Programs like deepart.io are so fascinating. You give the program a photograph and an artwork, and then it transforms the photograph to look like the style of the art. A photo from my parents wedding combined with Juan Gris’ “Portrait…
One of my favorite podcasts is Random Tape. The description reads, “A cabinet of auditory wonders for the 21st century.” An older description captures the podcast better, “Random Tape is a radio show that features bizarre voice messages, rants, poetry,…
I love you, Artforum. But I do have a little bit of a funny thing. It’s hilarious how this Artforum headline appears in all caps in Google News. All the other publishers use a standard title case or AP/Chicago/MLA style.…
Do you have any resolutions for this new year? I don’t really specifically set out to find new resolutions at the start of the year. I much rather just start new habits any time of the year. But in effort…
Do you keep a daily diary? I have a couple questions for you: Length: Do you keep it really short? Or do you write longer form? Medium: Where do you write it? In a physical notebook? Or maybe online in…
Most times your five-year-old iPhone works just fine as a camera. Today, I stepped off my train, and I looked up, the sunset nearly knocked me over. Whoa! So intense! I grabbed my iPhone from my pocket and snapped a…
What do you do with all the greeting cards you receive? Keep them in a pile and then eventually recycle them? Perhaps you keep a hand-selected group, storing them in a box. Or maybe you put the greeting cards on…
The painted-black boards at constructions sites are so stark. Flat black atop coarse wood grain. Giant panels of wood meant to separate construction working from pedestrian walking. The walls are painted in a flat black to give a simple backdrop,…
Andy Warhol. The art world darling. The Art Institute of Chicago is putting on a big Warhol show. Members get a special preview during October 17-19, 2019. Can’t get into the members preview of the Warhol show? Get a cool…
I just love getting promo emails from Quark trying to convince me to move back to Quark’s design program. I used Quark XPress in the late 90s in college, and at my first two jobs, but Adobe InDesign came and…
The collection of 17th century Dutch and Flemish drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago is a nice display of work. Especially impressive is the large sign at the front of the exhibit. The Art Institute blew up a 6-inch…
What is the utility of hanging a drawing on a wall? How often do people change their wall decorations? Do people today continue to buy images to hang on their walls? Should a drawing instead be viewed with one’s hands?…
The Museum of Science and Industry is renaming the museum to be the “Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry” Sounds pretty silly right? Look at how long that name is. Plus, Chicagoans notoriously hate renaming buildings. The Chicago…
My work locker is stuffed with candy. Actually, it’s overflowing with candy. I take breaks throughout the day, and stand by my locker snacking on all sorts of candy. It’s my attempt to eat less candy at my desk. Today,…
Every day my Chrome browser displays a different work of art. The Chrome extension Google Arts & Culture powers the selection of what art is shown from their collection. The artwork ranges from very well-known artists like Van Gogh and…
This week marks the palindrome week where every day is a palindrome. (Technically, it’s not the last time in our lifetime, this will happen again on 1/20/21) 9-10-19 • 91-0-199-11-19 • 91-1-199-12-19 • 91-2-199-13-19 • 91-3-199-14-19 • 91-4-199-15-19 • 91-5-199-16-19…
What would a flag pole look like with 50 flags all at the same height? Outside my window fly 50 state flags in a plaza. I love looking at these flags. On a very windy day, I’m thinking about making…
The etymology of the word “fascinating” comes from witchcraft. That explains why people say “fascinating” slowly, as though one is in a spell. I looked up “fascinating” because my three-year-old asked me what that word meant. I thought that “fascinating”…
Photographing with a kaleidoscope lens is so much fun. Recently I spent a work lunch shooting the feet of sculptures with a kaleidoscope lens. The whole time I spent focused on the kaleidoscope effect. My eyes and brain looked through…
While photographing the feet of a sculpture of two naked men wrestling, at the Art Institute of Chicago, a guard stopped me. She asked what the clip was on my camera. I walked over to her, and showed her how…
Bring a cheap kaleidoscope lens with you to an art museum, and you’ll be guaranteed to have an ever-changing wonderful time. You can get one for $26 on Amazon (and you’ll also get a whole array of other fun lenses).…
Ever wish you could have a digital version of a book, but there is no kindle or PDF version available? One in book in particular I’d love to have on my phone at all times: Keri Smith’s “How to be…
Have you ever used the interjection “BOOM!” when you think you are right, but actually you aren’t? If someone corrects your BOOM, they boomeranged you. Last weekend, I was explaining something to my three-year-old daughter. At the end of the…
Mailing birth announcements today reminds me how much I love mailing things to people. Today I have a whole stack of love to share! I love how the postal mail is like the internet. Today I dropped off letters to…
While I was walking through the Art Institute of Chicago today, I was thinking about how this artwork is the artwork that I have the most immediate physical access to. I work two blocks north from this grand museum. If…
Stand right in front of a Degas pastel drawing, and try photographing a 360-degree photograph with multiple-stitching. You get some fun results with how the application auto-stitches the exposures together. Normally, 360-degree panorama apps like this are meant to photograph…
Can Jackson Pollock paintings be displayed any which way? Upside-down, sideways? Sure, why not? Especially when the paintings are reproduced into two-inch magnets. The Art Institute of Chicago takes some of their most famous art, reprints it into tiny two-inch…
The arch-enemy of G.I.Joe, Cobra Commander, is bent on world domination. And now there is a pencil sharpener in the shape of his helmet. X-ACTO, the manufacturer of sharp blades, produces a pencil sharpener that looks JUST like Cobra Commander.…
Go to images.google.com and search for: art. That’s it—just one word: art. What do you think you would get? Images of the Mona Lisa or other famous paintings? Google gave me images of splashy colorful art. What results did you…
When I look at my 63 art projects, it seems like a lot. Lots of art across a variety of things. Yup, I just shared my complete list of art projects—both projects that are public, and the projects that are…
Every week Spotify makes a custom playlist of 30 songs just for you—based on what you listen to. It’s sort of like a close friend making a very personal playlist for you. In fact, it’s even more personal in a…
