redblank.com blog

15 April 2009

wolf & pig.

absolutely stunning. the layering of concepts and "loose-but-accurate" execution here is mind-blowing.

posted by the unbuilt # 11:39 0 Comments Links to this post

06 November 2008

photography exhibit.

if you're interested, and have a minute to let it load, please feel free to check out this link to my "design maintenance" presentation given at our monthly internal happy hour. it includes 138 of about 30,000 images on my hard drive. hope you find something interesting.

posted by the unbuilt # 22:37 0 Comments Links to this post

25 September 2008

First United Methodist Church Dallas Adverts.

Check this out. Designed for Rachel Cabal over at FUMC Dallas. They went up in the Uptown & Turtle Creek neighborhoods near downtown Dallas yesterday!

posted by the unbuilt # 16:29 2 Comments Links to this post

06 September 2008

representing the underachiever.

imperial motion has featured some of my work over here. thanks chris!

posted by the unbuilt # 18:09 0 Comments Links to this post

02 July 2008

italy 2008.

look for new photos on the unbuilt gallery as well as the photo gallery here on redblank in the coming days. since i took 1,692 photos, it will take me a bit to sort through it all.

posted by the unbuilt # 15:57 0 Comments Links to this post

03 April 2008

the science journal nature.

Congratulations, Courtney! I'm so proud of ya!!! I normally don't condone the use of the lens flare filter in Photoshop, but in this case, it's quite apropos. Great work.

posted by the unbuilt # 12:58 0 Comments Links to this post

31 March 2008

j. scott slagle album release.

I'm pleased to help spread the news about my friend Scott Slagle's newly recorded album "like dreams..." His *new* website is here.

posted by the unbuilt # 09:21 0 Comments Links to this post

30 March 2008

unveiled.

welcome to the new redblank. it's going to be a lot easier to update things thanks to indexhibit, a free and open-source content management system. please let me know what you think or just drop me a note to say hello. i know there are only about 3 people who look at this site, but i do care what you 3 think.

posted by the unbuilt # 22:09 0 Comments Links to this post

05 January 2008

dog walking.

As I was walking Hannah the other day through the alley along the "cancer field" (which is the greenbelt created by the high-line power poles going through our neighborhood a couple of blocks over) we noticed 2 dogs out in the middle of the meadow. One was big and one was little. I recognized them as we approached as the dogs that live in the house with the chain-link fence and seeing the open gate that was presumably their escape path confirmed that fact. Hannah, of course, wanted to go meet them. We walked toward them and they all but ignored us. But as I tried to herd them back to their home, they got the idea and started to move toward the open gate. The large dog, a yellow lab that usually barks his head off as we walk by, ran along side Hannah as if they were becoming fast friends and they did a little chase maneuver as we stepped onto the driveway at his house. Little dog came along too and soon the three were galloping along toward the gate. Just as soon as I began to think, "Hey maybe I've got dog whispering potential," the dogs walked right into their yard through the gate, and some switch flipped. Suddenly, they were no longer the friendly pups they had been only seconds prior. As I closed the gate and fiddled with the latch to secure them once again, Hannah and I transformed in their eyes from rescuers to intruders and the snarled and growled as if we both were wearing black ski masks like the ones on the "neighborhood watch" signs. Now on the other side of the fence, Hannah and I began to walk away, back toward the field in which we found the two who were now barking with such force that the air exploding from their snouts became a cloud of condensation. I guess the moral of the story is that perception is point-of-view and you can only really see the difference when you're the one that stays on the same side of the fence.

posted by the unbuilt # 08:41 0 Comments Links to this post

01 January 2008

happy 2008.

happy new year! in the spirit of lists, here's one worth looking at ... top 5 photographers of 2007. and here is my favorite of their favorites.

posted by the unbuilt # 09:32 0 Comments Links to this post

13 December 2007

time piece.

posted by the unbuilt # 12:45 0 Comments Links to this post

14 November 2007

mark allen miller, painter.

mark allen miller does some really cool paintings with what appears to be spray paint and stencils, as well a bit of collage. refreshingly clean, graphically rich and colorfully daring, the pieces on his site feel very now.

posted by the unbuilt # 11:59 0 Comments Links to this post

long time, no blog.

so, things have been pretty busy since the arrival of our new puppy, hannah. this blog has sort of suffered, but over at the unbuilt gallery, things have been much more tended-to. i'm going to make an effort to post more here at redblank, if only because i am always coming across cool stuff, and i need the discipline of recording these things before i forget about them. it's always nice to share as well, and i guess that's the ultimate goal of this blog anyway! for all you 4 people that read it!

posted by the unbuilt # 11:54 0 Comments Links to this post

14 September 2007

neo rauch auction listing.

my hopes and dreams of owning a neo rauch painting have fallen like a drop of paint splatting upon the studio floor. his more recent stuff is in the $700k range... oh well... i guess i'll just have to settle for a poster or something. terrific New Yorker article on his recent show at the Met here.

posted by the unbuilt # 17:16 0 Comments Links to this post

18 July 2007

"Fiddler on the Roof" at First Church July 20-22

posted by the unbuilt # 09:41 0 Comments Links to this post

24 June 2007

toronto photos.

toronto 2007 is now posted! click here to be transferred.

posted by the unbuilt # 20:56 0 Comments Links to this post

12 June 2007

gay bomb.

if your faith in the us military hasn't already been vanquished, all you have to do is read this. is anyone else terrified that this is what we are paying our government to come up with?

posted by the unbuilt # 14:18 0 Comments Links to this post

08 June 2007

what the world eats.

fascinating photo essay. i love that they included the cost of the food per week. however, i cannot understand how a family of four in Bargteheide, Germany can spend $500.07 on food in a week and not weigh 500 pounds a piece... that is a TON of food. of course, those boys will probably end up 6'12" tall, but geez! the piece shows that we all have so much in common... after all, we all gotta eat!

posted by the unbuilt # 20:45 0 Comments Links to this post

07 June 2007

london 2012 logo.

i honestly can not understand how people could be so fervently opposed to a piece of graphic art, but here it is. what the logo does, as any truly contemporary work does, is hold a mirror up to the culture it was created within. the vehemently negative responses to the logo clearly reflect a closed-minded, unimaginative public, who balks at anything out of the mainstream and who cannot tolerate imagery that doesn't "LOOK LIKE SOMETHING". the instantaneous response that the logo "looks like someone doing a sex act" shows that the general public is STILL made uneasy by the concept of abstraction and cannot engage with something unless it "LOOKS LIKE _____" (insert banal, generic and symetrical object here.)

the architectural community has been forever changed by the likes of frank gehry, zaha hadid and daniel libeskind -- with their "decontructivist" (or whatever -ism, with which they are now associated) work, and their work is still disliked by the majority of a public who cannot get past the fact that there are no fluted columns or dentil mouldings. "good god! it doesn't look like the pantheon... it can't be a good building!"

i'm disappointed that culturally we are not more sophisticated. while not suggesting that we ignore issues like this (the debate's passionate rhetoric has been fascinating), i wish the dialogue were more than the low-brow school-yard diatribes that have flooded the blogs since the unveiling. whining that "it just sucks" is not a statement with any value and fails to help the debate.

posted by the unbuilt # 10:17 0 Comments Links to this post

04 June 2007

updates at the unbuilt gallery.

fabulous new posts by n_ at the unbuilt gallery from last saturday's porchtime. though the chimenea never burned, the funky silver flame balls that Mr. Mayes left with the house kept the night aglow.

posted by the unbuilt # 10:58 0 Comments Links to this post

29 May 2007

the unbuilt gallery.

I'm proud to announce the grand opening of "the unbuilt gallery" -- a collaborative photo essay blog. Participants include: Nathan Nichols, Courtney Hodges and Patrick Winn. We all have such unique visual languages and this is an effort to expose the nuances of each. Stay tuned for updates and special exhibits!

posted by the unbuilt # 14:53 0 Comments Links to this post

07 May 2007

knitta Handarbeiten.

I cannot express fervently enough my love for this idea! Previous posts on this-here blog have disclosed my love of street art with emphatic applause for categorically non-destructive graffiti. Knitta is a group of women who create urban art with their handiwork. Retro in one sense -- I suppose counter-culture is another way to describe it, since women under 70 knitting is anything but usual. They sell it best by exclaiming themselves as "a tag crew of knitters, bombing the inner city with vibrant, stitched works of art, wrapped around everything from beer bottles on easy nights to public monuments and utility poles on more ambitious outings." Terrific!

posted by the unbuilt # 10:15 0 Comments Links to this post

02 May 2007

crossroads 5 helps raise $12,000 for charity.

"The sanctuary of First United Methodist Church was filled with the rhythm and sounds of a benefit concert presented by the Music and Arts Department of FUMC. Subtitled “A Salute To Service,” the show honored the hundreds of volunteers whose hard work and dedication enables Crossroads Community Services to provide assistance to many thousands of our neighbors-in-need in the Metroplex, among numerous other service projects locally, nationally, and internationally. However, as the night progressed, it became clear that the gift was a blessing not only to those who received, but also to those who gave.

Under Dana Effler’s capable direction, the performance was a joyous celebration. Traditional and more contemporary gospel music was energetically performed by the Chancel Choir, the Variations youth choir, and more than fifteen instrumentalists. The more than 900 concert goers were treated to Old Country Church by the "Crossroads Five," an all-male a’ cappella ensemble which delighted the audience with barbershop quartet-type harmonies and soul aplenty. The Chancel Choir followed with Old Time Religion Medley, rendered with the swagger and sway that have been the song’s trademark for over a century." [full story here & photos here]

posted by the unbuilt # 15:18 0 Comments Links to this post

12 April 2007

the heilocentric pantheon.

Perhaps the last chord in Durufle's Requiem that happens to be a sustained 7th chord is more literally celestial than figurative?

"That’s one of the startling things about this. If I wrote the simplified Bode formula down on a piece of paper and showed it to music theorists, they would ask: “Why are you showing us a formula from the overtone series…?” [...] Bode’s Law gives a series of orbital ratios which are mathematically identical to intervals in musical theory. They’re primarily variations on what we call the 7th chord: C, E, G, B-flat. Bode’s predicted ratio between Earth and Mars, for instance, is the same as the 5:8 musical ratio between E and C."

the heliocentric pantheon.

posted by the unbuilt # 17:01 0 Comments Links to this post

20 February 2007

la chute.

Denis Darzacq has taken photos of people seemingly levitating before deserted urban backdrops. I'm not sure if I really want to know what it feels like to do this -- the bruises beneath their clothes as a result of this process are surely ever present. But the effect is mystifying... and the mystery is amplified by the stark streetscapes they inhabit, as there appear to be no witnesses - except the camera - to the acts caught by the lens. The unwillingness of the human brain to accept such a possibility of floating bodies charges each image with surreal beauty.

"When the social elevator is broken you have to know how to bounce. Between the take off and the fall, the man parachuted in the city learns to control his trajectory..."

posted by the unbuilt # 08:27 0 Comments Links to this post

06 February 2007

todd hido photographer.

the "homes at night" series got my attention... this guy is really good at night photography. i have tried with mixed results, but this guy is a master. they all have a painterly quality about them -- the results of long exposure times. the light that you cannot see with your eyes that is there bouncing around against things -- the lens sees it.

posted by the unbuilt # 19:29 0 Comments Links to this post

25 January 2007

sketchbook pages launched.

ok, since i promised patrick that i would do this, here it is. eventually there will be a link from the index page on redblank, but until then, it will be a phantom page. i'm still trying to figure out a system that will allow easy updates, but for now, the autoviewer export plugin for picasa is quite dandy. see what you think. drop me a line. frequent updates promised. out.

posted by the unbuilt # 22:08 0 Comments Links to this post

16 January 2007

new wallpaper.

not sure why anyone would be interested, but i think it says a lot about a person. my wallpaper at the office.

posted by the unbuilt # 14:15 0 Comments Links to this post

14 January 2007

redblank photo gallery update.

mondo update at redblank's photo gallery. still to come -- random images from my collection of over 20,000 photographs. yowza!

posted by the unbuilt # 22:12 0 Comments Links to this post

28 December 2006

merry epiphany.

posted by the unbuilt # 09:54 0 Comments Links to this post