Rusty Scruby

Rusty Scruby is one of my favorite Texas artists and I have had the honor of knowing him for the last few years. The first video is a trailer to a documentary about him; kind of an introduction to his work...
But the second video is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen... I am an artist who also spends hundreds of hours on a single piece, so I completely empathize with the devastation he might have felt after having years worth of his hand-crafted meticulous work stolen by people who obviously would have preferred to have stolen a truck load of crappy Wal-Mart furniture.

Update: http://www.rustyscruby.com/index.html

Knuffingen Airport: The world's smallest airport

It's hard to believe that this entire thing is only a small model of an airport and not the real thing.

Miles Davis Quintet - 1967 - Footprints

The classic quintet, one of my favorite periods of Miles Davis' music with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams... It is very abstract music, but is still completely acoustic with none of the electronics, effects and distortion of his Bitches Brew era music just one or two years later (which I also love.)

It's all my fault

Matthew Collings :: This Is Modern Art

When I was just beginning as a graduate art student in the late 1990's at the University of North Texas, the school hosted a lecture by the visiting art critic, Matthew Collings. I had never heard of him at the time, but because I worked as an art installer at the campus gallery, the gallery director asked as a favor for him to do a personal studio visit with me. I think if I had actually realized at the time that he was responsible for narrating these incredible documentaries and writing genre-defining art books such as Blimey and It Hurts, I would have been shaking at the knees and rendered completely mute in the presence of one of the great minds of the time. But instead, I think I probably came across as an overconfident, undereducated, thoroughly un-hip Texas asshole (Rick Perry?)... But my memories of Matthew Collings are entirely positive. He had nothing but good things to say about my artwork, which was not all that good, and was very friendly and wished me the best.

I haven't owned a television set since the early nineties and You Tube is a recent invention, so I've never got a chance to see these great BBC documentaries until now. This has been an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Please enjoy.

This is Modern Art -Episode 1: 1 of 5

Episode 1: 2 of 5, 3 of 5, 4 of 5, 5 of 5

This is Modern Art- Episode 2: 1 of 5
Episode 2: 2 of 5 , 3 of 5, 4 of 5, 5 of 5

This is Modern Art- Episode 3: 1of 5

Episode 3:  2 of 5, 3 of 5, 4 of 5, 5 of 5

Lee Cronin: Making matter come alive

Watch it on TED here.

Before life existed on Earth, there was just matter, inorganic dead "stuff." How improbable is it that life arose? And -- could it use a different type of chemistry? Using an elegant definition of life (anything that can evolve), chemist Lee Cronin is exploring this question by attempting to create a fully inorganic cell using a "Lego kit" of inorganic molecules -- no carbon -- that can assemble, replicate and compete.

The Way of the Mister, Vol. 1: Reparative Therapy

This is the first of what will be a series of videos on differing topics. "The Way of the Mister" videos continue the ethos of the Mr. Deity worldview, but branch out in ways that would not work within the the Deity cosmography or with the Deity characters. Our desire is to do more videos like this, and the ideas are pouring out of me. But many of them require bigger budgets than we currently have. We're hoping to rectify that with a non-profit organization which will focus on this broader mission -- to educate with humor and satire.

Photos of Saturn Captured by Cassini Space Probe

This surreal photo was captured of the dark side of Saturn with the Sun's rays behind it by the Cassini space probe. It is hard to stand in complete awe of this photograph because CGI and Lucasfilm Studios have made such impossibly beautiful images almost mundane... But take a moment to let it soak in that this is an actual untouched photo from a space probe we launched from Earth to orbit the planet Saturn. This is not a product of the technology of Disney studios... This is the real deal...

The Cassini space probe has taken so many high definition photos of Saturn that NASA can actually string those photos together to create incredible fly-by animations of Saturn and its moons. Watch this one full screen.5.6k Saturn Cassini Photographic Animation from stephen v2 on Vimeo.

New Sculpture

Posting has been light lately because I have been working on a few pieces for an upcoming show at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. I am finally done with the work, it is documented and shipped out. Here are some images.

Curved Amber Rectangles 2011
Lexan, Ink, Steel Pins

Clear Frames: Grid Structure 2011
Lexan, Ink, Steel Pins