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I first heard of Anthony Parrino when I was just a wee freshman at SUNY Purchase. George Parrino would tell us stories of how his cool son would carry around a copy of the Diamond Sutra in complete awe of its teachings. There was very little scarier than George on a bad day or in a bad mood, so these tales of his son would be a ray of light among harsh critiques and obsessive yelling about poor manners. “No tapping, No drumming, No whining,” “The teacher is always right,” “Beware of the one-liner,” “If you see the buddha, hit him with a stick,” were just a few of Parrino’s motto’s. I will never forget the time he leaned over in the middle of me critiquing someone’s work and whispered “Shut your fucking mouth.” If none of you have ever had a professor be honest, critical and hard assed then I believe you haven’t recieved a decent education. It is because of people like George that I am getting my MFA at Pratt.

I then met Anthony in Burgos on the craziest summer of my undergrad life. We partied hard, studied little Spanish and spent a huge amount of time in the dustiest garage/studio creating assemblages in the mirror of Spain.

Anthony goes by the musical name Elite, and has been involved in some pretty impressive musical accomplishments. None of the music is really my thing, but I must admire a ‘westchester-white-boy’ entering into this world and being successful. Here is his blog that I was just linked to by George
(and inspired this posting).

I was reminded today of Justin’s, Camille Paglia random essay generator (it came up when I googled his name). Although I find that my general understanding of most things she says are incomprehensible after a few lines, this page can create some interesting/funny combinations of thoughts. It randomly puts together an essay of her sentences that never appears too different in nature to her normal writings.

My favorite section so far has been -

“The female body’s unbearable hiddenness applies to all aspects of men’s dealings with women. Tragedy’s inhospitality to woman springs from nature’s inhospitality to man. The search for freedom through sex is doomed to failure.  suffers unresolved contradictions. Emotion is passion, a continuum of eroticism and aggression.”

and

“There are no accidents, only nature throwing her weight around. Art makes things. Man’s metaphors of concentration and projection are echoes of both body and mind.”

And here is a good quote from her - “Pornography is human imagination in tense theatrical action; its violations are a protest against the violations of our freedom by nature.”

It was recently in the news that Picasso’s “Guernica” has undergone too much damage in previous trips to ever move the painting again. It is currently situated at the Reina Sofia, Madrid (left MoMa in 1981) and is 11′ x 25.6′ wide. The attempt to lock in the paintings location is thought to be because of regional struggle between Madrid and the Basques. I saw the painting during the summer of 2001 while on a semester abroad in Burgos, Spain. It is one of the most incredible paintings I have ever seen and I spent almost an hour in front of it (and even went back a few times just to see it again). If you have ever walked through a gallery with me, you would know that anything more than 2 minutes is a long time for me to spend looking at one thing. For all of the details and history behind the painting go to the wiki page here. I had first heard of the painting when I was 12 and a guest lecturer came to my school in London and spoke for over an hour about the work. I can still remember being amazed at how interesting the person was and how fascinated I became by the idea of not only being an artist and making work, but also the significance one work of art can hold.

Unfortunately as with so many great things, it has to be digitized and turned into a slick animation.

And here is an interesting observation from the man himself - “Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one’s bath like a lump of sugar.” Pablo Picasso. How miraculous would he have found a 3D rendition of one of his greatest works of art?

I found a great website that showcases old snapshots in organized collections based on content, the site is called Square America.. My favorite album is called “the party” and has loads of dated images of people being wild in the 60’s and 70’s. Here are a few of my favorites.

Normally I am not a big fan of Indian art, a quick trip to the National Museum in Delhi will explain better than I could. Indian painters seem to have got stuck in early cubism, but have never really worked the palette out. Raja Ravi Varma is a painter I like though as I just read an article on him in the “Indian Outlook” magazine. I caught it while sitting in the “Open Palm” restaurant eating a tuna fish sandwich with cucumber and pickle and drinking a raspberry ice tea (I was feeling particularly American at the time!) He is thought to be an influential artist in the modern depictions of many of India’s Gods. He became greatly known throughout India through his use of Lithography to reproduce his famous works. Here is one of his famous paintings of the goddess Lakshmi.

I also bought a few books today near the river, having a good art book selection, I asked the clerk who he thought the most famous Indian photographer was. He answered immediately, “Raghu Rai.” His assistant pulled down a book for me to leaf through. I was quick and careful, as the book cost 5950 Rupees ($150). He stood out as someone I should have heard of, especially as he is a Magnum photographer. This incredibly disturbing image from the Bhopal disaster is one that I remember having seen before.

I actually woke up at 5:15 this morning to get a boat out onto the holy river (I have normally been waking at 6:15, so it wasn’t extravagantly early). The weather is absolutely perfect at that time to be out on the water, and the light was perfect for photographs (although a wide angle, medium format camera was not ideal, a Canon IDs with a 70-200mm 2.8IS Lens would have been better). I paid my boat-wallah 250 rupees for 2 hours to paddle from Assi Ghat to Dashashwamedha ghat (where the ceremony is every night) and back. It took under a minute to hear the price drop from 600 to 250, as other boatmen were beginning to crowd around me, just as the group of small children has right now (not many people in the US would be so interested in my fumbling fingers). To call my boat wallah a tour guide would be pushing it, as all he really did was read the signs on the side of each ghat, much as grandpa in “City Slickers” would. Varanasi is one of the most beautiful places in India, and at 6am on a rowing boat, floating down the Ganges, the experience is hard to beat.

Of course all moments of tranquility must come to an end. This happened when we neared the main ghat (as seen below) and again when I was swarmed by more ‘tour guides’ at the burning Ghat. As with most spiritual places in the world, the religious is always closely tied to the sacreligious when financial gains are at stake.

Try doing this in your studio, or even on the side of a building!

Or build one of these things