CBrajkovich Ramblings

It seems like this is going to be a day where we’re facing the harshness of reality.

Fundacion Padre Hurtado and Chilean ad agency Prolam Y&R created the You Are The Key campaign to raise awareness that children also suffer in homes that lack stability for various reasons. While we usually see or talk about the person with the issue, we leave the silent sufferers as an afterthought, though the emotional and physical impacts on their lives can also last a life time if not addressed properly. This issue isn’t easy to solve, but it is necessary to help, because there is always more than one victim’s present and future to protect. My Modern Met is really making us think today, aren’t they?

Isn’t this a powerful exhibit? Do Ho Suh created Floor, which currently can be seen at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Considering the trials and tribulations that we all go through in life, at times this is probably how most of us feel. And the first image does have a distinct 1% vs 99% flavor, doesn’t it? From far away, the image is powerful because we see the mass, but it doesn’t impact us on an emotional level because the detail is missing. It’s not until we look close up and see the individual faces as they strain to hold up their “world”.

These types of exhibits have been around since we first started creating, and yet the conversation they represent only seems to be looked at and talked about superficially. This lack of engagement has led to many troubling events that have changed the course of our future prosperity. Our current times are finally seeing a change happening, where we are gathering together to speak about issues that are difficult, deep, and distorted. This path is a good path, and a right path, and a path that will finally lead to the one thing that we all need…HOPE.

– Check out more closeup on My Modern Met

Karo Szmit created a bar chart for “Die edlen Früchte und die Gouvernante”.  Considering how most business oriented outlooks love this type of thing, it seemed like it would be popular. But when you look at it as an empty chart, awaiting our own personal data, then it becomes something akin to a motivator on so many levels. Here’s a couple of ways that we can see it:

• It’s awaiting each of us to finally put our visions into play, and giving us the tool to see which one we should start with
• It’s a guide – In reality, we are always trying to step forward, but the possibilities occur when we step off the well-worn path that most people use
• It’s a call for someone to start it, and let others build upon the starting point until reality and possibility converge because we’re working together

I could think of a lot more, but that would only be my interpretations. What do you see? How would your chart look?

OH MY GOD – I am in LOVE with this song and this group. I found them by accident through a tweet by @EricWhitacre (of the amazing Virtual Choir), and just had to go search for more. Walk off the Earth – go find them now. They’re all acoustics and soulful sounds that make your soul shiver just that little bit (and more). You can also find more on their bandcamp site. They’ll definitely put a smile on your face, and start your day off on the right foot. Enjoy – and thanks Eric Whitacre!

Silhouettes have always been a part of our art, and were very popular in the Victorian age. It’s the closest approximation to the real object that we wish to depict. Jan Pieńkowski has spent his life, starting in Poland but moving out through Europe until he reached England, working in the arts. His silhouettes have delighted children and adults alike as they’re combined with playful images and delicate colors that almost take on the feel of stained glass.

Continue reading →

The warmth of a summer night when I was a child was filled with magic…firefly magic. The bobbing little lanterns would float delicately above the grass blades as though the wind had carried in wondrous torches for my childish fantasies to follow. We kids would run around the grass chasing them with joy, because we thought that we could capture a little bit of that magic in our warm little palms. Our jars would fill with these wondrous creatures, until we set them free because we knew that’s what was meant to be.

I came across some amazing images taken by Tsuneaki Hiramatsu that caused the same bated breath I experienced as a child full of dreams. These images are everything that was right about childhood. These images should be carried around as adults so that we remember that same joyful place where everything was a beautiful dream.

– thanks for this magic, My Modern Met

There are memories, and then there are MEMORIES. One such event that causes a yearly resurgence of memories is the disaster at the nightclub República Cromañón on December 30, 2004 in Once, Buenos Aires. A fire killed 194 youths and injured 714 others because of pyrotechnic flares and chained fire exits. The corner near the nightclub site has become a memorial to remember those lost in the tragedy.

Those who follow me know that I love this world of untamed art. People who don’t get street art must not get emotions, because that is what street art is all about. Connecting with one another through emotions triggered by that art. Of course, there are other uses for street art, and many people blindly equate them all to the bad elements because they themselves don’t care for it. Some is destructive, but it is ALL creative.

In many places all over the world, artists won’t get the chance to show their art because the entry fee into the “art world” is simply beyond their means. And so, they use the blank canvases around them to express themselves. Not only to express themselves, but to pay tribute to things that are important to them. That there are others out there who connect means that there are opportunities for us to know one another for just a brief moment in time. That moment might fade, but the street will always remember. Even when we try to cover it with meaningless stuff.

The true meaning of our existence will always be found and depicted by those who brave the elements (man and nature) that try to stop them from creating. But creation is something that will always flourish as long as there are those who cherish its freedom of expression. There isn’t a force in this world that can stop it, and that just might be our saving grace.

The Underbelly Project was already well known when it hit the underbelly of New York in 2010. As described on the Underbelly Project Paris’ Vimeo page: In 2009 PAC and Workhorse started a project in an abandoned subway station in New York City. Over the course of a year and a half they invited over 100 contemporary artists to leave their creative mark inside the station. Working illegally, the project aimed to document a cross section of contemporary art, free of the commercial restrictions of the traditional gallery environment. Once the project had come to an end, the entrance was sealed trapping the art inside and creating an ephemeral time capsule.

Well, it’s back in Paris now with some more names to add to the already stellar list: Alice Pasquini, C215, Connor Harrington, Futura, HowNosm, SheOne, Tristan Eaton, and Will Barras. This is street art at its finest and its most meaningful, I think. Pure artistry for the purpose of creation. As they wrote at the end, “Alone in the dark we made a mark that no one would see.” What more can you ask for?