Gearing up for another semester of LA discoveries

Cat's Craddle

I was dazed from the previous night. I had pulled my fourth all nighter of the month. My countless hours in the printmaking lab was taking its toll. Despite this incontinent shortcoming I was still looking forward to exploring the interworkings of the Museum of Jurassic Technology. An old acquaintance of mine once mentioned that he had worked at this particular museum for a summer gig. He had never disclosed anything specific. All I was aware of was that place was something to see…Roxana, my buddy Ryan, and my self walked into the foreboding entrance at exactly 7:12pm only slightly late this time. The each of us immediately separated due to the labyrinth like orientation of the show space. I strolled aimlessly around the building vaguely peering at the odd exhibits. Ten minutes passed and I found myself upstairs, by myself, sitting at a cold desk. The TV string I was staring at was old and tarnished. I had a string in my hands. I couldn’t for the life for me imitate the gestures on the screen. My brain was disconnected and discombobulated. The whole museum was discombobulated.

Griffith Park Observatory

The view from Griffith Observatory at dusk encompasses Los Angeles in an almost neon green like film. I get the feeling that this 360, panorama view of Los Angeles from the top, is a space age movie come to life. But what else can provide a full immersive experience than the dome, the planetarium show of the stars. I let the seats fall back and I view the constellations as the female voice narrates my escape into space. But the show is short and I must go out onto the terrace to see the world for myself. Before I do, I am caught between informational panels of the journey of the moon and its patterned rotations around the Earth. Soon I will memorize the language of the sky so I can resist the technology that infuses our day to day interactions.

From the top of the Observatory, it is simple to see how we can so easily mask our sky from our daily encounters. The freeways and packed buildings do their best to contain our focus against the expanse of the universe. A trip to the Observatory makes it clear the significance of the moon, starts, and sun when seen in the concave sky. But when we go back to our streets and homes, our vision is funneled to single points in the distance. We are unable to see the massive expanse of the universe.

L.A.ne

Artist Lane Barden enlightened us to the greater issues existing in the academia circles of Los Angeles urban planning. Most importantly, he emphasized the abuses of city planning and neglect that is contributing to the current water crisis. He did a great job of bringing the issue home, showing us pictures and detailed evidence. The central issue in his presentation is how we are currently experiencing a huge shortage of clean water supply and how this shortage is worsening with time. This issue was emphasized with the way in which bureaucracy in Los Angeles has been abusing the Los Angeles River. The creation of a concrete border paralyzes the rivers natural ability to reestablish its water supply between seasons.

Additionally, he mentioned his concern over the issues of recycling sewage water for greenery in order to counter the excessive usage of clean water. He pointed out that Orange County has already established a system of recycling sewer water and how Los Angeles should begin to implement this trend as well. Additionally, his aerial photos of the entirety of the Los Angeles River paid homage to his reputation as an artist because of his ability to finance, (through other means than himself) the high cost of renting a helicopter to perform such an endeavor. The photos also paid homage to the significance of the Los Angeles River and the inhabitants of Los Angeles. My visit to the Los Angeles River gave me the opportunity to see the extent to which it is used. People ride their bikes along the side of the river, fish and swim. They wash their clothes and socialize together. Yet sewage continues to be dumped into the fresh water supply of the Los Angeles River. And without the bordering concrete walls, the river is unable to process the overabundance of sewer matter.

studios of three artists: Caroline Clerc (faculty, USC), Habib Kheradyar Zamani, and Timothy Nolan.

The studio visits of the three artist where very inspirational and helpful in understanding the processes of professional artistic practices and endeavors. Our first visit to Timothy Nolan’s studio surfaced the various ways in which an artist explores an idea. I was happy to see Nolan's triangulated formations exhibited in different media and forms. From the material usage to the methods in which he chose to display his work, Nolan’s work gave me the impression that his pieces where professionally manufactured. Upon a closer look, I could the offset application of shiny tape and glue. The work felt much more organic close up than its initial impression. I was satisfied with the two worlds he incorporated into his work.

Likewise, fellow faculty member Caroline Clerc gave the impression of vast lands and dangerous wind storms through the eye of her lens. I gained a great respect for her work when she explained how she went about creating her illusions. The fact that her work literally takes you from such a large scale impression of land and weather, to the minuscule dust particles that sit underneath the waters surface, literally blew my mind.

Lastly, Habib Kheradyar Zamani’s work was really inspirational to me because I knew that the type of performance art he practiced was cause for exile from his home country. He was speaking to us in symbols of his past and the current state of injustices practiced in the world. I felt that his performance piece wearing a chador allowed the viewer to feel the kind of nakedness that the public eye attributes to the concealed figure of a fundamental Muslim woman. All three artist managed to reverse the initial impression of the art work

Charles Phoenix and California

How cool is it that Charles Phoenix wrote a book about California in the 50’s because he couldn’t find one on it..as he said. Well, he was extremely well versed in the history and areas of California and its people. From my research online, I would like to note that he has previously administered tours of downtown Disneyland. First off, if you work at Disneyland, must exude happiness on and off breaks and Mr. Phoenix seemed enchanted with life. It’s kind of like being an officer of the la. If you are in uniform, then you are on the job. His energy was defenitly transferred to us as his audience. Additonally, his downtown tour video on youtube is produced by a friend of mine named Zalgernon, who claims his parents are aliens. From the time I’ve spent with Zalgernon and now meeting Charles Phoenix, I see an out of this world connection. His mousey ears told me one thing, that he was in our classroom to make sure we would have a good time. I found myself nostalgic for an era I never experienced. From my synthesis of Phoenix’s lecture, apparently diners and drive-in-movies are the new world wonders. Aside form all this, I hope to visit the little Danish town he mentioned that exists right here in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has so much to offer to its inhabitants.

My experience on the Red Line

Oddly enough, the day that our class was scheduled to ride the Los Angeles metro, was the same day my car decided to die. A coincidence that inspires me to pay closer attention to signs, prophecies, and conspiracy theories..etc . Not to say that I did not show up because of Ms.R.I.P SPYDER. I rode the Red Line in both directions that same night.

subway at every stop in order to find our friends. If anyone happened to notice, we never ended up finding you guys. But Zack and I decided to draw in our sketch books to save time and develop our brain muscles. He drew a really great portrait of my teeth with a dentist theme to tie all together. I drew a man that played oblivious to the world, as many Metro riders do.

Given the extent to which we rode the Red Line, we were able to experience some of the normal malfunctions that technology is prone to. To put it into perspective, the agitated driver came into our subway cart to find the culprit who continuously pulled the emergency break. Not finding him in the man in our cart, the driver disappeared into the next cart.

The lady across from me kept shaking her head on a horizontal plane of movement with sympathetic eyes in my direction, trying to connect with me over her disgruntled feelings concerning the misbehavior of others. However, I did not feel the same way as her, so I could not return the sympathy. I was rather amused with the handeling of the situation by the driver. The third time the metro halted to a stop, he expressed something to this effect..”you need to stop leaning on the emergency break, whoever you are, you need to stop causing the entire Metro line to be disturbed…” Anyways, that was a very interesting night that foreshadowed my future use of transportation