my Grandma listens to Leslie Feist

and I didn't even show it to her.

Aurora parties always have the same bad music (Mindless Self Indulgence). Or, decent music that has became really old (MIA - Arular).

Artifact of Fact

Anyone who's dated me or listened to me talk about music since I was a senior in high school knows I've been obsessed with this guy

So I was apprehensive to see him live because a. he himself described his live performance as horrible and only a way to support himself so he can do what he really likes (doing drugs in his room alone and making music on a 4 track) and b. it would totes ruin my fantasy of him being this crazy, mythical LA creature

it was, however, awesome. he avoided shattering my iconic image of him by playing primarily songs i've never heard before AND 2 songs off the doldrums that were played perfectly. i didn't have anything to base all the rest of the stuff on so it sounded like sweet honey to me. he even fulfilled my fantasy by stumbling around during his set with this band



and laying down for his last song of his set

last night i hung out w/ mark and bea and we talked about










we all sprayed each other




tomorrow i'll be here



minus the "men"

friday



then back to



saturday morning



saturday night

Harold Residency

I've got an awesome new bandwagon to hop on and it's called the Harold Residency which is located in the pretty, forested Jeffers Tree Farm near Chesterhill, Ohio. What's this place all about?

Harold Arts is a non-profit arts organization based in Chicago, IL, which seeks to revitalize and recontextualize personal artistic processes by establishing an alternative environment to traditional arts education institutions.

Our annual intensive arts residency takes place on the Jeffers Tree Farm outside of Chesterhill, OH, and is devoted to fostering the collaborative and interdisciplinary endeavors of new, emerging and mid-career artists. For one or two week sessions in July, artists enter into a dialogue with their colleagues to collaborate on new projects and refine their own practices. The residency staff work to facilitate collaborative projects developed by residents as well as offer potential project ideas. The programming provides group discussions, critiques, concerts, and lectures involving residents, staff, and guest artists/speakers.

OR to translate:

Harold Arts is an idea thought up in Chicago that ships you out to Ohio to hang out with other really good artists. You go there, make things, talk to other people, party, learn, the whole shabang.

OR to simplify:

Have fun, make art, meet new people.

And isn't that what we all really want to do?




Last year 50 artists and musicians went but I've been told this year even more people will be accepted. The acceptance rate is really high because few people know about it, which is good. The director of admissions is Jason Lazarus



and Greg Stimac is a board member



OR to translate again

It rules by association

Last year, Curtis Mann went, too.



whose work also is great.

I know by putting this on my blog I'm kind of already doing it, but I want the people who read this to apply. The "Network of Friends" as Nick Klein calls could theoretically ALL attend this 2 week artist residency this summer. Yea it's a resume booster, blah blah, BUT even better, it would be great to have everyone meet at one location and hang out. I can think of people in New York, LA, Miami and everywhere in between who I wish I could talk to in person. I already know Chicago will be well-represented there. What if 1/2 the people on Fjord went? Or even 1/4? Think of whoever you've linked to on your website you wish you could have a beer with. OK. Now you can. For free. At an artist's residency. In serene nature. Perfect right? Let's all apply!

Harold Residency website: click APPLY at the bottom to download the incredibly easy form

FAVs

New Project

View Special here

100 Words

Noah Kalina:
http://noahkalina.com

"I always get anxious when people ask me to write about my photography. I didn't get into making pictures so I could write. If I wanted to write I would have become an author.
I like creating myths with my pictures. I want people to think about them, create their own stories about the subject and even wonder about the photographer.
A photograph is one big lie. The more I talk about it, the more exposed that lie becomes.
I know a good picture when I see it, not when I read about it."

Yung Beazy Fremderman:
http://chicagobeaf.com

"this dude got fucked UP. it was probably only 10:30pm when i found him in the living room alone at this random house party in east lawrence. as soon as i took that picture someone came up to me and high fived me. i found out there was fried chicken in the oven, so i began my night and checked out the rest of the party. a few hours later (it was 2am at this point) i came back to the living room and "home boy" was still there...in that same pos-ish."

"this photo looks way more epic than it really is. i shot this photograph with a REALLY expired one time use underwater camera that i found at this "yard sale" in the walgreens parking lot. i mean, really expired. january 1994 expired. this was the first shot i took on it. and it was of my friend jumping into the swimming pool this summer. the rest of the shots were pretty normal looking except for this one. i don't know if that bums you out or not brad."

Marcos Velez:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amorevol/

"I was walking out of the mall after the usual drawing at a coffee shop. The mall is pretty crappy and on the way out of the parking lot I found this old faded Nike box in the green brush. I really enjoyed the contrast of the orange in the green and the thought of something old caught up in these constant growing plants was more then interesting. I didn't know how the picture would come out but it came out better then I expected, the detail in the shot captured my thoughts and the simplicity of the moment perfectly."

Paul Herbst:
http://my-dream-is-the-awakening.net/

"I am not quiet sure when and why I made this photo. I don't even recall taking it, but obviously it's my photo of a
dead insect (which I found while cleaning that big mess in my apartment) sitting on the
back of a dusty dead bird (which I bought in some awful taxidermy shop for less than 20 US dollars).

I keep that bird behind the curtain in my workroom to scare my neighbors.
It gathers dust and frightens my brother.
I intend to bury it next spring or summer.
The insect has disappeared, and I can't find it."

Derek Vincent:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/guost/

"This photograph was taken while at work for my internship on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington state. Our co-workers from the reservation drove us up to this area so we could see some interesting places and to GPS some areas for study. Growing up in the more rural areas of Connecticut, I had always taken autumn colors for granted. It wasn't until I saw the fall colors of the northwest that I was actually surprised and amazed. The oranges and yellows were in such stark contrast to a landscape that is predominantly green during the summer due to evergreens, except for a couple Aspens and Cottonwoods. I didn't know that some species of pine dropped their needles, and so I was surprised to see orange pine trees. Since we hadn't been up in this area of the forest for a few weeks, I was only carrying one camera with a few shots left on the roll. I was frustrated that I could only take a few pictures that whole day, luckily we returned the next day, but with several inches of snow on the ground. The leafy trees are on the bottom two-thirds of the frame, with the orange pines on the opposite hill."

Jan Postma:
http://www.janpostma.com

"This photograph isn't really representative for what I usually do as a
photographer, it's far too abstract. What this picture does tell is that I
take photographs of anything that intrigues me, whether it's a person, a
place or indeed an object like this, sometimes fascinatingly strange, and
sometimes just really banal. To me, not being a professional photographer
or a photography student, taking pictures is a different way of looking at
the world, it's a change from my usual more verbal and intellectual, if
you will, dealing with phenomena. This pacticular photograph was taken,
like so many others, on an afternoon stroll around town. It's a work of
art, probably commissioned by the municipality to boost the profile of my
neighborhood."

Emma Cooper:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecooper/

"After awhile you stop caring about fires. They are more common than rain in this part of the world. I always go out during or after a fire and document them and the path of destruction. This time I unknowingly got too close to the center of the inferno, so what did I do? I pulled out my camera and snapped this photo before the police began yelling at me to get out. After this shot the fire crossed the highway and went down the hill. It captured th scene in its entity. It was just as eerie and had this strange melancholy feeling. I sat in my car pulled over to the side of the road and snapped a few other photos to finish off the roll. I had to wait until the roads opened to take it in to be developed, but the wait was worth it once i saw this shot, only because it is different than my other fire photos, you don't see the flames bouncing around or the smoke out of the ocean, its almost as if its not smoke at all."

Nina Hartmann:
http://everybodywasfeelingfine.com/ninahartmann/

"I took is picture in one of the strangest islands i've come across in south florida. It's called virginia key, or jimbo's, if you want to call it by the name of the bar on the island. When you drive on the island its filled with bizzare artifacts - an abandoned school bus painted by the locals, weird things fishermen have brought back to shore. When you approach the bar you feel unwelcome by the regular fishermen that go there every day and the old cuban women in oversized scooby doo shirts. After getting a little freaked out by all the neon colors and plastic hammerhead sharks, we packed our beer in our backpacks and tried to walk out to the edge of the island. We walked through the path cleared in the mangroves for about 15 minutes to get to this clearing. We saw our regular clearing was taken by two lovers eating KFC and listening to Phil Collins, so we kept walking to the next swimming area. The sun was setting so the lighting is really strong in this picture, it was perfect timing and i got lucky. It was hard for us to leave the spot but it started getting really dark, as we walked back the tide was at least a couple feet higher. Everyone had to carry their bikes as the water was up to or higher than our knees."

Greg Wasserstrom:
http://gregwasserstrom.com

"there's always that moment when the whole thing starts to turn, when it becomes something different from what it was at the start, the beginning of the downward slide. in a couple weeks i'll be wondering what it was, why she went from being unable to stay away, unable to keep her hands off, unable to go outside all day just to be naked and on top of each other, to being thoroughly, stubbornly, unequivocally over it. that's then though, and this is right now, this is that moment when the whole thing starts to turn."

Maya Bobia:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maya-bird/

"Margaret and I went apple picking and wanted to take some photos of the horses that lived by the orchard. The horse keeper asked us if we wanted to pet them. We said yes! of course! He went through a lot of trouble to wrangle up one of the horses so that he could bring it up to us for petting. When he finally accomplished this, he opened the gate, and the two other horses inside the pen galloped out and into the trees! Margaret and I thought this was very hilarious, awkward, and magical. So I did what anyone with a camera would do, and snapped a quick photo of the two newly free horses."

New Project

 

 

 

 

CYCLICAL

For this project I purchased two of the first commercially available digital cameras to the American market, the Canon Xapshot. The original intended mode of viewing for digital cameras was on the television. I found the Samsung model of television I own on my computer and took a picture of it with Xapshot #1. I presented this computer image of my television on my television and took a picture of it with Xapshot #2. I plugged Xapshot #2 into the television for viewing and took a picture with Xapshot #1. I repeated this pattern of taking a picture of my television presenting the prior picture and switching cameras back and forward to create an infinite loop of technology presenting itself. It is only possible to see the past 3 pictures taken, the 4th disappears into pixelation as the most current pictures remain visible.

 

CLICK HERE TO START THE CYCLE

Frolick

This weekend I went my uncle's property by the western border of Illinois w/ Kristina to shoot for Nerve.com. It was relaxing because of it's Gitmo level of seclusion (you take a gravel road for a few miles to the end of a cornfield, off-road through a small, cleared strip of prairie grass, and drive down into a deep valley that has a creek running through it to find it). We shot things, exploded things, frolicked, started fires, slept with the stars above us, saw REAL shades of black at night time (the city always has a light on), took pictures, climbed and made fried chicken among other things. After she went to sleep I sat by the fire and listened to Andrew Bird and tried to find the constellations. I have this theory that music always sounds the best when you're listening to it where the person who made it is from. Kind of corny, I know, but if you're ever in Western Illinois or maybe just the country give him a shot. Now I'm on the opposite side of the state writing this in the 3rd most populated city in America. Go Illinois

Library Day

This week I discovered SAIC's library. I've been there all week and yesterday I went to the floor below it and discovered the "Artist's Books" section. Even 'ol Bill Burke was in there. My favorite book of his was sitting on the table when I first walked in. If you haven't seen Mine Fields and you're a photographer you're missing out. Badly. I read that book on my way to New York from Boston last year and was blown away like, "THIS DUDE is my teacher?" It was quite a holy shit moment.
So check my afternoon out!












I tend to equate "performance art" with "fucking lame and overly cerebral" but there are some people who just kill it. Chris Burden is one of them. Chris' early performance work was really great artistically in addition to being great on a sheer bad-assness level. Getting shot, shooting commercial air planes, drowning yourself, crucifying yourself, intentional starvation and isolation for near months at a time, buying commercials on public television, full financial disclosure, yea- he's sick. Check this one out:

Back To You
112 Greene St. New York
January 16, 1974

..."As the door opened a camera framing me from the waist up was turned on, and the audience viewed this scene on several monitors placed on the elevator. As the elevator went to the basement and returned, Liza told the audience that a sign in the elevator instructed the volunteer to "Please push pins into my body." The volunteer stuck 4 pins into my stomach and 1 pin into my foot during the elevator trip. When the elevator returned to the floor, the door opened, the volunteer stepped out, and the camera was turned off. The elevator returned to the basement."

He stopped doing these ballsy performances in the early 80's because the mainstream media sensationalized him as a sort of wacko dare devil (see David Blane) when he was really a gutsy, smart artist. That guy rules.




not sure why this golden nugget of no-wave was in there but i gladly burned it to my laptop






Shout out to Calvin for introducing me to Janfamily last year.
All in all I learned that David Shrigley, Paul McCarthy, and Harmony Korine all have had a life of making art bangers non-stop for years now.
This is how my brain felt after.

New Project

New project on BradTroemel.com called Delivery to the Following Recipient Failed Permanently.

JE SUIS UNE BANDE DE JEUNES

clawd hammercy there are some good things going down on the internet these days! this site has been one of my favorite finds since Capricious.
JE SUIS UNE BANDE DE JEUNES is one of the most consistent selective portfolio sites I've seen. The bangers on here are relentless and since they're from all over the world I feel like I'm getting schooled on geography and cultural differences at the same time. Even Dana LG is on there. Jeezy. 'Nuff said. Enjoy!

Yonatan T





















Jeremie Egry:















Nicolas Poillot:




















Marco Barrera:












Je Suis Une Bande Jeunes

100 Words

Willa Nasatir:
http://www.willanasatir.com/

"This was taken in August when it was really hot, uncomfortably hot,
which is rare for southern California (where i live). It was before
most of my friends left me for college, the east coast etc. We were at
my friend Izaac's house, who sort of lives in a hidden forrest on the
West side of Los Angeles. He and his older brother Eli saw a gopher
snake and went after it. They hit it on the head with a machete, but
it was still moving so Eli chopped off the head. They decided to bag
it so that they could put it in the freezer and skin it later, but we
couldn't really see because it was dark except for firelight. This is
Eli's girlfriend who came to l.a. from new york for the summer holding
it up. A few days later my friend Sascha opened up my camera because
she "wondered what that switch did"."

Kristin:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleu_flwrs/

"For about 6 days in September, I was bed-ridden, sleepless, sick from
painkillers, and bored to death due to surgery recovery. My days mostly
consisted of trying not to vomit and watching an intense VHS collection
lineup, including The Twighlight Zone movie. Around the same time, I had
also just bought my first laptop, a new macbook. So, after fucking around
with the photobooth program I decided to try capturing stills from the TV
with my laptop and enjoyed the way some of them turned out. This specific
image is from the The Twighlight Zone movie and is part of a set that
include other stills from films like Suspiria, Back to the Future, and
Hard Rock Zombies."

Rebecca Smeyne:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebecca_rs/

"I spend time hanging out in crowds, looking for someone, something, that catches my eye. Usually I’ll follow someone, and shoot them while I can. I don’t always like to be noticed so I often shoot from behind or from the hip. Depending on the crowd, the setting, the light, this can be fun like crack. I’ve never smoked crack, but I think it would feel great, like this. One of the subjects that excites me is the sort of imperfect perfection of the upper middle class. This was at a family rose garden event – perfect place to spot them."

Ana Lubudovic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anapanda/

"T is the man I'll marry when we both get wrinkled and lose control
over our bladders.
Although he thinks people look much better alone we made this pact
because we're both not really into dieing sad, depressed and isolated.
And by the time we're that age we won't care about how we look.

This is T's idea of fun.
(Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, May 2007)

The picture was taken somewhere between T rolling on the grass and T
forgetting how to breathe. Someday he'll return me the favor and make
sure I don't go over the edge during a brain eclipse."

Marija Galena:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertebrate/

"I was at an angora goat farm in Decorah, Iowa, on a sort of mother-daughter vacation. After buying a pair of fabulous angora socks and then chatting with "the goat lady," I wanted to see the animals that made my new purchase and this woman's existence possible. Leaning against a fence and smiling to myself, the goats didn't seem affected at all by my presence. But when I began talking to them (Oh, just look at your ears! How cute are you! etc.) every little goat head stopped what it was doing (eating) and stared at me. Blankly. And then, as if by some unexplainable force, they started walking nearer to me, slowly and consistently. They moved as one. I couldn't help but squeal with delight; I felt like god."

Michael Ronquillo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_ronquillo/

"I grew up in a small suburban town outside of Charleston, SC called Goose Creek. In this town, just a few blocks from where I grew up, is the Ednacot household. For the past several years, my parents have made it a tradition to go there for their Christmas get-together. And with every Filipino-American suburban holiday party, you can count on seeing karaoke. This party was no different. The man on the left was singing his genuine heart out to some Elvis tune (I think), while the girl was unflatteringly chomping on a meatball taken from the buffet table in the kitchen. She was the wife of a guy from my high school whom I remembered. He didn't remember me.

I'm all about the untampered, true-to-life snapshot which is made even better when enhanced by direct flash. Normally, I wouldn't want to comment on my own work like this; I'd rather leave it all to the viewer. But I will say that I do like this shot more now than when I took it simply because of its look of amateurish sophistication. I took this image almost seven years ago, but it wasn't until Flickr that I fully embraced its aesthetic appeal. Maybe I'm jumping on the bandwagon with the sophisticated amateur look that seems to be in vogue now, but I don't care. As a sidenote, this is one of those shots where, if the subject had any say on the matter, she would happily burn the negs from existence. But if we always let subjects have the final say on their depiction, where would we be now? Yearbooks would lose its unglorified mystique. Make-up artists would be used for police mugshots. And photoshop manipulation would be allowed on everything. I love yearbooks as is. I think police mugshots can be fascinating as is. And I believe that photoshop manipulation is unwittingly the #1 contradiction of straight photography. So much for this week's sermon."

Merideth Hillbrand:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhbrand/1451509546/

"We went to San Francisco for a month out of the summer to get away from Boston and all the things we had grown to hate about the northeast. I wanted to show Ian the "Californian Dream", the great frontier of the west. Our good friend Emily lived in the suburbs, we went to stay at her parent's house, and ended up being left alone for a day with a fridge full of beer and a pool side vista view of Mount Diablo. I felt like a lazy high class California teenager soaking in the sun, a celebrity of sorts, watching the world go by, in isolation from the worries and troubles. After two days we forced ourselves to leave and get back to the real world. There's something mystifying in wealth, something that sticks to your skin and takes a while to wear off."

Harley Weir:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quier/

"I prefer the unexplained.
When i make an image i like people to be curious.... i dont really always have an answer and when i do, its a secret. So i can not tell you an awful lot about this picture, but that its from a wonderful day that my jor lay on some cracked mud... and i later cracked his face."

Sydney Shen:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamyoutree/1573298913/

"This is a photograph of Greg. Along with being the proud owner of a
perfect left nipple, Greg is a great cook who can whip up a delicious meal
out of the most meager ingredients. Here is one of his recipes:

Mac and Cheese with Cheese Doodles

4 packets instant macaroni
4 packets instant cheese sauce, powdered
1 large bag cheese doodles*
serves 4

1. Bring a pot of water (just enough to cover macaroni) to rapid boil.
2. Add macaroni, cook for 4-7 minutes or until pasta is at preferred
softness. Stir occasionally.
3. Add cheese sauce and some more water depending on how thick you like it
baby. Stir until all noodles are coated.
4. Fold in 1/2 of cheese doodles, mash them up a bit if desired.
5. Serve. Make sure to garnish with the rest of the cheese doodles.

* Smaller, i.e. "Fun Size" bag can be used for the calorie-conscious."

Full Gathering Portfolio up on BradTroemel.com

For the full 40-some odd picture portfolio check out the new update on BradTroemel.com to see the whole thing.

New Article in Vice!

I have 10 pictures from my trip to the Gathering of the Juggalos in the Fear Issue of Vice this month. Thomas wrote a really honest, funny article about the event so be sure to go pick it up. The article is right after some great pictures by Ryan Foerster and before some work from this guy.