Kaziah

Ugly Gun Sunday

I don't think its a real gun. It appears to be porcelin. It is bizarre however, on many levels, from concept to the phrase across the slide.

UPDATE: It is porcelin. Here's a video of the artist. Thanks Bill!

Andrew Wyeth

Despised as an illustrator by academic artists and reviled by the avant garde for his simple existence, Andrew Wyeth lived as close to his art as any artist ever did. Best known for "Christina's World," Wyeth spent his life painting landscapes and people of Pennsylvania's Brandywine Valley and Maine's coast. Through it all, he remained true to himself and his work.

I remember when the "Helga" paintings were made public in 1986. The figurative paintings and drawings were a secretive body of work spanning 15 years. Wyeth's detractors as well as his disciples were stunned. I was not. Andrew Wyeth was never an illustrator or a one trick pony. He was an artist in the classical sense, a modern day Rembrandt. The figure paintings of Helga Testorf were just another chapter in that regard.

Far too many became wrapped up in the meticulous nature of his egg tempera paintings. Egg tempera, a media from the middle ages, demands accurate draftsmanship and precise brushstrokes. I suppose it was easy to dismiss Wyeth if one never looked deeper. But looking deeper was revealing. It was Wyeth's watercolors and studies that absolutely blew me away. The apparent ease with which the man could render form, light and darkness with a single splatter and whip of a brush was unique.

"Artists today think of everything they do as a work of art. It is important to forget about what you are doing...... Then a work of art may happen," declared Wyeth. There is a zen truth there. It is often the drawings, the sketches, the watercolors and preliminary pieces to the revered masterpiece that reveal the thinking, indeed, the soul of the artist.

Andrew Wyeth died in his sleep at his home in Chadds Ford on Friday. He was 91. Wyeth did not take the common path. Like Robert Frost, he took the road less traveled, and it made all the difference.

Spiders as Payment

"Dear Jane,
I do not have any money, so I am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead."

Follow the link for the entire bizarre correspondence.

Actually, Henri Matisse, in his later years, was known to sketch small drawings on the checks he remitted as payments for rent or goods. They were seldom cashed, as the Matisse drawing was more valuable than the check. Of course. Matisse was an artist........

Dust in the Wind

Gun Paintings

Colt 1911.
Acrylic on pine
11.5"w x 8"h
Semi-automatic handgun. Originating in the late 1890s and designed by John M. Browning, it was the standard-issue side arm for the United States armed forces from 1911 to 1985. Still in use by some U.S. forces.
$ 900.

$900 for a painting that looks like a screenprint? Hell, just spend your nine Franklins on a M1911 mixmaster and be done with it......

More of Chris Crite's paintings here.

Thanks Breda.

Bloody 'ell!

"His use of blood lends itself perfectly to exploring the extraordinary personal and physical intensity that characterises so much of Peter’s life and work as an artist in the broadest sense," Robin Barton, of the Bankrobber gallery claims.

Pete's looking rather anemic on the red carpet with Kate Moss. Business must be good.

But you know what? The "art" of foppish emo Peter Doherty is poorly drafted, ill conceived, and is likely to disappear into the scribble filled sewer of has been 15 minute of fame who was that artists like Fredrick Gillespe. Don't remember him? In a week you won't remember Doherty either...... unless you contract a disease from his blood splattered scrawlings.

Momentos Morte

Oleg has posted a link to some of the most intriguing and thought provoking photography/art I have seen in a while.

Boy of Blue Industries.

Third Eye

4”x5” camera made from Aluminium, Titanium, Brass, Silver, Gem Stones and a 150 year old skull of a 13 year old girl. Light and time enters at the third eye, exposing the film in the middle of the skull.

At one point in my life, I studied art. I was a painter and a printmaker. It is not uncommon for visual artists to study human anatomy through the use of bones, the very structure of the human body. For centuries artists have used human skulls as subject matter in works of art to remind viewers of their own mortality. I did this myself, keeping several skulls borrowed from the Biology Department in my studio, as well as remnants of a complete human skeleton. I painted canvases, etched copper plates and drew on blue lithography stones images of these human fragments. For several years they were among my subjects as I taught myself the nuances of the human body and condition.

I still keep a few of my worst paintings. A small series of paintings were of a young man's skull, and the skull of a toothless old woman, the wormian joints and socketless mandible revealing advanced age. I called that series of paintings "Comedy and Tragedy," a play on the brevity of life in memento morte style painting, but also the recognition of the capricious nature of life shown in the expressions of the skulls themselves.

When I was in Hong Kong, in little shops on Cat Street, Tibetan skulls would be for sale, with silver eyes, noses, teeth and other embellishments. Several times, I came close to purchasing one. It was not monetary reasons that kept me from acquiring one of those exotic pieces of artwork from another culture, but rather one of ethics. The suspicion that the Tantric offering vessel could very well be a faked desecration of a Cambodian refugee's remains was something I could not get past. I am glad that I never bought one of those elaborate works of art, although it would have been a centerpiece of the relics of my travels. Having an unwilling person's head as a souvenir just wasn't a burden I wanted to carry with me.

I suppose that is probably the most thought provoking aspect of this particular camera built by Wayne Martian Belger. I can not imagine a 13 year old girl, 150 years ago, a little girl very much like my own, giving consent for her skull to be used in this fashion. Nor can I conceive of her parents, assuming she had parents while she was alive, doing so. There is, for me, a disquieting sadness pervading this entire work, obscuring the artist's intent and even the photographs rendered.

Through a series of events, I eventually became the caretaker of two of the skulls I painted. I say caretaker, because that is the position I feel like the possessor of these items is. Tonight, these skulls reside in a case with old books and vials of small items collected from around the world. Even though these skulls were donated to "medical science" I felt and still feel a profound responsibility as I hold that which was once part of someones body, the very vessel of their thought processes and being. I will not elevate myself to a point of self righteousness from whence to judge another's ethics. We do not know if the person who once was, knows or even cares what happened to their mortal remains. For myself though, as I ponder the skulls in my possession I know what is right for me.

Pippa, Grizzlies & Guns

I was referred from a link over at Breda's place to the saga of Pippa Bacca, an Italian peace activist and "artist." Bacca, whose real name was Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, embarked on a mission for peace and world harmony. Her plan was to hitch hike from Italy to the Balkans and finally to the Middle East and Israel in a wedding dress. Her goal was a message of peace, trust, and "marriage between different peoples and nations."

A motorist in Turkey really liked her idea. He liked it so much, in fact, that he raped her, strangled her, and left her dead body to rot like so much garbage beside the roadway.

"She thought that in the world there were more positive than negative people, and that it was right to be trusting," said Rosalia Pasqualino, Pippa Bacca's sister, "Trust is a very human factor, and she believed that to understand people, you had to get to know them." Sadly, there are some people animals that a sane person does not want to know or understand. Pippa's friends and audience grieve for her, real grief for an idealistic life cut short by it's very idealism.

It is common that the young and naive think the old and cynical know nothing. I am reminded of an axiom among flyers though....There are are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. In our lives we take our choices. Our choices define us, and make us who we are, and unfortunately, sometimes who we were. The henious barbarism that brought an end to Pippa's misguided journey is by no means an abberation. It is common. Any person who has lived on the road can inform the neophyte traveler that caution and suspicion will keep the traveler alive and traveling. I, too, am saddened by the loss of Pippa Bacca, even tough I have never heard of her before now. No life should be snuffed out so cruely and so selfishly by the scum that prowls the Earth. The scum should be wiped out instead.

I cannot help but be reminded of Timothy Treadwell, the man who gained fame, and ultimately death by camping among grizzly bears. I can't help but wonder if at some point, Pippa Bacca might have a film such as this in her memory.



Rather than a movie memorializing your life, how much better is it to have a .44 magnum when you really need it? Or better yet, some respect for the dangers that can kill you, to be applied judiciously to your life so you will never have to bring the .44 magnum into play? The truth is though, while these two people were killed as a result of their absolute disregard for the dangers of their activities, malevolence can visit the most careful person. In that case, the gun becomes a life preserver.

Rest well, Pippa, I hope at least one of your friends learns from your death and buys a gun.

How Not To Treat A M1911A1

After Heath Maddox's father died unexpectedly in 2006, Maddox was clearing out his dad's belongings when he found a surprise: a U.S. military-issued .45-caliber handgun wrapped in a towel and tucked into a kitchen drawer.

Maddox vaguely recalled a story about his grandfather owning the gun, but he wasn't sure why, or how, it turned up in his father's kitchen.

Yet on a recent Friday evening, two years after the discovery, Maddox stood inside artist John Ricker's San Francisco studio, ready to smash the gun flat with a sledgehammer. "My uncle wanted to keep it in the family," said Maddox, a planner in the city's transportation agency, before he delivered the first blow. "But I knew about John and what he does with guns. ... I wanted it destroyed."

"If you have a gun, you have to envision who you're going to kill," Ricker said. "I want people to think about who they think it's OK to shoot, and where that puts them morally."

OK Mr. Ricker........It's perfectly fine to shoot somebody who is trying to kill you. Who the hell are you to judge a person that has been forced to use a handgun to preserve their life against an animalistic sub-human bent on snuffing the life from their body? That makes the victim of crimes morally........Alive. Handguns save far more lives than they take. Period. Dumbass.

More on this knucklehead here. He has a website and blog full of falsehoods, misrepresentations, and a childish view of reality. I will not provide him with a link here.

Xavier's Gun Photography

I was updating some of my gun photos today, and I realized I never really wrote about taking pictures of firearms. To me, firearms photography is a form of still life photography. It is easy to recognize the gun photographs of those who shoot a lot of them. Ichiro Nagata, Oleg Volk, Digitshots, and DHart. All are accomplished photographers first, who just happen to also shoot guns. I fall beneath that.

To take good photographs, decent equipment is essential. I once used a Sony Mavica camera for my digital photography. The floppy disc made it easy. I also had an ancient monitor. I thought I was doing pretty good.........Until my monitor gasped up it's last pixel, and I replaced it with a modern flatscreen. Damn.......those low resolution photographs sucked. I immediately went to the pawn shop and purchased an inexpensive camera with a greater memory and higher resolution. I chose a Canon A520. It's a point and shoot camera that has controls that enable the user to manipulate the camera's performance. It is a 4.0 megapixel camera, and is about the minimum pixel requirement for modern internet photo sharing. I honestly don't know much about pixels and digital cameras. To learn about megapixels, this is a good tutorial. All I know is the new camera makes higher resolution photos that look a lot better on my new monitor. That's good enough for me. I'm an image man, not an equipment maven.

A lot of notable gun photographers use a lightbox for their images. Control of the light in a still life is as important as the items depicted. Years ago, I earned a degree in fine art. I was a painter and printmaker. I studied under a nationally known still life artist and became engrossed in the work of Chardin, Peto, Wyeth, Harnett and Vermeer. While modern photographers often seek to manage and even generate the light in their imagery, the first photographers worked with what was available, as did painters. Natural light. There are many types of natural light. Painters wax poetic when discussing morning light, noon and evening light. North light is considered the finest by many painters, as it changes less frequently. Painters such as Monet often painted the same subject matter in different paintings, under shifting natural light. These paintings, the foundation of Impressionism, were studies of light and how the human eye deciphers it, not studies of imagery. I relished the work of these painters. Thus, it was only natural that I should chose natural light for my photography.

I take my gun photos outside. I often use a neutral, natural background of weathered and grey wood. I have found that this background appears most appropriate aesthetically, is often a textural contrast, and enhances the image without overpowering the subject matter. On a clear day, I have approximately one and a half hours of the type of light I favor at my chosen location. This light is filtered, but still has a directional, warm quality. To better manage it, I will sometimes use white Foamcore panels to reflect light into shadows and define that which needs illumination. I often shoot thirty or more images from slightly different angles to arrive at a photo with reflections and shadows that characterize the form I desire. Of these images, I chose one.

To place the firearm at the angle I want, I will use erasers or empty shell casings to prop it up. Modeling clay also works well for this, and will not scar the finish. As a still life artist, I dislike the common convention of inserting something through the triggerguard to support the gun. That technique is only seen in gun photography, and as a result it appears odd to me. I do not want my images to appear "posed" even though they often are. I want them to appear as though I happened upon them at the range, and took them serendipitously. A lot of work goes into making my images appear happenstance.

Composition is extremely important to me. Composition is best defined as how items are arranged in a fixed image, preferably with the knowledge that the viewer's eye will travel about the image taking it all in. Poor composition can destroy otherwise technically beautiful photographs. Likewise, good composition can make up for a deluge of technical deficits. Ideally though, the composition should be non-apparent, quietly supporting what the photographer wants to depict. Everything should be considered, from the horizontal or vertical orientation of the image, to associated shooting equipment used to visually lead the viewer's eye throughout the image.

Photography of multiple guns in one image increases the problems challenges to solve exponentially. Each firearm must be attended to as a primary subject. The visual and mental comparison of similar subjects can often lead to a more interesting image however. For this reason, I frequently photograph similar firearms together. Firearms often have an interesting "good" side and a drab side. In most cases, the visually interesting side is the side with the controls. Often one side will depict the essence of what the photographer desires better than the other.

Highly reflective surfaces offer unique challenges and solutions. I frequently use Foamcore panels to control and manipulate reflections in nickel guns. Nickel guns can appear rather cold and sterile in a photograph. I will often use colored items outside the frame of the photograph to interject reflected color into photographs of nickel guns. Doing so adds to the overall beauty of the image, and can help set the mood in the photograph.

Weathered and finish worn guns must be assessed for interest differently. The photographer must decide what he wants to depict......A beautiful old survivor of time, or a remnant of what the firearm once was. There is a natural inclination to present a treasured item at it's finest, concealing flaws in a quest for perfection. With weathered firearms, this is often counterproductive. The photographer must remember he is not producing a beautiful firearm, but rather a beautiful photograph. The texture of time and the scars of use help show the gun for what it is, whether a captivating relic of a bygone era, or a tool of self protection that is carried daily. A lower, raking light helps accentuate this quality, as well as delineate the markings on the gun.

Often with old guns, a simple, stark and empty photo will achieve the photographer's goals nicely. Bare gun steel, worn walnut, and faded bluing on top of a weathered surface is a study in intriguing textures and subtle variations. Other items in the photo would distract the viewer from what the photographer feels is the essence of the firearm. When an image is pared down to the essential subject matter, the elements of design take on a prime importance. Orientation of the image boundaries as well as the firearm itself, the quality and direction of the lighting, along with the colors and textures available are the only tools at the photographer's disposal. If he does not know how to use them, the image will be clumsy and uninteresting. Used well, the result is sublime and engaging.

Years ago, when I studied still life painting, I committed to memory a quote by Max Ernst that is with me still. "The association of two or more apparently alien elements on a plane alien to both is the most potent ignition of poetry." The contrast between disparate objects, whether leather, wood and steel, or guns and flower petals presents the viewer with a mental sandwich to chew, contemplate and digest. Photographs of a handgun, a wrist watch and a pocketknife are common and expected. I have not yet tried photographing a Colt 1911 on a buffet of newspaper and crawdad tails, but I'm thinking the result would be as interesting as it would be unusual. When crawdad season opens, I just might have to try it. Maybe a HK USP, a harmonica, and a fried egg. The possibilities are endless as they are beguiling.

Manipulation of a digital photo in a photoshop type program can remove small flaws in the photo that distract from the photographer's intent. I have found, however, it is best to remove the flaws prior to opening the shutter. A chamois rag sprayed with oil will remove dust and fingerprints from the surfaces. A whisk broom will sweep the background clean if desired. A discreet repositioning of the firearm can conceal defects that would distract from the image. Many people fear revealing the firearm's serial number in a photograph. A photo shop program can be used to subtly alter the serial in the image by a digit or two, mitigating the concern without making a glaring change.

A quick word about safety is in order. The four rules should be followed any time a person is handling firearms, including photographing them. Placing live rounds in a revolver, and then cocking the hammer back and leaning it on an eraser while you snap photographs is foolhardy. If you want brass to show between the cylinder and recoil plate of a revolver, use empty brass. If you want bullets to peek out of the front of a cylinder, use inert rounds. Triple check the status of the firearm, each and every time you handle it. Your mind is preoccupied with the photography you are enjoying, and your hands may do things you otherwise would not allow. The circumstances are ripe for a negligent discharge. Engage the Four Rules.

Finally, enjoy what you are doing. Gun owners love to look at images of the objects of their desire. Strive for quality work, and share your results. For information on how to share your photographs, go here. While different from the usual gun photography tutorial, I hope this article has been of benefit. Now go shoot some photos as well as targets!

Shattered Glass

October 8, 2007- Venezuelan Vice President Jorge Rodriguez and Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela unviel a glass monument to revolutionary icon Ernesto “Che” Guevara near the top of El Aguila Peak, a popular tourist spot, and one of the highest points in Venezuela at 13,143 feet above sea level.

October 19, 2007- The glass lies shattered by gunfire. Police say they have yet to identify those responsible. The El Nacional newspaper published a copy of what it said was a flier discovered beside the destroyed monument, and signed by the previously unknown “Paramo Patriotic Front.”

“We don't want any monument to Che, he isn't an example for our children,” the flyer read. It called Guevara a “cold-blooded killer” and said the government should raise a monument in Chavez's hometown of Sabaneta, in the nearby lowland plains, if it wants to commemorate the Argentine revolutionary.

Meanwhile, wannabe Che disciples in the United States continue to display his mug on T-shirts.......

Van Gogh Jr.

Some cut 'em off, some sew 'em on.

Kiss of Depreciation

So who is Rindy Sam? She is the young woman who improved Cy Twombly's portfolio with a smear of lipstick.

A painting with nothing but white paint is a pretty sorry excuse for art. Any dimwit that would buy such a pretentious piece of tripe deserves to loose their $2,878,000 investment to a kiss.

Hat tip to Phlegmfatale

Visual Disturbance

Years ago I studied the art of the mentally ill. I find this animation fascinating. I'm just saying........

Hat tip to phlegmfatale

Just Watch

The Pursuader

It's a design by James Piatt. Guaranteed to get attention.

This is a leather purse with a cellphone compartment in the magazine. $289

Art and Guns

"If everyone made a pistol from their own skin, I think they would think twice about using a gun. I think there would be less violence in the world." says Dutch artist Joanneke Meester. If everyone made a pistol from their own skin, there would be a lot more certified idiots in the world. Joaneke Meester, however, has fashioned a faux pistol from her own skin, which she had surgically removed from her abdomen. This questionable piece of art will be shown at an Amsterdam art show next month. There comes a time when rational people must simply state that an artist is either mentally ill, or just plain stupid.

Meester's little pea shooter can't hold a candle to a sculpture in stainless steel by Fernandez. This gargantuan revover was created in celebration of the 2nd Ammendment. It's good to know that every professional artist is not an anti-gun looney. This major magnum is made from stainless steel plate. The grips are welded steel rods and molten brass, painted with clear polyester. It is loaded, like a good gun should be. The bullets are machined brass. The chamber rotates and the sculpture rotates 360º on its base as well. Asking price, $25,000. Coming soon at a gun show near you!


Then, there is the Art of Peacemaking, by Canadian artists Sandra Bromley and Wallis Kendal. Better known as The Gun Sculpture, this piece consists of a number of elements, the central one being a large installation the size and shape of a prison cell (or so the artists claim....prison cells come in all shapes and sizes, including those in our minds). The walls, ceiling and floor of this chamber are constructed of guns, thousands of guns, five tons of guns, from all around the world.
A narrow entrance invites you to step inside and be surrounded by "the immense power of the weapons, and to feel a loss of freedom", or at least the artists hope that is what will happen. Several hoplophiles have reported euphoria and elation upon stepping inside, followed by a deep depression upon learning all these guns were deactivated.
The more I ruminate on The Gun Sculpture, AKA The Art of Peacemaking, the more I think a protest must be organized. This desecration of the gunmaker's art must not be allowed to go without opposition. I submit that the NRA should collect 20-30 scantily clad Hollywood babes (much the same as PETA) give them all Mausers and Kalashnikovs, and a free ticket to Alberta Canada. Save the Mausers!

More pictures of The Art of Peacemaking AKA The Gun Sculpture