+BLACKTOP is a progressive art and experience festival happening in downtown denver next weekend!

It’s time downtown Denver experienced a new art and music festival – Blacktop arrives September 29, 2012, to downtown Denver’s Performing Arts Complex from 2:00PM – 10:00PM. Presented by Unit E and hosted by the Denver Theatre District, the DIY (do-it-yourself) free music and arts festival is hinged on creating a truly engaging and interactive experience for everyone.

Starting at 2:00PM, the sprawling, urban space will be filled with new entertainment of all kinds from
international film shorts and video art on a giant L.E.D. screen, to a zine making station, live comedy
and ballet performances. In addition to a main stage that boasts national musical acts Cody ChesnuTT, n his first ever Colorado performance, Nurses, and Luke Wyland of AU, Blacktop will feature a noise dome curated by Westword’s Tom Murphy that will familiarize audiences with new sounds that bridge the gap between music and performance.

Body casting stations, free bike maintenance, fortune tellers, performance artists, live fencing, poetry,
local food, and much more will add to the texture of this unique event. World-renowned international
artists including Martin Creed, Jillian Mayer and Ira Sherman will be lending art installations never-
before-seen in Colorado. At any given time, guests can find several different things to see, taste, and,
hopefully, try for the first time. By the evening’s close, they will have made something special, heard
something that made them dance, learned something new, and above all, gained a new appreciation for our great city.

Named Best Denver DIY Venue by Westword, Unit E began May 2011 in Lincoln Park when three
Denver natives set out to expand the city’s exposure to new sounds, invest in emerging visual artists,
and rejuvenate the community’s relationship with printed works. Always fresh and accessible, this unique venue hosts high-energy CD releases, the next wave of touring bands, art openings, poetry readings, and theater performances that boost community productivity and ignite consistent local support.

The proud host of the event, The Denver Theatre District, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) created to enhance Downtown Denver through public art investment, city and regional art, and cultural promotions.

Sponsors include Denver Theatre District, Bellco Credit Union, and Gates Carbon Drive.

blacktopfestival.com

Further inquiries, contact:
Kaela Martin
kaela@blacktopfestival.com
p: 970.744.0114

+ snowshoe circles

By Spooky on September 6th, 2012 odditycentral.com

They look like something aliens might have created, but the large-scale snow circles spread around the Les Arcs sky resort, in the French Alps, are actually the work of one man – British artist Simon Beck.

Using an orienteering compass, measuring tape and a pair of snowshoes, 54-year-old Simon Beck turns the hills and frozen lakes around Les Arcs into geometrically-perfect immaculate masterpieces. His intricate prints are huge, often spanning the equivalent size of six football fields, but while you’d be tempted to think Beck needs at least several days to complete just one of these patterns, he really only needs about 10 hours, on average. Hard to believe, considering they’re all done by walking with snow shoes, but Mr. Beck doesn’t mind the exercise. In fact, that’s what made him take up the unusual habit. Because of some problems with his feet, the artist cannot run anymore, so plodding on level snow was the least painful way of getting some exercise. And he’s not one to hold back, walking around in the snow until he’s completely exhausted, and using a headlamp if it gets dark first.



When they see his geometrical and abstract works, most people think they are inspired by crop circles, but in reality, Simon Beck draws inspiration for his art from the rakings left in the sand gardens of Kyoto temples. Ever since the winter of 2004, when he first started making his large-scale snow circles, Simon Beck has created hundreds of patterns, most of which are posted on his Facebook page. ”It just seemed a natural thing to do,” Beck says about his first ever snow print. He didn’t have snow shoes on, but walking in the snow he created a five-point star. After it was covered with snow, he made a bigger ten-pointed star, and soon he found a frozen lake where he could create an even bigger design, but the snow was too deep, so he decided to use snowshoes. Beck’s art gradually evolved from that point on and now the creative process has become a ritual of sorts.

Read more at http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/artist-creates-gigantic-snow-artworks-using-only-his-feet.html#KTgXyLp20517dl5p.99

source: www.odditycentral.com/pics/artist-creates-gigantic-snow-artworks-using-only-his-feet.html#more-31095

+ words born in the USA

from dictionary.com

Sockdolager
[sok-dol-uh-jer]

Sockdolager, meaning a "decisive blow or remark," is the product of an American fad to mix and match Latin roots and slang to create new, often silly, words. Partly derived from sock, to punch, and possibly from doxology, the end of a service, sockdolager was one of the last words Lincoln heard before he was assassinated.

Foofaraw
[foo-fuh-raw]

A foofaraw is either "a great fuss about something insignificant" or "an excessive amount of decoration." The term comes from the American West and is a mutation of the Spanish fanfaron, meaning "show-off."

Lollapalooza
[lol-uh-puh-loo-zuh]

The U.S. may have won independence from Britain, but the English can gloat that Americans still speak a language named after them. American English, however, has spawned more than a few amazing words - including lollapalooza, "an extraordinary thing, person, or event."

+ quote of the day

+ artist Nespoon from Warsaw Poland

Awesome, old, abandoned monastery in Grottaglie / Italy. For several years, artists from all around the world paint their works here. The place is virtually a top street art gallery. Unfortunately, the officials decided to renew the building and make here a museum of agriculture. I was probably the last one, creating something in this space.
I put my installation at the altar in the old chapel. It is a rare opportunity to work in such a place.
- text by nespoon from behance.net
source: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Fame-Festival-installation/1967767

+ Quote of the day

“”Whatever’s inside making me what I am, it’s like film. Film only works in the dark. Tear it all open and let in the light and you kill it.” -James Dean

+ art collective from Latvia

art instillation or social experiment? almost too beautiful and clever to say its less than making magic.




#drop art

+ 1950s barefoot painter

Kazuo Shiraga, "Challenging Mud", 1955
Created at the 1st Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Kaikan, Tokyo (Third Execution)

Kazuo Shiraga "Six Decades"
Born in Amagasaki, Japan in 1924, Shiraga co-founded the Zero Society (Zero-kai) with Saburo- Murakami and Akira Kanayama in 1952. In 1955 he joined the legendary collective Gutai (Gutai Art Association) and made a series of revolutionary works that art historian Reiko Tomii calls "performance paintings," including Challenging Mud, 1955 (in which he wrestled with several tons of mud) and Red Logs, 1955 (a structure made of wood logs that Shiraga hacked into with an axe). His distinct and inimitable style of foot painting emerged the year prior, in 1954. Aware of Jackson Pollock since 1951, Shiraga--like his contemporaries Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, and Yves Klein--sought to create work that moved beyond the vocabulary of Abstract Expressionism. He succeeded in creating paintings of great innovation with his unique style that involved sliding, spinning, and swirling his feet in mounds of oil paint on large sheets of paper laid on the floor. By the time of his 1957 "performance painting" on stage, Sanbaso--Super Modern, Shiraga was amongst the most avant-garde artists working anywhere and his work was drawing international attention.

source:
Kazuo Shiraga at McCaffrey Fine Art
posted on Oct. 20, 2009
http://www.azito-art.com/topics/exhibition/kazuo-shiraga-at-mccaffrey-fine-art.html