@krisschro-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Late night design for kicks, which links to the incredible performance of “Hall & Oates” verse -- a tribute to the late producer J Dilla -- from Jon Bellion’s Tonight Show performance.

#jonbellion #thetonightshow #jdilla #hall&oates

This mesmerized and moved me deeply this morning. Thank you, Ben Stamper. Thank you.

Artist Statement: For many of us, abstraction as an overall approach to cinema is a problematic affair, and can sometimes leave us as audience members in a state of alienation from those who seem to be tracking right along with the program. When this happens, a profound sense of isolation and self-doubt is the only take-home of an honest attempt to engage with the avant-garde in film. But there are types of abstraction that can have quite the opposite effect – to connect us with the world, to orient us the right way round and at its best, to heal our vision. When such constructive abstraction is achieved all things become new, especially things that remain rooted in normality. Meaningful discovery is possible when the ordinary everyday scene shocks us into dismay or euphoria. It can be a means towards reality, where all things shimmer in their newness.

There is a story that tells of a man named Jesus who went about giving a blind man his sight. To do this, Jesus spit on the man’s eyes and laid his hands on them. The blind man then exclaimed “I see men; for I behold them as trees walking.” It can’t be assumed here that the man saw imperfectly. The contrary might just as well have been the case: he saw too clearly all of the forms and shapes that comprise a human figure. Pure sight without interpretation is the double-edged sword of seeing something as it truly appears in a state of total disorientation. Free of association and experiential definition, the “half-seeing person” is the essence and aim of constructive abstraction. It is in this state can we perceive the number of fingers God is holding up to us at any given time. Author R.H. Blyth famously described the Japanese discipline of haiku as “ an open door that looks shut.” In other words, the experience of haiku is to inhabit one’s natural space in real time, and then to concentrate that moment into a fertile seed that can be planted in the consciousness of the reader. Haiku as a poetic form has long been regarded in the West as “light verse” or “no verse.” (And with good reason; since the 1950’s there has been a bumper crop of poorly written haiku in english). But the essence of haiku is simplicity and suggestion of the commonplace as a means of framing the universe in relationship to human nature and vice-versa.

It is written that Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes a second time, “and he saw everything clearly.” This describes the properly functioning mechanical vision that many of us are blessed to have. It is the operational sight that we take to lens crafters and adjust with corrective lenses. This second vision allows us to connect what we know with what we see. This film considers the idea that both sights are necessary for the responsibilities of regular life; for the caring of the poor and dying, for the pursuit of beauty.

What you are about to participate in is a series of visual and auditory meditations in the spirit of haiku poetry, referring to the ancient form’s brevity and unadorned train of thought. These video-haikus are the result of a six-week artist residency that focused on the theme “fully human.” This is not a film with a common story-arc or 3-point structure. Rather, it is meant to be primarily a sensory experience that considers the subconscious an equal partner in discerning the work. There is one 3 to 4 minute haiku composed for every borough of New York. You are encouraged to not get overly concerned about locating each scene. There will be plenty of time for that later. For the moment, let us an attempt to edge closer to the barred door of the everyday, and open it together.

-Ben Stamper

#benstamper #presence #5haikusfor5boros #abstract #haiku #jesus

Diggin’ the fresh look for Andy Mineo’s site.

Mineo is easily one of my top 5 favorite artists, for many reasons.

If you aren’t listening, you should be.

Check out his stuff, and then let’s grab coffee and discuss, ok?

Ok.

#andymineo #reachrecords

One of the best songs of repentance I’ve ever heard.

Listen, it isn’t "Gospel” if it feeds toxic self-contempt. It isn’t Gospel if it’s about a God who can’t stand the sight of you. It isn’t Gospel if it leads you into further exhaustion, obsession, and addictive ways of coping. It isn’t gospel if God is, in some sense, waiting for you to now pay him back for all the suffering he did for you. All this “I’m not worthy” talk is more about our toxic shame than Gospel. God has to be pretty fond of you to go to the great lengths he did in Jesus to make you and all creation new. Like children, we screw up. But I suspect that this loving pursuit means that we're pretty worth it in God’s eyes.

Chuck DeGroat

To learn more about the film and Johnny, check out http://artofmayhem.com/ Carved in Mayhem is the poetic depiction of one man’s unique journey. It is the…

“I realized I was not just going to kill him. I was going to kill me.”

Powerful. Been following Dan Difelice for a bit now and his work is gold.

Bravo to whoever handles web design over there at The Atlantic. Always captivating.

For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

2 Peter 2:19

alexstrohl

Flying over the Mystics in BC, Canada with Bradley Friesen

I l-o-v-e this. Picture by the great Cameron Powell.

I don’t want to shrink. I want to grow.

“In a consumer driven world where advertising reigns and ethical and spiritual ideas must kneel in the presence of the almighty market, we have become "insubstantial" people with "thin" selves. In other words, we are not deeply rooted in any sense. Oftentimes, we don't think profoundly: we don't connect meaningfully; we don't focus extendedly. We can all too easily flit through life, trying new experiences, inventing new selves through online media. We watch endless amounts of television, keep a constant vigil over our email accounts, and update 800 of our closest friends when we make a piece of toast, but we often cannot be bothered to read, or think, or delve into the lives of unbelievers who are everywhere around us. We have focused on ourselves, pumping ourselves up through self esteem exercises, redefining our sins as "tendencies" that require therapy of one kind or another, and discarding traditional marks of maturity to gratify desires we refuse to tame. In the process, we have not grown. We have shrunk." - Doug Sweeney

This quote came into my world today (thanks, pastor) and not long after I had decided to step away from social media for the time being. Sweeney so convictingly points out the very reasons that led me to say, "Enough for now. I have to stop. I want to stop."

Let me make it clear that I don't believe social media is bad in itself, but there must be better, more productive ways to engage with it, and until I figure that out I'm not signing on. I wonder how much my productivity, my focus, my relationships and in turn my very soul will flourish with all the time I used to spend scrolling. I also wonder what it will be like to take a picture and appreciate it without questioning if it’s worthy of the world’s double taps. How sweet to savor a moment just because it exists. It sounds silly that it’s come to this, but if signing off helps me get more of this in my life, then count me in.

There are dreams I have as a creative...dreams I hope to get closer to within 2016. Some may think that unplugging from social media will take away the pulse I'd have on how the creative world is moving and shaking. I'm not too worried about this, to be honest, because a) I'm not going completely off the grid, and b) I am more concerned about having time to think and dream and create for myself right now rather than vicariously living through other creatives I find on Instagram.

So, if for some reason your only way of contacting me is through Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and you really need to get ahold of me, then shoot me an email at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you.

Good golly, @salomonligthelm is brilliant.

Love is a diamond hidden in mountains / Covered in danger & dirt / I’m on the outside digging and digging / I’ve seen and I know what it’s worth

Sara Groves, “I Feel The Love Between Us” from her new album Floodplain

More than leaving them with money, leave them with stories.

Check out TAPERED THRONE by Brandon Tauszik. The first ever GIF-based visual essay that paints an intimate portrait of Oakland’s Black barbers. Project essay by Quincy T. Mills, PhD, Vassar College Professor of Africana Studies.

Mesmerized today by this great work from Brandon Tauszik.

Really loving Jim Golden’s work. Beautiful stuff.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs