ART ART ART

on this fine wednesday morning i procrastinate a touch, just to wish you all a happy day.  i also wanted to share with you a discovery i made, thanks to the NPR website.  

my online life is quite limited, but like everyone, i think, i do have a few websites that i frequent. my home page is www.npr.com.  i always love when i have to drive somewhere and a national public radio station is within signal.  it just soothes me.  since i live in nyc, however, i don't get to drive that often, so i decided to follow my friend celia's lead and to have NPR greet me whenever i logged on.  cnn used to hold that spot, but i just got tired of the overwhelming over-reporting of the news giant.   i still get my news stories that matter on NPR, but....i am treated to a bit more consistent culture along the way.

well, on the website one day they were reporting about art and artists coming into fashion.  there were pictures and stories from many different contributors, including a report on a man who had had a web cam installed in the back of this head and it was taking a picture every minute for a year.  the pics are then streamed online and i suppose act as a sort of 'truman show' esque art installation of this man's life...or rather, the back of his life.  you can check it out at www.3rdi.me

but the artist that really grabbed me, for some reason was Youssef Nabil and this was the picture that did it:

this portrait was near the end of the website's slide show featuring the words of the different artists.  i scrolled through most and didn't take pause, but this arrested me.  apparently mr nabil take pictures on old film, and then painstakingly paints over the film to bring his own color to the scene.  i don't know much about his technique at all really, but much like when i go to an art museum (which isn't often enough) i spend my time with the painting and less time on the little plaque of information next to it.  i'm intrigued by the life of the artist, but i realize the intent of the painter is most likely on his work and less on his own story.  ironically, i feel like nabil does tread a bit on both sides of that line, however, as he is often the subject in his work. 

i'm not sure what it is about this particular picture.  i think the point of entry for me is the elder man's hand connecting with the stomach of the man lying there.  it is almost as if i can feel it on my own belly.  the light fighting to get through the closed sutter, the sense that something greater is happening here... something almost forbidden or other worldly...i don't know.  i love this shot.  also, there is an inherent sensuality too.  not SEXuality, but for me, an arousing sense that if the subject on the floor were to get up when this moment is over, he will feel a certain release throughout him.  i think i desire that sensual calm right now in my life.  perhaps it is just lining up with me in my existence, right now....heady?  maybe.  but i am seriously into this portrait.  love it.  

the top shot is also neat, in a different way.  apparently nabil has an obsession with movies and hollywood.  that shot speaks to me specifically as i feel it captures my feelings toward la and the business out there.  i can recognize the color and vibrancy of it all, but i also feel so far away from it....like i am experiencing it all merely from a distance.  

i also loved this.  

again, it seems forbidden yet irresistible somehow.  there is something happening here that is against the rules of an outside world, but it must happen.  it IS happening.  exciting!

just thought i would share.  

peace

g