Archive for December, 2006

What is Dark Energy?

article at aip

hi-res image from esamultimedia.esa

Dutch Angle

Behind The Screen, a Dutch documentary about Google- hosted by google, not these guys!

My Ninja, Please! 12/1/06: ART! - ARF!

People, at myninjaplease.com, every day is a milestone, ya dig? Today, as you know, is ART DAY! Some of you already know the drill, which is that if you want to check out further art, there are several ways to do it within this site.

You can click on the ‘art‘ category, which encompasses the categories of design, architecture, contemporary art, film, music, and photo. Or, seeing as anybody with common sense already knows that, you can click on any friday in our ninja calendar over there on the sidebar (dating back over 1,000 posts, which is 9,000 posts in dog-posts). Or you can click the ART DAY! link in this post, which automatically searches myninjaplease for the term ‘ART!’ That will bring up all the ART DAY! main posts.

Also, some of you more diehard followers have noted the absence of the My Ninja, Please! posts. This is the triumphant return.

That being said [and beaten like a dead horse], today is a special ART DAY! because our in house ninjas have cooked up quite the eclectic treat for you, the masses. I’ll let you scroll down and find out. Also, our first microsite, arch.mnp, has opened for business! You can check it out my going to architecture.myninjaplease.com or clicking on the link in ‘the dojo’ over yonder to the right. Now without further ado…

Tillie the canine artist!

So it’s not like we usually watch late night with Conan O’Brien [aka big-headed ninja], but for some reason the ninja fam found ourselves sitting around at the correct time. And who do we see? Tillamook Cheddar, the canine artist. She has been described as:

"The most successful living animal painter."
-The Art Newspaper

"A masterpiece of conceptualism."
-Time Out New York

"A sham."
-Jerry Saltz, Village Voice

"When possessed by an artistic vision, Tillie is fearless."
-AKC Gazette

"[Because of tillie] I have had to rethink two of my most basic assumptions about art and life: first, the notion that animals cannot have an aesthetic sense; second, the core conviction that no sentient being could possibly paint anything worse than what Julian Schnabel recently showed at the Gagosian Gallery."
-James Gardner, New York Post (May, 2002)

Damn near all I can say is, My Ninja, Please! Check out a national geopraphic article on Tillie, and her artist bio. I’m not gonna link to him here, but you can also check out the webpage for that big-headed Conan. She also has a book out. Don’t laugh too hard: "Portrait of a Dog as a Young Artist"

The artist’s primary process is a dynamic color transfer technique. In preparation for each of Tillie’s works, her assistants assemble a touch-sensitive recording device by affixing pigment-coated vellum to a sheet of lithograph paper backed by mat board. The artist takes the prepared "canvas" in her mouth and brings it to her workspace. Working on the outside surface, she applies pressure with teeth and claws in a methodic ritual marked by dramatic shifts in tempo and intensity. The resultant sharp and sweeping intersecting lines complement the artist’s delicate paw prints and subtle tongue impressions, composing an expressionistic image that is revealed on the paper beneath when she is finished. She works with shocking intensity, sometimes to the point of destroying her creations.

‘children of Chernobyl’

I couldn’t really find any information on these works…but, they look pretty ill [although a lil unsettling] so I threw them up here. Work by Klynia, located in Belarus.

found at woostercollective

Anthony McCall: step into the light

Your looking at the work of Anthony McCall. Above is his installation ‘Line Describing a Cone’ [1973, 16mm film], and below ‘Doubling Back’ [2003, 16mm film] at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Check out his recent/current exhibitions and his publications too.

‘from 1973 to 1975 Anthony McCall produced a series of films that challenged the filmic materialism exemplified by so-called structural film and high modernism’s ethic of medium-specificity with which those works were associated. The best known of these is Line Describing a Cone (1973), which rejected two-dimensionality, typically taken to be a defining characteristic of film art by advocates of medium-specificity, for a new kind of film-viewing experience’

‘…films like McCall’s might be seen as negotiating between the relative autonomy of an artistic tradition like avant-garde cinema and the intermedia sharing that has always gone on between art forms (particularly during the moment-the early seventies-when McCall began making films). Such a perspective seems especially important when considering a figure like McCall, who experimented with ideas about process, time, artistic materials, and audience activity in a variety of sculptural, performance-based, photographic, cinematic, and conceptual works all at the same time’ [link]

Between You and I [2006]. Installation drawing

‘Long Film for Four Projectors’ [1974, 16mm film] - def my favorite…

Sally Cummings Shisler

It’s ART DAY! people; act your age, not your palette.

Sally Cummings Shisler is described on her artspan webpage as contemporary realist painter. We here at myninjaplease would rather show you the art than do reviews or verify the veracity of such claims, but we’ll get into a little of that too. Let me just say this: I saw her in the new artists category and this self portrait caught my eye. Both of them.

For some reason, I can’t not like that. Here’s a couple more pictures from Sally, followed by a statement from her.

The perspective in that last one, "Cape Cod Haze" is crazy. We got love for the Cape too! A little bit, anyway.

What keeps me going is the challenge to paint a picture that shares my personal experience with the viewer. "Aren’t those tomatoes luscious!", "Doesn’t Dad look peaceful?", or "Can you get over how amazing the Florida clouds are in the summertime?". Commentary like this is what you’ll have to hear over and over again if you spend any actual time with me. For me, painting "lively" images that connect best with viewers requires painting from life. When the moment is right, I don’t worry much about content because I trust my gut reaction to what I’m seeing and how I’m responding. But I better have my supplies and skills ready to go! If the right ingredients are there, my focus can be on the basic but crucial elements of shape, color, value and composition. If I’m lucky, all things jibe and I hit my mark. That’s the moment of truth when I can say to myself "Yes, you are going to be a painter." Sometimes I even indulge and say; "Nope, you ARE a painter!" Whatever the subject, the process involves being ready for the elusive moment when all things might actually come together. For me great painting is a perfect mix of planning and spontaneity.

Sally Cummings-Shisler

I don’t know about all that, but I like it. Maybe not, "dont those tomatoes look luscious?," but definitely, "don’t those tomatoes look hella cool!?"

She lives in Florida and mainly uses oil on board. She’s also got an impressive resume including custom medical art.

Blair Thrall

Yes, artspan has captivated my attention and held captive much of my time over the last few months. And I’ve definitely abused the new artists category over there today, shamelessly at that. Anyoldways, check out Blair Thrall.

Blair Williams Thrall grew up in Shreveport Louisiana, among a family of artists. She studied art at University of Southwestern Louisiana, but considers herself mainly self taught and continues to evolve as an artist. She has been a parent, homemaker, horsewoman, dog show enthusiast ,antique jewelry dealer and for eleven years she especially enjoyed nurturing young children’s love of art as a Montessori teacher.

Wipe those silly smiles off your face ninjas, nothing’s funny!

Those are both Giclee prints. I’m not sure if I need to comment on the ironic Manet in that second one, but I will if anyone deigns to ask a silly question like, "why is that ironic?"

But what the people want to know is, what does the artist have to say? What say you, artist?

My paintings and jewelry pieces are the manifestation of an innate desire I have to create. It makes me happy to produce something that others can enjoy. For me it’s all about sharing a feeling or the beauty of a moment.
Recently my paintings have been an exploration of two themes, the first being nocturnal diversions and the entertaining people that inhabit that world. The other being a day-lit look at some of my favorite places and special moments in my life.

Blair Thrall

I said stop laughing, ninjas. Those prints, especially the rest of the ones on her page, are pretty damn tight.

tetri haus

well, now that we’re all grown and sexy with the passing of our 1000th post, we’re ready for the MNP revolution to begin. get ready ninjas, we’re about to be taking over all your internets. whats first, you ask? architecture.myninjaplease! the first of what will be many MNP micro-sites, bringing you even more content from your favorite MNP topics.

Tetri haus [Haus Pezzei], is this [kinda ill] multi-unit residential project designed by Plasmastudio, and currently under construction in San Candido, Italy.

Ad Art

Entries into an artistic advertising contest at worth1000