2 posts tagged “brain”
I've been having so much fun researching holonomic brain theory - reading about Karl Pribram, Fourier transformations, the uncertainly principle, Plank's constraint, etc. Reading this stuff, rather than art history, which I desperately need to do, because of my new piece over at the 2nd City Gallery in Long Beach (starts this Saturday, see blog below for more info.)
What I basically get from all this reading is that the old view of how the brain works is that information is stored in specific locations. Now the theory goes that we've learned, and tests have proven (unfortunately on cats and monkeys, whom I feel extremely sorry for) that the brain functions as a dissipative structure, whose lens (consciousness) focuses. In other words, what quantum physics shows about the uncertainty principle and how the brain functions is essentially the same, the brain being a tool to "decrease this uncertainty in the direction of its theoretical limit" (quote from Jeff Prideaux, who wrote "Comparison between Karl Pribram's 'Holographic Brain Theory' and more conventional models of neuronal computation".
Ok, enough of that stuff. Today the weather is very unusual for July in the Valley - rather cool! Woke up feeling great this morning, slowly but surely getting out from under the spell of the ex-boyfriend. Dressing up in a cute summer dress for the Vegan Toastmasters on Saturday was definitely the lift I needed - my friend Pam and I both dressed similarly, and funny enough, she noticed men checking me out but not her and I noticed the reverse (it always works that way, doesn't it? My Dad says men are very "sneaky" in how they check out women...) Not that I'm concerned about dating anytime again soon. I'm beginning to think internet dating sites are just plain evil. Meeting someone the old fashioned way has merit...
Well gotta go to prepare a lunch for myself. Ciao all!
After hanging up with my dear friend Fussboots in Portland last night, I was encouraged that I need to keep up my blog on a more consistent basis! Two-three times a week is the new goal.
So now onto the art reception/opening March 24th (my very first, as the Newtown/Armory show was my very first gallery experience) and how it went!
First off, I was much more relaxed then I thought I would be…I expected to be a nervous wreck. But the work I did imagining myself relaxed and enjoying the evening all week seems to have paid off.
A short list of attendees: My younger bro Jeff and
his girlfriend Kim, Steve, Sheri and Donna of course, Cindy, Keith
& Kira from my old Chouinard Dialogue class (Kira’s interactive
sound piece was amazing), my acupuncturist TJ, his wife and niece, and
Carlos from Fine Art Solutions to say the work looked great (he really
did an excellent job.) Later Joseph De Mario, the curator at the Jazz
Bakery who is giving me a show in late June, graced me with his
presence whilst towing friends. Steve & Jocelyn from Neighbors for
Peace and Justice were also there. So I felt a lot of support. Quite a
few people, especially early on, gave me compliments, which of course I
hated 
An odd experience contrasting reactions ranging from people barely glancing at my work while moving swiftly on to those who studied it closely and hung around. At one point I noticed a rather artsy looking fellow, probably my age, examining the work very closely. He was wearing all black with a cap, so I grabbed my camera to take a pic of him scrutinizing my work.
THIS is when I got, ahem, “Sparked.”
“You take a picture of ME! I’M the ART!” he cried out, facing me and ruining the shot I had planned on taking.
“Um, you see, I just wanted to get pictures of people looking at the art for my website,” I stammered. Could you please go back to looking at it?”
“NO!” He kept insisting, so finally muttering “whatever” under my breath as I took his picture. Boy, was I in for “it” now.
Spark (not his real name) proceeded to monologue diatribe me, so close to my face I felt puffs of hot air on my cheeks.
“The only piece even worth looking at more than once is the one on the right! The middle one is bombastic, garish and too in your face, like ‘NOTICE ME!’ and this one (pointing) is far too static and composed for my taste! Your work is not worthy of the moniker art!” As he bellowed I kept inching backward while he inched forward, keeping about two inches from my face, This seemed to go on forever, as he essentially said the same thing over and over and over.
Finally, looking over his shoulder, I thankfully glimpsed a familiar face, a guy I’ve met previously at Jazz Bakery art openings. He was observing the scene with a Cheshire-worthy grin on his face. I interrupted the tirade saying “you look so familiar! Where do I know you from?”
If looks could kill. Spark stomped off with balled up fists in a complete huff.
I have since found out that he did that to everyone that day, saying none of the art – upstairs or down – was any good. The art downstairs was superb. Christine Nguyen’s work recently hung in the Armand Hammer. All of the artist’s works downstairs are incredible. And if I say so myself, is was the art upstairs! I’ve seen quite a few shows where the work is very uneven; here although of course everyone is going to favor some work a bit over others, overall the quality, in my opinion, is surprisingly consistent.
I learned later (an inside scoop) “Mr. Spark” is a frustrated artist who is having problems getting in local galleries. I’m told his work is good; I just hope a friend of his holds up a mirror and his attitude becomes more accommodating.
I recently saw “Making it in Manhattan,” an Art City DVD which I highly recommend. One of the critics says “many artists of high caliber go completely unnoticed, many mediocre artists become fairly famous and best-sellers. It’s all about how much time the artist spends in her studio vs. networking.”
I would like to add to that (not that I have much experience in this arena) attitude and social skills do count, and we all have something unique to offer. As I told a friend recently who seemed a little too impressed about my being in the gallery “hey, we’re ALL the stuff of the stars!” Or as my dad would say, “we all put our pants on one leg at a time”.
All that said, as I told Fussy, I’ve learned a lesson, though I’m sure there are many more to come. It seems the older we get the more we realize how precious every second is. I will do my best not to get “Sparked” again. My good friend Joel Mark, who is often so wise, said “affirm what you hear him saying, then physically remove yourself.” I like that.
Overall? The evening was a success. My favorite part? Meeting Dr. Julie Korenberg and seeing her astounding work showing the living brain “thinking” with the synapses darting around doing their jobs. Really looking forward to talking with her further about her work – she’s been involved in the genome project and worked for years to get the images demonstrated that night (either from the hippocampus or the amygdula, I’ll have to ask as I my temporal lobes were tired when I finally got around to seeing her stuff.)
Now onto the next project! Blog to be continued soon…
