Breaking news, one night only: “How To Build A Rocket Pack In Five Minutes Or Fewer” New art by Pete Ippel to be presented during John White’s curated 5x5x5 performance evening. The event will be hosted by Sylvia White Gallery in Ventura, California. The show begins promptly at 8pm on Friday, March 2nd 2012. Come on by for a unique contemporary art experience.

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Enjoy the hot cut from the floor of the Blue Room, 2002
Cynical and DJZN Live – Fantastic Cutting and scratching with no slide mixer on my side…Yea I’m the platinum blonde…it’s a down-tempo jam with a ton of layers and a lot of back cueing with a knob, turntables run through analog guitar pedals…enjoy. For more sonic delights check out the audio section of Hypermodern.net

DJZN AKA (Pete Ippel) and Cynical (Ryan Schmidt) Mixing in the Blue Room, 2002

Today I spent the afternoon in the dance school where I grew up with creative movement. My father still leads his class, as he did back when I was a boy. This is the second time in the last twelve months I have had the opportunity to watch and participate in the creative process with the person who is the greatest male artistic influence in my life.

He learns while teaching, being an expert, and a child…all at the same time.

Chris Burden Trans-Fixed Lego Version By Pete Ippel

Paying homage to one of Chris Burden‘s most notorious pieces.

Make-up 2008 – Saskia Edens

I was sitting on the #3 bus on the way to the Starlight Room sitting in the middle of the back row of seats, when we made the stop by Japan Town, and a French tour group was chatting and then they got near the back door of the bus, took one look at me, and sat in the Handicap seats up front.

Those that support conceptual art (performance art, video art, social sculpture, happenings etc.) art are mocked by those that do not understand it…and the myth of disbelief, shock, and awe is perpetuated by popular media.

Mimicry is common BECAUSE there is a long history of conceptual art, even when it’s lost.

Shovel by bsabarnowl http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsabarnowl/

Even the name Praxis is a lifted reference.

The history of conceptual art that James Franco tries to explain (the fellow on the Jimmy Kimmel Show) has strong roots in the Bay Area, as does video art. That’s why I chose to study for my MFA in New Genres at the San Francisco Art Institute. The Bay Area boasts artists: Tony Labat, Linda Montano, Doug Hall (AntFarm), Sharon Grace, Paul Kos, David Ireland, Karen Finley, and many, many more.

The Museum of Conceptual Art was created by one of my mentors, Tom Marioni. Tom is a big fan of Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade. Hypermodern.net represents 12 years of conceptual art education and I’m constantly asked, what for?

Simply, as Cathy Malchiodi writes, the massively important restoring power of imagination.

The phrases “art heals” and “art saves” have become ubiquitous and will continue to circulate; like many catch-phrases, they are just too cool to go away. Like any popular slogans, they blur real meaning; in this case the actual purpose of art is often forgotten.

Cathy summarizes further synthesizes and interprets Ellen Dissanayake’s book What is Art For?

1) Makes life special.
2) Engages the senses.
3) Involves rituals.
4) Enhances community.

When was the last time you went to an art show and got an experience, a prize, a few bucks, and a great story and thought differently about the present moment you just experienced. Free Memory. Free Money. Free Ideas…and a 2 minute smile free from economic stress. Or was it referencing the financial collapse, throwing money in a hole, and making peons work for it doing crazy tasks that don’t mean anything by diverting their own lust for financial gain? Why did they follow the rules of the over arching system? The title of the piece of mine is “Free Money, Sticky Fingers” made at SomArts. Check out their open call for more art in the hole.

Sound like art?
Yes.

Sound like MTV’s Jackass?
Yes.

Sound like conceptual art?
Yes.

Is everything art?
No.

Is everyone an artist?
No.

That’s why I can auction a crispy 100 bill and get $115.00 for it and be present in hundreds of people’s minds.

Thank you R. Mutt

When critiquing or defending artwork remember three core concepts: intent (what did the artist want to express), context (where, when, and who are they showing it to), and liability (will it put the artist or anyone else in danger, will it cost money from the artist or public, does it exclude anyone, does the artist take responsibility for the piece).

It all matters. Or maybe the medium is the message, or maybe the medium is the massage.

Near the region Udine lived a beautiful deer, sacred to Artemis…

Cerva di Cerinea by Maya Rota Klein

Maya’s hair was red, horns were wooden with gold, and her hoofs of bronze (or silver, according to others). She fled, traveling the world without stopping, delighting those who pursued her. Pete considered dragging her into the beaches and mountains of California, from which She would never return.

Yellow flowers looking off into Carpenteria mountains

Pete could not possibly hurt Maya the deer because she is sacred, the hero is merely chasing The Hind of Artemis. The frantic race lasted over a year, and Pete was defeated in every attempt to reach Maya. The only choice was slightly stun the nimble deer with a dart, and carry her on his shoulders to bring her home…

Maya And The Golden Hind Of Artemis I by Pete Ippel

He shot for the sky…

This thank you goes out to everyone who sent me a message, gave me a thumbs up, shared their energy, drove me to the hospital, smiled, laughed, held me when I cried, cut my skull open, taught my class, wiped my ass, showered me, fed me, stuck needles in me, listened to my story attentively, put screws in my head, broke my nose, sucked out snot and puss with a vacuum, scraped infected bone out of my sinus, put cream on my bed sores, stacked pillows under my back, rubbed my feet, cleaned up my puke, gave me motor tests, PT, OT, Cog T, Psy T,and dealt with me freaking out in the MRI…I love you all, and I’m going to keep surprising everyone…even myself.

Pete Ippel Studio Thank You from Hypermodern – Pete Ippel on Vimeo.

And here’s the text from the video

I have a big enough studio to walk around like this.

I have a big enough studio to jump like this.

I have a crazy enough hairdo to make my sideburns laugh.

I have enough room to SPIN!

I have enough room to walk and talk and think and be PETE again.

There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from succeeding.

I’m going to be fluent and I’m going to be beautiful and I’m going to be successful.

…and be an an artist, and be an athlete, and be a lover, and a dad, and a friend…everything I ever wanted.

And I’m going to do it because of people like you.

So thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I love you.

ALL RISK.

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
-Martin Luther King

There are certain moments that drastically alter the trajectory of a life-path. Being open and aware to those instants is absolutely essential regardless of one’s career.

I returned from the Libre Graphics Meeting that was rife with inspiration. The event was hosted at the Pianofabriek in Brussels, Belgium May 27-30. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on the experience, here’s what I learned:

Generosity is contagious
I had ordered a computer as soon as I found out that my talk The New Folk Tradition: Aesthetic and Community Resonance between Open Source Graphics and Fiber Arts was accepted at the beginning of May. It was to be my first new computer since 2004, and boy was I due! Unfortunately the delivery from Lenovo did not arrive by the 24th when I left. So in a bind I decided to stop by Fry’s on the way to LAX and pick up a little Acer Aspire One netbook.

I arrived in London, downloaded Jolicloud which is based on Ubuntu and started to play around on the train to Brussels. The issue was that I’d not used Unix/Linux since I worked in Motorola in 1999…my how things have changed, so easy to use (yes I like GUI)! So I thought that I was going to give my presentation using Open Office, well when I saw How to Run an Art School on Free and Open Source Software by Florian Cramer, Aymeric Mansoux, Michael Murtaugh I was blown out of the water by their image-centric presentation. I got to chat with them after the talk, and they told me about the FOSS program Impress!ve.

At this point, Christopher Adams showed me how to use a shortcut (alt + F2) to access the repository by calling on gksu synaptic.

So at that moment I scrapped my plans of the standard Power Point-esq (gasp) presentation. After just a few hours at the LGM I already knew how to utilize new tools, and put down some roots with other artist do-ers with similar interests. Rad.

After a vegan lunch we relaxed in the courtyard drinking Belgian beer (thank goodness for the Westmalle tripel) and getting to know our peers.

Another important aspect for me was the instant application of what I learned. WiFi was free and available all over the complex, so while you were watching a talk you could download and try out the software to apply the concepts that were being explained. In addition, birds of a feather (BOF) meetings were scheduled so that people with similar interests could gather to speak about a topic. In my case I was inspired by Susan Spencer’s talk and her project relating to OPEN FASHION. You can learn more at Sew Brilliant. In the BOF meeting, she pulled out one of the most amazing contraptions I’ve ever seen, it was a brass pattern adjuster, that would change scale by rotating a series of screws in a certain order. She even had the manual that dated from 1888.

Basically it was a slide rule for tailors and seamstresses. Susan’s and her partner Steve Conklin (who is a developer for Ubuntu) have a vision where a designer can upload a pattern, another person (who may not be the same size) can adjust it to fit using the program which is based on scalable vector graphics, print and tape up the pattern and sew the custom garment. What an excellent idea, so naturally I included it into my talk. Now check out the video of Pete Ippel relating Asian stitching, 80′s sweaters,Tron, quilts, and weaving to open source graphics.

Great planning matters
Each day of the conference the organizers kept the program on schedule, and the diversity of the talks really demonstrated an expanded view of Libre Graphics. Thanks to River Valley TV for archiving all the LGM 2010 talks.

In addition to software development, there were presentations about metaphor, Tight Pants, Community, publishing, font design,multimedia sound performance, and some miraculous demos. I was particularly impressed with Laid Out and the new brushes for Krita.

Confused? Ask for help
It is incredible how generous people were at the conference, as a n00b it was invaluable to be able to ask a question and get a straight answer, and if the person asking didn’t know, they would refer you to someone who did…The organizers wore aprons and buttons and were always available for help.

Reclaim your tools
I began to understand this overarching theme after a few days into the conference. Formerly I’d been envisioning code as magic. After seeing the Nodebox 2 demo, I downloaded the beta and was able to modify an image or a line of code to make changes to an output. That was a huge breakthrough for me I saw directly that through transparency comes understanding. That’s what F/LOSS gives when code is viewable and modifiable the developer and user are on an even plane, and both can create new tools to suit their needs. There exists a sense of community that is absolutely impossible with closed code.

Work together
I’ve been licensing my art under Creative Commons for a few years, and I am confident that as the young people who have “grown up digital” and the first generations of free culture pioneers continue to push for more openness and transparency on many facets of life from government to software, clipart to color we are in for a very exciting ride.

Please visit the review page for other articles, photos, and a video archive of all the Libre Graphics Events.

If you find yourself in Brussels, use the map below to visit the Pianofabriek. It’s an amazing arts / culture venue with a lovely courtyard, gallery space and cafe.

View Libre Graphics Meeting, 2010 in a larger map

Resources for downloads mentioned in this post
Desktop publishing Scribus
Vector graphic editing Inkscape
Bitmap editing Gimp
Bitmap editing and painting (check out the new brushes) Krita
3d modeling and animation Blender
A new software application for creating generative art using procedural graphics and a new way to approach graphic design Nodebox 2
Ditch hierarchy Peer-To-Peer Design Strategies

How I got involved in Free Culture / F/LOSS / Creative Commons
Often growth is sparked by a change in community…prompted by a different geographic location.

In October 2002, I had just moved to San Francisco and was looking for community. Leaving the comfort of my undergraduate institution and support network in New York, I was seeking attachment to my new home.

I initiated a project called “Free Memory” where the intent was to give away an anonymous gift that brought attention to technology and our relationship with memory both on a disk and in our mind. Looking back at the task I stated that free meant free from price, obligation, need to pay, and also free content.

I desired to connect with the folks on the street, and get out from behind the computer screen…to enrich online life with offline life and vice-versa. Looking back, mobile computing was not an option for me, I had a desktop computer. That project grew and spread so that I even got a video response from across the country:

The Free Memory Project from Thorsten Claus on Vimeo.

Alan Toffler states in his book Future Shock from 1970, “…that enormous changes ahead…overthrow our values with respect to money and success.”

After creating the project OBAY.INFO I was contacted by council for Ebay.com and subsequently looked to Lessig’s Group at Stanford (which lead me to Creative Commons), was fingered in a Canadian Ad Campaign, and was invited to the To Share Festival in Turin Italy. Read all the posts about Obay.

Following Obay project I took a job working as a mentor for pre-professional dancers at the San Francisco Ballet. Over the six years I was there, I learned that a robust community was built with freedom. What I found was that kids would act more like adults when they were given the opportunity to do so. The same was true when I coached high school basketball for 4 years.

I left the Ballet at the end of 2009, and when I moved from San Francisco to Ventura, California, I began an intense production phase to kick-start my full-time art career. By comparing pixels to patchwork, vectors to stitches, bitmaps to patterns, and layers to quilts, I started to discover the aesthetic and community relationships between open source graphics and the fiber arts.

So why does all this happen? Enjoy the following video to gain some insight on the cognitive reasoning:

Thank you to Jon Phillips, Barry Threw, Christopher Adams, Femke Snelting and everyone else at LGM 2010 for helping me feel so welcome in this amazing community.

Material Property II from Hypermodern – Pete Ippel on Vimeo.

While I was in the process of opening my studio space for the April version of First Fridays Ventura, I did not notice an accidental shift in my art storage area. One of the corners of a framed drawing distorted the stretched Tyvek of an ink painting by pressing the face of the painting laterally about two inches.

Because Tyvek does not have the exact same properties of canvas or paper, I was unable to moisten the painting to make it tighten to the stretcher.

I began to shake the painting and noticed that it snapped when moved abruptly forward and in reverse. Free play, curiosity, exploration, and intuition are what drive the creative act. In this video you have a window into my art practice.