keef: blog

Brooklyn 07-23-10

2010-07-23T17:56:46-05:00

Earlier today in Brooklyn…

DIY & Pig Roasting

2010-07-23T11:37:12-05:00

I’ve been on something of a DIY kick lately that is inspired by Mark Frauenfelder’s quick read, Made By Hand: Searching For Meaning in a Throwaway World. I have a new project to accomplish before the summer is over. I really want to try to roasting a whole pig in an earth oven.

Screen Printing With Blood

2010-07-23T10:41:50-05:00

A few days ago, I posted about an artist that I met who uses his own blood to paint. It looks like he’s not the only one with this idea. A designer named Metastazis recently used blood in place of ink on his screen-print poster for black metal act Watain.

Nick Kushner Blood Paintings

2010-07-21T17:37:01-05:00

It’s not every day that you meet an artist who paints with their own blood. Over some beers last night, I was introduced to Nick Kushner a painter who does just that. The results are quite similar to water colors.

Coney Island 071710

2010-07-18T12:26:12-05:00

I sometimes forget that Coney Island is just a short subway ride away. I went for a visit yesterday. We had some fried clams and beer at Ruby’s and took in all of the craziness. Kids were diving off the pier. Impromptu boardwalk dance parties made for surreal cultural mashings of Latinos, African Americans, hipsters, and transvestites. The rhythms were provided by older Latin men. Then we made our way down to the Russian neighborhood of Brighton Beach and sampled the vareniki, pelmeni and pickled watermelon at Cafe Glechik.

Jenny Morgan Painter

2010-07-17T14:10:44-05:00

Have a look at Jenny Morgan’s portraits.

Apollo 11 Launch

2010-07-17T13:59:22-05:00

Here is extraordinary 16mm footage of the Apollo 11 launch on July 16th 1969 (41 years ago yesterday). Shot at the extreme slow motion rates of 500 frames per second, 30 seconds of actual take-off is expanded into an 8 minute highly detailed clip.

RealDoll Creator Matt McMullen

2010-07-15T13:19:00-05:00

Matt McMullen considers himself an artist, a sculptor and a companion maker. His passion for sculpting the female figure lead to a rather unique and lucrative business plan, the creation of RealDolls. He discusses his work and how it all started in the short docu-film Honey Pie. Here are images from his studio of dolls in different stages of construction.

Paul Biro Painting Fraud

2010-07-15T12:21:30-05:00

If you’ve never had a few spare million dollars to spend on a painting, you probably haven’t put too much thought into how values of expensive art are determined or how great works are authenticated in a world of fakes. Though a controversial figure, Paul Biro became a go-to painting detective of sorts. He is featured in the 2006 film Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollack, a documentary about an elderly truck driver who believes she has uncovered a Pollock at a thrift shop. In the film, Biro is presented as an expert who is using science to irrefutably identify the painting and is seen as a contrast to the opinions of the upper-class art world that determines whether a painting is real or not simply by what their gut tells them. This fascinating New Yorker piece digs deeper into Biro’s past to reveal a thing or two about forgery. While on the topic of the validity of art work, another documentary was made a few years ago that follows the story of an alleged four year old Picasso in the making, My Kid Could Paint That. Common themes arise in the Biro article and both documentaries mentioned above.

Project Thirty Three Record Design

2010-07-15T11:43:01-05:00

I’ve always admired the dots, dashes and shapes that at one time adorned the covers of many jazz and classical music record sleeves. Project Thirty-Three is a blog dedicated to showcasing these kinds of designs that feature bold color combinations and geometric relationships.