Working Ideas and self realizations

The sole purpose of man's life is to simply let the spirit grow.

[hexeosis]

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Merkaba aka star of David

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more auric diagrams n shit

source: http://universeofthemind.com/images/WSEthericBodies.jpg

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source: http://growingconsciousness.com/?page_id=496

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source: http://thegalacticpost.blogspot.com/2012/02/everything-made-of-energy.html

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Graphics Incognito by Mark Owens

The Germs's  album cover iterations certainly reflected modernist ideals. This sense of modernism seeping into the American punk counter culture composes a solid, masculine and stark identity. The abstraction lies in the simplicity of the design. The lack of other elements automatically makes it abstract. There have been many instances where "modernist" design has appeared in the past several years. The widespread use of the typeface family "DIN" serves as an example. DIN has exploded across so many media platforms in the past years, the typeface represents the standard German typeface style and has been proven to be a popular choice for local newspapers, zines, even major movie posters. I am not quite sure what my work represents at this point. I believe I have taken all these design practices I've learned at my time here at UIC and have blended them together into a stew that is of my own creation. I don't consider much of what I have produced for thesis to necessarily strictly adhere by modernist design, but I've certainly let bits and pieces of modernism show through in subtle ways. Not to say I am uninfluenced by it, but I haven't had the opportunity to demonstrate it in my work yet. I'm primarily interested in editorial work and publications. This is why I'm working another book.

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Thesis Project Proposal

My general thesis is set to investigate how spiritual and scientific theories are intimately connected principles. When the two join forces, it causes us to understand the mechanisms of the universe as well as parts of our lives in an entirely new way that would not have been achievable otherwise. I've explored sub-thesises within my overall thesis such as the idea of balancing male and female energy in order to ascend as a species, minimally representing the beginning and end of the universe, and exploring themes pertaining to nonsense/whimsicality/windows to other worlds. With my current project in progress, I'm exploring my thesis by juxtaposing scanned text and illustrations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass against spiritual and scientific explanations. I truly believe that there is a unique intersection between these three vastly different areas, I feel the clear connection and my hope is for others to be able to perceive that connection as strongly as I do. Therein lies the conflict I hope to solve. What I hope my project will soon develop into is a zine or miniature booklet that acts as an analogy helping others better understand these concepts that are often untouched on a daily basis due to their complexity. I want to introduce the mind boggling sensation  these intense spiritual and scientific theories bring about back into peoples lives in a manner that is less intimidating. Ideally, this zine will become a medium that can help unlock the doors of perception and to get us to begin thinking about the oldest questions in life on a regular basis but with a whole new twist.

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Visual representation of String Theory. String Theory predicts the existence of more than the 3 space dimensions and 1 time dimension we are all familiar with. According to string theory, there are additional dimensions that we are unfamiliar with because they are curled up into tiny complicated shapes that can only be seen on tiny scales. If we could shrink to this tiny, Planck-sized scale we could see that at every 3D point in space, we can also explore 6 additional dimensions. This animation shows a Calabi-Yau surface which is a projection of these higher dimensions into the more familiar dimensions we are aware of.

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Kalman VS. Duffy Debate

Kalman has a rather cynical approach to graphic design. He will take on work he doesn't have a passion for. He has admitted to working for something and only putting in half of the effort just to get the Money. Duffy on the other hand has a standard and refuses to sink below it. He has high hopes. He believes that the important of packaging can outweigh the quality of the product itself. It seems that he cares about the integrity of design a lot to a point where he may be strike others as too prideful or stuck up, but he persists and only works on designs that he personally loves. The Mason Jar Vs. Glass Jar debate struck me as hilarious for the reason that I collect mason jars. (specifically the classic ones too because they have markers on them measuring the ounces!) Kalman is wrong in this argument. Duffy was right. People DO like marked mason jars over plain glass jars. I am proof of this and so are many other people I know who collect mason jars. Kalman says something at point about him viewing design as an art. I have always viewed design to be a form of art, or much like a craft that is intuitive. The individual must have a preexisting eye for it. It can be learned, it can be taught, but it cant always be replicated on a level that comes out as pure and seamless as one who naturally possesses design as a talent. Perhaps its harsh of me to say…but if you're bad to begin with, you may never improve. It is something that is a part of a person like having the ability to draw or paint well. Kalman ends the argument rather strong but Duffy is left with things unsaid. I don't think either won the argument, they both have way too diverse mindsets and i personally have found myself agreeing with a little bit of what each argued throughout the entire conversation.

Debate found here: http://www.printmag.com/interviews/tibor-kalman-vs-joe-duffy-a-retrospective/

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CONTINUATION, BECAUSE OF TUMBLRS STUPID 10 PHOTOGRAPH LIMIT RULE. SEE PREVIOUS POST.

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"Looking Glass Room" 2014

My vision for my third thesis investigation will ultimately result in a hand-bound 4.25 x 5.5 book. This investigation involves the scrutiny of the  unknown world versus the real world. The poem written in between the pages of the photographic sphere dimensions serves as a way to get us to think and wonder what lies beyond reality. Reality is an illusion and this is explained through the work of Einstein. The Vedas, the most ancient scripture of the eastern world has recognized this phenomena as well. The Vedas calls reality, "maya." Maya when translated directly simply means illusion. If this reality that we are experiencing is just a projection, then is it possible to experience projections other than what we are currently placed within. Projections could very well be happening at the same time but in an alternate dimensional plane. The photographs with the spheres act as a door to invite us to these alternate dimensions. It is the door, the looking glass. This is where I was able to incorporate Alice's experiences in my book. The premise of Alice's adventures happen in a different reality. Though each book ends as a "dream," Lewis Carroll still invites the reader to engage within introspective contemplation of our own reality. There are these constant juxtapositions that are happening, though each differ, still have interdependent properties that help shape the idea that we are and will always be limited to a specific sphere of perception. I created this book using Lewis Carroll's text and scanned illustrations as an inspiration and reference to my idea. Taking a step aside, I now see that there is a consistent theme of binaries which keeps popping up in a lot of my thesis work. I am interested in seeing how the rest of my work this semester will develop. I believe a majority of the past creations have these overarching themes relating to the divine body vs. the scientific body.

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(Revised) Proposal #1 : Creation and Deterioration In this investigation I sought to evoke ideas about how everything came to be in the universe. The emerging, colliding, and eventual degradation of the shapes was my manner of interpreting the bang bang theory and the eventual death of all things in the universe. This is a 12 minute video that loops over and over again. My decision in creating a constant loop is because we have no knoweledge or evidence of whether our there is a true start or end of things. My theory is that the big bang has happened before, the universe has collpased away before, it is just a never ending pointless repetition. To watch the full 12 minutes might cause insanity which is what happens to people when they contemplate such large unanswered questions about the origins of the universe. To sit and argue of whether the chicken or the egg came first could be stressful debate, there is no answer known, it would only bring about a headache.

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Assignment #2 Revised : Constraints and Iterations

Rules:

1. 11X17 format 2. Pick one Typeface 3. Content must come from one source 4. Use up to three colors, black and white not included 5. Create visual binaries 6. Create visual balance and harmony within the binaries 7. Work fast, think fast 8. Focus on creating assymmetry 9. Stick with a minimal aesthetic 10. Elicit of controversial point

With this project I furthered my thesis investigation by choosing to explore the divine energetic qualities between males and females. the two terms are arbitrary to biological sex because any biological sex can harness or possess either of the energy expressions. The male and female characteristics differ immensely in the two lists shown in a few of the posters. The premise behind male energy is that it moves in a linear, angular, logical, productive, and assertive path, whereas the very essence of female energy is organic, represents creation, a nurturing stance, moves in a curved form, acts as passive rather than aggressive and breathes a creativity that the logical path of the male energy lacks.

What I have discovered is that both of these energies have their own strengths. The two must be balanced in order to reach our fullest potential as human beings. For the majority of time, we have been a species that has lacked the female energy and thus have disconnected from this essential part of ourselves. To further simplify what I am exploring, the binaries can also be translated into our understand of the left and right brain. The left brain possessing the more masculine logical qualities and the right possessing the capability to understand and express emotion and creativity.

These posters are a working exercise as I aim to display the differences between the two themes while working to show what happens when they come together to act as one. I begin to dwell more on the notion of togetherness, harmony, balance in the compositions with the circles joining together into a venn-diagram creating unconditional love and understanding. Coincidentally the conjoining of two circles creates the sacred geometric pattern known throughout various religions as the Vesica Picis. This is typically known as a yonic (opposite of phallic) symbol. New Age theorists have speculated that it is the representation of the female genitalia. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to recognize various types of geometry and able to find the intersections between geometric forms and their divine theories of the spirit. In Christianity, the Vesica Picis represents the fish. Sometimes the Virgin Mary is depicted in the middle of this yonic shape on cathedral walls. Jewish mysticism speaks about the importance behind this symbol as well.

The idea of binaries joining forces to create love is content I derived from my reference. The text from this website’s page was channeled from the ancient Pleiadian spirit, P’taah through a human being. I create a third set of posters where I dive more into explaining what the energy conveys about the importance behind balancing male and female characteristics through a series of cosmic compositions containing images of the Pleiades star constellation and images taken by the Hubble space telescope. Reference: http://www.fromthestars.com/page128.html

[quantum-smoothies]

Assignment #2 Revised : Constraints and Iterations

Rules:

1. 11X17 format 2. Pick one Typeface 3. Content must come from one source 4. Use up to three colors, black and white not included 5. Create visual binaries 6. Create visual balance and harmony within the binaries 7. Work fast, think fast 8. Focus on creating assymmetry 9. Stick with a minimal aesthetic 10. Elicit of controversial point

With this project I furthered my thesis investigation by choosing to explore the divine energetic qualities between males and females. the two terms are arbitrary to biological sex because any biological sex can harness or possess either of the energy expressions. The male and female characteristics differ immensely in the two lists shown in a few of the posters. The premise behind male energy is that it moves in a linear, angular, logical, productive, and assertive path, whereas the very essence of female energy is organic, represents creation, a nurturing stance, moves in a curved form, acts as passive rather than aggressive and breathes a creativity that the logical path of the male energy lacks.

What I have discovered is that both of these energies have their own strengths. The two must be balanced in order to reach our fullest potential as human beings. For the majority of time, we have been a species that has lacked the female energy and thus have disconnected from this essential part of ourselves. To further simplify what I am exploring, the binaries can also be translated into our understand of the left and right brain. The left brain possessing the more masculine logical qualities and the right possessing the capability to understand and express emotion and creativity.

These posters are a working exercise as I aim to display the differences between the two themes while working to show what happens when they come together to act as one. I begin to dwell more on the notion of togetherness, harmony, balance in the compositions with the circles joining together into a venn-diagram creating unconditional love and understanding. Coincidentally the conjoining of two circles creates the sacred geometric pattern known throughout various religions as the Vesica Picis. This is typically known as a yonic (opposite of phallic) symbol. New Age theorists have speculated that it is the representation of the female genitalia. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to recognize various types of geometry and able to find the intersections between geometric forms and their divine theories of the spirit. In Christianity, the Vesica Picis represents the fish. Sometimes the Virgin Mary is depicted in the middle of this yonic shape on cathedral walls. Jewish mysticism speaks about the importance behind this symbol as well.

The idea of binaries joining forces to create love is content I derived from my reference. The text from this website's page was channeled from the ancient Pleiadian spirit, P'taah through a human being. I create a third set of posters where I dive more into explaining what the energy conveys about the importance behind balancing male and female characteristics through a series of cosmic compositions containing images of the Pleiades star constellation and images taken by the Hubble space telescope. Reference: http://www.fromthestars.com/page128.html

[spacetravelco]

[vizualize]

Geographical and astronomical illustrations from the mid-1800s by John Philipps Emslie via The Wellcome Collection

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REALITY IS AN ILLUSION

continuation of thesis #3

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Thesis Investigation #3 : LOOKING GLASS SERIES: REALITY IS AN ILLUSION The premise of this was to elaborate how reality is an illusion. This notion is a quote I adapted from Albert Einstein. In this third investigation I am seeking for a way to portray how malleable our perception of reality is. The distorted circles in the center act as the tunnel vision/area of perception that we humans are limited to, and the rest of the image represents all that the human eye alone cannot perceive. Taking a step back after I had finished,  I realized how much these reminded me of the sensation one gets from the out of body experience or astral projection experiences. The circles also remind me of Alice through the looking glass which inspired the title. The circle acts as the mirror she stumbles upon which happened to be a door to an alternate reality.