THE FUTURE DOES NOT COMPUTE

The New York Times said it best:

It’s a little embarrassing to watch the New York art world “discovering” Latin American modernist art year after year, as if forever only half-aware of its existence.

It’s a little surprising to see the NYC art world not paying much attention to the Latin American artists. There are so many talented Latinos waiting for their break in a big city like New York. It has not been until recently that these artists have had a chance to present their work to what seems like an ignorant audience. That chance comes in the form of Pinta, the contemporary Latin American art fair, the very first of its kind in NYC.

I actually have a pretty interesting story about how I came to hear about Pinta. I was in Harlem visiting El Museo Del Barrio just trying to enjoy a quiet Sunday with a friend. We arrived to the museum not knowing we only had about an hour left to walk around. So we walked in and instead of trying to see everyone in a hurry we decided to concentrate just a few pieces and really study them. As we finished the tour, with guards almost pushing us to leave, we stopped by the gift shop to look at some books when we were approached by one of the cashiers working there that afternoon. He overheard our conversation on how we were so disappointed to not see all the pieces. He must have seen our enthusiasm and invited us to this new of a kind Art Fair in NYC filled with Latin American artists, us having nothing else to do that night we jumped at the opportunity. He handed us two white translucent, very modern looking envelopes with the Pinta logo on one side, it was out free tickets to the fair. That was the very first day I ever heard about Pinta and was lucky enought to be invited for free on its opening night. I had a great time there, seeing works by some of the most talented contemporary and modern Latino artists. I just hope that next time it will have a much bigger turn around, more publicity and a lot more art (this first year there were only 35 galleries).

Keep an eye out for the next Pinta and hopefully I will see you there.

Links:
Bulletins From a Bustling ‘Undiscovered’ Land
www.pinta-art.com

Listening to Richard Cheese a while I was trying to find other funny/ridiculous song covers by other artists, here are the best 3:

The first one is by Avril Lavigne covering “Chop Suey” by System of a Down. It’s not really funny, more like…pathetic.

Second one is by Alanis Morissette covering Fergie’s “My Humps”.

Saved the best for last. I am sure you have seen this one already but it still cracks me up. William Hung’s rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs”.

…she bangs, she bangs…Now I’ll have that song stuck in my head all day, thanks William Hung.

I decided to start a continuos series of entries all relating to technology which we may have seen or thought to only exists in sci-fi movies, books or cartoons.

I have always been a Sci-Fi buff, always interested in anything with robots and lasers to say the least. One of my favorite series of all times is Aliens. I clearly remember watching the scene where Ripley fights off the mother-bug with that powered suit as the base is about to collapse. The military has been funding a 50 million dollar project to develop such suit for its armed personel. It gives the wearer super strength and stamina for sustained physical tasks, I was pretty amazed to see such a device being developed:

Pretty damn impressive.

I was trying to think about what I enjoyed the most about a cold morning on my way to work. Here are a few things that just popped into my mind: Holding that warm coffee cup, steaming endlessly while I wait on the station for the train. Watching strangers awkwardly huddle together without touching or making any eye contact. Lighting the first cigarette of the day feels so damn good (fuck, I gotta quit). Turning your back to the wind as it picks up in your direction. Chap-stick. Feeling your hands start to go numb because you forgot your gloves. Seeing your breath every time you exhale. Shaking your legs almost as if you had to pee. Repeating in your head over and over again “Fuck it’s cold”. Yeah, that is why cold mornings are great….