After Wonderland

Fixed effort, Breathing space

2010-03-07T12:25:00.004+08:00

Alice Zhang, oil on canvas, 2010, 90 x 60cm

More here.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band

2010-03-01T01:07:00.002+08:00

Just discovered these guys.

Summer summer summer summer summer.

I am...

2010-02-23T22:54:00.003+08:00

Devon Aoki by David Mushegain

2010-02-02T02:14:00.005+08:00

Morning girl. Found these on fashion gone rogue.

Waver

2010-01-31T16:50:00.001+08:00

Alice Zhang, 20 x 20cm, oil on canvas 2010, part 4 out of 4

More of my paintings here.

Django Reinhardt - esq

2010-01-31T16:31:00.004+08:00

Just discovered Caravan Palace, from Paris. Puurrrfect for painting on a Sunday afternoon, coffee and all:

Suzy

Jolie Coquine

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draw me a thought

2010-01-30T02:32:00.003+08:00

Today started with a coffee that had an elephant swimming in it.

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I think all paint brushes should be yellow. Please stop making grayish blue ones, or dark red ones, it's making me ANGRY! Let's stop fooling around and go back to yellow!

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As of this morning, the homeless lady on Mercer St is back! I don't know where she went for the past month. But today she's back to sipping ice lemon tea and popping bubble wraps. Life is back to normal. She looked at me today: hair in my mouth, laptop bag, cheap coffee, stomping in 5inch heels, I think she approves of me. I think she is the happiest person in the neighborhood.

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Australia, I love you because of this song.

I'm in transit
But I'm stranded on this boat
And I pledge myself allegiance
To a better night's sleep at home....

the state of things as they actually exist

2010-01-28T23:53:00.004+08:00

Something Wonderful

2010-01-28T14:10:00.002+08:00

Better than Ok

2010-01-27T11:26:00.004+08:00

Band of Horses.

John Maeda, awesome

2010-01-24T20:16:00.002+08:00

RISD!

Vacant

2010-01-21T12:21:00.005+08:00

Alice Zhang, 20 x 20cm, oil on canvas 2010, part 3 out of 4

More of my paintings here.

I didn't go to see the city, I went to see it around you

2010-01-18T17:03:00.005+08:00

I'm watching Artsworld on Al Jezeera as I do this, about artists in Gaza who use bed mattresses to protect their paintings from bombs, where everything that you create today can be destroyed tomorrow. So inspiring.

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Weekend.

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How come I didn't know about Chris Garneau until now.

Fireflies

Relief

Hands On the Radio

A photo and a song at 2:04

2010-01-17T02:04:00.000+08:00

A photo:

And a song: The Pastels & Tenniscoats, Vivid Youth

At 2:04am.

Landing

2010-01-11T11:42:00.003+08:00

Alice Zhang, Landing, 2010, 20 x 20cm, part 2 out of 4

And here's a brand new song from British band Scanners

In Motion

2010-01-04T13:05:00.001+08:00

In Motion

The sated day is never first.
The best day is a day of thirst.

Yes, there is goal and meaning in our path -
but it's the way that is the labour's worth.

The best goal is a night-long rest,
fire lit, and bread broken in haste.

In places where one sleeps but once,
sleep is secure, dreams full of songs.

Strike camp, strike camp! The new day shows its light.
Our great adventure has no end in sight.

Karin Boye

Words from the wise for the end of 2009

2009-12-31T11:09:00.002+08:00

Read them and nod kids.

Being lonely:

Who knows what true loneliness is - not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion. Joseph Conrad

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong. Sir Winston Churchill

Us:

We live not, in reality, on the summit of a solid earth but at the bottom of an ocean of air. Thales of Miletus

Contentment is natural wealth; luxury, artificial poverty. Socrates

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, the other is getting it. Oscar Wilde

Being original:

Everything has been thought of before. The problem is to think it again. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Originality is going back to origins. Antoni Gaudí

What to do next:

A man with a new idea is a crank until he succeeds. Mark Twain

Be good and you will be lonely. Mark Twain

Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you. Aldous Huxley

There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity. Douglas MacArthur

A truth that's told with bad intent - beats all the lies you can invent. William Blake

Love:

You are the best I got, since nothing hurts like you. Karin Boye

Painting on Boxing Day

2009-12-26T17:44:00.002+08:00

Alice Zhang, Little Room, 2009, 20 x 20cm

Music for another Saturday

2009-12-19T12:02:00.002+08:00

The Kills, Black Balloon

Friendly Fires, Paris

Stars, The Night Starts Here

After Wonderland web haul!

2009-12-17T10:58:00.004+08:00

I've finally updated my personal website: afterwonderland.com with a much bigger focus on my paintings.

It's linked to everything: Mischmasch, Mischmasch Gallery, my facebook, this blog, twitter...

You can still see my old design portfolio here.

Rhythmic moods, Contradictory thoughts

2009-12-13T15:34:00.003+08:00

New Painting...mmm I love the smell of a fresh painting.

Rhythmic moods, Contradictory thoughts

More of my paintings here.

Bury me now Love

2009-12-09T00:00:00.006+08:00

Perhaps it's my end-of-year syndrome getting to me. Or maybe I'm just jaded. Shut up.

So here are two brilliant indie teen movies that I saw within the last month. You should check them out:

Teenage Dirtbag (2009)

I know the title sucks and you've already got that awful Wheatus song in your head. But this movie is the most low budget, messed up, and moving movie I've seen in a long time. About a creepy, vile (but always somehow well-versed and intriguing) guy who bonds with a popular girl through creative writing class, although they never really get together. The dialogue is awkward and pretty great (there's hardly any)...plus it's full of good depressing indie music. Nice.

Mad. Mad thoughts.
Crazy, twisted, sinewy
Mad obsession.
You sicken me.
You’re so beautiful, love.
I grind you into a fine, soft
Powder and inhale you...
Lick you off of my fingers.
You love, answer me.
Your face brings me death every day...
And every day I can’t wait to die.
Bury me now, love.
Bury me now.

The Go-Getter (2008)

Shy teen's mother dies so he steals a car and goes on a road trip looking for his half-brother. The whole time he chats with the owner of the car...and then they meet. It kind of reminds me of Michel Gondry movies, but slower. Oh and I like Zooey. Can someone take me on a road trip please?

Right now you're thinking... who is this girl, and what's wrong with her? She must be crazy. No, sad... sad in a chair with... cats. Cats? No, a cross word puzzle. A puzzle and tea. No, beer. Beer, she's tough? Thinks she's tough, but not like that. Picture her... younger. No, older. Picture someone with fake teeth. You never really know.

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Ah it's only the start of December but I feel it's already disappearing.

sickly weekend at home

2009-11-29T19:47:00.009+08:00

Poo, I spent this entire weekend answering emails, holding my stomach in pain while searching for new music.

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This is pre-sickness:

Fried frog instead of turkey!
Thanksgiving dinner at dai pai dong place in Northpoint:

And RISD Friday dinner...(btw there were boyz they just don't wanna take pictures with us...or we scared them off)

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Here's a beautiful soothing video:

Ólafur Arnalds - Ljósið (Official Music Video) from Erased Tapes on Vimeo.

Homeless Man

2009-11-23T17:20:00.010+08:00

I walk past the homeless man every morning on my way to the gallery. On Saturdays he sleeps in. It's hard to look at him because he always looks so happy.

I found these photos on Mischmasch by Manuel Li

homeless #5

homeless #8

See more photography by Manuel Li on Mischmasch

Mischmasch TV updates

2009-11-20T13:28:00.002+08:00

Latest from Mischmasch TV:

LI Qian:

“Painting cannot prove my existence; I paint to cure my pain. It’s similar to watching a horror movie: as the movie ends, you realize the horror never exists. Or it’s like listening to sad music when you’re sad. It eases your sorrows.” — Li Qian

Li Qian is originally from Jilin, China and he currently resides in Beijing. To Li, painting opens the deepest wells of delight and terror in himself—it’s a means of investigation into his subconscious. His claustrophobic dreamscapes and grievous self-portraits are ardent, frank and stripped of sentimentality. His work articulates what many people live through subconsciously, and brings to the forefront the lies that we consciously tell everyday.
See more of Li Qian's work here: mischmaschonline.com/artist_work.php?uid=10173

(Li Qian is a Chinese name, Li is the family name)

Produced by Mischmasch
LI Qian's work is part of the Innocence and Experience exhibition, Oct 22 - Nov 30, at Mischmasch Gallery: www.mischmaschgallery.com

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CUI Nan:

"Only when you have investigated yourself can you investigate the world. It's the combination of the two that makes your art interesting." — Cui Nan.

Cui Nan is originally from Hebei province in China, he now paints from his studio space in Song Zhuang, Beijing. He graduated from Hebei Normal University in 1999, where he later taught as a teacher. Cui Nan often features himself in his large-scale narratives. His paintings are ritualistic, imaginative, and charged with an energy that rebels and perplexes. See more of Cui Nan's work here: mischmaschonline.com/artist_profile.php?uid=10106

(Cui Nan is a Chinese name; the family name is Cui)

Produced by Mischmasch
CUI Nan's work is part of the Innocence and Experience exhibition, Oct 22 - Nov 30, at Mischmasch Gallery: www.mischmaschgallery.com

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HUA Ge:

“Chinese artists should be more serious about their works. They should stop following the courses and trends of commercialism.” — HUA Ge.

Hua Ge is originally from Sichuan China. He graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 1991, major in Traditional Chinese Painting then from the People’s Liberation Army Fine Art Institute in 1997, major in Painting. Hua Ge’s work is a discourse on the inherited patterns of tradition and how they have mutated over time. His paintings are vivid and at times, glaringly graphic—they lure you into a hidden subconscious world. See more of Hua Ge's work here: www.mischmaschonline.com/artist_work.php?uid=10109

(Hua Ge is his pseudonym, Hua Ge's real name is He Ming)

Produced by Mischmasch
HUA Ge's work is part of the Innocence and Experience exhibition, Oct 22 - Nov 30, at Mischmasch Gallery: www.mischmaschgallery.com