Permission To Suck

So Where is the Democratized Artistic Genius?

Monday, January 18, 2010

Evidently neither technology nor egalitarianism does anything to stir the soul, yet, Rauschenberg erases beauty and inspires – or provokes - the heart of an artistic movement. Watch a short video interview with Rauschenberg about his erasure of a de Kooning masterpiece.

Permission To Suck Manifesto 16, 17, 18 …

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

0 Comments

This time, an addition of three items to the Permission To Suck Manifesto comes from my own attempts recently to reignite my passion for photography. It's not that I stopped enjoying the work but it's that I had forgotten what it felt like when everything felt new. Suspension of disbelief might be the answer - whatever works - but these three points have been rolling around in my head the past couple months.

Making a Human Connection – David Griffin

Monday, November 23, 2009

0 Comments

Your frozen mental picture is attached to a narrative. Dreams feel like movies but the meaningful moment is a photograph in your mind with an ascribed story. Precise and complete recall isn’t called video graphic memory now is it? Video Presentation by David Griffin, National Geographic Magazine Director of Photography with links to Photographers featured in the presentation.

Can I Get a Witness?

Monday, October 26, 2009

1 Comment

Testimonials are equal exchanges: nothing is more powerful than familiarity with greatness when attempting to strengthen a network. When I ask you to like me, you feel the emotional risk immediately unless I have a network of allies sending a clear message that my greatness is authentic and tested.

Don’t Bore Me with Genius

Monday, October 19, 2009

0 Comments

The woman’s exceptional; mostly paints oil on canvas. She’s an invention of art school, but failed to graduate because of a hasty yearlong sojourn to Italy. A return to the states was followed by recurrent menial jobs as she continued to paint without gainful discovery. Dull. No combination of adjectives and adverbs would change the [...]

The Permission to Suck Manifesto

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

10 Comments

Somewhere in your personal history a decision was made to forgo a “real job”; one your parents would understand. Artist, creative director, writer, musician, photographer, actor, fine artist or pick one – you got attention for a talent or liked doing it so much that there was just no room to commit significant time to a profession less flattering gratifying. You became one of them sensitive types whose ego is vulnerably bonded to their work. True objective distance is pointless but it’s best to have a survival strategy.

Steve McCurry: Arts and Minds

Thursday, October 8, 2009

0 Comments

McCurry is an adventurer, documentarian and photojournalist with a great soul, a big heart, and a celebrated pair of eyes. Steve is an anthropologist who endures with his subjects.

Ben Wiggins – Beyond the “Cool” of time compression

Thursday, October 1, 2009

0 Comments

I’ve seen time lapse before, who hasn’t? Maybe it’s a shaky seedling sprouting from the ground or a street scene with jittery people. Yet, there’s an emotion to Ben’s short films that I find unexpected. Not only is the still frame that captures the motion well considered but the motion itself has a power beyond the usual “cool” of time compression.

Right or Left Brained – Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight

Monday, September 28, 2009

1 Comment

Jill Bolte Taylor has an astonishing story. At most it will change your perception of how you exist; at least it will make you think about how her research applies to you. If ever there was a “right” person to experience a stroke it was her.

“Do It Because You Like It” – Dan Pink

Monday, September 14, 2009

0 Comments

Our default is to be risk reluctant and to think things through to a logical end with no deviation from task. We narrow our purpose and use our craftiness to get to the finish line as fast and as free from criticism as possible – we go with what we know when under pressure. Perform with all eyes on you and you’ll do what it takes not to fail, together with relying on a tested formula for success. ----> In his TED video presentation, Dan Pink gives an outstanding presentation – argument if you will – for what science asserts truly motivates us. Dan explains that there is a mismatch between what science shows and what business does. Business wants innovation, yet motivates us to be formulaic with a narrow view of problem solving.