'Stereoscope' : A new Drawing

A new drawing I have been working on this month. 

'Stereoscope', graphite on paper, 18in x 24in 2012

Click images to view detail

Beachy Head

Sitting on the cliffs of Beachy Head this summer. Magic all around...

Early Morning Drawing

Woke up early to catch the sunrise and draw in Nice, France.

A Wing Still Waves

I want to share an experience I had today. Woke up early to cycle by the beach and decided to rest at the center square in Nice, France where tourists and locals gathered. Noticed a pigeon near by being ignored by its other fellow pigeons. He was hopping and limping behind them, trying to communicate, play and embrace, but they had no interest. Captivated by this interaction my gaze was fixated on him.

He seemed so frail, had few feathers, an injured foot and beak, and couldn't fly but kept trying. It had a personality like a little happy baby learning to walk or a puppy trying to run towards you but instead wobble with happiness. I watched it for a while.. Felt moments of joy, moments of sadness for his weakness sometimes overshadowed his strength.

I had been there for about an hour and it was time to leave. As I was leaving I looked back as a last goodbye, smiling at his motivation to fly and silently thanked him for his presence. Looked away digging into my bag for keys to unlock my bike and at the corner of my eye I saw a car passing behind. My heart sunk as I remembered he couldn't move so fast. Quickly turned to warn the car but it was too late. The car drove over him and in horror I saw the little one laying to its side barely clinging to life. Its gaze towards the other pigeons while his one wing still trying to wave. Even at his last breath he still kept trying. In the hour that I spent watching and learning about this bird I had connected with him , no longer viewing him as just another pigeon passing by but as something more.

Struck by what I had experienced I sat to control the tears, take the moment in and keep watching him..It was hard to leave him alone amongst the chaos where footsteps passed him by and also ignored him. He was pinned so deep to the ground that I couldn't move him.

I reflected on his life, on my life, on life as a whole and it's impermanence. Reflected on the importance of animals and caring for them. This humble little bird taught me that the moments we experience are fleeting but so precious, to not ignore but to pay attention, to remember to love and give chances to the ones we judge to be weaker, to realize that there are finer and simpler ways of being in life and that it's important to go back to that place within. Like an artist I most admire once wrote to me, "There is a white music in nature and only if you believe in it will you feel and hear it."

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/levirulea/5527026393/in/set-72157625226741311/

Breathing Color

Came across the image above today, which I found unbelievable. Shared it on facebook and a friend commented with a link to a video that the image reminded her of. I was completely blown away by it and absolutely had to share them both.

Color, culture, people and creativity! Beautiful and Inspiring.

Holi from Variable on Vimeo.

"The world is fascinating. People and cultures inspire us. Sadly, the fast paced lifestyles of our generation result in many not taking the necessary step back to soak in the existing world around us. Our goal with this film is to help viewers further appreciate and take notice of the beauty in life & culture that lies within our world...

...so the next time you notice something that strikes you as interesting, stop for a second, start powering on your camera, think about why it's unique, and snap the shot before you miss it. Life is extraordinary. Embrace it."

By WeAreVariable

Drawing Sneak Peek : 'The Viewing'

Hey Everyone! Have been working on some new drawings for a group exhibition on July 11th at Lyons Weir Gallery in NYC. Here is a sneak peek cropped version of one of the drawings. Will post a better image once the final finishing touches are complete. To find out more about the Exhibition click here

'The Viewing', graphite on pencil, 11in x 14in

The Most Astounding Fact

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked a question by a reader of TIME magazine.

The question was, "what is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?"

Watch this video and listen to what he had to say:

Simple Living

Love living in NYC - really who wouldn't? But, out of all the places I've ever lived Africa has always been my favorite, maybe because I mostly grew up there. Though I often dream of the simple living, a sustainable life, away from all the materialism for the healing power of nature..
These captivating nostalgic photographs of Taylor Camp remind me of a similar kind of simple living that I saw and at times experienced in Africa..
Taylor Camp was a community created by Elizabeth Taylor's brother in Kuai in 1969. They created order without rules and rejected materialism. Sadly, in 1977 they were burnt down by the government officials.

Photographs taken by John Wehrheim. 

Images found at http://prismofthreads.blogspot.com & http://taylorcampkauai.com

A Stroke Of Insight

Out of curiosity I was doing some "googling" about the left brain vs right brain thinker and remembered Jill Bolte Taylor's presentation about the brain on TED.

Taylor's a 37-year-old-Harvard-trained brain scientist who shares her unique omniscient perspective of what it was like to experience a stroke. In this unusual inspiring story Taylor believes a stroke was the best thing that has every happened to her even if it will take her 8 years for her brain to still recover. As the left side of her brain shut down the right side of her brain took full control, allowing her to uncover the feelings of peace that are so often occupied by our own brain chatter. Through analyzing her own stroke and the mechanics of the human mind she learnt that the feeling of nirvana is only just a mere thought away - to the right. We learn that deep internal peace truly is accessible to anyone, at any time and by choice..
It's not every day you get to hear a brain scientist tell you what it's like to have a stroke from the inside out - fascinating!

The Concept Of Living As A Work Of Art

Can't stop pondering over this quote after I heard it on Sebastian Deterding's TED talk presentation, "What your design says about you". Felt the need to share the quote Deterding used by Michel Foucault incase anyone might be interested in thinking about it and maybe answering such a significant paradoxical question..

The concept of our lives as a work of art, not just in our studios surrounded by our work or when we happen to meet our fellow artists at a gallery show, or even just in the process of making and performing, but to structure our thoughts and actions as art is something I've been contemplating a lot lately.

Foucault once answered when an interviewer asked him “So what kind of ethics can we build now, when we know that between ethics and other structures there are only historical coagulations and not a necessary relation?” Foucault replied,

“What strikes me is the fact that, in our society, art has become something that is related only to objects and not to individuals or to life. That art is something which is specialized or done by experts who are artists. But couldn’t everyone’s life become a work of art? Why should the lamp or the house be an art object but not our life?”.

Our roles as the creative subject have changed since the Greeks (who practiced this way of life). It is interesting to think how many of us (including non-artists) live separate from our creative works and creative surroundings. As much of an impossible and beautiful dream it may sound it is possible for us to live as works of art and change our perceptions of thinking of the art object as permanent and immutable. As Foucault expressed, it has been done before..

source: Foucault and the Hupomnemata: Self Writing as an Art of Life by Matthias Swonger

Inspired By A Bland IKEA Table

There's a black plain IKEA table sitting in the middle of my living room which I've been having an aesthetic problem with ever since I moved into a new apartment. It's probably the most unexciting table I've ever seen, and I still don't understand how I managed to let it sneak into my apartment. So I decided either to find it a new home (I'm definitely sure no one would ever want it - hopeless), throw it out (Now do I really want to add to the world's waste problem?) or turn it into something more (why not?).. So I sighed and decided to help the wretched thing.

Searched my place for any unusual items and any left over house paint I might have. Found some vintage copper car sales tags I got at a thrift shop in Brooklyn and some "tea green" paint I used to paint my kitchen tiles. Without a specific plan I turned on the stereo and began priming the table with white paint. Splattered blue paint from my old collection of acrylics to give it some texture (a wild Jackson Pollock moment). Let it dry and then added a thin coat of the green paint all over. Then I hammered the tags onto the edges of the table (left some of them right side up which had beautiful handwritten notes still written on them). Began scrapping the green off with a kitchen knife in some areas to let the white and blue colors come through. Lastly, all I need is to get a custom glass table to place on top and voila! Job done! Once I get the glass, finish scraping the green a bit more and make a few little tweaks here and there this table will be ready to use. I'll post the final photo once it's finished.

This was and still is a fun learning experience as I learnt to think twice about chucking furniture out and to find ways to recycle more often. All it takes is a few ideas, getting your hands dirty, some enthusiasm and an awfully boring IKEA table.

(click to view larger)

Stargazing in Washington Square Park

In the deepest hour of the night, the moment when one feels they've captured the slightest rare sense that the city known as to never blink an eye has suddenly hushed into shavasana, my friend Peter and I laid at the center of the Washington Square Park fountain. With no one around, but the few old wise homeless men who continue to sit and play at their chess tables, we were trying to spot any stars that may have managed to pierce their glow through the NYC dome of light. To our luck we saw only just a few pale stars that made it through, but in silent wonderment, after taking a photograph of my friend laying there I couldn't help notice that it appeared that in the image the biggest and most visible "star" was hovering right above us all along. I began to think how funny it is that this illusion of a star was formed in the photograph by the same electricity that prevents us from seeing them naturally in the sky.. We see less stars in the sky because of the ever growing light pollution caused by how we decide to light up our cities, but then yet we can see and appreciate glowing star-like illuminations scattered throughout our streets...As equipment improves and dark skies retreat this paradox will grow ever more extreme....A paradox of our times..

Photo by Jocelyne Gilead

Published in LAMONO Magazine

Published in the 81st issue of Lamono Magazine this month of April in Spain.
I will be featured and interviewed by Lamono as soon as my new works are completed.
Check out the full magazine below and view it in fullscreen.
Follow them at:
Twitter: @lamonomagazine  
Facebook: lamono 

My drawing on page 8 (left side)

Flip through the magazine here:

          

Our Pale Blue Planet

Play video:

I can't stop pondering over Carl Sagan's profoundly moving words:

"Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar", every "supreme leader", every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Connected, but Alone?

I found it quite a coincidence that just about 2 weeks ago I decided to finally gain the strength to completely unplug and delete my personal facebook profile page for the very similar issues addressed in this TED talk presented today. Facebook is such a great tool for promoting one's business, artwork, keeping in touch, sharing information etc but when one uses the tool to live for the imaginary facebook wall, the 'likes' and 'comments' to feed our narcissism, the friendship connections that aren't truly tangible or as a tool to fill the void in our lives I think it becomes a problem in developing real connections, and learning about who we are..This doesn't only apply to facebook, but to any kind of online social communication/communities geared to building a sense of connection causing us to get so used to little quick,controlled and sometimes detached communications.  I wish people were more aware of this and instead lived at least 10% in their digital lives and 90% sharing and connecting with others in the real world.

Drawing In Progress

New drawing I started working on this week. I will be posting it up soon once it's finished.

(In my studio)

Where My Mind Turns To Music And Images

Tumblr Scrapbook : http://scrapbook-images.tumblr.com/

Going to a TEDx Event!

So most people who know me are familiar with my active participation in the online TED community. They also know about my (healthy) obsession and love for following/sharing TED talks. I find TED talks to be inspiring and extremely educational. On TED you can listen to people from all walks of life sharing their ideas on helping the world. Ideas can range from technology, science, global issues, entertainment, business and design. In case you're not familiar here's a bit of information about TED. It's a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations. To view Tedx event talks click here.

I was lucky to find a TEDx event being organized by TEDxCooperUnion coming up on April 24th. My boyfriend and I will be attending. When I announced the news on facebook  two of our good friends Brad and Martin bought tickets immediately :) So we're all going to have our first TED experience together. Words can't describe how thrilled I am to be able to listen to courageous and inspiring people who want to help the world, and to see a TED presentation in person for the first time.

You can visit my TED profile and view my favourite talks and speakers here http://www.ted.com/profiles/982992

Also you can check to see if any future TEDx Events are happening in your local cities here http://www.ted.com/tedx

Here's a TEDtalk video I'd like to share. Ken Robinson shares a "profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity". It's a special talk with moments that will make you smile and really think. One of my favorites. I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did :)

More Memorable Ski Trip Pics

Just got back to NY and wanted to share some more photos of my trip to Switzerland.

As you'll notice I did a jump in the first photo. It was an incredible experience! :)

The Mountains Help to Reawaken Forgotten Dreams

So I'm up in the Swiss Alps in a town called Zermatt. Coming here to ski has been a tradition kept between my dad and I. Each time I return and stand right where that first photo was taken I am reminded with an overwhelming sense of wonder how unexplainably beautiful nature is. Being surrounded by a coat of white covering massive lands so close to the clouds where silence floats like an ongoing echoing hum, it's hard not to smile and feel thankful to be alive when witnessing such beaming beauty. I think of what a pity it is that I had to come all the way here to be reminded of this.. When we are caught up with our worries and tasks during our daily lives we forget about this, the same magnificence that surrounds us right where we are standing.

    

Photos taken by Jocelyne Gilead