Me. You. Everyone We Know.

Before the screening of Art:21 it would be useful to get to know some contemporary artists that are stomping on the scene right now.

One artist I'm familiar with is Miranda July.


I plan on watching her directorial debut, "Me and You and Everyone We Know," again tonight. I had bought this independent film on sale for $4.99 at Blockbuster a long time ago. I certainly don't regret that whim purchase. It teams simplicity in storyline and depth in characters to create a unique film. In other words, it's almost as if you are reading a movie. Or watching a book.

(Here's the trailer)

Right now I'm reading her book "Un bref instant de romantisme" in, you guessed it, French. Not sure whether or not there's an English version of this floating around somewhere. That doesn't seem to make sense but it testifies of how far-reaching and worldwide celebrated her work is. Check out how many languages she's published in.

There aren't many contemporary artists whose fame and successes are so widespread. I think her quirkiness translates as a style that her audience can recognize from movie to book and vice-versa. I mention her worldwide success because what most strongly draws audiences to her overall creative style may be that it appeals to more senses than traditional art. She teams strong visuals, narrative voice, and simple English to convey how the loopiest ideas can work to make life more interesting and maybe even purposeful. And her work can be appreciated by people who can't hear or are hard of hearing. I watched this clip without sound and I still bust out laughing. In the library.

Who are these people like Miranda July that just show up in our lives like a koala in the tree outside your window? It's like, Man, you are cute and definitely fun but where did you come from? Outerspace maybe? Because she dips into music, contemporary art, creative writing, Miranda July astounds with how much she can juggle. Is this where contemporary art is headed? An integration of all realms of creativity? Or at least a way to connect all of them? Her style no matter what medium reminds me of the sort of snow-ball conversations you have with your friends. You get a little outlandish. Hopefully you get a little silly! In the end you get to learn a little bit more about how your friends' minds work. Miranda July, simply said, seems like she would be a cool friend to have.

Think about the design you see in your everyday life. How does it stimulate you? Now compare the design you see on say, the Aggie Campus versus what you would see in a more urban setting. Maybe even versus the design you see in Downtown Bryan.

Because I am not a student in the Visual Arts Department here at A&M, it's almost awkward trying to get this sort of organization back on its feet. The connection I had, lovely Katie Smither, has turned to the dark side and left for UT. I don't blame her. The school for arts there is eons away from what we have at A&M. Since this is my final year here, I figure: hell, I'll go for it. Let's make art more prominent -- or at least more appreciated.

Lately I've been touring the buildings on campus and studying the architecture (50% because of the hope that my stolen phone will show up in a lost&found and 50% because of simple curiosity). You can blame the latter 50% on a certain Ms. Ayn Rand and her book The Fountainhead. Changed my life. Anyway, something that concerns me is that no one really knows what the Langford building looks like. It could be nicer, in terms of an "art school worthy" building, but it does its job. There are stimulating colors; there are giant posters proclaiming messages and provoking thought. Just today, I passed the windows of one of the student cafeteria/lounges. From outside the view was this: students with their legs up, eating sandwiches, engaging in conversation against a humongous cerulean backdrop that boasted the message:

It's not about the world of design. It's about the design of the world.

Chew on that a bit, and enjoy this clip from Me and You and Everyone We Know.

And we're off!

photo courtesy of: www.PBS.org

And by that, I mean it's ON.

The Fall 2009 semester at Texas A&M University has officially started. Literal herds of students swarm the campus and not in the most efficient fashion what with all this construction. The MSC is getting a facelift and is completely closed off and something's happening just beyond the Zachry building. I won't claim that I know because I don't. Still need to go check that out.

Point is! It's a new semester which means... fresh starts and freshmen. We're going to go out on a limb here and rely on the fact that youngsters are typically impressionable, curious and willing. VENT would love to get our paint-covered hands on those prized brains. The way I put that it sounds sinister. It's not. Trust. And according to our recent studies (read: Facebook group stats and e-mail correspondance), VENT has a chance at moving forward and making a difference.

Fortunately, we have a golden opportunity on our hands if we want to reach that goal. Since there are some more details that need to be ironed out before I can totally give up the info, but it involves a free screening. Who doesn't love those?

If you're a PBS fan or a curious channel surfer, you may be familiar with the PBS series titled Art:21, which focuses on contemporary visual art and artists in the United States. As students we typically look to Europe as the paragon of art and culture. As a country driven by workworkwork and obsessions with celebrities and spectacle rather than concern for meaning and substance, the United States is more infamous for loudmouths and 15-minutes-of-fame style culture than it is famous for cultural pioneers and art that matters and that lasts. Art still seems to be under the radar. Times are a changing, my friends. Our hope is that PBS's series will thrust the US into the artistic limelight.

Where do we start a sort of change like that?

First of all, we need exposure. I can't tell you how many times Sesame Street has helped me learn valuable lessons. Big Bird really is a life saver. So let's consider Art:21 as something that can make a huge impact in the way we view art in our daily lives. These episodes aren't going to watch themselves. Luckily Art:21's website features a few videos that help the interested get acquainted with the series.

Secondly, we're in the perfect place. Whitney Houston was right -- the children are the future. As university students we are no longer children, but we are young whippersnappers that have the energy and the thirst (I sound like a Powerade ad) to make the future a brighter, prettier, more art-filled place.

There will be a free screening of Art:21's Fifth Season on September 28 at the Langford building. As the date approaches there will be reminders but I figured now would be a good time to get excited.

Of course the most important question is: Will there be refreshments?

What Elles?

Spot the woman in this picture.

What if Andy Warhol were actually Annie Warhol? And what if it were really Claudia Monet and she enjoyed getting flowers as much as she loved to paint them?

The "Elles" exposé at Le Centre Pompidou in Paris is here, and it is thoroughly Woman. HEAR IT ROAR.

I once read somewhere, in the most normal words on the normal blog of a most normal man that I don't even know:

"All women are crazy. It's in their blood. But they're also the most beautiful thing in the world. So we put up with the crazy for the beauty."

If the typical male can recognize it, as a female one can feel entitled to coming out with all that insanity, no? Might as well take it and run with it! And it's no surprise that some of the most creative people are out of their minds and beside themselves. Well, to really observe anything you have to see it from every facet--being outside and beside helps!

Some pieces high-fived that loud-mouthed, brazen, hairy, bra-less feminist in me. The artist who created this duo of works makes her thought on marriage blatant: the first, composed of fruit, florals, and doll parts, represents a woman pre-ring, and the second, made of colorless paper and various other brittle objects, post-ring. What comes to mind for me its musical and male antithesis: John Mayer's song, "Daughters." That's right. I do share part of this outlook though. At least for now. As a single woman I know there's much more self-cultivation to do, much more watering to my rose garden to perform, so to speak. But I don't expect my marriage to drain me. That is well within my hands.

London-based Guerilla Girls' approach stems from the good graces of advertising: it works! Although this one rubbed me the wrong way. There's a report card of museums' behavior and a complaint filed against the Oscars; according to the girls they are lacking in female presence. What I don't get is why they're asking for attention and respect from a male society they disdain. To me, and here I go with the musical equivalent again but, that's like this one stupid pop song by Leona Lewis I heard (on the radio, no doubt) where all she wanted was to be "[his] girl." Really, now? You can't find worth within yourself without these outlets? You have no other aspirations other than just belonging to someone and having them devour you whole?

Guerilla Girls are also fond of using statistics. About 58% of the time statistics are lies or twisted in a way to make your argument work. Who cares! In my opinion a progressive feminist doesn't get her jollies from making men feel bad by naming all their follies or making comparisons.... a truly progressive woman will render men on their knees simply because she is above all of that and is better than them on her own accord. Or she is simply outside the whole thing. Woman are one thing, men are another. Venus, Mars, anyone? A peach shouldn't get furious because I indulge in bananas more often. No. That peach would be better off knowing it's better-tasting in a cobbler than a banana will ever be! So Guerilla Girls, I'm down with you on a few things, but simply thumbs down on others.

You are what you eat, but is it true that you are what you wear? So exactly how feminine is a woman who wears hemp and sticks to a raw vegetable diet?

This artist weaves her own twist on the whole "women are good at sewing" thing. Awfully nimble with her fingers, eh? So is the girl in this close-up. I enjoy the value behind all this effort, and I certainly like the idea, but the message is kind of lost on me. Why did this artist have to make it so sexual? Perhaps it was an attempt to reclaim her own body. That's one way to look at it. I prefer to see it as three lefts: yes, women are good at sewing, yes, women are objectified, so I'm going to objectify myself and beat them to it... and.... wait, where's the irony here? No. Three lefts put you back where you started.

Whatever your opinion, whatever your view on male vs. female, whatever your genitalia, one thing is for certain. These women -- they will not be silent, and they will be heard.

The DMA and All That Jazz

Now, I have to make one thing clear. I do not condone taking pictures of museum exhibits to share with people so that they don't have to pay to get in and see the art for themselves. However, I do condone displayig little photographic hints of museum exhibits to share with people so that they want to go experience it themselves... and for free, to boot!

Private Universes, the featured exhibit that I spent the most time exploring, is set-up in defiance of the typical Dewey Decimal-like system of categorizing art on display. Instead of grouping art by a similar medium or time period, this exhibit emphasizes instead similar views on... well, life around them! One room features art that translates what the urban experience is to the artist, including one I particularly liked by Matthew Richie called "The Idea of Cities," a quaintly nerdy interpretation that fuses a map, chemical equations and, here's the best part-- the word "mitochondria."

There are two dark rooms dedicated to cinematic concepts. One tells a chilling ghost story; the other follows an artist haunted by nude images of what I think may be Adam and Eve while she wanders aimlessly in the produce section of her grocery store.

A huge piece (a blanket? a parachute?) made out of portions of men's pants. Talk about a bonafide private universe. Hee hee.

Sure, there's the Dallas Museum of Art, but then, oh, but then there's the Dallas Museum of Art: Summer Edition. You think weekends start on Friday? Not so in Dallas, especially with Thursday Night Live. I went this past Thursday with a friend and enjoyed free admission to the exhibits, free jazz in the atrium, and! More free jazz outside.

It's almost picture perfect -- pun intended. With their lawn chairs, picnic baskets, and blankets, city dwellers come out in mass to enjoy the weather, the art, and each other. It's the sort of thing that breaks the monotony of humdrum work in office buildings. Something to look forward to is always good, and something that's free and brings family and citizens together? Even better.

Interested? Get out of your private universe, mosey over to the DMA, take a peek at someone else's universe, and then join the rest of the universe (or at least the one in Dallas) on the lawn in front of the museum for some non-complicated and very feel-good jazz.

Explore what else the museum has to offer this summer (there's a lot!)

The Sharpie-est Crayon in the Box

Except screw crayons. We're talking straight-up black and white, here folks. It doesn't get simpler than this.

And you thought your purse strings made you innovative. Check out what Charlie Kratzer, normal man with a basement from Lexington, Kentucky, did with $10 worth of Sharpie. All it took Kratzer was an overheard projector, a steady hand, and a Hamilton to make his basement one of a kind.

Talk about fine art with a fine-tip pen. Don't even get me started on how awesome they smell.

Save your money! Get creative! Thanks to my friend Kimberly for turning me onto this. Kimberly, you will survive those wood panels!

Offensive name, Non-offensive music

Leave it to me to plug the band I'm in on this blog, but I figure, hey:

- I'm passionate about it
- It's music that is enjoyable by all ages, shapes, sizes, and colors

- We are based out of College Station, a quickly emerging center of art and culture in Texas
- We are playing a FREE show in Austin, TX tomorrow night at a house party that is a CD release for another talented artist whose musical roots have some anchor in good old CS, as well: Warbler, fronted by our friend, Marshall.

Those of you who are familiar with local music may be glad to know that Circlebirds are also playing, a band fronted by pals Matt Jackson, Mark Fogelsong and Whitney Smith.

Even if you can't make it, please do feel free to judge for yourself. This was Feed Us a Fetus' first show at the Revolution in Downtown Bryan, a place my friends and I are very fond of, and from what I've seen, so are the creative chunk of folk here in College Station.

Happy listening!

Speed Bump and Grind

Hello young inVENTers,

My name is Geena and I am delighted to be your new blog mistress. Katie is off sprinkling her magic elsewhere other than College Station and has left us in the pixie dust! Just keeding. She's always here in spirit... and by "spirit" I mean the internet.

So I will pick up where she left off and hopefully provide all 6.4 of you readers with some brain food. [Hey, you, .4! I know you clicked on this link on accident but you should stick around and get comfortable!]

And since VENT is meant to stimulate the Texas A&M student body into, oh, I don't know, caring about more than just getting a diploma and makin' that money, what happens here will be an attempt to tickle each and every spot on that student body. We're going to stick our thumbs into many a pie, my friends. Many a pie. Music, architecture, culinary art, traditional art, culture ... even MATH!

Yes. Math. (Pushes up glasses)

That's why this video is the perfect start. It's the musical road, designed so that you can groove to the road grooves. YOU know what I'm talking about. When you're on a roadtrip and your sleepy self is jolted awake by the sudden onset of zigzagged concrete... it's not really soothing. What this road does isn't exactly soothing either, but it is much more fun -- AND it makes your butt buzz in its seat. This civic engineering anomaly fuses music, math, design, engineering, and the simple joy of driving. Enjoy. And if you've seen it before, enjoy again.

Honda music road
Uploaded by reklambuzi - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.