Category Archives: Art

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS

Feb 2, 2017

Fellow advertisers.

The surreal field in which we work lends itself to mental compartmentalization. Separation of art and commerce– for creative people, we may check out, leveling down our consciousness to manage the split.

There are deeper aspects to life, and existing in a perpetual state of emotional salesmanship can run your feelings ragged. And we seem to like that. So, for all advertisers in need of solace and despair amid the madness of 2017, I offer the following quotes. And photos. Quotes and photos for ghosts. Read on, you’ll see.

The desire to consume is a kind of lust.

We long to have the world flow through us like air or food.

We are thirsty or hungry for something that can only be carried inside bodies.

But consumer goods merely bait this lust, they do not satisfy it.

-From The Gift, by Lewis Hyde

Money is the pimp between man’s need and the object, between his life and his means of life.

-From Karl Marx’s 1844 manuscripts

Real, total war has become information war.

-From The Medium is the Massage, by Marshall McLuhan

Reason, by itself, may not be enough to get us out of our planetary plight.

– From Notes From the Edge Times, by Daniel Pinchbeck

There are no oceans, cities, hills, and rivers; these are but marked in the landscape of your consciousness. Who are you, anyway?

You are a ghost. No man ever saw you, ever will see you, even as “no man hath seen God at any time.”

-From Four Minute Essays by Dr. Frank Crane

xo,
suzymae

Many thanks to Anousha Hutton, an LA-based artist, director, and photographer who creates cinematic narratives blended with surrealism. I worked with her brilliant mind and powerful skill to create these photos, exploring psychic isolation and the cult of consumption.

Photos by Anousha Hutton, 2017. Follow Anousha on Instagram.

Thank you as well to Bruno Loffredo, Canter’s Deli, and Vivian Hua, for the introduction to Dr Frank Crane.

≈NEW≈ Only Ok in LA Postcard Packs

Aug 8, 2016

Wow. It’s been five years in the city of angels. Since 2011, I’ve been documenting overheard (and personally generated) snippets of LA life. Five sun-kissed years since I found myself texting, “Tanning session ran over. Will be late for Katsuya,” and thinking, “I’ll have to choose between my therapist or my personal trainer.”

I arrived in Los Angeles from Portland, Oregon. Portland people tried to dampen my enthusiasm for LA, but I’d been California dreaming. In my art studio, an inscrutable paper map of LA hung on the wall for a year. I was determined to move to LA by my 30th. Each day I’d stare at the streets, confounded by the lack of grids and the vast spread of neighborhoods. Silver Lake got decorated with unicorns, magic sparkles, and hearts.

I’d read in a late-90’s Seventeen that Beck lived in Silver Lake. Fifteen with no car, before smartphones and rideshares, I plotted a skeezy runaway hitch hike from Las Vegas to the supercool post-grunge home of weirdo art musicians. A Big Life Thing in the form of Parental Death happened, and I didn’t get to LA for another couple of years. A few friends from the music scene and I would hit 18+ Santa Monica clubs to dance all night, then stay in some cousin’s Echo Park living room. From Portland, business trips took me to LA often, doing research projects for Nike and Levi’s.

It’s been five years of learning the city, meeting the people that make up its creative demographic, and honing the Only OK aesthetic. Cluelessly entitled, art-damaged, super-sensitive and forever at the whim of someone more famous, the Only OK voice speaks for the millions of people who move here to be “in the industry,” whether they find raging, rich-kid success, or move back home.

With the Only OK in LA postcard series, Angelenos can either celebrate their insularity, or shake their heads in shame. The shoots are done in my living room, using my friends as models, then all the illustrations are painstakingly done by me. Currently on the second run of postcard designs, I could go on forever. In the works: an adult coloring book…

Part therapy, part observation, part obsessive art project, Only OK in LA tweets are the most fun I can have while eavesdropping. My goal is to continue expanding the Only OK voice, including more perspectives from across the city. Packs can be acquired in my li’l zine shop, or at the Los Angeles County Store.

xo
suzymae

CREATIVE MANTRAS FOR FUNNY WOMEN

Jun 6, 2016

For the past two years, I’ve been infatuated, obsessed, with comedy. It’s my new creative baby. A fresh form of expression to explore.

There was a time, years ago, when the only comedy I cared to engage with was indie comics. Eightball, Hate, Flaming Carrot, Angry Youth Comics. The usual suspects. Although my friends were all deeply funny people, and my favorite things to draw made me laugh, I never thought of comedy as a genre that had meaning. Comedy was annoying and sad. Sitcoms, canned laughter, bad fart jokes, stale and desperate attempts for attention.

Then I got to know a few stand-ups. I stumbled into some ridiculously good improv. My eyes opened to the worlds of storytelling, long-form improv, stand-up, and even clown. (I love my clown classes.) It’s through the comedy community that I’ve met the women featured in this new series, called Maker Mantras.

Maker Mantras are simply individual creative philosophies. Kara Haupt, the very cool founder, editor, and creative force behind online magazine Babe Vibes, was rad and published my Maker Mantra illustrations in the Babe Vibes “Work” issue.

Super thanks to Kara & all the funny, excellent women who shared their Maker Mantras with the world, and brought their energy to these gifs:

Anousha Hutton
Lucé Tomlin-Brenner
Natalie Taylor
Ruha Taslimi
Amrita Dhaliwal
Jade Law
Vivian Martinez
Anna Salinas

May you be fantastic forever.

xo,
suzy mae

Amrita Dhaliwal is an actor and comedian. Her work has spanned multiple areas, from theatre to film to clown. Want more of this Idiot?

Anna Salinas is a comedian and writer based in LA who likes cats (but doesn’t have one). She’s one half of the all-female sketch comedy duo, John Baxter; you can find their sketches on Youtube or at their biweekly comedy show, The Pickle Hour. Anna also publishes a daily webcomic, Badcomixbyanna, which is fun to make (but if you don’t like it, don’t tell her).

When Anousha Hutton’s not shooting photography, she is devoted to writing her TV show “Fletcher” with writing partner Davin Wood. In addition to “Fletcher,” Anousha is churning out tons of comedy sketches and short films in her Winnebago style house.

Jade Law is a comedic actress who loves sci-fi, live-streaming LoL & Starcraft, and the inevitable rise of the robot empire.

Lucé Tomlin-Brenner is a LA based comedian and improviser at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Her life is a whirlwind of comedy, as she hosts two monthly improv shows, produces sketch and storytelling shows, and edits the comedy zine “HiJinks.”

Natalie Taylor is a comedian who loves showing women how to be bold, fearless and confident through creative self expression when rocking a head wrap! It is your birthright, Queens, so #GetRoyal.

Ruha Taslimi is an artist. She is proud to currently be performing with her Upright Citizens Brigade improv team, Moon Hundred.

Vivian Martinez is a native LA comedian, but enjoys many art forms, including storytelling and photography. Recently, she won iO West’s Funny Women’s Fest Stand up Competition; awarding Martinez a monthly show. You can also catch her at The Callback, her weekly open mic in Highland Park at the Hi Hat.

Suzy Mae (me) created the Maker Mantra series and illustrations.