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.