Preach What You Practice

What if you had to? I've posed the question about doing things you wouldn't want broadcast on the evening news.

Zack, formerly of Rage Against The Machine, could be a bit of a hypocrit according to a friend who used to work with him. A lot of people are. There are examples a plenty of public figures not "doing as they say".

So, what of it? What if you had to preach what you practice? What if twittering every action was required? What if Big Brother of Orwell's "1984" was a reality? What if your actions had some impact on the next generation of humanity somehow? What if there was some being or energy that watched everything to which you would have to account for your life?

Peace.

SOLD - Zack de la Rocha 07/31/08

The Execution

What happens when you're in the middle of a conversation with someone and they unintentionally mess up grammatically? The transfer of information falters, the communication breaks down. Focus transfers from message to medium when the tool of spoken language is misused.

The same thing happens when the tools of visual arts are misused. If you can see an errant artifact of the artist's chosen medium and tool employed, the illusion is broken and you see a painting instead of feeling the artist's intended expression.

In a pop cultural setting, think about when you see bad makeup.

So, it's all in the execution of the communication, in whatever form.

For me, internal consistency of brush strokes and paint density are key. If you look at my painting and think "that splotch looks out of place" or "he did something different with his brush there", and I didn't mean for you to think that, I've failed. Crap.

Peace.

SOLD - Bob Marley 07/29/08

The Hook & The Head Fake (Or RCPM Rocks & RIP Randy)

Inspiration and passion. It fills my soul when I see it in any form. It drives my desire to paint and create and enrich people's lives.

So this past Saturday we went down to Tucson to see Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, my second time seeing them live (this was the first). It was the day after Randy Pausch died from spreading pancreatic cancer.

Both very inspirational and passionate individuals in their own humble ways, I started thinking about what it was that drew me to them.

Both simply make the people around them feel good to be alive. But they do it in different ways.

Roger, with his incredible energy and stage presence connects with his audience by getting them involved in the moment. Through the years he has taught his fans how to help make his concerts a better experience for all: participation. Feel included, feel appreciated and grateful all at once. Feel lucky to be alive.

He does this, I think, by having a "hook" in just about every song that either the audience echoes, or he helps everybody along with, or they just sing it themselves. Below, I've embedded a video of "Banditos" at 2007's Circus Mexicus. Sometimes almost the whole song is the hook. The audience often on cue counts into songs "uno, dos, tres, quatro" without him even prompting anymore. They, we, are his tribe. We know it and we love it. Life is grand at a RCPM show. Beauty is everywhere.



Randy, with his incredible energy and stage presence connects with his audience by taking them for a ride with a payoff at the end. Below, I've embedded the video on YouTube of his "Last Lecture". It's over an hour. But it's worth it. Drawn into his life story and the way that he relates it to general ways to achieve your dreams, he does what great teachers sometimes do: trick students into learning. Using concrete examples throughout, he makes the audience feel like part of the story; following the lecture bullet points they think are about reaching their dreams that instead lead to the completely unexpected end.

The "head fake", the "oh wow" moment. And a double one at that. Like a good twist at the end of a movie, I won't spoil it for those who want to and haven't yet gone on the ride. But what it does, I think, is makes the viewer remember the message, makes them feel good about having "gotten it", and makes them feel good about living.



Roger's head fake? He gets to do what he loves, and you go to every show you can. (We're going again in two weeks to the Tempe gig.)
Randy's hook? Watch the lecture again and see how he pulls you along. (Kinda makes you cry at different moments, huh?)

Peace.

I Am... I Think.

I think I am, I think I am, I think I am. Wait, that was "can", wasn't it?

I can get as far as "I am". Words are so dicey that I don't know what comes next. There's enough philosophical weight in "I" and "am" to fill volumes, let alone the sentence comprised of both together.

In the context of this blog, however, 3 words can readily follow: product, producer, marketer.

I, the marketer, am selling things that I, the producer, have created and packaged along with I, "Daniel Edlen, professional artist", the product, to be sold along with my artwork.

Keeping them distinct is a trick, let me tell you! I can have 3-way arguments in my own head! With the "me" that isn't even related to Vinyl Art watching and laughing.

Fortunately, I'm enjoying all of me(s). I hope other creative peoples out there reading this are too. If you're not, please take a moment to vent here as a comment. I'm a good listener, er, reader. It'll make you, or at least a part of "you", feel better.

Peace.

Let The Dark Shine Through

I've got some good anger and sadness going on today, that's for sure.

But it somehow brought up something about my painting (in my head anyway. I don't know how it works). I use only white paint. Straight outta the tube.

The black, the shadows, the dark is the vinyl showing through. The density of the paint controls the amount of vinyl you see.

Hold the painting at an angle so a bright light reflects at you and the image looks like a negative.

Negatives can be positive. Everything and its godamned opposite.

Let it shine.

Peace.

SOLD - Jimi Hendrix 07/25/08