Bike fart and farting around on bikes in the dark..

So I went downtown to the Dash Gallery and checked out the bike art show last night after work:

The funny thing about bike art shows is that whenever I go to one I always wonder: How come no one has ever asked me to contribute to one of these and why haven't I ever made more of an effort to get involved in one before? Then I realize: Oh, right, no one really gives a shit about what I do and two, because 90% of the art at those shows is horrendous at best and I don't want my name anywhere near it. Like, wow, great job people! It's always amusing to see just how badly the 'rents college money they spent their lives saving for was wasted..

It's as if the organizers believe that having an art show solely based on the topic of bicycles is enough on it's own as a unifying subject. However they are sadly mistaken. Your entire sense of cohesion and balance you'd like to expect from a gallery show is completely lost the moment you walk in the door. There's bikes and photos and paintings and sculptures and things and films with no sound even when there are people talking and it's like, WTF am I supposed to take away from this experience? I mean aside from being annoyed at the crap haphazardly arranged throughout the space, the typically long line to get to the bar and the floating effervescence of cannabis in the air. The latter of which I wouldn't complain about if there was enough to go around for everyone.. or at least myself anyway..

Every single bike art gallery show I've EVER gone to literally looks as though the 'curator' said to the artists- Okay, yeah, it's a show about bicycles. Oh what should you do? Just do whatever! and truth be told, that's EXACTLY how the shows turn out. They're just.. whatever.. I understand that one of the main reasons why bike art shows are just a big slobbering curmudgeons of random stuff is because there really just isn't enough people making bike art (good or bad) to fill a large room. Hence the filling up the gallery with whatever. It doesn't help that artists can be fucking lazy and when it comes to things of this nature. They'll either make any excuse to rehash something they've already used multiple times or better still, halfheartedly slap something together that they never used before (for good reason) and be relieved that the pressure is finally off so they can get back to working on shit they actually do care about..

There's no better way at motivating an artist with a proper challenge they can get into. The whole idea of that is to give the same challenge to each participating artist and see how every one of them takes it upon themselves to meet their own expectations while staying within the relative boundaries of the situation they're presented. Only through challenges can an artist truly excel in their chosen medium. I think that's where these shows fail the most. It's not enough that it's about bicycles. No one gives a shit about bicycles aside from the real nerds who fawn over custom builders. The average person wants to hear stories and vicariously enjoy quirky, complex and fun expeirinces through the artists narration. The art they're viewing should convey that story all within the time span between heartbeats. The way things are these days with all the instant gratification that the ever illustrious internet provides, you're be lucky if you can hold someone's attention even that long! So whatever it's gonna to be, it's gotta be tight and snappy..

Having said all that I'm sure there's plenty of effort and various other quantifying factors involved in putting together an art show. I'm not saying you shouldn't go or support them or anything, I mean, they do have free drinks and a host of cuties on hand most of the time after all ;-) I just have yet to see one I could truly appreciate art wise..

Jeez, enough with the cunty art ranting already huh?!!

To make up for it be sure to click here before reading the rest of this post..

Afterwords I had Pies and Thighs with some pals and then we went over to Peels to watch kids jump over stuff:

50mm/1.4/160th/6400

That kid must've done like 10 backside 180's over that shit box kicker..

The light under the BQE fucking BLOWS at best and I didn't have my flash with me for some reason. Ehh. Something tells me that with the amount of non-forgotten flashes I saw going off you'll have some better shots to look at elsewhere by now. Anyways, here's another shot before and after just to give you a better idea..

Lulz at Krillz and a few other dudes playin' dice up against one of the pylons! Wish I got a shot of that so hopefully someone else did..

Also, I received probably the grandest of grandiose compliments today from a dumpster diving prone friend of mine:

'i found a pie in the trader joes dumpster on tuesday and it made me think of you.'

This was also pretty great and semi pertinent:

'OMG last night at the art show there was this dude that was dressed all in white and thick white glasses and he is like prob 40-50 years old with thick european accent and he is a regular diver at trader joes! so we were talking. his name is benji. it was funny'

Tomorrow is the Bike Film Festival Street fair which I'm thinking of scoping out for a little while:

Should make for an awesome afternoon!

Oh and Alex, here's that snap 1 & 2 I was talking about. Nice meetin' ya man! Start that local San Antonio blog when you get a chance..

Bike fart and farting around on bikes in the dark..