circa. (yeay! i CAN read!)

circa. (yes, that is a dot...so say: “circa dot”) is a new taser factory effort, in the form of a light publication, by editor jonathan jay and creative director gwyn galvan. I particularly like the their initials: jj and gg., and if we hung out more, i think i would try just calling them jj and gg....
so far, circa. has featured interesting interviews of persons involved in interesting things in the los angeles area, specifically central los angeles. the cast of featured artists, sound-makers, writers, and poets are pretty substantial, and the interviews are quality. Ranging from playful-to-honest, traditional-to-experimental in their approach, it makes for fun reading.
(knee shy) had the pleasure of being spotlighted in the debut issue. now on their second release, featuring such creatives as: published poet chiwan choi, yyy’s / krs recording artist imaad wasif w/ truman water, lino-cut master dave lefner, and matador rec. heavies jaguar love, it’s evident that jj and gg are really starting to have fun with this.

along with breaking up standard monotony with their layout, circa. is also experimenting with means of distributing their product to the masses. circa. is currently available with the confines of los angeles...at select locations. if you’re interested in acquiring a hard-copy, contact them here:

http://circadot.blogspot.com/

these guys are also hooked on the idea of a little dialogue between readers, featured artists, and staff. so, say something...let’s dialogue!

good job with the screenprinted covers, gwyn!

a very new potato sandwich - by jeremy kennedy

this is the sandwich of my dreams. not like my "dream sandwich", but i had a dream about this sandwich, or this sandwich was in my dreams, etc. i did not have to eat it. i made this image, because it was extremely difficult to explain the sandwich to people. it would take a long time, and still nobody "really" understands the sandwich, and i am getting royally sick and tired of trying to explain it.
if anybody is interested in this sandwich, please feel free to contact me!
jeremy@kneeshy.com
thanks.

"keys to an eighty-eighth" - a new group project / curated by j. shelley harrison

“Keys to an Eighty-Eighth”
*an 88 person group art project curated by – j. shelley harrison
2010

About this project:

With “Keys to an Eighty-Eighth”, artist j. shelley harrison has created a very encompassing project based on a straightforward and communicable concept, the type of she is often noted for. After destroying a piano for a project by (knee shy) in early 2010, harrison was felt compelled to creatively implement the leftover parts. She was specifically drawn to the piano’s keys, and decided to distribute all 88 of them amongst 88 selected creative individuals.

The guidelines provided by harrison were extremely loose. Each individual has been instructed to prepared their key in some creative fashion, and returned the product to Harrison upon it’s completion. Per instruction, all participants maintain the control to do basically whatever they want involving the key given to them. Thanks to this liberalness, the body of work as a whole is already showing signs of incredible depth, and creative elements from one extreme to the next.

The ongoing variety of the pieces of can also be attributed to the scope of individuals selected by harrison to be part of the project. For participants, she selected creatives of all kinds, from all over the map. Visual artists, designers, writers, children, musicians, strangers, friends, family, insiders and outsiders... you name it. By inviting such a diverse crowd, she has captured a full spectrum of backgrounds and approaches, from sculptural to audio, photography to poetry.

Keys are still steadily arriving, and the end date from the project is still in the future. After all the keyed-up pieces make their return, the entire collection will be shown in a gallery exhibition. Where and when are still up in the air, and there is also the possibility of showings in multiple cities.

jiang-shi! - fuck dracula!!!

i am currently renewing my obsession with my favorite horror / comedy / fantasy / martial arts movie genre, jiang shi! roughly, jiang shi is the chinese term for the culture's approximation of a vampire. fuck any ideas of dracula, true blood, or any of that other shit, this is a totally different, more taser factory ghoul.
apparently the story of jiang shi goes back far into chinese folklore, but i prefer to pick up the tale starting in the early 1980's when martial arts master, film star, jackie chan buddy, and renowned action coordinator sammo hung started the movie genre by making "encounters of the spooky kind".
these films are terrific! they combine chinese folklore, comedy, horror, martial arts, and other bizarre elements, which create something entirely and specifically chinese. (my favorite part is finding myself lost on culturally specific terms and jokes).
the antagonist themselves are something to marvel over. jiang shi resemble western zombies more than vampires. they are ridden with rigor mortis, thus explaining the fact that they hop around in order to move. (in feng shui, it is supposed that the inclusion of a 6" threshold at the bottom of doorways is good to prevent jiang shi from entering.)
they usually appear dressed in qing dynasty garb, and are combated by taoist priests, who put jiang shi to sleep by placing spells, written on pieces of yellow paper, on their foreheads. also, male virgins, sticky rice, chicken eggs, and dog blood are good things to have around.
here's a clip from "encounters of the spooky kind"
other taser factory titles include:
"the dead and the deadly"
"mr. vampire" (and all the sequels)
and anything with yam ching-ying...

...it with be funny...

a flavorite piece from my personal collection. kids, as much as some of them get on my goddamn nerves, are top ranked in my book for their creative output. this is an absolutely taser factory example. a brilliant tale of halloween excitement and adventure, epically illustrated (probably) on the reverse side, by an unknown artist / writer / score-keeper. my friend molly gave this to me years ago as a birthday present. it is definitely with be funny!

public art...what isn't...

i've been better about carrying a camera with me when i go out. that is good, due to the amount of stuff outside. like this. oh street art...

a ripped out parking sign, which someone spraypainted, scraped, covered in sequins and wire, and threw in a street .a crosswalk sign that someone taped off to make this classic gesture. this was right in front of the office where i had an interview today.

awesome scarred up pin board at a local pub.
fucked up phone.

oh blessed adobe creative suite...

"it's not the heat, it's ________"

for me, it seems like graphic design type work always has strings attached. it's for a certain purpose or has to meet up to some sorta criteria or agenda, etc. it feel great to actually have total freeform fun with these tools...

"surf portugal"

"upper hawk #?""fighting cats"

"he slice it!"

deadly chained ninja wepuns!!!

exactly. not just ninja wepuns, but deadly chained ninja wepuns! exactly.
ninja wepuns become potentially much more dangerous and exciting when they are chained, and deadly. i wish the ninja wepun magazine was still in operation. this back issue from '87 will have to do for now.

i read this magazine. then i watched a chuck norris flick with a really terrible title (which escapes me).
i feel powered. maybe take off my shirt and sharpen some knives in the dark.
btw, today is world poetry day. cheers!

serious as a cart attack...

I have developed a recent fascination with the array of carts in employed by thy neighborhood street people. Here are few photos. I am still building my collection, but i am amazing at leaving my camera at home when i go out, so it’s taking a while. I like these though. There was an amazing cart out today. However, the owner was hanging out next to it. I have never talked to him before, and i didn’t have time to stop and chat. I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable or come off like the dumb-ass white kid I never wanted be.i haven't had the chance to check around the internet for photo's from others, but i'm sure there are some pretty taser factory things out there. i did find some stuff one this site. lower down on the page there is a really great designed cart! check it out here!

the cooking of spam in portugal - new work by: jeremy kennedy

“The Cooking of Spam in Portugal”
New work by: jeremy kennedy
opening: Saturday March 13th 2010
at White Vinyl Space
(3320 NW 2 Ave / Miami, FL 33127)

artist statement type thing:

as an artist, one of my greatest interests is world history. Unfortunately, ...

as well as modern world and how/why people struggle with it in modern societies. originally, i had planned the title: “the cooking of spam in portugal” for a book that i have been working on. then i look at work for show and realize it’s the same, or an extension of the same material in the book.

i had the idea of keeping the title for both the same and using it in combination with the numeral “2”.
other titles for consideration included:
-“home is where the pool is.”
-“u gotta take the lunch of life”
and
-“i dream of a mean chicken.”
the show is called this and the book has a new title, which escapes me at the moment...but that’s not the point.

I find the title to be a great term i can use to make relevant the extent of interest i have in the world. from the ethnographic survey and exploration of my home office (esp. the shelf thing directly above my desk) to my curiosity of what they’re doing, or have done with spam in portugal.

especially guided and regarded w/out reason, from the dark age to present, these artifacts collected for dissemination in all areas, at different times and for different purposes. when i say “we met on the bus.”, this could mean this literally or something to the effects of: “we never hang out much anymore”, “hold my hand in the swamp”, etc.

i want to show the importance of confusion in and with the world around us. i like typos. The typos in this article could change how it is regarded by you. or it could change how you regard me or the artwork. translation errors...those may be even more fun. i make an effort to perceive things through a “child-view”. a feel incredibly strong in my belief that nothing is worthless. a really terrible song, image, object, animal, anything! At the right time, in the right setting, all things have value.

another part of this whole thing could be easily explained by my personal distaste for song lyrics, or rather lyrics that i can understand that have “meaning”. i am a huge proponent of instrumental music. this is in no way saying that i dislike the sound of the human voice, quite the contrary. i just enjoy it more when i cannot understand what is being said/sung. i like reggae because of this. i know something is being said, and in english possibly, but i have no idea what for the better part. i also enjoy non-english singing from all around the world, as well as non-language, rather interpretive singing.
i like not knowing. i like onamonapea.
(in closing, before closing, the c. of s. in p. means to include a bunch of stuff in the world. And idea)


Along with the above-mentioned interests, food (even in light of being a vegetarian with an eating disorder) and things on sale are highly resonating topics in my work. This food is funny, most things are funny, and some things are funnier with a price tag. World history is funny, and can be made even more so with a little rewriting.
-jeremy kennedy (2010)

“life is eat and die” – yamantaka eye.

special snacks to: j. shelley harrison, ara mark, debra wasserman and united judaic growers guild of sacramento, john carpenter, crab jackson, shane edge (shawn egg), the folks at “barely 18” magazine, nasc, the kwop organization, socal, tree thousand press, skip van cel, georgia m. richards, the man from 1st meat, the ewok from the meat team, table blue brand, pharaoh sanders, jamie rincker, peter brotzmann, everybody there who still believe in jeremy kennedy, and the miami dolfins.

abraham lincoln could only read in the dark...

The life story of Abraham Lincoln is a truly incredible tale. It is the tale of a great man and leader, full of exciting political misadventure and gunshots. As the 16th President of the United States of America, his efforts changed a nation and the world...

Abraham Lincoln was born in the United State of Kentucky in 18__, then moved with his family as a young boy to Illinois, and went to high school in Indiana.
Wait...
He was born in a one-room hotel in Illinois, moved into his parent’s log cabin in Kentucky, and took up a law career in Indiana. I think.
No...
Abraham Lincoln built a log cabin in Kentucky when he was born, moved the cabin to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Indiana, and went to college at Illinois Valley Community College in Illinois.

During this brief but exciting period, Lincoln found a great passion for the reading of books. However, due to the lack of natural or electrical light, he learned to read entirely in the dark. This became an irreversible handicap, and for the duration of Abraham Lincoln’s life, he could only read in the dark. Unfortunately, his superhuman nocturnal vision applied only to text, and nothing else.
This disability proved to be a gift in disguise, during the years of the American Civil War. In 1862, after the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln was able to read something in the dark, which would prove to be essential in turning the tide of the entire conflict.

Aside from only being able to read in the dark, Abraham Lincoln was also a known victim of syphilis. It was merely rumored to be true during his lifetime, but confirmed through post-mortem test performed in the modern age.

Adolph Hitler also had syphilis. But, if there had ever been an opportunity for these two men to battle in hand to hand combat, Abraham Lincoln would have absolutely destroyed his anti-Semitic adversary.
Lincoln, unlike Hitler, would most definitely have the advantage through his notable skills with an axe, and as a wrestler. Also, Lincoln’s gift for being able to only read in the dark could’ve proved beneficial in fighting as well. If Hitler had been covered in text of any sort, it would be extremely difficult for him to avoid Lincoln’s gaze in the event of a nocturnal engagement.

Though this match has never occurred, it goes to further prove what a great American, and great person Abraham Lincoln was, and why his place in history will last forever and favorably.