a letter from Sol redux

                                                                            VXSP3PS3YT6H

Remember my post "a letter from Sol"?  Well, apparently Sol's letter is trending a bit.  That video was made in 2004 (according to its credits) and uploaded in 2007 by Joao Leonardo.  Here (below) is another video made by someone else inspired by the famed letter to Eva Hesse.  I found it via my friend and photographer, Doug Ness, who posted it on facebook and apparently picked it up from Jane Fulton Alt.  

Sheesh, the art world can be so... incestuously small and repetitive sometimes, eh?  Even so, I still maintain that every artist could use hearing this advice and repeatedly.  

Plus, I appreciate the different tone of this video.  Joao's is more minimalist and post-modern, in keeping with Sol Lewitt and Eva Hesse's sensibilities. This newer one (2011) by animator Levni Yilmaz is a refreshing departure; it is arranged differently, less intense in its energy, and incorporates hand-drawn imagery.  And the message feels more youthful and human because of it. 

To read the letter which begins "Dear Eva, It will be almost a month since you wrote to me and you have possibly forgotten your state of mind (I doubt it though)" in its supposed original content and order, go to this blog.

If you find more interpretations of Sol's letter out there, let me know. Perhaps I'll make my own video version of the letter.  Who knows?

penguins on the move

penguin with bag, artist unknown

I stumbled into these little guys on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the railroad tracks from the Missoula Northside to downtown.  The titles are my own and I don't know the artist. Yet.  (If you do, send 'em my way, eh?)  

The penguins were sweet little discoveries for me on a very cool breezy winter day.   I went back to photo them. The one pictured above is on the ramp on the downtown side and the one shown below is in the middle, facing out to the West, looking at the tracks, perhaps longing for the motion of travel.  Or maybe I'm projecting? 

penguin with words, artist unknown

Location: On the Northside the bridge entrance is at Grand Ave and N 1st St West and on the downtown side the entrance is at Owen Street and Toole Street.

waste land: vic muniz

Waste Land is simply a wonderful documentary that I think everyone should see.  Filmmaker Lucy Walker follows artist Vic Muniz from New York back to his homeland in Brazil to create an art project that incorporates materials picked out of the garbage with the help of workers at a massive dump.  The story is about more than art or the process of art or efforts to make change and because Muniz is such a positive character to follow, the sobering topic of poverty is handled with grace and often illustrates levity. 

Here is a link to the movie website. 

Here is a link to the movie on Netflix.

Watch the movie's trailer here:

man with a tail and a halo

On E. Placer Ave. off E. Lawrence, Helena, MT, 2011

I found this little guy sneaking around the corner from the Holter Museum of Art.

keep the Princess rolling

Today I broke out my bike, zipped over to a gas station and pumped my tires full of air, then rode downtown.  Within four blocks my front tire was almost flat.  Uh-oh.  I'm a fair weather bike rider, I'll admit it.  And I'm impatient with small hassles that mess with my plan for a day.   Oh, and forget about me fixing the tire myself.  I'll get my hands dirty with plenty of things, but this really isn't one of them.  At least not at this point in my life.  I guess it's a Princess point for me.  

Anyway, the weather was nice, so I figured I could walk my bike around.  I made it to Biga Pizza for my lunch date then went on to finish my errands.  I stopped in and saw my pal H-bomb at The Red Rooster, who reminded me that conveniently, Missoula has bike shops all around town and one is literally in the middle of downtown.  So, I pushed over to Hellgate Cyclery for a tire repair.  They had my bike ready and rolling again in thirty minutes.  Zippety-do!  Now, that's living like a Princess!