Year: 2008

Finally got the furnace people to come back and replace the broken gas valve in the studio. I had gotten a furnace installed in the studio last month (and had to dig a 2′ trench from the house to the studio for the gas flex pipe). The trouble was, during the installation, one of the workers accidentally stripped the thread on the final valve to the furnace, and had to get a replacement shipped in. Meanwhile, the weather got colder, and the furnace lay dormant in the studio, unable to provide heat.
Well, now the valve is in, the furnace is installed, and I can keep the studio heated all winter long without all those crazy electric bills. And it heats much much faster than the tiny space heaters.

He said so himself. I think he’s being a bit of a goof on this one, but I’ll admit, I have seen first-hand some really bad art. I’ve even made some really bad art.
I’ve also been told I’ve made some really good art, too. And some of the art in this video does look crappy. But it is installation art he’s going on about, and installation artists have a tough enough time trying to fill spaces that they deserve a little leeway.
I do agree with this statement, however:

A writer ought to be able to write simple sentences before he tries to be a poet. I want to see something traditional that a sculptor has done – something I can understand – before he gets a license to do this.
Picasso earned the right to do anything he wants. His work is art whether I think so or not.

And I think that without doing more research into the actual artists shown in the video, Andy Rooney may not have a say about which of their pieces are art and which ones aren’t. Richard Serra, for example, is a renowned American minimalist who works mostly with sheet metal. I’d say he’s famous enough for his works to be considered art whether-or-not Andy Rooney thinks so. Here’s a link to a PBS article on the controversy of the Tilted Arc piece, mentioned in the video clip. Serra is quoted as saying “I don’t think it is the function of art to be pleasing…. Art is not democratic. It is not for the people.”
If art were democratic, Michael Bay movies would be the only ones in theatres.
Rooney: When Did This Become Art?, Andy Rooney On Modern Art In Public Places – CBS News

A neat little tutorial about shooting light trails at night.

Essentially, the trick is to use long exposure times, a tripod, and an external shutter control. Keep your ISO low, F-stop in the middle somewhere, and focus on manual. Then a 10-20 second shutter speed.
Easy.
How to Shoot Light Trails

I’m not one for excessive realism in my art, even when doing photography. But this guy has some of the most realistic oil painting I’ve ever seen.

Skill-wise, he reminds me a little of Rabo Karabekian from Vonnegut’s Bluebeard novel.
Jeffrey T. Larson – Fine Artist – Larson

Very cool Photoshop tutorial on how to make street scenes look like miniature scale models.

Tilt-Shift Photography Photoshop Tutorial | Miniature Faking | TiltShiftPhotography.net

Looks like there’s some fun things happening in Kitchener, this weekend. There’s a sword fighting introduction, clay and drawing, photography workshops, and a lot of other events.
spOtlight: Kitchener

A weekend festival of free arts events including behind the scenes
tours, workshops, art talks and activities to celebrate the artists who
live in our communities.
Fight like a Musketeer. Throw some clay. Say cheese! Tap into your wild side.Find your inner artist in Kitchener.

Some notable events include “Be A Star!”, presented by CAFKA. It’s an introduction to videography, and gives people the chance to appear on CAFKA.tv. Also, a printmaking workshop by Fatima Garzan. And a chance to see inside the KWAG vault and learn
about art conservation and preservation.

On Sunday I installed my exhibition at One Red Chair Coffeehouse. The exhibition runs from June 1st through June 29th.

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Interesting discussion with Olav Velthuis, author of Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art and David Galenson, University of Chicago professor of economics on the recent sale record set by Lucian Freud’s painting “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping”.
What Does 33.6 Million Mean in the Art World? – Freakonomics – Opinion – New York Times Blog
Q: Is art perceived as having more value if someone is willing to pay more for it or the reverse?
Velthuis: Both ways: if it has artistic or aesthetic, or cultural value, people are willing to pay for it. But, as I show in my book Talking Prices: Symbolic prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, a high price definitely makes people think it must be an important piece of art. People’s valuations of art — contemporary art in particular — are influenced by a lot of things: what other people think, in which context they see it, what they know about the artists, but also what they know about the price. Empirical studies show, by the way, that if you take some indicator of cultural value (for instance, museum shows or pieces by art critics) it usually correlates very well with the selling price.