Generation Of Change

With tears in my eyes watching the opening video of Oprah's show last night juxtaposing Obama and King, I realized why Shepard Fairey's campaign portrait should be in the National Portrait Gallery even before Obama took office. Hope is truly uplifting.

As those who were young back when MLK spoke his piece now take over policy, the generational impact of the civil rights movement can be sensed powerfully with all our senses. While we currently are most certainly a depressed country, both emotionally and economically, I hope we as individuals can generate more change as we recognize that without the individual there is no country. Yes, we can take responsibility for ourselves. Yes, we can create change based upon hope instead of fear. Yes we can.

Exciting day, huh?

Peace.

This Is Totally Random (Or, Where's The Head Of The Twitterpillar?)

Totally. But I have to get it out there.

I woke up this morning half an hour early with this idea in my head. One of those cute, silly things that take advantage of a new technology for pure entertainment. The technology? Twitter.

See, I'd just found http://www.twitterforpeace.com/ yesterday through a re-tweet by John Cleese (@JohnCleese). Everytime somebody posts a tweet with "#peace" in it, it shows up on this webpage automatically in real-time. Neato. That's the specific technology I'm talking about using for laughs, the hashtag (#).

There's a kids' group drawing activity that my old art teacher is calling the "kangaroo" game, where each kid gets an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with two dots on each 8.5 edge kinda near the corners positioned so that if any 2 sheets are placed 8.5 edge to 8.5 edge, the dots line up. The kids then draw a wacky animal body that connects the dots the long ways. When done, all the pages are assembled end to end randomly creating a really funny looking long caterpillar-like animal. The birthday kid gets to do the head and tail.

That's the idea, with tweets. Each tweet will start with the end of a sentence, the verb-object part. The middle of the tweet will be some random narrative content. The end will be the start of a sentence, the subject. So a tweet will look like:

"#tp ...[verb phrase][object phrase]. [sentence or 2]. [subject]..."

Here's my first example: "#tp ... ran to the window. "Holy mackerel" John mumbled, almost knocking off the fishbowl. The fish..."

I want to call it Twitterpillar (#tp).

If you want to play, do your tweet first: http://www.twitter.com/. Then here's the link to read what's come before, or after as the case may be: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23tp. Don't read the stream first though, keep it random. Tweet before you peek!

A good trick to make sure it'll fit in with the idea is to read your tweet like a loop. If the first and last sentence fragments, well, last and first, go together grammatically, then you're good.

Peace.

Blog Action Day 08: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For [EC]

This year, Blog Action Day is about poverty. I've painted Bono because of his passionate history of working to make our world better. It is in us. We can be better.

The problem is that we think "better" means we need to do something to get there. Again, it is in us. Already.

WHAT are we looking for?
What are we LOOKING for?

We don't need to look. We just need to acknowledge. To listen, to understand, to love. This applies to everybody and everything, as it is.

Action will follow once we recognize that everything is already within us. When we have allowed ourselves to love our selves as we are, we won't compare our selves to others, we won't beat our selves down, we won't get mad at others for seeming to be in better circumstances, we won't try to beat them down, we won't get scared of getting worse, we won't attack things and people different from us. We won't take, we won't hurt, we won't destroy. We won't cause poverty of spirit, mind and body.

We will bring out what is good in all of us. We will love us. We will unite. We will give, we will heal, we will create. We will rise above poverty.

The other reason I've painted Bono is that, as part of my taking action to make things better, this piece is one of my Elliott Collection paintings for charity. The deal is $100 of the $175 price for the framed piece goes to a charity of your choice. You send me 2 checks, one to the charity, one to me. I send the charity check off to that charity in your name.

That ties the piece to your memory of giving as well as helps me change the world, getting us closer to

Peace.

Think, Act, Spread Peace

Happy Birthday, John!

Join Yoko and millions in celebrating.

Her statement about art and peace is beautiful and inspiring.

Indeed, Peace.

SOLD - John Lennon 10/09/08

Think Locally, Act Globally [EC]

When I look at the server logs from my main site and this blog, a large number of visitors are from outside the United States of America. It's really exciting to think of people who don't speak English getting to see my work. I wonder how my art is perceived through the eyes of other cultures.

A few blogs have done posts about my Vinyl Art in other countries:

Enrensenf (German video blog, I'm at 3 minutes in)
CHEWINGHOME (French blog)
wheeze (Ukranian LiveJournal)
bluevolvox (Italian blog)
Psicodelia Colectiva (Costa Rican blog)
APPUNTI NOVALIS (Italian blog)
winylowe.com (Polish blog)

Pretty cool. I also was featured in an Italian magazine called Match Music. They asked me some questions via email and put the Q&A in a half page addition to an article about the increased interest in vinyl.

A very interesting international connection is with a gentleman from Lebanon. He's collecting autographs and small pieces of art from all over the world to create a large show about world culture, and he was delighted to get one of mine.

Lebanon. Rough place. Beautiful, but not the best place to be at the moment. He's just told me that he had to postpone his exhibition until after the elections there because of the increased violence.

Wow. I certainly haven't had to do that, to change my plans due to fear for my life.

With all the craziness out there in the world, I think it's important to remember that we're all connected. We're all human. We all need understanding and love, and help. If we can expand our thought and hearts to try to change the world, to bring people together, we can make it better for all of us at home.

I'm trying to imagine if locally we had events occurring that restricted our freedoms that drastically. I'm trying to imagine how difficult it would be to carry on, especially if I felt that the rest of the world was an enemy. We need to act, to show people around the globe that we understand their local problems.

I know there are great charities out there with programs that act on a global scale. So, for this painting of Jimi in my EC series, how about giving the $100 to a group like the Peace Corps or Amnesty International or UNICEF that has that global perspective?

I would be honored if you wanted to own a piece of my art in memory of acting to help the world.

Peace.

Truth Is... (Picture Tommy Smothers' Look Of Bewilderment)

... what you get other people to believe.

The political content of Smothers' acceptance speech harkened back to John Lennon's era.

The thing that plain sucks is that it still is relevant today.

I caught snippets of the Emmy's last night and Smothers' speech was the only moment that stuck in my mind, other than wondering where Goldie Hahn was in the Laugh-In wall. He still can nail that look, that look like he's got no clue what's going on for a split second and then lets us have it. It's, dare I say, even more subtle than Bob Newhart's delivery.

Anyway, back to Lennon. It turns out that I am the only artist being featured at Primitive Kool this coming Saturday. It's my first solo show! Pretty cool. So we're definitely going to be there.

I also decided to do some more pieces to take to the show. A week of the "J"s: John, Jimi, Jim, Jerry, and Joey. I've got to find a Ramones album to paint Joey, but I found a great, well, clear at least, photo of him unexpectedly. These will all be new images.

So here's John. I know he'd've been at yesterday's Peace Day concert. Peter Gabriel performed along with Annie Lennox and other passionate musicians. Despite the counterpoint of the bombing in Pakistan, I hope the day reached some people's hearts. I think, like Tommy Smothers, that we need to resensitize people to the conditions in the world, to the conflicts between peoples believing their truths, to the ever present need to seek

Peace.

John Lennon 09/22/08

Like Toy Soldiers (For PeaceOneDay.org)

Peace and Eminem? Odd pairing, on the surface.

I've discussed them both before, but this time, the context is the international Day of Peace, September 21st. I'm posting today because it falls on a Sunday and I don't usually post on the weekend.

I'd thought I might do something related to Peter Gabriel, but his connection with world peace is well known and acknowledged. Eminem's connection perhaps is only in my head, but I think it's valid.

As I said in that previous post, understanding takes the power away from fear. Both fear and lack of understanding are the primary causes of the escalation of conflict. I don't mean to say that conflict would disappear if we just loved one another. Eminem knows that isn't realistic either.

If you do listen and seek to understand others, put yourself in their shoes as it were, tolerance can be reached and solutions determined. Understanding puts everybody on the same side in opposition to the problem rather than 2 sides of people developing with positions further and further disparate and entrenched.

Eminem reaches out with raw emotion for understanding, telling his story as personally and openly as he can. Think about the reaction of many in the public to this expression and its effect on him. Imagine you had just produced for all the world to hear your innermost fears in the only way you'd been taught only to have them twisted and warped for political agendas attacking you and your art.

Yes, artists are supposed to have thick skins, but not of lead, man. Listen to his lyrics. Cringe at them. Realize they are HIS TRUTH.

The passionate expression of people's truth needs to be cherished. If it were, whole peoples wouldn't take up arms in defense of their beliefs.

What I can do for peace? Yes, love, but also stay true to me and communicate that truth, and passionately seek to encourage and defend others who do the same. Indeed, Eminem and his work connect closely with...

Peace. Make it more than one day.

Eminem 09/19/08

Ups And Downs

To all you whom have stock market investments, I feel your short-term anxiety. Just remember to "invest", not "trade".

Thinking, planning, acting, living for the long-term is difficult. It's really hard to not get swept away by adrenalin and fear, to not act rashly. Rather, to not react. Reacting is usually what gets us in trouble. We let things going on around us, and our perceptions, lead us.

The word "react" has a couple definitions that are helpful: to change in response to a stimulus and to act in opposition. Both mean that the action taken has as its cause something external. Something made you do it, you had to do it.

I know how it feels like that during those moments. I know.

I don't know, besides obsessive preparation, what the answer is to avoid responses that worsen situations. Maybe listening, and...

Peace.

What Will You Do?

Peace. One day.

It's a stirring video, stirring emotionally and a call to stir, to action.

I'm not sure what I'll do, but Peter Gabriel will be performing at the Royal Albert Hall, so maybe it will have to do with him. "Painting For Peace" has a nice ring.

Here's one I did of Peter:



What will YOU do?

Peace.

Peter Gabriel 09/12/08

Cybernetics And Peace

Continuing to listen to my new LAUNCHcast station, Rage Against The Machine's "Killing In The Name Of" reminded me of something else I wanted to share of me. At UCLA I majored in Cybernetics (since renamed), which fundamentally was the study of control and communications of systems biological and non-biological. Back then the cool yet nerdy example was the character Data on Star Trek. The coursework was big picture stuff: understanding ecology, statistics, and theoretical computer science's concept of The Internet.

Control. How do we model the human heart and its interaction with a new drug to help it work better? Create a theory, turn it into math, throw tests at it, get feedback, modify the theory, redo the math, continue testing, and so forth. Control the situation, the system.

Can't control humanity. Even Hitler with his focussed, passionate charisma could not change what was true, what was inside individuals. Yes he, and all of history's evil dictators corrupted those willing to "do what they told ya", those willing to look at people based upon labels and groups rather than tolerate individuality, but society will give people their just desserts eventually.

Now, communication can effect change. I latched onto this side of my major, realizing how amazing the possibilities of The Internet were. This was when browsers and email were in their initial versions. Dialup bulletin boards gave way quickly to Usenet as students and early adopters quickly pushed the boundaries of computing power and revolutionized how humanity flows. Telnet and chat clients began to explore what today we take for granted in communicating with all the variations of social media. It's incredible to think back and see how society has layered on top of The Internet a whole new method to reach out, to listen, and to be heard. This can theoretically lead to endless tolerance and compassion, lead to acceptance of self and others, lead to

Peace. Help "make it so".

Keep Hope Alive

For some reason techno hits my emotions hard. There's something primal about it. The Crystal Method's "Keep Hope Alive" sends waves down the back of my neck and tears down my cheeks. I've started to rate songs, bands and albums, developing my own Yahoo! LAUNCHcast station to share what inspires my art.

Listening to such a raw form of human communication made me think about our world's condition. Recently I was responding to a blog post about world peace, and I came up with the realization that it's not about peace as in an end to war. It's about inner peace, inner hope for Life. Eastern beliefs focus on acceptance, recognizing the perpetual existence of opposites. I can certainly attest to the fact that everything and its opposite are more present than ever. They pull the pendulum of Life into swinging so far around they almost touch at the top. Human war and conflict will never cease until individuals stop worrying about everybody else and focus on their own inner peace. Accept yourself. You are perfect as you are, as Life made you. Live and experience your piece of Life and find peace. Others can and will take care of themselves.

Gandhi Lived this. His methods weren't about imposing his will on others, they weren't about treating a symptom. They were about treating the cause of his suffering, his drama. Get right with yourself. Let others be. Individuals are here for a reason, Life living lessons. Learn from yours, learn from others. Then there can and will be

Peace.

Why Eminem Should Be Respected

I wanted to see if you'd picked up on something. Peace. I've been signing that quite a bit recently. You might not have noticed because it is a word thrown about too freely I think. I don't have it as a "sig" anywhere. I type it each time. Each time, hitting that period after typing the word makes me think, makes me feel. I feel different emotions depending on when I type it, but I type it each time deliberately to stay connected to Life. Peace period. That's all that should need be said. Quietly, simply, with gut-wrenching true feeling. Do you almost cry when you say peace? The huge weight associated with it, does it come to mind when you flash the peace sign? I hope so. Like "love", "peace" should have meaning behind it when it's said, I think. It should stir in you the desire to act, to do.

Eminem's multi-faceted message in his music communicates his anger and frustration with the state of affairs both in his life and in the world. He seeks peace. Venting, he makes it ok to feel and express dark emotions. He conveys how conflict itself ends up winning when the two sides involved battle each other instead of uniting against the problem underlying. I respect his creativity, his way with words, and yes, what I see as his message. I know his productions, his words, are controversial, pointed to as inciting and insightful. Good. Discussion brings issues into the open and can lead to tolerance and understanding if people are open. People usually have walls up for protection, though. I wish people would be open. Pain exists, but it can be used towards understanding instead of hate. Hate means you care about the other side, means you can love too. You try listening for where the hate is coming from, and you can break downs walls with trust, compassion, and openness. And what you put out always comes back around too.

I thought I'd share with you what I think, but I certainly won't take it personally if you disagree. Disagreement can lead to wider understanding. Understanding can lead to...

peace.

Eminem 02/01/08