i heart design

Being the creative individual that I am, I just had to market my wares on Coroflot. Check it out.

adopt a friend

You may recall my urging all of you fine folks to help our beloved four–legged friends during the Hurricane Katrina frenzy. Well, I'm back this time to get you motivated about nixing puppy mills and adopting your next best friend. Why, you ask? Well, puppy mills are akin to factory farms in the sense that these animals are experiencing suffering, disease and malnutrition all in the name of consumerism.


That's right, get on down to your local shelter. Proudly declare that abuse is sooo uncool.

awakening

The giant resting in the ground for nearly 30 years in good ol' Hains Point has found a new home.

J. Seward Johnson's "The Awakening" –– the cast aluminum sculpture of a man eternally climbing out from the earth's core –– will now be struggling for freedom in P.G. County (in Maryland, in case you folks were wondering). Turns out that Milt Peterson bought the giant from the Sculpture Foundation. He's the one who thinks that Mr. Giant looks better in Maryland.

I have had a lot of fond memories of hanging out in Hains Point amongst this giant. Even though P.G. County isn't really all that far from DC, the chances of me visiting "The Awakening" are pretty slim. So have a heart, Milt. Give DC back our sculpture. He has many more party's to attend on this side of the Potomac.

falling walls, historical blunders

Back in the day, Berliners were more than ready to tear down the infamous Berlin Wall when the Cold War ended in 1989. Alas, some of the wall remained, and was donned a tourist attraction.

Thanks to car emissions, Mother Nature and aging, this very wall is now crumbling away. City officials and artists are bickering about how to restore this historical site.

See, in 1990, 118 international artists were commissioned by Berlin to graffiti a stretch of the eastern side of the wall—to which the East Side Gallery belongs. Currently, 850,000 euros are needed to fly in all of these artists and have them re-graffiti their works. It's also estimated that $1.8 million are need to restore the wall's structure.

You may be wondering what's the big controversy. Just rebuild the darn thing like we did with, oh say, Williamsburg. Well, the restoration is on hold due to—what else—a lack of funding. Where's Mr. Rockefeller when you need him?

performance art

Right at this very moment, there is performance art taking place on 14th St., NW (DC, silly).

Columbian-born Kata Mejia is dealing with the loss of her brother in a four-day outdoor performance installation entitled Healing, which happens to be presented by Randall Scott Gallery. During this time span, she will be processing the violent death of her brother at the hands of Columbia's [FARC] terrorists.

So go and witness this powerful piece before it disappears (tomorrow's the last day). The address is the BodySmith parking lot located at 1622 14th St., NW, and starts at 6:00 p.m., people. And guess what. It's free.

art power!

I know that we all miss Sister Wendy Beckett's televised art appreciation tours, but never fear. There's a new guy in town who has stepped up to the plate to conduct our summer art history class.

Running on PBS until the end of July, Simon Schama will wow us with Simon Schama's Power of Art. This fab quote from Mr. Schama ought to inspire you to take a couch potato tour of cultural treasures:

The power of the greatest art is to shake us into revelation and rip us from our default mode of seeing.

Prepare to be dazzled with eight works by eight different artists – two Dutch, one Spanish, one French, one English, one American, and two Italians. Hey, where did all the other nationalities go?! Guess that's all that can be covered in one summer. But between you and me, you gotta love a Rothko!

doll face

Browsing around on YouTube today, I discovered a fascinating (yet slightly disturbing) animation called Doll Face.

So beautifully rendered. Yet, it depicts a sad commentary about our obsession with becoming a media-inspired clone instead of existing as the real people that we are. Now what is that old school song? Oh yes, here is none other that Sly & the Family Stone's Everyday People. Go ahead. Dust it off, and sing it proudly, people.