Smells like Thek

Today I was at the UCLA gym. I only go to the gym to use the elliptical machine because I feel like every other machine at the gym is pointless. I mean i can just walk, I don't need no fancy treadmill...

but I digress, so I was at the gym, minding my own business elliptical-ing away and a man decided that he would work out on the elliptical machine right next to me. Mind you there were about 6 other ellpitical machines available. I payed this man no attention...until I started to smell something foul.

Yes, this man decided it would be beneficial to not wear deoderant and have a rigorous workout. This man smelled like rotten cauliflower drizzled with moldy water. This horrendous smell got me thinking about one of my favorite artists.

Paul Thek

You ask why: Paul Thek's work reminds you of something dirty and disgusting, his meat pieces, crazy exhibitions with birds and hanging body parts....

so than I thought if I love an artist who creates pieces that are intentionally gross looking and I'm just going to assume that his pieces were at once smelly, than I should think of this stinky man as a creator like Paul Thek.

Paul Thek

I havent blogged in a while and now that I am on summer break, I thought it would be a perfect time to start blogging again. I don't really have a summer break, because I'm an extremely "motivated" student and decided I would take summer school. I know I know, summer school.... Okay its really not as bad as you would think, probably because I love what I'm studying

So to get to the point of this post. My first day of Modern Latin American art and I think I have found my true calling. Everyone knows artists like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo but there is SO much more. If you are my friend, than you know that I'm not the biggest fan of modern photography BUT today I discovered, or my professor helped me discover Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

So this one is by far my favorite. Manuel Alvarez Bravo is a Mexican phtographer and was working in a time of civil unrest in Mexico. The title of this photograph "Striking worker, assasinated" tells you all you need to know. Minutes before this photograph was taken, Mr. Bravo spoke to this man, a teacher, about a workers strike. Minutes later he was murdered.

Look at Bravo photography, it is actually good