My friend Heidi had asked me to go up with her to Point Reyes last week, and I had to decline because was working hard on some Fulbright application materials, but we made it up this weekend…Goodness, the wildlife there is amazing. It was so nice to get out of the city today. I saw a cougar (it ran across the road, and jumped into some brush), gnat, hawk, caterpillar, pelican, horse, squirrel, bluejay, seagul, garter snake, duck, fly, crab claw, vulture, and a whole lot of other things I’m sure I’m forgetting…The image posted is my favorite from the trip. There’s more available in the gallery section of this site. Just click on the little blue camera icon at the top of the page.

Wow, I’ve definitely not been as impressed with an event at school as I have been with this one. From start to finish it was a great occasion. First off, the marketing for the event was direct in the sense that it was adderssed to me at my home, rather than an e-mail bulletin…the card was well designed and asked for an RSVP, with a postage paid envelope, felt good about sending that one in…The best part was it was FREE with FOOD(two positive four letter words, and a great attraction for recent alums)!

The show itself, held in the historic Diego Rivera gallery, was really well lighted and very crisp. I have to say that the image that moved me the most was a portrait of Mark Rothko smoking a cigarette taken by Bill Heick, studendt from 1946-1949. Alumni from the first 10 years of the program were present at the opening to chat with students and members of the public. It was indeed a great forum to just get a chat in with someone who shares the same passion as you do, 60 years removed…
The lecture about Minor White and the affect he and Ansel Adams had on the program, and afterwards the floor was opened for anecdotes by the former students. Particualarly I found Imogen Cunningham story, of “kumquat jam exchange” to me the most satisfying…becasue it delved into lives of the artists and students beyond the walls of 800 Chestnut street.
The next morning, a similar event was staged, with the discussion being moderated by Jack Fulton, the present head of the photo department, and again the stories were fabulous. I’m imagining that they recorded the audio and are archiving it in the library. I highly recommend it, what a lovely time…the talk was then followed by an open lunch to the public where we had the opportunity to mingle with everyone who had just spoken, and talk about digital photography, camera gear, and just the personalities of the people who touched alum’s lives.
Overall, I’m very pleased to be a part of something like this, it brings honor the San Francisco Art Institute, and it re-invigorates bonds with alumni. Specifically this art school seems to be in constant flux, and it’s nice to see that through all it’s ups and downs, art is still being produced, and a verbal-historical-pictorial record is being handed down directly artist to artist.

Specifically regarding the year 1492 in the history of Spain and the Nuevo Mundo. What boggles my mind, particularly was that the empire was so vast, and that the country itself was quite small and not really that populous. My professor joked that the biggest exports were “conquistadores y misioneros”…and the downfall of the Empire? Gold…because the folks in Spain stopped producing goods, and there was a cultural drain from the expulsion of the Jews (financiers), and the Muslims (industrialists, and producers of Silk). What also struck me was the first king of unified Spain didn’t speak Castellian.

Sooo, I got a MOPED…granted it needs a bit of work, i.e. it doesn’t run yet, however my good buddy Nate is coming over to help me out on Tuesday…I think I can handle the wait till then. This is the same model from the MOPED ARMY sitea 1981 Puch Newport II (and now you can see the improvement to hypermodern.net, I’ve included indications for external links and wikipedia links…thanks to software guide in Germany for this awesome link indication plugin.

In other news, I went on a little walk to the park today because it was so beautiful (San Francisco summers are in September and October) and there were some kids breaking a pinata in Alta Plaza Park. So there’s a new photoset in the gallery (the blue icon at the top of the page that looks like a camera)…once again demonstrating the mix of cultural influence of Mexico in California. Oh and by the way, if you want to call Mexico cheap…T-Mobile has a great deal where you can pay 5 bucks a month and then get 5 cents/min…it’s maybe a bit more than a calling card, but hey, it’s mad-convenient.

So continuing the post about “Leyenda Negra” I met with a good friend of mine, Edwin at his house on Friday, and brought my friend Craig (the one with the glass).

Here’s what Mr. Clark had to say about Utopia…

“Utopia is a mental concept which to make real has to assume identity to be recognized, meaning to appear in mind as there the then moment would be Utopian and subject immediately to change, which results in the reality being non-Utopian as the result of action. One could say the introduction of time is Utopian, but the immediate moment passing destroys the Utopian essence of time. Time reveals all things in inspection to be flawed except ART. ART is then perserved. The real World is subject to criticism so it can progress. This progress is seen to be flawed in an endless process that essentially never reaches Utopia as an appearance or is NIHILISM. Utopia is the Modern Myth that governs the Enlightenment and Liberal thought. Utopia cannot appear, CANNOT REACH RECOGNITION IN BEING. This imaginary concept, known as Liberal thought, finds itself outside the ruling principle of understanding the time the persona is in as real time in perception beyond technical processes, which essentially do not express time but are continuous within fixed parameters of thought. Science, therefore, does not progress and is the Modern Illusion of progress. Science is the expression of the Illusion of progress. The conception of Utopia cannot be, therefore cannot ground the Human mind in reality as action. The conception of the moment offers progress.”

To me the most important part is the last statement about the conception of the moment. Specifically I find it cripling to fathom the potential for annihilation in the world today, and that, to me, is why political art (when it’s only a political statement) fails.

Political art is easy when it’s a knee-jerk reaction to go against whatever it’s protesting. Would it be fair to say that the great majority of general artwork is political in its creation? I really like the article on Paul Chan in Art Forum in the summer issue…

“Collective social power needs the language of politics, which means, among other things, that people need to consolidate identities, to provide answers…to make things happen. Whereas my art is nothing if not the dispersion of power…And so, in a way, the political project and the art project are sometimes in opposition.”

Scott Rothkopf, the interviewer, is also clear to point out…”Surely we could draw a line between his video installations and his on-the-ground involvement with certain activist groups…The point, then, is not so much to delimit the aesthetic and the political but rather to relish the productve possibilities of their mutual contimination.”

Mr. Rothkopf really hits it out of the park there with the sweet-sassy-mo-lassy pop of an art critic on his “A-game”. So when is it ok to have that “art as life” intent…that’s something for the next post.

With a great book, at Alta Plaza.

Congratulations to Fiid and Suz…a beautiful bouncing baby boy!