Self Potrait

Self Portrait

 

Self Portrait
This is us
Hopes & dreams
Power; lost & gained
Influence; retained & weaned
Children; birthed & gone
Loves; wilted & growing
Ambition; achieved & withered
Ageing; coming & coming
This is us

Seasons & Arrows

Seasons & Arrows

Seasons & Arrows
There will always be seasons
Will there always be arrows?
We ask with hope
The alternative is hopeless

Tremors of the swooshing sound

Death knells that never ceases
There will always be seasons
Will there always be arrows?
We can only ask in hope

HongKong Under Construction I Video (did I get the spelling right?).

About This Project

Took me forever. First, I completed "the project" donkey years ago. Loaded it up as a folder on my Gmail account and saved it on my system. That's when the movie twist started.

Corrupted File

My system 'caught' a virus and this infected the files. I thought I had already covered that area (since I had it stored on my Gmail account).

Didn't Work

I tried downloading it from the account and it did not turn out as I expected. Apparently, some of the files were already corrupted before loading it up and that's what Gmail returned back to me.

What Next?

I gave it a long break (like very long a break) and when I attempted to get the folder from Gmail, I was told that they no longer stored folders (I think that is what I was told). So I could not download it.

What Next II?

I started the art work again (and it was real work). It took me about 3 years or more (granted, I did not labor at it day and night everyday). I finally completed the first part, which was to get it frame done (you will have to see it to have an idea of the amount of time I had to put into this labor of loaf-art).
The second part was easier and that was turning each frame into a short movie. I broke it down to 3 distinct stages.

What Next III?

It was a call be Guardian Witness that made me complete the task. They were asking for artistic contributions for their "witness program" and I kind of figured they might be interested in it. They weren't (although I think they accepted, then rejected two other loaf-art artworks).
Having completed the project, I decided to post it here (I knew I was still going to post them here whether they accepted it or not).

WHAT AM I REALLY RATTLING ABOUT?

Let me post the first part here and we might get to talk about it and the others soon (that will be next year). And by the way; Happy New Year!!!

Format

Here's what I'm thinking of doing.

• Post a video

• Talk (write) about the video

• Post the frames that make up each video & talk about them since they are individual artworks, each building on the other(? Not too sure about this yet)

• Post the next video and repeat the above 

Everything above was done using the Paint Program
Comments are invited 

Splashspace

Splashspace

Splashspace

I think I have something about space. I just realized that it is a theme I always come back to with my loaf-art. I can reel out AnotherSpaceLife, then there was Spaceportal and now there is Splashspace, which is something I did before Spaceportal (I think I have posted something on it before but I am not sure). Maybe I should just omit the word space, beginning to sound like a movie director that is stuck on one rail.

But there is something about space that will always remain compelling. The intricate connection of stars, galaxies and everything that is space has with everything else makes it a place where we are undeniably one with it.

Splashspace is a collage of every space phenomenon. It shows our frailty and strength, in-consequence and value. You can see energies and how they are a paradox of self-sustenance and dependence on each other.

There is balance and it is a balance that is robust and delicate at the same time. The implosion or explosion of Jupiter could be the end of our solar system, just as the destruction of our moon could mean the destruction of the earth as we know it. There is balance at every scale. Therefore, Splashspace talks about scale.
   
 Splashspace

Things happen in splashes and the ripple effect is evident. And just as the Sun is a living entity as it were and anytime it coughs the earth and its cousins sneeze, the same rule applies howbeit on a larger scale when it comes to inter-galactic relationships.
Energy is being released and absorbed at that level as stars go out and come to live. We are interconnected. A piece of paper that is dropped in some street in New York will have a ripple effect that will affect someone on the streets of Melbourne.

21 Steps

21 Steps

Hi, I wonder what you will make of this? I call it 21 Steps

21 STEPS
We crawl in steps
In trepidation
In hope
Moving forward
Moving away
When we don't want to stay

We walk in steps
Eagerly
Gingerly
Legs move even when eyes
Can't see
Won't see

We run in steps
Even a leap is a step
Can't deny the physics
Sound metrics
We fly in steps
Each flap of the wing
Spin of the turbine
Twist of the piston
We drive in steps
Sleep in steps
Eat in steps
Grow in steps
Die in steps
Love in steps
Hate in steps
Hug in steps

Each step making up lost ground
Stepping on steps that steps us closer
Intimacy
With fear or care
We step near or step back
Impartial steps
Yes; 21 STEPS

Cultural Collapse Collage

I never jotted anything down about Cultural Collapse Collage. This work of  loafart is a critics dream because there are just so many things to be said or that can be said. The rather unfortunate thing for me is that i am rushing this and might have to revisit this piece of art again because it is so rich.
Cultural Collapse Collage underscores societal and racial mixing.

There is a pint of every other coloration in every other human you meet

But Cultural Collapse Collage goes beyond the mixing of races. The collapse also suggest a breakdown. 
The breakdown we are talking about has nothing to do with every body keeping to there own side of the wall -that kind of breakdown makes for unity. But the fact that culture is breaking for the negative and things are going haywire.

There is the sense of fatality when viewing this art and one can even dare say that it is sadistic and does not give any room of hope. But at the same time the collapse could actually mean hope as humanity is yet to breakdown to the point of actual collapse and will never (in theory) actually do that. Cultures and civilizations have crumbled and other have risen to take their place in prominence. There is still (definitely) more to be said about Cultural Collapse Collage

The Rain Is Gone!

hi,
this is sunflora
you see it after the showers
this is sunflora
it is all about sunshine

Sunflora

the snow is melting
spring is coming
flowers starts blooming

About My Happy New Year Africa Loaf-art

hi and happy new year!!!
As always my happy new year Africa loaf-art came about not deliberately. as usual i was loafing and doodling about with paint and stepping back to look at it, i saw Africa! I wonder what you see...

Happy New Year Africa

                  

  

my African greeting for the year

                                                             AFRICA happy new year!




Hello there! happy new year! This is my happy new year from Africa

Jagged edge: A Phrase In Picture

                                                                Jagged Edge


Life is full of edges. There are times we choose the edge to go over. There are times circumstances makes the choice for us. There are other times when we just can't say how or why but the point is, life is full of edges

Highway: Life's way

highway, life's way
hi, this is an article on this piece but we will still do the interview.
The artwork highway is special in many ways. As you can see it looks like there is something amiss(the truth is with the way art is you might even notice it as such). This was not how the finished work was at first. I was satisfied with it when i loafed around and it conjured up out of the paint program. But the next time i tried to open it i found that it had a problem when i was saving it hence 'corrupting' it. But i had already christened it highway and as i pondered on what to do with it...whether to delete it forever or not it kind of struck me how apt the name and what happened to the art work coincided to underscore what life is all about (about art).
Life is like a highway and smooth sailing is not necessarily defined by there being no challenges on the way but by how we still 'rule' as it were over them. This is a short piece on the highway. Thanks for the time taken to read through.

Highway

The Interview

 The interview is back. Today it is on the latest art work that has just been posted.
how are you doing today?
Fine.
Great Britannia...that is an interesting title...?
Yes it is.
How come the name Great Britannia?
The first thing is that at some point the picture looked like a lady sitting on a throne... a queen perhaps.
What is the implication of that name...is it talking about past glories?
Good question...now the name would seem to point to the past in terms of past glories but in actual fact it is talking about the future i.e. the hope of the future in the light of a past that was glorious...so to speak. There was a time the British empire arguably ruled the world. What the art work reflects is that time of greatness with regards to a future hope of coming greatness.

                                                 Great Britannia

What about the present.....does it not then imply that the present is not filled with as much hope or is not as rosy as one would want it to be?
True...but the thing with the present is that it doesn't it is in the eyes of the beholder.....things may not really be as bad now and they might even be swell but the future should always paint a picture that is brighter than the present...no matter how beautiful the present is now.
So the artwork doesn't necessarily say that the present is gloomy?
Exactly...it points to a better tomorrow without casting any shadow on today...it is all about hope and betterment...that is the essence of Great Britannia.
Let's talk about the colors.....is there a particular reason for the colors?
Not really...but the thing is the colors do speak even when you don't want them to.
What are they saying?
It depends on what the viewer is hearing...it is very subjective....what you hear may not be what I'm hearing... this is why i don't what to say anything that will distort the purity of your own interpretation.
Thank you.
Thank you.(end of interview)

NB...I kind of like how this blog is shaping up. I never thought I would have gone this far with it but I think i might just stick to i as a hobby of sorts...we still need more viewership though. But i love it...it's relaxing.

The Good Ol' Days

There was a time i posted at least once a week..those were the days. Today we want to post a new art work. I want to see if we can get back on track....the interview, an article or two and the wrap up. The artwork of today is apt...i christened it Great Britannia. There was a time they ruled everything they saw...at least as much as the other powers that be allowed. Great Britannia doesn't talk about the past but actually points to the future. It talks about hope and restoration but more of this later. Today we just want to do the uploading.

                                              Great Britannia

first upload

hi, I finally got one of our art works uploaded on freemarket. The first to be is the error artwork and the last time i checked. it had about seven views but no downloads yet.....price is at $1.

The error Interview

Hi....did you create this art work by ...mistake?
Not really...but come to think of it...all of my loaf art has been by mistake as it were because i have never really set out to do anything.

How do you mean?
That is one of the thing about the art....it started by me just playing around the Paint program (just doodling about ) and then it suddenly started taking form and shape......at that point of consciousness, i followed after the form it took and I've never stopped.

So was it the same way with error?
Yes...basically the same way..

                                                     error

What made you to give it the name error?
 It really looked like a computer error to me (at some point in  time).

You didn't use your primary colors this time around....
Yes....that added to the error i.e. the name.

Does this picture say more to you than it looking like a computer error?
Not just to me but as an artwork that aims at reflecting  life, experience has shown that at times lovely things have come out of mistakes and even when they are not so lovely....they have at times turned out to be preferable even though they were not planned.

When did it stop being a mistake?
I don't know exactly...


But looking at it closely...it seemed to have definite...even human forms...
That is you...the viewer creating the forms...to you they look human, to another they might look like something else...maybe aliens...that is just one of the perks of abstract art.

Thank you.
Thank you.

LOADING ERROR

Loading error (the art work) is becoming a major issue. But maybe this is a good opportunity that we can use to talk about the art work. Error seems to be an apt name for it. Mistakes can become master strokes that sets apart one work of art from the rest. Art doesn't necessarily have to be deliberate -this s one good reason why art can't be boxed in. Anything can become art and art can be anything. So art is tied to just one word....consciousness. This is the key word that defines art. Once a person becomes conscious of the art value or sense of an object or an observation, that thing at that point in time becomes art.

 

                                                                   error....
                                                     
An error can lead to art...even a masterpiece. This also reflects in life when a wrong turn as it were leads you to the right place and with hindsight we begin to appreciate those errors. Well we have finally uploaded error, till next time...enjoy.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

We have gone well into this week and we would have posted this the Monday gone by but experienced a few glitches.
This week's artwork has two main points of interests. The first is the name and the second is the work itself. Remember that this is still on my Loaf-art theme i.e. artworks based entirely on the Microsoft Paint program.
The title of this week's piece is error and we might end up spending the rest of this week and the bette part of next week on it.
The Interview segment will come up with one or two related articles.
Another interesting thing of note is that we are contemplating doing a review of art outside our Loaf-art....picking on something that may not be called art and finding the art in them. It may cover themes or issues and the interesting thing about this is us bringing out or declaring the art in them....it's something we are still looking into but more on this later. But for now, we are only posting the art work for the week  for you enjoyment...so enjoy.

NB....still having problems uploading error...maybe it has something to do with the name.......have to resolve this...and do it later...till then.

Cosmopolitan Interview Continued - the open Lines

Now you used definite shapes or completely closed shapes most of the times but there were time you used open lines....why?
Very good question, the whole shapes represents individual...individual with roots elsewhere who having detached themselves from those roots and coming to the city began attaching themselves to the sub-culture of the cosmopolitan life. This is why the shapes overlaps in some placing in varying degrees.....

                                                  cosmopolitan



But the open lines represents individuals who are seeming rootless. That is they had no previous roots as it were..

Are you saying such people really exists...born without roots?
Speaking abstractly..yes. There are people who will just tell you that they are from the very cosmopolitan city that everybody seems to have found there way to and this people when you look at them are not really traditionally from that city. But they have become so dis-entangled from the past and all there previous roots and at the same time become so entangled in that city life that they have become the true indigenous of that city. They are the open lines....the true cosmopolitan and people whom the rest are turning into even subconsciously. And because they are so open they are the ones who represent the adhesive factor that binds all the various peoples and differences together. They have access limited by the limitations of the individuals they interact with and not by anything that has to do with them. They are the ones that are the most opened minded, the ones that show consummate intelligence in their ability to entertain every other notion, culture or belief without necessarily taken to any but tolerating all.

So these open lines represents the adhesive that glues cosmopolitanism together...they are not much because unlike the other shapes it's as if you can count them...
Very true and they don't need to be that much because in reality they are not that much especially when you compare them with the other types of individualities that are represented in a cosmopolitan culture. Like i said before they are what others are sub-consciously aspiring to be as they get more and more into the city life.

 Thank you.
You are welcome.

The Cosmopolitan Interview

Your art work for this week is rather interesting....i read your article and what i would like us to start with is why you chose the name cosmopolitan for this work.
I was inspired really and the name invokes an aspect of city life that i didn't really highlight in my other art work of the same title i.e. city life.
And what other aspect is that?
City Life talked about how i city struggles against staying alive especially as it grows and all the vices of growth begins to set it. It is more or less an artwork depicting a loosing battle with the dirt and all show casing gradual systemic failure. But Cosmopolitan looks at the vibrant side of city life as it has to do with the mixing of peoples and cultures and development causes more people to troop in, dis-entangling and dis-engaging themselves from where they were coming from and integrating and engaging with the new environment they have adopted.
So while one talks about death as it were the other talks about life...like opposites...right?
Exactly.
But why didn't you depict both on the same artwork?
Good question, i believe the themes of death and life are just too massive to use one canvass or artwork to deal with. Again, since the themes have to do with the city, i felt as cities are a product of expansion and contraction that different artworks for both aspects is justified.
You still stuck to your primary colors...
In more ways than one.
The shapes didn't follow the traditional....
True but it had some traditional...in fact more of the traditional squares and all but it then included oblong curvatures and this was 'deliberate' because Cities normally develop from single homogeneous to multi-ethnic and then mixed cultures as the go along the cosmopolitan path.

Cosmopolitan (article)

Defining the word cosmopolitan from the artistic point of view could be a handful. This is my own attempt.
We already know that the world is getting more cosmopolitan by the day especially as the reality of the term global village comes to bear on us.
Cities are striving to be more cosmopolitan as they add on in years and as they expand. Now not every city is cosmopolitan but as they expand and people keep on trooping in from the nooks and crannies....they move towards cosmopolitanism.
That is the underlying current that defines the cosmopolitan city i.e. people. And it is not just people but a melting pot of diverseness. The more diverse they are, the more cosmopolitan that city tends to be.

                                                       cosmopolitan
                                                    
And looking at the art-work, cosmopolitanism is an embedding of two "extensialisms". The first extension we are going to call dis-engagement and the second we are going to call engagement.
These two distinct functions has to take place before cosmopolitanism within a city can be achieved. This is simply because cities are made up of individual entities. But these entities usually have roots outside of the city. So they first of all have to dis-engage from those roots before they can now engage into the new environment and culture of city life. The greater the degree of dis-engagement, the greater the degree of engagement. The two must work in pari pasu (sorry i got carried away...hand in hand).
The inter-play of  dis-engagement and engagement and it building up till it reaches a critical mass that births cosmopolitan cities.
An interesting point of note here is that the more cosmopolitan  a city become the less xenophobic that city (i.e. as a single organism) becomes. This is why the art work is an interplay of colors representing a mixture of various individualities within the context of their native roots and them letting go of issues that ties them down to those roots as the move on to fully engage in true cosmopolitanism.

NB There is still much to be said about this...may be we might just extend to next week.