Tag Archives: Irrational Exuberance

Research

Vexman.net

I’ve been sewing flags. Mini desktop ones. Full-sized ones. Scouring the garment district for woven synthetics, heftier lamés. Strategically planning grommet-hammering sessions to for my neighbors’ sakes. Very excited about opportunities to show them in  New York (Art in Odd Places, October 5–15) and beyond (details forthcoming)….

One sleepless night, I stumbled upon Vexman.net, a vexillology resource by Dave Martucci. Vexillology is the study and science of flags. Martucchi’s site harkens back to the early days of the web, when home pages expressed the depth and variety of one’s enthusiasms via long, encoded HTML pages with small, quick-loading graphics. Pages include:

I enjoyed learning about flag terms, cultural associations, and histories. I’ve been experimenting with colors, shapes, and proportions on my own, because I wanted to make my flags free of referent. They should simply express Irrational Exuberance.

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Sights

how’s this for irrational exuberance

I am working on projects relating to the themes in Irrational Exuberance (Asst. Colors), a shop-like installation of modest ambitions and accessible pleasure. This video of last night’s fireworks show in San Diego, in which all of the pyrotechnics were accidentally activated all at once, instead of a leisurely, choreographed set, sort of captures the mood: perhaps a bit daft, yet irrepressibly cheerful.

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Sights

See: The irrepressibly exuberant paper assemblages by Michael Velliquette at DCKT Contemporary

Michael Velliquette, Lil' Orphist 2010 paper, acrylic, gator board, glue 13 ½ x 10 x 3”; 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 3 3/4" mounted.

Michael Velliquette, Lil' Orphist, 2010, paper, acrylic, gator board, glue, 13 ½ x 10 x 3”; 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 3 3/4" mounted. Source: DCKTcontemporary.com.

By luck, I caught the penultimate day of Michael Velliquette’s solo show, Awaken and Free What Has Been Asleep, at DCKT Contemporary.

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Community, Research

MDR, Balloons, Exuberance

MONSTER DRAWING RALLY PHOTOS & VIDEO. Check out this slideshow of the Monster Drawing Rally by Hanna Quevedo on SFWeekly.com! There’s also a short video on VidSF.com.

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BALLOONS. Thinking about them lately, and came across this awesome photo sequence of a sculpture made of balloons by Hans Hemmert on thepigments.com. Sweet.

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IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE. This economics term, coined by Alan Greenspan, shook markets worldwide in the 1990s. What a paradox. I’ve been thinking about pleasure and its crucial role in the formation of happiness since I started studying positive psychology last year. I’ve also been using unabashedly exuberant typefaces, especially high-contrast Didot faces, despised in their day and seen as both high-class and slightly cheap today. The idea that exuberance is irrational to be equally ludicrous as the idea of exuberance should be rational. It’s a delicious paradox.

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