Destination. Culture.

Laurence Gartel is a living analogue for the digital media art he is credited with helping to pioneer. He speaks in colorful bursts, sometimes with odd segues reminiscent of that "What has search done to us" ad campaign. Like the web, his ruminations are half content and half advertising. Larry is outgoing, self-centered, and a bit rough around the edges. He's an artist.

Recently Gartel was commissioned by Tesla Motors to pimp their ride at Art Basel in Miami Beach. "No major artist ever received a commission to produce art for an Electric Car. Ive trumped them all by doing so. Electric Art for an Electric Car. Makes sense. Have you seen the ART? It is so detailed and something that could never/ever have been painted or conceived by traditional media."

Hieronymous Bosch might contest that last part, but as the de facto "Father of Digital Art", Gartel is the most celebrated face of a movement that began in the late 60's and early 70's. Tribes of analog video geeks such as the VideoFreex in the Catskills, and Jack Moore's VideoHeads in Amsterdam, were pushing analog video to the breaking point. With art star Nam June Paik as the protagonist, legions of new art recruits were attracted to the bright lights and swirly shapes of video feedback emanating from the Experimental Television Center in upstate New York.

They were trying to make art that moved in unpredictable ways, but Gartel saw a different angle. He aimed a still camera at the screen and "captured" an electronic instant; a wild, colorful, distorted and compelling instant. The ride has only gotten wilder since. By making colorful collages from over-saturated frame-buffered synthesized electronic imagery, then reproducing it in traditional formats, he turned the concept around like René Magritte's Not to Be Reproduced (a man looks in the mirror at the back of his own head).

Gartel's pixel graffiti caught the attention of Andy Warhol, whom he tutored in the use of the Amiga computer. Warhol used it to simulate his earlier silk-screen style and became the celebrity face of Amiga's marketing strategy. Perhaps sitting next to the art world's best self-promoter taught Larry a few things too. Commercial commissions soon followed for Coca-Cola and Absolut vodka, both of which had also commissioned Warhol.

Artists today, use Digital Art for the "Cool factor: For the fad. Every school today has a digital lab and they are all offering courses in Digital Art, New Media, New Genres, Computer Art, they don't know what to call it. Whatever the latest catch phrase. This is not how innovation happens. It takes place by not following trends. Thinking outside the box. Now that the box is digital, I would be thinking something else. We must turn our attention back to beauty. Whether it be digital or not, the aesthetic has to be there. The real case in point is my 1999 masterpiece, "Coney Island Baby." Ive tried to top this image and its impossible. How was it created? I couldn't tell you. One puzzle piece at a time. In its physical form, it is tremendously powerful."

Even though the artists and technology were pretty sophisticated, early computer art was still naive. "Any artist understands that their first attempts are always going to be their strongest" Gartel explains, "I think the real discussion is about how hard it was to make a picture. The early attempts took so much effort. Lets just say nobody went to Best Buy to pick up an 8 gig card for $29.95. There was no such thing as memory chips. The computer systems that were necessary for the creation of art imagery had to fill a room. All the systems I ever knew just so happen to be upstate New York. Media Study/Buffalo was the first system I used. Then it was the Experimental Television Center in upstate New York. I often see people like David Jones as a Nikola Tesla. David is an innovator and great thinker of technology. Each year for over 25 years I would go to ETC and wonder what did David create now? The hardware was just as creative as anything else, except I had no idea about that then. I was just a "user." Someone obviously had to design the tools. In any case, I love early electronic art and it should never go unrecognized. It was the precursor for every person who walks into an Apple Store.

by Vixynth

I sweat for days waiting for the singular ugly colored blue Cadillac to drive up the driveway.

She scared me, and then I glimpsed her face. Tanned, lips painted with “Orange Flip” lipstick, her one and only, and the dreaded be-hive up-do. Oh God! My mother was going to kill me. I liked cool clothing at 11 years old. I wanted the red kilt for school, with the matching kilt pin like all the other girls. Instead, I wore a mustard and gray Italian knit skirt and matching top. While she was away, I was seduced by these new black stretch pants I’d received for Christmas. They were cool, and I had to wear them. I would feel gorgeous as I walked with apathy by the boys on the snowy hills in New England.

I knew how to iron from ironing my brother’s socks. He was quirky about what he wore too. I set up the board, heated the iron, and in the emptiness of my house, with my adult sitter, and my brother always absent, I went to work. It happened so fast. The iron napalmed the ski pants into the silver covering on the board. There it was. It became one, the black heavy iron, pants, and board. I collapsed the board and hid it under my bed. It could have been a Rauschenberg. It sat there for days.

And, now, I had to confess. I ran out to the driveway screaming, terrifying my mother that something terrible had happened. I told her in one sentence, clenched my fists and bit my tongue. Then, I was yelled at for alarming her. Maybe, she thought for a second that our sitter wasn’t vetted well enough. Asking her if she could cook anything would have been a good place to start.  Relevant too. My mother’s daily index cards with recipes written in her perfect feminine handwriting remained in their elastic band. We only knew how to make green beans and some hamburgers. My brother cooked for us.

My mother had fallen in love with Miami Beach. And, they never parted. She stayed at the finest hotels on Collins Avenue and dreamed of owning a house there one day. She would never forget the Bal Harbor boutiques across from her hotel. Nor, could she stop talking about the pool boys. The job for all young guys in Miami. If you could walk straight, were a bit of a looker, and could carry a fresh towel, you made a decent living. In the morning when the women took to their self-designated chaise-longues, while the husbands golfed or went to play elsewhere, the pool guys, on cue moved in to take care of their ladies.

Family Activities in Miami
By: Stephen A

While Miami has a reputation for being a pretty wild town, it is also family friendly destination with plenty of things to see and do for visitors of all ages. Here are some of the sights to see in Miami that you and your family definitely do not want to miss.

Top Miami Tourist Attractions

As the most culturally diverse city in Florida, there are things to see and do in Miami to suit every taste. Of course, South Beach has long been considered the place to be in Miami, but some families might find the atmosphere to be a little too wild for younger children. Other top tourist attractions in Miami include the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the beautiful and historic Venetian Pool. For a much needed break from the busy urban setting of Miami, consider making a quick jaunt over to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. The park has a beautiful lighthouse that has stood for nearly 200 years and numerous hiking and biking trails.