Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Borders Are Scars on the Lanscape
Borders Are Scars on the Landscape
a durational performative narrative sculpture
'THE'
PRODUCED AND EDITED BY
Aaron Lindquist
CINEMATOGRAPHY BY
Aaron Lindquist
TATTOO ARTIST
Camila Rocha
CANVAS
Jay Lopez
Borders are a political construction, a human fabrication around geography, resources and power defined and re-defined through time by war, bloodshed and death. Borders are also a unifying construct that can bring people together and form deep bonds.
My community, my family, is comprised of individuals that live in places around the globe, across political and geographic borders. They are individuals that value creativity, risk, innovation. They are compassionate, hard-working people that want the best for themselves and for their friends and families.
In response to recent legislation and policy that seeks to reinforce the value of borders, I am inviting five individuals from diverse backgrounds to join me in becoming a part of a new community that re-contextualizes the notion of community relative to borders.
Each individual will have one word of the above quote permanently tattooed on their body. The artwork, the community, will only be complete when all six individuals are together to complete the narrative of the text of the quote. The work will be displayed in Long Beach, California in March and in Phoenix, Arizona in April.
CHOR BOOGIE
"As an artist of modern times, understanding himself and the world through color, defining the meaning of originality Chor Boogie is one of many masters that leads this pioneering craft of spray paint in its diverse art form."
ChorBoogie.com
Produced, Shot, and Edited by Aaron Lindquist invisibleart.net
Downtown Art Walk
DOWNTOWN ART WALK (shot entirely on the Canon 5D and 7D).
The Downtown Art Walk is a free self-guided tour that happens the second Thursday of every month exploring the area of Downtown Los Angeles designated as Gallery Row. It began in September of 2004 and has grown prodigiously since. This video recounts an evening of those who come to appreciate the galleries, street fairs and the music that make up its ambiance.
Special thanks to the the Art Walk Board members, Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, gallery owners, the artists (Sean Sobczak and Chor Boogie, especially), Vincent Gillioz (for his excellent score), Chris Saul (for his cinematography), and Diane Grajeda (for her title design).
Produced and Edited by
Aaron Lindquist invisibleart.net
Cinematography by
Chris Saul chrissaul.com
Aaron Lindquist invisibleart.net
Music by
Vincent Gillioz vincentgillioz.com
Title Design by
Diane Grajeda dulcinee.net
Knife Confession - "Memories in the Dark"
The Knife Confession
"Memories in the Dark"
Directed, Shot & Edited by Aaron Lindquist
NHOI - "I'll Change For Now"
NHOI
"I'll Change For Now"
11 Days
Unmotivated Records
Directed by Aaron Lindquist
Made Incorrect
A short film about a couple who can't conceive a child and a wife who will take matters into her own hands, regardless of the consequences.
Written and Directed by Aaron Lindquist
Starring Mark Irvingsen and Brenda Matthews
Co-written and Produced by Chad Cockerell
Cinematography by Kenneth Stipe
Music by Vincent Gillioz
Monday, August 21, 2006
Bodicharyavatara
I've read this many times and, each time, I gain some new insight. If it interests you, do yourself a favor and read the entire text: Bodhicharyavata or "The Way of the Bodhisattva", by Shantideva.
The author was a Buddhist monk living in India during the 8th century C.E. He defied the religious conventions of his time in arguing for a "Middle Way" between the extremes of two opposing schools of Buddhist thought, mainly the Sautantrika and Prasangika Madhyamaka. This, over many years (and with the contribution of many scholars before and after Shantideva...Nagarjuna, especially), has formed what is known as the Mahayana (translated as, you guessed it, "Middle Way") Buddhist path. I would deliniate that further, but, trust me, that is another blog altogether.
In my own view, I think Shantideva's use of language is both insightful and beautiful...especially when you consider it was translated from ancient Sanskrit into English. Whether or not you agree with the philosophy behind it, there is plenty of valid commentary on our circuitious path to understanding our selves.
Here we go:
Thus with things devoid of true existence,
What is there to gain and what to lose?
Who is there to pay me court and honors,
And who is there to scorn and revile me?
Pain and pleasure, whence do these arise?
And what is there to give me joy and sorrow?
In this quest and search for perfect truth,
Who is craving, what is there to crave?
Examine now this world of living beings:
Who is there therein to pass away?
What is there to come, and what has been?
And who, indeed, are relatives and friends?
May beings like myself discern and grasp
That all things have the character of space!
But those who long for happiness and ease,
Through disputes or the causes of pleasures,
Are deeply troubled, or else thrilled with joy.
They suffer, strive, contend among themselves,
Slashing, stabbing, injuring each other:
They live their lives englufed in many evils.
From time to time they surface in the state of bliss,
Abandoning themselves to many pleasures.
But dying, down they fall to suffer torment,
Long, unbearable in the realms of sorrow.
Many are the chasms and abysses of existence,
Where the truth of emptiness is not found.
All is contradiction, all denial,
Suchness, or its like, can find no place.
There, exceeding all description,
Is the shoreless sea of pain unbearable.
Here it is that strength is low,
And lives are flickering and brief.
All activities for the sake of life and health,
Relief of hunger and of weariness,
Time consumed in sleep, all accident and injury,
And sterile friendships with the childish--
Thus life passes quickly, meaningless.
True discernment--hard it is to have!
How then shall we ever find the means
To curb the futile wanderings of the mind?
Further, evil forces work and strain
To cast us headlong into states of woe;
Manifold are false, deceptive trails,
And it is hard to dissipate our doubts.
Hard is it to find again this state of freedom,
Harder yet to come upon enlightened teachers,
Hard, indeed, to turn aside the torrent of defilement!
Alas, our sorrows fall in endless streams!
Sad is it indeed that living beings,
Carried on the flood of bitter pain,
However terrible their plight may be,
Do not perceive they suffer so!
Some there are who bathe themselves repeatedly,
And afterward scorch themselves with fire,
Suffering intensely all the while,
Yet there they stay, proclaiming loud their bliss.
Likewise there are some who live and act
As though old age and death will never come to them.
But then life's over, and there comes
The dreadful fall into the state of loss.
When shall I be able to allay and quench
The dreadful heat of suffering's blazing fires,
With the plenteous rain of my own bliss
That pour torrential from my clouds of merit?
My wealth of merit gathered in,
With reverence but without conceptual aim,
When shall I reveal this truth of emptiness
To those who go to ruin through belief in substance?
"The Way of the Bodhisattva", by Shantideva (9th chapter, stanzas 151-167). Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. Wisdom Publications, 1997.
The author was a Buddhist monk living in India during the 8th century C.E. He defied the religious conventions of his time in arguing for a "Middle Way" between the extremes of two opposing schools of Buddhist thought, mainly the Sautantrika and Prasangika Madhyamaka. This, over many years (and with the contribution of many scholars before and after Shantideva...Nagarjuna, especially), has formed what is known as the Mahayana (translated as, you guessed it, "Middle Way") Buddhist path. I would deliniate that further, but, trust me, that is another blog altogether.
In my own view, I think Shantideva's use of language is both insightful and beautiful...especially when you consider it was translated from ancient Sanskrit into English. Whether or not you agree with the philosophy behind it, there is plenty of valid commentary on our circuitious path to understanding our selves.
Here we go:
Thus with things devoid of true existence,
What is there to gain and what to lose?
Who is there to pay me court and honors,
And who is there to scorn and revile me?
Pain and pleasure, whence do these arise?
And what is there to give me joy and sorrow?
In this quest and search for perfect truth,
Who is craving, what is there to crave?
Examine now this world of living beings:
Who is there therein to pass away?
What is there to come, and what has been?
And who, indeed, are relatives and friends?
May beings like myself discern and grasp
That all things have the character of space!
But those who long for happiness and ease,
Through disputes or the causes of pleasures,
Are deeply troubled, or else thrilled with joy.
They suffer, strive, contend among themselves,
Slashing, stabbing, injuring each other:
They live their lives englufed in many evils.
From time to time they surface in the state of bliss,
Abandoning themselves to many pleasures.
But dying, down they fall to suffer torment,
Long, unbearable in the realms of sorrow.
Many are the chasms and abysses of existence,
Where the truth of emptiness is not found.
All is contradiction, all denial,
Suchness, or its like, can find no place.
There, exceeding all description,
Is the shoreless sea of pain unbearable.
Here it is that strength is low,
And lives are flickering and brief.
All activities for the sake of life and health,
Relief of hunger and of weariness,
Time consumed in sleep, all accident and injury,
And sterile friendships with the childish--
Thus life passes quickly, meaningless.
True discernment--hard it is to have!
How then shall we ever find the means
To curb the futile wanderings of the mind?
Further, evil forces work and strain
To cast us headlong into states of woe;
Manifold are false, deceptive trails,
And it is hard to dissipate our doubts.
Hard is it to find again this state of freedom,
Harder yet to come upon enlightened teachers,
Hard, indeed, to turn aside the torrent of defilement!
Alas, our sorrows fall in endless streams!
Sad is it indeed that living beings,
Carried on the flood of bitter pain,
However terrible their plight may be,
Do not perceive they suffer so!
Some there are who bathe themselves repeatedly,
And afterward scorch themselves with fire,
Suffering intensely all the while,
Yet there they stay, proclaiming loud their bliss.
Likewise there are some who live and act
As though old age and death will never come to them.
But then life's over, and there comes
The dreadful fall into the state of loss.
When shall I be able to allay and quench
The dreadful heat of suffering's blazing fires,
With the plenteous rain of my own bliss
That pour torrential from my clouds of merit?
My wealth of merit gathered in,
With reverence but without conceptual aim,
When shall I reveal this truth of emptiness
To those who go to ruin through belief in substance?
"The Way of the Bodhisattva", by Shantideva (9th chapter, stanzas 151-167). Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. Wisdom Publications, 1997.
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