Friday, May 12, 2006

Day Trip to India

... my friends Kyle, Anna, and I took a trip to Berkeley to meet with Anthropologist David Szanton, who happens to be an expert in Mithila painting from India. This is one of the areas I want to go study/create/colaborate during my 'Tiny Universe' trip, so it was a real treat to have a private presentation and explanation of their contemporary practices. After going thru stacks of paintings, David busted out some pics from the 1950s of the traditional wall painting roots of the style, which totally made my jaw drop. Too bad I had run out of memory on my digi camera ... so now its stored in the soft grey memory banks and the heart ...


Kyle has a great house ... totally rad paint job by his roomate Lisa ...


... Black (flower) Power kitchen ...


... my new friend Anna, caught in the dream catcher ...


... crossing the Bay Bridge ...


... David droping the knowledge ...


... A Mithila painting done by the Brahman class ...


... painting done by the scribe cast ...


... western and eastern feet ...


... painting done by the Dusat class ("untouchables," aka "the opressed," aka Ghandi: "God's children") ... the outsiders of the outsider art ... dug the dung wash and triangle milkmaid heads ...


... the Tsunami ...


... 9/11 ...


... the face of capitalism ... so epic ...


... rainbow eye in the sky while returning to S.F. ...

... we were famished after this intensive art experience, and went to Walzwerk, an awesome East German restruant on South Van Ness and 15th (check out the veggie-schnitzel) ... I've been going every wednesday for the past year + and doing art for their specials menu. This was my final wednesday, and I was happy to share the meal with good friends. Go there next week to see menu art I created inspired by the Mithila painting, and check out the school David helped set up in India:
http://www.mithilapainting.org/

Monday, May 08, 2006

Pacific Peace Portal





Its my final week in S.F. till who knows when...

made some paper in the ocean this weekend....

got some plans for what to do with them this summer in New York...

future coming into sharper focus...past pulled back into the ocean of time...