Death Medal Jesus / Digital Photograph / Ishontrans / 2013

I knew Jesus would return. ...As Death Medal Jesus.


Well played SEPTA.

From the Visual into the Audio

Some of the Best Music That You Have Never Heard is All Over the Internet -- And its not Hard to Find. Just Ask Your Friends.

I'm pretty lucky to be able to have a wealth of friends that are artists.
Artists are a fairly welcoming, and an accepting bunch in my experience. They are unpredictable and intelligent. Unafraid to take risks, and ready at an instant to launch you into creating new ideas. Which is triggered by them just being themselves. Artists, musicians, poets, writers always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the "official version" or the popular perception of life, but they know and express the real deal; what it is to be human.

Here's a tiny slice of some music makers I know. Pop open a new tab and hit up their tracks too:

Chicks Throwing Bricks / 2013 / U/K Photographer
http://bit.ly/182eh0m

Forward to an End / 2013 / U/K Photographer  http://bit.ly/11K8DOm 

Space Disc Jockey / 2013 / Radocaj http://bit.ly/17mSQIW

Musicians are the people that I hold in the highest regard artistically. I think because you can't hold music or point to it; its in their head, its in the air, then its in your head. Its really an amazing thing to experience. That's probably the one thing that most of us take for granted as we drive around, go to a show, or just hanging out with music playing. A good beat can inexplicably make you move your body to the rhythm, put your mind on a journey, set you to a mood, or personally connect you an artist and group of people. Flat pictures don't often get the chance to do that to people. I'd love to be able to do that the way music can, but I can't count myself as a musician; as much as I would daydream to be.

People are always griping too about the loves and hates in popular music and the music industry; blah,blah blah. Sometimes I feel when I'm talking about music with people either that I've just met or on the message boards online, I feel like I'm treading on those old taboos (like you can never talk about death, money or politics with people) because it can get really heated. People are passionate about what they listen to. So sometimes its hard to find a good place to have a good, authentic exchange between musicians and musicians, or musicians and fans, or fans and fans. Or to even find a place that helps you find new, good music you like. Always ask your friends, though. They know you best and can be counted on to guide you to new tunes. Or you can leave it to the whims of Pandora Radio or whatever steaming radio you dig, but even then it gets stale pretty quick because mainstream music all sounds the same to me. Its too produced and manufactured and everything just repeats after a while. 

Electronic Musicians Group / 2013

Several months ago through a friend of mine I happened to find this really awesome musician group via Facebook called The Electronic Musicians Group (EMG). It was a tiny group page with only around 70 members, but it connects some of the most talented, and passionate group of funny music folk I've ever encountered from literally across the globe.
Don't let the name fool you, these cats and kitties make and listen to every genre there is; and they do good work its a great community really. You listen to real raw artists; some undiscovered gems. There's a wonderful dialog between the musicians and the community. They corroborate together, invest their skills in each other, and always challenge each other to make themselves better even though many of them have never met face to face. Its great stuff...but you don't have to take my word for it. Go to: http://www.emgradio.com check out the pod-casts and the musician members work.

I love music. And its fascinating to me to see and listen to musician playing live, or privately just at work on their craft. I wish I could figure out how they do what they do. I know that everyone has different processes but I'd love to know how they actually make music happen. When singing about writing music C Lo Green has this great few lines in his song 'Storm Coming' from the Gnarles Barkley album St. Elsewhere: 

Gnarles Barkley / Spin Magazine November 1, 2006 / U/N Photographer

"I could paint a picture with a pen,
But a song will only scratch the skin;
And there are still places I haven't been
Because I know what's in there is already in the air."

I guess that is what it is. That kind of creativity that you can't hold; I wish I knew what that kind of creativity was like. 

Its futile but fun to mill on how music is made, and imagine all the cool stuff I could do if I knew how to do it, but I'm just in the audience watching the show. I remember from my high school bands classroom bulletin board their was this quote from Leopold Stokowski: "A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. We provide the music, and you [the audience] provide the silence." I think that a real good audience should never be silent. 

Color in Visual Art

Encouragement goes very far.

"You have an innate grasp of light and color. Its really quite unusual and beautiful; you don't see that kind of thing too often." - Maryann Matlock-Hinkle 

She said that to me when I was in studio with her in 2006 at PAFA. Its really wonderful to hear that kind of affirmation when your an emerging artist. Especially when your trapped in the time of life when you are constantly trying to figure out what it is that you are trying to paint, and how to effectively execute it.

When Maryann passed away in 2009 the art world didn't only loose a visionary artist, they lost one of the greatest artist educators to have ever lived. She took the time to really understand the person she was guiding in studio work, wholly gave to them her decades of art production experience in order to fully enrich their studio education, and was an overflowing font of inspiration. 

She made you want to believe in yourself; you don't see that kind of thing too often.

Abstract Blues / Oil on Canvas 2006 / Radocaj

Abstract Greens / Oil on Canvas  / 2006 / Radocaj

Abstract Reds or Rising & Setting in the City / Oil on Wood  2006 / Radocaj

But I Forgot His Name / Oil on Board 2006 / Radocaj

Myself Under the Orange Bandana / Oil on Canvas 2006 / Radocaj

Drifted - A Series of Tryptics / Acrylic on Board  2009 / Radocaj

What Comes in Waves - A Series of Tryptics / Acrylic on Board 2009 / Radocaj 

Avalon Sky 01 / Oil on Canvas 2007 / Radocaj

Avalon Sky 03 / Oil on Canvas 2007 / Radocaj

Vitamin B12 / Acrylic on Canvas 2009 / Radocaj

Vitamin B6 / Acrylic on Canvas 2009 / Radocaj

Wire Sky 01 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

Wire Sky 02 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

Wire Sky 03 / Oil on Canvas / Radocaj

I could not have made any of this work with out her impact on my life.

I love creativity, but I love sharing creativity with people more.

I make art because it is a daily living need that I have to fulfill. I work as a student of the creative arts to better my skills technically and also because I authentically want to cultivate my ability in the language of the visual. I work as an artist educator because I want to teach others how to strengthen their own artistic skills, nurture their creative expression, and entreat to them the love of art that I have.

I love creativity, but I love sharing creativity with people more.  That’s why I work as an artist.