Gil Scott-Heron

I heard about the death of Gil Scott-Heron and I have to admit I didn't really know who he was. The phrase, 'Godfather of Rap' meant fairly little to me. So my first introduction was this video.

It was a good introduction to understand where he was coming from, recollecting memories, in this understated way ---'mistreated to the maximum' --- referring to death of some of the Civil Rights leaders...

Sorry for pulling quotes but he's just so brilliant -- 'Even if you ain't got no job there's some shit you could be doing...the last thing that's available to you is your right to complain.'
(I should read this phrase everyday) He talks about helping people and how it helps your soul and therefore the energy you radiate to others...
'People who spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, they know what they look like, sort of...The way that you know how you look really is the expression on other people's faces...'

He is most known for , 'The Revolution will not be Televised.' It's an amazing rap about commercialism and marketing of events. Jeremy Clarkson wrote a piece about video and catastrophic events -- saying basically, if there is no video of it doesn't make an impact (ie, the Rwandan massacre) and conversely that the Japanese Tsunami/meltdown wouldn't have been front page news (back in the day)...

Love the future

On any given morning I read a lot of random information and according to Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian spam filters are not the answer. No one forces me to click links about plastic surgery record holder Cindy Jackson but I suppose when I sign out of Yahoo I should just look away. I don't have an efficient brain for filtering or filling information.

The recent imprisonment of Ai Weiwei gets filed somewhere in my gut-brain, churning and indigestable...
I admire the creativity of the Chinese for using a similar sounding 'Ai Weilai' (Love the future) to avoid the censors, but that phrase was blocked as well.

Onslaught

There has been so many catastrophic events lately, of 'biblical' proportions, as the news says. And eventually the news fades and recedes. But the earthquake on March 11, the tsunami that followed and subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan will not be forgotten anytime soon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami


I know this blog is supposed to be about things that 'inspire' me but some things just thrust themselves into your consciousness and won't go away. Just this morning I awoke from a dream in which I was sleeping and awoke to see the water rising above my windows...

Last time in London

At the Whitechapel -- enjoyed the show of John Stezaker's collages. It is only an image pasted on another image in a surreal way but it was pleasantly disturbing. Having just watched part of this documentary on the future of art in which art is mindblowingly open, collaborative and technologically dependent, I supposed it's comforting to just look at a few collages.

Hanshen Gu

Saw this on the V & A website and then looked up the artist --- amazing stuff...
http://guhanshen.blogspot.com/

and this is inspiring in a different way...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/30/dying-mother-sons-to-do-list

Re-enchantment

An amazing show at the British Library and a lecture http://www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/ . http://www.artevents.info/tre.htm brought about a change after a disenchanting winter and departure from the art world. Practical concerns such as moving out of my apt and back again and trying to figure out how to make money have distracted me....

chocolate

it all started with ingesting Ecuadorian chocolate...wrote to a friend, accidentally insulted him, have to read about Gran Colombia to learn about the conflict between Venezuela and Colombia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia
realized i have no home land
and then this website
http://www.bizzbook.com/choklad/chocolate.html
I have been facilitating these artists for ArtTrail--
http://cargocollective.com/combicity#

and doing collaborative drawing at my studio.