Bomb It! A Graffiti Movie

May 28th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

Graffiti.

What do you think?

Is it art?

Is it crime?

Personally I think yes and sometimes. And I must admit the quality of said graffiti can have an effect on my opinion. When I am painting over bad graffiti on the side of the building I manage I can be pretty grumpy. But when the train passes by there can be some pretty amazing graffiti on the side of those ugly drab cars. Some very creative work with layers and depth. Work that is a lot more interesting than ads on the side of buses. I can’t help but ponder who painted it and under what conditions.

I don’t think I know any graffiti artists. But I bet if I did I would have a better understanding and probably a little more appreciation for graffiti. Enter the new movie Bomb It!.

BOMB IT is the explosive new documentary from award-winning director Jon Reiss investigating the most subversive and controversial art form currently shaping international youth culture: graffiti.

Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe. Featuring old school legends and current favorites such as Taki 183, Cornbread, Stay High 149, T-Kid, Cope 2, Zephyr, Revs, Os Gemeos, KET, Chino, Shepard Fairey, Revok, and Mear One. This cutting edge documentary tracks down today’s most innovative and pervasive street artists as they battle for control over the urban visual landscape. You’ll never look at public space the same way again.

BOMB IT has shot in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tijuana, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Hamburg, Berlin, Cape Town, São Paulo, and Tokyo.

That blurb was taken from the movie’s web site which you can find here. The site also lists the artists interviewed and there are too many names to count. I would venture a guess that it is close to a 100 or more. They all have names cooler than yours and many even have links to personal web sites.

The movie looks interesting to me because it would allow me to gain some knowledge on an art form that I am pretty ignorant on. And as you know I am a sucker for artists being interviewed. I may just have to set aside $29.95 and buy it because I doubt I am going to find it at my local Redbox. If your interested you can buy it here.

I’ll leave you with this trailer:

Posted in Movies about artists/art | No Comments »

Free 278 Page Photoshop Book

May 19th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

One of the greatest tools being used today is Photoshop. A complex and rich visual editing software that can be used for way more than photography. Photoshop has pretty much become a medium in and of itself. But like I said it is rich and complex. So we need all the help we can get in using it to make those pixels dance to our tune.

The web site www.sitepoint.com is offering a little of that help. For a limited The Photoshop Anthology is available for free download. The ebook is a tutorial on Photoshop for web designers but even if your not a web designing Photoshop user the book is worth the price for any Photoshop user.

According to Sitepoint we have 99designs to thank for the book.

So "Thank You" 99designs.

Posted in Resources for Artists | 1 Comment »

Keeping You Informed

May 14th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

Hello Art Palaver Reader,

As you may have noticed the posts have slowed down a bit as of late. It is about time I told you about that. I’ve been working hard under the hood of Art Palaver and also ZAF622. It is taking more time and effort than I expected. I hope in the end though both endeavors are better.

First let us talk about Art Palaver. Art Palaver grew out of my ZAF622 Project which is a webzine dedicated to the artists and art of Fort Collins Colorado. And I have kept the primary focus of Art Palaver on Fort Collins and art close to home. Based on my audience I have decided to change the focus of Art Palaver.

This blog will no longer be focused solely on Fort Collins Colorado. Art Palaver will now be taking aim at what it means to be an artist living in the 21st Century. How does an artist do what they do living in the Internet Age? How does new technology and social trends effect artists? How can artists use these new tools for self promotion and career growth? How can artists connect and learn from other artists these days? Questions like these will be asked from here on out in the posts of Art Palaver.

My goal is in the very title of this blog. I want to have a discussion about art. I want to build a community of artists around this site. I want to connect people. I want to help artists. That is the bottom line.

But I am not abandoning my beloved Fort Collins. ZAF622 will be the place that I continue my focus on the art in the community I live in. That site is undergoing a complete rebuild as well. The mission for ZAF622 is the same though, to meet artists and tell their story.

Thank you everyone who has supported Art Palaver and ZAF622. It is very much appreciated. And very much needed.

I’ll see you in the future,

Posted in Art on the Web | 1 Comment »

The Modern Day Artist Living In The Modern Day World

May 9th, 2008 admin

Editors note: This is a guest post from Meilena Hauslendale Founder of Silence Speaks for Artists & Authors.

An artist in today’s world faces a variety of challenges that may or may not have been present before. Our goals have changed, our desires to share our imagery and visualization have taken on a whole new set of guidelines and rules. After all, artists have become just as divided as religions with the many facets they are labeled with. When it comes down to it though, we all bleed red, despite the medium we choose to use, and starving or not, we need to create art and make a living simultaneously.

Granted we have programs in place now that allow us to support a livelihood and our desire to create art, but not every artist will be a part of this luxury. It can almost be a full time job just seeking funding, art supplies, applying to residencies, and publishers. The reality is, we don’t have time to go work our day jobs, pay the bills, do art, and seek a valid presence in the art world, but by all means we do make such attempts.

No longer is an artist required to carry their portfolio around to every gallery they can reach locally. With the glory of the internet, land is no longer a boundary. We no longer need to open up a brick and mortar gallery as we have these things called virtual galleries that allows the entire world to visit our domain, browse our collections, and purchase our art. No more heavy commissions that have to be mustered from our already sunken in pockets. No more gallery rental fees have to be paid. For now we have web hosting and the freedom of a 24 hours a day gallery that shows 365 days a year.

With this new found freedom, we are given new responsibilities and challenges. Now that we have alleviated our local gallery owners from creating postcards of our art and sending out invites to their mailing lists, we have also taken on another hat of being an artist. For now, we are marketing representatives seeking a market for our work that is nestled in our homes or hanging in a frame somewhere. No longer are we just creators. Now we are marketers, customer service representatives, and for some of us even web designers. We will be in charge of press, in charge of our production, and in charge of our creating even better new pieces of work.

Some of us will pay an institution for this heavy title ‘artist’ and others will acquire this gift at birth and seek no educational facility to disprove our talent. Regardless our goal is to be an ‘artist’ full-time, however due to modern day inconveniences such as rent, gas prices, food, and other amenities, we still have to keep our day job. In fact we may have several day jobs that have nothing to do with being an artist, but everything to do with supporting ourselves and even family.

We await for the day when we can gain gallery representation, or our print editions become sought after by collectors all over the world. We await the day when we can hit the snooze button on our alarm clocks, put on our comfy clothes and get out of bed only to greet a fresh canvas calling for our visions. For we want nothing more than to be that which we love… an artist.

Meilena Hauslendale

Founder of Silence Speaks for Artists & Authors, http://silencespeaks.com

Inspirational Artist, http://www.meilena.com

Posted in The Process | No Comments »

Art Palaver Did Not Win A Webby

May 7th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities.

The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category — The Webby Award and The People’s Voice Award — in each of its four entry types: Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video and Mobile. Members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. However, you, the online community, determine the winners of The People’s Voice by voting for the nominated work that you believe to be the best in each category. Each year, the People’s Voice Awards garners hundreds of thousands of votes from the Web community all over the world.

The Webby awards are like the Academy Awards for the internet. They have been around for 12 years now, which is ancient in the life of the internet. There are nearly 70 categories. Including Art, Automotive, Bill Paying, Politics, Podcasts, Radio, and even Personal Websites just to name a few. The sites that win theses awards should be the best of the internet. Let’s take a look at some.

That is just a small sample. The rest can be found here. What do you think artists? Is your web site worthy of a Webby? Is it a worthy goal? If your interested in marketing yourself via the internet I think it is a worthy goal. All the sites that are Webby Nominees are good places to go when researching what people look for in a website. What features and content get people to visit your website and more importantly what gets them coming back for more?

Maybe next season Art Palaver can find itself being nominated for a Webby. If that is to be the case I have a lot of work do and a tough journey ahead of me. Want to join me?

Live to Create,

Posted in Art on the Web | 1 Comment »

Planning Culture In Fort Collins

May 6th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

The City of Fort Collins Cultural Services has released a “Cultural Plan.” A 30 page document stating what they hope to do in Fort Collins.

This is the vision statement:

To identify Fort Collins as a uniquely creative community and destination for the arts, culture, and science that enriches the lives of our citizens and visitors, and serves as an economic engine.

The plan lists 6 goals it has in order to make that vision real:

1. Employ arts, culture, and participatory science to strengthen the Fort Collins’ economy, increase tourism, and improve quality of life.

2. Develop the right mix of cultural facilities to meet the needs of the community and to make Fort Collins a destination attraction.

3. Develop and fund an Arts Council to promote and support the business of the arts.

4. Build Fort Collins’ identity as a cultural center and destination by increasing the visibility of the arts, culture, and science activities in Fort Collins.

5. Develop sustainable funding, public and private, to support arts, culture, and science programs.

6. Ensure availability of arts education programing to our youth through future community arts centers, collaborations between schools and arts groups, training and resources for teachers, and funding.

That is the bare bones of the 30 pages. I spent some time looking online for a PDF version but failed to find one. Nor did I find any information on the Fort Collins Cultural Services. The document itself does not list any contact information either. So I am not sure where to go if you want to get your hands on this document or if you want to give feedback.

If I find out I’ll be sure to pass it on.

www.zaf622.com

Posted in Fort Collins | 1 Comment »

A Candidate That Inspires Creativity

May 2nd, 2008 Daryle Dickens

I’ve heard it said that Hillary is a PC and Obama is a Mac. And it does seem that the creative community has embraced Obama. Doing a Google search for "Obama art" yields about 2,380,000 results. Doing a Google search for "Hillary art" and Google asks you if you meant "hillaryart." Crude research for sure but it shows what is happening out there.

And to be fair I did a search for "McCain art." That yielded zero results relating to anything artistic in the realm of the candidate McCain. Near the top of the results page was a story though about how he voted for the Helms Amendment. Some of you may remember that one. It limits government funding to art that is deemed offensive.

So is Obama the artists choice? Or just the internet artist choice?

What do you think?

On that note I’ll leave you with this fun little video:

Have a good weekend,

www.zaf622.com

Posted in Art on the Web | No Comments »

May 1st Is RSS Awareness Day

May 1st, 2008 Daryle Dickens

At least according to RSSday.org. And I think it is a worthy cause. RSS is a great tool that can help you manage all that information out there. Google Reader is my preferred way to manage my RSS feeds.

Do you RSS?

Posted in Art on the Web | No Comments »

Links Links And More Links

May 1st, 2008 Daryle Dickens

1. Can you carve within the lines?

2. Creepy creepy creepy.

3. What’s old is new again.

4. A perfect fold every time.

5. A place you will never find the work of Darren Mahuron. (His stuff is here.)

Can’t forget about number…

6. Who ever wants to sit down and argue about this list I’ll buy the beer. (I can start it off by saying #6 should be #1.)

Posted in Art | No Comments »