Words of Wisdom

I recently found this in The Houston Center for Photography's publication, Spot. I had just returned from NY and was feeling a bit overwhelmed about career things and found this quotation from Paul Hester to be very grounding.

Wally's Xmas

You've Been Served

This notice was left on my doorknob the other day, apparently our lack of cans is starting to tick off the city.
www.thegarbagecanproject.com should be launched early next year, details to follow . . .

Art Basel/Miami, 2006

Spies Like Us

I've lately taken to listening to old episodes of NPR's "This American Life" while I fast forward through the day's garbage can surveillance video. I just listened to an amazing episode that was all about the very essence of the Garbage Can Project. FYI: www.thegarbagecanproject.com should be launched sometime in the next two months.

11/19/04
Episode 278
Stories about amateur spies – regular people who spy on other regular people, and the consequences of their spying.
Prologue.  Host Ira Glass talks to This American Life contributing editor Jack Hitt about the time he hacked into his employer's computer and found out what he didn't want to know. (6 minutes)
Act One. The Lobbyist. When Burt Covit was programming his VCR one day, he accidentally tuned in to a channel showing the lobby of a building. He started to watch, and couldn't stop. Then a mysterious woman appeared, wearing a pill-box hat. Burt told this story on the CBC radio program Wiretap. Jonathan Goldstein, a contributing editor to This American Life, is the host of Wiretap. This story is a work of fiction, staged as a radio interview. (12 minutes)
Song: "Television," Robyn Hitchcock
Act Two. Life With the Haters. Writer Beth Lisick decides to try a new strategy to get her infant to sleep better, and buys a baby monitor as part of the deal. Soon, she's hearing her neighbors make drug dealsover the monitor's frequency. And then she learns some other, more complicated information. (14 1/2 minutes)
Act Three. Mystery Shoppers. They are ordinary people who go undercover in coffee shops and chain stores, spying for The Man. This American Life producer Lisa Pollak reports. (11 1/2 minutes)
Song: "Town With No Secrets," Mark Mallman
Act Four. Stop Bugging Me. What do you do when you think your apartment is being bugged? You call the apartment de-buggers. It's a weird job; still, someone's got to do it. This American Life producer Jane Feltes goes on a counterespionage mission. (10 minutes)
Song: "Spies Like Us," Paul McCartney

The Shire

Ever since the Lord of the Rings trilogy was released, I've referred to my adopted home town as "The Shire" (as opposed to Chi-Town) when talking to family and friends. It has recently come to my attention that there actually is a Shire in Bend, Oregon. If you've ever wanted to live like a hobbit, this is the place for you. What a weird world we live in!
http://bendshire.com/

INSPIRATION

I'm currently writing from my parents house in New York (home for the holidays). During my visit, my father shared with me some of his sketchbooks pages (he is the chief of social work at a VA hospital out here but has recently begun to start drawing). I was floored when he showed me his work and found the above page to be especially amazing and inspiring. Like father like son, the link between his artwork and mine couldn't be more obvious. Click on the above image to see a larger detail of this page from his sketchbook.

Shocked and Disgusted

I'm still in shock after reading the news today about Michael Richard's racial pontification on stage at The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. I guess that I am completely naive, but it absolutely blows my mind that in this day and age people can be so completely filled with hate and with bigotry. It makes me overwhelmingly sad about the state of race relations in this country and I know know that I'll be preoccupied with the following video for many days to come. Be forewarned, the following video clip is beyond upsetting: http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1772645

Milwaukee

I spent last friday at The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where I critiqued student work, gave a lecture and hung out with friend and fellow photographer, Sonja Thomsen. Milwaukee is a great town and it was nice to revisit and meet some new folks.

Homage to Brian Ulrich

Indiana and Beyond . . .

This past weekend, Brian and Matt and I headed down to The University of Indiana to give a lecture on our work and to meet with a number of students (both grad and under-grad). We saw a lot of great work, met a lot of great people and as always, we had a great time driving around together. We hope to book more lecture dates in the future, so let us know if you want us to come to your school (wink wink, nudge nudge).

AWESOME

I found this in our driveway the other day after a big rainstorm. Check out the two cans of High Life, This guy's a stud!

The Sky Is Crying

Despite the fact that my website won't be launched for another month or two, I've been recording 24 hours of surveillance every day and editing it using Final Cut Pro. This guy is the smartest cookie I've seen since I've been recording. Bravo good sir, bravo!

Busted

At 11:57 last night, my surveillance system caught this guy taking a piss on my garbage can. What's wrong with people???

Surveillance

This weekend, I finally managed to set up a surveillance system on my garbage cans. This has been a long and complicated endeavor and I'll admit, I'm feeling a little bit proud of myself. I have been working with web designer Jon Greene to set up an official site and we are estimating a launch date sometime in January.

Pie Chart Hell

Last night, Robin and I watched the finale of Project Runway on Bravo (I can't believe that loser/wanna be/generic/idiot Jeffrey won!). Each week on Project Runway, viewers can text message their votes for their favorite designer and the results are posted at the end of the show in the form of a chart. That being said, last night I dreamt that there was a poll on what people thought about my my new project and the above pie chart illustrates the results. Oh sleepless nights.

The Most Awesomest Poster!

Yesterday, my friend Brian flew out to San Francisco to give a lecture about his work. The AWESOME poster above was created to publicize his talk and man, I don't really know what to say about this one . . .

The Last Fly

Every year, it seems like there's that one fly who just refuses to die as winter approaches. The other day I was working in my studio and this fly just refused to leave me alone (he was too fast to catch but too slow not to be annoying). I haven't seen him in a few days . . . good riddance.

I Have Too Much Time On My Hands

BBQ Blunders (My Life As A Model)

On Friday night, I helped my friend and neighbor Nate Baker with a new project that he's been working on. Tyra Banks has got nuthin' on me.

Who's That Stranger Sleeping In My Bed?

Stud Hobo

Last night, Robin invented the term "Stud Hobo" in one of her dreams. The definition of "Stud Hobo": a person who has a lot of sex despite the fact that they're a hobo.

Little Bombers

Mike and Hector, The End Of The Line

Spike Lee and Kanye West

I've spent the last few days watching Spike Lee's 4 part documentary, "When The Levee Broke." I've always been a huge fan of his work and am now so more than ever. It's a heart-wrenching documentary and I think that it should be mandatory viewing (you can catch it on HBO or on On Demand). "George Bush doesn't like black people," the most acute observation by my newfound favorite artistst/activist.

The Big FakeOut

This past spring, Matt, Brian and I went down to Santa Fe to attend Review Santa Fe (an annual photo review). One of the best parts of our weekend was meeting Nicole Stanner, the director of Galerie f5.6 in Munich. We hit it off really well and on the saturday of our trip, our friend Natasha Egan (Curator and Santa Fe native) took the three of us to a really cool sculpture park tucked away in the foothills. I decided that it would be fun to ask them if I could take their portraits; however, I set my digital camera on video mode without telling them and filmed the following movies. These three didn't even know what hit them.

Dollop of Duchess

On Saturday night, Robin and I headed over to Duchess Gallery to see the new show of Huong Ngo's crazy hats and performance art. Duchess is run by Kat Parker and Katie Rashid and is one of my favorite galleries in town. Not only are these girls incredibly nice, they also know what they're doing. Look out, these two are going to be a force to reckon with in years to come.

Public Installation

Yesterday, I spent my afternoon walking around Chicago's West Loop neighborhood taking in the new shows at the local galleries. Walking down Fulton Market, I stopped to take these pics of a local public art installation by Cody Hudson (I think this was made by a few people but I'm not sure who). Cody is on of my favorite Chicago artists (although we've only met in passing) and I love this piece. It has changed since I first stumbled upon it about a year ago but still . . . props!

Mc ArtStar

Yesterday I received my new copy of ESPN Magazine and when I opened the front page I came across this ad. I nearly threw up in my mouth.

The density of Vinaigrette

Thursday night, I attended a lecture by Larry Sultan at The School of The Art Institute, Chicago. The lecture was great and afterwards, I headed to "Beef and Brandy" with my friends Brian Ulrich, Walker Blackwell, Shawnee Barton and her husband Michael. Walker ordered something that came with a salad and when asked about his dressing of choice, he asked for a vinaigrette. When his order came, the dressing was more like a gelatinous yellow mass and we proceeded to see how many peas could be piled upon it's surface. The answer: a whole hell of a lot.

Nasty Pot

On tuesdays and thursdays, I teach a morning photography class at Elgin Community College. Each morning I awaken at 6:20 am, stop and buy a coffee and newspaper on my way to the commuter train and ride for an hour until I arrive in Elgin. Having drunk my large coffee, I stop each morning in the bus terminal to use their bathroom before continuing on to the college. The bathroom is disgusting, unfortunately I have a weak bladder.

Conspiracy Theory (aka The Garbage Can Project)

For the past ten months, I have been working on a new project tentatively entitled, Conspiracy Theory.On the fifth of September, I painted the tops of my garbage cans with the numbers: 1, 9, and 10. #9 is the ninth replacement garbage can since I've begun this project, #10 is the tenth replacement and #1 is an original that has lasted the complete duration of the project. I painted the lids so that I can track them from satellite via Google Earth and have posted a video of this process which can be viewed by clicking here. I am currently working on creating a website for this project with designer jon greene which will feature videos, photographs, satellite surveillance and a variety of other garbage can related observations.

Video Still from Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" or Broken Digital Camera?

Abstract Art or Broken Digital Camera?

My Morning with Bill

I spent yesterday morning hanging out with photographer Bill Owens and helping him work on some of his new video projects. I've been a fan of his work for some time and was excited to meet up. We wandered around, sat and drank coffee and talked about everything from photography to distilling whiskey to 13th century battle armor. Good times.

Something Fishy In Seattle

Robin and I were recently out in Seattle for my friend Cable's wedding. A group of us went down to the lochs to watch the fish swim upstream through an observatory built into the structure. Click here to check out the insane environmental rant that Nils captured on his digital camera.

$17 & a Bottle of Cologne

On our flight to Portugal, Robin and I discovered this hand written note inside of our copy of Sky Mall. The note reads: "Dad, I'll pay $17 for this. Ps: You didn't and mom buy anything for me in this entire trip."

Fun with Leaves

Portuguese Honeymoon

Robin and I just returned from our honeymoon in Portugal where we saw a ton of amazing things. One thing that we weren't expecting was the amazing exchange rate there. If you can believe it, for 25 Euros you can buy soup, cheese, fish, dessert, coffee and for the love of god, a bear. A Bear!
Another amazing thing about Portugal was how blue the sky was everyday, never a cloud. About half way into our travels, we stopped in at an old church that was built from the bones of dead monks. I don't know what kind of bad karma you get for defacing monk skulls but my guess is that it's pretty bad. Call me a traditionalist, but I prefer your run of the mill street graffiti: We spent the majority of our time relaxing both at the beach
and at the pool.
We ate a lot of amazing meals as well, sometimes in restaurants adorned with very extravagant decor:


Robin and I also enjoyed taking long walks each day, one of which led us straight to the "Pipe of Love" All in all, an amazing trip. And remember. . . when in Europe, photograph as the Europeans do: