the Kingdom of Leisure

Blue

2012-01-26T09:59:00.001-08:00

SinJar™ - Coming Soon

2012-01-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

SPS - Some of My Child's Greatest Work To Date

2012-01-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

[the SPS set]

Beautiful Carnage

2012-01-19T09:56:00.000-08:00

David Smith

2012-01-19T06:10:00.000-08:00

[the fungus set]

The Rest of the Day

2012-01-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

The Athenians

2012-01-17T09:00:00.001-08:00

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Athenian

2012-01-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

This song (click image or something internety like that) just showed up in my inbox too. Somebody I know has opened a door.

Click here to listen to The Athenian: [clicky]

Cob

2012-01-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Stop

2012-01-17T08:22:00.000-08:00

"My Oh My" Bootleg from 2006

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

This bootleg of "My Oh My" from a 2006 hippie show in Berkeley just showed up in my email:

Photo by CMcG

My Oy My

Façade

2012-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

2002: A Breeding Project

2012-01-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

"Is That Your Child" Interview with NYC's Nate Hill

2012-01-15T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hey, check out this interview on race, art, and process from Is That Your Child: [clicky]

Mixtape Tuesday: Week 2

2012-01-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

Photo-on-11-1-11-at-1.11-AM.jpg

2012-01-12T06:49:00.001-08:00

Holding Pattern

2012-01-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

Not panicking yet
Just resorting to haiku
Over when over

Stuff on the Ground in Rockville

2012-01-06T15:28:00.000-08:00

Time Machine

2012-01-06T15:24:00.001-08:00

This is Not an Effect

2012-01-06T15:19:00.001-08:00

Never Gets Old

2012-01-06T04:44:00.000-08:00

January 6, 2012 - 7:26 am
[Sky set]

One Degree Exponentially

2012-01-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

Major differences often manifest themselves in subtle ways. Nuances. Adjustments. Shifts in personal preferences. Acknowledgements of past wrongs. A recognition of philosophical evolution.

Once lessons are internalized, corrected courses provide great satisfaction, longevity, and durability.

One degree, exponentially. Professionalism moderating fears. Dying defying death. These are our Sisyphean stacking blocks that we sometimes kick over like petulant toddlers when others refuse to topple them for us.

We create our own drama. We shape our own destiny. We are are our own art history.

Crutches, gods, parents, mentors, and safety helmets eventually become unnecessary as we decide to be what we have always needed to be without all the pretension or cribbed voices. How we shape ourselves is balanced between formulaic-capitalistic lifestyle pitches and the crazy voices inside our own heads.

To live just one additional day with an executable concept is worth all the poison ingested.

Slowly Getting Back to Work

2012-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

Re-Opening

2012-01-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

First Fallen 2012

2012-01-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

[Dead Soldiers set]

Gearing

2012-01-02T09:25:00.001-08:00

A Line in the Sky

2012-01-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

Passing Batons

2012-01-01T07:51:00.001-08:00

OSTMJ! Chanukah Special

2011-12-23T04:18:00.000-08:00

The Chanukah Special Episode

It's A Christmas Miracle

2011-12-22T12:21:00.001-08:00

The Santa Schtick

2011-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

A Middlespace Cadet Christmas

2011-12-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

tKoL 2012: Future Gifted

2011-12-19T05:46:00.000-08:00

This Is The New-New America - tKoL 2012: ain't nothin' to see here

DMK '89

2011-12-15T12:36:00.001-08:00

Story

2011-12-15T11:42:00.000-08:00

The Year Was The MMXI In Case You Always Forget

2011-12-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

Mixy Was The Year

Lights, Karma, Action!!

2011-12-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Thank you to whomever is so generous to send this to me.

A Thing for Eggs

2011-12-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

An Only Child (we stick together like siblings)

2011-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

[the sky set]

LFR

2011-12-09T10:19:00.001-08:00

Favorite 100 Images I Made In 2011

2011-12-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

[Favorite 100 Images I Made In 2011]

[9 other years HERE, some links may not work, sorry]

[the VINEY set]

12.8.11 - Dog on Guitar PIck

2011-12-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

12.8.11 - Two

2011-12-08T09:39:00.001-08:00

12.8.11 - One

2011-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

Kellogg's® Froot Loops® Cereal by tyhardaway™

2011-12-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ask Ty...December 6 [The Annual Evaluation Question]

2011-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

It must be Tuesday, Middlespacers, because I'm answering your questions

Q: Dear Ty,

I just had my performance review at work. I do good work but sometimes I have difficulties meeting deadlines and I am quick to express frustration about mopey coworkers who don't get work that impacts me finished in a timely manner.

It must be nice to work for yourself and not have to worry about performance evaluations. What would you write about yourself if you reviewed yourself?

Sincerely,

- Wall Street

"Please, sir, I want some more"

Ty: Good question and an even better observation, WS. Feedback is important in any relationship and the Annual Business-y Performance Evaluation is the bittersweet apple pie filling of the American business fiscal year.

Each and every year, we working stiffs must justify our work existence bowl-in-hand like Oliver Twist, by begging for just one more portion of gruel. It's a pain-in-the-ass brown-nose festival of smiling, schmoozing, and pretending everything is so important and crucial to "career" when we basically just want more money. Secondary reviews, one hundred eighty degree evaluations, promotion advocates, and bonus allocation is the year's-end vampire sucking the blood out of everyone's end of year work-lives. Productivity is only lower during the NCAAs in late March, WS.

Here at Middlespace Arts (or, informally, Middlespace Industries of America because the state of Maryland did not allow me to use "Industries" for my line of work), we take performance reviews very seriously. Our employees are our most important resource. Yet in these economic times, we have to be sure we have the right workforce for these challenging times. Our service experience is our brand experience! Kill me now.

So, WS, what would I write about Middlespace employee badge number 001 for the year?

- Ty has been a key contributor to tKoL/PMM/MIOA since 1996. He has earned the reputation as a diligent, hardworking, and enthusiastic employee.

- Ty's biggest deficiency is his tendency to rush when working with exciting ideas or tasks (as well as tedious and mundane tasks). His rushing has led to embarrassing and historical errors and the duplication of work. But rushing aside, he has demonstrated himself an obsessive archivist, able to find and recreate lost work in an acceptable amount of time.

- Ty can be quite a work-a-holic and is often encouraged to actually slow down his dizzying pace of production to focus not only on what is interesting, but on what is top quality (and what might provide the organization revenue).

- Ty has become a never ending source of ideas and original contributions. He works very well with outside contractors, clients, and collaborators. He continues to bring outside contributors to the workflow while staying attuned to the needs and skills of those in-house.

- Ty's overall set of skills continues to improve across a variety of media. He successfully published hundreds of photographs, and several EP-length recordings which culminated in his recent release, 2011 by tKoL. New to the year was a variety of short videos. He began the year strong with the photo essay, A Hundred Snapshots, and finished even stronger with the On Portraiture (pdf) piece and the In the Arms of the Lords video. And in-between he did a ton of stuff no one ever remembers during a review.

- For FY2012, it is Ty's top business objective to find both revenue streams and sales opportunities. It is his responsibility to support an increased production budget including profits. Marketing will be crucial to this effort.

- For FY2012, it is Ty's top creative objective is to solidify a cohesive, notable style unlike any previously explored or published. He should be entering his most notable creative period and can feel unburdened to explore new creative threads while keeping an eye on the above business objectives.

This should be an exciting year.

Just a guess.

-ty

RMOK 2011 - Before through After - $1,000

2011-12-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

----------------------- the story -----------------------

Attic Day Album - "2011 by tKoL" [UPDATE]

2011-12-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

the Kingdom of Leisure 15th anniversary commemorative release

2011 by tKoL Playlist
The Instruments of Empire [web]
LIES LEIS LIES [web]
Calvin [web]
After Field Mowing Day and on the long slide to winter [web] [video]
In the Arms of the Lord [web] [video]

•

Contact tKoL for Numbered Limited Edition CD/15th Anniversary Mini-Poster Combo

["Leisure Family Reunion/Plano, Missouri" t-shirt available here]

Embracing the Blackness

2011-12-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

[Embracing the Whiteness]

Playing For Just A Couple Minutes A Day (with medium black border)

2011-12-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Work Day

2011-12-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

"In The Arms Of The Lords" by tKoL - video

2011-11-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

"In The Arms Of The Lords" by tKoL - audio

2011-11-30T11:21:00.000-08:00

clicky image to play into headphones

Crewdson: Now Filed in Reference (with large black border)

2011-11-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Main Street Cafe Sunday Brunch

2011-11-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

[a single image with large black border, FTR]
[new series early link]

On Portraiture - If You Have The Time [UPDATE]

2011-11-29T09:16:00.001-08:00

On Portraiture
by Ty Hardaway

[This piece was to be originally published as an invited contribution to an art blog, but it never got published...not yet anyhow. That happens in this business sometimes. I just didn't want to have this work along with some astonishingly beautiful contributions to go unused. I thank all contributors for their generous time and their inspiring work. This posting is a late draft. The final version (pdf) is here: [clicky]]

We exist in a time where we have reached a point of constant and overwhelming bombardment of imagery, music, and prose. Arts abound. Ads abound. Noise abound.

Not only is everyone a photographer, a musician, and a writer now, but just about everyone has the ability to self-publish their work in what approximates real time thanks to smart phones and social media. Many people spend huge chunks of their live human-interaction and entertainment opportunities interacting almost exclusively with photo-telecommunications devices creating additional content and perusing new content. At live events, many people spend the duration looking into screens--instead of the actual event--broadcasting for the web. Constant content with extremely short shelf lives, has turned every consumer into the A&R department; everyone can have five seconds of someone's attention somewhere.

Supply of new content has almost completely drowned the demand for new content, and there seems to be fewer places where filtering for quality occurs. Editors are scarce even though, oddly, everyone is an editor. And every snarky anonymous commenter sits atop a critic's throne of rose-petaled gold. The Fine Arts, the photographic arts in particular, have flat-lined into a regressed average of what seems to be just good enough for most people, by most people. Everything is documented for audiences real and imagined and for largely undefined purposes.

Some folks, training or experience notwithstanding, have even taken the leap into the "digital SLR" world and suddenly find themselves with a hankering to open a studio or some sort of photography "business" since there's so much money raining upon the arts. We have seen this body of awkwardly posed and illogically-lighted work. And there seems to be no shortage of confident subjects willing to try anything in online model listings.

------------

As I peruse my personal library, I see that there is a compelling history of--and importance to--portraiture. From Cartier-Bresson, Stieglitz, Steichen, Lange, and Arbus to the street photography of Sylvia Plachy, Gordon Parks, and Ricky Powell (NY), information about people conveyed through still photograph is in many ways the greatest legacy of photography. Forget landscape, fashion, celebrity, abstract, snapshot, or nude photography, well conceived and timely portraits of regular people doing regular people things seems to cast the longest wake. There is a certain beauty and grace to our everyday existence.

But in the teen years of this new century, as the ability to create and publish increases, the ability to discern has decreased. Who of us remain that can take rare moments to contemplate, study, and imagine? When was the last time anyone spent more than a moment getting inside a portrait? Maybe the photographic jungle is too dense. Maybe the ordinary and everyday doesn't inform as it did in the past. Maybe portraiture is dead.

Yet on a very basic human level, some of us still cannot help ourselves. Maybe a way to connect within and between ourselves is to stop time; to study moments. Some still possess a drive, if not addiction, to make the still portrait. Not for commission or client, and often not for publication or distribution. Just…because that's what our hard-wiring drives us to do. When I think about it, if I were forced to choose one artistic pursuit to ride into retirement, it would probably be a variation of portrait photography.

The bigger the iceberg, the smaller the tip.

In order to slow time just a bit, I present some work by people I've interacted with over the years in various capacities. I know that these people shoot people because they have to; that they have few choices. They are curious and they have no interest in trying to impress you or sell you any product or service. They aren't shooting for commission or stock service. None are attempting to shock anyone or really draw much attention to themselves. They shoot friends, family, and strangers. At the most they'll receive a rare non-asinine comment on a blog or a "like" on Facebook or Tumblr or Flickr. Someone somewhere might get what they do. And that's just enough.

------------

So take your time and take a look all around yourself and situation. This is where we are right now. Here's a glimpse of some lovely work. Click images to enlarge.

Cassady Kissam
Northern California

"I've always thought about the fear among Native Americans of having their portraits taken. I think the belief was that a photograph could capture the soul. The resulting fear was that the soul couldn't be released; something called "Stealing The Shadow." I've always believed there may actually be some basic truth in that, but my interpretation is that once you let someone view that portrait then the soul is released. That, at its core, is what makes a good portrait, the ability to capture or portray a persons soul and spirit and share it with others."

Christine McGuinness

Berkeley, California

"You can't control your subject's mood/emotion. You can encourage it, but you never know whether it will show. So much of the portrait is left up to the connection between you and the person being photographed. It's sweeter to capture a good portrait because it's never a sure thing."

Dave Blair
South Florida

"I like to document real and fleeting moments. I, like many before me all the way back to the those who first made images in caves, have been compelled to document. This instinct is strange and strong. I like taking pictures of people so I can freeze a moment in time and study it, understand what is going on, there is so much going on."

Johnny Meadows

New York City

"Shooting portraits, to me, involves capturing peoples' souls at moments when their guards are down, so that means it must be done without their knowledge. It's questionable whether or not my work is fair to them, but I feel as if I'm tapping into something deeper by doing so, and am always as moral and tasteful as I can possibly be with my work. Capturing real, live soul."

Lily Valle
Washington, District of Columbia

"I am interested in capturing an aspect or feature of a person - the something that makes me "like" them or find them interesting aesthetically. If I know the person, there's an extra challenge of capturing who they are to me."

Robin Madel

New York City

"I think people are the most interested in other people's stories and portraits tell those stories. The photos I shoot of people, especially in some odd or strange setting, always get the most hits when I post them."

------------

We document people in little places in time. We document people with little pieces of time. We are compelled to make these vast bodies of work and we pledge to continue doing it until we get closer to "getting it right." In the photographic arts, images of people--portraiture--seems to be a sort of life blood. Clearly there are still those of us who want to thoughtfully or obsessively capture moments that tell stories about our planet mates.

------------

For Henry, R.I.P.

Middlespace Industries of America

Napkin Thing

2011-11-28T13:17:00.000-08:00

This Is What I Want - This Is What Shall Be

2011-11-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

I know this is a '63 but I am in the market for a '65 in very solid condition. Like, I can drive it around.

Embracing the Whiteness

2011-11-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

[more]
[BDW version]
[Embracing the Whiteness]

Nice Of Them To Stay Open For Us

2011-11-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

Zelig

2011-11-27T08:03:00.001-08:00

[Zelig]

Ongoing Series Additions

2011-11-27T07:47:00.000-08:00

[Sky series]

[Hotel Beds series]

Recursion

2011-11-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Anchors Cliché!

2011-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

4

2011-11-20T12:25:00.001-08:00

The Space Between/A Love Supreme

2011-11-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

My favorite photo from today's shoot.

Absence (from "Camp" by X-Pert Demon)

2011-11-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

Farewell Fungi

2011-11-19T16:47:00.001-08:00

[the full fungus set]

"Camp" by X-Pert Demon

2011-11-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

You Down With O.O.D.?

2011-11-18T11:42:00.000-08:00

OCCUPY OR DIE

Springtime

2011-11-18T11:33:00.001-08:00

After Field Mowing Day and on the slide to winter

2011-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

[always forget]

tKoL AFMD 11.18.11

2011-11-17T14:04:00.001-08:00

Rare Print

2011-11-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Just hung a very rare Johnny Meadows print in my studio (the one on the right is a Cassady Kissam original). I begged and begged for this print and it arrived, SIGNED & FRAMED, at my doorstep. These are some of my greatest treasures.

Retreat to Haiku

2011-11-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

[the viney set]

TGIM

2011-11-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

TGIM

2011-11-14T10:11:00.001-08:00

TGIM

2011-11-14T10:04:00.001-08:00

TGIM

2011-11-14T06:55:00.001-08:00

Blues Greens Wrists Rings

2011-11-13T05:56:00.000-08:00

Defending Ann Coulter

2011-11-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

I Was Told I Don't Post To Here Enough Anymore

2011-11-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

I saved the trees, Ron.

Spire

2011-11-08T10:49:00.001-08:00

What I Found Today

2011-11-04T11:37:00.001-07:00

For a game 1,032 Days ago.

The Future

2011-11-04T11:36:00.001-07:00

Reunion Jazz Ensemble

2011-11-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Before & During

2011-11-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Billy Corgan's Nightmare-Land

2011-11-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

From An Art Show

2011-10-30T12:41:00.001-07:00

Trade School (10.28.11 - A Friday)

2011-10-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

It seems
Today
Anew
Differently
Patient
Petulance
Indifference toward "style" or "system"
Optimistic toward prospects

//

"Save the little boy genius from a self-employed zenith"
Pinpointing differences

//

There seems to be a new focus and purpose. Like I asked with the TGAs, "Is this now how it's going to be?" The little stuff isn't getting sweated upon. Just ignored for better or worse.

//

It's almost like you no longer have any control; runaway like trains. Projects overtake like aging or digestion. Almost like you never left; this place this middlespace.

//

I am comfortable here. I always have been. Just what is done. Regardless of how I do, this is--for whatever description--the what I've done.

//

It has and appears that forever it will be all about the project. Processes over outcomes. Addicted to process, I am the project junky.

A Blue & Orange Morning

2011-10-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Trees On This Street

2011-10-25T08:12:00.001-07:00

Last of the 45s

2011-10-23T14:49:00.001-07:00

Last Of the 45s

2011-10-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

Sometimes self-imprisoned and
Haunted like casinos
Thank you Ameirca

Because perfection never ages
and beggars never whine
We cause the problems yes

If only because we can solve them
No shame all game
We are taboo since forever

DCK: No Judgment

2011-10-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Henry's Lid (at one-half his age)

2011-10-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

Twenty Points of Fact

2011-10-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

I was never a child - I was just born old, wizened, and weary into confusing circumstances.
I was never a photographer - I am simply selfish enough to insist on stealing moments.
I was never a writer - I have found ways to amuse myself in the English language.
I was never a guitarist - I have found the sounds I need in particular situations.
I was never a drummer - I've seen great and I could never do what is great.
I was never a student - I was not taught or modeled with study habits.
I was never a black - I can hear that I do not sound like TV blacks.
I was never a worker - I was just too busy running everything.
I was never a designer - I just trust my neuroses to inform.
I was never a husband - I was always going to be a wife.
I was never a lover - I love everything related to love.
I was never a father - I had my father as my father.
I was never a musician - I dig music most of all.
I was never a white - I have mirrors and eyes.
I was never a friend - I try to impress you.
I was never a Jew - I know the Mishnah.
I was never a man - I cry too much.
I was never a poet - I know that.
I was never a genius - I forget.
I was never a human - I am.

One Of Those Pieces I Don't Really Like But Had To Make Exactly Like This

2011-10-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Sane Planning - Sensible Tomorrow

Money back guarantee.

Mixtape Tuesday: Week 1

2011-10-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sparkles Like New York (now with real glitter)

2011-10-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! Thanks! This is...this is priceless gift-giving!