MELISSALAND

Nice ad Intel!

Read more about Intel’s new campaign here

Tomas Truax - The Butterfly and the Entomologist mp3

Out on the road I met a butterfly
She had a fantastic wingspan, almost two feet wide
She’d recently been injured and she could not fly
So she asked me if she could bum a ride
In the old shell of her chrysalis she carried her things
She tossed it in the back and stretched her beautiful wings
She sat there next to me with her front legs on the dashboard
Those wings folded behind her and her little head cocked forward
She told me her story, a price was on her head
This bastard entomologist pursued her live or dead
He’d vowed to hunt her down as there was a large reward
He’d captured her and drugged her and nailed her to a board
Her escape was narrow, she’d torn through her own wing
She saw my look of horror and she started to sing
“I’m going to a no man’s land Because men and violence are intertwined”
Well, I see, I said.
But not all men are violent
I’m not a violent man myself
She laughed and said try not to get too attached to me
‘Cause soon I will be well and I will fly away from thee
One night when we had stopped into a diner for a meal
She laughed and laughed about the plastic flowers on the tables
I started seeing through her eyes the passing desert scenery
She watched the birds and tumbleweeds
With fondness and with envy
We came across some sad road kill, a beautiful coyote
She sighed her butterfly sigh and once again sang softly:
“I’m going to a no man’s land Because men and violence are intertwined”
Next morning as I came out of a Texaco station,
I saw she wasn’t at the car, and I figured she had run
Then I heard her high squeal and I heard his low laughter
“You’ll never out run me” he said, “you are the girl I’m after.”
I chased down the sound to the side of the station,
She was cornered between the wall and a soda machine
I moved as if by instinct, I did it without thought
I clipped him and I kicked him
And I grabbed him ’round the throat
I pinned him to the wall and his eyes were bulging wide
I said if there’s a next time I will see YOU crucified
With this I released him and he crumpled to the ground
The butterfly was gone again when I turned around
But then her little song drew our attention to the sky
Though with a certain lack of grace she had begun to fly
That was the last I saw of her, she never said goodbye
She just flapped off and disappeared
While singing with a sigh
“I’m going to a no man’s land Because men and violence are intertwined”

- Lyrics by Thomas Truax

This song is incredible. I want to buy every single one of his albums. (This track is off of Audio Addiction, which I can’t seem to find for sale any longer).

Truax has a brand new album based on songs from David Lynch films….I am ordering it this week.

More info: http://www.thomastruax.com/

(photo by: Ellen Rogers)

Just finished this full page ad for Mercantile magazine:

Our next two shows in June - Group show at the painting gallery (I used one of Bill Sullivan’s paintings from his Hudson Tattoo series for the ad) and the big David Halliday exhibit at the Photo gallery.

Now to finish some others……

I just finished the design for an advertisment for the 13 galleries on Warren Street in Hudson. I will probably use this as the template for the new rack card design as well…..I think I like the way it came out.

Still have to do the design for a full page ad for our gallery and need to finish the project for the Hudson Supermarket. They are in the process of completing their fabulous new look, complete with new cafe and everything. Very exciting (And finally new choices for lunch in town. Yay!)

anyway, more soon……

I’ve just signed the gallery up to host RIP: A Remix Manifesto. It is an open-source documentary about copyright and remix culture and looks like a great film.

The gallery will be hosting this film on Friday, June 12 @ 7PM. I’ll probably be working on adding other related content/speakers/music to the event throughout the next few weeks. If you’ve got any suggestions or ideas please let me know!

From the RIP website:

In RiP: A remix manifesto, Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and shattering the wall between users and producers.

The film’s central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. But is Girl Talk a paragon of people power or the Pied Piper of piracy? Creative Commons founder, Lawrence Lessig, Brazil’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil and pop culture critic Cory Doctorow are also along for the ride.

A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film. With RiP: A remix manifesto, Gaylor and Girl Talk sound an urgent alarm and draw the lines of battle.

Which side of the ideas war are you on?

—–

More info about the screening on June 12th here:

http://www.ripremix.com/2009/05/05/carrie-haddad-photographs/

French filmmaker Cyprian Gaillard collaborated with composer and former opera singer Koudlam to make Desniansky Raion (currently showing at the New Museum in their exhibit, Younger than Jesus)

The video above shows one of three parts of the film:

“The first section of the video shows a pitched battle between two hooligan gangs on the parking lot of a housing project in the suburbs of Saint Petersburg, filmed from a neighbouring building. Blues against reds, some wearing white gloves, the two compact groups move forward in an organized manner, then dismantle under shock before regrouping for a new assault. Calling to mind a battle scene in a medieval fresco or a classical painting, the outburst of violence, both savage and codified, is as repulsive as fascinating” (source)

I’ve never been in the middle of any sort of battle or fight but I can imagine, in some way, a sort of strange intoxication surrounding the scene - the rushing of bodies, of blood, thoughts…..

It reminds me of a quote by Elias Cannetti from the book Crowds and Power:

“There is nothing that man fears more than the touch of the unknown…It is only in a crowd that man can become free of this fear of being touched. That is the only situation in which the fear changes into its opposite….Suddenly it is as though everything were happening in one and the same body…..the feeling of relief is most striking where the density of the crowd is greatest.”

Right now I want to walk through a crowded New York City street. Stand one in fifty aboard some packed subway car, catch a strangers eye. Brush up against others. Be pushed gently.

We all want to feel alive.

“See You All” by Koudlam (right click -> ’save as’ to download)

Carrie gave a talk at the gallery yesterday on Collecting Photography….

Thanks to everyone who came out for the talk. We hope to have more events, talks and lectures this summer!

(all photos by Johannes Courtens)

I once ran out and bought the perfume Noa by Cacharel after seeing its commercial (which sadly I cannot find online anymore, or else I would share it). Since I cannot smell, this is the sort of thing I base my choice of perfume on….the visual cues (and Noa had some fabulous packaging in my opinion. Unfortunately after buying it, I was told by a friend that it smelled like ‘old lady’)

Anyway, today I saw online the commercial for the new Gucci perfume, Flora. The commercial was surprisingly directed by Chris Cunningham (who has directed well known music videos for the likes of Bjork & Apex Twin)

I have to say……

……I’m sold.

With Donna Summer’s eerie new recording of “I Feel Love”  and the sweeping 20,000 fake flowers, I think Cunningham + Gucci have done well.

I’m definitely feeling some love for this ad.

All photos by Johannes Courtens. Exhibit is up through May 24……also some wonderful photos that I adore by Chad Kleitsch on view in the back:

I want to buy this one.

I can’t wait to sleep tonight.

New exhibit opens Friday