Jumpsuits & Teleporters

Social Stimuli

One of Craig McDean’s photographs styled for W Magazine (June 2008).

“AND AS WE GAZE AROUND THE STARRY HEAVENS WE SEE RIGHT NOW LIVE SHOWS OF ‘YESTERDAYS’ RANGING FROM MILLIONS TO SEXTILLIONS OF YEARS AGO, AS WE LOOK AT THE STARS WE SEE ALL OF HISTORY. NOW ALIVE.” —R. Buckminster Fuller, from “How Little I Know” in And It Came to Pass—Not to Stay.

An artifact by Jonathan Yoerger.

“ONE OF THE STURDIEST PRECEPTS OF THE STUDY OF HUMAN DELUSION IS THAT EVERY GOLDEN AGE IS EITHER PAST OR IN THE OFFING.” —Michael Chabon, from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

An image found in Surface Magazine’s 11th Annual Avant Guardian issue.

“[JAMES WATSON] SPECULATES IN HIS RECENT BOOK LIFE ITSELF THAT THE STUFF OF DNA COULD HAVE ORIGINALLY COME ONLY FROM THE STARS. IF THAT BE SO, THEN THE MESSAGE CODED IN OUR GENES IS TO JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF HOME. THE ASTRONAUTIC BODY, THEN, IS DESTINED TO DEPART. IT IS A BODY MADE BY DNA TO ENGINEER ITS DEPARTURE, THE INVENTION OF DNA WHICH WILL ALLOW IT TO RETURN TO ITS HOME IN THE SKY. EVOLUTION WITH A COSMIC PURPOSE, BLUEPRINTED AS THE GENETIC CODE, AND ALL OF US UNDER THE SAME INJUNCTION: LITTLE COSMONAUT AS E.T.—‘PHONE HOME!’” —Robert Romanyshyn, from Technology as Symptom & Dream.

Painting by Hugo Aguilera.

“RULES ARE MADE FOR PEOPLE WHO AREN’T WILLING TO MAKE UP THEIR OWN.” —Chuck Yeager.

Paintings by Kim Salinas.

“PROVISIONAL PAINTING IS NOT ABOUT MAKING LAST PAINTINGS, NOR IS IT ABOUT THE DECONSTRUCTION OF PAINTING. IT’S THE FINISHED PRODUCT DISGUISED AS A PRELIMINARY STAGE, OR A BODY DOUBLE STANDING IN FOR A STAR/MASTERPIECE WHOSE VALUE WOULD PUT A STOP TO ARTISTIC RISK. TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY: PROVISIONAL PAINTING IS MAJOR PAINTING MASQUERADING AS MINOR PAINTING.” —Raphael Rubinstein, from “Provisional Painting” in Art in America.

From United Colors of Benetton’s 2008 Autumn/Winter collection.

“WHY IS IT THAT OUR SENSE OF CONTEMPORANEITY, DURING THE LAST DECADE AND A HALF, HAS BEEN INEXTRICABLY BOUND UP IN THE 1960S?” —James Meyer, from a review of Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960s.

A Jamie Hewlett comic panel from a UK edition of Deadline.

“YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO DO WRONG NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO. IT IS THE BASIC CONDITION OF LIFE, TO BE REQUIRED TO VIOLATE YOUR OWN IDENTITY. AT SOME TIME, EVERY CREATURE WHICH LIVES MUST DO SO. IT IS THE ULTIMATE SHADOW, THE DEFEAT OF CREATION; THIS IS THE CURSE AT WORK, THE CURSE THAT FEEDS ON ALL LIFE. EVERYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE.” —Philip K. Dick, from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

Fashion clippings in my notebook for reference. Jumpsuits/mod-revival.

“THUS ELEMENTS DRAWN FROM THE PROFESSIONAL SURROUNDINGS AND ACTIVITY OF THE ARTIST; SITUATIONS IN WHICH WE ARE CONSUMERS AND SPECTATORS; OBJECTS THAT WE CONFRONT INTIMATELY, BUT PASSIVELY OR ACCIDENTALLY, OR MANIPULATE IDLY AND IN ISOLATION—THESE ARE TYPICAL SUBJECTS OF MODERN PAINTING.” —Meyer Schapiro, from “The Social Bases of Art” in Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas.

Painter Lauren Coggins-Tuttle’s studio.

“FREQUENTLY THE ARTIST HAD CONCEIVED OF THE PATTERNS OR ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE THE SCIENTISTS HAD FOUND THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN INFRA- OR ULTRAVISIBLE REALMS. THE CONCEPTUAL CAPABILITY OF THE ARTISTS’ INTUITIVE FORMULATION OF THE EVOLVING NEW BY SUBCONSCIOUS COORDINATIONS ARE TREMENDOUSLY IMPORTANT.” —Buckminster Fuller, from “Prevailing Conditions in the Arts” in Utopia of Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity.

From United Colors of Benetton’s 2008 Autumn/Winter collection.

“CERTAINLY, SOME CULTURES WERE ALWAYS LEADING THE WAY FOR OTHERS, JUST AS MORE TALENTED INDIVIDUALS HAVE ALWAYS DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES FROM THEIR PEERS. AND SURELY IT WAS JUST AS TRUE IN THE REMOTE PAST AS IT IS TODAY THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE FIND IT EASIER TO IMITATE THAN TO INVENT.” —Alois Riegl, from “Introduction to Problems of Style.”

Jonathan Yoerger’s NASA-modified cork balls for his table soccer.

“TIME WAS BEING “FRACTURED, SPED UP, MULTIPLIED” AS A RESULT OF DRAMATIC ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY—NAMELY, THE MAINFRAME COMPUTER, SPACE TRAVEL, AND THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF TELEVISION, PHENOMENA WITH WHICH WE ARE STILL COMING TO TERMS. WE STILL INHABIT THE HORIZON OF THE 1960S BECAUSE OUR OWN TROUBLED SENSE OF TIME BEGAN THEN.” —James Meyer, from a review of Chronophobia: On Time in the Art of the 1960s.