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"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."

- Aldous Huxley

LACMA & BCAM Sunday

One of the best things about living in Los Angeles is that I can always go to a selection of museums and galleries on a whim, since everything is a stone throw away. A few weeks back, after an extended work week, Dave and I decided that we should go to LACMA and check out the newly opened, Broad Contemporary Art Museum. 'lo and behold, apparently after 5 PM, admission to LACMA is "pay what you wish" (aka if you're broke, you don't gotta pay a dime).

The museum doesn't close til 8 PM on Sundays, tho we got there two hours before closing time and it was certainly not enough to cover all grounds, we did get to enjoy a few things. It was the opening day for Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement and we just barely missed the opening day crowd. Among the various work shown in different forms and medium, my favorite has to be those of Julio C. Morales. He did a series of drawing showing various immigrant smuggling methods. I thought that he was successfully able to highlight the subject matter and address it in the form of beautiful drawings. I sneakily took some pics (in a very low lighted room, of course):



From there, we headed out to BCAM, afraid that we're running out of time. We spent sometime outside admiring the building and outdoor installations. Inside, we weren't allowed to take any photos and were told to maintain a 5-feet-minimum distance from the art work. Here in BCAM, almost everything you've learned or heard of in Modern American Art History were on display. Warhol's, Koons', Basquiat, Lichtenstein,... a whole wall of Barbara Kruger's, which you can read by going on the large, glass elevator, and the list goes on. It was a little too overwhelming to try and absorb everything all at once. These are some of the legendary artwork I'm familiar with, which otherwise I see only in books, and they were right there.

Much to my delight, on the lower level, I came across a whole section devoted to my favorite photographer EVERRRR.. Cindy Sherman. I've admired her work for a long while now, I've saved up money in college to buy her books, and now I've seen them up close and personal. Her work has always intrigued me as they resemble characters or scenes from an absurd movie (read: David Lynch's) or a bad dream. There's a certain uneasiness and sarcasm to them that I haven't seen in many other photographers' work. I certainly didn't spend enough time in her section, but I plan to return and be awed soon.

The current collection exhibited belongs to the Broad family. If you lived in a suburban area, I'm sure you are familiar with KB Homes, a housing developer company famous for its track homes. For folks whose business is mass producing boxy, Monopoly-like homes, they sure have got some fine taste in art. If only they could apply their eyes for aesthetics towards their own products...

Kids with Cameras

Whenever I'm restless, I like to go through my old bookmarks. Tonight, I gladly came across one of my forgotten links: Kids with Cameras.

Kids with Cameras is a photography project that started in Calcutta's red-light district. The project was started by a photographer named, Zana Briski. With the help of other photographers, she teaches photography and gives cameras to unfortunate kids in order to capture their imaginations, "empower them, building confidence, self-esteem and hope." The project was also made into a 2005-Academy-Award-winning documentary film called, Born Into Brothels.


The first time I stumbled upon it, the workshop was only happening in Calcutta. I found out now they have set up workshops in Haiti, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Other similar workshops also flourished all around the world. Although, they have yet to start one in Indonesia. Someone should start it! You can now also purchase large sized prints from the website, while before they're only selling the book and the dvd. According to the site, "All net proceeds from sales of the children's photos go to support their education and well-being."


Each one of the kids' profiles are on the website. So, anyone could learn about them while looking through their photographs. I really think these photographs served their purposes and more. Not only that they captured their daily life, they also transformed them into beautiful images, with energy and sincerity we don't normally see in commercial photography. After all, these photographs are purely from the kids' imagination, something that modern technology and adult minds combined can never surpass.

san francisco, part 1

The problem with a short vacation is that, for me at least, it's hard to slow down and absorb in my destination. Let alone to fully appreciate it. Now, this is especially true with a city like San Francisco. I've heard many good things about the city. My friends raved on and on about how beautiful the Bay Area is. Somehow, it took me three short trips to get to a point where I can hesitantly say, "I like San Francisco." So, I plan on posting randomly as to how I arrived to 'liking' San Francisco.

My last trip there was about two weekends ago. I flew out on a Friday night and met up with my family who got there a day prior. The purpose of this trip really was a quick getaway for my mom, whose parents just passed and in addition to, almost lost her job due to a State's budget cut. On the way to the hotel from the airport, my mom's car got a flat tire. We had to pull over and exchange it. After pulling myself together from fearing of running into San Francisco infamous zombies (read: bums), we were under a bridge after all, I used the opportunity to take some photos of nearby murals. I loved the bright colors and some of the characters. Of course, they are none in comparison to those of world renowned artist like Banksy or Miss Van. But I like 'em nonetheless for they are crude, cheesy, and cute at the same time. Here they are and please ignore my ugly mug:


This sort of things; wild murals and walls covered in graffiti are things people who live in the suburbia will never get accustomed to. Unless, of course, they have lived in the city prior or somehow have been exposed to the beauty side of it. As opposed to art, some people like my Mom look at it as an eye sore. If there's even a small pencil drawing on a wall found anywhere in Rancho Cucamonga, it'll be soon painted over and done with by the city officials. Of course, like art itself, not all murals and graffiti are pretty. So, I get the sentiments of wanting your town to be spotless clean from any form of vandalism. Now, tho, more than ever, graffiti has been accepted and widely respected by many. So much so that a lot of big companies used it as a form of advertising. Take for example, Sony PSP and the recent one, M.A.C. cosmetics.


In San Francisco, I came across a lot of really nice, detailed graffiti and I thought, only in cities like such one would find them. Honestly, they add characters to the city and it makes riding in a cable car, cramming in between people and inhaling people's hair odor a lot tolerable when I spotted one out the window.