Girls in Gasmasks : A Variation on a Theme in History

When I was dabbling in art in college I lived with a lovely girl in Richmond who once paint a life size pregnant woman wearing a gas mask. I was overcome by the image, it was nothing my mind of 19 years could conger up, yet there it was she had plucked it from thin air and pressed in on the tight gessoed canvas with oil based paint. Today I saw this gasmasked meme again and I decided to look it up via google images. Not only does it bring up fetishist latex clad women, which I won’t repost, but pictures from decades ago of women posing with gasmasks. There were tons of variation, a comic book, tattoos of the masked female, stock photos from reputable stock photo houses and even a Banksy of a young girl filtering the very air she breaths. On a trip to London once I happened upon a show at Shunt Art Space under London Bridge and there was a girl of about my age swimming in a fish tank wearing a gasmask and little more, it was weird but totally worth a second look as she danced underwater to the band performing on the stage just to the side of her. Anyway, here are some examples of something I didn’t realize had such a long history.

Coney Island - Feeling Alright I took this picture yesterday at Coney Island while shooting some time-lapse  video. I biked all the way out and sat in a half dozen spots shooting, people watching, and trying not to get sun burn. I really love it out there and the video I captured was amazing, thank you New York for being such a great subject of song, words and pictures. Here’s a song:  http://www.chrismerrittmusic.com/blog/coney-island/
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Coney Island - Feeling Alright

I took this picture yesterday at Coney Island while shooting some time-lapse  video.

I biked all the way out and sat in a half dozen spots shooting, people watching, and trying not to get sun burn. I really love it out there and the video I captured was amazing, thank you New York for being such a great subject of song, words and pictures.

Here’s a song:  http://www.chrismerrittmusic.com/blog/coney-island/

Talking about music at a bar.

Talking about music is like painting about architecture someone once told me. Its also been said that politics and religion are never good dinner conversation because you never know who you’ll offend. I believe in both of these statements.

Last night I went to one of my favorite bars surrounding Union Square, Heartland Brewery. I had walked down Broadway from work and being early as usual I stopped into Barnes and Noble, picked up a travel journal for a gift and a guide to “guerilla” fim making for myself. I met up with a small crew of musicians who just moved or wanting to move from Washington DC to the dim lights of Brooklyn. As I sipped my overpriced bourbon and they their drinks we talked about the music scene in New York, the industry in general, and how even as dark as it may seem musicians will always want to make music and hopes that someone will like it, follow it, and not merely in a social media way.

Sitting in the loud bar, Ke$ha come on the radio to groans from most of my musical friends. This is usually the case when “musicians” hear “singers” in crowded places where the subwoofers paint soundwaves in your beer glass as you eye/hate the bar cliental. I actually like Ke$ha, I think its catchy. The production value alone at least merits a listen by someone who wants to make records for a living. I like Pink. I actually listen to her as I’m riding my bike to work at least once a week. It just seems that a lot of musicians have a hard time listening to pop music, I don’t know if its the anti-big business mindset or hatred toward polished pop tarts, who knows. I don’t really have a point I don’t think. I like Justin Bieber’s song “Baby” and not just for the Ludacris verse. It reminds me of being in a band in high school and we would hate on rappers that we didn’t ever listen to. When rap and hip hop became so big you couldn’t drown it out with the loudest of guitar amps, we heard it, listened to it, and now I like a lot of it.

I guess with music there is always going to be something you love, something you hate, other things will fall off to apathy, and somethings that will change your world in such a way that your very DNA seems to change. 

Someone once said, ‘Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, and no one wants to hear anyone else’s.’ 

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