tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88172334205094512672024-03-05T14:35:05.427-08:00Erratic Phenomena<i>"Create enigmas, not explanations."</i> – Robert SmithsonAMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.comBlogger289125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-63471295002304668092022-10-26T12:09:00.000-07:002022-10-26T12:09:05.928-07:00Dabs Myla IN TECHNICOLOR at Control GalleryStay tuned for IN TECHNICOLOR, <a href="https://dabsmyla.com" target="_blank">Dabs Myla</a>'s exhibition opening November 5th at <a href="https://control.gallery/blogs/news/exhibition-002" target="_blank">Control Gallery</a> in Los Angeles. Only the second event held by this new artist-focused gallery, curated by graffiti luminary Roger Gastman, it is also the first Los Angeles exhibit Dabs Myla have presented since 2018. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyUUS4Qg8lc8v_zEQ-6ZdyxWpYx_2gi-zzqsLFkViXPbF-e657-uA5f2Bpfd0z6Vo2TVbAXLiQtMUWEsZ_fZs3oE2Ikcp2YrgLE1ueSMqEFkkC9NAC13gOGWCVY-Gj-5vEMAfWUmYKTQMYlL5i556w3AKGtzzvmki02VvSQ5C3WZ1rneUnGGi_9e_ew/s2000/dabsmyla-blog-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfyUUS4Qg8lc8v_zEQ-6ZdyxWpYx_2gi-zzqsLFkViXPbF-e657-uA5f2Bpfd0z6Vo2TVbAXLiQtMUWEsZ_fZs3oE2Ikcp2YrgLE1ueSMqEFkkC9NAC13gOGWCVY-Gj-5vEMAfWUmYKTQMYlL5i556w3AKGtzzvmki02VvSQ5C3WZ1rneUnGGi_9e_ew/w640-h426/dabsmyla-blog-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div>The new work is focused around more than 100 of the duo's signature characters. “IN TECHNICOLOR will be our most personal show to date, a symbol of all the emotions we’ve experienced as artists throughout our lives, channeled through these unique characters that mean so much to us," they explained. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>They're also releasing a new book entitled <i>DABSMYLA: Character Studies</i> in a limited first edition of 500, which will available in the gallery's gift shop, along with other exclusive Dabs Myla merchandise and printed matter. <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0DvFJslijDP0NhZwsMRxalXS-WjCoCYNMUn88k2OLIJYaawf5I1ub6Abkm7lmG-m4MUw0hvqYYGMyjTLo5oc8F_iMivdObRicdMasquynGaVT8qQxs7sAXx4N2JaM-HTC4eQYLAtWKxR2vrfbfvvJvBXVFTjQuILhI4K4fY9_ywFd0OKP0wxPF-vew/s1500/dabsmyla-blog-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0DvFJslijDP0NhZwsMRxalXS-WjCoCYNMUn88k2OLIJYaawf5I1ub6Abkm7lmG-m4MUw0hvqYYGMyjTLo5oc8F_iMivdObRicdMasquynGaVT8qQxs7sAXx4N2JaM-HTC4eQYLAtWKxR2vrfbfvvJvBXVFTjQuILhI4K4fY9_ywFd0OKP0wxPF-vew/w640-h426/dabsmyla-blog-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></p></div></div></div>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-47338978326679226742022-08-22T19:30:00.252-07:002022-10-26T12:14:28.290-07:00Edwin Ushiro's “Wailuku Ho’okele / Wailuku Wayfinders" Mural<p>For the past couple of years, it's been my pleasure to collaborate with some of my artist friends who are interested in creating permanent public art to help them apply for public art opportunities, craft proposals and manage projects that involve extensive fabrication, logistics or documentation, in order to allow the artist to continue to create new art rather than spend their valuable time on non-artistic endeavors. </p><p>I'm excited to reveal one of these projects, Edwin Ushiro's new placemaking mural, entitled “Wailuku Ho'okele / Wailuku Wayfinders," which he just completed in his Maui hometown of Wailuku. It's informed by his childhood steeped in the island tradition of "talk story," and by discussions with local historians and storytellers invested in the history of Maui and Wailuku.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDCSmNyQrGnP2NoLWtV7-2v9BSRfXy7ifnT8XASvVpkLw77cO7hCFLslArSk3_XTZpMxp2yp7XEbTOksbnE5grDCk2cFWEiIpwhoTo3APmmEO7FbewNI2FbigbReZDc2HS3kZhn0d7PcCrJqf8kWC9ZPY_guLyC5yzDEdwG4CUM8_OLWgZl0_sOzpQQ/s4032/wailuku%20wayfinders.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDCSmNyQrGnP2NoLWtV7-2v9BSRfXy7ifnT8XASvVpkLw77cO7hCFLslArSk3_XTZpMxp2yp7XEbTOksbnE5grDCk2cFWEiIpwhoTo3APmmEO7FbewNI2FbigbReZDc2HS3kZhn0d7PcCrJqf8kWC9ZPY_guLyC5yzDEdwG4CUM8_OLWgZl0_sOzpQQ/w640-h360/wailuku%20wayfinders.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edwin Ushiro's “Wailuku Ho’okele / Wailuku Wayfinders" mural at 33 Market Street in Wailuku, HI<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Edwin explains, "Knowing that the ancient Hawaiians were phenomenal navigators, one can only assume that they understood the constellations. That idea of the constellations guiding us around would be a great symbol for these stories that help us find our way to our origins and history—our 'wayfinders' or <i>ho'okele</i>.</p><p><i>hoʻokele </i>[hoʻo·kele]</p><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>steersman, helmsman, navigator; </li><li>to sail or navigate, as the master of a ship; to steer</li></ul></div><p>This concept of ho’okele or wayfinders reminds me of the story behind the Macy’s department store’s star logo. It was inspired by a tattoo of a red star that store founder Rowland Hussey Macy had on his hand. After a short stint crewing on a whaling ship in his youth, he went into the dry-goods business, and arrived in New York in 1857 to open his now-famous store. The legend goes that as a sailor he was once lost at sea, but found a star that guided him to shore. He wore the red star tattoo to commemorate the event, and that's what inspired him to adopt it as the corporate logo for his business, which survives today. </p><p>I believe that indicators of the past like that red star exist everywhere around us, but they’re not always easy to see. By making them visible, these stories of what came before us could help the people of the present understand their roots—from which I myself often feel so detached. Through art, I have been able to get closer to being reconnected. It always starts with a spark. For me, that spark was the <i>obake</i> stories, which led to learning about history, which guided me towards mythology, and then into the psychology or mindset of our ancestors. </p><p>Sometimes if you find a way to focus your attention and listen, you can tune out the traffic sounds and the cacophony of modern life that distract us from being able to completely perceive our surroundings, in order to bear witness to the music of nature and the footsteps of those who came before us. The objective of "Wailuku Ho’okele / Wailuku Wayfinders" is to reveal pathways in that wilderness that help us focus, observe and reflect so we can hear the quiet voice of our past and understand how it manifests in the present."</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Jb3cBZA_i-cZZu486KALE_x953OWkepnh1llYnx2ezNxVDu-0DvE58FV2gvuZ4hrvZYxebco6L1bPAhUxEKEeURGpYyd9B5yylJAUOkTyfWG62QCnJaSXqnqrOV534S97Ak9NUC61SD-P8yfQU5Vhu1hAQglVHEVp3a7Fc92o5eo-A_ruuMU3dJHaQ/s3053/lizard.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3053" data-original-width="2065" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Jb3cBZA_i-cZZu486KALE_x953OWkepnh1llYnx2ezNxVDu-0DvE58FV2gvuZ4hrvZYxebco6L1bPAhUxEKEeURGpYyd9B5yylJAUOkTyfWG62QCnJaSXqnqrOV534S97Ak9NUC61SD-P8yfQU5Vhu1hAQglVHEVp3a7Fc92o5eo-A_ruuMU3dJHaQ/w432-h640/lizard.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ka Iwikuamoʻo or "The Backbone"</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Edwin's vision of the Hawaiian constellations includes <a href="https://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/hawaiian_star_lines.html#iwikuamoo" target="_blank">Ka Iwikuamoʻo</a>, the grouping of stars known as "the backbone," represented by the lizard's backbone, with the navigator's guiding star Hōkūle'a (also known as Arcturus) shining in orange-red; <a href="https://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/hawaiian_star_lines.html#ka_lupe_o_kawelo" target="_blank">Ka Lupe o Kawelo</a> or "The Kite of Kawelo," represented by the stingray; and <a href="https://archive.hokulea.com/ike/hookele/hawaiian_star_lines.html" target="_blank">Ka Makau Nui o Māui</a>, or "Maui’s fish hook." </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGyh6O-kXskboReYtDHsGXZpdmcZ90IgRZTzCFledwd9yghit5515gqfUpu4YU3Bo_cnHXW_oBoNlPa7pjWxW0xt1eYXBn2bQ9sptMMl9VB2JIInFlRg0i64ZFTWq7fqOeu_xLfzAN42qk0CEZjUdJs7KJLMC-gbiXm7mQ6azDPSlf_SP8K33BoAcV2g/s3542/ray.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3542" data-original-width="2250" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGyh6O-kXskboReYtDHsGXZpdmcZ90IgRZTzCFledwd9yghit5515gqfUpu4YU3Bo_cnHXW_oBoNlPa7pjWxW0xt1eYXBn2bQ9sptMMl9VB2JIInFlRg0i64ZFTWq7fqOeu_xLfzAN42qk0CEZjUdJs7KJLMC-gbiXm7mQ6azDPSlf_SP8K33BoAcV2g/w406-h640/ray.jpg" width="406" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ka Lupe o Kawelo, or "The Kite of Kawelo"</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>This mural was funded through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts to <a href="https://www.smalltownbig.org" target="_blank">Small Town * Big Art</a>, a creative placemaking collaboration of the County of Maui, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House, Maui Historical Society, and the Maui Public Art Corps, working to develop an arts district that celebrates the distinctive sense of place, history and culture of Wailuku. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_oEtLPH9dTf318QZd122zOU-ncwLsblBwz0IaLTQjqTA8Ew_2wo8F9Bieb2YU2xa2MAUVvOOZXKWQrKdkMBWHcXm5kOxO_z5ohW0MG1ZUzhkJPz7OA4L7kXYMYgsDIs_n68HXK_lH2DLjQlRe7nqEpeHfltTSRGvHhCWJ7I7o9ng5Bva5LkTuTWUPpA/s3513/maui.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3513" data-original-width="2257" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_oEtLPH9dTf318QZd122zOU-ncwLsblBwz0IaLTQjqTA8Ew_2wo8F9Bieb2YU2xa2MAUVvOOZXKWQrKdkMBWHcXm5kOxO_z5ohW0MG1ZUzhkJPz7OA4L7kXYMYgsDIs_n68HXK_lH2DLjQlRe7nqEpeHfltTSRGvHhCWJ7I7o9ng5Bva5LkTuTWUPpA/w412-h640/maui.jpg" width="412" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ka Makau Nui o Māui, or "Maui’s fish hook"</td></tr></tbody></table><p>You can read more about the conceptual development of the mural and see some process photos at the <a href="https://www.smalltownbig.org/ushiro.html" target="_blank">Small Town * Big Art website</a>. </p>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-54688544362883595522022-07-09T17:02:00.005-07:002022-10-26T12:14:03.146-07:00Andrew Hem's "REVIVER" at Ascaso Gallery, Miami<p>I wanted to make sure everyone gets a chance to check out Andrew Hem's latest exhibition, now underway at Miami's <a href="https://www.ascasogallery.com/exhibition/reviver/" target="_blank">Ascaso Gallery</a>, where the work will be on exhibition through July 30th. It's worth noting that the show's title, <i>REVIVER</i>, is a palindrome, a word reflected on itself—and you'll see why that's relevant when you take a look at the work. And since I was asked to write the press release, I thought I might as well include that text below. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBajqEmzMtODSMSQ0s2WzEc6nUDhXdKhKNUMns7oC8VzRnE0ikYZvSTcNbIdS7pWC4hlNjUcYKkzxdSsfY-Gs0Ttzkklwrj56dKz1sbCF5mTg-qWrpqRNzgGkFt5ZBoaA0ASr1awysWvQP1Szu9bfK-uwHOIbYpyl24FeUfBQLn-TATUxG17YyYQyNw/s1885/Andrew%20Hem_Passenger_2022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1885" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBajqEmzMtODSMSQ0s2WzEc6nUDhXdKhKNUMns7oC8VzRnE0ikYZvSTcNbIdS7pWC4hlNjUcYKkzxdSsfY-Gs0Ttzkklwrj56dKz1sbCF5mTg-qWrpqRNzgGkFt5ZBoaA0ASr1awysWvQP1Szu9bfK-uwHOIbYpyl24FeUfBQLn-TATUxG17YyYQyNw/w640-h392/Andrew%20Hem_Passenger_2022.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Hem, <i>Passenger</i>, 2022</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Known for his unearthly color aesthetic and a singular approach to portraiture, Hem weaves emotional narratives around figures inhabiting breathtaking landscapes and twilight cityscapes, employing these settings to convey states such as wonder, resilience and interconnectedness, and on the other hand, guilt, turmoil and alienation.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWNoRirPj5-oSDAQNBS5rBuRjmomzxMEWancKOjpPleceZ40TEfhpQ_TCCACJQr0so_if9pp14XWdA5MK2dbII2potXyiTLl2U0Rt8Ug8S-Dgo059UDn3WppGYtoVCXa67MNNphg9RUeXql9T5QBQgumPJ5OFzzCC8UZYTFZKMa8AAXoyVQpRn_t30Q/s1602/Andrew%20Hem_Dorae_2022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1602" data-original-width="1256" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdWNoRirPj5-oSDAQNBS5rBuRjmomzxMEWancKOjpPleceZ40TEfhpQ_TCCACJQr0so_if9pp14XWdA5MK2dbII2potXyiTLl2U0Rt8Ug8S-Dgo059UDn3WppGYtoVCXa67MNNphg9RUeXql9T5QBQgumPJ5OFzzCC8UZYTFZKMa8AAXoyVQpRn_t30Q/w502-h640/Andrew%20Hem_Dorae_2022.jpeg" width="502" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Hem, <i>Dorae</i>, 2022</td></tr></tbody></table><p>This body of work is a reflection on Hem’s transition into fatherhood, and the conflicts and traumas he experienced in his youth that he hopes to avert in his son’s future. In Hem’s work, levitation represents changing the path, choosing a different direction from the one society expects of us, and reflections — mirrored in the water, shimmering on shiny fabric, gleaming on wet pavement — suggest that everything that happens around us has an influence on us that can resonate onto future generations, unless we consciously sidestep the mistakes of history. Reflections also give hints about the figure’s inner life — one pair of mirrored figures has only a single reflection, another reflection meets your eye while its source remains introspective, and a third subject throws a distorted reflection, implying inner demons.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO0JEZ7KadYWMNlJp6pT2c9j6SuoKXUyrSY4_AOT6jY7RohlHHUr7WOfijSvQ0w3OjZPBbr47IxT2vRjE1cKv89EToOcEStDJ8Lb2SKB5OzdRPkxzWfIVKxH6d_b5YuOWPK5RehyHQ6u4-7qKRt5dsM-7VbQoibWv2LIWouzj1lPKVB6I6APRI3jmIw/s1761/Andrew%20Hem_Becoming%20Water_2022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="1761" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOO0JEZ7KadYWMNlJp6pT2c9j6SuoKXUyrSY4_AOT6jY7RohlHHUr7WOfijSvQ0w3OjZPBbr47IxT2vRjE1cKv89EToOcEStDJ8Lb2SKB5OzdRPkxzWfIVKxH6d_b5YuOWPK5RehyHQ6u4-7qKRt5dsM-7VbQoibWv2LIWouzj1lPKVB6I6APRI3jmIw/w640-h398/Andrew%20Hem_Becoming%20Water_2022.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Hem, <i>Becoming Water</i>, 2022</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Growing up in a tough neighborhood where he and his family were the only Asians, Hem remembers feeling an overwhelming sense of isolation as a child. Since the only representation of people like himself he saw in popular culture was in anime and martial arts films, he embraces those aesthetics, but re-envisions them as an inclusive milieu where men of all races are seen as creative, thoughtful and vulnerable, and women are described not as passive aesthetic objects, but as wonderers, adventurers and warriors. Mindful that his own son never experiences that cultural isolation, Hem continually strives in his work to conjure a world that doesn’t yet exist, where no one is an outcast and everyone, no matter how different they are, is accepted.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaGGGonr2P9yFv1nxY3hMme-7ePst_Q3peOjr43ohQPzSfJ-mczjVQv1VxHLbtvSLAJ-wR53Si3WTaHTqb9uDI5GRaH6KEZmKlZAlES_Jfe2y_iMfh_t5uwIVsCXqqpdtaEYmMeq2yOHU7pEim43lvJNGn1x2WMOa5coy3jlJXVcYpfwUCSEBu6o0GQ/s754/Andrew%20Hem_Thirteen_2022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="745" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgaGGGonr2P9yFv1nxY3hMme-7ePst_Q3peOjr43ohQPzSfJ-mczjVQv1VxHLbtvSLAJ-wR53Si3WTaHTqb9uDI5GRaH6KEZmKlZAlES_Jfe2y_iMfh_t5uwIVsCXqqpdtaEYmMeq2yOHU7pEim43lvJNGn1x2WMOa5coy3jlJXVcYpfwUCSEBu6o0GQ/w632-h640/Andrew%20Hem_Thirteen_2022.jpg" width="632" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Hem, <i>Thirteen</i>, 2022</td></tr></tbody></table>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-31863293555847234132021-11-06T15:55:00.002-07:002022-10-26T12:13:53.591-07:00Andrew Hem's "Refuge" Exhibition in London<p>I'm thrilled to report that Andrew Hem's next solo exhibition, <i>Refuge</i>, will be opening in London on November 18th at <a href="https://www.dorothycircusgallery.uk/andrew-hem-solo-show-november-2021/" target="_blank">Dorothy Circus Gallery</a>, featuring fifteen new paintings that share a lyrical sensibility and an evocative new palette. Focusing on the refugee experience from Andrew's perspective as the son of Cambodian parents who fled the Khmer Rouge genocide and found a new life in the United States, this new body of work speaks of how we share a common humanity despite our differences, and how fate can have a way of throwing us all in the same boat. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_YJZjsSnQibyEd0CHdLsOeuQml8qrl9mD8P29Fmv7Fe2hFpbJ-pj9JFwiI6yDCsMLQw3WsWDj4xNt5F9INKM4ii0DtXsR-YeYB7F-VIT4lRrXaCbz-o0LKpTD3I3n5vqOLU5iF01knT-/s1620/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1620" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_YJZjsSnQibyEd0CHdLsOeuQml8qrl9mD8P29Fmv7Fe2hFpbJ-pj9JFwiI6yDCsMLQw3WsWDj4xNt5F9INKM4ii0DtXsR-YeYB7F-VIT4lRrXaCbz-o0LKpTD3I3n5vqOLU5iF01knT-/w640-h492/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"My Boat," Andrew Hem, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6Ax6fImgSOugw7GYLuw8Sfftp-VuJcckDraSCFqKBFsWZiXm8VdcxOBwE-52Ydn6IgTXfCGHw3cf08C4p9yvDJG94fSvo7yQnYCas7qPPiY0thydTuNzzq_0AY-wPyppjcZ43woegi2e/s1620/2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1336" data-original-width="1620" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6Ax6fImgSOugw7GYLuw8Sfftp-VuJcckDraSCFqKBFsWZiXm8VdcxOBwE-52Ydn6IgTXfCGHw3cf08C4p9yvDJG94fSvo7yQnYCas7qPPiY0thydTuNzzq_0AY-wPyppjcZ43woegi2e/w640-h528/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Another Day Older," Andrew Hem, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXJLlpAFuMg8MxC_re1_-4HDWDdMwx88HSl90o9X-Dfqb2HUH0OVWWHJoh-MQgS4UBvXdt86pxe0isA8Phmj20xhIX8BJ59AFg1qoOLIFTBMrnkFBe0UQl28w1JP3k926YLK58l47ZwqD/s1598/3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1293" data-original-width="1598" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXJLlpAFuMg8MxC_re1_-4HDWDdMwx88HSl90o9X-Dfqb2HUH0OVWWHJoh-MQgS4UBvXdt86pxe0isA8Phmj20xhIX8BJ59AFg1qoOLIFTBMrnkFBe0UQl28w1JP3k926YLK58l47ZwqD/w640-h518/3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Upside Down," Andrew Hem, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-48251260569642129302021-08-26T13:41:00.001-07:002021-08-26T13:43:53.343-07:00Andrew Hem's "Phase Four"This may be old news for some of you, but just in case, I wanted to make sure you know that Andrew Hem's new monograph, <i><a href="https://phase4our.com/products/phaze-four/" target="_blank">Phase Four</a></i>, is now available for purchase. It's a beautiful 160-page hardcover volume full of drawings and gouache sketches from the nine years since his earlier and long-sold-out monograph, <i><a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Andrew-Hem-Dreams-Towards-Reality/dp/193722208X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=andrew+hem&qid=1630010178&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Dreams Towards Reality</a></i>, was published. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgdul60UlW-8S6UdaCr0dIXLRrsPoNZWqmPL4fO9XmzIKck6GfoniwKEzrlNDeZkJuUk-ArwEbt1agJprj7e0Hqoi3sTDO_8IVbr-WiG2e-e6vEyIdwbsTCFe9Of733E8CqXClmnxYhSQ/s1200/1_Book_cover2%252Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="1200" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKgdul60UlW-8S6UdaCr0dIXLRrsPoNZWqmPL4fO9XmzIKck6GfoniwKEzrlNDeZkJuUk-ArwEbt1agJprj7e0Hqoi3sTDO_8IVbr-WiG2e-e6vEyIdwbsTCFe9Of733E8CqXClmnxYhSQ/s320/1_Book_cover2%252Bcopy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><div>The book will not be available through Amazon or in bookstores. You can order it directly from the artist here: https://phase4our.com/products/phaze-four/</div><div><br /></div><div>I just came across this cute <i>Phase Four</i> unboxing video that will give you a sense of what to expect. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="358" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-eNTbigbNMc" width="481" youtube-src-id="-eNTbigbNMc"></iframe></div><div><br /></div></div>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-53917099455573420852018-07-14T08:31:00.000-07:002021-08-07T17:57:27.063-07:00Edwin Ushiro's "Graduation" Don't miss <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Edwin%20Ushiro" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro</a>'s latest solo show, "Graduation," which opens tonight at <a href="https://www.giantrobot.com/blogs/giant-robot-store-and-gr2-news/graduation-solo-exhibition-by-edwin-ushiro" target="_blank">Giant Robot</a>!<br />
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AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-2946181483107373352017-07-06T20:58:00.005-07:002022-10-26T12:13:34.693-07:00Edwin Ushiro's "A Survey: Drawings and Paintings of Strange Things" This Saturday, July 8th, make sure to come out for <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/2009/09/edwin-ushiros-fragile-memories.html" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro</a>'s show at <a href="https://www.giantrobot.com/" target="_blank">Giant Robot</a>. Inspired by the melding of the Hawaiian and Japanese ghost stories of his youth, Edwin's exquisitely rendered visions invariably evoke the uneffable or the uncanny.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2G_za1Iw8Wa4Mxlcuz8PgUumZyCtCJRObmFeUh-u6rGjcG-PRXX7BeBbCmVPrO2UTxqQ0Zn3DfmJdgzbOvct_rtHv83uHSdXyi22DVfabfYKW1swZOeZT80dJ17OAlEMPwQk-a48-dep/s900/A+Survey_rev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU2G_za1Iw8Wa4Mxlcuz8PgUumZyCtCJRObmFeUh-u6rGjcG-PRXX7BeBbCmVPrO2UTxqQ0Zn3DfmJdgzbOvct_rtHv83uHSdXyi22DVfabfYKW1swZOeZT80dJ17OAlEMPwQk-a48-dep/w410-h410/A+Survey_rev.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br />
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<br /></div>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-51529493582520949802017-01-23T19:30:00.001-08:002020-08-04T16:37:52.050-07:00Chaz Bojórquez Book SigningThis Sunday, January 29th, you can get your Chaz Bojórquez monograph from <a href="http://www.zeropluspublishing.com/chaz.htm#images/chaz_1.jpg" target="_blank">Zero+ Publishing</a> signed by the man himself at <a href="https://www.blogger.com/">Hennessy + Ingalls</a>! If you're in the mood for a good read, it contains an in-depth interview between the two of us.<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-68801890439872616132017-01-22T19:28:00.002-08:002021-08-16T16:31:19.859-07:00First They Came for the Mexicans...This weekend, while many of the more thoughtful people in the world were gathering in their <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/22/us/politics/womens-march-trump-crowd-estimates.html?_r=0" target="_blank">millions</a> to demonstrate their commitment to the principles of equality and freedom, I was planting seeds in my garden in the hope that they would germinate into manifestations of hope that would sustain me through the confusion of the next few months.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3WXhe168s7ZZDFX3Smiwd23guiFrAea-UFb_EhHfotUr3bhNwuxMomaeyD4c_vLHDK4tuvDmOvf2Itr6L04g7SVfJHRYqilNWvL3y2uIrtPe_ZtZm0szjnu_lPlbqVW1gTHjHdAv-OMK/s1600/Bill+Bramhall+-+New+York+Daily+News+-+120715.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF3WXhe168s7ZZDFX3Smiwd23guiFrAea-UFb_EhHfotUr3bhNwuxMomaeyD4c_vLHDK4tuvDmOvf2Itr6L04g7SVfJHRYqilNWvL3y2uIrtPe_ZtZm0szjnu_lPlbqVW1gTHjHdAv-OMK/s400/Bill+Bramhall+-+New+York+Daily+News+-+120715.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bill Bramhall - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/tag/statue-of-liberty/" target="_blank">Cartoon in response to Trump's announcement that he would deny entrance to Muslim immigrants</a> - <i>New York Daily News</i>, December 7, 2015<br /><br /></td></tr>
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As I worked the soil, I was pondering something Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in 1938 to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daughters_of_the_American_Revolution" target="_blank">Daughters of the American Revolution</a>, a nativist group of women who trace their ancestry to the founding fathers. Today it seems particularly apropos: "Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTjmR73ZFczns52-Yz4y_a1kdZjDUkpSJLsGsnfTYHMrbGqxbJLbAdjnf-C-4DeJ9Xqq_jzubBFH2_qbqbCIknznCfkpJ5dmg0Fd47UfPaGfVwLTsC1VvmFl9PuhtSLNoUftKa4s0WQDd/s1600/Thomas+Nast-The+Chinese+Question-Harpers+Weekly+1871.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsTjmR73ZFczns52-Yz4y_a1kdZjDUkpSJLsGsnfTYHMrbGqxbJLbAdjnf-C-4DeJ9Xqq_jzubBFH2_qbqbCIknznCfkpJ5dmg0Fd47UfPaGfVwLTsC1VvmFl9PuhtSLNoUftKa4s0WQDd/s640/Thomas+Nast-The+Chinese+Question-Harpers+Weekly+1871.jpg" width="419" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Nast - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/2016/02/13/the-chinese-question/" target="_blank">"The Chinese Question"</a> - <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1871</td></tr>
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If I investigate my family tree, I guess I have as much right to be a belligerent nativist as any white American. I have at least one direct ancestor (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Cooke" target="_blank">Francis Cooke</a>) who arrived with the Pilgrims on the famously cramped and miserable voyage of the <i>Mayflower</i> in 1620, not to mention <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Winthrop" target="_blank">John Winthrop</a>, who became Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Claesen_Wyckoff" target="_blank">Pieter Claesen Wyckoff</a>, a 12-year-old indentured laborer who arrived in 1637 and later became one of the founders of Brooklyn (his house <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyckoff_House" target="_blank">still stands on Clarendon Road in Flatbush</a>, the oldest surviving structure in New York City).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVp0FpSrOnneedKo1fDPBcNdkxd7fPgJ2GMBndAaynKPnFmwa2VqTK84K_JHG1JfoE0vs5QNnLCPZ0WTyeFE7hH50EKOYxFxyGKzaRKKt8eISBZHS5lGVwyeEIWrkYTXtMXCjA5eYQrKE/s1600/Fred+Packer+-+NY+Daily+News+1939.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVp0FpSrOnneedKo1fDPBcNdkxd7fPgJ2GMBndAaynKPnFmwa2VqTK84K_JHG1JfoE0vs5QNnLCPZ0WTyeFE7hH50EKOYxFxyGKzaRKKt8eISBZHS5lGVwyeEIWrkYTXtMXCjA5eYQrKE/s400/Fred+Packer+-+NY+Daily+News+1939.jpeg" width="353" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Fred Packer - <a href="http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2012/6/1/sketching-the-ss-st-louis.html#.WIVIfGWxRl0" target="_blank">Cartoon about the turning away of 900 Jewish refugees on the <i>SS St. Louis</i></a> - <i>New York Daily News</i>, 1939</td></tr>
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Over the years, these early birds in my genealogy were joined by a slew of unpopular German and English Protestants (who intermarried occasionally with French or Polish heretics of one stripe or another) looking for a place where they could be free, prosper and procreate. Finally, the Irish Catholics and Swedish Lutherans showed up to the party, fleeing famine and oppression on a perilous journey to our shores in the late 1800s.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhxd87XdW_QDaWhWOHSb_Fo2nvn_V4ToB_JTTt2cmndALGHpolo5MSDNeFWfKmNQ1NLylUHgyph4wKUBiaIS1WpDtgDWHtOQXMjMOdatsTa5TxD7QrEPZ2-yo9N5Zkn0DLPsTf5C_gKHA/s1600/Thomas+Nast-Every+Dog+Has+His+Day-Harpers+1879.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnhxd87XdW_QDaWhWOHSb_Fo2nvn_V4ToB_JTTt2cmndALGHpolo5MSDNeFWfKmNQ1NLylUHgyph4wKUBiaIS1WpDtgDWHtOQXMjMOdatsTa5TxD7QrEPZ2-yo9N5Zkn0DLPsTf5C_gKHA/s640/Thomas+Nast-Every+Dog+Has+His+Day-Harpers+1879.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Nast - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/2014/04/01/every-dog-no-distinction-of-color-has-his-da/" target="_blank">"Every Dog (No Distinction of Color) Has His Day"</a> - <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1879</td></tr>
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The truth is that unless we can identify as Native Americans, whose ancestors crossed the Bering Land Bridge and adapted to the demands of this continent 20,000 years before the Europeans arrived to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_indigenous_peoples#Colonization_and_genocide_in_the_Americas" target="_blank">virtually exterminate them</a>, we are all immigrants. Who are we to judge the imperiled migrants who arrive on our shores, regardless of their religion or circumstances? Our ancestors were just like them, considered dirty, ignorant, heretical and dangerous by the people who happened to arrive here before them. Many of them were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_colony" target="_blank">debtors or criminals</a>, and a vast number of them were forced to come here against their will. Nearly every wave of new immigrants was greeted with fear and derision, as evidenced by these political cartoons.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6R8aBzV52YAGCQ_eC20LWMvSAXSjr0ohQlnqK1_DDEyJbaXtztGpZ3gElOHYmsSDokpRNcNNy0jm_LbLhxThZyJLDZXaZwIRXjvThhFwK6Pz_d92ib-HrOrypHfW_Kz56vUXL94DZVXO/s1600/Thomas+Nast-The+Chinese+Question-detail.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6R8aBzV52YAGCQ_eC20LWMvSAXSjr0ohQlnqK1_DDEyJbaXtztGpZ3gElOHYmsSDokpRNcNNy0jm_LbLhxThZyJLDZXaZwIRXjvThhFwK6Pz_d92ib-HrOrypHfW_Kz56vUXL94DZVXO/s400/Thomas+Nast-The+Chinese+Question-detail.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Nast - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/2016/02/13/the-chinese-question/" target="_blank">"The Chinese Question"</a> (detail) - <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1882</td></tr>
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Even our newly installed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality" target="_blank">Dear Leader</a> is the son of an impoverished foreign worker named <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3602299/An-uncomfortable-truth-REAL-story-Trump-s-mother-climbed-penniless-Scottish-immigrant-wife-businessman-revealed.html" target="_blank">Mary Ann Macleod</a>, who arrived here from Scotland in 1930 with $50 in her pocket, hoping to find work as a servant, and the grandson of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/22/us/politics/for-donald-trumps-family-an-immigrants-tale-with-2-beginnings.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Friedrich Trump</a>, who came from Germany to seek his fortune in 1885 at the age of 16—though he pretended to be Swedish throughout his life to avoid negative stereotypes about Germans that might impact his business. Young Trump found work in Manhattan as a barber before venturing west to seek his fortune during the Gold Rush, cleverly choosing to separate prospectors from their gold in various mercantile enterprises, including a few <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-trump-family-fortune/" target="_blank">brothels</a>. Seems like the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/donald-trump-con-artist" target="_blank">apple doesn't fall far from the tree</a>! One might also say that the tree's roots are only a few inches deep.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FmZg6OcFNDb0UfImG6FZmEvpiWuGsdJoDiwfwRkG-nnJVyggIzeE9AEqJsID5DCON2nTUa0j8eLiUyaox2NRYLNbJmy9x_1KHDrD7k1zxIiXWlk5GyMQxe8h3R3cAfHGDI6GkBEoTXKM/s1600/George+Keller+-+The+Chinese+Must+Go+But+Who+Keeps+Them+-+The+Wasp+1878.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FmZg6OcFNDb0UfImG6FZmEvpiWuGsdJoDiwfwRkG-nnJVyggIzeE9AEqJsID5DCON2nTUa0j8eLiUyaox2NRYLNbJmy9x_1KHDrD7k1zxIiXWlk5GyMQxe8h3R3cAfHGDI6GkBEoTXKM/s400/George+Keller+-+The+Chinese+Must+Go+But+Who+Keeps+Them+-+The+Wasp+1878.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Keller - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/2014/02/14/the-cinese-must-go-but-who-keeps-them-11-may-1878/" target="_blank">"The Chinese Must Go, But Who Keeps Them?"</a> - The Wasp, 1878</td></tr>
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So united we must stand, because that is literally the bedrock of our society. We are a nation of hardscrabble, down-on-their-luck immigrants, built on the tenet that every human being has the right to strive for success, regardless of their background or beliefs. That's all anyone coming to our shores is asking for—a fair chance to make their way in the world on their own terms. Our nation must continue to be a beacon of hope to the world, a "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/reagan-farewell/" target="_blank">shining city on a hill</a>," to quote Very-Great Granddad John Winthrop (via President Reagan, using the phrase in his farewell address), who wrote those words aboard the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbella" target="_blank">Arbella</a></i> en route to the New World, envisioning the society he would build there. As a nation, we have often fallen short of that mark, but it remains the aspiration and foundation of this great American experiment.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXFrbmNsl2fubEm0T9kLiz_883N0DRpC6ReWOccmLOzoTEzXipxxxkzMIWnRlzHbgxPhr0_vQBLROzdGbGkJclOHyffzaTvN50mE4egTkv8Cfj5iRKbwy5t5gYHuln-wCnmw-_3PUVAtQ/s1600/Thomas+Nast-What+Color+Is+to+Be+Tabooed+Next-Harpers+1882.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqXFrbmNsl2fubEm0T9kLiz_883N0DRpC6ReWOccmLOzoTEzXipxxxkzMIWnRlzHbgxPhr0_vQBLROzdGbGkJclOHyffzaTvN50mE4egTkv8Cfj5iRKbwy5t5gYHuln-wCnmw-_3PUVAtQ/s400/Thomas+Nast-What+Color+Is+to+Be+Tabooed+Next-Harpers+1882.jpg" width="380" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Thomas Nast - <a href="https://thomasnastcartoons.com/2014/01/03/which-color-is-to-be-tabooed-next/" target="_blank">"Which Color Is To Be Tabooed Next?"</a> - <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1882</td></tr>
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So never forget that your ancestors were a bunch of badass, devil-may-care, stick-it-to-the-man rabble-rousers, dissenters and revolutionaries who were prepared to lay everything they had on the line for a chance at liberty and opportunity. The least we can do is stand as a bulwark against the erosion of the principles that made that freedom possible. </div>
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<i>"First they came for the Socialists, </i><br />
<i>and I did not speak out— </i><br />
<i>Because I was not a Socialist. </i><br />
<i>Then they came for the Trade Unionists, </i><br />
<i>and I did not speak out— </i><br />
<i>Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
</i><br />
<i>Then they came for the Jews, </i><br />
<i>and I did not speak out— </i><br />
<i>Because I was not a Jew. </i><br />
<i>Then they came for me—</i><br />
<i>and there was no one left to speak for me."</i><br />
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-- <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007392" target="_blank">Martin Niemöller</a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1yXCRGrbk9qRdIjHIrYWXezM54gnAkPEYnvNR6LmsewhZthZEFzkdCegX0utcvSyYAA4ilFlwb7LT4w_AFOqBB12N7cDUouHyVgzcXuYCWHVToZB323P7H9nORd0UtiZjH4SZWwA8QzH/s1600/Thomas+Nast-The+Union+as+it+Was-Harpers+1874.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1yXCRGrbk9qRdIjHIrYWXezM54gnAkPEYnvNR6LmsewhZthZEFzkdCegX0utcvSyYAA4ilFlwb7LT4w_AFOqBB12N7cDUouHyVgzcXuYCWHVToZB323P7H9nORd0UtiZjH4SZWwA8QzH/s400/Thomas+Nast-The+Union+as+it+Was-Harpers+1874.jpg" width="391" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Thomas Nast - <a href="https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5809" target="_blank">"The Union as it Was"</a> - <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1874<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-28182234926639147982016-09-09T11:35:00.000-07:002021-08-07T17:57:44.604-07:00Edwin Ushiro's "We Were Here Before, Not Now, But Somehow We Will Return Again”Thought you guys would appreciate Edwin Ushiro's latest creation—a ghostly greyhound, delicately drawn in layered pen and ink on wood panel, currently showing at <a href="http://thinkspacegallery.com/shows/lax-ord/show-pieces/" target="_blank">Thinkspace's LAX/ORD show</a> at Vertical Gallery in Chicago.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXupG15SLzPlAszqfcw353mxA0j0-S_78CjvV1w9WPfz-Oc273RfWHxdj4KqCxpBFRABRZDFsLS994dcgmEFjAJ2H1Q4FhZ6YoZTEDKPHCXVUSkgjoG3EJFI_ww8GRF4ajme_Qph8xGool/s1600/EDWIN-USHIRO-We-Were-Here-Before-Not-Now-But-Somehow-We-Will-Return-Again-2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXupG15SLzPlAszqfcw353mxA0j0-S_78CjvV1w9WPfz-Oc273RfWHxdj4KqCxpBFRABRZDFsLS994dcgmEFjAJ2H1Q4FhZ6YoZTEDKPHCXVUSkgjoG3EJFI_ww8GRF4ajme_Qph8xGool/s400/EDWIN-USHIRO-We-Were-Here-Before-Not-Now-But-Somehow-We-Will-Return-Again-2016.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-21083010052323489982016-07-14T20:03:00.001-07:002016-07-14T20:03:33.503-07:00Andrew Hem at the Long Beach Museum of ArtThis Friday, July 15th, don't miss the opening of <i><a href="http://thinkspacegallery.com/shows/vitality-and-verve-in-the-third-dimension/" target="_blank">Vitality & Verve: In the Third Dimension</a></i> at the Long Beach Museum of Art, in collaboration with Thinkspace and Pow! Wow! Among the many murals you'll be able to experience is this extraordinary installation by <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Andrew%20Hem" target="_blank">Andrew Hem</a> – perhaps the first mural of an interior scene he's ever painted.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_6yhuvaV-hllVCmREZ5zkEuzibjb7doAqSnmQOdJAPGGc1unXea2QhSJwtghtPzClh-RnXBlnL-1mQcp4MDN3PKwRxNrCdAsKKuk81-dxbL0ydPztcAeYyKz0AKTzHK8Oh3K2k4ml5Xe/s1600/13691123_10153860819752903_6619465934593983732_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF_6yhuvaV-hllVCmREZ5zkEuzibjb7doAqSnmQOdJAPGGc1unXea2QhSJwtghtPzClh-RnXBlnL-1mQcp4MDN3PKwRxNrCdAsKKuk81-dxbL0ydPztcAeYyKz0AKTzHK8Oh3K2k4ml5Xe/s400/13691123_10153860819752903_6619465934593983732_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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If you can't make it on Friday, the exhibition will run through October 16th. And if you head down there before it gets too late, make sure to check out the dozens of other murals that have recently been added to the walls of the city itself through <a href="http://www.powwowlongbeach.com/" target="_blank">Pow! Wow! Long Beach</a>, including a new collaboration between Andrew Hem, Edwin Ushiro and Yoskay Yamamoto!AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-68459865559923613702016-06-12T12:47:00.001-07:002021-08-07T17:57:49.697-07:00Edwin Ushiro's "Capturing What Still Glimmers"This Saturday, June 18th, be sure to make time in your plans to catch the sometimes sun-kissed, sometimes eerie, but always haunting works of <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Edwin%20Ushiro" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro</a> at the opening of his show "Capturing What Still Glimmers" at Giant Robot!<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-37082469404766229942016-05-01T22:51:00.000-07:002016-07-10T09:53:16.066-07:00Andrew Hem's "Mountain Full"Get ready for Andrew Hem's next solo show, which will open on Saturday, May 14th at <a href="http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/" target="_blank">Jonathan Levine Gallery</a> in New York. I've seen the work and can attest that it's going to be another terrific show, full of mystery and beauty and new adventures in color and form. I'll be heading to New York for the show, so I hope to see you there!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGsB-l09Fi0TvGKXiyL_gyFCpmzrZz07Kxz8v32xcv2AfmHaSKRihhd-oMcKBo7cRCTgd-QmNCCmcNc6d5ZGUFnCGGWvjvjKEn3HennVZ1H214Khn-TfspjGWI8NsyaCAj_QKzTnifZXU/s1600/12976832_10153652653772903_1684655280000493621_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGsB-l09Fi0TvGKXiyL_gyFCpmzrZz07Kxz8v32xcv2AfmHaSKRihhd-oMcKBo7cRCTgd-QmNCCmcNc6d5ZGUFnCGGWvjvjKEn3HennVZ1H214Khn-TfspjGWI8NsyaCAj_QKzTnifZXU/s400/12976832_10153652653772903_1684655280000493621_o.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-18105436592800124532016-04-21T00:16:00.000-07:002019-06-04T17:04:08.001-07:00Join The Great Los Angeles River Cleanup this weekend!It's Earth Month, which means it's time for the annual <a href="https://folar.org/cleanup/" target="_blank">Great Los Angeles River Cleanup</a>. On three Saturday mornings in April, thousands of people join together to prepare the river for summer recreation, to improve the habitat of the <a href="http://folar.org/river-wildlife/" target="_blank">waterbirds</a>, turtles, frogs and <a href="https://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/fish-in-the-los-angeles-river/" target="_blank">fish</a> that live in the river, and to prevent debris from reaching the ocean, where it would endanger marine life.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYeTVbeZzTokS4JG9AKW4ceAt0WTBUbpn2CygssT3VYIi2dJVbG3NUnrlo7eCxdZPz9nxiv2dmke3mitnGwVKaF7xp0llVLsn-64pd1H-n1a0u-OwuO0aanrnCt6-doHZBcbgcd5MOYJC/s1600/15-sites_3-days-1-river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSYeTVbeZzTokS4JG9AKW4ceAt0WTBUbpn2CygssT3VYIi2dJVbG3NUnrlo7eCxdZPz9nxiv2dmke3mitnGwVKaF7xp0llVLsn-64pd1H-n1a0u-OwuO0aanrnCt6-doHZBcbgcd5MOYJC/s400/15-sites_3-days-1-river.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The cleanup is organized by the <a href="http://folar.org/" target="_blank">Friends of the Los Angeles River</a>, whose <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/27/opinion/la-oe-macadams-los-angeles-river-20131027" target="_blank">dogged advocacy</a> on behalf of the river over the last 30 years helped bring about its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/09/09greenwire-epa-declares-la-river-navigable-stretches-regu-42022.html" target="_blank">recent reclassification as a navigable waterway</a> and the <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/river-604923-water-long.html" target="_blank">opening of the river to recreational use</a>, which gave the river the concurrent Clean Water Act protections that the EPA extends to recreational waterways. That means that the river will get healthier every year, <a href="http://gearpatrol.com/2016/02/02/how-kayaking-saved-los-angeles-river/" target="_blank">as long as we continue to use it recreationally</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi86NP__MNRVUXOhsWINM3ezgC8G9T-6vqWjRoEC3grbxZ55ZlHUp0LU4GI7O1oRLNw90z354aFROY26UOZWl6x2ABrD06Mm9pTz_eTt1IDLmfbeSyz3MtzFQR427gDlWn00GgAXP9oIx3F/s1600/Mark+Boster+-+Los+Angeles+Times+-+July+28+2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi86NP__MNRVUXOhsWINM3ezgC8G9T-6vqWjRoEC3grbxZ55ZlHUp0LU4GI7O1oRLNw90z354aFROY26UOZWl6x2ABrD06Mm9pTz_eTt1IDLmfbeSyz3MtzFQR427gDlWn00GgAXP9oIx3F/s400/Mark+Boster+-+Los+Angeles+Times+-+July+28+2010.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">The Glendale Narrows, looking south from the 134 Freeway. (Photo by Mark Boster courtesy of the </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-river20100801pictures-html-htmlstory.html" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank"><i>Los Angeles Times</i></a><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">)</span></td></tr>
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This Saturday, April 23rd, we'll be cleaning up the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale_Narrows" target="_blank">Glendale Narrows</a>, the fascinating natural-bottom section of the river that runs for 11 miles from Glendale through Atwater Village and Elysian Valley to the Arroyo Seco confluence. When the wild river was <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2013/8/15/10208734/25-photos-of-the-los-angeles-river-before-it-was-paved-in-1938" target="_blank">constrained into a concrete channel in 1938 to control flash flooding</a>, the engineers left the bottom open on this section because they believed the water table was too high to support concrete. </div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxoBZTl5fuANHT-YsOng00AwtY3tAQnpW3yR2JD0TNx4U3kg8Wz0B_qtWSwJ6WrAKUML_TXK5UcBM5ly3-0ayMWfb9n5zIz3ArpqDDlDd4Hr7qB8oky797JIrRriBaxFoUQLlOnW6i0gp/s1600/Glendale+Narrows+-+Hyperion+Bridge+-+c1937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxoBZTl5fuANHT-YsOng00AwtY3tAQnpW3yR2JD0TNx4U3kg8Wz0B_qtWSwJ6WrAKUML_TXK5UcBM5ly3-0ayMWfb9n5zIz3ArpqDDlDd4Hr7qB8oky797JIrRriBaxFoUQLlOnW6i0gp/s400/Glendale+Narrows+-+Hyperion+Bridge+-+c1937.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The wild Los Angeles River from Hyperion Bridge, circa 1937.</td></tr>
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As a result, this segment of the river and the natural springs bubbling up beneath it nourish willows, sycamores and cottonwoods, as well as shrubs, grasses and aquatic plants that provide food and shelter for wild creatures.</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">A natural spring bubbling up through the concrete riverbed. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">For the past few months, I've been exploring the east bank of the Glendale Narrows nearly every weekend, and I've fallen in love with its weird beauty and the unlikely sense of stillness it engenders, despite running through the heart of a city of millions. The bright notes of running water build over the bass drone of the freeway that parallels the river, somehow orchestrating a soothing isolation that allows one to pleasure in the surreal landscape and the crazy energy it encompasses. Though almost universally derided as a polluted concrete drainage trench, the river secretly harbors a rogue wilderness that is finding its own way to thrive in the face of daunting challenges, and there is adventure and wonder aplenty waiting for those bold enough to venture into its bed. </span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A latter-day cool cat makes for a possibly coincidental tribute to Leo Limón.</td></tr>
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Living just a mile or so from the Glendale Narrows, I've believed in the vision of a more natural Los Angeles River for a long time. In 2001, when President Bush sent everyone a $300 bribe, I immediately <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/news/get-wet-2133685" target="_blank">donated</a> the tainted money to a Los Angeles River restoration project. I've also been intrigued by the strange underground cultures our captive rivers cultivate, from my first years in the city glimpsing <a href="http://leolimon.com/catz.html" target="_blank">Leo Limón</a>'s legendary cat faces adorning the storm drain covers facing the 5 Freeway, to later discovering the work that <a href="https://www.kcet.org/confluence/getting-up-staying-up-history-of-graffiti-in-the-la-river" target="_blank">graffiti artists</a> like <a href="http://cslashs.com/site/2011/07/08/cs-chaz-bojorquez/" target="_blank">Chaz Bojórquez</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig0smP_lZeQ" target="_blank">Saber</a> had risked life and liberty to execute on the beckoning canvas offered by those endless concrete expanses.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canada Geese unruffled by my presence.</td></tr>
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Today the Glendale Narrows is nearly graffiti-free, courtesy of a concerted <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/28/local/la-me-graffiti-river28-2009dec28" target="_blank">cleanup effort</a> by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2009, but it is <a href="http://folar.org/river-wildlife/" target="_blank">far from sterile</a>. In the past month I have encountered <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/great-blue-heron" target="_blank">Great Blue Herons</a>, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/double-crested-cormorant" target="_blank">Double-crested Cormorants</a>, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/snowy-egret" target="_blank">Snowy Egrets</a>, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/canada-goose" target="_blank">Canada Geese</a>, <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-coot" target="_blank">American Coots</a> and <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-necked-stilt" target="_blank">Black-necked Stilts</a>, as well a wide array of <a href="https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide?field_bird_family_tid=50&field_bird_region_tid=All" target="_blank">ducks</a>. As dusk falls, flocks of <a href="https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide?field_bird_family_tid=98&field_bird_region_tid=119" target="_blank">swallows</a> swoop overhead, scooping up the gnats that hover over the water's surface, and <a href="https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/black-crowned-night-heron" target="_blank">Black-Crowned Night Herons</a> soar down from the trees to begin their evening hunt.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Great Blue Heron decides to put a little more space between us.</td></tr>
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Two weeks ago, I watched hundreds of carp engaged in an epic struggle to mount the shallow ramp to the concrete-bottom section of the river and <a href="https://lariverflyfishing.com/2011/03/12/spring-spawn-its-on/" target="_blank">head upstream to spawn</a>, and also witnessed a man catching a 30-pound carp with his bare hands and wrestling it to submission. Some days I've walked for miles along the riverbed without seeing another human being, and on others I've shared it with a colorful assortment of runners, bikers, dog walkers, horse riders, lovebirds, duck feeders and fishermen, not to mention the intrepid hobos who pitch their tents on the river's more hospitable islands.<br />
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<span style="text-align: left;">Carp squirm up the ramp onto the concrete -bottom section. </span></div>
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The vibrant energy of the Glendale Narrows is incontrovertible proof that life will find a way, even in a concrete drainage channel largely filled with <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/nov/29/local/me-48877" target="_blank">treated waste water</a>. Though the river has lost all of its native riparian species, such as the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-adv-steelhead-search-20140517-story.html" target="_blank">steelhead trout</a> and <a href="http://www.parksconservancy.org/conservation/plants-animals/endangered-species/red-legged-frog.html" target="_blank">red-legged frogs</a> that once thrived here, an abundance of hardy creatures has taken their place. Protecting and improving the river will expand their habitat, and enrich the lives of us Angelenos, as well. Our city is notoriously park-poor — less than a third of us live within walking distance of a public park — but that may soon change. In the coming years, the public land that borders the river will slowly be <a href="http://porturbanism.com/work/los-angeles-river-greenway-2020/" target="_blank">connected</a> into a continuous 51-mile-long greenspace and bike trail that runs all the way from Canoga Park to Long Beach. <a href="http://folar.org/news/lewis-macadams-on-the-la-river-frank-gehry-and-the-return-of-the-red-legged-frog/" target="_blank">River advocates</a> hope that the concrete bottom of the river will one day be removed entirely so we can reintroduce the endangered trout and frogs that were once native to the river, but require a natural bottom for spawning and hibernation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheerful flotsam at the high water mark on a rainy day. </td></tr>
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But right now, the winter rain has carried the debris of the city down into the river channel, and plastic bags, tarps and clothing have gotten tangled in the trees; bottles, broken toys and dead balloons have become mired in the mud; and half-sunken shopping carts are making sad perches for egrets. So <a href="https://folar.org/cleanup/" target="_blank">come down this Saturday</a> and have an adventure with us as we remove tons of trash from our very own urban wilderness and prepare it to present its best face to this summer's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Atwater-Village-Love-Lock-Bridge-1410955312474989/" target="_blank">lovers</a>, <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/lifestyle/20150807/the-los-angeles-river-does-exist-and-offers-leisurely-kayaking-adventures" target="_blank">kayakers</a>, and maybe even some devil-may-care <a href="http://gizmodo.com/7-cities-making-their-urban-rivers-swimmable-again-1584764207" target="_blank">swimmers</a>. They may have paved paradise, but they can't take away our dreams. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeToPfBmjZlHqRVLpewZL1PP9IciHYR7zNT18oR0vsp8tahLWYj4JspuJ6ZbECPrxQdYC5pXXiBZv1h_1FtwnlvPr5y6wXtYqhgn-vkNTGgbxvFxNersYfpZcZqbOyo-ORih3QTTnLXuw0/s1600/IMG_3967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeToPfBmjZlHqRVLpewZL1PP9IciHYR7zNT18oR0vsp8tahLWYj4JspuJ6ZbECPrxQdYC5pXXiBZv1h_1FtwnlvPr5y6wXtYqhgn-vkNTGgbxvFxNersYfpZcZqbOyo-ORih3QTTnLXuw0/s400/IMG_3967.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-77182293225665572016-04-19T09:32:00.003-07:002016-04-21T16:25:41.524-07:00Andrew Hem, Ekundayo & Edwin Ushiro at Pow! Wow! HawaiiIt's been two months since I returned from my trip to Honolulu for <a href="http://powwowhawaii.com/" target="_blank">Pow! Wow! Hawaii</a>, so I guess it's time to share a few of my pictures from the production of <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Edwin%20Ushiro" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro</a>'s first mural and <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Andrew%20Hem" target="_blank">Andrew Hem</a> and <a href="http://ekundayo.com/" target="_blank">Ekundayo</a>'s largest collaboration to date.<br />
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Andrew and Ekundayo's mural is based on the Hawaiian <i><a href="http://wwwauthorrobertbonvillecom.blogspot.com/2012/11/honi-hongi.html" target="_blank">honi</a></i>, a greeting in which two people press their noses together and inhale, exchanging their <i><a href="http://www.ancienthuna.com/ha_breathing.htm" target="_blank">ha</a></i>, the breath of life, as well as their <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana" target="_blank">mana</a></i>, or spiritual energy. </div>
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Edwin's mural depicts a girl surfing her bike along a wave of water, vapor and energy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoSOt2Te9mAvAaAe3z5rLb3W8RSrQ_h2gtbIK-zarRBOAghovNm7rRGaRG-wzAGzrPSbdaFCwaPQtC3V-TRAjnHK74RfwiN9ZRh-k_5qx4ZCrvQO6fJdHaoUrMHIF0mWL7YafUbDuklFo/s1600/IMG_3670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuoSOt2Te9mAvAaAe3z5rLb3W8RSrQ_h2gtbIK-zarRBOAghovNm7rRGaRG-wzAGzrPSbdaFCwaPQtC3V-TRAjnHK74RfwiN9ZRh-k_5qx4ZCrvQO6fJdHaoUrMHIF0mWL7YafUbDuklFo/s400/IMG_3670.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.slinkachu.com/" target="_blank">Slinkachu</a>'s installation at Edwin's mural site.<br />
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Edwin's completed mural on the side of the BikeFactory store.<br />
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The festival's commemorative Montana spray can.<br />
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<img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSxIWQU0ZjGZasPUnqkrvgS463zKYBEqyl8-V8rPLkm70GJnHW-tFh9yBOCOTGpE6BiN1KQrw6R7NC7AOvusiYxrSQtWfP91UIsaCgdkp6qmckk9nLVtOmMmZBMW8HUVIRFJ4i92UETO1/s400/hem-ekundayo-1.jpg" style="text-align: center;" width="400" /><br />
<span style="text-align: center;">Andrew and Ekundayo's completed mural on Lana Lane. </span><span style="text-align: center;">(Awesome photo courtesy of </span><a href="http://www.brandonshigeta.com/" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Brandon Shigeta</a><span style="text-align: center;">)</span><br />
<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-86023840943700175262015-12-01T19:13:00.000-08:002016-04-21T15:12:42.827-07:00Give the gift of literacy with Room to Read!Did you know that in places like rural Cambodia, more than half of young girls spend their days working as laborers rather than as students? <a href="http://www.roomtoread.org/" target="_blank">Room to Read</a> is changing that statistic in Cambodia and 9 other countries, where they are working to bring literacy and education to 15 million kids growing up in with few opportunities.<br />
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Toward that goal, they have already built almost 2,000 schools, established more than 17,000 libraries and distributed over 15 million native-language children's books, as well as facilitating the secondary education of over 30,000 girls who would have never been able to complete their schooling otherwise.<br />
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If you make a <a href="https://www.roomtoread.org/3xmatch?source=ES14B2&erid=5960617&trid=861a21bc-954a-4e76-8fb2-e00c37e79c6f" target="_blank">donation to Room to Read</a> in the next two days, your contribution will be tripled. I donate to the Cambodia Girls' Education project, but you can <a href="http://www.roomtoread.org/targetedgiving" target="_blank">pick a literacy project</a> of your choice in 10 different countries! Let's work together to make it possible for more girls to grow up to be the teachers, doctors and leaders who raise their communities out of poverty and into a brighter future. <br />
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AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-965781588617242802015-10-13T14:01:00.046-07:002022-07-10T10:37:01.257-07:00Edwin Ushiro's Studio Installation at the Japanese American National Museum<p>For the new exhibit <i><a href="https://www.janm.org/exhibits/grb4" target="_blank">Giant Robot Biennale 4</a></i> at the Japanese American National Museum, Edwin Ushiro had an interesting concept—he would re-create his artist studio and invite people to visit him there. The studio comes complete with the drafting table where he has worked since college, and a projected artwork with subtly animated clouds drifting through it, replicating the view outside his window. Above the desk hang several new works that he created for the exhibition. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwhnck0GtVClrOOEawKNt07OEO_q-cAiSwaGQ_oElMBI3_CMMkp8xcbLbjUP31Jw7mGIFEtdkL882OQguI15qAvTCyMK_Qcb-BwFa0kw1HzNW2SfwUJl8f-WvXCJOrLdxZugDERuxcO-I1Jz481WdvTbvE6iBimmq8T_3fSnbmhzFr7iJ9m9mkdVA/s1280/image0.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwhnck0GtVClrOOEawKNt07OEO_q-cAiSwaGQ_oElMBI3_CMMkp8xcbLbjUP31Jw7mGIFEtdkL882OQguI15qAvTCyMK_Qcb-BwFa0kw1HzNW2SfwUJl8f-WvXCJOrLdxZugDERuxcO-I1Jz481WdvTbvE6iBimmq8T_3fSnbmhzFr7iJ9m9mkdVA/w640-h360/image0.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edwin Ushiro's artist studio, replicated at JANM for <i>Giant Robot Biennale 4</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Alongside his desk, a display case contains a wide variety of his drawings and sketchbooks, as well as some inspirational ephemera.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKil-3Shk5xc7rmy_CAptHBSQtV72c4GkSMLYmRDBcrDcWn3fO1h-PJbNh52E3VXiTei2kOLrJFYogPfQsLDmbgWEyD_ujc5IyCSBQqbSPXNUn_Bh04MNjMphLWYHPhUvCq_s0fJxtr7usNqLl67edDlcHWwEp1CK83t2zGmIuynYQzhUxs5PMcFIr/s3264/IMG_2873.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKil-3Shk5xc7rmy_CAptHBSQtV72c4GkSMLYmRDBcrDcWn3fO1h-PJbNh52E3VXiTei2kOLrJFYogPfQsLDmbgWEyD_ujc5IyCSBQqbSPXNUn_Bh04MNjMphLWYHPhUvCq_s0fJxtr7usNqLl67edDlcHWwEp1CK83t2zGmIuynYQzhUxs5PMcFIr/w640-h480/IMG_2873.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edwin Ushiro's sketchbook display at <i>Giant Robot Biennale 4</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At different times during the exhibition, the artist himself will inhabit the studio installation, interact with visitors and work on a new painting.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhao_vO2_6pLp1tME6XxxebOrrZfdzR3CGVKN5NXMlLecWAZQ9Bpqxh2LP7bqLSUgdp74IuFTlh96xZdgXAV9R4m68RpQhU1lF6we4nWwIZv-EYmn5lVVdqDWHaSno6FVzZPR4Cg7d0V77qdV3HM9sSpsU0CX6dX3dfGlFpFj3proviyLb4e9ar36_U/s1280/image5.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhao_vO2_6pLp1tME6XxxebOrrZfdzR3CGVKN5NXMlLecWAZQ9Bpqxh2LP7bqLSUgdp74IuFTlh96xZdgXAV9R4m68RpQhU1lF6we4nWwIZv-EYmn5lVVdqDWHaSno6FVzZPR4Cg7d0V77qdV3HM9sSpsU0CX6dX3dfGlFpFj3proviyLb4e9ar36_U/w480-h640/image5.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work-in-progress painting in Edwin Ushiro's studio installation at <i>Giant Robot Biennale 4</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In a gesture toward making museums feel more interactive and approachable, visitors are invited to sit down at a desk in the exhibit and make their own drawings on post-it notes, which can be shared on a bulletin board. They can also buy a mini-sketchbook from a gumball machine to carry around with them and collect their own ideas. Edwin explained, "With a sketchbook, you don’t need a large studio, and you are only limited by your imagination."</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZGOUFyelqQWlOybKUzyEI6NhTzDpurQRhkbgVcS_chc-P9O3CmrYBrDocKEobmzA5OyC09gU771RluoyyV5hJcJgSQSxf12l_YIbhKdUdCnCCnx2M_uL9BnfDXikU-lxc48hdm7oWuIHo0BZNbev18tEq51iG3CNOKjO8QbfQtI87bz19EPO9IFY/s1280/image2.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZGOUFyelqQWlOybKUzyEI6NhTzDpurQRhkbgVcS_chc-P9O3CmrYBrDocKEobmzA5OyC09gU771RluoyyV5hJcJgSQSxf12l_YIbhKdUdCnCCnx2M_uL9BnfDXikU-lxc48hdm7oWuIHo0BZNbev18tEq51iG3CNOKjO8QbfQtI87bz19EPO9IFY/w640-h360/image2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitors to the installation can make their own doodles and share them on the cork board.</td></tr></tbody></table><p> Make sure you drop by the museum and visit Edwin's studio installation on the first floor, as well as Andrew Hem's spectacular mural upstairs, and much more, including work from GR favorites James Jean, Audrey Kawasaki, Rob Sato and Shizu Salamando!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CICNLfDVtegwAlAUk77QZDTPRwdkLQSti1Pvb0_r4Pk8EdagBVhrSko6kKkwx7nML0IYM5QlqC06NOem4VwsNNVkFAGLlphhM_8D63ZEEFEMtiKEafvtlF5GFKaxTa4RZIc67n7za-SyxhvLDu5ps5Ms-Nu1OP5Czc2H3rTfb0PV-WrYNNDknwXE/s1079/gr-biennale-andrewhem.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1079" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6CICNLfDVtegwAlAUk77QZDTPRwdkLQSti1Pvb0_r4Pk8EdagBVhrSko6kKkwx7nML0IYM5QlqC06NOem4VwsNNVkFAGLlphhM_8D63ZEEFEMtiKEafvtlF5GFKaxTa4RZIc67n7za-SyxhvLDu5ps5Ms-Nu1OP5Czc2H3rTfb0PV-WrYNNDknwXE/w640-h429/gr-biennale-andrewhem.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Hem mural in the second floor gallery at <i>Giant Robot Biennale 4</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-58171302256004753702015-10-09T09:32:00.001-07:002015-10-09T09:32:38.667-07:00Andrew Hem's "Unknown Terrain"This Saturday, October 10th, make sure to make it out to Andrew Hem's latest solo show, "Unknown Terrain" at <a href="http://www.mkgallery.com/" target="_blank">KP Projects</a> (Merry Karnowsky Gallery) from 7-10. To attend, you must RSVP at rsvp@mkgallery.com.<br />
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"The Journey Begins"<br />
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If you're planning to stick closer to downtown on Saturday, check out his new mural at the opening of the <a href="http://www.giantrobot.com/blogs/giant-robot-store-and-gr2-news/61356035-giant-robot-biennale-4-artist-list-and-official-press-release" target="_blank">Giant Robot Biennale</a>, also on Saturday from 7-10!<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-13275771214325904682015-07-11T21:27:00.000-07:002015-07-17T09:54:46.346-07:00Edwin Ushiro's "The Study of Life as Things"Saturday, July 18th will mark <a href="http://www.giantrobot.com/blogs/giant-robot-store-and-gr2-news/45664067-gr2-the-study-of-life-as-things-solo-exhibition-by-edwin-ushiro" target="_blank">Edwin Ushiro's first-ever all-drawing show</a>, which I have been looking forward to ever since I first met him, seven years ago.<br />
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"An Unequivocal Want"<br />
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Edwin is simply the best draftsman I have ever met, and his intimate evocations of the world of his childhood are haunting, whatever his medium. These small drawings, executed on translucent paper in ballpoint pen, markers, pens, colored pencil and graphite, will be on view at Giant Robot.<br />
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"An Arm's Length Within Safer Depth" (detail)<br />
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"Waiting To Be Held" (detail)<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-46380551302656574752015-05-15T19:06:00.000-07:002015-05-15T19:06:37.103-07:00Ill Squad!Come out tomorrow night to <a href="http://www.giantrobot.com/blogs/giant-robot-store-and-gr2-news/19564803-gr2-ill-squad-curated-by-andrew-hem" target="_blank">Giant Robot</a> for an exhibition of illustration curated by <a href="http://www.erraticphenomena.com/search/label/Andrew%20Hem" target="_blank">Andrew Hem</a>! "Ill Squad" will feature luminaries like Kim Cogan and Jim Salvati, favorites like Edwin Ushiro and Ekundayo, and many amazing artists who we haven't had a chance to see yet in the Los Angeles gallery scene.<br />
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Edwin Ushiro<br />
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Ekundayo<br />
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Jim Salvati</div>
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Kim Cogan</div>
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Marc Trujillo</div>
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-77692013187629009322015-04-15T23:35:00.002-07:002022-07-09T17:08:24.046-07:00"Aggregate," featuring Zero+ published artists and a special Andrew Hem releaseThis Saturday, don't miss <i>Aggregate</i> at <a href="http://www.mkgallery.com/" target="_blank">Merry Karnowsky Gallery</a>, a show dedicated to the artists published by my friend Kirk Pederson of Zero+ Publishing, including Andrew Hem, Edwin Ushiro and Dabs Myla. An RSVP is required, so be sure to email the gallery if you'd like to attend.<br />
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As an added incentive to stop by, the show will feature the release of one final clamshell box edition of the long sold-out <i>Andrew Hem: Dreams Towards Reality</i>, including a print of the much-admired "Close Matchbox" piece.<br />
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<i>Aggregate</i> is an exhibition of the work of 17 artists, curated by Kirk Pedersen from the roster of visionaries published by his imprint, ZERO+ Publishing. Running the gamut from street art to pop surrealism to illustration to fine art—and sometimes blending genres in ways that defy categorization entirely—this group of artists could hardly be more eclectic. Yet they all share a passion for exploring other dimensions—uncharted territories that are both spatial and emotional, metaphorical and metaphysical. In addition to an original artwork by each artist, the gallery will display a number of unique artist-made deluxe box editions that have been created through the collaborative rapport that gradually evolved between these artists and their publisher.<br />
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From its inception, ZERO+ Publishing established a manifesto of sorts—it would publish limited editions of 1,000 that would never be reprinted, using the finest paper and printing methods available, and most importantly, design and edit each book in collaboration with the artist, recognizing that their insight is integral to creating a truly great book. In consequence, each book would be unique, taking its form according to the innate requirements of each artist’s body of work. For many ZERO+ titles, another level of artistry would be revealed with custom-made deluxe box editions, each of which would include original artwork. Ultimately, what makes ZERO+ unique in the publishing world is Kirk Pedersen’s sense of adventure and keen curatorial eye. The editions displayed in this exhibition share with their artist subjects a resonance and integrity that belie the perception of books as products—for in many ways, these books are themselves works
of art. AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-21968791065034855872015-04-12T12:06:00.000-07:002015-04-12T12:17:02.894-07:00Dabs Myla take over the MTV Movie Awards!Make some time tonight to tune in to the <a href="http://www.mtv.com/ontv/movieawards/" target="_blank">MTV Movie Awards</a>, because <a href="http://www.dabsmyla.com/" target="_blank">Dabs Myla</a> has taken complete control of the event, from designing the logo, award and guest swag to conceiving and executing the show's 40-foot-tall set! The scale of their involvement in this project is unprecedented, outmatching the <a href="http://arrestedmotion.com/2013/08/preview-kaws-for-mtv-vmas/" target="_blank">Kaws takeover</a> of the MTV VMAs in 2013. You can catch the event live at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. on the West Coast.<br />
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AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-41598363075258703272015-03-04T18:35:00.000-08:002015-03-05T11:51:17.576-08:00Andrew Hem's Debut New York SoloThis weekend at the <a href="http://scope-art.com/" target="_blank">Scope</a> art fair in New York City, <a href="http://thinkspacegallery.com/" target="_blank">Thinkspace</a> will present Andrew Hem's first New York solo show. You really need to see these paintings in person to fully experience the otherworldly hues, mysterious presences, enigmatic messages and subtle violations of the laws of time and gravity that permeate Andrew's dreamlike visions. Andrew will be traveling to New York for the fair, so with any luck, you might run into him while you're there.<br />
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"Flipper"<br />
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"This Is the First Day of My Life"</div>
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"Tell the World I'm Coming Home"</div>
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"Civic"</div>
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-66159837603338345832014-12-31T18:05:00.001-08:002021-08-07T19:31:28.228-07:00In Defense of Iggy AzaleaLately the interwebs are clamoring with the din of self-styled culture critics bemoaning, dismissing and even denouncing Iggy Azalea, the <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/callipygian" target="_blank">callipygian</a> blonde rapper from Down Under who, against the odds and to the consternation of many, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zpOMYRi0w" target="_blank">dominated</a> the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS1g8G_njx8" target="_blank">summer music charts</a> and won Best Rap Artist and Best Hip Hop Album at the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/24/iggy-azalea-wins-at-american-music-awards-beating-eminem-in-hip-hop" target="_blank">American Music Awards</a> last month.<br />
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This cacophony of disparagement has led me, in typical contrarian fashion, to give Iggy's work a much closer look than I would ordinarily bestow upon music that enjoys this much popularity, and after much study and consideration I've come to the conclusion that even though it's understandable that some people might not appreciate Iggy's sound, substance or style, you kind of have to marvel at the character and charisma that got her where she is today.<br />
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I know, I know, you're thinking, "But Amanda, I thought you hated popular music, and only listened to underappreciated musical geniuses like <a href="http://www.buck65.com/" target="_blank">Buck 65</a> and <a href="http://www.jimwhite.net/" target="_blank">Jim White</a>!" It's true, I'm a snob. But I'm not ashamed to admit it—the reality is that Iggy Azalea's guts, passion and audacity won me over. I think she's sort of a miracle. Observing her career is a bit like watching a giraffe roller skating—the wonder isn't that she's actually pretty good, it's that she's rapping in the first place. It must have taken a stupendous amount of tenacity to get her where she is today. Can you even imagine how many times Iggy was told that her dream—to be a rapper like her hero 2Pac—was not only ridiculous, impossible and weird, but wrong, racist or downright immoral? Think how hard it must have been to be taken seriously in the intimidating, hyper-masculine world of Dirty South hip hop as a 16-year-old white girl from the other side of the world with nothing to ride on but a pretty face, a fat ass and a truckload of courage.<br />
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So I thought I'd address her detractors and break down their points one by one, because I basically disagree with everything they're saying. I'm not going to call out any of them by name, because giving them the attention they crave only feeds the beast. But if you're curious, it's easy enough to find a gaggle of mean girls, illiterate zealots, attention whores and holier-than-thou Authorities On All Things Black maligning Iggy on whatever social media platform you search.<br />
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First, and most damningly, we have the accusation of minstrelsy—that Iggy is making fun of black culture by donning a kind of "blackface" and prancing around pretending to be black. However, if you parse her lyrics and lifestyle, it's obvious that Iggy adores hip hop, and has been in love with it since the day she <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkb2FzN6Pw" target="_blank">first heard</a> 2Pac's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgQZENuDrBY" target="_blank">Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)</a>" at a friend's house at the age of 12. That moment was an epiphany for her, and she soon became obsessed with learning rap lyrics and dissecting their form and meaning. She was <a href="http://www.complex.com/music/2012/10/iggy-azalea-ranks-her-10-favorite-2pac-songs/2pac-all-eyez-on-me" target="_blank">moved</a> by 2Pac's complexity and intelligence, and her soul responded to the humanity and vulnerability in his lyrics. That was the spark that ignited the dream within her. Iggy says that when she was a kid, hearing rap music <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t203sT_NYLI" target="_blank">made her feel</a> happy and strong and like she had "a friend that was music." By the time she was 14, she had started rapping herself, to much ridicule and discouragement from her peers.<br />
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This criticism seems to be based on the idea that somehow a white person doing "black things" makes a mockery of black people. That somehow Iggy's very whiteness and foreignness makes her <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_hip_hop" target="_blank">ATL-inflected</a> vocal delivery a caricature of everything true and fine in hip hop. But this isn't a case of a singer dancing around in a Native American headdress or geisha costume for our entertainment. Iggy has immersed herself in hip hop culture as deeply as any white girl from Australia could ever get. She loves it so much she identifies with it as her main source of emotional support and creative inspiration. In any other context, wouldn't the theory that it's insulting to admire someone so much that you want to grow up to be just like them be a bit strange? These purists insist that appreciation and emulation of traditionally black art forms—fundamental to the careers of artists like Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, not to mention Picasso and Gauguin—is racist.<br />
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But I'm sorry, that train left the station a long while back. Thirty-odd years ago, when I first saw a skinny white boy from the backwoods of Vermont acting like he grew up in the South Bronx, I was perplexed and a little weirded out. These days, it's not even worth a second glance. Today, hip hop is being practiced in every culture of the world. Is it racist when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uf1lEawgTE" target="_blank">Tuvan throat singers</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSbMmWR6Q9A" target="_blank">Cambodian ghetto kids</a> rap while copping a black attitude? Is it racist when a Korean-American Angeleno like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK9LQy6pHUs" target="_blank">Dumbfoundead</a> employs African-American slang and intonation in his music? Not to mention the glaringly obvious fact that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beastie_Boys" target="_blank">three pasty Jewish boys</a> are accepted and even lauded for being among the groundbreaking artists like Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy who finally got hip hop out to the masses via widespread radioplay. The truth is that this sort of self-segregation does the black community no favors. The connection hip hop has forged with every culture of the world is unifying and can only help people understand and appreciate black culture more as it ramifies farther, spreading its tendrils into every corner of the earth. No one is ever going to forget where hip hop came from, but it belongs to the world now.<br />
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Many black people seem to be incredulous that a white girl could uncynically love their music. This is a phenomenon I've encountered myself. I listen to a lot of hip hop—from 2Pac and Wu Tang to Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar—and when people happen to encounter one of my playlists in my car or at the gym, I get open-mouthed double-takes, as if there's something fantastically peculiar about a white woman enjoying black music. Even the legendary Q-Tip fell for this stereotype recently, when he felt the urge to very gently explain the history of hip hop to Iggy on Twitter, as if in her 13 years of being obsessed with the medium, she had never thought to look it up on Wikipedia. Well-meaning though it likely was, it's a bit patronizing to assume that someone in her position is both incurious and uneducated about her chosen field of endeavor.<br />
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There also seems to be a feeling that someone like Iggy can't understand what it's like to really suffer—seemingly a prerequisite for being a rapper—and that therefore she has nothing worth saying in her music. She hasn't been oppressed, so her passion for hip hop has no legitimacy. Pretty, privileged white girls like Iggy should concentrate on appropriate goals, like being a model or some famous person's girlfriend, rather than trying to be taken seriously for doing something difficult and possibly unseemly. While it's true that most white people don't experience hardships to compare with growing up black in America, everyone experiences their own suffering subjectively. Perhaps you can't compare the oppression of being a black youth in American society to growing up the way Iggy did—the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Duckling" target="_blank">ugly duckling</a> in a backwater town where people like to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t203sT_NYLI" target="_blank">crush your dreams</a>—but each person's suffering feels real and legitimate to them personally. I grew up in a town like that, where everyone rejected the very essence of who you believe yourself to be, so I would never discount the pain that can cause in a person's heart.<br />
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These critics seem to feel that Iggy sprang out of nowhere like some dewy starlet from suburbia freshly minted on <i>American Idol</i>. But not only has Iggy been struggling to refine her skills and make it in the rap game for years—and she has mixtapes like <i>Ignorant Art</i>, <i>Fever Pitch</i>, <i>TrapGold</i> and <i>Glory</i> to prove it—she also grew up poor in a mud-brick house in the tiny outback town of Mullumbimby, raised by a single mother who supported the family cleaning houses after Iggy's mentally ill father abandoned them. "It's a two-street shithole, where I worked on the farm and looked after cows," <a href="http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/iggy-azalea/print/" target="_blank">Iggy explained</a>. "Nobody wears high heels there. Rap focuses on excessive shit, but growing up, I'd get one pair of shoes for the entire year." Iggy recalls feeling overwhelmingly sad and alone as a teenager. "I was just miserable for a lot of different reasons," <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkb2FzN6Pw" target="_blank">she said.</a> "Things seemed so hopeless where I was, and I needed something to change... I just needed to get away and escape everything."<br />
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At 15, Iggy dropped out of school so she could work full time cleaning houses and scrubbing hotel floors in order to earn enough money to escape the trap of small-town small-mindedness she was born into, and save up enough money to follow her dream to move to America to become a rapper. "When I was 16, I got up one day and I decided that there was absolutely no way I could live one more day in the town or the country where I was from," <a href="http://www.vevo.com/watch/iggyazalea/Becoming-Iggy-Azalea-(VEVO-LIFT-UK)/GBUV71300469" target="_blank">she recalls</a>. "I told my parents I was going on a holiday, I got on a plane to Miami and I never looked back." Imagine arriving in Miami alone at the age of 16 with no family or friends to help you, no work visa or job prospects, and only the cash you've managed to scrape together scrubbing floors to survive on. Do you think Iggy was handed stardom on a silver platter? No, she earned it on her knees, with a sponge and an iron will.<br />
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<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">Two feet in the red dirt, school skirt</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">Sugar cane, back lane</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">Three jobs, took years to save</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">But I got a ticket on that plane</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">People got a lot to say</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">But don't know shit bout where I was made</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">Or how many floors that I had to scrub</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-work-lyrics" target="_blank">Just to make it past where I am from.</a> </i><br />
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In songs like "<a href="http://vimeo.com/61721081" target="_blank">Work</a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NABebOOwFdY" target="_blank">Walk the Line</a>," among others, Iggy lays out her bona fides in stark detail. Once she made it to America, she scrubbed even more hotel floors, <a href="http://genius.com/1495797/Iggy-azalea-work/Studied-the-carters-till-a-deal-was-offered" target="_blank">studied the Carters</a>, worked her ass off in the studio and outwitted devious music industry vampires to fight her way to the top.<br />
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Some take issue with Iggy's lack of what they like to call "authenticity." But who are we to define what is genuine? These days, when a little girl proclaims that she is really a boy, we take it seriously. Not everyone was born into the situation for which they feel they were destined. Perhaps when Iggy lays claim to being the "<a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-fancy-lyrics/" target="_blank">realest</a>" in "Fancy," she means "real" in the sense of being true to yourself—especially if you've never been who people think you are or who they expect you to be. Maybe being "real" means never giving up on your dreams, no matter how many people make fun of them—whether they be outback rednecks or insular Aussie rappers, or her current critics, who revel in calling her names like a bunch of schoolyard bullies, comparing her to a black person with albinism or a cross-dressing black actor in whiteface, accusing her of being so entirely fake that even her body is artificial, or blackmailing her to bend to their will with the threat of releasing a sex tape.<br />
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Then there's Nicki Minaj's veiled accusation that Iggy doesn't write her own lyrics—essentially an insinuation that Iggy's lyrics are being ghostwritten by her mentor, T.I. Now I respect Nicki as much as the next person—or at least I did before she turned herself into a living cartoon character, back when she was ferociously guesting on tracks like <a href="http://vimeo.com/30364848" target="_blank">"Monster</a>" and "<a href="http://vimeo.com/9829502" target="_blank">My Chick Bad</a>," and spinning sexy confections like "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fg3KcE-D5Q" target="_blank">Ice Cream Man</a>." But there's a bit of hypocrisy in someone who has transformed herself into a caricature with half a dozen different masks and voices denouncing someone else who has adopted a persona that doesn't entirely reflect her roots. Doesn't Nicki's catty hint that Iggy doesn't write all her own lyrics seem a bit ironic, considering that Nicki's latest paean to the penis, "Anaconda," lifted its skeletal structure wholesale from Sir Mix-a-Lot's infectious "Baby Got Back"? Anyway, hardly anyone—including Nicki Minaj—writes songs entirely by themselves these days, and those who do rarely have multiple hits at the top of the summer charts. But even if Iggy does get a little help from her friends with polishing her lyrics—and there's no real evidence that she does—you can't tell me that the lyrics for songs like "<a href="http://genius.com/853695/Iggy-azalea-pu-y/Lick-this-philly" target="_blank">Pu$$y</a>," "<a href="http://genius.com/1430057/Iggy-azalea-hello/Im-jm-thats-gettin-money" target="_blank">Hello</a>," "<a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-my-world-lyrics" target="_blank">My World</a>" and "<a href="http://genius.com/Iggy-azalea-drop-that-lyrics/" target="_blank">Drop That</a>," all written well before Iggy and T.I. met, aren't pretty solid.<br />
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This accusation is often followed by the claim that Iggy's songwriting is "oddly impersonal," most likely based on the critic listening to Iggy's two recent #1 hits, as opposed to even the most cursory examination of her current album <i>The New Classic</i>, or any of her previous work. This might be the place to point out that few rap songs topping the charts these days have much to say for themselves content-wise. But if you actually listen to Iggy's larger body of work, you will find a great deal of extremely personal storytelling about chasing her dreams, her past relationships, her friendships and her sexuality.<br />
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Of course, not everyone will appreciate her stories, and many will find them offensive. Iggy named her first album <i>Ignorant Art</i> after a quote in the movie <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsJlkWp0p90" target="_blank">Basquiat</a></i>, from a scene where the artist sold some drawings to Andy Warhol, describing them as "ignorant art… stupid, ridiculous, crummy art," and she once described her music as raw, energetic, taboo, and even a little experimental. She's not trying to please everyone or create music that is aesthetically pure and politically correct, she's just expressing herself the only way she knows how, with whatever tools she has at hand. And when you take risks, sometimes you make mistakes—and sometimes you make magic. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTMFiU_EujY" target="_blank">As Iggy remarked</a> recently, "Keep it light on the advice—look at us, we must be doing something right, clearly."<br />
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Now we come to the strange idea that there are only a couple of slots for women in the rap game, and Iggy is unfairly taking the one not currently occupied by Nicki Minaj. Please. There's no secret conspiracy to keep women down in the hip hop game. If any of the other women rapping today exhibited the commercial appeal of either Nicki or Iggy, we would be hearing about them. Money is king. This is a catfight that female rappers perpetuate more than anyone. <a href="http://larecord.com/interviews/2012/02/07/iggy-azalea-the-illuminati-helped" target="_blank">As Iggy observed</a>, "It’s like hip-hop is the husband, and there can only be one wife. Everybody else is like, ‘Get the fuck off my man!’ ... I wanna be the best, but I don’t wanna drag anybody through the mud. There used to be a lot more women." There should be more successful women in hip hop, but that's only going to happen if we start listening to them. It's not Iggy's fault if we choose not to buy and share music by other women who rap. In fact, Iggy could end up opening doors for other women who haven't found their audience yet. For instance, after I downloaded some Iggy song or other, <a href="http://www.emusic.com/" target="_blank">eMusic</a> suggested that I might like another rapper, who happened to be the Minneapolis indie artist <a href="http://www.lizzomusic.com/" target="_blank">Lizzo</a>. I bought Lizzo's album <i>Lizzobangers</i> on the strength of her entertaining single "<a href="http://youtu.be/nQaRQe86suA" target="_blank">Batches and Cookies</a>." So maybe Iggy's success will make other people and even industry execs open their minds and acknowledge that there are other female artists with potential.<br />
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But looking at the bigger picture, aren't cross-cultural artists like Iggy a sort of gateway drug into hip hop for people who find black culture mysterious and a little intimidating? You can't tell me that white artists like the Beastie Boys and Eminem haven't opened doorways into the larger world of hip hop for people who would have found it challenging to jump right into listening to aggressive, sexually charged lyrics that showcase language that is taboo for outsiders.<br />
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Some of Iggy's critics demand that she use her platform as a political soapbox. They say that given her popularity, she must speak out about the issues they deem appropriate. But if she did speak out about those issues, her detractors would only look to find fault in some nuance of her message. The truth is that Iggy <i>does</i> have a political cause that she speaks about not just with her words but in her every action, and that's <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/04/comment-iggy-azalea-might-not-be-your-idea-feminist-thats-kind-point" target="_blank">feminism</a>. But it's feminism on her own terms, a viewpoint that seems to annoy the more literal-minded among the self-appointed guardians of womanhood.<br />
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This camp of accusers posits that Iggy's overtly sexual lyrics and onstage <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc3Mizl8M2Y" target="_blank">twerking</a> antics are demeaning to women. Yes, being forced to use your sexuality in order to make a living can be degrading, but flaunting your sexuality isn't inherently negative. If you enjoy what you're doing, anything can become an art form. Strippers have fascinated Iggy for a long time. She's been <a href="http://www.complex.com/music/2013/09/iggy-azalea-interview-complex-cover-story" target="_blank">sneaking</a> into strip clubs since she was 14, and she learned everything she knows about twerking from the hard-working dancers of Atlanta, where she and her friends would routinely go to strip clubs to hang out and eat <a href="http://larecord.com/interviews/2012/02/07/iggy-azalea-the-illuminati-helped" target="_blank">chicken wings</a>. Fascinated by the movie <i>Showgirls</i>, she based many of the visuals of her stage show and music videos on the theme of a stripper's struggle and eventual rise to stardom. "For me, visuals are as important as the music," <a href="http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/iggy-azalea/" target="_blank">she explained</a>. "I just love escapism and giving people something to escape to. To me, that's what art is."<br />
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When Iggy and her crew are onstage <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc3Mizl8M2Y" target="_blank">twerking</a>, it's empowering. It's clear that Iggy loves her body, which is fabulous but unconventional, and she wants other women to love their bodies, too. She owns her sexuality and she's using it to tell us what she wants—and what she wants is respect, success and <a href="http://vimeo.com/89406345" target="_blank">cunnilingus</a><span id="goog_2118812763"></span><span id="goog_2118812764"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>. As opposed to a lyric like "Ice Cream Man," in which Nicki Minaj tells us what kind of penis she prefers, and what she plans to do with it, in songs like "<a href="http://vimeo.com/89406345" target="_blank">Pu$$y</a>" and "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZjgea7po0" target="_blank">Down South</a>," Iggy is letting us know precisely what kind of pleasure she expects to receive, with explicit instructions as to exactly how it should be delivered. She's also telling us girls that if we want something, we need to demand it on our own terms.<br />
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In my opinion, Iggy Azalea should be an inspiration to young women and to us all to get off our asses and chase our dreams, no matter how outlandish they might seem. I often compare her to Joan Jett—still a girl power icon after 40 years—who wasn't afraid to go balls to the wall and be exactly who she wanted to be, no matter how outlandish her persona might have seemed at the time. Like Joan, Iggy is pioneering a new template, showing us how to be unapologetic, aggressive and powerful without seeming masculine, and proving that with grit, determination and hard work, anything is possible—and the first step is believing in yourself. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIkb2FzN6Pw" target="_blank">As Iggy says</a>, "Conquering your own mind is the biggest challenge of them all."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8817233420509451267.post-76341438124183771702014-12-11T21:32:00.000-08:002014-12-11T21:32:57.793-08:00Dennis Morris: "The Bollocks" Are you looking for a great Christmas present for that special Sex Pistols fan in your life? You can't do better than the deluxe artist edition of <i><a href="http://www.zeropluspublishing.com/Bollocks.htm#images/bollocks_1.jpg" target="_blank">The Bollocks</a></i>, an oversized, impeccably printed volume of photos by Dennis Morris, one of history's most venerated rock photographers. I spent the last few months polishing the text of the book, which includes essays by Billy Idol and Shepard Fairey. The edition comes in a stenciled wooden box along with two 18x12" color prints of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, in all their ramshackle glory.<br />
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<br />AMANDA ERLANSONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08802979669786762765noreply@blogger.com0