Monday, July 19, 2010

*

"electronic flash unit", Popular Mechanics, June 1947
"shadow backgrounds", Popular Science, May 1947

HINDI F 2077

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A, B, C,---D


a to b at mkg127

more images and credits here

Saturday, July 17, 2010

The Wishing Bone

from THE WISHING BONE CYCLE: Narrative Poems from the Swampy Cree Indians gathered and translated by Howard A. Norman, Stonehill, NY, 1976 The Wishing Bone poems constitute a "trickster cycle", one of the oldest traditional genres of Cree oral literature. The inventor of these particlular poems was Jacob Nibenegenesabe, who lived for ninety-four years northeast of Lake Winnipeg, Canada.
(Thanks to Sara, for sending me this amazing book)

Friday, July 16, 2010

De niñas y flores

Sabine Finkenauer: De niñas y flores, Galeria Esther Montoriol, Barcelona, 2002
her site

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Janet Kigusiuq

Arctic Landscapes 1999-2002, coloured pencil on paper
from here
Janet Kigusiuq b. 1926 (Baker Lake)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

prayers of a one man band

Bobby Brown:
The Enlightening Beam of Axonda, Destiny Records, 1972
Live, Destiny Records, 1978
Prayers of a One Man Band, Destiny Records, 1982

For the past fifteen years, Bobby has stuck with his vision of a "one man show", always creating new instruments and new styles of singing and playing as he went along. Bobby's voice is perhaps his most remarkable instrument. Covering a six octave range (possibly the widest range ever recorded) it is capable of creating almost any texture he desires. But his "one man band" orchestra is not to be overlooked. Originally composed of about fifty instruments it contained 311 strings and took three hours to set up and tune. Instruments varied from a tiny electrified spring to a monstrous fifteen foot electrified drone. Some were of original invention, while others were electrified versions of instruments found around the world. With this set, he recorded his first album THE ENLIGHTENING BEAM OF AXONDA. An extension of his doctoral thesis begun at UCLA, it contains a story about possible new discoveries in physics that could lead to technological advances that would in turn lead to a very unique and very optimistic view of the future. -from Live liner notes

3 records by California's Bobby Brown, released on his own Destiny Records label. Despite the low fidelity, Live is my favourite of the 3. It was recorded in his van ("before a small audience - his dog") after he disliked the results of a recording he made while opening for Fleetwood Mac (?!). The Italian label Akarma reissued The Enlightening Beam of Axonda on CD but I don't know whether it was done with his participation.
Is he still around? I hope his rig still exists somewhere.

also here and here (despite what's written, these records are not terribly rare or valuable)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sculpture in Stone

Sculpture in Stone by Paul Cummings, private press, Boynton Beach, Florida, 1989

Monday, July 12, 2010

J. F. M.

James F. Miles: Is A Boyfriend And A Girlfriend (with Harrell Fletcher), The Expanding Color System: 1 Artist 1 Concept, Gallery 16, San Francisco, 2007
Harrell Fletcher was asked to produce a book for the 1 Artist 1 Concept series---He chose to feature the work of James Miles instead of his own. James Miles is an artist who works at San Francisco's Creativity Explored.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Soviet Math and Science

"Printed in the Soviet Union"
1967, 1971, 1971