MayDay Parade & First Fridays

Just in case you didn't know, Richmond may be perceived as weird to some people.


Before going to the Mayday parade and First Friday Art Walk I came across this motorcycle. The paint job is obviously art, so it's included. Didn't see it in the parade unfortunately.


People looking at art.


People taking pictures of art.


People going to look at more art.


This bus puts on a show of some sort that happened the following day. Seemed interesting and the presenters I would imagine are very dedicated to theater. I enjoyed seeing this mid 70's bus that has no emissions control in a parade partly supporting a cause for no more cars and bettering the environment. The harsh reality of clean technology being pricey sets in and that being environmentally conscious takes more than skipping a shower.


So this is where the parade was getting started at near Gallery 5. The exhaust from the scooters made it kinda hard to breath.


Always interesting to see people that have something they care enough about to publicly make a statement about it. Organizing a rally to support anarchy is always interesting as well.


Look its more photographers.


No more cars? Yeah we don't need things like ambulances, police cars, medical transports, shipping trucks, or taxis. How about a sign that says "Public transportation please."




Art on a van.


Thanks to the Richmond police for using their gas powered vehicles to support the MayDay Parade. They held off traffic and created a traffic jam causing the carbon emissions to multiply while they waited to go around the parade.


Practical alternative to cars.


This is what I perceived as the beginning of the parade on Broad St.


Maybe they should be riding the tall bike.


Every parade needs a live band. Its better than the Macy's day parade music you hear on your television set with commentary much like mine.


A maestro for horses. We might need this once we don't have anymore cars.


Workers Unite! Unite for pie breaks between child labor shifts?




Thanks for clearing that up for us and providing a website so we can actually take action for your cause. RRFP.net


Bikes Rule! And so does stealing shopping carts from CVS and Kroger so we can all pay more for the food we buy. I wish I had money to support Food Not Bombs but unfortunately due to high costs in shopping carts it won't be possible this month.


Critical Mass. No it's not a cool band playing later that night but rather a group bike ride event. Or maybe its a group shopping event now where we play super consumers.


Fun for the whole family.


"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."


"Unity in diversity. Repetition."


More people taking pictures of art.


Again more art photos being taken.


Music is art right?


What about the culinary arts? Thanks to Nate's Taco stand people were fed Food and not Bombs in their tacos.




VCU Photography MFA Show. I wish this was the quality of the VCU Photography Senior Show.


The MFA Show wins the award for best food spread.


Corporate Gallery had a party going on in there.


VCU Photography Senior Show. I wish this was the VCU Best of Local High Schools Show but it wasn't.


The senior show did have this awesome piece of art installed on the floor.

Interstitial

As the name implies Hassan Pitts "Interstitial" is about interweaving spacing of time. The subject matter of that time is the artist himself removing his body piercings and then shaving his entire head and face. The effect of the piece is taking a single time line of the video and then overlaying it on top of the same video with a certain amount of transparency but playing at a different point in the time line. This causes the viewer to initially become intrigued by the effect in the video that is most apparent but upon watching it the viewer can drift off into different layers of the video. I thought the effect was very interesting and could be used for many different subject matters. The time difference between the layers changes during the viewing experiences making the video have more possible interpretations. This project seems to be an idea in its infancy and I hope to see it expanded on many different levels. On a side note, the sound added a nice vibe to create a mood for the viewer.

I would like the artist to look into using Flash to possibly program the video to be more interactive or maybe add more of a random element to the viewing experience that could be unique to each person watching. Adding interaction to the piece may allow the viewer to relate their own experiences to what the artist is trying to convey with removing his external identity.

The biggest problem with the video was the artist's tattoos. I found them to be a great prop in the beginning but once all of the jewelry was removed I felt like they became a distraction. If the artist could have somehow removed the tattoos I feel like the them of the film would have been more complete. Maybe some steak knives and cutting off flesh is in order.... Ok so maybe just some special effects? One last thing, why not shave off the eyebrows???

DOUG MENUEZ

Doug spoke at a local ASMP event recently here in Richmond and really indulged his audience with secrets. Doug started with his teenage history and how he came into photography and led us using the photos he took. He went on to tell us about his first few jobs in photography and how he eventually found himself in advertising. Doug is very involved with his community and really gives back to other photographers through seminars and the like. Along with giving back to photographers he really tries to give back to the world by actively working with groups such as Empower African Children.

Ok, so this sounds like most seminars but here is where Doug is different. He admits he still doesn't know what he wants to do with his life but has a general idea. This is great to hear because everyone has that fear at some point in their life, and to hear this from an established pro helps make sense of things. Doug is different because he also lets us in on some secrets to success. Some key points on this he made were to let go of fear, unless you do so you can't move forward. Also, he told us how he became happy with what he was doing. He looked back at the work from when he was starting out and figured out why he liked that body of work. He then really pushed for only working with people who hired him for his artistic eye, rather than telling him what to shoot. The latter is a risk that had to be taken in order for it to ever come to fruition.

Doug has worked in Silicon Valley and photographed the mid 1980's computer business explosion. Having worked in many of the same buildings he took pictures in years ago it made for a really interesting connection between his work. While I was in Palo Alto I thought about the technology that had been created their and the workforce environment. Doug captured the essence of that by his style of capturing "the moment". Doug offered inspiration to me on a simple basis of shoot what you love and take the risk to do so.

What did make it into the Student Exhibition

I can see why VCU is known for having one of the best sculpture departments in the country. The sculpture work was well presented and raised questions to its audience. The crafts, paintings and photography were pretty good as well. Its a worth while show to visit. I posted a few pics of whats in the gallery.

What didn't make it into the Student Exhibition?

I was walking around the Broad St. School of the Arts Building and took a look at the sculpture submissions for the VCU Student Exhibition. The pictures of the work that I posted I personally found very interesting. Some of them probably didn't make it into the show because of their physical size. Others maybe didn't make the cut because of the works fit and finish. Something more VCU students should consider when entering their work in any show.

Artist Statement

Inspired by the ability of main stream media motion pictures to alter the emotional state of viewers, David Thompson strives to bring this effect into his body of work. His goal is to make his work provocative enough that his viewers will question the content within the work and apply those questions to their physical environment. Playing off of the realities of main stream news stories and societies reactions, he creates imaginary works that tell the possibilities of what is to come with hope to inspire action within communities.

Artist CV

Follow the link to check out my artist cv. Link