tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10036779525532549082024-02-07T00:24:12.104-08:00Whet PaintKevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-76888493876692806032015-01-13T08:12:00.003-08:002015-01-13T08:12:40.267-08:00Post Holiday Post Haste <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Whirlwind holidays, possessing the likeness of a hurricane's path of chaos, calm and chaos are gone and we survived another round of pausing to take a breath, exhale and inhale for the next Gregorian Calendar year.<br />
<br />
Ok now hold it.<br />
<br />
...hoooold it!<br />
<br />
And release....<br />
<br />
<br />
Twenty-fifteen promises to be a clutch-grinding, whistle-whining acceleration into next-level production with expanded hours at Studiobregon, my Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets working studio/showroom meets <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88pv0cbw8yQ" target="_blank">Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie</a>. New pieces of art, new resolve, new mission, new website, new shows and good news.<br />
<br />
Hang on just a little longer.<br />
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<br /></div>
Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-52401798324049676372014-10-30T10:03:00.001-07:002014-10-30T10:03:23.610-07:00Suffering as the Primer to Grace?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was perusing through a piece on <b>suffering</b> in the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ram-dass/suffering-as-transformation_b_6054554.html?utm_hp_ref=religion" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a> recently. It was truly enlightening, to be sure.<br />
<br />
I have always felt that the suffering I experienced was simply my way of paying my "dues" as an artist and human being. I have always been patient and simply "knew" that deep within, I was the artist, lover, mentor, father figure, friend, companion, writer and man I always hoped to be - and that though I wasn't <i>there</i> yet, I felt every lesson - every failure and success - was part and parcel to my inevitable higher self.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm5cZ4fmXnu1TctdIW4bXB5T5S0GHZkRSkmiElO3m-hikiDyrvMW-UyL8n1RMtD9mxCFvs0Em9pOdLbFYhedyRhyhjKhO8xFuRUvnoBtzFAbzsqwPKQed22za9A7J3_U2jDcjE02hDDpE/s1600/Transform+Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZm5cZ4fmXnu1TctdIW4bXB5T5S0GHZkRSkmiElO3m-hikiDyrvMW-UyL8n1RMtD9mxCFvs0Em9pOdLbFYhedyRhyhjKhO8xFuRUvnoBtzFAbzsqwPKQed22za9A7J3_U2jDcjE02hDDpE/s1600/Transform+Logo.jpg" height="320" width="270" /></a></div>
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<br />
In the past, while some might perceive any injustices I experienced as Cause for War, I always had a sense that I needed to reserve my armor for when I was most vulnerable inside. In other words, "pick my battles". <br />
<br />
To be strong is not to put up your armor, but to let your insides show. Let others see the honest truth within. If you live that way - with nothing to hide - there is a certain strength in not relying on cold steel armor to protect you, but to allow suffering and reason and clarity defend any slings and arrows from those whose currency relies upon such armament, fall pointlessly to the ground.<br />
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∞<br />
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Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-39191011617962474642014-10-21T12:35:00.002-07:002014-10-21T12:35:43.665-07:00Dirt under my nails.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If the mantra that "<b>If you want something done right, do it yourself</b>" has any room for accuracy, it's that one's version of <i>right</i> may not be that of another's. <br />
<br />
After looking for someone to handle some PR for me - and to be a part of my <i>next mission</i> - I've come to re-embrace what I've always known was a truism: That if you are tired of placing fate in someone else's hands, you have to face that your hands will need to get dirty.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_ntkAMvi_idCfo9L5PKqD_ux_kpKRKtKTsy3VuA-srx66mnIfBgnAS7VUj88l0QM-55_pT4LgEgn7sUl-zZHoKmM72qmihkTHjAAkIqVhYlXtuy2W-_l55SooZS1Nv4Yj4Tt-H_saVTX/s1600/Hand+After.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_ntkAMvi_idCfo9L5PKqD_ux_kpKRKtKTsy3VuA-srx66mnIfBgnAS7VUj88l0QM-55_pT4LgEgn7sUl-zZHoKmM72qmihkTHjAAkIqVhYlXtuy2W-_l55SooZS1Nv4Yj4Tt-H_saVTX/s1600/Hand+After.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
So here's what I've been getting dirty with: my new website/blog building, expired & new domain name handling, owners-of-a-domain-name-which-I-covet hunting, all the fucking "re-branding" article hunting, local art community art-making, social media plugging, client handling, web-hosting, intern-hunting, email databasing, time managing, work/play/home-balancing, ADHD researching, tutoring, project strategizing, chauffeuring, drawing, cutting, painting, burning, sensible-eating, bleating, cleating and loving.<br />
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Not in that order, but on orders.<br />
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I will be so relieved when I can drive this mothership around. For now, I'm practicing the rituals of blogging on one patient soul.<br />
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Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-46828592730200315352014-09-30T12:36:00.001-07:002014-09-30T12:36:29.138-07:00Playing Ketchup v. 1.0<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSt3t8owMGnzt-WMw27LGIiUVqH5OcX3KWB1OR5zjn8BPE-SdzzcZIgztxz5lZDdznBpVn-BHFIBoRvQ4Hqw0tLEPpBqZlaCDcnenVbRfmAD9MGvfmUVzpwEHxvlhJVkhRTPZz_DPFgnl/s1600/Lone+Star+Lollipop+header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPSt3t8owMGnzt-WMw27LGIiUVqH5OcX3KWB1OR5zjn8BPE-SdzzcZIgztxz5lZDdznBpVn-BHFIBoRvQ4Hqw0tLEPpBqZlaCDcnenVbRfmAD9MGvfmUVzpwEHxvlhJVkhRTPZz_DPFgnl/s1600/Lone+Star+Lollipop+header.jpg" height="81" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Okay, I had to peruse back through 2011's posts to recall where I left off. <br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Not that it was hundreds of posts ago or anything)</span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Whew!</span></b></i><br />
<br />
Back in 2011, right after showing <i><b>The American Beast</b> </i>collaboration at Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Deep Ellum,<i> </i>I was going to talk about production insights behind it's creation. I won't bore you with the production side, after all. It was hot. We welded. I cut & designed the swirls. We delivered and talked about it. Packed up and moved on.<br />
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Instead, I'll touch more on the "chemistry" aspects of collaborations, and how two elements can have the power to both create and destroy with factors seemingly not being taught in universities.<br />
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Long before I moved to Dallas on New Years Day in 1988 to give the art world a shot, I embraced a strong ethical imperative instilled in me by my father. As a professional artist since the early 1990s, I learned a good deal of things from conversations with nationally-known, and real-world, road-tested Artists with a capital A. I strongly believe that professional ethics and human decency can fill in the gaps when chemistry associated with first-time collaborations can go in any direction.<br />
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Aspiring artists who live where they sell work should start their professional careers with the <i>highest</i> of professional intentions and ethical clarity, remembering good old <i>humanity</i>, if nothing else.<br />
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It's been said repeatedly by professors and gallerists, that MFA Grad students really need stronger coursework on professional ethics & collaborations before they should graduate and face a relatively unknown world to them. Without a proper understanding on how collaborations work, artists might forget themselves out of fear, sheer insecurity and self-delusions. Hunger, too, can alter one's sense of decency during a sudden feasting.<br />
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Some Universities don't teach the <i>decency</i> part. To some, it's already there - inherently. Love them all! As some learn first-hand, being decent can also get you burned by hunger and greed. some might even leverage faux piety to get away with it publicly. Those who can't play well with others should just stay in their own yard until their issues are worked out - if ever.<br />
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For the next several months, I'm working on a new collaboration with a well-known Dallas sculptor and Indian Cowboy, <b><a href="http://www.brookstudio.net/">Dan Brook</a></b>, who is an <i>amazing talent</i> of wise and wary travels who walks the walk of high moral ground. No heaviness, no drama. Not an unethical bone in his body, but a strong proponent of artist's rights.<br />
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<i>Empowering. </i><br />
<br />
I can't go into depth about the project yet, but from a local perspective, it has a relatively high profile impact quotient. It's a project that is actually dear to me and from behind the scenes, a seminal project in the timeline of my projects for the coming months and years, weaving into a flow of what will be a rigorous and adventure-filled river.<br />
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∞<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i></div>
Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-76459246261971089212014-09-27T17:12:00.001-07:002014-09-30T09:46:48.383-07:00Happy Freaking Birthday to Me.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG18vbdh8xdZxsN7A8jqcdWTpq7DDYiDfnsJ1VjewemeqjHDQNm3eORXujBMyS8feCrv3WtBjq45gKAavgeW8SklBJD3uc_QrRuqWDLuNxjVUUAYeergKoiOnPUkIjygC4jLkGTUqH4Rq1/s1600/The+Gang+of+Five.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG18vbdh8xdZxsN7A8jqcdWTpq7DDYiDfnsJ1VjewemeqjHDQNm3eORXujBMyS8feCrv3WtBjq45gKAavgeW8SklBJD3uc_QrRuqWDLuNxjVUUAYeergKoiOnPUkIjygC4jLkGTUqH4Rq1/s1600/The+Gang+of+Five.jpg" height="219" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>I'm turning 50 tomorrow.</b><br />
<br />
Seriously, I'm happy about that milestone. Especially considering my high school years, taking on too much and enjoying the hell out of absorbing all things music, fast cars, windsurfing, Van Halen and a lot of playing "Chicken" and doing donuts in the drainage ditch by my school in my 1975 Monte Carlo driving along side my buddies, Fred (co-pilot & second from left), Tommy (Yellow '78 Nova in the middle) and Jeff (Firebird, far right). I'm second from the right. Horrible pic. But it was more or less salvaged from a scan of a negative I found recently.<br />
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Those were heady times. Pretty idyllic, actually. Even bucolic. Not long after there was John Travolta of the T-birds fame racing in the ditches in the movie <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsYC-hVEpQM">Grease</a>, </i>we all found ourselves testing our limits. And today, I face turning 50 with <i>joy</i> that I have packed in so many amazing experiences and I'm setting course for an even more intense concentration of experiences in the next half-hunny.<br />
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Terribly excited about what's to come. I still owe you an explanation of where I've been the last few years. Stay 'tooned. </div>
Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-43008364800161768702014-08-25T14:14:00.005-07:002014-08-25T14:14:51.066-07:00Revertere in aliquid ex nihilo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Latin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong>"Return to something, from nothing."</strong></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em>Not that it matters to anyone other than my inner voices and - oh, maybe that <em>one</em> "follower" - but I am feeling the need to blog again. I've bled, sweated and tore through quite an adventurous and challenging three years since last posted something here. Not that I'll bore you with all the gory details. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After all, one cannot experience success without having traversed the fields of failure.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Suffice to say, you will be hearing from me. Blogging is not something I aspire to do, but blog I must. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, we have a lot to catch up on and I hope you find something worthwhile. You might even begin to feel a palpable frequency of excitation in the timbre of my prose in the coming missives. Fortunately, for the writer in me, there is no adequate emoticon that cuts to this chase.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><strong>∞</strong></span></span><br />
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Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-41569375594840348162011-07-25T21:03:00.000-07:002011-07-25T21:03:28.656-07:00Productive DazeYes, we all know those days when you - or outside powers - miraculously make things happen in spite of yourself. Or perhaps serendipitous and harmonious moments make the day seem to pass effortlessly. Today was one of those days. But I'll get to that later when the veil can be lifted on what came about.<br />
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Continuing on with the theme of collaboration and the making of "The American Beast", I should mention that every artist should experience at least once a collaboration. And if you find someone with whom you <i>gel</i> and you can look at your finished work together and recognize that neither of you could have created just such a work of art without the other, then you can call yourselves <b>fortunate</b>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWrGUBlBHx390hJ5xLuYL3gnjeuHkGAHzvh72nsgg9GLHSmmYJ_OysoejDj13FSKrU164d3rraqfpZesEGkUesSqUICY9YYECHqdm6zg5jcciFUGwy8lKcUNm9PXpY08b05XELulSP_T7/s1600/DW-MCM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWrGUBlBHx390hJ5xLuYL3gnjeuHkGAHzvh72nsgg9GLHSmmYJ_OysoejDj13FSKrU164d3rraqfpZesEGkUesSqUICY9YYECHqdm6zg5jcciFUGwy8lKcUNm9PXpY08b05XELulSP_T7/s200/DW-MCM.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>Working with someone other than yourself is a matter of chemistry, forthrightness, clarity, shared vision and perhaps the special art of allowing yourself to speak up and knowing when to acquiesce. <br />
<br />
When Michael and I began working on the piece we knew there was going to be a short time-frame so there wasn't a lot of time to plan a strategy and come up with CAD files or even develop a <i>maquette</i>. <span style="font-size: small;"> <i>(note: I did however make handy use of a 7-11 coffee cup folded in such a way to show how we could lower the piece down from the skyward rafters down to the terra firma. Oh Thank Heaven™.)</i></span><br />
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No, we just had to <b>start</b>. And so where we left off last, there was now structure - a wire frame ready to be "skinned".<br />
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We were ready to determine how the surface material would go in place. Either by plane (Taking a stained glass approach of one polygon at a time) or by "skinning" it - much like one would stretch fabric over an airplane wing. In the end, we did both - reserving one face of the piece to the polygonal approach and the other as a skinning.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bPQZIYbu_GSx9a758ENSttmKF9LLxQkbT8lDBAoAhN2PEItyKDxPQZxxqN3jjaiPHbgDtBzM0Nxs3HVXzmu2-DbRZVUbfgmB398rvbLxYcDFQn-6GCgj1SbyZNSBNV3cF0vVk4JTem0Z/s1600/MCMsitwelding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2bPQZIYbu_GSx9a758ENSttmKF9LLxQkbT8lDBAoAhN2PEItyKDxPQZxxqN3jjaiPHbgDtBzM0Nxs3HVXzmu2-DbRZVUbfgmB398rvbLxYcDFQn-6GCgj1SbyZNSBNV3cF0vVk4JTem0Z/s320/MCMsitwelding.jpg" width="320" /></a>Both had beautiful characteristics and personalities. One took longer to execute while the other was relatively easy and faster. We decided to bifurcate the piece wherein one side was going to be the skinned side and the other, the pieced side.<br />
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It is on this "pieced" side that much of the textural beauty can be seen after you assimilate the side (skinned) that exudes the light.<br />
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There were visions of Jasper Johns' <a href="http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/44191/">"4th The News"</a> painting I kept seeing in the textural work which somehow made it into our "Art Talk" at the gallery a few weeks after the piece was unveiled.<br />
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Next time I will write about the final moments leading up to the installation and unveiling of "The American Beast".Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-37837368240619832252011-07-14T02:33:00.000-07:002011-07-14T20:27:49.954-07:00The Beast WithinThere's a reason I have been remiss in posting a recent blog. A very good one. Sometime around mid-may, when I first began this blog, I got a message from fellow artist Michael Christopher who was asked by gallerist Kirk Hopper of <a href="http://www.kirkhopperfineart.com/">Kirk Hopper Fine Art</a> to make a "light" sculpture for his sculpture courtyard. Michael needed a hand and needed space with which begin construction. He had a vision!<br />
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I share an 8,000 sq ft warehouse studio in West Dallas with 4 other artists and we have at our disposal, a 3,600 sq ft of indoor/outdoor common space where we store steel, reclaimed tree wood, billboard vinyl, hydraulic lifts, reclaimed metal and various other future <i>objet d'art</i>. <br />
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With roughly a 3-week turnaround, we began welding the first steel rods to reflect the footprint, which at this time was roughly 13' by 3' in a somewhat paramecium-like shape (thank you high school biology class). The silhouette of the piece we knew was going to be similar to Michael's past pieces, inspired by Mesmamerican <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele"><i>steles</i></a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRqcR5pJT1gp7LVnoaGpuM6l5SP6vcI0IcoKJWS2wU94HomdHCyApnmmQbjCl6IBc2R979V3LUtQx7LGrpoNvmgi54Lb2JTxX-fjukZmchR0P_QMjrku_T_FXLf4o0L2MA_zJNWMkbjsD/s1600/Studio05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRqcR5pJT1gp7LVnoaGpuM6l5SP6vcI0IcoKJWS2wU94HomdHCyApnmmQbjCl6IBc2R979V3LUtQx7LGrpoNvmgi54Lb2JTxX-fjukZmchR0P_QMjrku_T_FXLf4o0L2MA_zJNWMkbjsD/s320/Studio05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
As the rods were bent, cut and welded, the shape took form and the "fin" silhouette became apparent and we playfully assigned the notion that this began to look like the Egyptian pyramid on the back of the US dollar bill with the Latin inscription "<span class="st">Novus ordo seclorum" - or </span>"New World Order" - on the verso. Though we didn't want to be too literal in its narrative, it was a precursor to its title as well as helped us to filter through a lens with which to accept happy accidents.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMACFJ65Ic8EbiohSQEdHkV55BoNYLMMbZehIa89-gUSs3LmcwH5dgql-Z1-HzVMBIEmxs4KtiqhB-0bXkfsNcwIaz1MJJB0Cm7vW7T85DoA194kbftHYPAewsTbdtJlAzYjePuWiw2AMw/s1600/Studio08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMACFJ65Ic8EbiohSQEdHkV55BoNYLMMbZehIa89-gUSs3LmcwH5dgql-Z1-HzVMBIEmxs4KtiqhB-0bXkfsNcwIaz1MJJB0Cm7vW7T85DoA194kbftHYPAewsTbdtJlAzYjePuWiw2AMw/s320/Studio08.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIiStank_Jysx55VW2-X6XzWJTOg_WPN7zvaZ6lp5FifGiNrVyYtHM7t4FXANBK7K6xLE7IGurqjSTs_aGPSjmPYqpNMZ1WOJYPsmEr_i3_1KkMuNHPi5wGFGWZebSxF5AnPa6h0lCPHuJ/s1600/Studio03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIiStank_Jysx55VW2-X6XzWJTOg_WPN7zvaZ6lp5FifGiNrVyYtHM7t4FXANBK7K6xLE7IGurqjSTs_aGPSjmPYqpNMZ1WOJYPsmEr_i3_1KkMuNHPi5wGFGWZebSxF5AnPa6h0lCPHuJ/s320/Studio03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
If you know Texas weather, you're aware that our summers are brutal. Add a long-sleeved shirt, leather gloves, jeans, steel-toed boots, a welding helmet and a white hot welding arc, and you have perfect impetus to buy stock in Gatorade. But we persevered and built what became the skeletal structure <i>of "The American Beast"</i>.<br />
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The next blog will be my reflections on the process, followed by mid-construction photos. Stay tuned.Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-13381961308619106002011-05-15T22:58:00.000-07:002011-05-15T22:58:28.491-07:00Studio NightmaresAfter watching every episode of Chef Gordon Ramsey's <a href="http://www.hulu.com/kitchen-nightmares"><b>Kitchen Nightmares</b></a> on Hulu a few weeks ago, I had somewhat an epiphany. Well perhaps epiphany is a bit too strong a sentiment. Let's just say, I had a moment of clarified butter.<br />
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The essence of what Chef Ramsey does in each episode is that of an efficiency expert. His mission is to distill from the personalities, egos, service and product, where inherent weaknesses lie. He's also a blunt force of awakening, not unlike that of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagual">Nagual</a>, without the shape-shifting. Granted, much of the on-air friction is fodder for reality junkies, with amped-up emotions and creative editing, but at the core of the show, there are some true gems in terms of advice for creators - whether they're chefs, actors, entrepreneurs or artists.<br />
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Ramsey is called in to a troubled restaurant wherein the owners, chefs and staff are at a loss as to why they're not as successful as they should be. The advantage Ramsey has - like any efficiency expert - is that he is not at the mercy of the immediate local politics and personalities associated with its demise. He enters into each scenario with a higher level POV.<br />
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His first observation is the exterior and interior; First impressions and general curb appeal. His second step is to sample the fare, looking at presentation, taste, service, intent and technique. Next, Gordon meets the artists in the kitchen and the management.<br />
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The moment of clarity came when I began to see a common thread in each episode. Two things: The product is not up to snuff. And two, the personalities & egos behind the product are either in denial or are ignorant of their product's failings, usually both.<br />
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I began to see the parallels in how this blunt force trauma of having been told your work sucks works for just about any profession. Specifically for artists.<br />
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Artists who cannot figure out why they're not selling their work - or who are not getting asked to show their work in galleries and group exhibitions - need to have their product <i>tasted</i> by an unbiased party. Preferably by someone who knows art and critiques from the love of their own industry and not for any reasons of schadenfreude. If your work sucks, it's time you know <b>now</b> rather than later, when changing course can be a daunting, time-consuming maneuver.<br />
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Secondly, if your audience (or critic) pans your work and your reaction is that of stubborn anger & reticence and you can't seem to find the credence in the review - yet you still cannot seem to make a sale, then perhaps it's time to suspend the ego temporarily (if it's sales you're looking for) and be open to the idea that you can be doing your job better. As artists, making art is our job and we owe it to ourselves to be our Employee of the Month - <i>every</i> month!<br />
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That said, I think artists should watch Kitchen Nightmares and pay special attention to how egos and personalities get in the way of recognizing the work is lacking. And keep in mind that the product is not the end of the experience for your audience. Craftsmanship, attention to detail, higher quality ingredients, presentation, freshness, intent and the managing of your business all go into your audience's experience of <i>you</i>.<br />
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So in the words of Ice Cube, "You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself".<br />
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That is all.Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-82001250887931357662011-04-24T22:51:00.000-07:002011-04-24T23:02:35.478-07:00A Working SabbathI found myself working on Easter Sunday. All of my family is in the San Antonio vicinity, for one. Boerne, Texas - Bergheim, Texas - and San Antonio proper. It is 270 miles from my Feng Shui-approved red door to my mother's 50-year old green screen door. I don't mind the drive at all - I love driving. It's somehow transcendental for me. It's just I'm not 100% sure my little truck can make it lately. Little Reddy is showing her age in truck years. She still purrs, but her paws are in need of a mani-pedi.<br />
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Yes, we're still talking about my truck, not my mother.<br />
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Normally I make the trek for major holidays, because with everyone's mixed schedules and priorities, holidays are the only time we can seem to find a way for everyone to be together in the same room. That's what I have missed most this day - that time-lapse documentary of where my nieces and nephews are now. Who's pregnant and who's been on any adventures lately. Who's got the dirtiest joke and who wants dessert.<br />
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Me? My family thinks I live some outrageous lifestyle of swinging gallery openings and elbow-rubbing with celebrity art collectors. But in reality, I spent Easter Sunday in the studio 2 miles from here, painting up samples for an art consultant for a new project. They came out okay, but I'm not at all that jazzed about hospitality gigs other than the occasional high-volume work.<br />
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No, I'm more excited by a new body of work emerging from the drawing board that has been simmering for several months. A series of drawings and sculpture based on my warped-since-birth hearing and how music & conversation has it's own swirling amalgam of tablature and distortions. Sometimes with fascinating musical results, not to mention fabulous non sequitur dialogues.<br />
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More on that as it develops.<br />
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But for now, I reflect upon trying to discover the hidden correlation between Jesus the Christ's cruel death and a 20-foot high blow-up bunny? At least both seemed to look to the heavens in hopes of being delivered. All I wanted was some killer tacos from <a href="http://www.fuelcity-tacos.com/home.htm">Fuel City</a> where this photo was taken.<br />
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Happy Easter indeed.Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1003677952553254908.post-6647064513744834312011-04-22T23:00:00.000-07:002011-04-22T23:04:22.646-07:00Ex Nihilo: The ArtistTo make something from nothing: Ex Nihilo. No one can argue the God-like parallels in being a Creator. We are all endowed by our own creator inclinations, talents, strengths and weaknesses in making something of our lives with the hopes that in the end, we have left our mark - whether literally, as with the artist - or figuratively, in having re-created other versions of us.<br />
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The idea that an artist can leave this planet with everything she or he has within them having been said, does not seem possible. It would seem the body or the faculties may run themselves ragged before the Genie within our studio walls (Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert) plays its final tacit note.<br />
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From nothing: Words.<br />
From nothing: Beauty.<br />
From nothing: Love. <br />
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From nothing: Something.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_rYUwW3M3U/TbJrwm8b1cI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/A7A01Z0GFFc/s1600/Fireworx-hi-contrast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1_rYUwW3M3U/TbJrwm8b1cI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/A7A01Z0GFFc/s320/Fireworx-hi-contrast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Kevin Obregonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09917150680905840019noreply@blogger.com0