What The Duck - The Art and Photography Duck
Friday, February 01, 2008
What The Duck is a daily web comic strip based around the antics of a little duck photographer that falls firmly in the category of 'I wish I'd thought of that'. Mostly for the exceptionally catchy name but also because the character is very marketable.
The comic's author, Aaron Johnson, recently contacted me because he thought I might be interested to see his latest strip (WTD 401 pictured above) with its 'starving artist' theme. It did indeed raise a smile. I know I'd be quite happy if some rich art investor bought me and took me home - just so long as he didn't hang me on the wall!
The What The Duck web site is very 'more-ish'. The cartoons are short, simple and always manage to deliver at least a smile if not a 'Laugh Out Loud'. Take a look and I'm sure you'll agree. You can also suggest your own ideas for cartoons and buy some really cool WTD merchandise.
Funny Gym Video: Work it out baby
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Quite possibly the funniest gym/workout video I've seen in a long time, work it out baby is a video by YouTuber, gradualreport, who makes some very sharp and witty comedy videos.
If you've ever been to a gym or got into the whole physical fitness thing, even for a day, you'll get a laugh out of this video. It's a little bit on the 'adult humor' side but nothing that you wouldn't consider 'childishly funny' by the end. I hope you find it 'laugh out loud' funny like I did.
TET's Comedy Art Video a Winner!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Blank Canvas IV - Art Critic Video by TET
The above video is my first and only post on the Video, Photo and Music site, View Bug. Given that I only signed up to the site just over a week ago it's very nice to have been selected by View bug's staff as a weekly winner and a recipient of a US$30.00 cash prize. Instantly this video has just become my highest earning video - earning more than my entire collection across nine sites collectively (there's money in online video... apparently?). Screen shot of my win featured on View Bugs home page posted below (click to see larger version).
The video its self pokes more of my humor at the wonderful world of 'conceptual minimalism' - a phrase that I've coined for art that only barely skims the surface of creative potential. It's also a dig at art critics who elevate this work from obscurity, where it should remain.
Whilst I'd like to believe I was selected over thousands of entries, in some pretty stiff competition, going by the views most people seem to get on View Bug, I'd say it's early days for this competition. However a thirty dollar weekly prize is nothing to be sneezed at, especially in the world of online video where many of us are competing for pennies from advertising dollars.
If you're an online video creator, photographer or maker of original music I'd highly recommend you sign up and participate in View Bug before the big names of You Tube, Revver or Metacafe discover it.
At least we can be thankful that the winning video is selected by the sites staff and not by the number of views or viewer ratings. Once a big name discovers the site you won't have to compete with an established audience.
Thrown out any bad art lately?
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Lucy In the Field With Flowers Oil on canvas by Unknown 24" x 30" Acquired from trash in Boston
In contrast to my previous post, Thrown out any good art lately?, this story came to me through a members post on Australian Art Forum about the Museum of Bad Art. I just happened to read the backstory behind the museums cornerstone artwork and the similarities with my previous post demonstrate that even bad art placed in the trash may be more valuable than you thought.
I'm not going to retell the story of Lucy In the Field With Flowers because you can read the details by Susan Lawlor, a family member of the painting's former owner for yourself. Suffice to say that this particular painting was recovered from the kerbside trash on a Boston street by the Museum of Bad Arts founder, Scott Wilson, who was promptly inspired to create the aforementioned museum.
The Museum of Bad Art now exists in both online and bricks and mortar form - with the bricks and mortar coming first. Interestingly enough the actual museum is, perhaps appropriately, located just outside the men’s room in a 1927, Boston, New England movie theatre known as The Dedham Community Theatre.
What interests me about all this is who are these people that put art in their kerbside waste collection? It's probably a question that can't really be answered but thanks to them you just never know if your next discarded artwork find will be worth a mint or a inspire a cultural business venture.
It's almost worth going for a walk on bin collection day.
How do you paint in inches?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
I recently received a message from an admirer of my art who suggested that I should also include the size of my paintings in inches to assist international collectors not familiar with the metric system of measurement.
My mind, being the way it is, winked at me and thought, but I only know how to paint in metric? How do you convert a painting to inches anyway? Is there a conversion chart?
I found a pretty good conversion tool online but when I typed in the title of my painting it didn't seem to understand and looked at me like I was some kind of fool.
Maybe I'll just buy my canvases pre-converted to inches to save me the worry.
It's a misconception that all art must be created.
There is an art style known a found objects where the artist simply 'finds' an object and presents it as art. French artist Marcel Duchamp started the concept with 'readymades' where he famously 'found' a mens urinal, signed someone else's name on it and called it art.
This opened the way for many artists to follow with all manor of objects from bricks to almost any item you can name being presented as art.
You too can join in this progressive style simply by looking down the back of your couch or underneath your teenagers bed. Who knows what artworks might be awaiting your discovery?
The Deadly Art of Dish Washing.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Thursday 21 June 2007...
Mother's everywhere worry about their children being out late at night. What do they get up to? Are they being safe? Will they make the right choices and stay out of trouble? Yet not a single concern is given, in fact, mothers often encourage, their children to participate in the deadly art of dish washing.
Yes, dish washing. After traveling, by road, more than half way across a country that contains more perils than a Batman movie, dish washing, the day after my return, is what floors me (quite literally). It is my number two most serious accident, in my life, right after breaking a leg skateboarding. Let me explain.
I was washing the dishes, around about midday. I had the dish cloth inside a glass, wiping around the inner rim when a piece of the glasses side breaks off. My right hand continued to turn in the glass, into the leading edge of the break, slicing deeply into the lower back of my thumb. Shi...ouch!
As you can imagine, blood starts pouring out. I'm thinking 'this isn't good', dropped the rest of the glass into the water, grabbed the dish cloth, covered the wound and applied pressure. Now what?
At that moment I hear my partner pull into the drive way, returning home from work. A minute or two later she walks into the dining area, sees me holding the dish cloth on my hand, over the sink and asks "are you okay?"
"No, I just sliced my hand open on a glass."
She rushes to get our first aid kit as my head starts to spin. Coming back, my partner has time to move me away from the sink to the serving bench, take away the dish cloth and bandage the wound (which appears to have stopped bleeding from what I saw). All the while my head is spinning and I'm trying to stay upright.
I've never fainted before. Not even when I broke my leg. I have a theory. When I broke my leg the pain was so great that my brain couldn't do anything but think 'oh my god that hurts, oh my god that hurts, did I mention that hurts?' etc. When I sliced my hand open, whilst the initial cut hurt, after that, there wasn't really any unbearable pain just blood pouring out where it shouldn't. Therefore, my brain had time to think, 'this looks really serious - if I tune out and live in denial maybe it will go away?'
I guess my partner helped me down to the kitchen floor, where I woke up, what I imagine to be seconds later, lying down. She had gone off to quickly lock up the house and phone the doctor. My head was still spinning but lying on the kitchen floor was really uncomfortable and probably very worrying. I got up walked myself into the lounge and flopped onto a couch.
By the time the doctor had been phoned, my head was starting to level out again and I was feeling a little better. From this point on I was able to walk to the car and into the doctors surgery where I had five stitches put in and a fairly impressive looking bandage applied to cover the damage. Afterwards my partner and I went out to lunch as planned.
As I'm writing this it is nearly two days after the accident. I still have my bandage on. It comes off this afternoon. In eight days the stitches will be removed. I'm okay really. Don't worry too much. I've kept the hand elevated and haven't really experienced much pain at all.
However, the trauma I experienced whilst washing dishes has scared me for life. I don't think I'll be able to go near a kitchen sink or wash another dish ever again. The memories of that fateful day are just too much to bare. Washing dishes is far too dangerous and life threatening... well that's my story anyway. Not that anyone believes me.
My partner bought one of those 'mop on a stick' type dish washing utensils so I would never have to stick my hand into a glass to clean it again. I guess she believes in the idea of 'if you fall off a horse you've just gotta dust yourself off and get right back up there and ride it again'.
My partner's daughter sometimes has sick days from school for, what is described to me as, 'girl problems'.
Now all you blokes out there will know that we sometimes have 'girl problems' too but somehow haven't managed to wrangle a way to make them a justified excuse to take a 'sickie' from work.
Oh, wait, our 'girl problems' are not the same kind of 'girl problems' that girls have? Ahhh...now I see... oops.. probably didn't need quite that much information... ewwww!
Do boys have 'boy problems' and can we use them as a generic excuse to take a 'sickie'?
No wait, boys have 'man problems' surely? (he says beating chest and growling in a very masculine way... ouch that hurt my chest!)
Man Problems. Tell your work mates you're having 'Man Problems' and can't come in today. If nothing else it's sure to spread some rumors around the water cooler...
Drawing a Mustache on Brett Whiteley.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Forgive me if I blow my own trumpet in this post (especially since not only can't I play the trumpet but I don't actually own a trumpet) but I need you to visit my web site Gallery and Shop.
Why? I'm glad you asked... well I could see you were going to ask. Okay, so technically I asked for you but if I had been standing right there saying "I need you to visit my Gallery and Shop," you would've said "Why?"
Writing isn't the only thing I do. Yes, I know, I was surprised too. Being male usually affords the luxury of only being able to do one thing but fortunately that only means 'one thing at a time' not 'one thing for all time'. I digress.
Art, yes art is something else I do. In fact I was (and still am) an artist, before I ramped up this writing gig. My art is said to be uniquely my own - though it's me saying that so maybe you should take a look - I could be lying.
I may have just copied everything Brett Whiteley ever created and simply drawn a mustache on it. See now you're going to have to visit my Gallery and Shop just to make sure I'm not ripping off an Australian, Artistic Icon.
I'm talking about my art because owning a print of my art is something you may like to consider. Gifts featuring my art make great conversation pieces. Can't you imagine all your friends coming over, seeing a print of one of my artworks hanging on your wall. You know they're all thinking what exquisite taste you have in art but one blurts out...
"Oh my goodness how hideous!"
Don't ask me? They're your friends!
Sharing my art with your friends. Think of all the conversations you could have. Browse my Gallery and Shop today. I'm guaranteed not to ask...
Now that's an Awesome Ringtone!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
I saw this phone (pictured right) and thought to myself that must have the most awesome ringtone. Then I thought a bit more... kind of gives a new meaning to the concept of putting someone on 'speaker phone'.
My imagination ran wild, quickly moving on to the idea that this must be the kind of phone those car nuts with the pimped up stereo systems and the 'doof, doof' music would love in their house. A 'doof, doof' phone!
Turns out none of these things even come close to what this phone is. In actual fact it is one of six similar phones that make up an art installation called O Telephone by artist, Don Ritter.
It's an interactive work featuring six modified 1960’s telephones within a darkened room which randomly ring with a distinctive sound. After a ringing phone is answered by a viewer, “om” is heard through the handset and through the speaker in the body of the phone. When viewers answer other ringing phones, the resulting “om” sounds will pan through all the answered phones. The telephones will eventually begin a composition comprised of the ringing and “om” sounds if they are not answered by viewers. [ source: aesthetic-machinery.com - O Telephone by Don Ritter ]
Check out the link for pictures of the installation and, if you have either the Real or Quicktime video plug-ins, video of the work in action.
Today I thought I'd post something funny so I printed out a picture of a clown, put it in an envelope and mailed it to Albakerky. Not that I know anyone in Albakerky. I just addressed it 'To Whom it may concern' - let them work it out.
I was feeding some penguins from a park bench in the middle of a desert when it occurred to me that a park bench in the middle of a desert is quite a rare occurrence. When I mentioned this to the eyeball on a stick, sitting beside me, it gave me a blank stare, as if to say "I'm trying not to be seen with you, stop forcing me to acknowledge your existence." Eyeballs can be like that.
If you happen to be the owner of the small dog barking in the house next door to mine can you please come home. Your dog isn't cute. In fact I think it's just a little inadequate without some dopey person to keep it company. Get a dog sitter. The dog would be so much quieter with someone sitting on it.
Well if you've read this far you'll probably be wondering why this post makes little sense and seems some what random. Let's not get into psychoanalysis or try to search for deeper issues.
Just put it all down to a brain fart. Normal service will continue as soon as the wooden duck.
This whole EMO culture is a thing that was probably called something else when I was in my teens. I don't even really know what it means to be EMO other than you're more than just a little sad.
Another blogger of my generation described an EMO as being like a small furry animal. Cute but easily startled. You've kind of got to tip toe when you're around them otherwise you'll frighten them off.
There is really little point to this post either, other than for some reason I've had the phrase 'Happiness is a warm EMO' floating around my brain for days. It is, of course, a parody of the Lennon/McCartney song 'Happiness is a Warm Gun'.
However, if you have an EMO in your family, I'm sure keeping them warm could lead to happiness. It couldn't hurt to try.
With all the world focussed on paparazzi, celebrity and stars playing up for the cameras my mind drew an interesting parallel that I thought I'd share.
I was sitting in a kiosk in the Botanical Gardens, Adelaide, South Australia, observing a family of about nine adults at a neighbouring table, one of whom had a young boy of about the age of 2. Not yet old enough to talk many words, still young enough to be totally adorable.
One person there was obviously his mother. I deduced that the others were probably relatives. One or two possibly grandparents? One or two others maybe... aunties?
It was the typical scene with one of the adults sitting the boy in their lap and encouraging him to ham it up a bit whilst everyone looked on eagerly awaiting his too cute reactions. Four of them had cameras.
Two were digital cameras whilst two more were camera phones, eagerly snapping away at this little chap's every giggle and gleam of the eye. Flashes going off every couple of seconds. It was like this toddler had his own personal paparazzi. Baby you're a star!
Not only did he have is own personal paparazzi but I bet he was getting the royal treatment too. Personal assistants all over the place, pushing him around in his own mobile chair, someone to clean his face if he dribbled food...I bet he even had someone to wipe his ar... well, lets not go there.
It's a funny parallel. No wonder real celebrities often behave like children.
I don't know if the phrase has already been coined but if not, I'm coining 'Car Nerds' now. Car nerds are like 'Rev heads' only they know next to nothing about how a car actually works. However they can wax on for hours about what brand of rims they bought and why their car stereo has better sound reproduction than their surround sound home cinema system.
A car nerd does know a little bit about how the engine works. Specifically how the engine on their car works. They're fairly certain engines on other cars probably work the same but they don't know for sure because, what they know about car engines, they learnt from trying to get their car going again after a break down.
That's as far as it goes. Car nerds have no idea what a differential is or why you need one. At least not until they break one with their 'natural talent for accelerating to just above the speed limit in under three seconds'. They have no idea that this kind of driving puts unnecessary wear on parts that should last the life of the car.
Car Nerds spend most of their money on things they don't need to improve the performance of their car. They're particularly attracted to any product that will make their car sound louder, like exhaust amplifiers. I must confess - I don't know if that is what they're called. I just know you can get something that increases the noise of the car by adding it to the end of the exhaust pipe. Kind of like adding a bit of cardboard into the rear wheel of a bicycle so that the noise of it flicking on the spokes makes a sound like a motorbike. It's a useless piece of equipment that attempts to make a four cylinder block sound like a V8. Does nothing to boost performance.
On the subject of making the car sound louder, car nerds do this because they want their cars (i.e. themselves) to be noticed wherever they go. Then they complain about police harassment because their car got noticed by a passing cop (who knows full well that car nerds are more likely to break road rules or have dodgy cars). Car nerds think they can drive simply because they know how to do a burn out and switch lanes on the highway more times than a formula one driver.
In short, car nerds know everything they need to know about driving. Their two years of driving experience means they can drive like a blind octopus trying to make a decision about which arm to adjust the volume on the stereo with. They know everything about how not to drive a car.
It's like all the habits of the worst drivers put behind a wheel.
I'll Pencil You In T-Shirt.
Monday, April 09, 2007
In May of last year I wrote an article in my blog titled I'll pencil you in, about busy people, keeping diaries and the need for my partner and I to make time for each other.
At about the same time I thought that heading would be a great slogan for a T-shirt. Artists especially would appreciate the double meaning of penciling someone into a diary and penciling someone in as a preliminary sketch.
I was going to create the slogan and put it into my shop (and I may do that yet) but never really got around to doing it (should have penciled that in me thinks). Well move forward about a year and finally the slogan is available from my Red Bubble Gallery.
I'll Pencil You In... is just AUD$26.00 and is sold through Red Bubble - an Australian Company. If you'd like to let all your friends know that you've got time for them (tentatively at least) then this is the T-shirt for you. Buy one and support an independent artist whilst you do.
Blank Canvas III: Art Genius - Art humor.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Being a professional artist isn't as easy as you might think. It's a constant struggle to find new ideas and inspiration. One can easily spend hours thinking over new concepts, allowing them to process and develop into new artworks.
Conceptual artists, especially those who prefer to express their ideas in the minimalist style, must surely struggle the most - as this video demonstrates.
I am South Australian Artist, 'TET' or 'The Extraordinary Tourist'. Read about things that interest me, particularly art, social commentary, humour and life observations. Please feel free to leave a comment by clicking the 'Comments' link at the bottom of each entry.
I'm a creative person trying to make a living selling my art online. Visit my shop to find out if owning a print of my art is right for you. Watch for my ebay auctions of original artworks too!
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