ArT PageS of BeN Ho
Incidentally, you have always been able to click on the title picture to see the archive of past pictures.
9/10/2005
An amazing trip, too much to describe here. The benefits of connections, guan xi, ties, networks, bypassing customs at the airport, fancy meals, spectacular food, $60/per person shark's fin soup, eating food from the home town, and finding dishes that were always home food (fu zhu, jiu cai hua, etc.), getting a full sense of chinese history, of the power of the Qin, 2000 years ago and the great wall, and the submlimity of the Winter Palace circa 700AD when Europe was stuck in barbarism, the efficacy of the city walls, and the eternal struggles against barbarism, and the legacies of family left behind, and the remnants of my grandfather's youth, and the hope of a new generation of cell phone carrying internet users.
9/8/2005
Maybe it was just the spectacular scenery at Mt. Ranier and Mt Eleanor. Maybe
because I just cleaned my lenses and ccd, or have been taken thousands of photo
on each of my trips , or looking at all the photos that R- takes, or reading
R-'s photo book, or because years after learning about them in class, concepts
like exposure, levels, contrast, metering, depth of field, are finally starting
to click, or
maybe reading photo magazines for tips on waterfalls, or just seeing R-'s
photos for ideas, on creative composition. I dunno. It's been nearly a deacde
since my first SLR, and things finally clicked, and I finally managed to
capture some decent landscape photos.
"GORGEOUS" R- said... so it's not just me.
I hope you enjoy. (China pictures are coming...)
8/3/2005
The second one is my favorite. The strong line that bisects top and bottom natuarlly leads the eye to the figure on the left and the primary subject of the photo. However, the largest item is the haystack which dominates the foreground and makes stark the medium of the artist's expression that the photograph is trying tocapture. The viewer's eye then shifts to the second hay stack, by dint of similarity, and emphasizing the dramatic shifts in depth afforded by the long lens. The movement following the haystacks leads the eye to the the second figure hidden in shadow, again emphasizing the dramatic depth of the composition, and hinting at the expanse of this hay civilization. Finally, the sunset light creates dramatic lighting effects and nice contrasty shadows.
am i good at this bulls--t or what?
4/7/2005
Turkey, birthplace of civilization and the heart of empires. The beautiful blue haze and byzantine streets of old istanbul and the place with the millenia old bazaar culture that ripped me off over and over again. And the fearless children all shouting "What is your name" the only English they know.
I was impressed by the greek ruins (Homer lived nearby, as did the Trojans), the roman ruins of constantine and the amazing Haghia Sophia that predates the grand cathedrals of europe by one thousand years, the beautiful Ottoman mosques, and the underground cities in which persecuted Christians would hide.
The land of batman has a cool language, with lots of french cognates for some reason, words like train, gare, ascenseur, eglise, saint, all found their way into the Turkish language. As did pingo chai, or apple tea, which happens to be the same in Chinese, all the way at the other end of the Silk Road.
Turkish food is heavenly, thanks to historically easy access to spices, and we had heavenly fresh baklava in karakoy. The place is changing fast, as head scraved women look at bikini clad advertisements. As the brand new Istanbul modern museum is a blatant suck up to gain entrance into the EU. Quite a spectacular place to visit.
3/6/4
China Pictures
Seattle: After a decade of shooting, my first good landscape photos
Haystacks at the Stanford Dish (now with BS analysis)
Turkey 2005: reflections and photos
Mexico Cruise 2005: photos
3/2/4
Bullshit: An Analysis of Kertesz's Chez Mondrian
Someone asked me:
"Dear Art-bullshitter,
why is mondrian's studio door/vestibule so famous? it doesn't really
resemble his work at all -- i thought mondrian had all those squares
with red, white or blue or yellow, super super abstract. whereas that
photo 'chez mondrian' had staircases, a vase and plant on the wall
etc."
Kertesz's Chez Mondrian (1926)
My reply:
yes, but i guess what's cool about the photo is that it takes a
familiar hallway, and it makes it into a geometrical abstraction.
everything, especially the flower (a thing of life) looks very
artificial. the way the door frame perfectly bisects the image with
mathematical precision, into a world of darkness and light, where the
dark sinister (left) side has square precise corners and stark high
contrast shadows, representative of Mondrian's stark black and white
landscapes of a black grid interspersed with squares of color. The
brighter right side, has sinuous yet still geometrical hyperbolic
curves, dominated by the black handrail demarcated by the handrail's
vertical rhythmic rectilinear supports. the right side represents the
organic side, and echoes the progression of mondrian's work, which
started off as linear abstractions of organic trees and organic ocean
waves, before mondrian's work attained their ultimate form and most
recognizable form, the pure orthogonal lines, the machine like
mathematical purity that underlies organic representation....
12/21/2004
Chile Trip 2004: Thoughts and Photos
Years of despotic free market Chicago school Washington consensus reforms under Pinochet have left Chile one of the richest countries in South America. Almost to the point of excessive competition, (see photo with four pizza stores side by side on an otherwise restaurant devoid street), or enthusiastic rampant bus drivers in amazingly fiercely competition super cheap high quality privatized public transport.
Chile is far and away the nicest countries I have visited, perhaps too much time in jaded Europe or graspingly poor Asia. From my cousin's Esther's instant friends after only a week there, to the excessive friendliness and attempt at communication despite the fact that no one spoke English and we spoke little Spanish, to friendly service. Strangers were constantly warning us of crime, and all seemed highly concerned and apologetic about the city's pickpockets.
Perhaps the niceness is related to my second observation about the Chilean people, they are perhaps the least attractive of any country I've been to, No bikini clad babes (only in Brazil), and even the school girls all in uniform were disappointing. Funny how what works at the micro level extends to the macro.
The food was only so-so (horrendous non-Chinese made Chinese food), though it was reasonably cheap, and the seafood was quite nice, and incredible salsas with bread everywhere, and too the French fries, and the pisco sours I thought the low prices was because of cheap labor, and so too the good service, but in fact, Chile enjoys the second highest GDP/capita in Latin America at a level about half of France, so quite reasonable. The prices of other more tradable goods were all similar to the US.
Anyway, here are the rest of the photos from my trip:
10/26/2004
In Memorium: Kirk Varnedoe - A theory of language and post-modern discourse
I first encountered Kirk Varnedoe on a Charlie Rose show. One of those few episodes that really alter your perceptions on how the world works. When Charlie Rose is good, he is great. (otherwise, i find his shows tend to be rather boring). Varnedoe became the first art historian i've seen in person, and perhaps one of the only who I can identify (Beyond perhaps Linda Nochlin and Susan Sontag being the rest, unless you count like Baudelaire or something)
What caught my eye at first was the caption, Art Historian at the Institute of Advanced Studies, an institute known more to me for Einstein than for Art.
The interview proved Varnedoe was worthy of Einstein's legacy. His description of great artists as lexographers of a new language was deeply meaningful to me. It resonates with Dewey's idea that artists have learned to convey information in a way far more advanced, far more articulate, with far more economy of expression, than science, which is over proud of its language of math.
Great artists are misunderstood early on, because speakers of a new language can only communicate if listeners understand. This concept of alternative forms of communication, of meaning, of discourse, has been eminently useful as a model to understand the limitations of science, of math, and of the nature of art itself.
It was with some sadness that I only learned of Varnedoe's passing at Hennessey's commencement address at Stanford last year. To hear the complete story of his amazing life. I record this now, so as to be able to remember.
9/2/2004
Summer photos 2004: Europe and America's Southwest
The grand/bryce/zion canyons from the south west came out quite nice.
8/19/2004
random olympic musing: Futile photographic festive flashes
The opening ceremonies are on TV now, and a sight seen more and more often is an audience that sparkles with photographic flash light like a shimmering ocean or the reflected light of city windows seen from an airplane. Quite a charming effect actually. Like the view of the trocadero from the Eiffel tower as the tourists take the obligatory tourist shot. So pervasive that it seems the museums of paris have given up trying to ban them. Digital photography really has revived a old modern tradition (perhaps for the worst if one believes Sontag). And somewhat annoyingly at tourist concerts.
A nice sight, that probably will end once technology improves and cameras are smart enough to figure out what their shutter happy wielders don't realize, that for ranges beyond 20 or so feet, their flashes are completely ineffectual.
8/5/2004
Summer photos 2004: Trento photos
So I have finally begun to categorize the 2000 pictures from my trip to Europe (I love my digital camera). Here are the highlights from the Trento summer school:
5/13/2004
A dilletant's intro to contemporary art
My tastes in art have slowly and dramatically developed over the last few years, from the easy love of the french impressionists (though the sophisticate prefers Manet to Monet, and I now in my snobbery prefer Mary Cassatt), to the rational reasoned neo-classicism, to a growing appreciation of modern art (I have discussed this before in entry 4.25.02 of Memes) particularly with Rachel's answer to the question, "how do you approach something like that," and her epiphanaticly simple answer "I first decide if I like it." But also the exhibit of white canvases at the MOMA, and my recent thoughts on photography and digital media and other media, etc
So to update, since then, my tastes have shifted even more, as I begin to appreciate contemporary art. Modern is so passi. Mind you there is still a lot of variance and a lot of loony stuff, and contemporary is definitely an acquired taste, but some of it can be real neat.
The first was during my last days in New York City, in the waning days of the fateful Summer of 2001, when I took the opportunity to just explore the city and just wandered aimlessly about. On one trip through soho and tribeca and a stop at the fabulously weird nuseum which I didn't really get, I found some random art gallery in a low rent area (for soho) near the Hudson if I recall. I somehow wandered in, to find an exhibit behind large ominous light tight doors. Finding the exhibit to be free, I curiously and boldly (it is always a bit intimidating to enter an art gallery, the snooty factor is still hard to overcome), entered to find a world where light was cast free of its normal confines, and manipulated and explored. Through black pitch dark hallways, we find rooms with shimmering laser light and mirrored reflections. The most compelling was one room particularly deep in which I wandered into alone, feeling my way along the wall in the utter darkness, when suddenly a brilliant intensely bright painful (I can feel it almost still) white light physically filling the room with pressure on the skin, and in an instant it was gone, but, not gone, as the after image lingered, with odd shapes and images burned into the retina for what seemed like a disturbingly long time.
So that was seriously cool, but only the beginning. The next big shift came the end of my second year at Stanford, when I wandered past the largely ignored Stanford Art Gallery and they had an exhibit of the current MFA student's thesis projects. Curious, I wandered in, to find myself completely alone with four exhibits. One took an old Elizabeth Taylor film and used computers to animate paper cutouts and put it on infinite loop, and projected it multiply. Interesting. Another was a weird wall of electronics which I didn't quite get. Another was a simple power point presentation of the attempt to make the world's only truly public space. For no space (except perhaps the moon) is truly owned by everyone. Somebody has property rights. The presentation makes the interesting comment that legally speaking one of the main difficulties is you need someone to sue.
All very interesting, all well in good, but what was mind blowing was the last. A curious large wooden structure that seemed to fill the space (nearly two stories tall) and served no apparent purpose. Just large wooden chunk of unfinished wood. No sign gave any indication. Until I noticed, at one side, there were a few steps, that led up to a hole, at waist level, that seemed quite small, but just barely, if I left my bag behind, just barely, I thought, maybe I could squeeze through. So I did so. Surreptiously, checking to see the hall was still empty, I placed my bag down, climbed the stairs and crawled in. The hole extended into a tunnel, and went on for some distance, perhaps 20 ft, before it curved to reveal more tunnel, and some dim electric lights. Intrigued I continued, both at once comforted with a feeling of childlike wonderment, climbing through the assemblages of sofa cushions that became my fortresses, at the same time feeling quite subversive for performing such a taboo, and also feeling quite nervous at being caught. I persisted. The tunnel continued, on and on, later up and down. At times I had to excerpt quite some effort to scale a chimney perhaps 15 feet tall. There were numerous footholds, but still. I wondered where I was going. Though in some ways, I was reliving all my childhood James Bond fantasies, crawling through crawl spaces, infiltrating the enemy base. Before finally, after quite an expedition, me wondering would I ever get out, I find myself at the exit on the other side, and finally comforted by the feeling that I had discovered the intent. The intent of imbuing the visitor with this opportunity, this totally unique, unable to convey via any other medium feeling/experience of subversion/excitement/nervousness/childishness. Amazing. Simply amazing.
Later that summer, I happened to be in Venice for the biggest contemporary art show of the world today, the Venice Biennale. And somehow, I happened to be in Prague, for the newest, the upstart Prague Biennale. I've been hooked ever since.
12/20/03
Deep Thoughts, from the Metrosexual Guide to Style
cheesy art provides answers...
great art poses questions
8.23.03
Summer 2003 (Trento, Steyr, France, more to come...)
What I did this summer: Part I,II,III.
6.27.2003
Flyin' and Crabbin'
Two quick photo albums that i'm quite proud of: (requires powerpoint)
6.19.2003
Musing on Light
I have become increasingly aware of light of late. Sitting on the airplane perusing a free travel magazine for France (they are desperate to restore US tourism), I am reminded of our time in Arles, and the South of France, and the light truly unique to that clime, that Van Gogh and Cezanne would abandon their Paris homes to pilgrmage to the South. And you see it in their paintings. The yellow pervasive haze that makes everything soft and happy.
Light is something you always take for granted. At least I always did. I pondered it a bit (see 3.29.01) while perusing the MOMA and seeing canvases of solid color. More recently, it was because of traveling to Nice and Marseilles, but also from taking Photography, where you truly appreciate the differences transfering the real world onto the page, and the vast differences between what a monitor is capable of, what photo paper is capable of, what an ink jet printer is capable of, what a digital image is capapble of, what oil/water/tempura paint is capable of. Learning to deal with the physical limitations of the parts of light that photo equipment can reproduce (via Ansel Adams' zone system e.g. or the level curves of photoshop) you appreciate the subtleties.
Driving onto route 280 from my apartment, one hits what's called the most beautiful stretch of highway in the country, and I believe it. My belief in universal aethetics has been established as all have concurred with the breathtaking beauty, especially as the sun is just rising, and the dewey fog creates a haze over verdant rolling hills, still quiet waters and bluish skies.
The deep blue california skies, the yellow tinged skies from sun baked fields of grass, differing from the dark and hazy skies of new york, or the green haze of new jersey summers, the pink skies of fresh snowed east coast metropolitan nights, the big skies of texas and the glorious skies of the Florida Keys.
I am reminded that no matter how much control we gain over our environment, for a long time at least, the light will be unique, creating its own indelible fingerprint its own sense of place, that no amount of McDonalds, Starbucks or Home Depots can homogenize away.
.
4.8.2003
Some recent photos from the D100
Been enjoying myself with the D100. Here are some of my latest. Largely unedited, but help yourself.
random Wushu
my brother in sound of music
my friends' wedding
1.12.2003
Ben's "Fine Art" Photography.
I finally plugged in my scanner, and finally
scanned
my pictures from Photo I,
here at Stanford
University. Hope you Enjoy!
(sorry for the lack of thumbnails, or
presentation, still don't have a good way for
making that)
7.16.2002
Ahhh, art snobbery.
Gotta love it. Here's some good stuff.
The NYTimes today has brought it to new levels with
their description of the Irish Potato Famine memorial.
"While the low-lying black marble wedges of the Vietnam Memorial,
designed by Maya Lin, might be called populist Minimal Art, Mr.
Tolle's memorial is a form of populist postmodernism, a combination of
reality and simulacra, of high and low, a layering of different
historical periods and contrasting points of view. It is also a
typically postmodern blend of existing art Realism, Conceptual Art
and Earth bound together by historical fact and physical
accuracy."
3.18.2002
Finally an update of this page!
So in case you are interesed, I have copied the 99 movies I have rated
on imdb so far to a page here, in case you care:
movies.html
2.17.01
Catching up on my old Time magazine articles, ("A World of Grownups"
Jan 14, 2002) I came upon a description of a John Koch exhibit at the
New York historical Society, and I feel I like his stuff. "scenes of
modern life" painterly, like Vermeer, (his idol) with the same
diffusive light, and decidedly modern. Not modern like Pollock, but
modern becaues of ghostly not quite photorealistic translucency that
the influence of photography and modern oils allow.
Unfortunately, the artchive doesn't have him, but here's a link:
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/koch_john.html
1.23.01
I've started putting more of my road trip pictures taken last summer
on line. Taken on my N80, most are crap, but some i'm quite proud of.
I am still working on making a better interface to view them however:
photos
6.22.01
I've actually had this page
up for a while. Picture credits for the past title gifs I've used.
3.29.01
Another interesting brief
article
I wrote about light in art.
2.07.01
A photo I took of a mad squirrel:
1.18.01
Here is an
article
I wrote
that got posted on http://arthistory.about.com
about a year or so ago on Mary Cassatt.
Actually, that link is gone, but through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine... you can find it here.
1.10.01
Ok, now you can see some some of the photographs I have taken.
So far, you can see either:
12.20.00
also, a link to
artchive. A great site which I am a donator,
and I encourage you to do the same.
Much better than the old once fomidable
web musuem
.