Tim's Yarn Art Car makes into "Street View" Google Maps Club

My friend Tim and his Yarn Art Car recently made into the "Street View" Google Maps Club along with some other art cars who also are part of this elite club. The only requirements is that you have an art car that has been captured on Google Street View.

COMIC-CON 2010 (part 4)

At Comic-Con, artist Neal Adams defined a comic book artist as:

someone you put in a closet with a drawing table, a lamp, a radio, art supplies and you slide paper under the door and he'll keep filling it up -- just so he can get new paper to draw more.

There must have been a thousand artists at Comic-Con who fit that description. Some of them were still blinking as their eyes adjusted to being out in the light. At tables on "artist's alley," in booths and leaning up against fire hydrants, you saw them inking highly detailed backgrounds and individual strands of hair. They didn't seem to be weighing the costs and benefits of their actions, the way sensible people would. They drew unfazed by the economics or the logistics of what they were doing.

There must have been 423 of them specializing in slick, polished images of huge breasted barbarian women in leather and chain mail bodices. (Question: if there are only 360 degrees in a full circle, how is it possible that there are an infinite number of angles from which to draw barbarian women bending over?)

Most of these pictures were keyed to grab at your attention -- every muscle flexed to the max, every gun blazing, every body extended mid-leap. Walking down a corridor of such overwrought images was exhausting.

Most of these pictures were technically accomplished. The artists had clearly sacrificed huge chunks of their lives to acquire technical skills. Some of the art-- a very small percentage-- was even excellent.

I would not live my life the way these artists do, but from a safe distance I can admire their willful disregard for actuarial tables. I am reminded of Archy and Mehitabel's famous Lesson of the Moth, in which Archy asked the moths why they continued to bang their heads against an electric light bulb in an effort to fry themselves in the beautiful fire. He asks one, "have you no sense?"

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it

As Archy returned to his rational life, he remarked,

i wish
there was something i wanted
as badly as he wanted to fry himself

Bellevue Library

Oil on canvas panel, 14" x 18"

VeggieStreamer art-RV by Jay Hamburger - FOR SALE

The most amazing painted classic 1975 Land Yacht 25' Airstream travel trailer came across my email tonight and its for sale on craigslist right now. Its totally restored, updated and tricked-out in the most charming style......new awnings on both sides + new front tinted glass window protector/ sunshade, and new screens on all windows. A/C, heat, new 3000 watt generator and safest security hitch with sway bar control. Full frame-off restoration, completely refurbished....leaving classic elements to display the era of production. Less than 2000 miles since restoration and a veteran of several Houston Art Car Parades. Completely rebuilt full size bed + lounge couch which makes into another full sized bed....with storage beneath......wine rack and wine glass hanger. ALL NEW brakes, tires, refrigerator - A/C + LP gas, stove with cook top + oven, microwave/convection oven, toaster oven, battery, power converter, porcelain toilet, sink, shower, beds, lounge, tables, lights, draperies, fans, high-power audiophile sound system throughout the cabin.....with satellite radio and Viper paging alarm system with 1/4 mile range.....ALL NEW. Completely equipped with gear....new pots, pans, dishes, silverware, utensils, folding camping chairs tables and MANY other items. Local cash sale only.....after full payment will deliver up to 100 miles or arrange your own transport. Only sold complete.

COMIC-CON 2010 (part 3)

Comic-Con provides a unique vantage point on the digital future of the popular arts.

The invention of digital media had an obvious quantitative impact on art, but I always listen at Comic-Con for early evidence of a qualitative impact.

Everybody knows the quantitative benefits: computers enhance the efficiency, speed and precision of the creation and distribution of images. They permit sharper, more consistent pictures than traditional tools can. They expand the range of possible subject matters by overcoming previous limitations on scale. For example, animators today have the ability to show individual strands of hair, or flowers in a field, or faces in a crowd that once would have been economically impossible to convey.

Yet, it is not clear that any of these miracles crosses the line between quantitative and qualitative change.

Contrast digital art with the invention of oil paint, for example. Many historians believe the invention of oil paint transformed the nature of art qualitatively. It gave artists versatility and sensitivity to create rich, glowing surfaces (such as polished marble, radiant jewels and-- most importantly-- human flesh).



This is supposed to have helped inspire the transition from the medieval obsession with the afterlife...



to the Renaissance focus on the human body and our physical world.

For me, the most fascinating question about the future of digital art is whether HCI (human-computer interaction) has the potential to trigger a similar kind of change.

Can it help make our images more sensitive? Better designed? Can it lead to better compositions? More poignant or evocative or profound images? Can it help make artists visually smarter, or perhaps release some primal aspect of aesthetic communication that has been straightjacketed so long by the limitations of earlier media we're not even aware of it?

One of the more promising areas discussed at Comic-Con emerged in a presentation by USC professor Henry Jenkins on "Transmedia," which he defined as:

The systematic dispersion across multiple platforms of a unified and coordinated entertainment experience, with each platform making its own contribution.

While in many respects transmedia is a marketing concept, it can also alter our experience of creative content by mixing genres together in what seems to be a new and potentially rich way. Digitalization enables people to become part of a movie, or to experience the movie through multiple points of view; to immerse themselves in a story and to later extract parts of it to take back to their own world; to incorporate the content in their own play (think of people using youtube to adapt and perform their own versions of the songs they see on Glee); to move the content from one medium to another, the way bees cross-pollenate. Jenkins impressed me as smart and disciplined.

It's too early to tell, but this strikes me as a variation on the creative experience worth thinking about as we shape our stories and other creative content.

Bellevue - SE 6th Street

Oil on canvas panel, 14" x 18"

COMIC-CON 2010 (part 2)

John Henry said to his captain,
"Well a man ain't nothin but a man,
But before I let that steam drill beat me down,
Lawd, Lawd, I'll die with that hammer in my hand."

Tim Lewis 2000

We have had several discussions on this blog about the expanding role of software in the creation of art. I have argued that programs such as Painter and Photoshop allow people to purchase a level of talent that previous generations had to struggle for years to master. Others have responded that you can't hide bad digital painting/drawing in Corel Painter or bad character animation in Maya any more than you can hide bad oil painting.

Our discussions have ranged across a wide variety of theoretical scenarios. But in the words of the great Yogi Berra,

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

One of the great things about Comic-Con is the opportunity to watch experts perform live demonstrations of the latest art software. After watching the current software in action, I have no question that it artificially provides a user with a remarkable level of technical skill to draw and paint.

I was particularly impressed with a demonstration of Z Brush. I watched the demonstrator use a scanned photograph to establish the topology of a face and then choose from seemingly endless options to customize the face into the image she wanted, selecting not just the skin tone, but how shiny or textured the skin would be, or even how conspicuous the pores would be. When it came to creating the hair, she pulled up a hair cap from a sphere, selected whether she wanted the "hair" or "fur" option, and then simply pulled the hair down to the desired length and cut and combed it the way she wanted. The computer placed her at a level that it would have taken a traditional artist many years to master.

I later looked at the demonstrator's drawings created without the benefit of a computer. They were not nearly as sophisticated or technically skilled.

The benefits of the computer were truly amazing, but I'll tell you something else that I found even more impressive. The demonstrator shyly revealed that she had just resigned from a plum position with the acclaimed computer animation and graphics studio Blur to take classes at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. The audience gasped. But she said, "I go home at night and I draw and paint, and I feel so happy!"

Nissan Z Art Car Invades The Streets - By Ted Mikulski

This hand drawn Nissan Z was created by artist Ted Mikulski using paint pens that took 160 hours or 11 days to bring to life. This art car was a reflection of an idea he had that art should not only be designated for areas like galleries and studios, but taken to the streets. The artwork has several themes including Pac-Man, Where's Waldo, Space Invaders (my all time favorite video game growing up), Tetris, Mario and others, all weaved together in a comprehensive abstraction. The car was then clear coated to permanently seal in the art work and was unveiled at the New Britain Museum of American Art in July of 2010. It is no longer a car, its an art car, nice work Ted.

COMIC-CON 2010 (part 1)

The ancient marketplace of Byzantium swarmed with traders, cutthroats, fishermen and merchants selling spices, livestock, textiles and goods from all across the known world. Its crowded stalls and narrow streets reeked with exotic smells and clamored with a dozen languages. When normal language failed, the vocabulary of commerce always prevailed.

[I just returned from the world famous San Diego Comic-Con-- always a mind-altering experience. This week I am posting a series of observations about my experiences there.]

The exhibition hall at Comic-Con is an airplane hangar sized petrie dish, where the conversion rate between artistic talent and cash is renegotiated thousands of times each minute. Art is bought and sold in every form, both as originals and in all manner of tangible and intangible reproductions. Oil paintings from the past are marketed alongside vapor ware from the future. The tools for making the next generation of art-- magic brush pens from Faber-Castell, Tombow and Prismacolor, or software from Z brush-- are marketed like the magic wands in Harry Potter.

For me, one noteworthy story about the value of art comes from these beautifully painted animation backgrounds which could be purchased by the fistful on the last day for $10 apiece.





Original paintings produced by skillful artists cost less than a printed poster.





Walking the exhibition hall, you developed an appreciation for the fact that the price of art is tied less to its quality than to its function. No matter how talented the artist, or how these images look, they were produced on an assembly line for high volume use, and the artists had already been paid once by their corporate employer.

The price of these paintings was discounted far below their inherent quality because the pictures had already served their primary function.



The same observation can sometimes be made about the price of illustration art generally. It often sells for less than its artistic quality would justify when compared to gallery art, because the primary cost of creating the art has already been covered by its initial commercial sponsor. Once an illustration has fulfilled its primary function, the secondary collector can sometimes purchase the work of a talented artist who in a rational world might be unaffordable.

Movie - Paintings

Chris Oberst of www.gonevideo.com has created a short video of my paintings. Click the play button below.

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^Play Video
HiRes video version here
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Man and Mirror

Oil on canvas panel, 11" x 14"

Art Showing - Coastal Kitchen

Three of my paintings are on display at The Coastal Kitchen on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA until late August.
Coastal Kitchen
429 15th Avenue East
Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 322-1145
Map

Jean & Jean-Paul

Oil on canvas panel, 12" x 12"

Painted Mercedes Getting Stumped in New Zealand

This Painted Mercedes got stumped in New Zealand and was captured by John Geek while driving from Rotorua to Auckland. Its also seen on Google street view here. It's one way to the keep the tree from growing back, stump control.

Magic Bus, Byron Bay by Andrea Davies

Its a been a long time since I made a blog entry here on ACC, busy working on web design projects and getting under the hood of my Mercedes Pens Art Car for some much needed engine work.
But its great to get back into the game with this amazing Magic Bus, Byron Bay, the world's most colorful double-decker bus that is is now in service. This bus was painted by Andrea Davies also creator of the "wallpaper" Golf featured a while back here on ACC. Thank you for the submission.