David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Art

  • OCMA’s Night at the Museum–9BeetStretch


    Here are my unedited notes from the event…

    I am at OCMA–9BetStretch it is @ 3:30 AM–the music is very lazy and drawn out and the first crescendo just passed. Also, my normal alarm just went off, I was thinking about the time I have spent here in the past–the music is very intense right now–I was once here with Diego–he talked about being thrown out of an old timers car–what insanity.

    The policy have just arrived. “We were told to come,” they say. The fact that the cops have come to check it out–the women in charge asked about the reason they came by–if they saw the light. “no, we were sent.” there is so much truth to that.

    My phone just went off with a Hello Mooto–man this an amazing sound scape–I really like this event & would like to add this to ubuweb–they will really enjoy this.

    I am very much paying more attention to the none musical moments in this–the actual art and the song is lost–there is very little humanity in the work and I become hungry for it–I really find myself craving the human. I find myself watching the sleepers. I find myself trying to eavesdrop. I am desperate for more sound and more vision.

    During the quiet periods there is a clear static.

    Deadlocked security girl just curled up next to sleeping man. A guy with boots. Next to his bed a very interesting couple.

    I did not see the police leave–a small elderly Asian woman just walked in–she has an awesome orange skirt.

    Dread Girl just got up and left.

    Orange skirt is with pudgy white guy. They are at the snack table, also there is more food. Orange skirt women is a volunteer and they leave. Orange skirt girl just apologized for talking.

    “I am sorry”

    “we were sent”

    “did you see the light”

    The things overheard–the fact of Beethoven’s deafness . The removal of humanity heard in this work. I am not sure what all of that means.

    Something that I find very interesting is that all of the notes overlap–the pitch does not stop and does not really step into the next pitch. The sounds just kind of morph & mutate into the next sound.

    I am feeling very lost in space. There are no clues as to where I am in the original work. A slensory[sic] strum[sic] along with some sort of timer to tell me which track that I am on would be very helpful–some way to keep the space organized.

    Music is in some sense the organization of time. One thing feels very organized and do not get the same–that live is any space at other–and it is not the frothy chaos of noise. A much more frightening chaos. Non human but also non found. I have this sense that there is a very little directorial agency is this work. I am not sure what that means, but the fact is that I am not hear this as priceless–not sure.

    Again, the static between the tracks. Like fire flies.

    I am still listening, but I have just found a copy of Art Forum.

    C H R I S K R A U S

    Torpor

    Blumandpoe.com has new murakami art.

    Is there any sense of nostalgia–does the work share any issues of memory are of the times I cried to do was recognize the work. Where are we in the piece. I am at the start of the fourth movement–really, I do not recognize it at all.

    Sunday from 12-4 There is the imagination celebration that is important.

    it is clear that the relation between work and daily activity had become more intimate [Art Forum]

    How do you take a picture of a musical event? How do you capture history in that context–the spa is not working in the complex so I do not need to hurry back home.

    It is no 5:00 AM and time for me to head over the swim team. I hope that Byron comes. I also hope that we can take Tim who had bike crash. It would be good. I liked this.

  • Annual Juried Student Show at the IVC Art Gallery


    Jack, Kate, and I went to see Aaron Mendonca’s art show last night.

    It was great!

    We started with snacks–pita chips, humus, and grapes. They had 7-up for the kids. We stood in the hallway eating–Jack and Kate even got to sit in “real” school desks.

    We meet Aaron outside–he was stoked to have won honorable mention! We missed the award presentation or whatever, but we did get to check out his piece, “Severe Hypertrichosis”–a charcoal & acrylic work on paper. It was kind of creepy with this green neck tie and chewbaca like figure, but nice. Aaron said that he had done it fairly quickly, but it did not look like it. The composition and position of the figure was fairly sophisticated. Not a beautiful work, but nicely produced. I liked it.

    I really liked some water colors by Robin Fayer which were bald head images done with a bold respect for the circle shape and some nice color choices–fairly large and very iconic. Splashy, fast, and controlled. I loved these.

    Most of the rest of the art looked like student work–the photographs that were included mostly lacked sophistication in composition, the abstract pieces were derivative–I was rather disappointed over all. The winning work, “IN-SIDE-OUT” was a dragon made of paper like those dinasours my kids used to put together. I was not a fan.

    The curatorial choices were also difficult–the art was presented flat on the wall, with intense overhead lighting–often producing strange shadows on the work. The wall space was cluttered, like living room or something and the “exhibit catalog” was more like a Where’s Waldo game (which is what me and kids used it for) then a catalog.

    The other patrons were having a good time–lots of people in and out mostly saying nice things about the art.

    Aaron introduced us to some of his friends, Ed showed up, and we left. It was a good time.

  • Grids



    The snow dried into a grid or something. I have no idea why this pattern exists, but I really responded to it.

  • Gospel Rocket



    More images of Great Art in Orange County.

  • Tumble Room by Martin Kersels


    Martin Kersels, Tumble Room (interior), 2001, mixed media, 15-foot diameter: 3-foot base, 9 x 11-foot room, 10 feet deep, 4 rotations per minute; courtesy of the artist; Deitch Projects, New York; and ACME., Los Angeles

    I took Jack and Kate to the Orange County Museum of Art to see the new exhibit Disorderly Conduct: Recent Art in Tumultuous Times. It was fantastic. A very conceptual art show with a lot of very fantastic stuff. I really enjoyed it. The kids liked Gospel Rocket a lot, the couch in the lobby was a big surprise hit, but mostly they laughed and thrilled to the video of Tumble Room with a girl and man in funny pants walking around as the room revolved. The cafe had the room actually spinning–it was loud and amazing.

    This was a very good day for all of us at the art show.

  • Perfect Leaf


    Image of an almost perfect fall leaf from Southern California.

  • Newport Beach Public Library Sculpture





    Here are some pictures of the sculpture in front of the Library. It is from our Sister city in japan and the kids really love it.

  • Weird Costa Mesa Park Sculptures




    This is all some kind of odd seventies earth art. I really relaxed when I saw them but on reflection they kind of creep me out.

  • Graffiti


  • Mary Heilmann: To Be Someone

    This is a massive show! For the first time since I have been going to this art space I am totally blown away. I did not know who Mary Heilmann was, but her stuff totally rules.

    This Go Ask Alice piece is a lot like here later stuff, but all of her periods are super great. The first stuff, when she was in art school, is clever and art-schooly. Her early work is all serious and high arty. After this she starts really killing it with these large series on a theme.

    The art is all very new wave cool, but it still really emotionally connected with me–largely because she titled the works after rock albums in a lot of cases (which is something I can really relate to), but also because she just seems to be having so much damn fun.