Saturday, July 23, 2011

---

The ancient claims of philosophy are somewhat embarrassing to the contemporary philosopher, who has to justify his existence within the sober community of professional savants and scientists. The modern university is as much an expression of the specialization of the age as is the modern factory. Moreover, the philosopher knows that everything we prize about our modern knowledge, each thing in it that represents an immense stride in certainty and power over what the past called its knowledge, is the result of specialization. Modern science was made possible by the social organization of knowledge. The philosopher today is therefore pressed, and simply by reason of his objective social role in the community, into an imitation of the scientist: he too seeks to perfect the weapons of his knowledge through specialization. Hence the extraordinary preoccupation with technique among modern philosophers, with logical and linguistic analysis, syntax and semantics; and in general with the refining away of all content for the sake of formal subtlety.

--William Barrett, Irrational Man

Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday, May 6, 2011

Aztec Pottery

Variations on a bronze bell I saw last month at the British Museum. Eastern Zhōu Period, 6th-5th c. BCE

Some Dean Ormston

Page 13 of Lucifer 14, DC Comics. Source
Thought I should dig up more on Ormston and see if I could find some more of his work. He's a British comic book artist who, other than working on some of the Dark Horse Predator comics, has done a fair amount of work for DC, and is best known for his work on the 2000 AD sci-fi comic anthology, particularly Judge Dredd serials. Predator: Captive is still the best of his work available to me, but the page above from DC's Lucifer 14 caught my eye. A somewhat different style, but the carbuncular fellow there in the center of the page actuallylooks like a Mike Mignola drawing (save for the hatching), and Mignola is a long-time favorite.

Predator: Captive

I acquired this a long time ago and managed to keep it--Predator: Captive, a one-shot from Dark Horse Comics' Predator series, April 1998. Written by Gordon Rennie, art and color by Dean Ormston. A team of corporate scientists studies the captive Predator in an artificially created habitat, located in an advanced research complex deep in the Nevada desert. But who is really studying whom?

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Worlds of Jacek Yerka

Europa

Yerka is a Polish artist heavily influenced by the styles of the Northern Renaissance, and inspired by dreams and childhood remembrances. His acrylic paintings in particular are incredible. You'll want to see his website. Some paintings from his gallery after the jump.


From the archives

Pulled some old stuff drawn in class

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Christian Storm Photography

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing -- Camille Pissarro
Source: Highway Eyes 2/7/11 
Christian Storm is an NYC-based freelance photographer and traveler, with a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and an eye for eye-catching things. Also happens to be a personal friend of mine, but that's not the only notable thing about him. With fashion, editorial, and fine art, Storm covers a lot of ground with a camera--literally--taking to the highways and back roads alike...in search of what? Not sure. But great photographs seem to come of it. The compositions are uncluttered, the subjects factual, unembellished, folksy, American. Not overwrought. Often unlikely scenes, sometimes derelict, sometimes lonely, sometimes absurd, sometimes nostalgic, usually at the best time of day. I take a fair amount of inspiration from this. Have a look through Storm's portfolio and personal blog--there's a lot of content on there to keep you busy, but it's worth making it all the way back. Oh yeah, he also does music. After the jump, some more photos.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

土屋

At the British Museum. 1 April 2011
Gold lacquered mounting for a long sword with triple paving stone crest of the 土屋  (Tsuchiya) clan (1700s)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Barcelona


Selected shots from Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca after the click

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Fast Food, Fast Rage

Sometimes things don't go your way...This is the world we live in

They raised prices as Baguette Express too. You can find me at the Baguette King.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

I had to reread this a couple times to make sure I knew what was going on.

--Update--

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/charges-dropped-in-hamster-killing-case/?ref=nyregion

The Moral of the Story:

Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others

Glasgow


Waverly Station, Edinburgh
Took the train to Glasgow, home/birthplace of the Glasgow smile (cf. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight), not to be confused with a multitude of other time-honored methods of torture/violence/execution apparently originated there. More "in the cut"

Friday, March 4, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

In medias res

I woke up late today. Or rather, I woke up early, as usual, and couldn't get out of bed. Took a shower, spent at least an hour unwinding. Is it really necessary to unwind in the morning late afternoon just after waking up? Yes--dreaming about packing (again) can actually be quite stressful. 
Succession is live now, which means there should be regular posts (?). New work will show up sporadically. Unfortunately, I found yesterday that I have lost almost all of my pictures from Berlin and Kaunas, but I've got some of the survivors on the Photo page.
More later.


sketching my hand with a Rapidograph 3x0 technical pen