The Art of the Dance

"At the ballet, you really feel like you're in the presence of something outside the rest of your life. Higher than the rest of your life." -  Robert Caro

"It is essential to do the same subject over again, ten times, a hundred times. Nothing in art must seen to be chance, not even movement." -  Edgar Degas

Here are some detail shots of my latest large-scale figurative piece, "The Prima Ballerina," 36x36, oil on linen.  I hope to have my model, Emma back, for many more paintings - she is absolutely elegant!

If you ever want to learn how to paint white, do a high-key painting like this! It will blow your mind! :-)

UFC 145: Odds for Suga-Rashad Evans to Defeat Champion Bones-Jones not so Sweet

The recent Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis match-up—which took place last Saturday night at UFC on Fox 2—was indeed, not surprisingly, the exact type of wrestling-styled-hug-fest that most fans and experts had predicted.. and despise.

Thankfully, the event was " virtually " free of charge on FOX TV.

A boring hug-fest—rather than a scintillating-slug-fest—is not the type of exhibition that cage-fighting-fans will pay to see. 

Truly, it takes exceedingly more action than the Evans vs. Davis offering this past weekend to convince us 'Hardcore ' fans to reach down deep into our shallow pockets and pull-out the hard-earned 50 dollar PPV price tag. 

In addition, even though Evans emerged victorious over Davis in what was a lackluster, yet workmanlike effort, the fighter nicknamed ' Sugah ' did very little to impress the casual fans. Or to dispel the general consensus among knowledgeable mma fans that he is not nearly at the level of Jon Jones.

And additionally, that ' Sugah ' will be in for a world of trouble when he faces the current champion named 'Bones' in the main-event of UFC 145; now rumored to take place in Atlanta, GA, and tentatively scheduled for April 21st. 

The bookmakers—according to this posted website below—not unlike the fan majority, have also spoken loudly in favor of Champion Jones. 

The fight between Jones and Evans—two former Team Greg Jackson training partners—has most-certainly been a long-time-coming, ..to say the least. 

And the somewhat immature hype-fest surrounding the match-up—one which was instigated by Evans, due to a verbal promise supposedly uttered by Jones, where Bones vowed to never fight him—has also had a life of its own, almost. 

The latest video, posted below, has Evans sounding a little more mature as he heads toward UFC 145 and what will undoubtedly be the biggest test of his career since May, 2009, at UFC 98, where he was thoroughly annihilated by life-long karate-practitioner and black-belt master, Lyoto Machida.

Stay tuned.

10-bizarre-torture-methods

10.

The Brazen Bull

This device was designed in Greece by Perillos of Athens. He was a brass founder and he cast the shape of a hollow bull with a door on the side. This condemned person was shut in the bull. There was a fire lit underneath the device and because it was brass it became yellow hot, which would cause the person to roast to death. It was configured with tubes and stops, so when the person was screaming it would sound like the bull was raging.

Link

9.

The Breaking Wheel

This wheel of torture was used to kill criminals and it did that very slowly. This device was a large wagon wheel. The criminal would be tied to the wheel, where the punisher would proceed to use a hammer to break the bones of the other person. Once that was completed, they were left there to die and even the birds would peck at their flesh until death was complete.

Link

8.

The Rack

This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. It was raised from the ground with a roller either at one end or at both ends. One end had a fixed bar, where the feet were locked onto it, and the other end had a moveable bar, where the hands were tied to it. It had a lever that was used as the interrogation progressed. It was on a lever and pulley system that would eventually cause the joints of the person being tortured to dislocate and then separate. Eventually, the muscle fibers userbin, ligaments, and cartilage would break separating the limbs from the body of the condemned.

Link

7.

Judas Cradle

This torture device is a pyramid shaped seat. The victim is placed on top of it, with the point inserted into an orifice, then they are very slowly lowered onto it. The condemned was usually naked in order to add to their humiliation. This device was thought to stretch the orifice or to slowly impale the person. The stretching of the orifice would cause pain, rips and tears, which would eventually cause death.

Link

6.

Coffin Torture

This device was used in the Middle Ages. The condemned would be placed in the metal coffin and left there for the appropriate amount of time. Depending on the crime, the person could be left in there to die, while animals ate their flesh or they would be placed on public display, which would cause their death. The people that would surround the person in the coffin would throw rocks and poke the person with objects until they finally became deceased.

5

4American intelligence operations located Osama by following his trusted couriers, whose names were given up by al-Qaida members during harsh interrogations at CIA black sites under President Bush.

Yes, the same interrogations endlessly denounced by the entire Democratic Party (save Joe Lieberman), the mainstream media, and an especially indignant Jane Mayer in The New Yorker.

Ann Coulter 5May2011

According to “Matthew Alexander, a former senior military interrogator who conducted or supervised over 1,300 interrogations in Iraq, leading to the capture of numerous al-Qaeda leaders”:

3

File:Louisa Calderon 

undergoing the torture

2I

INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE AND PUNISHMENT

1

Karl Rove – War Criminal!

 I

On Thursday, May 28th, the National Day of Resistance to U.S Torture, World Can’t Wait and others held protests across the country. We were out at the Chicago Theater demanding that Karl Rove be prosecuted for his war crimes.

War criminals must be confronted and opposed whenever they show their face in public. We were out in force, with banners, signs, huge versions of Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib series of paintings, orange jumpsuits and black hoods and the latest issue of Revolution newspaper challenging people to stand up and oppose torture and other war crimes being committed in their names. The police forced us to shut off our sound system after it was said that it could be heard all the way inside the Chicago Theater, so after that we chanted nearly non-stop for an end to torture and the prosecution of war criminals like Karl Rove and all the others in the former Bush regime and the current Obama regime.

Several comrades made it inside the theater and unfurled a large orange banner reading “Torture=War Crime – Prosecute” and shouted “Torture is a war crime! Prosecute war criminals! Rove is a war criminal!” during the program. After they were forced out of the theater, two other comrades confronted Rove during the event inside the theater, yelling “Waterboarding is torture! You’re a war criminal!”

Many people thanked us for being out there, a few even tried to justify the use of torture, but no one there could turn a blind eye to reality and say that they don’t know that people have been and continue to be tortured by the U.S. government in their names. Silence equals complicity. Demand prosecution of war criminals! Demand an end to torture, indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless surveillance, and wars for empire!

Posted in Thoughts
Tags: Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Barack Obama, black hoods, Charlie Rose, Chicago,Chicago Theater, empire, Fernando Botero, guantanamo, imperialism, indefinite detention, James Carville, Karl Rove, May 28th, National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture, orange jumpsuits, revolution, torture, torture photos, war, war crimes, warrantless surveillance, waterboarding, White House Iraq Group, World Can't Wait

Little Village Multicultural Arts School Torture Workshop

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May 22, 2009

On May 21, World Can’t Wait Chicago held torture workshops at the “We Are Everywhere” Youth Summit at the Multicultural Arts School in Little Village – a high school that was built after fierce struggle in the community, including a group of Latina mothers waging a nineteen-day hunger strike demanding a new school for their children.

We started off the workshops by asking the students: “Are American lives more valuable than the lives of people around the world?” Resoundingly the students responded “no,” though many thought that the reality was that people around the world were treated as if they were worth less. This led directly into the topic of torture. Showing the video I produced for the May 28^th National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture, the students were shocked to see the images from Abu Ghraib, which many of them had not seen before and did not know about.

We then got into the question of how do people like those in the video end up there. Some though that it was because they committed crimes, or did somethingwrong. In order to show a direct example of how people were really rounded up and ended up in places like Abu Ghraib or Guantánamo, we asked the students if they would point out someone in the room who was in a gang. Some refused to point anyone out, even after being offered $500. But once one of the students was picked out and put into an orange jumpsuit and hood, they quickly named the name of someone else in the workshop, who was also brought before the class and put into a jumpsuit and hood.

We then explained how people like them were rounded up for bounties in Afghanistan, or picked up off the streets, or had the doors of their homes kicked open by soldiers with guns shouting in a language that they couldn’t understand, and placed in these same jumpsuits and hoods. How they were then chained to the floor of a military transport plane in diapers and flown to some unknown destination, while their families had no idea what had happened to them. And once they got off the plane, they would be subjected to various types of torture that the Bush regime ordered committed. We asked if any of the students had heard of waterboarding, and one replied, “Isn’t that like where they drip water on your forehead?” And we explained that unfortunately no, it was far more vicious than that—that people were tied down to a board, a towel placed over their face, and water continuously poured over them till they began to choke, and that medical personnel were standing nearby to cut open their throats and shove a tube into their windpipe to keep them alive for further torture. And nearly 100 people were documented to have died in U.S. custody during the war of terror carried out in the wake of 9/11.

After explaining some of the methods of torture used by the U.S., we had the kids take off their hoods and jumpsuits and explain how that experience made them feel. Most replied that it made them scared and sad. One compared it to feeling like being a slave. And that even that brief experience in a classroom was nothing compared to what people who were actually being tortured experienced. We then went on to discuss what should happened to people who committed torture. At first many of them said that the people who did it should also be tortured. But after discussing if its ever right to torture someone, they thought that the people who ordered and committed torture should be put in jail.

We then discussed the lies that military recruiters use to get people—including high school students like themselves—to join the military, and why it is that the U.S is waging imperialist wars and using torture around the world. Obama has refused to prosecute anyone for these crimes, he has refused to release the torture photos, he continues to keep Guantanamo open and recently expanded Bagram prison facilities, and continues to use military commissions and indefinite detention. We discussed why it is imperative that people get in the streets on May 28^th to oppose torture being committed in their names and to demand prosecution of the war criminals in the Bush regime that ordered and carried out torture.

After the workshops, there were a number of great performances by the students, including hip-hop, spoken word, and dance. It was really a great opportunity to talk with the kids, and the teachers at the school were amazing as well. Very inspiring.

Posted in Thoughts
Tags: Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, Bagram, Bush, Chicago, guantanamo, hood,Iraq, Little Village, May 28th National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture,Multicultural Art School, Obama, orange jumpsuit, students, torture,waterboarding, We Are Everywhere Youth Summit, World Can't Wait

The Modern Art of Torture

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May 18, 2009

A torturous tableau of naked, bloodied and bound prisoners writhing in agony on the floor of a cell at Abu Ghraib prison hangs from the neck of a hooded figure in an orange jumpsuit—this is how world-renowned Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s Abu Ghraib series of paintings made their debut at the opening ceremony of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing. Organized by theChicago Chapter of The World Can’t Wait, Botero’s acclaimed works—which most major art museums in America, including the Art Institute of Chicago, refused to show—displayed on the streets of Chicago viscerally encapsulated the horrific crimes committed by the U.S. in furtherance of its imperialist agenda of global domination and the urgent need for people in this country to stand up and oppose these crimes.

Calling on people in the streets to refuse to allow the perpetrators and architects of torture in the Bush regime to remain unpunished for their crimes against humanity—and to stop the continuation of torture and escalation of war for empire under Obama—we struggled with people over the mic not to turn a blind eye to the torture being committed in their names. As I stood in an orange jumpsuit I explained to them that many of those being held and tortured for years by the U.S. government were simply out walking on the streets of cities around the world just like they were, when they were snatched off the street, a black hood shoved over their head, chained, and put on an airplane to Guantánamo or some unknown black site.

We took up the challenge put forth in Revolution newspaper (The Torture Memos) to “challenge people and wage sharp struggle with those who have been silent or indifferent to not turn their heads away when confronted with the horrible reality of what their government is responsible for.” I reminded people of the complicity of the German people to the crimes of the Nazis, and urged them not to be “Good Americans” and to confront and oppose these monstrous crimes that have been—and continue to be—committed in furtherance of U.S. imperialism. And I thought of my comrades still caged in the hellholes of the American prison system, and that tens of thousands of people right within this country are being subjected to the same kinds of torture that the ruling class of the U.S. has been exporting across the globe.

The world does not have to be this way! Humanity needs revolution and communism, and we must stand up and take up the challenge to emancipate humanity and get beyond all oppressive and exploitive relations and ideas.

Stand up on May 28th – National Day of Resistance to U.S. Torture

Posted in Thoughts

Recap: Putney Painters Week at the Scottsdale Artists School

This past week, I had the amazing privilege of attending Nancy's Guzik's three-day workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. The workshop was part of "Putney Painters Week"-- an event hosted by the Scottsdale Artists School and the Legacy Gallery -- and was one of several workshops and demos by some of the best artists in the country, including Kathy Anderson, Rosemary Ladd, Daniel Keys, Casey Baugh, and Stephanie Birdsall.

I came with an open mind and a feeling of immense gratitude to be surrounded by such inspiring and gifted artists. And for the entire week, I was pretty much unable to wipe the silly smile off my face. For me, this was heaven. I don't think I've ever had such fellowship with like-minded people, many of whom were my own age!

Nancy's workshop consisted of drawing on the first day, and then painting for the next two. She spent an entire morning doing a painting demo for us to show how she deals patiently with the subject, mostly by being patient with herself and not allowing fear to take over. She has mastered the art of channeling her fear (yes, even she gets afraid!) and turning it into a controlled excitement that can be used to better the painting. Here are some pictures from her demo:

 Below: this is about as far as she got after the morning session. It is a great likeness and painted with complete sensitivity as well as confidence.

Since all of our models this week were children, I learned a great deal about the difference between a child's features and an adult's, as well as how to capture the child's age. It was also fun to see how Nancy kept the children happy and entertained between sittings. They would color or draw, or make up stories to think about while they sat still (not an easy thing for a young kid!). All of the kids we worked with were stunning models and great at sitting still!

By day 2, I was biting at the bit to start painting, so you can imagine my excitement when our model turned out to be this beautiful 13-year-old with a sweet little dog that sat by her side the entire time! The dog's name was Angel... I think I'll title my painting, "Two Angels."

Below: mine at its start. It was actually a pretty good likeness. I worked slower than I usually do though, trying my best to follow Nancy's advice and direction.

This is as far as I got. I'll be sure to finish it in my studio, though. (Never mind those yellow marks - that happened in transit on the plane ride home...an easy fix)

Below: here's our model from the last day of the workshop. This time we worked for 6 hours, and as a glutton for punishment, I decided to attempt head and hands once more. While I may not be 100% happy with what I did, I believe I learned a lot and look forward to utilizing this new information at home in my studio! And, as my friend Kim Carlton told me once, "If you're happy with a painting you did in a workshop, then you didn't learn anything!"

I decided to stick around for two more days after the workshop ended to enjoy some of the other events with Putney Painters Week, including the "Dueling Brushes" demo by Kathy Anderson and Stephanie Birdsall (see below), and the opening reception for the Putney Painters exhibition and sale.

I had a wonderful time meeting many of the great artists in this show, and getting to know some of them a little better. Nancy, of course, is a ray of sunshine.

Friday: Casey Baugh gave a fabulous painting demo. I learned a lot from him about designing a good composition and taking your time with posing the model to create an image with lasting impact. He is also amazing at painting edges! Wow.

The finished demo.

Below: lunch with some fabulous young artists. From left to right (not including yours truly): Tyler Murphy, Daniel Keys, Ryan Mellody, Michelle Dunaway, Qiang-Huang, and Taaron Parsons. I am so blessed to have met these people. We have so much in common; it's just great to know that we're all in the same boat - trying to make it as artists and create great art, to the very best of our ability.



For more pictures from this week, see my Facebook album. Next week I'll be in Judy Carducci's workshop, so there will be even more to learn and write about! We'll see if my brain can handle it... ;-)