Philosophy

Sunday, December 28, 2014

“The Zen Predator of the Upper East Side”

Embedded image permalink









Longform
@longform
The best articles on the web, recommended daily. Also:@LongformApp/@LongformPodcast.
Brooklyn, NY


Source:
longform.org



"Pam & Tommy" sex tape


Embedded image permalink










Longform
@longform
The best articles on the web, recommended daily. Also:
@LongformApp/@LongformPodcast.
Brooklyn, NY
longform.org
Joined March 2010












Saturday, December 27, 2014

PAPER SCULPTURES (Chinese paper sculptures stretch imaginations in New York)





Published on Jan 23, 2014

The line of pure white busts sitting amongst the dust in Li Hongbo's Beijing studio could be found in any art classroom around the world.

That is until the 38-year-old Chinese artist places his hands on one, lifts gently, and what had seemed like solid plaster transforms into a live, amorphous mass.

A roman soldier stretches like elastic, a pretty English maid suddenly rises like a terrible phantasm. They are neither plaster nor clay, but concertinas of thousands of fine pieces of paper.

"At the beginning, I discovered the flexible nature of paper through Chinese paper toys and paper lanterns. 

Later, I used this to make a gun. A gun is solid, used for killing, but I turned it into a tool for play or for decoration. In this way, it lost both the form of a gun, and the culture inherent to a gun. It became a game," he said.

To make his sculptures Li uses a stencil to paste glue in narrow strips across large pieces of paper that he then sticks together to form blocks of 500.

He stacks the blocks to the desired height -- an average bust is over ten blocks or 5,000 sheets of paper high -- then cuts, chisels and sands the large block just as if it were a piece of soft stone. 

Born into a simple farming family, Li said he has always loved paper, first invented in ancient China. He has spent six years producing a collection of books recording more than 1,000 years of Buddhist art on paper.

In his recent works, Li has consciously produced only perfect replicas of classical busts and shapes he used to sketch at university. The denatured human forms may make some people squirm, but Li says he uses the archetypal figures to make audiences concentrate on the material, not to shock.

"'Strange' and 'unsettling' are just adjectives used by some individuals. 

In fact, people have a fixed understanding of what a human is, and think that a human cannot be physically manipulated, so when you transform a person, people will reconsider the nature of objects and the motivation behind the creation. This is what I care about," he said. 

His exhibition 'Tools of Study' at the Klein Sun gallery in New York has earned him plenty of attention across the Pacific since it opened on January 9th.

Gallery assistants pull the twenty pieces around on their plinths for visitors, but not being allowed to touch pieces themselves leaves some feeling unfulfilled. 

Li is aware of this irony, and at a show in Sydney provided small models for the audience to play with. But it could be for the best.  











Thursday, December 25, 2014

The Junky's Xmas





UbuWeb Film
UbuWeb









William S. Burroughs (1914-1997)


Back to William S. Burroughs


The Junky's Christmas (1993)





Runtime: 21 min
Language: English
Country: USA
Color: Black and White

Director: Nick Donkin & Melodie McDaniel
Cast: William S. Burroughs ... Narrator (voice)

Description: Burroughs takes down a book and reads us the story of Danny the Carwiper, who spends Christmas Day trying to score a fix, but finds the Christmas spirit instead.
Francis Ford Coppola produced this short Claymation film based on William S. Burroughs excellent story The Junky's Christmas. Directed by Nick Donkin and Melodie McDaniel, it opens with live action footage of Burroughs as he begins his tale:

It was Christmas Day and Danny the Car Wiper hit the street junksick and broke after seventy-two hours in the precinct jail. It was a clear bright day, but there was warmth in the sun. Danny shivered with an inner cold. He turned up the collar of his worn, greasy black overcoat. This beat benny wouldn't pawn for a deuce, he thought.


William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) Back to William S. Burroughs The Junky's Christmas (1993)





PennSound | CENTRO | EPC | WFMU 

William S Burroughs - The.Junky's Christmas. Full Version.

Uploaded on Jan 25, 2011

Fantastic narration by Burroughs about Danny, a poor unfortunate junkie who reveals his last remains of selflessness and humanity despite his urgent physical predicament.

The Junky's Christmas is a story by William S. Burroughs. It appears in the 1989 collection Interzone and on the 1993 album Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales. It was also made into a 1993 short claymation film directed by Nick Donkin and Melodie McDaniel. The film was produced by Francis Ford Coppola and was released by Koch Vision on DVD in North America on Nov. 21, 2006. Burroughs narrates the film and appears in live-action footage at the beginning and end of the film.