Odds and Sods.

RoninKafkaGear promo T-shirts should be available soon....
Working on business card design....

• Caught Coldplay last weekend in concert. Their use of a video backdrop while common with today's large rock acts was, I found, inventive and unique. There was much emphasis on filming the band and projecting the performance on the large screens which increased the sense of connection with the band. Coldplay already has a deep connection to their fan base and they are expertly exploiting it in their live shows much in the same way U2 can. I sense they are perfecting something that is rare in rock and roll, or any performance artistry, and that is an emotional investment in the artist from the audience. If they can maintain it then perhaps one day soon the hype will be self fulfilling. They are the next U2.

People are always asking me about the direction of new material. My answer is this. I'm focused mainly on included and possibly included pieces for Commute and outside individual pieces which are born from the well spring of inspiration. Were I ever to lose it may I die that very moment...

Of these, some are brought to commercialism via www.roninkafkagear.com after a somtimes grueling decision making process between myself and Ronin. The crop of images being worked on are from an already packed stable of work I've been developing over the past year. I haven't begun to take new pictures outside of the realm of Commute for awhile now - though I do have several themes in mind that I want to pursue. If there were only enough time! Living in the Acceleration Society offers both benefits and downfalls though I'm not sure which outweigh the other yet.

Click to enlarge. View image. Right Click on image and select "Set as Wallpaper".

There are an estimated 4 million closed circuit surveillance cameras in United Kingdom alone. Only a little more than half are estimated to be controlled by organized authority such as the police or government. The rest are in the hands of private citizens. Who is watching the watchers?

We are...

Ronin Spotted!

The above photo was snapped in a local nightclub. Ronin has been spotted hitting the party circuit. This was emailed to me by some paparazzi person who snapped this before security threw him out. The female remains unidentified. If you see Ronin please tell him to contact I, Kafka.

The Tree of Life is Barren...

Click to enlarge.

For sale only by email to kman_35111@yahoo.com

RoninKafka Promotional T-Shirts

I have completed the image files for the first batch of promotional roninkafkagear t-shirts. They will have the RK logo and domain name. A local business owner is going to create the high quality shirts for us.

Marketing Strategy: Ronin will wear and carry shirts into public areas such as nightclubs and art showings. He will coerce subjects into wearing the shirts and having them read a PREPARED STATEMENT EXALTING THE COMING EMPIRE OF RONINKAFKA. This will of course be digi-taped and distributed virally across the Web.

It may even be a brief MANIFESTO.

Problem: I don't know where Ronin is right now. I think he may be in between squatting at some low rent hipster loft conversion in somewhere in the city core. I'm sure he'll pop up soon. If anyone has seen him please email I, Kafka at kman_35111@yahoo.com

Also, if you are in the Atlanta area and would like a free promotional t-shirt please contact me. Supplies are limited.

I Tried to Make It As Beautiful As Possible...

Click to enlarge.

NYC3

Click to enlarge image.

Franz Kafka wrote in "Dearest Father":

DEAREST FATHER,
You asked me recently why I maintain that I am afraid of you. As usual, I was unable to think of any answer to your question, partly for the very reason that I am afraid of you, and partly because an explanation of the grounds for this fear would mean going into far more details than I could even approximately keep in mind while talking. And if I now try to give you an answer in writing, it will still be very incomplete, because, even in writing, this fear and its consequences hamper me in relation to you and because the magnitude of the subject goes far beyond the scope of my memory and power of reasoning.

Many believe that Kafka was writing a letter to his biological father. I maintain he was in fact, writing a letter to God, the Father. Think about that for a moment...

iK.

If I Should Die This Very Moment...

As I was driving home today I saw a minivan on fire. It appeared to be one of those early 90's models. The one made by GM or Chrysler that compared the cutting edge design of the cockpit to the front end of the space shuttle. Do you remember the commercial? Anyway, the entire vehicle was ablaze. Black smoke was billowing into the sky. The police had just arrived but had not been able to even exit their cars yet. As I approached the burning hulk I realized that I had left my camera in my laptop briefcase from the vacation which I had just returned from the night before. I drew closer to the pile of flame which was parked in the breakdown lane to my left. I passed it with only one lane top separate my car from it. Then I felt the intense heat emanating from it. It was then that I thought here is my moment of vulnerability. What if there gas tank were to give at this very moment and explode? What if I hadn't forgotten my camera and it the vehicle ignited at the moment I took a picture? This would be the document of my last visual input. A minivan whose front end design was sold to the public as having drawn its inspiration from the space shuttle. And then the fucking irony of it hit me like a diamond bullet between the eyes. Space shuttle...burning.

I wish I had remembered my camera.

FWETHAT

A lot of artists will bury obscure references into their work in order to allow you the privilege of identifying such artifacts and letting you look smart in front of your peers.

Books on Deck.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead
Max Brooks

Choke
Chuck Palahniuk


Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson

All Canning.

The artist submerges himself in the pools of his creations. He chases ideas like bubbles rising to the surface. Fleeting encapsulations of perfection. Too many to possibly grab. Then they burst and are gone forever...

Inspiration: Steve Roach

I'm obsessed with the music of Steve Roach. He has an extensice catalog and I own many of his CD's. I bought 3 more last night! Roach has inspired a generation of ambient and experimental artists and should be considred one of the godfathers of genre along with Eno and Budd. He has stayed true to his muscial visions - he has no record company telling him what to do. His fan base is rabid and his live performaces border on religious experience. Since I live in a commute intensive city I often listen to his material in my automobile. I also like to listen at night when I'm working. Yes, I often create with Steve Roach playing in the background. Thanks for the inspirations Steve....

View Steve Roach's complete works here:
http://www.timeroom.com/

Irked.

If you're going to create socially activist art then at least get your facts straight. Nuclear power plants cannot explode in a mushroom cloud like a nuclear weapon blast. To suggest so is dishonesty.

Air.

Every action has an outcome. Every inaction also has an outcome. Remember that.

Self Portrait: Rearview

Click to enlarge. This image may possibly be used as the cover for the forthcoming book Commute.

Currently for sale via email only at kman_35111@yahoo.com

Dentists Offices - What's Wrong?

I recently visited 2 different dental offices due to a root canal procedure and follow up. It has not been a pleasant experience. Certainly dental offices can benefit from some serious consideration about how they present their space to patients. In my experience, both offices used music. One played "lite" rock and the other classical. I preferred neither based on the severity of the work being done on me - it made no difference to my comfort. Another objectionable item - aside from a few nearly non-descript landscape framed photos hanging on the walls there was nothing but ceiling tile and office lighting to look at! What good are the pictures on the wall if I have to be staring upward? How nicely the ceilings could have benefitted from a mural or well place painting! Dentistry is bad enough. Who wants to have to stare at blank ceilings or bright lights during the process. This is why I equate the dentist visit to some sort of torture or interrogation session. The suspect is always pressed back in a chair, bright lights are shined into their eyes to protect the identity of the torturers and primitive electric drills and other such devices are used. The mouth is force to remain open for long periods of time. Needles are used. Poision's injected. Is it any wonder that a majority of citizens hate dentists? They could at least make an effort to make the surrounding space of the denist's office pleasant, warm and less anti-septic and cold to be in. If some concern were given to astehtic perhaps the industry wouldn't suffer from such low satisfaction ratings. The sterile operating room look needs to be replaced with warm colors, artwork, decent music - perhaps with headphones (?) and some good looking assistants wouldn't hurt either.

This Man Wants to Bring Digital Art to You.

His name is Sacks and he envisions a day when the canvas hanging in your home will be replaced by the monitor. Art will increasingly become interactive. Perhaps even an element of individuation will be introduced in order to make the art viewing experience unique to the specific viewer? The spread of technology is empowering the individual to make art too...

Untitled.

I often take pictures from my car window. I like the randomness of it. I don't have time to aim at a subject. You have to make do with what chance gives you. Large sections of the city are still under construction. One city dies, another one continues to rise. Some say we're going to have over capacity. I say build it and they will come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But come they will.

I saw "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" on DVD over the weekend. The film's purpose seem to be mainly in capturing the visual motifs of the comic books and futuristic pulp magazine designs of the 40's and 50's. They pulled it off quite well but unfortunately the story suffered as a result of it.
Still, the movie was entertaining if for the visuals alone. I had always been a fan of simplistic looking technology of the Werner Vaun Braun era and the comic book stylings of Buck Rodgers and other WWII era style designs. Notably the film's treatment of New York City architectually was right on target with the style of the day. There wasn't a single glass and steel skyscraper in the entire skyline! Coupling old school designs with technololgy that was dreamt up in the mid 20th century gave the film a romantic look that isn't quite like anything I'd seen in film today.

Architectual Detail Midtown Atlanta #5

Click on image to enlarge.
Not for online sale. Email kman_35111@yahoo.com for sales terms, pricing.
Location: Arts Cetner Station, MARTA

Two Fish.

The soundtrack in my head today has included Jane's Addiction, Beethoven, New Order and Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. I cannot tell you why...

Two fish. Click to enlarge. Not currently available for online purchase. email kman_35111@yahoo.com for purchase details.

Between.

Click to view larger image.

The Creation.

This is now available at www.roninkafkagear.com
After completionn of this work, I imagined one day when astronomers were scanning recent pictures sent back by the Hubble space telescope they might see something like this, unexpected, wonderous and breathtaking.

The purpose of this blog is to be a forum for my commentary on primarily culture, art and my work on various projects that make up the growing oeuvre of my portfolio, much of which is being marketed through http://www.roninkafkagear.com/