art diva studios visuals and verbiage by Rachelle Díaz
ideas
Re-post from TuScene – Open Questions on Artistic Practice: New Releases
Re-posting a few questions I posed on Tu Scene earlier today because I was kind of ready to ask them in terms of my own personal artistic practice lately (see the TuScene comment further down), although I felt given the conversation with my friends about local Tucson art, it was a good idea to start [...]
Defining Space, Defining Experience
Lately I’ve been re-thinking my theory that décor/design “art” should not be called art, and that real, proper art is something alchemic. After going to the Denver Art Museum last week (a proper art museum) the shift in perception has been further solidified. The definition of art as visual concept rather than decorative power structure [...]
Semiotics of Relationships and Memory
I saw Easy Rider (one of my favorite movies for tragicomedy, fashion, weirdo characters, editing, music) in a movie theater last week. This scene stuck with me, I think because of the friends I saw the movie with. I started thinking about relationships, and how it’s not about who are what you are, it’s about [...]
Artiquette
Well, my prediction about the Tucson city budget meeting earlier this week was fulfilled: the impending fallout is now a bitter controversy. As Tu Scene is not a place for critique (yet), I shall blow hot pixels here, opinionated Art Diva that I am. Who knew everyone and their dog who opposed the hotel and [...]
A thing of Beauty
I attended an MFA creative writing program salon last night with my husband featuring author Manuel Muñoz and poet Richard Siken as discussion panelists. The topic was “The Beauty of the Sentence,” however there were many digressions outside of this, as one would expect with a loaded word like “beauty.” It was fascinating (seems to [...]
Convenience Store Theory?
After reading Wayne Koestenbaum’s Hotel Theory and attending the slideshow presentation for Bill Mackey’s newly released Field Guide to Tucson Convenience Stores at MOCA, I’m wondering if there’s not a cigarette-smoking monkey sitting at a typewriter somewhere out there writing Convenience Store Theory. The presentation and book were excellent, and – in hopes there will [...]
Image – Text – Image – Text
Two books I’ve read recently, in a sort of home audit of my husband’s grad school creative writing classes, have inspired me to think about works of literature as works of visual art. Not just they way they’re laid out in a graphic design sense where the layout works with the content, but the content [...]
milagros
The word “milagros” has been stuck in my head the last few days since I saw Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo last week. For some reason, the first time I saw “Miracles” – the neighborhood community center in the movie, I read it as “Milagros” – which sounded much cooler to me. My next project is [...]
Photography & Reality
There are things that photograph well but aren’t that impressive in real life. – Pre-framed/matted Art prints sold at big box stores. I can imagine that some of these actually look like craigslist submissions. – Creatively displayed but poorly executed art installations. It bothers me that the mere presentation of something can make up for [...]
Beauty vs Decoration
Revisiting the bird silhouette that was a major element in my 2004 paintings has made me realize how much my experiences over the past 3-4 years have changed my approach to making art. When I first started using the bird silhouette, it was basically a copy of some hipster pop art I saw on Gallery [...]
Can do or can don’t?
I noticed that Coke has very recently launched a redesign of its cans. It’s a much simple 2-color, slightly retro-looking version. The red is a bit less intense, I think, and the sweat water-beads are missing. Can’t find anything about it online, except to say that the new design was originally launched in Japan. I [...]
The Ripple Effect
Blogging isn’t for everyone. That needs to be said. For every trend that comes along, the opposite must be part of the picture. For without traditional and even retrogressive avenues, trends could not breathe. As an artist, you have to be true to your voice. And not only do you have to know yourself, you [...]
Feudal Gestures
Why did I think of something today I read almost two years ago? There have been a lot of postings recently on Adholes about memory in branding. I think what Cullen Murphy says about oral communication being the main form in the Middle Ages is similar to what we see in the media today, dominated [...]
Conversation Between Two Sunset Valley Wal-Mart Managers at 11 O’Clock on a Wednesday Night
Manager 1: “…they expect to make 80 million in sales next year at the Wal-Mart in Buda.” Manager 2: Sighs. “Our sales are gonna go way down with that one opening up on [IH] 35. But we still get people who drive up here from that Slaughter-Manchaca area.” Manager 1: “Yeah, the more stores there [...]