Neil Gaiman has released a book of his great commencement address, Make Good Art.
When things get tough, this is what you should do: Make good art. I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician — make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor — make good art. IRS on your trail — make good art. Cat exploded — make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you’re doing is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before — make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, eventually time will take the sting away, and that doesn’t even matter. Do what only you can do best: Make good art. Make it on the bad days, make it on the good days, too.
I love Gaiman’s message, but I also want to make a plug for something else: when the going gets rough, make bad art, too.
When 9/11 and Katrina hit and she lost a bunch of her close friends, Lynda Barry got really depressed, and all she could do is doodle:
I found myself compelled, like this weird, shameful compulsion to draw cute animals. That was all I could stand to draw. You know, just cry and draw cute animals…dancing dogs with crowns on, you know? And, like, really friendly ducks. But I found this monkey, this meditating monkey, and I found that once - when I drew that monkey, it’s not that it fixed the problem. But it did shift it a little bit, or provide me some kind of relief. And that’s when I started to think, maybe that’s what images do, because I believe in all my - with all my heart they have an absolute biological function…
“Good” can be a stifling word, a word that makes you hesitate and stare at a blank page and second-guess yourself and throw stuff in the trash. What’s important is to get your hands moving and let the images come. Whether it’s good or bad is beside the point. Make art.
I knew a very amazing woman who was fond of saying “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” Because sometimes that’s all you can do, and if you don’t do it badly, you won’t do it at all, and that’s tragic.
Aiden Shaw by Hans Feurer for GQ Style UK
It’s like if the Dude got his shit together.
For those of you who criticize Janelle’s signature monochromatic look.
From her speech on “Black Girls Rock”:
“When I started my music career, I was a maid. I used to clean houses. My mother was a proud janitor. My stepfather, who raised me like his very own, worked at the post office and my father was a trashman. They all wore uniforms and that’s why I stand here today, in my black and white, and I wear my uniform to honor them.
This is a reminder that I have work to do. I have people to uplift. I have people to inspire. And today, I wear my uniform proudly as a Cover Girl. I want to be clear, young girls, I didn’t have to change who I was to become a Cover Girl. I didn’t have to become perfect because I’ve learned throughout my journey that perfection is the enemy of greatness.
Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable.” - Janelle Monáe
Erik Olson
I Fucking Love Space, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesMercury, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesVenus, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesEarth, 2011
oil on canvas, 72 x 84 inchesMars, Fear & Dread, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesJupiter, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesSaturn, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesUranus, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesNeptune, 2011
oil on panel, 48 x 36 inchesThe Gateway (Hubble Deep Field), 2011
oil on canvas, 72 x 84 inches
(Source: lostinurbanism)
Make bad art.
The Mysterious Penitentes
First described by Charles Darwin in literature in 1839, penitentes are rare, unique snow formations found at high altitudes above 4,000 meters on the Andes mountains. They are called “penitentes” because the white spikes resemble processions of white-hooded monks. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow, or ice, with the blades pointing towards the general direction of the sun. Penitentes range in size from several centimeters to over 5 meters tall.
They are rare because they only appear in the dry Andes Mountain region on the border of Argentina and Chile. It is believed their formation is due to strong winds. This was Darwin’s explanation and no one has come up with a better one for their existence in over 170 years.
Super Moon
— June 23, 2013
Be sure to look out for the Moon these next few months as it approaches Perigee, because the full moons during these times will appear exceptionally large. The Moon will be at its Perigee, or closest approach, in July 23 and it will reach full moon only a few minutes after it passes this point in its orbit.
These ‘super moons’ not only appear larger because they are physically closer but, combined with a full moon, the mind can play tricks on you to think they are much larger. This phenomena is called the Moon Illusion. Try to catch these full moons as they rise/set because the illusion works when there is an object in the foreground, like a tree, building or mountains.SUPER MOON
yes but will it have an angry face on it
Libertine (UK)
There’s a new mag in town. Libertine Magazine: “For Interested Women”
Founder and editor Debbi Evans explains:
“to redefine the ‘women’s interest’ category. In addition to luxury lifestyle content we cover tech, science and business, and celebrate high achieving maverick women for the contents of their brains, not their beds. There is no fashion or beauty content in issue 1, unless you count a piece on the semiotics of handbags. There’s nothing like it, and we’re really excited (and relieved!) to have finally got it out there.”
I love everything about this.
