Plastic Water 2

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Mouton à cinq pattes...

Un mouton parce que je n’ai pas trouvé de chameau disponible...

Un mouton, je ne dors pas, deux moutons, trois moutons, quatres moutons, il fait froid, cinq moutons, six moutons, tu n’es plus là?

Sept, huit, et un mouton collé au plafond...zut...

Un mouton offert et je m’amuse.

La photographie offre un espace métaphorique que j’use éperdument.

J’aime travailler sur l’ambiguité, pour laisser une porte ouverte à l’imaginaire de chacun. L’énigme, c’est très important pour moi... un mouton...deux moutons... et des idées...

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INTRODUCTION

( Random = Times )

All material printed in Plastic Water is printed with permission from the author. photos and art on pages: 4 (dog), 5 (ocean), page 15, Dengue Fever title on page 16, page 36, page 42, page 45, B2TG ad, back page, all by Daino, because he had no other choice. page 34 (found art!, E.G.)

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author or interview subject and not necessarily those of Plastic Water. copyright © 2009/10 PlasticWater Contents may not be sold or reproduced in any form without the expressed legal consent of copyright owner.

December 2009 • Riverside, CA

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EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Christie Time Firtha (Riv) • E. Maggard (I.E) • Greg Emilio (I.E.) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: David Zakover (Argentina) • John Pinson (Riv) • E. Maggard, www.cageofcreaativity.blogspot. com (I.E.) • Tina Bold, www.vinylhoursradio.com (Riv) • Jamais Vu, www.thejamaisvu.com (L.A.) • Greg Emilio (I.E.) • C. Fall (L.A.) CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Marcos Torino, www.marcostorino.com (Argentina) • Cristopher Cichocki, http://cristophersea.com (Coachella, CA) • Cade Fall (L.A.) • Henry Niller Garcia, www.nillerdesign.com (L.A.) • Tomas Moreno (L.A.) • Denai Brower (Riv) • Jamais Vu (L.A.) • Fritz Aragon (Riv) • Moris Argent (Argentina) PHOTOS: Elise Boularan, www.eliseboularan.com (France) • Sofia Burlo (Argentina) • Ted Kulesa (Riv) • Alex Greenburg (San Francisco) • David Sakover (Argentina/Riv) • It’s Alive! Media & Dengue Fever EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: El Daino ADDITIONAL HELP/ PROMO: Amanda Holguin (Riv) • Angel Torres (Riv) WEB ASSISTANT: Nurodexter, www.sitemagnify.com (Germany) • Optxx, www.spectreglobal.com (San Diego) LAYOUT/CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Daino (Riv) SPECIAL THANKS TO: Xio, Edward, Mr. V, Mike N., Darren, Kelvis, Nathan, Joe, Bruno, Snoopy, Buddy, my beautiful Parents, Brian B., Rain, Alex and Yoko,“Butters,” and all past and new contributors and supporters of this humble project. Thank You.

CONTACT AND SUBMISSIONS www.plasticwater.us www.myspace.com/plastic_water www.youtube.com/plasticwatertv Cover Assemblage by Cade Fall. designed by Daino

Denai Brower

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Ted Kulesa

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UNO by Henry Niller Garcia PLASTIC WATER • 7

5 questions: PW: What nationality is Cichocki?

CC: My name is Polish; And somehow pronounced: chä-hä-skee PW: Where do you gather the found materials in your work?

CC: Mostly from the Coachella Valley. That’s where I was raised and still live. A lot of my work is made within or gathered from abandoned sites throughout the Salton Sea and Wonder Valley. All of the fish I use my work are from the Salton Sea. PW: What’s your big interest in the Salton Sea? CC: The Salton Sea is an ecological nightmare of severe entropy that raises discussions about the troubling ecological issues that confront us now and in the future. I’ve always said that Robert Smithson would be extending his Earthwork practice at the Salton Sea, if he were still alive.

PW: Tell us about your exhibition “Desert Abyss” that just ended at the Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts in Palm Desert, CA. CC: I’ve always been interested in the universe of design within desert and oceanic life-forms. The

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uncanny correlations within these (seemingly) contrasting worlds amaze me. The cacti and tumbleweeds that fill the desert landscape are essentially the surviving seeds of an ancient ocean.

Desert Abyss is a multi-sensory environment of my: painting, photography, video, sculpture and sound. The response was tremendous, especially seeing how so much of the show incorporated materials indigenous to the surrounding region.

PW: What else are you working on?

CC: I’m always making my video art and have a lot of live performances coming up. I compose all the sound and imagery for my “video compositions” and then perform them live through my DVD turntable in music venues, galleries, unsanctioned public spaces, etc….

To see more of Cristopher Cichocki’s work visit his website:

www.cristophersea.com

above: DESERT RESERVE below: AQUARIUM by Cristopher Cichocki

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Forget

art and words by

Jamais Vu

It’s an idyllic sort of state, I’ll forget my name if you forget yours, In agreement on a morning, We’ve forgotten who we are, Gentle curves on horizon, You mimic the hills in the distance, We are strangers in a strange land, I say hello and you reply in turn, Walking out of the graveyard, Where secrets are buried, And closeted skeletons lie in wait, You form a pathway pointed out, We walk past rows of wanted posters, The familiar faces yearning for recognition, But see, we continue, We’ve forgotten who we are, A crystal dew leaves you soaked to my touch, Lying in grass on a cold morning, As only the nameless can do, We keep warm in our embrace.

Deposited in a hidden cove, We let the sun rise, It feels good to not shy away, For right now I have no memory.

Hand in hand, Eye to eye, We form a pathway pointed up, We’ve forgotten who we are, Hallowed ground, This forgotten memory, Stores close in my heart, And the only interruption to myself.

Is the thought of remembering who we are.

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CULTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY

by

People think cultural photography happens elsewhere: travel to deep indigenous locations, rain forests, cultural hotspots. People want to go deep into the jungle to capture an indigenous tribe in its native mode, without any influence from modernity. This though is a naïve idea. I once went to see noted German scholar of American Studies, Udo Hebel. He talked about going deep into the jungles of Borneo to visit a remote tribe, seldom contacted by modern man. These are the people who had recently practiced head hunting and are considered as wild as people get. This was the real deal and he wanted to capture it on film. As they approached the village he moved to the front of

John Pinson

the canoe to capture the first view of this isolated tribe representing the most primitive state of human culture. As they came around the bend and the village came into view, the first villager to come out to greet them was wearing a red Chicago Bulls #23 jersey and addressed him in English.

Culture is what constructs who people are at the very fiber of their being. It permeates all experience and all understanding of the world around us. Culture is the fact that I brushed my teeth this morning and put on pants and then went to work at a computer and typed this in English. The cultural photographer needs to be aware of this in any “cultural” project. Culture is

Top photo: Lorene Sisquoc, Apache and Mountain Cahuilla helps a student finish a wicker basket. Hands of a master craftsperson are always an interesting photograph, even when it’s not practicing a real native art. Her hands are especially engaging. photo by John Pinson

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basically everything that is practiced by people, not a tradition fixed in stone and transferred without change. In one sense, when a cultural practice gets to the point of being a tradition, or something practiced for the sake of preserving it, it’s probably already functionally dead or in danger of becoming irrelevant.

Let’s consider this. McDonalds is an important American cultural product. Then again, would it be an interesting cultural photography project to take pictures of different McDonalds around the American west? Perhaps.

It might depend on a long versus short-term perspective.

The short view:

For example, most people would assume that it is an important cultural photograph to record the last person of a certain culture who still knows how to do something in the old way, for example Donna Largo, the “last Cahuilla basket weaver.” It was clear that someone had to record her technique before she became too old to pass on her knowledge. Capturing that knowledge in detail, like a thread going back from weaver to weaver to time immemorial, is clearly and obviously an important project.

In the short term, it is vital to record these dying cultural practices. On the other hand, perhaps it would be wiser to record these cultural practices while they are thriving, to capture the wide variety of its forms and all the different things that people actually do when they do what they do.

When people think cultural photography, they have a nostalgic image of culture. In fact, this may be the most pressingly important aspect of cultural photography in the short term. There are indigenous and “Do not just attempt to capture culture as it is old-fashioned cultural dying, but also capture the culture as it is, living practices disappearing breathing and practiced in the moment.” from use around us that can be preserved, sometimes at the very last moment before they are lost. Things that The long view: were done by our grandparents’ generation are Should we ignore contemporary cultural fading fast from memory and few in the younger practice until it is already functionally dead? generation think that these practices are valuable In the long term, few people can decide the to preserve. People consider most of these historical importance of contemporary cultural activities to be old fashioned or obsolete and practices. When inside of culture, one cannot could care less about their preservation. What look into the future and see what will be is lost, though, is a way of life that will very important or especially telling about a culture, soon fade into history without anyone having especially when it’s rapidly evolving. In this recognized its historical importance. This is way, it is the job of the cultural photographer to one of the jobs of the cultural photographer: to capture as much as possible. recognize vanishing and important historical Since Largo’s recent passing, a more cultural practices and record them before they historically interesting project may be recording are gone. the dissemination of her knowledge to a wider

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audience through her group Nex’wetem. After discovering that she was the last remaining Cahuilla basket weaver, she founded the group to spread her knowledge to others so that it wouldn’t die with her. Now a core group outside of the Cahuilla know the techniques of Cahuilla basket weaving. Among a certain circle, it has become a pastime, like knitting, that people have picked up. The skill has moved from the utilitarian purpose that it had many years ago for making vital storage containers. Now, people use Tupperware and various manufactured

containers, even for carrying their basket making supplies, but the basket making itself has entered a new realm. It is now part craft, part pastime, and on a certain level, an artistic practice that is accessible to anyone who is interested enough to look them up and attend the meetings.

These meetings have both adult basket weavers working with native materials and children working with wicker to start learning the basics of weaving, even many adults start off on the wicker to try something fun and quick.

This is culture as it happens in the present. Don’t ignore this in favor of the nostalgic view. Both will be equally important in the long run. Do not just attempt to capture culture as it is dying, but also capture the culture as it is, living breathing and practiced in the moment. If you see a cultural practice that is down to its last few practitioners, do photograph it in the highest quality, detailed and appealing way possible. At the same time, in the long term, society needs people to photograph it in its prime. The written descriptions always leave something out that was thought to be obvious or unimportant and video, even supposed “high definition” video, is too low resolution to capture all of the important details important for the future. PW

Top photo: False Colors, When photographed in false color, this pictograph from the California desert, sacred to the Mojave and Cahuilla, reveals details that are long since invisible due to time degradation. photo by John Pinson 14 • PLASTIC WATER

SUNRISE (Mojave Desert) mid 90s PLASTIC WATER • 15

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“It was a really good experience to be in Cambodia with a purpose, not just to be a tourist traveling around. We were there to perform.”

A once, quiet, local band from Los Angeles, California took their music to the local scene before going world wide with their band, Dengue Fever.

It appeared that Zac and Ethan Holtzman not only shared their family name, but they also shared a love for Cambodian 1960’s psychedelic rock.

They created music with rich sounds from 60’s and 70’s Cambodian Rock and Roll, and combined that with a dash of surf music, which brought together the sounds of their home state, California, and the sounds of their singer’s homeland, Cambodia.

Tina Bold: Tell us about the history of your band, Dengue Fever.

Ethan Holtzman: My brother and I were both just kind of randomly listening to Cambodian psychedelic records and I went to Southeast Asia in 1998 for six months to backpack around.

I’ve always been into music, so I was getting some instruments here and there, and picking up some cassette tapes and looking for vinyl. I didn’t see any, but yeah, in Cambodia, I stumbled across a really cool body of music that was created in the 1960’s and some early ‘70’s. I bought some tapes, and when I first actually heard the music, my friend was coming on with the first symptoms of Dengue Fever. He was up front in this truck that we were riding in sick with Dengue Fever, and I was in the back of the truck with all 100 people just

shaking my head saying, “How are you feeling? How are you feeling?” He was really ill, but the driver was listening to what turned out to be the inspiration for the band. Basically, that’s how the name came about.

We learned a few of these songs. You know, our first record paid homage to the musicians that perished during the Khmer Rouge because Pol Pot and his regime in Cambodia came in and if you were a musician or an artist or an actor or a doctor they basically killed you unless, you know, you kept it a secret from them.

TB: How is the reaction to the band’s name in Cambodia?

EH: Oh, you know that was kind of the only thing that threw them off. It was sort of like “why you call it Dengue Fever? That is bad!” But then I told them the story and they were like “Oh, okay.” You know, they understood.

At the time it was like, I don’t know, we all like the way the words “Dengue Fever” [sound] and the two words…seemed kinda cool, like not really like this disease that makes you sick and people die…. It was just this feeling and it reminded me of the time when I heard the music.

TB: How did you meet your singer, Ch’hom Nimol?

EH: I literally called 4-1-1 and found some restaurants and nightclubs that had live music and we went down there and started interviewing live vocalists.

We came across a club called “The Dragon House” which was sort of like the best one at the time.

And there was a singer on stage and that was the one.

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English, but eventually, she came to a rehearsal and it was a really good experience.

Now, it’s been three albums later and we just toured Europe for two months. We played with bands like Radiohead and then the Sex Pistols and just, you know, huge festivals that I never really imagined we would be a part of, so it’s really good.

TB: How did the communication come together as a band, are you bilingual, or multi-lingual? Or is there someone who helps you translate?

EH: Yeah, at first we had someone. Nimol had a friend who translated with her in the beginning. Now, she speaks English well enough to communicate. She has gotten a lot better, so now we are actually doing some songs in English and Kumai . . . . To have that option now is kind of a good thing because sometimes it is nice to hear how it sounds in the native tongue because these lyrics are ones we really want to get across to people.

But, yeah, there was a translator then because she could only say “Yes” and “Thank You” and we would ask a question like “can you go on tour for a week?” and she would say “Yes!” and “Thank You!” But, we never really knew because there were a lot of cultural differences and she was here, and you know, she was a Cambodian girl; she wasn’t Americanized at all.

TB: What is the recording history of Dengue Fever?

EH: The first record was primarily covers from the Cambodian psychedelic scene of the 1960s, and I don’t think we could have done it any other way because [of] Nimol not knowing English, and she knew all those songs anyway and so that was kind of our introduction.

The second album “Escape From Dragon House” was all original with only two covers on it, and the third album is all originals. So, I think we have kind of matured and discovered what kind of tones we like and just created space for each other to play . . . We have a little studio 18 • PLASTIC WATER

here in L.A. that we work out of…it’s nice to get a really nice delay petal and we have a Leslie. And me being the keyboard player is cool because we can get so many different sounds out of it.

TB: What went into the process of creating the documentary, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong.

EH: We called our friend, John Pirozzi, who is a director who is really into Cambodian rock and roll as well, and he’s doing a documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten – Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll* on the musicians from that era, and he was like “I’m going to be over there.”

We made some calls and next thing you know it was like “yeah, let’s do this!” It was a really good experience to be in Cambodia with a purpose, not just to be a tourist traveling around. We were there to perform. We played all these shows for free everywhere.

We performed on this really unique stage in the middle of a shantytown. And there were 800 or 900 villagers there and they were just tripping out on it. These are memories that we will never forget. We played on the Cambodian television network. Once we played on that, it was like, they aired it, and it was a 2hour episode. And they played it everyday, like 3 times.

We were there, so we were just like known everywhere we went in Cambodia. We would be 10 hours outside of the capital city and in the middle of a rice paddy and people would shout out, “DENGUE FEVER!” TB: What lies ahead for Dengue Fever?

EH: We have a song on True Blood, the HBO Series, and the episode is titled, “Escape from Dragon House”.

We are excited about that. We had a song on Jim Jarmusch’s film, Broken Flowers. We also have a track on the series, Weeds. And the documentary, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong is continuing to show at various theatres around the nation.

PW

More information about Dengue Fever at: www.denguefevermusic.com www.sleepwalkingthroughthemekong.com

More information about Cambodian Rock at: www.cambodianrock.com

*The director , John Pirozzi, of Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, is completing the production of a documentary titled: Don’t Think I’ve Forgotton – Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll. He has created music videos for Queens of the Stone Age, Calexico, Vic Chessnut, and Japanese Metal Band, Outrage. As a cinematographer he has numerous documentary credits including, Too Tough To Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone , and Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man.

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I have never found any single approach to art making that is as challenging, inspiring and surprisingly rewarding as collage. It is a deceptive medium, as it poses as a completely graphic twodimensional exercise when, in reality, collage is intensely sculptural and three-dimensional. Every step of the process demands cleanliness, careful focus, and attention to detail.

Collage is fickle. It is laborious, tedious and far too easy to ruin. I love it; it loves back. The work’s weight and substance needs to be anchored to the world in order to speak to its viewers. When someone stands in front of artwork, they usually ask themselves, “What does this mean?” If an answer cannot be ascertained, they tend to come away dissatisfied. They will think, “I didn’t get it; it’s not for me.”

I work to make pieces that are impossible to memorize- impossible to absorb in one pass. If I succeed, you won’t be able to forget them, but you can’t really describe them either. The art will stick to your ribs.

- Cade Fall

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Defective and Neglected Parts by E. Maggard Eyes are twitchy.

They beg me for something else to look at.

Soon, I tell them. Soon.

They don’t really believe me, but they’ll humor me for now, and allow me a vision.

Hands, so shaky.

They dry themselves and crack in protest of the injustices done to them: too much work- not enough frolicno extra upkeep to maintain their youthful appearance.

I promise them a coat of lime green nail polish, give their nails some pizzazz.

Hands say they’ll hold me to it.

Legs, they grow a-weary, and they begin to trudge, threatening not to take any more steps, telling me to sit down.

No, I tell them sternly.

Have you gone soft?

You are twenty six years old.

You have never run a marathon, or had a child.

You are my reliable source of transportation.

Haven’t we been through a lot together?

You are not quitting now. Go. They look ashamed, and then step up the pace.

That’s better.

Back whines, Head screams, Feet mumble.

A mess of defective and neglected parts.

It’s all one general complaint.

I keep going with a system of rebuke and promise.

I wonder, if someday, I will have to sit down in little dark room, just me-no one else, and deal with all the voices in an organized manner.

File all the complaints, take notesActively listen to each grievance until I discoverwhat is truly wrong with me.

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Sad Serenade

by Greg Emilio

Where is the heart that weighs heavy as moonstone in a fragile, unlit ether?

It is in my chest.

Where is the song to pierce the night in flourishes like sequins on a black dress?

Perhaps, it is here.

Where is the woman who wears the black dress with blue eyes like flourishes of moonstone?

She is elsewhere.

Where is the distance of desire relieved, lapsed; when the moment cradled like two lovers clasped after love?

Perhaps, it is nowhere; it never is.

Where are you now, blue eyes, with whom I coalesced so many moments to stardust; sundered the moon

Into sequins, then clasped in sleep?

You are enclosed, muse-like, in the moonstone of my heart; in the blue-dark of nights.

Perhaps, tonight, you’ll hear this

Then transcend the moon-shattered ether, beyond the black dress; inspire again the star-like flourishes of longing, and thus:

Redeem the soft-sung weight in my chest.

Alex Greenburg PLASTIC WATER • 27

by David Sakover

If I could fast-forward my life twenty years from now and look back at my place of being, present life--2009 in Buenos Aires--I would not remember Spanish and Argentine monuments, the food, the absence of traffic laws and the gas-lamp glow of a city that has not comodified the arts in such a way as the first-world life I was previously accustomed to before living here. I would remember the personality of a neighborhood that has not changed much in the last fifty years, tranquility, stories from people who have experienced dictatorship--a strong-willed people with original intelligence and artistic expression. Modern Argentine culture and art is reflective of the personalities that have passionately melded its unique thread into the creative fabric of South America. If I could look back on my life right now, I would remember the people and artists who have opened my mind to a world of honest creative expression.

Three artists within this article exhibit three different perspectives of Buenos Aires art. They represent different backgrounds, ages, and explore different styles of art, but all share a similar passion for their work.

I met Marcos Torino, “son of Italians,” through a friend. His love for abstract art breathes geometrical shapes and bright colors using a simplistic fiber that is reflective of his love for the nature of country life. Finding influence in Russian Constructivism, Marcos combines the shapes and colors of not only Buenos Aries, but of the larger world in which he has travelled, giving each painting something new and uniquely expressive of how he perceives his life and culture.

Moris Argent is probably one of the most interesting people I have met in Buenos Aires. Born in Uruguay in 1942, Moris came to Buenos Aires at an early age to later become the founding member of a garage rock outfit called Los Beatniks, who were the first symbol of Argentine national rock. Throughout the late 60`s and early 70`s, Moris redefined how Argentine music was seen in the world with his own brand of psychedelia. He remains one of the most well respected song writers in modern Argentine rock music and states that his style is a mixture that draws from a wide range of sources: “I am a son of bossa nova, jazz, Louis Armstrong, tango, Carlos Gardel, European influences, France, Spain…Buenos Aires is a port town like New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco…with all the sailors and ships who have came from other countries…this has influence in my music and my ears…I am all that.” With his “Porno Politic Pop,” which is Moris’ unique form of collage art, he combines sexually explicit iconography and symbols of pop culture to explicitly tell a story that he feels musically: “words are not enough for transmitting experience or sensations.” His “Porno Politic Pop” provocatively transmits those experiences and sensations.

Lastly, Sofia Burló, 26 year-old architect, photographer and painter, was born in Buenos Aires in 1982. She shares her view of the world around her through photography. Sofia finds beauty in unconventionality: “When you take something out of its context and put a frame on it, the object or image transforms itself and becomes something else…something new.” She can find beauty not only in repetition of buildings, surfaces and objects, but in people, landscapes and space. A majority of her influence lies within objects and actions that lay unseen in everyday life.

While most artists look outward for inspiration, she finds inspiration in unique places, people and objects.

In these interviews I am simply documenting these artists. It is not my intention to make any political point or to paint a fantastical picture of South American art. Although these artists all have different artistic styles, histories, ages, characteristics, interpretations of their city and life, they all share a sense of individualism in making sincere artistic contributions to the representation of modern art in the Americas. When I look back twenty years from now, I will remember these three artists that have shown me Buenos Aires, now, in a different illumination.

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Agosto de 2009.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Marcos Torino Painter

are art for art, music for music, sculpture to sculpture. For my art I find influences in visual artists, of course, from old and new. I study a lot abstract art, Kandinsky, Russian Constructivism – the study of shape and color.

Travel. I travel a lot around the world. When you arrive at a new place in the world you experience the food, structures and the touch of that place.

Traveling opens your mind and I love being in the world. Egypt. When I was fourteen I remember going during the Menem era (Argentine President, 1989-1999 when the Argentine peso was 1 peso 1 U$D), which had a profound effect on me. When you leave to another place and return you are never the same person.

Introduce yourself, your age, nationality, where you were born and your background.

Hello, my name is Marcos Torino, I’m 25 years old and I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Capital.

I am a visual artist and I’ve been painting since I was young…since always. I started paintied more seriously five years ago. Now I am full time. I have another job to make money, but, still, I am full-time.

Tell me about your background and balancing art and work. At what age did you find conflict between balancing what you love to do and what you have to do to financially survive?

Since always, when I finished school at eighteen and was painting a lot during those days, I started studying graphic design at the same time, and I continued painting, but in a small room in my house – just for me. When the graphic design study became troubled, I felt happier painting. I use to see the problem between the context of having a degree and having university training for art. I never went to Art University.

So you never went to Art University?

Never. Here, you can choose between art university, that is about seven years, more academic, lot of working, all styles; or you can choose a specific artist that you like to work with a few years, which allows you choose your own way. I decided that.

Influences. Tell me a little bit about your influences.

I have a lot of influences. I don’t think influences

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Then I get influence from my city, from my partners and friends, from people who I paint with in my studio. My studio is a place where a lot of different artists paint (4 to a room).

Tell me how Buenos Aires has an influence on your art. Talk about the involvement between the building stuctures, light, and shape in your work.

Buenos Aires is a cosmopolitan city where you can find different colors, shapes. You know..you can find a white modern building with little windows between a classic European building and a Jewish building.

Talk about your studio and what barrio we are currently in.

This is a studio in Barrio Once (Buenos Aires, Capital). It’s been an old house…maybe fifty years... of being a studio for art…many great Argentine artists have studied here. Famous artists.

How many artists paint here?

Right now there are more or less twenty artists currently at this studio. There are five or six rooms.

There are people that come once a week and some people that almost live here.

Does creating art at your studio, specifically with this community, have an influence on your work?

Yes, not just pictorial influence…thinking and living influence. You can talk about things with people that are in the same travels as you. If you are all day painting alone in your little apartment and go to bed in the same apartment… you can go mad.

Talk about things that counter and create an abstract tension within your art.

I study intentional involvement of tension – some more and some less…I try to get that tension with color or shape or shadows and absence of realism.

That is a tension that I think is something positive or negative, but I think it is something that reflects our life.

will be able to choose the music before you get into the environment. You will enter the box with three people and dance one song. It represents a context of escaping a reality for one song. You escape into an intimate dark place. Nowadays art is not just you are an artist, painter, sculpture or musician. Art is much more open…thank god..

Can you give a specific piece as an example?

No. It is the general sense of spontaneous use of color and shape.

What freedom do you find in abstract art and the infiniteness?

Abstract is huge and you choose the direction you move. I choose the direction of bright colors with involvement of shapes and contrasts to try to create a positive. More positive or negative…no?.. I am not trying to create anything world-changing. I try to make something that goes up.

You have been selected for an all expense paid drinking binge with your favorite artist and musician. Who would they be and why?

For sure I would drink a Fernet with cola…it’s a drink with Italian beginnings but it is very popular drink in Argentina because we are all sons of Italians….I think I would like to have drinks of with Miguel Abuelo… who is...who was one of the greatest singers of a band here Los Abuelos Arenal….If I had to choose another from the world artist it would have to be another dead man…Kandinsky..to talk to him and the three of us would be there having drinks and talking…good fun.

Tell me about the younger generation of artists now in Buenos Aires.

Art is here now in Buenos Aires, I myself am my way and my art is South American art style and something that I have my own. I am from here and I live here.

It is something that I like and it is something that is getting bigger. It is something that I support in my head and my heart…you know? It is something that started 70 years ago here….it is something that has started and that I`m involved in. I am in the present now and the new generation and am going to the future…forward…you know?

Info:

www.marcostorino.com

Tell me about some upcoming installations…The future?

I am working on an installation that will be in a gallery. I am constructing a black box of 3 x 3 meters where you will enter and have little light and an intimate climate. Before getting into the box you PLASTIC WATER • 31

Sofia Burló

Photographer/Architect/Painter

When did you first fall in love with photography and why?

The camera was included in a series of items I discovered lost in a closet around the same time. Along with the camera, years ago, I found a guitar and a video camera. The only one that had a future was the camera because I abandoned the rest. I fell in love with this treasure that I found, which was an old Olympus that my dad had owned when he was 18. It is not a very good camera but has so much sentimental value.

Talk about what inspires you and what is a primary subject of your work.

I like taking pictures of textures and things that specifically, when you put an individual view and perspective on the subject, you are able to take it out of its context and it means something else. When you take something out of its context and put a frame on it, the object or image transforms itself and becomes something else…something new.

What kind of camera do you prefer to shoot with?

There are both limitations and benefits with analogous cameras and digital cameras. The reflex camera makes each a premeditative and unique exposure. The quality is different and better than what you can perceive with your eyes. The digital gives you spontaneity and dynamic photos.

Do you believe Argentine culture, ideology, history of feminism, or art affect you as an artist?

What affects me is culture in general…not specifically Argentine culture. The things that we lose everyday or the things that we do not catch in the everyday nature of life, for example, when I use repetition, the thing that most catches my eye is consumerism. When an 32 • PLASTIC WATER

object is repeated it creates an idea of necessity. It is for you and everybody else…it loses the special effect of individualism. It takes individuality away. The “necessity effect” that is created when multiplying an object is the idea that everybody must obtain the exact same object because someone else has the same object.

I like taking a picture that captures and represents a unique moment in space and time…Something that should not be lost. For example, a tradition that I see... something that we lose in the modern world…I like catching a specific moment in someone’s life that represents their style of life. Lastly, I like capturing corners or repetitions that nobody is paying attention to.

You are also an architect; compare the limitations or freedoms that you find between photography and the design nature of your profession.

It is difficult to compare two art forms. The main differences are the tools that you use for each art form.

When you take a picture you use your imagination to see something special…something different or a general view that can be appreciated from a different perspective and point of view. The limitations are that you are limited by reality and what already exists. With architecture everything comes out of your brain…you imagine everything…you see buildings where there are not…you see objects where there is nothing…you have to make that real.

If you could have drinks with one writer, musician and artist, who would they be and why?

Writer, I choose Capote because I like his eccentricity…I like eccentricity…I like when a person can be different and be comfortable being different.

One painter…Van Gogh because he was crazy… haha…craziness has always been tempting…his art is so magnificent because he had such a unique way of seeing things…Musician…John Lennon. He was innovative and changed so much with his ideas….his freedom and message of peace.

If you could back in the next life what would it be?

Wind because it makes so many things alive. The wind moves from the branches of a tree and can make the leaves vibrate and the same wind can then move so freely through the hair of a person, invoking a similar movement. (continued on page 46)

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America. Consumerism. Iconic Imagery. Marketing. These are powerful ideas as well as lived realities. It is difficult to imagine any one of these concepts without thinking of the others. These things prevail over and permeate into our lives, and it’s easy to lose sight of where the ideals end and our existence as individuals living in a slogan and billboard infested country begins. To what degree do we govern our own lives and when do we just acquiesce and simply OBEY? Equally potent is the idea of Patriotism. Can American patriotism become the result of marketing and trends? Is patriotism something quantifiable, and if so, who tells us how patriotic we are or aren’t? Is it more patriotic to fly a flag made in the states than refuse to fly one because it’s shipped here from Taiwan or China? Which is more patriotic, to question the powers that be or to put complete trust in democratically elected leaders to uphold the rights of their constituencies? Most importantly, where do we as artists fit into the equation?

When you’re talking about artists with regard to marketing, consumerism, branding and politics, it’s kinda hard nowadays not to think of Shepard Fairey.

His work and career have been exactly that, the marketing of a brand for mass consumption and political endeavors. Like a lot of people, when they rise to the height of their popularity, Fairey has come under criticism by many. By and large, the loudest voice against him has been that of a local Los Angeles legend: The Phantom Street Artist.

On August of 2009, Plastic Water interviewed “El Phantom”(aka Joey Krebs) to get a little insight into some of the questions he’s been asking about Shepard Fairey and to hear about a very special challenge he’s issued the notoriously famous graphic designer. Both artists freely introduce themselves as “Street Artists” and have devoted their careers to addressing social issues and presenting them through, very different, very public avenues. The Phantom Street Artist was made famous by the iconic image he created for Rage Against The Machine’s album “The Battle of Los Angeles.” Shepard Fairey, on the other hand, is now commonly known for his infamous Obama HOPE poster. His OBEY brand and the many works he bestows it upon are being criticized by Krebs and others for a variety of reasons, the foremost being Fairey’s use of other artist’s imagery in his work and his unwillingness to credit those artists.

Like a true street artist, The Phantom has called Shepard Fairey out and asked him to explain himself. Moreover, he’s challenged Fairey to a duel, a call that, to date, has been left unanswered.

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C. Fall: At what point in Shepard Fairey’s career did it come to your attention that he had misused the work of other artists and when did you decideto challenge him to a cage fight?

Joey Krebs- The Phantom Street Artist: I have been aware of, and actively reviewing, the work of Shepard Fairey for some time. More importantly, a collective community of many has been witness to his blatant violations. There is a strong organic movement which is devoted to unveiling individuals like, the con-artist Shepard Fairey, who are exploitative in their fundamental practice of presenting themselves as Leftist, Politically Correct Artists, when in fact, he represents a post-colonial, capitalist merchant who has exploited working class photographers, artists, third world cultures as well as important revolutionary movements and authors, violating a decade of copyright laws and laughing all the way to the bank.

This is an important critical issue to address and understand as Fairey is operating as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, presenting himself as a Street Artist who is citing Creative Commons when in fact he is hiding

unlikely he will accept your challenge. That said, why bother? Why challenge him to a “duel” of sorts in this day and age?

JK: Shepard will feign illness when he needs to and pilfer people’s livelihood with a healthy vigor, people such as Reuters photographer Ed Nachtrieb, Rene Medieros, even The Black Panther party. He robs the estates of dead artists and revolutionaries, knowing he will meet little or no resistance from the families of the original artists. ESTATE RENE MEDIEROS AND BLAC CF: You stated over the radio on POCHO HOUR OF POWER (KPFK 90.7fm Los Angeles) that you were planning on wearing a Jack-In-TheBox head in the ring. Is there an added layer of symbolic meaning to that as well? After all, “Jack” is a highly recognizable image of pop culture and fast food. How does he relate to Sheppard Fairey?

JK: Jack’d in Da Hood is a message of parody and subversive artist. We choose [to] take back our culture with a work, which challenges authorship and ownership by giving credit where credit is due.

CF: If (SF) spent the rest of his career making the same “Cheap gimmickry and novelty sells in America. type of imagery and continuing to present himself as “the Fashion people will always have a market.” godfather of street art” but never used another artist’s under the umbrella of Fair Use. The artist says he images to do so, would you still have a problem is defending artists everywhere when he is only with him, his art, or his career?

JK: The perfect word to define Shepard Fairey’s protecting his assets from other potential lawsuits. work is novelty. The word novelty is derived from CF: Challenging Shepard Fairey to a physical Latin word novem as the appearance of the “new,” battle in a cage, which is set up in an art gallery, although in my view the term is pejorative where in inarguably, is a symbolic gesture. What does the reality the quality is anything but representative of gesture of the challenge mean to you? What will being new. The Art of Novelty satisfies a merchandise it mean if he accepts the challenge, and what market value to the general public in which the work deeper meaning do you think can potentially arise is vacuous, empty, lifted and trendy. from the two of you actually going through with it in front of an audience of street artists and art The logic of capitalist expansion seems to preclude connoisseurs? any other option; everything that has the faintest JK: …the recent Twenty-year Retrospective at the smack of originality or authenticity is almost Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston on February immediately integrated into the field of commodity. th 6 , 2009 is conjured and a sham. This is a reputable museum, which has chosen to support over a decade The work, which I present, challenges Fairey’s illof Fairey’s unapologetic, infringed actions without fated stab at retaining authenticity in the market, calling into question the true authority of its sources which operate[s] under the auspice of speculation. In the market where the consumer is constantly being or its proper credit. consumed, authenticity is defended by our proposed, CF: Knowing that (SF) is severely diabetic, there contested reality of authorship and ownership. has to be some part of you that knows it is highly We thereby challenge the hegemonic other which 40 • PLASTIC WATER

Fairey represents as a so-called great political thinker.

He has retained public relations firm and his publicists to establish this phony novelty act, which we parody through mimetic means. Our expression and its concepts, in turn, become contest by forcing the rhetorical debate from all who encounter its value. The question we address is: “What is of value, the original or its copy of its copy?” I feel that this project work calls into question the value of a collective group, which stands united against Shepard Fairey.

CF: Can you give us one example of an artist, whom you know personally, that has been a victim of Fairey’s practices?

JK: I can give plenty but the first one that comes to mind is Ed Nachtrieb. He is a working-class artist and photographer who was employed by Reuters in China.

Twenty years ago, he was in China chronicling the student uprisings as well as documenting the day-today life in the land of the Sleeping Giant, China. He shared how recently, by chance; he came across a highly promoted work that Fairey had produced where the subject of the Chinese soldiers looked very familiar to his own work. After double-checking his archives, sure enough, Ed discovered the photograph was his own.

Shepard Fairey meanwhile has gone on to create multiple copies of the referenced work, selling the original for thousands of dollars, exhibiting the work all over the world, as well as receiving international recognition for the infringed work of art. Fairey cites fair use but this practice of producing multiples is a pilfering exploitation of the original and its author.

CF: The Huffington Post announced, in February 09’, that Shepard Fairey was “arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti” while he was on his way to a kick-off event for his Boston solo exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

The HP also noted that he had been in Boston for two weeks installing the exhibit and creating “outdoor art” which included “a 20-by-50 foot banner on the side of city hall.” What does the arrest say about (SF) relative to him being an “authentic street artist” and what do these events say about the role of the street artist? It’s kind of funny that an artist of any kind can hang his work on the side of city hall while there are warrants out for his arrest in that city. What does this tell us about art and politics?

JK: Hypocrisy offends everyone and that is what the underground has been saying for years. Money, position, a publicist, power and a show at Merry Karnowsky does not translate into culture value, …[neither does] the reality that Fairey has manufactured his persona and stolen every ideological point-of-view and perspective in town. The reality is that he has been revealed and he is no longer relevant.

(Maybe he should seriously consider a new career of being a “DJ” at hipster parties.

Shepard Fairey not only ripped off the AP for the Obama campaign but he ripped off Reuters Ed Nachtrieb photos of the 2 Chinese soldiers. Sadly Nachtrieb could do nothing to properly be credited or given just compensation. Anthony Falzone the lawyer who legally represents Shepard Fairey in a lawsuit with the Associated Press feels that, “The point of copyright is not to reward creators; the point is to encourage creativity and new expression. He adds Fair Use is NOT limited to just parody/satire as you can borrow copyrighted works to tell a larger story.”

Well this larger story reveals Injustice Inequality and a Poseur???)

(continued on page 44)

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Untitled, Acrylic on wood.

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(continued from page 41) With respect to the valued shareware movement, which encourages and enables free expression

and broader cultural engagement, the Free Share Information is a movement to promote free expression and innovation in online sectors. Shepard Fairey is mistakenly not a part of this creative commons movement as

he obviously bought his way into the middle of this movement by retaining Falzone and subverting his interest only to protect his personal profits and assets as liability.

In clarity, Fairey appropriates other people’s works to advance only his economic interest.

He hides behind a legitimate movement when he does not even work in the online medium as a movement but in static prints and paintings as a manipulative, propaganda, rhetorical stance. He has NEVER cited Fair Use until only recently when he was represented and affiliated with Anthony Falzone and the creative commons movement.

CF: What would you say to a person on the street that claimed to be a huge fan of Fairey’s?

JK: Educate yourself in understanding the subtlety of how your voice, your expression and your rights are being violated by those who are gratuitous and privileged elitists.

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CF: What are your thoughts and feelings towards the hundreds of thousands of people, who buy his work, wear his clothes, sport his decals and generally believe he is an authentic street artist?

JK: Cheap gimmickry and novelty sells in America. Fashion people will always have a market.

CF: If the public at large knew everything (SF) had done, with regard to his use of other artist’s work and iconic imagery, and they all sort of decided that that was OK; what would that mean for the future of art?

I mean, what do you think the world would be like if everything was up for grabs and the artist was free to use any imagery he found online, no questions asked?

JK: Fairey’s blatant infringed actions of exploiting the work of artists and their respective movements are symptomatic of the larger problem with Media in our society today. …Publicists will serve Fairey’s relentless self-promotion at any cost in his attempt to achieve legitimate cultural recognition. Like a Snake that eats his tail, Fairey steals culture from his community! PW Info: http://disobeyduhfairey.vox.com http://youtube.com/watch?v=pDUzLe6-YVk&fmt=18 and… http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

There are many reasons...

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(continued from page 32)

Moris Argent Artist/Musician

of Elton John. The American Flag and this is a famous building here in Buenos Aires that is similar to the Empire State.

Tell me what it means to you to be American.

I belong to America in every aspect. The music I make is very influenced by America, not only North America but Mexico, Cuba, Brazil…all of this that is America, including Argentina. I am a son of all this.

What kind of freedom or limitations do you associate with creating visual art as opposed to creating music?

I find limitations in the music, sometimes, because words…they told me…why do you do this? Because words are not enough for transmitting experience or sensations...the music...yes...but there are too many musicians...too much music. I look at the Rolling Stones and open it up and see Tenacious D…so I see two guys one bald with beard and the other is …’ahhhhhhhhhhhh’…on another page there is another musician. In one magazine there are twenty different musicians...so I think that there is a saturation of music.

Look at this piece…there is a man with an English flag and he is having fellacio with a girl. I cannot do this in music. I am remixing what I see today…my friends say, “you are not Leonardo DaVinci, you are not Picasso or Monet…you are not a painter.” I am not a painter… maybe I draw…but I make collage. I make collage.

Tell me about your collage art.

I do collage because in the collage I can put ten different things. For example, Elton John with the English Flag, The Nazi symbol in pink, the Falkland Islands, Empire State. I consider it a little story…if I make a drawing for example, (Moris refers, with much passion to a collage piece that is in the corner of his apartment wall) this is a story of Elton John, I suppose he is singing to this girl.

The girl is having sexual intercourse with this chap…I am against war and that is why I have the Falklands…

Argentina…we lost a lot of guys and England too lost many men also. I am against war. We also have the Empire state or something similar and another photo 46 • PLASTIC WATER

I was born in Uruguay, a very poor country. I went to school in Argentina and I lived under dictatorships…. my country has suffered much from many years of dictatorship and without democracy. This has made me…made us hard…in the times of military regiments we are speaking very clear… (Moris goes to the door to reenact a loud military knock on the door. He shouts in the tone that he had heard when younger.) WE WERE UNDER MILITARY DICTATORSHIPS MY FRIEND. The military, I think, in all countries are the same…I don’t think that any country is better or worse…but I am a son of all that…I am a son of bossa nova, jazz, Louis Armstrong, tango, Carlos Gardel, European influences, France, Spain…Buenos Aires is a port town like New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco…with all the sailors and ships who have came from other countries…this has influence in my music and my ears…I am all that.

When did you first realize you were an artist?

When I got on the stage and started singing and people said…ok…from that moment I realized I had an art that could be put on the stage; people could like it or don’t like it…I didn’t care. I think in my case the entertainer and the artist are very near. I like to entertain. I have always this double way of getting to people. “Alright goodnight everyone…have fun the world is a big sin!” and people would start laughing…because my influence is also the Greek theater…the laughter and truth…so in my case I take influence in a very old art. So in reality I do art in an old way. 5000 years ago in Spain, people would paint with nothing…their hands…they put black and make a bull fighting…I see this and if these people thousands of years ago can do art and paint their times…this influenced us to paint our times…I try to do something new. In reference to now, I think we are the sons of the A-Bomb.

In 1945, when the Nazis were in a point of no return because people in the world were unsure if Nazis would win the war…the A-Bomb made a mark in History… from this point the world was never the same.

When you learned how to interpret laughter and pain, was this when you realized you were an artist?

Yes, when you can manage saying something serious, harsh and vulgar. I think art can be amazing, bring pleasure, be nice and decorating, but art has to picture reality.

If you had an all expense paid drinking binge with one artist, writer and musician who would they be and why?

I would choose Beethoven, because of the 5th symphony, great talent and his great love for music…he was a very capricious man. For art I would like to sit down with Leonardo Da Vinci because he was a great drawer but more importantly he had a great inventive mind. Lastly, I would like to sit down with Thomas Edison because he eliminated humans. That is very big.

If it wasn’t for him we would be using candles. He was a genius…So Beethoven, Da Vinci and Thomas Edison.

Talk about your latest series of work and what are you trying to express.

I say like Stravinsky, “I am not trying to express myself…my feelings, my emotions or what I think of the world…” I will show you one (from a huge pile of pieces that he has stored away he pulls out a 8x11 collage piece)…I am not trying to express myself…I am just showing what could be the future of entertainment…two guys naked on a huge marquee overlooking the city...I think they are from Finland… playing at Luna Park (a big venue, much like Madison Square Garden, in downtown Buenos Aires) I am just offering something…you can take it as you want.

Do you feel the same creative feeling when creating art opposed to music?

No…with art there are right angles, curves, alignment.

Music is more direct…so it is a different kind of art.

Playing the piano and having beer with friends…very different then being alone with your art. This is a lonely art for me compared to music.

Do you believe that Argentine art, culture, history and ideology affect you as an artist, or do you believe that nationality is only a classification?

I believe Argentinean culture has affected me in many ways. Nationalism is not a concept that we embrace…we are a mix of different cultures. Barack Obama or Clinton appears with the American flag and it means something different than here. People say, “okay…If I appeared with the Argentine Flag here…people would kill me.” The American Flag means country, his pride, his culture…they are represented by that. Maybe you know better than me.

For us…no. The flag means police, military, lawyers, taxes…I will remember a phrase I heard a long time ago in London…I was with a friend having a coffee…we were not close friends…”right or wrong…my country” What was this guy was trying to say to me? Then he stood up and starting singing the national song and everyone in the bar started singing it too. We don’t have that here.

If you could come back in the next life what would you be?

If I could come back in the next life, I would come back as an alpinist. It is healthy and not intellectual…I suppose and besides…I will tell you why…I was friends with a man who was an alpinist…that climbed to a very high mountain here in Los Andes… (7000 meters) so I asked him, “did you climb alone?” He said, ”yes.” “What did you experience when you were up there alone?” and he said, “I cried...and...I cried about ten minutes…then …and then I went back down because the wind was about 150km an hour.” I said, “how great that a man (30 years alone) can climb that big mountain.” I asked him, “did you have many problems?” and he said, “yes…I had 7000 problems…. every meter was a problem… ‘cada metro una problema.’”

He was a great man. PW PLASTIC WATER • 47

by Tomas Moreno 48 • PLASTIC WATER

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