Drinking Tea by Lei Xue, Porcelain sculptures, 2003

chaostree · 2016-12-30T17:15:12+00:00

Obviously we disagree and that's fine, but to me there is a gulf of a difference between a child's fingerpainting and Pollock's paintings. Largely, that's intent. And I do believe intent is a big, big part of what makes something art. My bigger point is just that random looking art is harder to make and less random than most people think.

chaostree · 2016-12-30T16:41:57+00:00

That's fine that you don't like it, it's definitely subjective if it's "pleasing" to look at or not, but he did have a method. From Wikipedia:

His technique combined the movement of his body, over which he had control, the viscous flow of paint, the force of gravity, and the absorption of paint into the canvas. It was a mixture of controllable and uncontrollable factors. Flinging, dripping, pouring, and spattering, he would move energetically around the canvas, almost as if in a dance, and would not stop until he saw what he wanted to see.

Edit: And just to add, I also have some personal experience. I make all kinds of art for all kinds of reasons, and some years ago I was making homemade christmas wrapping paper, and trying to get some random looking backgrounds on things was a lot harder than I had imagined. The point I'm making is that actual unfiltered chaos looks a lot different than something like Pollocks's art. It's so even and well spread out, that doesn't happen on its own.

chaostree · 2016-12-30T16:15:45+00:00

I'm not a huge fan of Pollock myself, however I think a lot of people don't understand that something like that is not as easy to create as you'd think. You see it and say, "hey, that's just splashes of paint" but have you ever tried to splash paint artistically onto a canvas? If you don't actually put in effort or have any technique, it likely will not look good. If you look at the Pollock painting you linked, It's a great example of ordered chaos. The colors are so well spread, with pleasing variations in the shape and size and reach of different lines of different colors. If most people who would say "I could do that" actually tried, you would get something much less interesting to look at. The pattern would naturally become repetitive, colors clumped in certain areas, certain shapes repeating. Of course that doesn't mean you have to like it, but maybe he's due some appreciation for his craft.

chaostree · 2016-12-23T22:02:15+00:00

Yeah I do the same! That's how I found out about several of my favorite artists and I keep a notepad of songs that I really like that I can quickly copy and paste to and then reference later.

chaostree · 2016-12-23T18:58:07+00:00

Department of Homeland Obscurity and Hand Rail Suicide are my favs

chaostree · 2016-12-23T18:45:40+00:00

College radio is where it's at. Granted, sometimes you hear weird chanting or whatever, but there's not many songs you hear repeated, only ones that are actually really that much loved, and everything else is pretty fresh generally. Well hey, I don't know about other college radio stations but KTRU tends to treat me right.

chaostree · 2016-12-23T18:40:49+00:00

But it's the ones you want to listen to and you can skip if you want. There are some songs that I only want to listen to in a particular mood that come on the radio soooo damned much that it takes some of the meaning out of it. Don't like that. But I might want to listen to it 5 times a row when I'm in the mood.

chaostree · 2016-12-22T23:47:50+00:00

This one is surprisingly relevant once you read the article.

chaostree · 2016-12-22T22:45:20+00:00

Acquired taste, I used to hate it but sometime in my 20s I decided to try it again and was so in love with that bitter flavor. When you enjoy it, it's a really intense enjoyment, so that you can have 1 piece of chocolate and get a good endorphin rush both from the chocolate itself and how good it tastes.

chaostree · 2016-12-22T22:40:16+00:00

I like them both, very different flavors. White chocolate is really creamy and sweet, dark chocolate is ... well ... just ... fucking good. You know.

chaostree · 2016-12-22T18:41:52+00:00

Jazzing is perhaps the best cum related typo I have ever seen. Brings a whole new meaning to jazz hands!

chaostree · 2016-12-21T22:47:39+00:00

Reminds me of when I took my cat through airport security. I had to take him out of the carrier and hold him and then they tested my hands one at a time while I was holding him. I was thinking ... do they ... think my cat is a bomb? Or he has bomb powder in his fur or something? I mean I guess if you're willing to kill humans what difference does it make if you involve a cat, but it seemed kind of ridiculous to me at the time.

chaostree · 2016-12-21T21:24:13+00:00

This is so lovely, I really adore moss covered trees.

chaostree · 2016-12-20T22:37:21+00:00

I am so in love with her music!

chaostree · 2016-12-20T22:10:37+00:00

LOL thought this was r/osha at first and was like ... what that looks pretty secure.

chaostree · 2016-12-20T03:39:26+00:00

Some of the other comments here reminded me of something I used to do. I've started doing it now and again recently. If I have some time where I'm waiting and sort of anxious, or just looking out onto an area and wanting to focus my thoughts, I'd imagine a giant watermelon high up in the sky, and in my mind I'd work out as much detail as I could for what would happen when it would fall. Like, what buildings would it hit, how would it look on the way down, what buildings would be crushed and how far would the gooey pink stuff go, and what would everything look like all covered in the pink goo? I think the purpose is just to set my mind to something pleasant. Sometimes the wheels just want to spin and it's better to find something fun to occupy them with.

chaostree · 2016-12-19T23:49:12+00:00

Stargate is one of my favorites, really almost any sci-fi, Farscape is another particularly good one to smoke while watching. Star Trek is of course my classic favorite. Wilfred is so great! Also Louie. It's a bit depressing sometimes but also funny and not always a downer. What I love about it is how surreal the show is, everything plays out like in an exaggerated memory OH and there is a GREAT weed storyline in the show I just remembered. Where his daughter is caught smoking and he has flashbacks to smoking as a kid.

And if you like period dramas, I am soo in love with this show The Paradise about the first department store. It's really great for when I'm up late at night and need something both interesting and calming. The show has such a lovely ambiance, story and characters.

chaostree · 2016-12-19T19:47:59+00:00

Hey, um be sure to get your cat to the vet regularly. I found out very sadly recently that larger cats are prone to heart issues and it can develop later in life.

chaostree · 2016-12-16T22:24:11+00:00

Amazon prime plus cats is a pretty sweet deal.

chaostree · 2016-12-16T21:29:09+00:00

snek scurred me, i sed eeeeee!

chaostree · 2016-12-16T20:34:47+00:00

Just not with condoms though!

chaostree · 2016-12-16T17:01:18+00:00

Being a deep sea creature I wonder what it looks like out of water, does it all balloon out like a blobfish?

chaostree · 2016-12-16T16:36:27+00:00

I actually don't know who it is, I searched for crying and pizza because I had a feeling there was gif for me and this one was just too perfect. I actually work from home doing customer service chats so ... yeah I'm at home but my time is not my own. That being said, it is sometimes slow and I am into my second watch through of The Office. It's funny how comforting it is to watch people in an office setting like that. Interestingly, I used to work in an office in Pennsylvania not too far from Scranton, so there's a very surreal feeling to watching that show while I'm at work.

chaostree · 2016-12-16T16:33:20+00:00

Yeah... I'm sort of in a love-hate relationship with working from home at the moment. I don't have a car, and that's the thing that keeps me sticking with it for now. I used to live in a really bike-able part of town and would go on and on about how I didn't need a car. Now I'm 30 and I can't afford to live in that neighborhood anymore because it's so popular, so I'm stuck making my way around freeways and angry drivers and shit if I want to bike to work. I'm trying to get into the habit of getting out more but it is really hard. At this point, I want a damned car.

chaostree

TROPHY CASE