Maprons for Mandy

Who's your daddy?

I am getting older, an inescapable fact. I cannot help but see lines starting to form on my face and damage that I have done to my self. Burned skin red and peeling, I was struck by the fact of how abusive we are to our sacred vessel. Our food is processed, we imbibe chemicals, radioactive metals, we smoke, we drink and poison ourselves. We are surrounded by negativity. Douche bags waiting for the end of the world because that world makes it easier to treat ourselves, others and our planet like shit.

The irony is an inability to accept our collective responsibility. We tell everyone what they do wrong, how they are harming the planet, and how its us against them. I want to tell the people of occupy wall street to get over themselves as much as I want to tell the stockbrokers.
 
1. Protesting with signs is reactionary and serves only to strengthen the opposition. the people who have been stealing the manpower (production capacity) of the United States don't care.
2. Dress better. People tend to listen to smartly dressed individuals. If a homeless fat lady can take whore baths in the 42nd street subway station then I am sure its not that hard for you to take a shower at your moms house in Westchester.
3. Realize that the ability for you to voice your opinion is not in spite of the United States but because of it.
4. Any thoroughly successful revolution is  by the heart and not the fist
These kids should start companies.  The only way to change a world you don't like is to become a reflection of it. Reflections are the same but opposite. We will recognize the order, form and functionality. This is not a quick process, it has its roots in thousands of years of human progress.

A Mapron for Mandy copyright J.E.V. COSIMO

                    I ask is it more effective to be repeatedly arrested for chaining yourself to pine trees than operate within and change an industry that has destroyed so many forests?. Most people are weak, not hero's, go sign another petition on the Internet. It will make you feel better about all the shopping and driving you do sipping your fair trade gmo free organic latte.

"Masics" We are all made of stars.

For Hadis

I have always been (re)searching. My life is a dazzling array of action and reaction that brings me to now and beyond. In early 1999 proclivity for the occult and religion inspired me to send a friend in Jerusalem a prayer to be placed at the wailing wall . In it I asked our Divine creator to give me the strength and energy to fulfill my lifes destiny. It didn't arrive. I sent another letter it arrived shredded, a wet mass of paper pulp unable to be slipped between the sacred stones and touch the heart of god on earth. I gave up, there was obviously something that did not want my prayer anywhere near the last remains of Solomons temple. 

In summer 2000 I received a postcard from my friend telling me the first letter had miraculously re-appeared, I was not condemned after all. 

When a  relationship ended in 2009 a dear friend began sending me emails of spiritual guidance from the cabala center in New York. Those emails gave me an inspired outlook on the world prompting me to buy a copy of the Zohar. I had given in, pop religion has always left a bitterness in my soul but cabala was mailable enough to interpret my own devices. 

Solomon made a covenant with G**. In accordance G** granted him eternal wisdom.  From his temple, the elevated knowledge of the ages was dispersed among the believers of  monotheistic divinity. Reading ancient holy texts we begin to understand the layers of meaning our forebears laced within them. 

Stola Dei

The seal of Solomon had mystical powers to capture demons and inter them in copper bottles.  A pictogram of the idea what is here on earth is a reflection of what is in heaven. "As above so Below." Two intersecting triangles that form a polygon. 

 Graphically this image works very effectively. It is a smarter version of that star shit ravers would wear in the late nineties. I also respond to the idea of it forming a geometric pattern that at the same time is a representation of  elevated ideas on multiple levels.

I used 12 diffrent colors of blue and green to give
 a varied but regular color block repeat.

There are multiple color groupings working here. When I laid out the original Seal of Solomon the negative space changed slightly as the cluster went from two to four to eight. To adjust for the distortion I made the color break down on a different numeration. This also allows for more variation in the color selection for printing.

This Printing was done on a basic white cotton Indian Sari. I love the lightness of this cloth, the way it hangs and feels against the skin. I am also attracted to using this most ancient textile with an ancient symbol

This four meter sari becomes a representation of
 the stole dei that  is worn by solomon in the graphic.

This pictogram is about our ennoblement to be better people. An visual idea to tell us we are a map of heaven, to think we are a reflection of all that is can pacify our fears. Instead of fighting everything, protesting and battling  we can be more effective by just living our lives. Not being sucked into what others tell us our stories are. I love this symbol because it gives us hope and something to esteem. We are vast and eternal parts of a vast and eternal part. We are all made of stars.

Speculative "Masics"

We are all made of stars.

When I begin working on an idea there is always a preference to allow them to cook slowly and come to conclusions by gathering the most amount of evidence. I look at everything I can to reinforce them. I could post photos of all the graphic design tragedies that litter our lives today or get over it and try to make our visual world a lot better. 

 I am tired of Audry Hepburn's anorexic face glaring out at me from the front of a not anorexic young lady. I am bored seeing skulls everywhere, they are not interesting. If you want to see some real skulls go to the catacombs in Paris, that's interesting. What we wear and purchase revolves around a need for us to display to the outside world something visual that identifies us. So are you ironic, edgy, nervous, there are style sheets for those. Are you desperate for attention or less attention? There are style sheets for those too.

 What do you wear when you want to say "I have been up all night having sex with my astral lover in a dream scape similar to an Egyptian temple, now I want a coffee." I might have some answers.

                                                        

I have a certain fetish for architectural detail. It forms part of my living triplicate of food, clothing, and shelter. Most of my work comes from and goes to these three functions. They are both the source and the ultimate destination of my ideas. Those three things are the bulk of what creates our experience on planet earth and makes us who we are.

There is still a belief in the notion of powerful images representing complex ideas. Walking down Broadway on the UWS, gawking at the Ansonia I stumbled on the Level club located on west 73rd street; It is an incredible structure, a breathtaking a tour de force of Masonic symbolic. 

 Which leads me to ask; If masonic images where at one point and time so celebrated, then why have they become suppressed and secretive? I have several friends who get very nervous when I talk about this as trend. They  have reservations about how the brotherhood would react. My response is  fashion students wearing a Freemason apron is great P.R. Better than a guy shooting and killing Norwegian kids showing up on the news dressed in full Masonic regalia.

                        Here are some "Masics" to what you may be seeing.

   The Eye of god that is all knowing 

judging on public actions not private lives.

                              An hourglass presents a relation to the the

                        past and the future. It is a testament to the fleeting

                    construct we allow to be placed on our existence.

    A Square and compass represent "builders" of our world and an idea

          accuracy of moral and ethical measurement creates a solid foundation for humanity.            

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Level_Club  

easy stroking: a cock block print.

For C.I. 

People come into your life for a reason. I am blessed to have had so many incredible people in my life serving as a wealth of inspiration. It is another layer to the thick cake. Everything I do is for the people I love and I am fortunate that that number grows daily. 

This is a step by step of the image building process for this design. This is a 13 screen print.

A simple tile print. It begins as a medallion that is lined up on its axis.  

complexity comes from the additional pieces that are added and
used as  linking strips between the individual tiles

The pattern begins to take form as a series of interlocking
 shapes that build an increasingly complex design. 

Double mirroring of the design creates an easy formula to build the image. To formulate the prints occupying the negative space I used the same screen printed on cutout shapes formulated on an axis.  Creating print puzzle pieces that are added to fill the gaps. The black outline gives the design somthing to build color on.

These prints were challenging in as much there was an attempt not to make then vulgar or offensive. My idea was to produce an attractive print independent of its contextualized parts. 

this first color is later covered by other
 printings and the layering tones it down.

. 

The tips and veins.

The blue overlap only catches the interior of the print creating
four diffrent distinct colors.

A second ogival shape is colored with a darker
shade to create more depth

A nice lattice in the background
makes a complimenting pattern.

Inserts allow for colors to be modified within the body of the repeat.

the gold insert also acts to move the eye back
into the body of the design.

The last fill color before the background is added.

Black as a ground color  makes the whole
design pop and unified.

SPQR (getting nailed by romans)

Pride of the Romans

and a little surprise

etsy account

When we see a movie about ancient Rome we should ask ourselves were’s the cock? We have a double ended image of ancient Rome, on one tip we have Spartacus, on the other we have Caligula, but we forget there is a lot of sliding space in between, that cock worship was a VERY important part of our culture for as long as we have had culture. Young fresh brides would give their virginity to the gods before getting married. Straddling a penis fetish, making sure their hymen was broken the day before their wedding. A sacred act, you didn't want to get married if you didn't know the love of a god first. Our modern virginal bride in white is dull and incredible by comparison. Pretending to be like Mary will not make your son like Jesus.

As the catholic church rose to dominance penises on roman statues where chiseled off in a collective societal castration ritual. Roman popular beliefs in an over sized engorged throbbing phallus as a sign of good luck were not shared by early clergy. Culturally we are left thinking that fig leaves and Ken's bump are the proper public perceptions of male anatomy, penis is shame full.The irony is inescapable.

waiting for the thrust of modernity

We love our orgasms but few can admit it, they help remind us we are bound the creative cycles of this reality. We are bridle trained from an early age to be ashamed of our our bits and pieces. We are not taught how being able copulate like rabbits and not procreate like them is what makes our sex lives different from other creatures. We have collective imperative in the western world to get over our frigidity recognizing all of the gifts we have been given. We need to actualize a little of the temple prostitute within us.

http://joshuacosimo.com/section/286911_THE_RAPE_OF_EUROPA.html

I have always had a graphic tendency towards phallus. They fill the tight gap between skulls and pinup girls nicely. They are subtle, natural, and traditional.
I take interns to do different jobs with me, a few years ago I had a delicate young lady who was eager to learn and please. I asked her to draw me a couple of dongs to use as cow horns in a design. Her first attempts were vestal, flaccid, and unpalatable. Her second attempts were more aroused and carnal. I finally told her to go out and do some hands on research.

The studio where I produce my work had a student who did a series of prints using curse words and body parts. There are two rules of thumb we should use to judge these types emissions. First, you should ask yourself if what you are saying with the curse words is penetrating. Second, if you're going to use schlong in your art at least make it regal, respectful, and beautiful. My biggest problem with their work was not the use of cocks, nor the use of curse words, rather the unattractiveness of the imagery. Visually you can produce whatever you want if it's insightful and well executed. Everything else is just pollution.

Screw the black bloc, I want the cock bloc

Bizarre collective social memory

                                           

There are fewer visual taboos. We have traversed a vast frontier of what is acceptable and unacceptable in our everyday lives. It is acceptable to show a picture of an aborted fetus to a group of preschoolers but if you pee outside behind a dumpster at four in the morning you can get arrested for indecent exposure. When I think about visual taboo, graphics, discussions, and religions I am affronted with the same conclusion. Cock has one of the deepest and longest decorative histories, but has become socially difficult to swallow.
As the womyn's rights movement slides forward. Phallic imagery has become crouchingly more passive.

Look what I made.

Egyptian gay porn stars

 Dongs have  been traditional a symbols of good luck, fertility, and joy, the life force spitting forth the seeds of new creation. Everybody loves cock. Everybody.
Why have ideas of penis symbolology become so enmeshed with domination and control that
they have become socially flacid, off putting and unacceptable.
Our history is swollen with dick stories. 
In ancient egypt for example the myth of Osiris's death, divine Necrophilia, and resurrection. Isis impregnating herself with his prostetic golden phallus inspired an architectural development of the obelisk and column. Look around at these erections and remember their concept came from worshiping a dead gods member.  The fruit of their union, Horus, had a quasi beastiality homo love affair with dog headed Set complete with a hand job, cum, vegetarianism, incest and a-sexual reproduction. With stories like these the tactile history of schlong just gets more and more penetrating.

hey humanity, whos your daddy?

Things going in and things going out. Our visual and written language has facinatingly always been related to either taking it or giving it. There is sexiness oozing out all over our world, but it is easier to imagine a porn star screwing than the idea of our grand-parents, parents or children making love. Every generation thinks they invented it, and inversely every generation gets more externally open and internally repressive. Having dinner with a couple of retired Trannie prostitutes in their late 50s will give you the idea quickly and first hand.

Asspirations (versione Italiano)

Know Your Limits.

Ho iniziato questa nuova avventura un anno fa dopo aver incontrato un gallerista, l’incontro organizzato da un attore TV italiano. Lei si dimostrò molto ricettiva della mia opera, metà della mia opera … Fu rapita da quei quadri che trasudavano vita, una bellezza arcaica che è organica e fluida. Questa è l’opera che io considero preghiera. Arriva attraverso di me, ma non è mia ed è solo la metà delle mie esplorazioni. La metà della mia opera con cui non comunicava  era quella in cui l’immagine giocava un ruolo primario. Alla fine mi disse che si sarebbe incontrata con me per discutere come gestire il mio lavoro, ma che se lo avesse fatto io non avrei dovuto e non avrei potuto fare alcuna opera in cui la grafica non fosse proprio la mi. Hmmm

Wall in Piazza Puccini Firenze Italia

 Quando ho iniziato a studiare seriamente l’incisione, la mia ossessione era l’idea di riproduzioni automatiche. La serigrafia divenne per me il riflesso di ciò. Selezionavo le strade per immagini, poi replicavo le immagini o le incollavo direttamente sulla tela. Tagliando ed incollando, tentavo di riprodurre l’effetto delle superfici che mi circondano quotidianamente.

Il bello di essere un artista è che puoi portare avanti i tuoi pensieri e controllandoli appena, evocare nello spettatore intuizioni che sono sia personali sia plurali. Quando vedo una pubblicità mi chiedo sempre che cosa mi stia dicendo. Quando vedo strati di messaggi assieme, le conclusioni diventano diverse, disordinate e confuse, diventano statica visiva.

Judgement Day

L’anno scorso ho creato una serie chiamata “Asspirations” ispirata a Piazza Puccini a Firenze. Lo spazio è dominato da una enorme fabbrica di sigarette fascista, pannelli cadenti appesantiti dal confronto ne fiancheggiano i lati. Prostitute trans dai grandi seni e dalle labbra turgide la decorano. Piazza Puccini è il miglior esempio di piano urbanistico contemporaneo a Firenze. La sua capacità come spazio artistico non pretenzioso che si sviluppa organicamente è divino. E’ il riflesso moderno di una casa degli specchi degli antichi muri affrescati delle numerose chiese di Firenze. La piazza è riccamente stratificata, i suoi messaggi in cambio divengono dissociati e surreali.

Highness

Tutta l’atmosfera è a pensarci provocante. Dico alle ragazze “buon lavoro” mentre passo e loro sorridono salutando concitatamente con la mano, vedendo un viso familiare. E’ molto dolce e molto ambizioso. Tutti questi elementi visivi consentono la creazione del momento, della sensazione e del luogo.  

Hollywood Divorce

“Asspirations” era la creazione di una superficie stratificata di immagini che si riferivano ad un’idea. Strappare e tagliare parti di informazioni e poi creare asserzioni più complesse.

Questa esperienza mi ha insegnato che tutte queste esplorazioni personali sono valide e necessarie. Sono parte del mio viaggio visuale attraverso questo mondo. La mia prerogativa ed il mio imperativo artistico di rappresentare ciò che sento sono il miglior gergo possibile per comunicare un concetto. Se scelgo di usare la mia mano o di rielaborare il lavoro di altri, il risultato finale non si svaluta. Ho comunque risposto alle sue richieste ed ho iniziato a mescolare la mia voce distinta con la pluralità che si trova nei mezzi di riproduzione automatica.  

Visual Mythologies: Asspiratons

Know Your Limits.

I began this new adventure one year ago after meeting with a gallerist organized by an Italian television actor. She was very receptive to my work, half of my work.  She was entranced by those Paintings that dripped with life, an archaic beauty that is organic and flowing. This is the work that I consider prayer. It comes through me but is not of me, and is only half of my explorations.  The half of my work she did not respond to was that which found imagery played a major role. She finally told me she would meet with me to discuss handling my work but if she did I should not and could not do any work where the penmanship was not my own. Hmmm

Wall in Piazza Puccini Firenze Italia

When I began seriously studying printmaking my obsession was with ideas of automatic reproduction. Silk screening became a reflection of that for me. I would cull the streets for imagery then reprint that imagery or glue it directly to the canvass. Cutting and pasting I attempted to reproduce the effect of the surfaces that surround me daily.

One beauty of being an artist is that you can put your thoughts forward and by controlling them slightly, arouse within the viewer insights that are both personal and plural. When I see an advertisement I always ask myself what it is saying to me. When I see layers of messages together conclusions become different, muddled, and confusing, it becomes visual static.

Judgement Day

Last year I created a series called "Asspirations" inspired by Piazza Puccini in Firenze. The space is dominated by a huge fascist cigarette factory cascading billboards heavy with conversation flanking its sides. Huge breasted, puffy lipped trannie prostitutes decorate it. Piazza Puccini is the best example of contemporary urban planning in Florence. Its capacity as an unpretencious artistic space that develoups organically is devine. It is a modern funhouse reflection of the ancient religious wall frescos in Florences numerous churches. The Piazza is richly layered, its messages in turn become dissjointed and surreal.

Highness

 The whole atmosphere is thought provoking, I tell the girls "buon lavoro" when I pass, they smile waving excitedly to see a familiar face. It is very sweet and  very ambitious. All these visual elements allow for the creation of  moment, feeling, and that place.

Hollywood Divorce

 "Asspirations" was about creating a surface layered with imagery that related to one idea. Tearing and cutting  parts of information away then creates more complex statements.
This experience has taught me all these personal explorations are valid and necessary. They part of my visual journey through this world. It is my artistic prerogative and imperative to draw upon what I feel is the best possible vernacular to convey a statement. If I choose to use my own hand or reprocess the work of others it does not devalue the end result. I did however respond to her demands and began to enmesh my distinct voice with plurality that is found in automatic reproductive media.