Juan Tanamo

This logo was on the back cover of Acme Novelty Library number 19 that I just received in the mail. Chris Ware is such a genius with this stuff.

Finding Joy

This coming Thursday night is our final event for our residency at MOCA. Come on out for the workshop and build some foxhole radios to take home. Better yet, call the Finding Joy Hotline and record yourself to become part of the project.

As the final event of their three-month Engagement Party residency, Finishing School presents Finding Joy, a public intervention taking place at MOCA Grand Avenue’s Sculpture Plaza, on Thursday, December 4, from 7 to 10pm. Engagement Party is the dynamic new initiative developed by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), to engage innovative Los Angeles–based artist collectives.

Intrigued by the military term “finding joy” (referring to the successful establishment of radio contact on the battlefield) Finishing School will lead a workshop in which participants will build small DIY radios that will be used to detect prerecorded transmissions located throughout the museum. To generate audio content, prior to the event Finishing School will interview members of the MOCA community about what brings them joy. The public is also welcome to share their thoughts by phone; to participate, please call the Finding Joy Hotline at 213/455-2926 and follow the instructions. Reception with cash bar to follow.

This event is FREE and open to the public. No reservations are required.

Waiting

I'm getting bored of waiting for my friend to get over to my house so I decided to sketch. I haven't seen her in a month so I'm actually looking forward to spend some time with her. We're supposed to cook dinner together. Should be a great deal of fun.

Reflections

It’s rare that I get to spend the holidays with my family anymore, even though they are so close by. I don’t think I have spent a single Thanksgiving or Christmas with my entire immediate family since I was about 16. Every single year one or more person will be absent due to traveling. It has become hard for all of us to get together to enjoy even a wonderful meal on these holidays together.

But each year during this time I begin my reflections of the year that was. I used to do it a lot more when I was younger. My birthday is fairly close to New Year’s Day. So I often used it as an opportunity to reflect on what I have learn that particular year.

This year I have a lot to be thankful for. It has been quite an eventful year. And in a lot of ways I think I’ve been more than lucky with the things that have happened to me.

If you have told me at the beginning of the year that I would be part of an artist collective that will be doing a residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, I would tell you that you were crazy. We have been working extremely hard this past year since I have joined, and what is going on currently is really a nice reward unto itself.

But what I have been thinking about lately are not prospects of a successful career. I have been thinking more about the successes of friends I know who have moved on to new phases of their lives.

In the past couple of years I have had the great opportunity to come to known people much younger than myself. Most of them are now scattered throughout the country in different art schools. To see all of them being extremely excited about this new place in their lives is really a joy in itself. It has been many years since I have graduated from art school, but I still remember that excitement over possibilities and looking forward to life after graduation.

I guess in some way I have a completely different gauge for what success really is. For me I find success when the work that I put into personal relationships come back to me in a positive way. For me, at least, getting the love and respect of those friends and family who I in return love and respect is far more rewarding than any other type of successes that come my way.

I have been extremely lucky to have close friends, some I have know for a good decade or two, some no more than a year or two, who provide me with support and joy that I need.

But this year has been an extremely joyful year on the family front. My sister, back last December, gave our family a beautiful, lovely girl. She has become the jewel of my life. My sister lives in Arizona, so it’s not very often that I get to see my niece, but every time I do get to see her, I am often reminded of how wonderful, but yet fragile, life really is. She will be one five days before Christmas, and I will get to see her. There will be no other presents this year that will surpass that.

There is a great deal of uncertainty waiting for me in the next year. But no matter what life presents to me, I can’t help but have to remind myself how wonderful things have been. With everything I have said, I don’t even know how I can ask for anything more. Anything beyond this is a wonderful gift that I don’t really need.

Happy Thanksgiving

Blanket

The two things that I am obsessed with most in my life are printed matters and music. They are the reason why I can't seem to unclutter my life. The music I have been able to go completely digital. That's easy, though I do dearly miss the packaging simply because a small thumbnail on your iPod isn't really "cover art"

Now, the printed matter is an entirely different thing altogether. I tried to go digital sometime back, but nothing seemed like a good replacement. I mean, most times you can't even find an ebook version. Also, they keep producing those luscious art books that I can't seem to pass up. And of course reading graphic novels on your computer isn't quite the same experience.

But one type of printed matters that I can't seem to get rid of is the magazine. I have way too many subscriptions to magazines that I don't even have time to read Then there's the habit of going to a good magazine rack and find a really nice one out of the pack.

I am getting rid of some this year though. I don't know why I still subscribe to some of them. One particular tome of an art journal is going bye-bye. You know. The one with the 80-20 percent ratio in advertisement-content? Ridiculous. Actually I've found another local art magazine that I like with good critical writings. So I think that one's going to be a mainstay for awhile.

I don't think I'm into these magazines necessarily for the designs either. Because back before everyone started a blog, I was heavily buying up xeroxed zines wherever I can find them. Sometimes I lament the fact that you can't really get Factsheet Five anymore. At least I don't think anyone has picked up publishing that zine again.


But my obsession with zines continues. In the current class that I'm teaching, Desktop Publishing, I'm making my students produce xeroxed zines for their final project. The ideas are so varied that I'm such a happy camper. I do agree that laying them out in InDesign can be an overkill. But I'm afraid that's the subject I teach. (Incidentally, I personally believe that all you'll ever need to be a designer are pen, paper, and a good xerox machine. It's not a hardset rule. I mean I do all my designs on my Macbook Pro. But I definitely do little things all the time in my sketchbooks that no one gets to see but me. Well, unless of course I feel like sharing them.)

A couple of years ago I started to realize that PDF zines seem to be the way to go. There are a couple that I've been following off and on. They vary greatly from art to video games. It seems like a lot of really good efforts are going into these type of zines.

This get me to the subject at hand. I have been friend with one Pikaland on flickr for awhile now. It's only been recently (very recently) that I became aware that she's a blogger. Not very Magnum, P.I. of me. So in going through her posts, I discovered a mention of the PDF zine Blanket.

It apparently comes out bi-monthly. Each is a themed issue. But the nice thing about it is that it features some really interesting illustrators, designers, and photographers. Er, can we just call them "artists?"

The current issue is the Travel Issue. Aside from some nice contributions about traveling, there are also interviews with a couple of really good designers.

The other issue I'm digging is the Music Issue. Obviously. Nothing like awesome music graphics to go with articles about music.

So I guess this little zine is going on my permanent Delicious bookmarks. So far there are twelve issues so I've got something to read every month for the next year.

Incidentally Blanket was also the name of a comic book series I used to love back in the 90's. Illustrated by David Mazzuchelli and friends. I miss that series. Though Mazzuchelli shows up here and again in anthologies and, of course, pages of magazines, where he does editorial illustrations.

Machine @ LACMA

Paul Rand Interview

The Rise Of The Amateur Professional

How Creativity Is Being Strangled By The Law

Little Pharma Drug Run

So here we go! Yet another successful event at MOCA. Finishing School presented Little Pharma Drug Run last Thursday. The evening started at the Grand Avenue Sculpture Plaza with the costume workshop. People came and made costumes based on their favorite pharmaceuticals. It was amazing because all of them came and just got right into it. They knew exactly what they wanted to make.

Then at around 8:30 pm, we all headed out in our bikes for the ride. We rode through the downtown area, making stops along the way at different pharmacies and drug dispensaries. At each stop we had a little quiz show, giving out prizes. All the questions related somehow with the individual types of places where we were making the stops.

The evening culminated with an "after party" of sorts at Fringe Exhibitions, where our exhibition, Little Pharma Physic Garden, was on its last week. Fat Tire was generous enough to provide the wonderfully delicious beers. I ended up having really nice conversations with some of the participants.

All the thanks go to Patrick Miller, our official photographer for the event, for most of the photos in this slideshow. It is a massive set, but probably not our record-breaking one. Take some time with it and enjoy.

And I can't really end this post without mad shout outs to the Wankstazz for helping out with the ride.

Our next event, Finding Joy, is on December 4th. I'll keep you all posted.