This is great!

Cool..

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...TreMenda Productions...

Cool in the creepy-kind-of-cute way, (sorry to hear about the mozzie bites though.)
At home, there is usually a fire going with a bit of smoke to repel the mozzies (not good if you are a pyro or in fire restrictions) alternatively there's citronella candles or aeroguard (not quite sure what it's called in America)

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I'm sorry Princess, your Mario is in another castle...

yea we have those citronella candles here.. they work great with keeping the bugs off the candles.. funny thing is that i was chopping up some wood for a fire.. guess i should have just set it all ablaze and done a little mozzie (i like that name better) dance..

thanks for the fav.

first, i love the colors...

but...

hhhhmmm...

let me put it this way... i'm not sure how to view this image... and others like it... i'm not sure if i should think of it in a frame and on a gallery wall... or in a graphic novel... or on a t-shirt...

kind of like how my work is seen, i suppose... some belongs on a hallmark card... some on my wall... and a little in a frame under lights...

does that make any sense?...

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"memories are meant to fade. they're designed that way for a reason." - strange days

the way something is viewed.. that is something that was drilled in to us in collage.. although for me it was more of a question of distance.. "how far away from the gallery wall do you want your viewer to stand".. there are a few things i have done that are for specific mediums, magazines, walls, tee shirts.. but other than those specific images that had a venue before they were even started i don't tend to think about it.. i guess this image could work in any context as long as it was used correctly.. personally i would love to wander through a hall way or stumble into a bathroom at some friends house and see this funky little thing starring back at me.. until that day i think he'll live in my sketch book.

on a similar note.. the distance thing is something i love with magazines and computer screens.. there is a typical distance that either is viewed from.. it takes a lot of the guess work out and allows for finer art and less basic design.. except for covers..

hhhhmmm...

i always think about the inferences made by presentation when i think of how something is viewed... a frame on a white wall with white-balanced spots just pleads to be taken seriously... whereas a t-shirt almost makes that impossible...

(nodding)... you know... i can see this guy working in that setting... but... and don't take this wrong... but, at that point, it is almost decoration... which is another thing entirely... (trust me, most of work exists as decor)...

i know what you mean about the distance that a viewing medium creates... and, like you, i like that... you can make really good, effective choices when you know exactly how it will be seen... which often does lead to better expressions...

which reminds me of something... have you ever seen 'project runway'?... it is a 'reality' television show competition betweens fashion designers... each week the contestants are given a very specific 'challenge'... and each week they are judged... one wins... and one is kicked off...

anyway, when they get down to three, they all go to a big fashion week in nyc, where they debut twelve dresses... but, before that, when there are four, they are told they can do whatever they want... provided it be a piece that introduces what they would show at fashion week...

(ok... i know, i know... boring... but here's the more interesting part)...

the thing is, when given the proscribed challenges, you see a number of good, creative solutions... but... when they can do anything they want, they often falter... when the possibilities are open, they can't give their work the life it had when they worked with constraints...

and this isn't just on this show... take films for instance... how many times have you seen a directors first film, the one they made for peanuts, be great... but the followup, with a lot more backing and resources, is only average... or, when an architect is limited in what they can do, they find amazing design solutions... (think san francisco)... but, when they can indulge every whim, the designs lack something...

so... the question is, if these limits aid artists/designers in some way (which you may or may not think), how can an artist give their own work the benefit of some limiting structure...

just a thought...

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"memories are meant to fade. they're designed that way for a reason." - strange days

great points all of them..

okay.. unfortunately (even though i don't have television in my home) i have seen project runway.. i think that the a**hole rocker guy is awesome.. i am not as up to date as you are though.. i think that there were still six on them last i saw, they just got to paris.. blah blah blah.. everyone is better under pressure, i know that one well.. and inspiration is found through constraints.. personally i feel that when i have constraints i have to follow it becomes less pure creativity and more problem solving.. if i could get a job doing problem solving (other than parenting, which doesn't pay so good) i would love it.. mmm maybe not.. but yea i agree that creativity flourishes where rules abound (even if those rules are broken.. look at graffiti).. everything in life is problem solving as long as we stay awake for it.. problems are usually easier to solve with more rules.. except law.. what is with that..

on the other hand.. some of my best art has come from a sketch book or doodles.. no rules, just a person a pencil and some paper.. infinite possibilities.. but then there is also a lot of refinement needed and it is usually a 1 in 100 kind of thing..

as far as art as decoration.. i think that i am walking a fine line.. i hate is when someone buys an ugly painting because it matches their f*ing couch.. screw your couch and anyone who sits on it.. but there is no greater compliment for me then to walk into someone's house and see my art on their wall.. better than any gallery.. i don't make my art to match a decor (i think that is obvious) and i don't think that putting art on your walls makes it decoration, even in the bathroom.. other than the moisture issue the bathroom is an awesome place for art.. no distractions, decent periods of time to "absorb" it.. cough.. yea

remind me to send you some pictures of beautiful art on tee shirts.. it is possible.. though not easy.

so how can an artist use a limiting structure to benefit their work? well it has been done many times before.. artists have "blue" periods, or they choose to use a difficult medium, or they find a way to portray the world not normally seen by the naked eye or at a single point in time.. but does that make good art.. 50 blue paintings can suck just as much as a vacuum painted green.. honestly, in this day and age i really don't know how an artist could limit themselves.. all the tools are there, and if you can't afford them then there are cheeper ones that could just give you a new look against what everyone else is using..ummm

okay.. that is all i can say tonight.. it is late and i am tired, all i can say is thank you for all of this.. our conversations have helped me get thinking again.. and to anyone else who may be reading these dialogues, please feel free to join in.. ask questions, raise issues.. i can't promise to have the right answers but what i can do is tell you what i know.. how i feel.. and where is goes from there is up to each of us..

unfortunately?...

yeah, i like that guy, too... (jeffery)... his take on other work is usually dead-on... and he really knows what he is doing... no last minute freak-outs...

'it becomes less pure creatively and more problem solving'... i'm not sure i follow you there... do you mean the constaints of working for a client?... i ask because in the same paragraph you agree that 'creativity flourishes where rules abound'...

(laugh)... yeah... there is some really bad sofa art in the world... i agree... the thing is, if matching the couch is the criteria, i'd prefer to see a canvas painted a solid color in a frame... at least that would be honest...

my ex-girlfriend has a couple pieces of mine in her bathroom... which i thought was great... for the same reason as you... but... i think the difference between art on a wall and decoration is whether or not the piece can be seen as it was intended: as a discreet expression... not part of the context of the home... and, maybe, some pieces are better than others in creating that relationship... by size, for example... (if that makes any sense)...

if you find some of the art on t-shirts, i'd love to see it... i have a t-shirt idea i've always wanted to do... and seeing what others are doing would be great...

damn... good example!... (blue periods)... you're right, of course... good friggin' example... as for how an artist can limit themselves... well... conceptual approaches do that... take chuck close, for example... he takes a large polaroid (with a shallow depth of field) of faces... grids it off... transposes the squares... or andy goldsworthy... his choice of materials is very limiting...

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"memories are meant to fade. they're designed that way for a reason." - strange days