Friday, March 25, 2011

La Luna Exhibition - Transformations.


An exhibition of art from recycled material and found objects at La Luna Art Gallery (march 30 - April 30) featuring works by these luminaries 
 Jack DeVore, Mark R. Jay, David Robb, Nan Robb,
Glen Rogers, Lucila Santiago, Rafael Avila Tirado, Carlos Z and a great visiting artist Lanny Garland whose life began in the watershed of the Big Horn Mountain. He produces wonderful 'tribal' art from 'hand hammered copper, hand worked silver, gold leaf, and found object pieces in several other materials. Finishes are natural and hand applied patinas along with paint and decorative rivets and chain.'



This piece below is beautiful to me and scary at the same time. I can imagine a priest sitting on his haunches meditating smoking a hallucinogenic spliff in some far gone era ready to place this vestidura over his head before going out into the blazing sun to the sacrificial altar with a machete hanging from his hand where a man is tied, his pale neck exposed, waiting for it to be parted from his body. This piece I find tell a story and therefore that makes it compelling art especially when it is put together from found objects.




The term found art describes art created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function. Marcel Duchamp was the originator of this in the early 20th century with his fountain 

by R Mutt.Duchamp himself described it as readymade art or if you are French objet trouvé. But according to this critic that term is just semantics and R.Mutt 'found' this men's urinal and signed it in what could be 
described as an ironic anti-art gesture or paying homage to the spirit of  DADA. This piece was voted 'most influential work of modern art' by the 
Turner Prize Committee  




Found Art is art because the artist says it is. The context in which it is placed is also highly relevant and although it may now be accepted in the art world as a feasible practice, it continues to arouse questioning. But the artist expects the audience the time to contemplate the object and hopefully it will prompt philosophical reflection and this can only be a good thing. But audiences these days bred on a diet of fast editing, flashing, throwaway images and the attention spans of a gnat can not always be relied on to stand back and appreciate found art because they either want to hang around at the bar  sipping vino or they are outside plotting a coup, having a cigarette or rioting after which they may return to the object and say; 

'What crap, my 2 year can do that.' 


Picasso 1943 Bull Head.

This piece by Picasso, brilliant that it is, consist of nothing but the seat and handlebars of an old bicycle. Of course, the materials Picasso used are manufactured, but it would be crazy to insist that he must share the credit with the manufacturer, since the seat and handlebars in themselves are not works of art.

"While we feel a certain jolt when we first recognize the ingredients of this visual pun, we also sense that it was a stroke of genius to put them together in this unique way, and we cannot very well deny that it is a work of art."

Mmmm let's think about that pompous quote for a bit...

I reckon my Grandpa working in his garage fixing my bike may have put a saddle together with a set of handlebars and thought about a kudu, a badger or even a bull, but it was not art because there was no story behind it, he was not an accepted artist and he did not put it together in a 'unique' way. It was just my Grandpa in a garage in a moment of boredom. Whereas Picasso, an artist obsessed with masculine vitality from Spain the land of bullfighting realised from some junk he could create a bull's head... now that is a story and now my poor Grandpa is totally forgotten even though he thought of it first and is now lying in his grave thinking ..'That bastard Picasso dang stole my dang idea.' And i bet every bicycle shop owner from Calle Teniente Azueta to Bulgaria has at one time done the same thing and thought the same thing.

An artist can put something together in a unique way whereas I cannot and it is not art and  it all could, in this jaded critic's eye, be a case of The Emperor's New Clothes

Stuckists, a group promoting going back to real painting say 

"Readymade art is a polemic of materialism".

So let's all open our minds, check this out and hopefully not walk out of a 'found objects' exhibition quoting the Stuckists ..


Man contemplating a refrigerator he 'found' in a corner of a room.
Fantastic piece put together by MazReal staff.

Damien Hirst - 

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. 
A found shark with a meaningless pretentious name that makes it art.


Colin George Jaffrey
Some crap he found in his kitchen, was going to throw out, then thought lets make a Tea Pot bird.



One thing that does bother us though, is the term recycled art in that it draws one's mind to kiddies art classes where they bring home crappy stuff made from toilet tubes or tin cans or bent forks as wind chimes. It could also be termed SHOESTRING ART we suppose. We therefore cannot wait to see what these esteemed artists and their imaginations do with recycled materials.

(Our regular art critic Eustice Remington is on the plane to Mumbai or if you still think the sun never sets on the British Empire, Bombay India where he will be contemplating various Victorian splendid colonial architectures, studying the Kama Sutra, spiritualizing with the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh II and studying eastern mysticism and sexual freedom. Good Luck Eustice and please don't come back - Ed)



MazReal will not be at the opening (we have decided to go get 'Useless' in Mumbai lock him up in his hovel where he stays until his mystagogue conversion to the Aetherius Society and takes off in a flying saucer so that we can taste the delights ourselves)
 and will give our impressions of the other artists' works later in the month. 



सूरज के दूसरे पक्ष पर उज्जवल चमकता as they say in Hindi!


©MazReal Productions 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

MazReal Reporter Claymore Jones Reports From Libya



 MazReal reporter Claymore 'The Mine' Jones takes a relaxed attitude whilst waiting for the action to happen out near Benghazi Libya. Christ knows when we will get some feedback from him. It seems that working on your tan is more important than writing copy.

(In reply to our last post anonymous commentator: Thanks for the interest and commentary, but we at MazReal don't use more gas than liquid household products in our car because when we get around we have our Malay servants Wang and Ishmael pushing us. It amazing how much gas we save. We actually get through large amounts of the two most expensive products however - Dom Perignon which we drink and nail varnish which we sniff both in industrial quantities. - Ed)

'Ol Blue Nose Has a Few things to Say....Plus Some Images Pile Up.





All day we at MazReal, now that the Mexican weather is verging on perfect, have been drinking chilled vodka and lazily swinging in our hammocks helped along by the Malay servants doing the physical bit. It is good to shut out the world every so often especially now that we are forcing our collective will on some other unfortunate Arab nation. Now that the French are involved we can feel a lot better about blowing up things and ordering French Fries, applying camembert cheese to our crackers and dabbing No.19 under the ears.

Creatively staring into space and silently philosophizing is therefore good, listening to nothing except the tinnitus and the yappy dog across the road (who one of these days by God we are going to dognap in a cardboard box and leave out by the airport) 

When one is lying in a comatose state Frank 'ol blue nose Snotra usually comes to mind. So here are some Frank quotes. He had to say these kind of inane things just to keep up his aura of cool. I bet the Rat Pack would give him a good ribbing if he came out with this lot in their presence.

Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.

Basically, I'm for anything that gets you through the night - be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.


I like intelligent women. When you go out, it shouldn't be a staring contest.

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.


Yes, real hats not damn baseball caps.




Frank goes oooooooo.Here he is trying to look interested while Grace Kelly shoves her big camera in his face.





At least if you are going to talk manly about booze all the time like Frank does, it should be sophisticated booze not this backwoods bourbon crap that he bangs on about. Stolichnaya, schnapps, Tom Collins, a Gibson, absinthe, armignac, Campari and Tonic, negroni. We could go on forever as this is a small example we have in our cosmopolitan cocktail bar.


Here's some pictures to look at ..........




I bet this smart-arse male ad copyrighter didn't have any women friends.




Now this is the way we like to smoke. Sophisticated yet utilitarian.



If anyone knows what the hell is going on here in this creepy image, you are free to comment. Looks like something Sarah Palin might be involved with.




"I dunno who the dang hell you are and I dont care if that is not a bible, marry us now or I'll blow you full of holes."



We all want a midmorning conference drinking water with our partner while sitting on a tractor. Yes sirrreeee.



You better keep this handy when your kids come and visit so you know what they are talking about in this modern parlance they use these days on Facebook. So if she brings 'twangie boy' into the conversation you know she's got her eye on some sexy hunk that plays sport and is probably a bit thin between the ears.








Thursday, March 3, 2011

Is Your Marriage on The Skids?


We all know that happily married expats stuck way out in the tropics can sometime begin to drift apart. We all know the British Empire produced the most cases of divorce in the history of this planet. There are many reasons for this:

Lack of proper body maintenance
Excessive wind
Too many servants give you nothing to do all day
Imparting unsolicited advice 24 hours a day
Finger pointing
Nagging
Looking uninteresting
Conflicts over power and gardening
Joining a drug cartel without prior discussion
avoiding his embrace
staring into space
incomplete daintiness
listening to Cliff Richard
Voting for Christine O'Donnell


Save it by:

Teaching your dog to do tricks
Dress up like a cartoon character
Compare yourself to an animal
Pretend you are a tourist.
go rock climbing
assassinate President Chavez
Jump out an airplane with one parachute
Join a religious cult


OR together go visit an exhibition of monotype prints at La LUNA bar and Grill

Rooster by Nan Robb


Our man of the moment 'Useless' Eustace Remington took the short walk down to La Luna Bar for a drink where he came upon an exhibition of monotype. Heading for the bar he was stopped dead in his tracks by some great works. A number which caught his eye especially a print of a cock by that talented, world famous artist Nan Robb. By the time he had elbowed his way through the crowds to the bar, ordered a drink, then another and five later, the picture Rooster by Nan Robb had a red dot on it. Probably the fastest selling print in any bar that he had ever been into and he's been into thousands. Sauntering debonairly around with a drink in each and his cheeks full of delicious bar snacks by that world renown chef Alastair Porteous, many other prints by equally famous artists caught his eye:

Lucila Santiago

Robynn Smith

Katherin Levin-Lau 


Marxist agitators aggressively sitting on the kerbside of Calle Niños Heroes shouting and making a nuisance of themselves.


Egressing for a breath of air and a puff on a cheroot, he spied across the road a louche collection of slovenly dodgy characters drinking home-made spirits asking for handouts for their revolutionary cause and shouting Socialist slogans and spraying graffiti calling for people to 'Recognise Cachaça' (That famous Brazilian Marxist spirit) and to vote for the Keg Party. (the party who call for bars to be open 24 hours and free drinks to all communist party card holders.) The intellectual hipster agitator in the sandals seems to want the illuminati destroyed. Which means he has a beef with that Bavarian secret society founded in 1776, the Freemasons, the Ordi Tempii Orientis and the Gøtterdåmmerung Society. Easy you lefty we think that is taking it a bit too damn far!

Giving them a wide berth Eustice hastened back into the safety of the packed bar where, as can be seen, the four barkeeps are having difficulty fulfilling the orders of the multitudes.






Rafael Avila Tirado

Another great piece by Rafael Avila Tirado. 'Useless' had to view this striking print from afar as it seemed to be guarded by another two characters, one a hoody and the other giving this famous journalist the 'eye'.



The news of this exhibition has gone far and wide as even a sailor had found her way here from the US navy starship USS BlackStarInterprize doing maneuvers above Stone Island.

The organizers and curators of this exhibition have done a fine job and lets hope that they all sell their works. Mazatlán is lucky to have an establishment that hangs interesting art. 


Eustice, you fool, where you just been is not a drinking establishment it is an art gallery!!! You are hereby sacked! - Editor. 

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