Murals in Tijuana (Playas)

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Most of these murals in Playas de Tijuana line the boardwalk along the beach. I think you'll agree it is much more appealing than graffiti; there is some graffiti art, though, and it, too, was commissioned. (While writing one afternoon I saw the artists completing it. Truth be told, graffiti art (and it can be art when not done to damage people's property) is fascinating when you actually watch the spray-painting in progress.)  

outdoor gallery along boardwalk in Playas

(2d from rt. by David Aleman) 

talk about home decoration!

 "We must eliminate all that you think of freedom."

"But I want to be free..."

"Shut up!"

 creepy doll in doll house.

(...well looks creepy to me)

Facebook pages of Steve Jobs & Julian Assange.

(This is on the streets of Mexico?!)

DuSable Museum of African-American History (CHICAGO)

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The DuSable Museum of African-American History in south side Chicago is the nation's leading historical institution  - if not the oldest - devoted to black folk contribution to America and African heritage. It was started by Dr Margaret Burroughs and artist husband Charles in their Chicago home and quickly moved in to other locales as, both, visitors and collections expanded. 

I remember visiting the museum several times as a schoolboy whether it was on a field trip sponsored by my school, church, or local community center (that was a time before 24hr television and when people took a more active role in structuring youth). I'd been there so many times I was probably getting a little annoyed with it; but just a little. I've always like being in places full of odd assortments of things. Fast forward two decades and, while on the north side, I found myself reading an announcement: THE ENDANGERED SPECIES: A VISUAL RESPONSE TO THE VANISHING BLACK MAN. Well! With a title like that my ears were pricked. I made a point to revisit the DuSable Museum in order to take in said exhibit by artist Raub Welch. It was easy enough to reach it by subway and bus. Once there I casually made my way through the museum's chronically structured self-guided tour starting with Egypt, then the Civil War, Restoration Period, subsequent wars, Civil Rights Movement, Harold Washington interactive exhibit (it's really cool) and was about ten minutes into the Vanishing Black Man art exhibit when I received a telephone call and had to cut things short. Doh! For those interested, the temporary exhibit goes through March 30, 2014.

Admission is free to city residents and $10 general for non-residents (with discounts for children and senior citizens). If you're a white person who swears he wants to become more culturally aware of things outside of his WASP privileged background - you know who you are - and if you're ever around the Windy City, then here's as good a place as any to start.



founders Mr & Mrs Charles Gordon Burroughs

 wall mosaic of Chicago's past & earliest settler... 

  Jean Baptiste Point DuSable

complementary mural of contemporary Chicago

(that's Harold Washington in the center) 

  "Endangered Species" by Raub Welch(featured exhibit)

 self-explanatory...

Do you know of any other black history museums?

Scenes from Chicago (PICS)

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would you believe THIS was the 

warmest day of my 8-day visit!

Lincoln Park Zoo

Shakespeare in the park

  an odd theme for a warehouse but whatever. 

and now it's a historical landmark! 

he'll guard your stuff

  live blues at Kingston Mines

 wall mosaic at DuSable Museum 

 keeping warm on CTA

A pleasant visit to Lincoln Park Zoo

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First three days back were frustrating owing to the heavy snowfall which kept me indoors. I catch cabin fever quicker than quick. And, yet, no sooner had I arrived than the temperature started climbing with one day growing a little warmer than the previous one. By Sunday roads were pretty passable and less icy or mushy (although the same couldn't be said for sidewalks), and on Monday it was a pleasant and bright winter day. Too nice to waste indoors.

I decided to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the few remaining free zoos in the nation. Hadn't been to a zoo in decades! despite being in cities with world famous zoos (e.g., San Diego, San Francisco, Berlin (which has two!), Edinburgh, London, Barcelona, New York City, Paris, etc.) because, hey, once you've seen one exhibit of lions, tigers, apes and pandas you've seen them all.
Unless you have children or a keen interest in zoology what's the draw?
Well, for me, the answer was a pleasant and partly sunny day in cold ass wintry Chicago. I enjoyed it. Here are some snapshots from that visit:

 can you spot the lioness and lion?

 King of the Jungle (exiled)

 lemurs

a third lemur just snatched his lunch

monkey

 bobcat

 tiger

Bob Mizer & Tom of Finland Exhibition (L.A.)

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The Pacific Design Center showcases an exhibit of the combined works of California photographer Bob Mizer of the Athletic Model Guild (AMG) and Finish artist Tom of Finland (so renamed by Mizer because Mizer calculated the man's Finnish name would be too hard for his readers. So there: the moniker was adopted more for practical than 'artistic' reason. Ha!)

As a physique culturist and fan of Bob Mizer photography - and physique photography, in general - I was anxious to see this exhibit. It is probably the first American show of these trailblazers' works. (Interestingly enough the two men, longtime professional friends, died only months apart.) Fans will be delighted to see on display the key for deciphering those enigmatic symbols Mizer took to publishing beside each model. At the time it was strongly rumored (and remains urban myth) that the bizarre marks indicated a model's sexual proclivities.... I was sorry to see no souvenir of it was in the gift shop.

future Mr Olympia Chris Dickerson(right)

Bob Mizer was the editor for the legendary and long-running Physique Pictorial physique magazines which dished out health tips and civil rights information (regarding censorship and entrapment by Vice squads, gov't officials - especially the Post Office - pen pal clubs, hustlers, decency groups) in addition to its bedrock of male nudes depicting wrestling, gymnastics, and heroic and poolside poses. He also made a shitload of films most of which are probably more cheeky and light in nature than anything else. By some of Mizer's own blunt descriptions he was not delusional about their cinematic cache ("the wrestling is not very believable because the models were too lazy to follow direction, and the lighting is bad in parts but we decided to make it available for viewing because some readers may get a kick out of the plot").

before him, no one outside of authentic die hard bikers dressed like that. Life imitated art

Through Physique Pictorial the American market was introduced to Tom of Finland. His iconic macho muscular archetype - impossible V-taper silhouette, thick neck, pronounced nipples, painted-on clothing (and bulbous genitalia) - became immediately popular and are recognizable worldwide (see top image). You can blame Tom of Finland for the cartoonish leather fetish so common among homosexual men -- because, before him, no one outside of authentic die hard bikers dressed like that. Life imitated art. The magazine advanced the careers/fan bases of several other artists and designers, too, like Harry Bush, Geo. Quaintance, Torro; as well as champion athletes and models such as Ed Fury, Larry Scott, John Tristram, Bob Delmonteque (who would go on to become a renown physique photographer), and young Jim Paris. 

Bob Delmonteque. Fitness for life!

(not sure if photograph by Bob Mizer)

Any physique enthusiasts out there? Would love to hear from someone who actually met Mizer. Don't be shy!

Torre David at Aedes Gallery (BERLIN)

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In Prenzlauer Berg at the Aedes Gallery is an exhibit on the phenomenon of Venezuela's Torre David.

Built during the booming early nineties when Venezuela found itself rich in natural oil and appeared to be formidable on the world stage, Torre David, nicknamed after investor David Brillembourg (some sources also list him as the  architect) was intended to be the flagship of Caracas' financial district. But instead of a Latino Wall Street it became the only skyscraper in the world with no elevators!

That's because, four years in and 90% complete, Sr Brillembourg up and died -- followed soon by the nation's banks. The gov't took it over -- but let it sit abandoned for over a decade. Then poor people thought, Wtf? I don't have a house, and, in short order, hordes of them wandered into it and began squatting. Thus Torre David went from being one visionary's gem, to an unavoidable eye-sore, to the largest vertical slum or, according to Urban-Think Tank, a living model of a social cooperative. There's some merit to that latter claim: residents have installed running water and sewage systems, bodegas (mom & pop stores,) building security, basketball courts and, of course, televisions. No matter how poor a ghetto is there are always working televisions! It's telling that Hugo Chavez, for all of his populist rhetoric, never troubled himself to complete the Centro Financiero Confianzas,  as it was to officially be called, but, instead, let it become a skyscraper cum slum. But, unlike most slums, Torre David is one in which its residents take a great deal of pride in calling home.

More of the Aedes exhibit (with pics)

 

Here are snapshots from the exhibit at the Aedes Gallery:

  home sweet home

 

"Bogota = 11,163 per sq mile"

precisely why NYC and Paris rank low on my ideal cities

and I have scant interest in visiting any of the other ones

A warm week in Scotland

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Last week in Edinburgh the weather was consistently sunny and warm. It wasn't all that hot but white people were sunning all over the place so damn giddy were they to have Mother Nature's heat.


Exactly one week later and outside is cold, windy, and wet. No more flip-flops and bare chests! Now it's mini hail storms and angry gusts that blow open the windows. Oh well. It WAS appreciated while it lasted. 


Here are snapshots the famous castle I took with my new camcorder. I wake up to the view of it every morning from the window beside my bed. It's impressive to behold and very expansive...unfortunately I've still not taken the castle tour:

Tate Modern Museum (London)

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Visited the Tate Modern along the Thames River. The building was once a factory of sorts and very immense within just as one would expect of a “working building” where ventilation and production were core. And, owing to that vast spaciousness, it’s impressive to walk through; not at all like a jam packed museum feel with wall-to-wall glass casings and paintings and roped-off artifacts. But that’s about as impressive as it got for me; that and the souvenir shop which, surprisingly, actually has many reasonably priced and discounted goodies. I went back twice just for the gift shop!

modern art pieces are what I would classify as crap for rich dummies

What didn’t lure me back were the modern art pieces. Most of it is what I would classify as crap for rich dummies. What do you offer to the man who has everything money can buy? A cock-and-bull story that no one in his right mind would buy! Hence exclusivity. Barring the canonized masters – Dali, Picasso, Lichtenstein, and even Pollock – I am greatly turned off by modern art, which, to me, smacks of a smart alecky affront where the story/explanation behind the piece counts for more than the art piece, per se. It’s not just a rock I found on my neighbor’s ranch but the rock which caught my attention when I decided to become a father and, thus, its potential energy is, in reality, active because it inspired me to enact my kinetic energy of reproduction; motion propelled by immobility!

(Gag!) Give that man a shovel.

There is actually a mirror taking up space in a gallery. Unlike the mirrors in the bathrooms this, otherwise, ordinary looking glass is glued to a canvas. And what goes onto canvases? Why, art of course – and boxers. This mirror was even naked of a frame. I’ve seen more creative works in a craft shop but because those things are actual and not symbolic they fail to impress rich dummies and qualify as art.

and, like Her Majesty, it is still around!

 plenty of space for plenty of sunflower seeds

 A nylon staircase which hangs from the ceiling. Pretty awesome!

Rainy Monday in Berlin

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Last Monday it was grey and misty - and, naturally, chilly - as I walked across the Warshauer Strasse bridge to the East Side Gallery. Actually, I was just walking aimlessly when I saw the stretch of artistically painted preserved Berlin Wall and realized I had been here before -- a decade ago on my first trip to Europe.


I got my passport stamped with a Checkpoint Charlie (West) stamp. Can't wait to see the German officials' reactions to that one in the airports!


Since I wasn't in the tourist mood - and am not a big fan of walking in the rain - I hopped a train to visit a familiar in Charlottenburg and eat some hot tea and apfeltasche (homemade apple pie).

Springtime in Ithaca (New York)

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I've spent a week at Cornell University and no one has jumped to his death.


Getting to the campus is a workout as it's built on a hill, but the whole city is hilly and more hills still reach beyond the campus. I tried getting there on my friend's mountain bike but, whew!, talk about not worth the effort! Minus a car, it's much, much easier just walking it (though riding downhill cuts the time in more than half). The famous landscape is a little harder to enjoy now that the school has put up wire fencing along every bridge and inspiring suicide point.

The university's Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art is really quite posh. Like most modern art museums the building, itself, stands out to the tune of juxtaposition. You can almost hear it lilting,

Notice me! I'm juxtaposing! Inside I looked long upon a Monet painting, a collection of Tiffany objects, two Frank Lloyd Wright windows (from the Martin House); and "functional" art pieces like
teapots, coffeepots, ash trays, eating utensils, living room furniture, cuff links from the Arts & Craft, Art Nouveau, and Aesthetic Movements which all came into force about the same time in various parts of the world. This exhibit is aptly titled "Sublime".


The other exhibit I really dug is "Bodies Unbound: The Classical and Grotesque"which included the below photos Lewis Hine's Steamfitter and Horst P Horst's Mainbocher Corset as well as a hands-on Mr Potato Head toy and Picasso's Minotaur Attacking an Amazon which depicts a muscular minotaur screwing a woman.

Cornell University

www.cornell.edu

www.museum.cornell.edu

JOURNAL: SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

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Sept 16

   Went to view the David statue yesterday at the Academie. It was truly impressive standing before and beneath the David. It's a thing of marvel. His height, the pose, the muscle is all immensely awesome; and while looking at is so freely I half expected the museum to permit groups of private audiences; but, no, museum-goers could gape or sketch for as long as opening hours permitted. 

   Went to Pisa to see the most famous tower in the world. The inclimate weather...tried to deter me but I'd already bought the train ticket yesterday (5.70€) and six euros is no small nothing.

   Gray clouds gave way to rain by the time we reached Pisa...the city could invest in some street signs but I found it. It was surreal seeing the odd edifice for the first time. It's actually leaning! completely discordant to everything else...upon seeing it I made my way back to the train station. (Am surprised by how well I avoided getting lost down any of the winding streets.)

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   Starting to feel am spinning my wheels. Will return to Germany and Berlin for the remaining days of the trip...will be able to save and maintain money for the trip back [to America].

MEMORIES. Michelangelo & Mapplethorpe (Florence)

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I saw one of the most recognizable wonders of the word: Michelangelo's David. Entrance to the museum cost 10€ and a line was already formed by the time I got there. But the line moved along at a nice pace and I

believe I was inside in under half an hour. There are many other things to see in the Galleria dell'Accademia but I, like most people in line, was really only there for viewing the David. For one thing, the statue is ENORMOUS. It is giant-sized and utterly amazing. The feet, the legs, hands, stomach, head, and,owing to the proportion of the masterpiece, even the tiny penis is big . Note: no fig leaf was in place. It is easy to see why this art piece stunned audiences then and now (probably due to the absence of a fig leaf). 

The David is majestic yet he is presented simply: a young man (with a healthy build, but nothing near 'muscular') with a steady gaze and slingshot over his shoulder. Granted, the piece wouldn't be as unforgettable if David were clothed but nothing grandiose is put forth by his lack of clothing.


During my visit a photography exhibit of American Robert Mapplethorpe was in house, La Perfezione nella Forma (Perfection without Form). Am familiar with Mapplethorpe and know most of his works more than border on the pornographic; this was the first exhibit of his pieces I had seen (outside of books). It was only the four photographs circling the base of the David that arrested my attention.


Whereas Michelangelo's David is white (marble), Mapplethorpe's subject is a black man. While there was nothing similar in the poses the compare and contrast of the two subjects was unavoidable. I thought that was a nice touch.

Galleria dell'Accademia
Florence, Italy
website