Friday, December 28, 2007

Last post of 2007!

Well, well...here we are my faithful few! My last post of the year! Can you believe it in approximately 3 days we will be in 2008! I am looking forward to next year. It will be a new beginning for me. I am in the midst of working on some new work; as well as going back into old work that I still have unresolved. I have a few series that I started but left open for awhile. Now is the time to return to them, I believe I have some good stuff in them that I haven't explored. I know that these series have unrealized potential that I MUST FINALLY tap into. Next year is a good time to do good work!

Going forward I want to wish everybody a happy and safe New Year. In next weeks post I will list my new years resolutions as well as my goals for the coming year.

Until next week sometime, namaste and stay strong...

Saturday, December 22, 2007

The Holidays

Happy Holidays!!!!!
Well its the time again, my few faithful, another weekly post is amongst you. Let me start by saying I love the holidays but for some reason I find it hard to get excited about it these days. Maybe because I look forward to my birthday(which is a couple of weeks away). Enough of that, now to the business at hand.

I have begun to employ the use of Xerox transfers in work. Its is a pretty straightforward approach with magnificent results. For the time being I am working kind of small with it(8" x 10" and up). Alot of artists employ this technique to some degree of success but I want to take it to a somewhat different level. In the beginning I will be very basic with it but as I get more involved with it, I will begin to do more of a deconstructing process with it. More along the lines of putting it down and removing it then re-applying it and then repeating the process.

I am more involved mentally with my work then ever. I have had a more interpersonal approach to creating art and I am really driving myself to produce more involved and focused works of art. I am definitely trying to carry myself into the new year on a high note.

Until next week sometime, stay strong...

Saturday, December 15, 2007

2 weeks!(Just about)

Hello faithful few(trust me next year I am going to have alot of people reading and subscribing to my blog). There are just about two weeks left in this year and soon I will begin posting my resolutions here. I know one of them will be to CREATE MORE. Later here I have been starting work and then stopping work only to pick up on it later or months down the road. Right now I am in the midst of 4 separate projects, not to mention I need to photograph my new stuff for my portfolio. I need to come up with a way in which I can devote more time to my craft. Maybe instead of trying to be more spontaneous with it, I should set aside a time period where I say, "This is when I will go about the business of making wondrous works of Art!" Hopefully that will ignite a fire and I can perhaps get better focused on what I am doing. Well thats all I have for you guys this week.

As always...Until next week, stay strong...

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Status Quo and Black Accountability in the Black Community.

Well I am taking a break from writing about my work, instead I want to talk about the status quo as it pertains to the black community and black accountability. As I peruse the 'net, tv news broadcasts, and the newspapers, I can't but help to see the backwards movement of "The American Black" as a people and a culture. I will not try to condone nor chastise nor agree with any instances that I may mention here, but I will delve into the underlying theme in the situations; "us."

In this new millennium, we do not really have any of the strong leaders that our parents or their parents. No Malcolm! No Martin! No William Edward Burghardt! No Rosa! No Stokely! I mean we have holdovers in Jesse and Rev. Al. But come on! They would rather show up afterwards and talk about how we can prevent the degradation and deterioration of our people then to enpower "us" long before we get to that point. Even the N.A.A.C.P. has its faults holding a mock funeral for the word "Nigger." Come on People we have bigger problems than attack and killing words. We need to reach out to the youth today, because that's where it starts. We need to be held accountable for our youth. We need to teach them that everything that they do in the public eye is reflective of us as a people. Its not right but that is how others in America and the world will view us. We need to let them know that no matter what someone says or does that violence against that person will not solve anything. Using racism against out ancestors and themselves is not an excuse to engage in violence. Sure what went on in Jena, LA was wrong and sure they were harsh in the prosecution of the young men. But I grew up learning that if you don't put yourself in situations like that you won't have to deal with it. I mean in some cases it is unavoidable but in the cases were it is, try to come to a more nonviolent approach to resolve the matter. Here in Baltimore yesterday a young white woman was assaulted by 9 black kids(6 boys and 3 girls) on a city bus apparently for no reason. She was trying to take a seat on a bus and they would not let sit down. She finally sat down and they proceeded to beat her and drag her off the bus and continue to beat her. She suffered deep lacerations on her neck and head not to mention to broken bones in her eye socket. Where was the accountability? One of the teens mothers said that the victim provoked the attack by spitting in one her attackers face. Where is a 9 on 1 assault excusable by someone spitting on you. Where is the Black Accountability? Today a 17 year old girl was sentenced to life in prison with all but 25 years suspended because she stabbed a girl and left her to die at one of our light rails stops. All she wanted was the girls cell phone. She wanted the girls cell phone so bad that she had murder in her heart. Where is the Black Accountability? Where are you Jesse? Where are you Rev. Al?

Somewhere we need to tell these kids that they are only breaking down the forward advancement that we as people have been trying to for so long further. We need to teach and mentor this kids in the ways of morals and scruples. We need to put it in their heads that this is not acceptable and that we will not stand for it. Our parents and their parents have fought to hard to crush the stereotype that comes with being an "American Black." We need to provide Black Accountability to our youth. We need to help them see that negativity and violence we only tear down our culture, history, and livelihood.

Until next week, stay strong...

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Closer

The closer it gets to the new year...the closer I get to feeling like I soon will have to come up with New Years Resolutions...Next year i will resolute to be more creative...I will resolute to make more art...I will resolute to exhibit more...I will resolute to grow and become a better artist...

Until next week tomodachi-san...