary_exhib.htm

The C1 Section: Os Gêmeos

The challenge to the longevity of urban art forms is to embrace the title of urban while rejecting the negative connotations that sub-urban folks place over. The graffiti of Os Gêmeos does just that.

As stated on their website http://www.12ozprophet.com, “Graffiti, skateboarding, punk rock and hip-hop undeniably gave rise to the current climate of popular culture, but their true substance is so often missed by a simple name check. Do the research. Know the history. Recognize originality.”

Blood brothers Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo from Brazil work in large scales and vibrant colors. Their pieces possess the air of children’s book illustrations through their color pallets but the stories told are comments of Brazil’s culturally and politically rich landscape.

Os Gemeos

On July 17, Os Gêmeos took Manhattan on the corner of Houston and the Bowery. As a result, an article was written in the New York Times C1 section, A World Springs to Life on an Urban Wall 4 Aug. 2009, Roberta Smith.

The C1 section.

To see more of Os Gemeos work, visit their Flicker Fan page.

If you haven’t visited 12 Ounce Prophet yet, you should be clicking here right now. Once you get there, hang out and click around. You won’t regret it.

Then go back and read this piece.

Lastly, the ideas expressed here are those of VB.

3rd Annual Humboldt Park Arts Festival Wrap-Up

Imagine your high school parking lot. Now picture 4 small white tents with your favorite teachers posted underneath.  Cue the most popular high school rappers and throw in their wanna be best friends. That is what the Humboldt Park Arts Festival looked like. Fortunately, they have so much room to grow.  Sponsored by Grafitti Zone a non-profit community arts studio that caters to the youth, the Humboldt Park Arts Festival addresses the lack of cultural and creative enrichment necessary to educating and molding our young people. We all know how important it is for today’s youth to have a safe place to express themselves and Graffiti Zone serves as that safe haven. Yet, they have a bit of work to do when it comes to the event planning.
They did a great job of centrally locating the event at the boathouse. This served as a great space with the mild rain that introduced the morning. It was also right near the Sabor Latino café (the smell of the alcapurrias was tantalizing), which was good for Puerto Rican eats. CJ’s Eatery was also a vendor there. They used the steps of the boathouse as a stage and placed the second stage’s space right down the hill. The poets and film competitors used the space inside the other side of the boathouse. Vendors occupied the space right in-between the boathouse steps and the parking lot. And….that was it.

All of the City of Chicago parks are fantastic, but Humboldt Park is one of the standouts. Humboldt Park takes up 207 acres on Chicago’s west side.  Across the street from the boathouse is the beach and rest of the park. It has luscious bike paths that wind through from North Ave to practically Chicago Ave.  It has a lagoon wrapped in a wildlife sanctuary that is home to migratory birds, not the usual Chicago pigeon. There is also a winding lagoon with many rocks placed to chill and bridges erected to pose. Designed by Jen Jensen of the Garfield Park Conservatory fame, Humboldt Park is to be enjoyed. If only Grafitti Zone had taken advantage of all of that wonderful space.

Boathouse

For the 4th annual Humboldt Park Arts Festival Graffiti Zone should spread out. This will be best accomplished with more artist ready to use the grass. I think it would be great to put performers in the grass as well or on a baseball diamond where the audience could use the bleachers, which would probably encourage festival- goers to hangout longer. I say they continue to use the boathouse for the film competition and poets of course and maybe the second stage. I do not think the boat house steps bode well for a main stage because not only must it be standing room only, but the standing room is the main parking lot which is not safe for families with small children.
The Art’s Festival could also stand for a bit more publicity. I think it would be great to get the high schools involved. Allow, the students to sell their artwork made in class in a tent. Allow the rest of the students to get volunteer hours by cleaning up, directing traffic or sitting at information booths. Next, have those same students tell their friends and do their things on the social networking sites. Lastly, make some connections with the media and radio connections; a quick mention of the event on air shouldn’t cost a thing.
Overall, the Arts Festival is a good kick-off for Humboldt’s Park summer fun. I wouldn’t be surprised if the City of Chicago stopped them from using the rest of the park and with just their 3rd year in, I’m sure they will learn more as they go. I look forward to next year.

3rd Annual Humboldt Park Arts Festival

When: Sat., June 13, 10 a.m.-9pm

This two day event is truly a celebration of the urban arts. Humboldt Park is on the west side of Chicago. The skyline is in plain site but the urban plight the neighborhood sits in the midst of takes center stage. According to Points 2 Home, Humboldt Park is made up of blue collar, Bachelor degreed, unmarried, families with an average income of nearly $62,000. Those are not bad stats; however, the same site report that the personal crime risk is 148 points above the national average with the risk of robbery being 437 points above the national average.

This area in Chicago lacks the political leadership who is vested in the cultural and economic growth in this zip code. Which makes the Annual Arts Festival so important.

Each year they have a film competition among the community. They only accept submissions from filmmakers who live in the 60622. There will be poetry readings, comedy, performance art, and music by The Blah, Blah, Blahs; Phillip Morris, The Minneapolis Henry’s, Agents of Change, Los Vicios de Papa. This is a Free Event so if you attend be sure to buy something from a vendor. The fesitval proceeds benefit Graffiti Zone’s after school arts program.

A wrap-up post about the event is to come.

TT