A friend of mine gave me this flyer of a poem titled “In Praise Of Street Artists”, by Kenneth P. Neilson. And that friend of mine was performing on the streets themselves when they received this poem. And so I thought this poem interesting to post, though I did not center it as it is centered on this flyer:

ART IS A NECESSITY, NOT A LUXURY

STREET ART

Use your senses
No need to buy
No contracts
No paid admission

See for free
Stop to talk
Or walk.

REMINDER

How can the Met forget
That Van Gogh didn’t “sell,”
Except one painting
To his brother.
if he’d been on the street,
He might have sold another

SH!

Inside the Met,
you marvel at the price.
To mention it, of course,
Is not considered nice.

CHAINED

Street art’s not chained
To auction block
Demanding bags of gold.
The wonder is that beauty
For so little can be sold.

ART IS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY

Have a great poetry day.

Museums. Now those places are usually fun to go to. And usually when one is being one of those tourists in their travels around the world, one can sometimes end up at museums, as those places are always usually on tourists routes. And I know that from a dweller in this city where I reside that museums are usually always first on the list that someone visiting would request to go. And museums are great for looking at art, art, and more art. And those places are great for learning about history and historical art. And one can usually spend hours and days at a time going to museums, museums, and more museums. And usually when one in travelling throughout America, one can see the landscape, names of towns, and even souvenirs for each town and city change and become more western with Indian art and names appearing everywhere. And those Indian names and symbols that are to be found out west are beautiful. And one can sometimes learn how whole cities and states are usually named after Indian tribes throughout America. And then there is the Stark Museum of Art. The Stark Museum of Art is part of the Stark Foundation and this museum explores the art of the American West. Their museum has different collections of Western Art, American Indian Art, Decorative Arts, and Rare Books and Manuscripts. And that photo that is placed in this blog entry looks really interesting. And the design of their website looks interesting with photos of cowboys and indians, and red rock mountains on it. At the Stark Museum of Art, they have many collections of American Western art.
You can find paintings, sculptures, prints, furniture and other items from around the world from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of the people and wildlife of that region. Their museum has collections, exhibitions, educational materials, a Media Center and a store to find out about everything art and the west. And their current featured exhibition is called “Celebrate Shangri La”. And by visiting their museum, one might think that it has always been cowboys and indians since the beginning of time, or maybe not. Their museum is located in Orange, Texas and Texas sounds like it can be a great place to visit. For all things American Indian and Western Art, The Stark Museum of Art can be an interesting museum to visit.

And I was walking around that neighborhood Bushwick, Brooklyn the other day, one of those New York City neighborhoods that seems as if it has a lot to be said about in regards to gentrification, poverty and the ever changing New York landscape. And there was a sign taped to one of those light poles that read “Bushwick Open Studios”. Now that sounds interesting, as I read that a lot of artists have infiltrated, populated that area in recent years as exiles from the East Village, then Williamsburg, and now Bushwick as far as the L train can see on the Jefferson Ave stop. And I am always looking for some great art to see. And even though this event is not until the end of May and June, if you happen to be in that area, this art event looks as if it is great to check out. Here are a few special festival events that are listed on their website so far:

-BOS 08 preview and sample sale at Lumenhouse featuring works by Bushwick Open Studio 2008 artists.

-Bushwick Open Studio 08 Music Festival at Goodbye Blue Monday

-Bushwick Open Studio 08 Cabaret, a night of non-theatrical performance knit together by our in-house band.

-Neighborhood Sustainability Forum at Bushwick Impact, mural and garden unveiling at BUSHWICK IMPACT

Have a great art day

I can remember Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies in the Village Voice from days ago. And now those recent Wartella cartoons in the Village Voice each week are funny as heck. They are hilarious and ingenious in their depiction of life, current events and topics of the day and times. Lately, every time I grab one of those papers from the red box on the corner, the colorful drawings appear with those balloon captions with people saying the funniest things from different walks of life. And the drawings usually have a political statement to them with whatever the topic and situation is at hand. I tried to save that police surveillance state one Wartella did a few months ago, but it is lost somewhere now. And I keep wanting to make a collection of them because they are so funny, but that never happens. And this weeks cartoon is titled “Welcome To Laguardia” with a phrase “Check your privacy at the door” spray painted on the wall. And there are security guards with scowls on their faces scanning people with pajamas on and pockets turned out with their hands up in the air. And then there is the TSA officer who is watching Sanford and Son reruns. And there are always usually the typical stereotype of people in those drawings, the rich, the poor, the homeless, and different nationalities of people. And every ones flight has been cancelled in this drawing. And then there is the sigh “Attention, making jokes or statements during the screening process may be grounds for criminal or civil penalties. And although Wartella’s cartoons seem to be a parody of life, they are real. These weekly cartoons are awesome. Wartella Rocks.

Bullet Space is having an art opening tomorrow. They are one of the eleven remaining squats that have survived the gentrification and genocide of a neighborhood and have been bought out or sold out in the Lower East Side that is now called the East Village for real estate marketing purposes maybe. And they are now homesteaders or something like that. Bullet Space is a really cool place that has had many theater, art and performance events over the years. And the only thing that seems to be constant is change. And there is a poem that I once remembered:

Long Live The Lower East Side
Long Live The Revolution of the Pseudo Anarchist Hippy Bohemian Squatter Revolutionary Lower East Side In Alphabet City where God Bless America becomes God Fuck America and red white and blue becomes red and black and where the capitalist capitalize off the capitalism of the capital.
With your gentrified glorified tenements and artists coffee lounge lounges riddled with the blood of the long lost past that had the horses running through it, the pigs running round it, and the helicopters hoovering over it. The bandshell that stood as a symbol of freedom for all long torn down, lost and forgotten. NO POLICE STATE, NO HOUSING NO PEACE, F… THE CURFEW, FREE THE LAND, free that park, that park everywhere. Freedom and utopia a thing of the past.
So now in Alphabet City I walk down your streets conformed to the conformity of the conformed and the conformist. Class War Class War on the poor run into the river and running to the river.
Flight of fight, sink or swim. Can you swim or will you die. Your skeletons of the war torn survivors walking the streets, your ghosts and their spirits scattered abroad and the ashes of your people who have come and gone in the struggle, of the struggle, from the struggle and the ashes of your people some dead some alive and some who have survived to shed their blood and skin and to tell the tale and conform to this thing called conformity.
Yeah, first it was them and then it was me. Whose gonna be left when big brother comes. Naked I have come from my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither to the dust where I come from.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Long Live the Lower East Side.

And if you are in this New York City neighborhood tomorrow, this event may be worth checking out.

Bullet: Urban Artists Collaborative
Construction Brigade
December 8th-January 11, 2008
Gallery Hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 1pm-5pm Monday – Thursday: By appointment

Opening Reception:
Saturday December 8th, 6pm-8pm
With poetry reading by John Farris
292 East 3rd Street, New York, New York

Curated and organized by Alexandra Rojas

Artists: Steve Salvatore, Patou, Erik Von Ploennies, Regina Bartkoff, Joshua Starcher, Rolando Politi