Harvey Loves Harvey

HLH @ Gallery Kayafas

2010-06-08T18:43:00.002-04:00

Great news! In January 2011, Harvey Loves Harvey will be showing at Gallery Kayafas in Boston! More to come.....

Sketching the new project

2010-06-08T18:40:00.003-04:00

Next weekend, HLH will be in the woods of Vermont, shooting part of a new project titled "A Dialogue About Discourse, Between A Place Of Infinite Possibilities & A Site of Finite Impossibilities: What Are We Saying?" Pictures and video to come.

In the meantime, here is a sketch of the setup. (Yes, that is the worst drawing of a Mazda 3 ever! This is why we make videos and interactive pieces, not drawings.)

14 Actions Day 2!

2009-10-19T10:56:00.002-04:00

The second day of 14 Actions For 14th Street was cold and rainy, but we managed to get a lot done. Our first action of the day was near 14th and 7th, where we set up a small gallery and tried to sell a work of art. It may have been the cold weather, or our sales technique, but the work didn't move.

After that, we moved up the block to 14th and 8th, for a surprise inspection on a building. We looked it over, and made our report on the status of the facility, its overall safety, and our followup plans.

Later in the day, near 14th and 6th, we found a great backdrop to campaign for George McClellan in his bid for the Presidency. We read a campaign poem extolling the virtues of Little Mac and taking Lincoln to task for his terrible handling of the war. We also gave out campaign pins to passersby.

We ended the day near 14th and 5th with a tailgate party. As Harvey Loves Harvey, we often hear people question our masculinity, so we used this busy location to prove otherwise. There were Xtreme drinks, junk food and a football game. We cheered the Bills/Jets game and talked with passersby about machismo. Below is a lovely woman who told us "ABY: Anybody but the Yankees. I usually cheer for the Red Sox."

So I hugged her.

We'll be on the street again next weekend, with 7 more actions to go. See you there.

14 Actions Day 1!

2009-10-17T23:44:00.007-04:00

Just finished Day 1 Actions for 14th Street for AiOP
Monitored for Radiation:

Listened to an unwound show from 1998:

Held a Eulogy for Henry Hudson:

Rain Gear

2009-10-15T16:03:00.001-04:00

Headed to B&H to get some raingear for this weekend. Hopefully we won't have to use it? Right?

Radiation monitoring

2009-10-14T19:05:00.003-04:00

Here's our warning if needed after we collect results of radiation monitoring for 10th and 14th.

Weather

2009-10-13T18:29:00.002-04:00

We'll need to plan for rain and foul weather. I am working out a way to attach an umbrella to the monopod, so we can keep the camera dry. We should also have some plastic bags ready to wrap the camera in as well if need be. Hopefully it won't be too bad, but we should wear rain slickers under our jumpsuits and have knit caps on under the helmets if it gets cold. Personally, I get cold easily and will wear long johns and wool socks.

Baseball

2009-10-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Got the baseball to leave behind after we fail to find each other on 2nd ave and 14th Street.
I'm working on that script by the way...or something of a script....can we record the audio somehow?
Is there an Iphone app to record a phone call?

Harvey Building-Safety Certificate

2009-10-12T12:47:00.002-04:00

Here's the pass/fail cert for the building inspection at 14th and 8th Ave.
I have a 8 page safety checklist for us to fill out....that reminds me, I need to go put betteries in those walkie talkies.
And...do you want me to put anything on the construction helmets? Like an HLH or H...maybe we just use gaffers tape?

MTA artwork

2009-10-11T16:24:00.002-04:00

I just got an email from Matt Laskowski, the illustrator I hired for the artwork on the MTA fliers we will hand out. I asked him for a semi-futuristic look at NYC, with a gondola skylift over 14th street to supplement the subway system. This will be the picture along with text about how stimulus dollars are being spent to realize a turn-of-the-20th-century idea of NYC transit.

Man, this drawing looks awesome! Great work Matt L.

Postcards arrived

2009-10-11T09:18:00.001-04:00

Matt,
I got the postcards, they look great, I've been giving them out to people, they love them. Nice work.

I voted for Best Album stickers

2009-10-10T14:46:00.002-04:00

Made the stickers to give out for people that vote for best album.
I'd like to get a still photo of these on peoples shirts also.
I was going to put the website address on the stickers themselves but I thought we could hand out the postcards to people that vote to see the results.

Henry Hudson Memorial Stickers

2009-10-09T13:36:00.000-04:00

Made some backup stickers just in case the ones I orddered don't make it, just enough for like 10 candles or so.
I need to make some 'I voted' stickers for the What would Lester Bangs do best album poll...last weekend before the project...can't wait.

Easel built

2009-10-08T16:27:00.000-04:00

Just finished building this thing for about 3$, pretty sweet, can't wait to sell this picture!

Sunday 1:30PM!

It's yours...We'll even throw in the easel!

Damn.

Easel plans

2009-10-07T11:44:00.001-04:00

Went to home depot to pick up wood for the protest signs and easel for 'the Intersection of Art and Commerce' so we can leave the art, (after it doesn't sell) on the easel on the street for some pics.
Drew up some plans, I'm going to build it tomorrow.
Yay.
I need to go get a baseball somewhere.
I keep meaning to ask you about the tailgate party piece, are we going to drive your car over to 5th and you leave from there?

Eulogy for Henry Hudson

2009-10-06T21:19:00.001-04:00

Like many great explorers in the past and future, Henry Hudson possessed the rare spirit to go where no one had gone before him. Not only driven by trade routes and economics, it was his responsibility to all of humanity, particularly in man’s ongoing quest for information about the world around him. He was the kind of individual that will always live on in our collective fantasy... someone willing to forge into the unknown, no matter the risk, making the ultimate sacrifice.

There can be debate as to the word ‘discovery’, in this case, it’s true men already lived in Manhattan, and there may have even been voyages that landed haphazardly, or passed by these shores, but I hold that he discovered Manhattan in making it known to the world.
He writes in the Half Moon’s log on Sept 11, 1609, ‘they found a good entrance, between two headlands and thus entered into as fine a river as can be found with good anchoring on both sides...He learned later upon further exploring the Hudson river that ‘It is on that side of the river that is called Manna-hata’...and thus what we know now as Manhattan island was born to maps.
Not much is known of Hudson’s life, where he was born and died still remains a mystery. All recorded history of the great explorer marks only 4 short years in which he explored the arctic circle through Siberia, Greenland and finally what we are standing on today.

I don’t think we can really grasp what it was like to navigate by the stars across the Atlantic, endure weeks or near starvation and attacks by native people only to have your own crew turn on you. Henry met his end 700 miles north of this spot, when his crew, having spent the winter, iced in what is now known as Hudson bay, mutinied and set him, his son and loyal crew adrift in a small wooden rowboat.

It is this pursuit of discovery and ultimately information that we want to celebrate, his spirit of exploration into the unknown; the personal unknown as much as the geographic unknown.

Jumpsuits

2009-10-05T12:05:00.000-04:00

Got the jumpsuits all set this weekend.

The MTA Improvement flyers

2009-10-04T08:44:00.003-04:00

The drawings for the MTA Improvement flyers are amazing! So glad you hired these out...they are going to look amazing and should fool anyone.
just a couple of things...
Do we have any idea about the text? Do you have a design going for the flyer? Can you make copies of it for when you come down?
Can't wait to see the color version with the gondola.

Unwound Tape cover

2009-10-03T08:35:00.003-04:00

Matt,
Great tape cover for this project. I really can't wait to sit on the sidewalk and listen to Unwound. I can't stop relating them to growing up, they are a stand in for music during high school and college. How all music affected me, relationships, everything.
It's our own personal mythology, a stand in for any band anyone likes that no one else really heard of...that local band, your friends band that you just always had the best time at, that can't ever be recreated. I know it's futile, I know you are ridiculous holding on to the past. Maybe that's what Unwound represents for us essentially.

Saturday Oct 17th, 5P. Unwound RIP.

Fun promo on Facebook

2009-10-02T11:21:00.002-04:00

I posted some fun pictures of me with the Ross McElwee cutout on Facebook as promo for the 14 Actions. I'll repost them below...

A Bunch of things for 14th St

2009-10-02T10:47:00.004-04:00

I had some time this morning to get into the studio, so I finished up a bunch of the items to be left behind during 14 Actions for 14th Street. I took some shots of them so you can check them out.

These are the booklets of Allen Ginsberg's poem "America" to be left behind. They have a description of the action inside, along with the poem.

Strike signs for our STRIKE!

The back and front of the LP cover for "Trader Joe's Calling" -- made to look like the "London Calling" cover.

The front and back of the George McClellan campaign song and poster, to be left behind.

"Re-living New Years Eve 1998" tape covers, complete with grungy old tape cases for that authentic look.

And finally Henry Hudson standups for the shrine to him at the center of our candle light vigil.

AiOP is on!

2009-10-02T07:43:00.002-04:00

Just caught the City Meditations Crew in the street around 6th Ave. Also just across the intersection was Tim Thyzel's portable fountain project made out of traffic cones...nice. I have to be honest I forgot today was the first and the whole sebang was starting.

MAPS

2009-10-01T18:21:00.002-04:00

Picked up the maps today from AiOP, can't wait to show you. Do you want me to send some along?
Let me know.

The art for sale

2009-09-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

Here's a special sneak preview of the art we'll be selling on 7th and 14th, Sunday Oct 18th. Come out and make an offer! Make sure to read over the contract, there are a few restrictions, but nothing we can't work out.
just look at that photo! It's from Monet's garden! Priceless!

Nametags

2009-09-29T11:55:00.000-04:00

Nametags just came in today! I think they're exactly what we wanted. I'll figure out where exactly to put them on the jumpsuits and sew em up. With your approval of course.

A vote against McClellan is a vote against the war - still photo

2009-09-28T08:27:00.000-04:00

The sketch for the still photo of the McClellan speech. Ir we can find some steps that would be great, I'll have to see what building is now where Tamminy hall used to be. I think there's a Salvation Army or union building around there that has great steps...or a church. I'll have to scout it, or check street view of gmaps.
Or maybe just on a corner would be great too.

The Intersection of Art and Commerce - Still photo sketch

2009-09-27T11:06:00.004-04:00

This is what I was thinking for the still photo of our selling the monet painting, which I realize I have to make sure I have a good frame for and get an easel. I think I'm going to just build one...a couple of sticks bolted together with something to hold up the 'painting', that way we can just leave it there, no problem.
I like the photo of it just sitting there after we're done with it, maybe even catch someone taking it, that would be great.

A Surprise Inspection - 14th and 8th

2009-09-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

For Surprise Inspection at 14th and 8th ave I think the still photo of the leave behind should be a close up of a certificate saying the site 'passes' or 'fails'. I'm checking out templates and certificates to find a good version. I'll post whatever I come up with.

I think this will end up on the lamppost right on the corner where the building will be we're monitoring...or if we see some construction plywood up, then we could staple it there. (see below)

Sketch for still photo 'A candlelight vigil for Henry Hudson'

2009-09-25T12:40:00.004-04:00

So for the Henry Hudson vigil I'm picturing this kind of still, straight on medium shot of the portrait with candles. I'm assuming we leave everything? Does the portrait have a frame?
You're printing this out? I'll leave the rest of the stickers, after we kind of put them up on the lightpoles etc.
There are these car barrier things that are about 2 feet high which would be perfect to put everything on for the length of the project, there's a bunch of them, so we can have our pick thinking about the sun setting on the west side.

Quiet: We LIve In Public

2009-09-24T22:10:00.002-04:00

I had totally forgotten about this project by Josh Harris until it reemerged on ArtsEditor. But this was the stuff going on when were were transforming Harvey, back in 1999-2001 -- the kind of "the Internet will save us all, or kill us all" mentality that we were exploring. I don't think we're doing it so much anymore, social networking has made a lot of that stuff normal or easy or obvious, but it's important to remember that there was this period of insane experimentation with what the internet could be. I'm not sure I like the project (I remember thinking how facile and ego-maniacal it was back then) but I'm also happy I know about it, and remember how it fit into the context of crazy pro-internet hype (and lies) of that era.

9th Ave sketch for still photo - Unwound

2009-09-24T10:08:00.000-04:00

Here's the sketch of the still of the Unwound reenactment on 9th and 14th. 'Re-living new years eve 1998'
I was picturing a close up shot of the cassette on the sidewalk askew, and maybe there's some street debris near it or something, just so we know it's on the ground and we left it behind.
Maybe we could use a semi wide shot if it also with someone walking by. Just so you get the idea that we left it there for the public.

Audience Hero

2009-09-23T16:35:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about how guitar hero is the easy way to fake guitar, to get a small taste of what that experience might be like...and how people are getting all up in arms, 'You should just learn guitar.' Sure, of course, if it were that easy. It's a gateway experience. If you like that, or get inspired by music or the songs then take it to the next level.
I think that guitar hero functions in the way the Unwound Live 9-11 show does and the 'Re-Living new years eve' does. We want to reenact these experiences...what would it be like to be there, to play guitar...we are playing audience hero. What would it be like to be in the audience for a rock show. We get as close to the original location and listen to as close as possible live show from that time. What's our score?
How do you play this?

I kind of wish that was the name of the piece.

Sketch #1 for Still photos

2009-09-22T13:05:00.003-04:00

Here's the first in the series of sketches for Rob, so he gets an idea of what we're thinking to have as the final documentation of the 'leave behind' shot. In this case it's for the first action we are doing Saturday the 17th at 4P. I think we'll come up with an official looking certificate or warning etc., results from the test that will have our stamp and some data and a signature, something about radiation testing successful failed etc.
We will tape this to a lightpole or construction site plywood wall for Rob to photograph. Close up shot of just the flyer.
Something like that pic from 'Wanted'.

Boston - NY meeting

2009-09-21T17:46:00.003-04:00

Nice meeting guys, looking forward to seeing you on Saturday the 17th around noon.
I'm going to get to work on some sketches of what the final leave behind still photos should be and will be posting those this week.

Henry Hudson Bio

2009-09-20T14:23:00.000-04:00

Been reading this biography about Hudson, pretty crazy story, I didn't know his crew mutinied and left him for dead, floating off with his family in a rowboat. Insane.
It's mostly just a compilation of his log entries of his trips.
I think I have a pretty good handle on the eulogy and should be able to post it pretty soon.
Harvey Loves Hudson.

What would Lester Bangs Do?

2009-09-19T08:56:00.000-04:00

Here's the 'greatest album of all time' survey for the public at University and 14th. We'll need clipboards and pens for this one. I'll make a bunch of copies of this...maybe 100?
Also on the website for that section there should be a placeholder for the results of the survey...maybe just...and the winner is...kind of thing. We'll have to figure out how we want to present that.
Also that day we should have our postcards so people can go there later in the day and view the results.
I like to think that Lester was asking people this all the time, because it's pretty much a ridiculous question, you want to think you can answer it, but it's like what's your favorite food. You think you know, but of course it changes daily. But of course I like our failure to come to a conclusion, but part of me thinks maybe we actually will find out what the greatest album is, maybe it will be something not even on the list.
I wonder if we present just the winner? Or a whole excel graph with all the info....I think a graph.

Nametags.

2009-09-18T08:09:00.000-04:00

Found a place to do patches...they said no problem in getting them done in time for the first project...Oct 17th...So I think to match the jumpsuits we'll get them dark green, like a forest green border and text, and then the background color would be like a lime green?
Anyway, I'm going to order these 3.5x1.5 rectangles.
You're on your own with the needle and thread thought.
They are iron on too by the way.

The Unwound show #2 - Relive new years eve

2009-09-17T08:38:00.000-04:00

The live show we'll listen to at the corner of 9th and 14th is finished. I found an old unlabeled live show from approximately the time period and played the recording from the distance we were from the stage and at a similar respective volume, and recorded it onto this tape. Actually we'll be listening in on the performance kind of from a distance...since we'll be sitting outside on the sidewalk.
Like ghosts of christmas past.
I'm going to go shoot some pics for surveillance so we can figure out where exactly what corner to do it.

Postcards going to the printer

2009-09-16T08:55:00.000-04:00

Finally these bad boys are ready to get printed.
Nice work Matt, they look amazing.
After some revisions they were approved by AiOP and then I think you said they're being printed big?.... 4.5x6 glossy...can't wait.
Let me know when they're in Matt.
Are we doing a mailing with these? Or just passing them out explaining the actions. Should any go to Rotenberg?

Buttons finished!

2009-09-15T08:39:00.001-04:00

Heather from out of order records finished these buttons for RFK and McClellan in record time...arrived today, they look great, I'm going to make sure to send her a link to the project. Plus she sent a 7" for review on 7inches.blogspot...So art and 7"'s go together after all.
Yay.

McClellan's Podium

2009-09-14T18:29:00.004-04:00

The music stand and bunting came, so I put them together for the 'A Vote for McClellan is a Vite against the war' podium, looks pretty good.
I'm going to work on attaching it a little more permanently to the stand.
The even better part is this can all collapse down into a bag, so we can setup in one minute.

Promo Images

2009-09-13T19:33:00.004-04:00

Below are the best of the 14 promo shots we took in Brooklyn earlier this month.

14 Actions Website

2009-09-13T19:30:00.002-04:00

The website is up and running, and is currently the home page for the Harvey Loves Harvey website. There is a Flash version, with fun animations, and a non-Flash version for mobile users.

Postcards

2009-09-13T19:29:00.001-04:00

The cards are going to the printer tomorrow. They are oversize, 5.5 x 8.5" so they will be great.

Henry Hudson memorial sticker

2009-09-13T10:02:00.002-04:00

Just finished the stickers the other day and sent them in for printing, they should be ready in 3 weeks?
Should be in time for the piece. Actually now that I think about it the Henry Hudson Memorial piece is on the first day...hope they make it in time.
They say allow 1-4 weeks, but last time I had stickers made, they came in like a week, so I'm counting on them, and it's super cheap...
These should fit on those tall wax or glass candles good, I traced the portrait from wikipedia started working on the eulogy....

Song at guitar center

2009-09-12T11:13:00.001-04:00

Abandoned idea for 14 scenes for 14th street.

Harvey Loves Harvey will enter guitar center, find appropriate instruments and compose and record a song on a portable device about 14th Street. After completing what they feel is a finished version of the song they will leave guitar center and upload an MP3 of the song to the project page on the 14 Scenes section of the website.

I still like the idea of this being a semi-public useable space and being able to use all the equipment as if it's a studio. Plus these are almost everywhere so this piece could literally be done anywhere. Plus who knows the guys here might even be kind of supportive of the idea.

There's a 4 Track application for the iphone also we could get to really get fancy.

Buttons!

2009-09-11T08:41:00.000-04:00

In keeping with the spirit of leaving behind an artifact for every action and having those collected in a box (I'll have to look/construct one by the way, keep an eye out at garage sales etc) I just had the proofs of the buttons come in and they look great.
I should have them in my hand in about a week or so.

It would be great to pass out the RFK ones to anyone we end up talking to about the project while we're waiting.

For anyone's info I highly recommend Heather's button pressing on Etsy, she's been super easy and quick...plus had the best price of anywhere. We might be using her for other projects...plus who doesn't want to support etsy?
They should expand into all other sorts of things you need other than just crafty things.

Monet's gardens calendar?

2009-09-10T09:25:00.004-04:00

So here's what I was going for...a generic impressionist painting from Monet. I'd bid on one on ebay to rip off a page of the calendar and frame it for our 'An intersection of Art and Commerce' project. Instead what arrived was a day planner calendar with photos of the garden where Monet painted? Literally pages and pages of photos of a garden...and a picture of a greenhouse covered in plastic. Ridiculous. It's funny how you can put that name on anything though. I guess we could have a calendar that said: 'Picasso, we're not that guy.'
I'm an idiot. Oh well, now I want to frame the worst picture in it and try to sell that.
Whatever you think...I have a good frame at least.
Oh and we don't have something to leave for that one either.

Performance Meeting

2009-09-09T21:11:00.003-04:00

Just got back from the AiOP meeting for performers.
One thing I learned: we have to stay 8 feet away from a building so we don't block pedestrian traffic.
Picked up a stack of the postcards.
On the way I checkout out a few of the corners we'll be working at...wondering if there's time to do some kind of walkthrough? Should we take a weekend before the pieces first go up?
I'm going to really revise the scripts for each action in a lot more detail.

Youtube Tryptichs

2009-05-17T13:40:00.001-04:00

Eyebeam has a project you3b and I've been working on some projects...

Check them out.

Here's one of my favorites: http://www.you3b.com/watch/1304

Harvey live in Gettysburg!

2009-03-09T19:18:00.009-04:00

Day 1+2

We finally pulled into Gettysburg to finish...well work on....the 'After Sherman's March' documentary. Matt after 8 hours calls for a toast and we hang out in the hotel room for a minute...right in the middle of downtown Gettysburg....who knew?

The first night we saw a lot of pretty sweet shops selling civil war hotpants!
Nice. You better believe we bought some....for each other!

Then we wandered around the battlefield after dark successfully eluding the park police scaring the hell out of ourselves, it was a full moon and we got some great footage. Matt narrated every step in the dark and it was a weird way to experience the battlefield for the first time.

We had breakfast across the street the next morning at the best place that had battlefield fries and an obsession with Faith Hill. Tons of merchandise for every kind of military / war collector. I had the egg sandwich...delicious.

Next we headed out to see this place in the daylight...I really have no sense of the scale of the monuments and battlefield. We only walked a tiny piece last night so we take the car to drive around the entire perimeter from the Union and Confederate sides. Tons of footage of cannons and fences. Great job.

Next we're on top of little round top, it's windy as hell, but really amazing. No one would want to fight their way up this face of boulders. There's a couple of hawks circling around, I use a new iphone app that looks like the old action lomo camera.

Finally we make it to the Museum, Visitors center/cyclorama for some research on a cyclorama video piece we're working on...I get a great book, we shoot more kitchy toys and guns and interview a couple of people and see the ADD nightmare of a museum.

$1 Grant Project

2009-01-12T18:29:00.019-05:00

In March of 2009, Harvey Loves Harvey received a grant for $1. With this money, we propose to offer intangible aspects of our lives for sale on Ebay, with the minimum bid set to $1. Each member of Harvey Loves Harvey will offer aspects of their lives that the other Harvey feels envious of, to be sold for $1. Upon the conclusion of the auction, the Harvey-seller will send a work of documentation conferring the intangible aspect of their life to the other; in exchange, the Harvey-buyer will pay $1.

This project concludes when a non-Harvey buyer purchases an intangible lifestyle aspect from a Harvey for more than $1. The non-Harvey buyer will receive documentation conferring the intangible aspect that they purchased, and Harvey Loves Harvey will preserve their original $1, plus all monies earned by the final auction, for posterity.

All documentation of this project will be preserved by Harvey Loves Harvey, and presented on this blog.

To initiate this project, HLH's Matthew Nash has procured the ASDF Dollar, which is documented below.

Just posted the first video:

and here's the ebay listing.

Looks like I might have a winner! Congrads buddy!

Now send me my dollar. I don't know if I mentioned this but there is a .01 cent handling change. Pay Up!

Thanks, just got the dollar in time to bid on yours.

Jason now owns my ability to Schmooze. Here's what he got:

Matt,
The next video is up....feel free to bid:

Congrads, you now own my insane music knowledge...it might not seem like it...but you do.
Here's the video:

Well...it looks like I've been outbid by someone on your civil war video so I'm keeping the dollar and that does it for the ASDF project.

It figures...there's no way I can get that kind of knowledge...it really makes sense.

So I burnt a DVD of my video and sent it to Kurt Wampler, the winner of the auction. Here is a snap of the disc he received...

More photos on wood

2008-12-03T10:10:00.003-05:00

I had a very successful day this past weekend, and all 4 exposures came out great! Both battle diptychs are coming along. I need to paint into them a little, but I like how they are looking.

Photo panels update

2008-11-21T14:56:00.006-05:00

I've been able to make 5 exposures on the panel pieces I posted about before. Two are successes! The good news is that the emulsion can be taken off and the panels re-coated and exposed, so there is really no loss other than time and some emulsion.
Here are shots of the 4 panels I have, 2 good ones and 2 that got fogged but I haven't removed the emulsion yet.

Virtual Fireplace

2008-11-17T18:36:00.002-05:00

I want to make a series of videos in the spirit of the virtual fireplace only with even more mundane and 'City' things....translate that idea to our neighborhood. One will be gas station....a long shot looped for a hour of a gas station in the middle of the night...nothing happens...you know it's not a still frame, but no one really uses it, not much action anyway.
Another one would be 'Abandoned lot', or 'future site of Citibank'
Definitely one of a fast food rest stop.
The lonliest place in the world.

The 2nd Annual HLH Holiday Party

2008-11-08T20:04:00.004-05:00

We should set a date, and begin planning, for the 2008 Annual HLH Holiday Party.

Should we use an ATM again this year? Or, should we find another place? What would that be? A mall? Parking garage? Movie theatre?

New Photos on Wood

2008-11-07T10:51:00.007-05:00

I've been working in the studio on some panel pieces based on the Civil War photo montages we were doing last year. The plan is to stain and paint the wood with oils, seal them and then paint over with enamel and spray paint. On top of it all will be photo emulsion, exposing the final black part of the image.

Below are three digital sketches of what I have in mind:

Here are some shots from the studio of the panels in progress. For the most part, all that's left is the photo emulsion and exposure... the hard parts.

These are for the first concept, of the dead soldier:

These are for the diptychs:

This was just a scrap piece of wood I was using for testing processes, and it came out so cool I'm going to use it for a final exposure:

A detail:

We need to shoot some new images for future ones, but I think these 4 or 5 are shaping up really cool.

Lyrics for the instrumentals

2008-08-25T19:36:00.004-04:00

Listening to the new Don cab and my shock at the lyric tracks and then add Corey archangel's glockenspiel addendum it made me think why can't we write lyrics for explosions or pelican or older don cab tracks and perform them karaoke style and record them.

Harvey 7"

2008-08-25T19:29:00.004-04:00

I'm still working on our official music release in the 7" format, but I had an idea for the next one:

1 - We write 2 songs about writing 2 songs for a 7"

or

2 - Both sides are ideas for new work from this blog, most likely work that we hope to do. We sing/write about the ideas, concepts, and construction of the work, maybe abstract, but funnier if it's really direct I think.

Police sketch artist

2008-08-25T18:56:00.002-04:00

We should both find a police sketch artist and have them do a portrait of the other person.
We would sit down with the sketch artist and describe each other to this person and show the drawings somewhere.
Or we can hire this guy to do age progressions of each other for a show. We might be able to get him to do sketches as well.
http://www.forartist.com/forensic/modification/prest/boyaging.htm

After Sherman's March

2008-08-17T19:09:00.007-04:00

Director Ross McElwee

Some stills from Sherman's March: A Mediation to the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation

Some new ideas

2008-05-16T12:44:00.004-04:00

I realized that if the piece is about the option to start a war, the person who starts it should "fire the first shot". So what if we wired a switch into one of the plastic muskets, so that when you fire it the program is triggered?

Also, I have some great ideas for photos we should take on our road-trip. Hopefully we'll have an extra day to go to Antietam, because the best ones I have in mind need to be taken there.

Click the image below to see some new footage. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet...

cell phone drum kit

2008-04-12T15:12:00.002-04:00

Do you think there would be a way to have the ringtones of a bunch of cheap phones be a part of a drum kit. One is the snare, one is the high hat etc, and get them to play out some kind of weird beat by calling them? Or they are all on the same #. You could walk into the space and call the number on the wall to interact with it and then the beat, or even score would be performed.
Somehow the music could be conceptualy linked to the idea of this interaction, or it would require other users to call the other numbers to complete the music. You could kind of DJ it.

Slowcore...

2008-03-23T22:14:00.001-04:00

...in action.
Seriously, could the drummer do any less? (and yet, he still manages to rock somehow...!?!)

You forget about them....

2008-03-23T22:08:00.002-04:00

... and then one day you remember that Pelican is one of the greatest bands ever.

Space Invaders

2008-03-23T19:44:00.001-04:00

HLH at Platform2's "Failure Support Group" event

2008-03-02T21:47:00.004-05:00

On Friday, February 29th, Matthew Nash of HLH presented at Platform2's "Failure Support Group" event, held at the Democracy Center at Harvard University. From my post over at Our Daily RED:

Tonight Platform2 hosted an event dubbed the Failure Support Group for a crowded hall of artists and friends. The event featured a series of artists presenting various failures from their lives. I am proud to admit that I presented a failure of my own.

The event, like many Platform2 events, was a loose and open discussion of a topic that many people confront in their daily lives. Each presentation was limited to 5 minutes, and speakers were shooo-ed off stage by Andi Sutton's accordion (Sutton learned to play accordion 3 days ago). I was struck by the wide variety of types of failure presented, from "I am a failure because I am perceived to be successful but I'm not" to "Every time I become really good at something I hate it" to "My project did not meet its goals, even though others thought it was a success" to "I had a great idea that failed as a business venture." Each person talked about failure as a part of their life, but most people also seemed to find hope, or growth, or opportunity in their failures. Overall it was a really interesting conversation that lasted for quite a while.

Platform2 is a collective comprised of Catherine (kanarinka) and Sasha (pirun) of iKatun, Jane D. Marsching, and Andi Sutton of The National Bitter Melon Council. Previous Platform2 events include a discussion about Art & Activism, and an exploration of Risk: Race, Class, Geography, and Art (pictures here)

Find out more about Platform2 events, and how you can become a part of future projects, at their website.

For the event, I recreated an older Harvey piece: "Control #8: Feel The Same Emotions". In this version, I gave everyone in the room a card and asked them not to show it to anyone else. Each card had a word describing an emotion on it -- some people got "indignation" and others got "contentment". I asked everyone in the room to sit silently for one minute and try to feel that emotion. After the minute was over, we talked about whether they were able to keep that emotion, and if they believed that they had felt the same emotions as others in the room. Of course, we also talked about the failure inherent in the whole proposition.

The images are by Rob Coshow, and show me talking to the group and the minute of silence.

Cease and desist

2008-02-29T17:19:00.003-05:00

I think we should make up bands with myspaces and websites...not even websites, just a myspace and a few original songs at first... of course with a name that isn't in use already.
As ridiculous a name as possible along the lines of the current trends in band names ...like Wolf Wolf Wolf!!!, or whatever sounds like a reasonable or unreasonable band name.

We create these bands with looks, myspace pages and a few tracks....some pictures.

Then we wait until another band tries to use that name, we write them a cease and desist letter.

Partially I think it's funny because there are fewer and fewer band names out there...or you would think, and they might get angry, and partially because we predicted this stupid name.

I think the piece succeeds if we actually get a band to stop using the name we are using.

Temp install in basement - circular wall test

2008-02-25T16:18:00.001-05:00

Interactive Installation - matt's basement boston

2008-02-25T11:45:00.002-05:00

Here are two sketches of how I see an installation working in my studio space.

New Collaboration with Lee Walton

2008-02-23T12:03:00.004-05:00

So, last night Lee Walton was supposed to talk in Boston, but it was canceled so we got dinner and saw some art. Over dinner we conceived a new collaborative project between HLH and Lee. It is based on some of the old instruction pieces, and we talked about Tehching Hsieh's declaration that he would not make art for 13 years.

So here it is, the new HLH collaboration with Lee Walton. Since it was written and signed in a bar (as it should have been) it is a bit hard to read, but here is the text.

I, Matthew Nash, as representative of Harvey Loves Harvey, and Lee Walton, artist, commit our respective projects to a hiatus for one month (to be chosen) in which we will not create art: we will only paint.

Signed
Matthew Nash
Lee Walton

All we need to do is pick which month to make the piece. I'll frame up this contract for posterity.

Harvey != collaboration

2008-02-18T15:55:00.004-05:00

Recently I started buying "The EC Archives" reissues from Russ Cochran publishing. My favorites are the "Weird
Science" comics, although I still love my original boxed set of the first 23 issues of "MAD" that Cochran published in the mid-80s. Both contain great quotes, and the "MAD" set is where the name "Harvey Loves Harvey" comes from.

Today I read this great quote in one of the "Weird Science" books penned by Cochran:

... Al Feldstein wrote all four stories in the first issue of Weird Science, including "Lost in the Microcosm," illustrated by Harvey Kurtzman. This is the only EC story to be written by Feldstein and illustrated by Kurtzman.
Kurtzman was eager to break away from Feldstein's method of writing and start writing his own stories...

Later in the same narrative, Kurtzman says:

There were two differences between Al Feldstein's approach and mine: Al wrote fast, I wrote slow. And Al let the artist compose the pictures; I storyboarded everything.

I find it really interesting that Harvey Loves Harvey, a project devoted to collaboration and the culmination of work that is larger than one individual, is named after someone who clearly could not collaborate with others. Even in an industry as collaborative as comics, Kurtzman needed to be the leader, the singular vision, the boss -- all the things we are against in Harvey Loves Harvey.

Bill Gaines looks over a story by Artist/Writer Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman created some of the most realistic war stories ever produced for EC's Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. But he is best known for his brainchild which revolutionized the world of humor. It's title: Mad. [image found here]

New work

2008-01-23T10:58:00.000-05:00

I liked the idea of a long term, public project where we have some kind of seed disperal device, maybe attached to a tiny vehicle that moves a little every day. You could go online and tell it to plant a seed, which would just turn a wheel or something with seeds. It wouldn't have to be very exact, just dump them on the ground or something.
It could be pretty worked soil..and we could just manually move the device every day the length of it, or figure out the entire size of the planting space and divide it by 30 for a month or something.
Anyway, you could go to the site and plant a seed, and then after a while you could see what days people planted. It could be this weird record of the participation...
Either that or it also has roundup in the other wheel, so one would grow and one would kill and then see if anything managed to make it.

Weird idea

2008-01-18T17:56:00.000-05:00

Hey, if astrological signs are supposed to result in people that have similar attributes, or personalities, I want to maybe try to test that in some way.
1. have a gathering/meeting where everyone has the same birthday or even within that time on the calendar to fall into their 'sign'

expected outcome: of course people will actually not get along because everyone is different, etc.
harvey outcome: they will all get along.

note: maybe they participate in activities designed to produce conflict.

you need this!

2008-01-15T15:13:00.000-05:00

I just saw this guys website, where he promises to send you a picture every day for all of 2008, if you want it.
http://www.davidhorvitz.com/2008_sky.html
I like the idea that we have some projects that take an outside participant to activate. Something like this idea, but it doesn't start until someone emails or contacts us about getting one/providing info etc. Then we start the piece. It's kind of like warehousing ideas until they get pulled out of storage, but almost like someone voted on them over the others.
Anyway, it might be a good idea for projects that we don't know where they will go etc.

New Civil Warcraft maps

2007-12-31T17:03:00.000-05:00

I've added some new maps to Civil Warcraft -- The Battle of Oak Grove and the Battle of Mechanicsville. These are the first two battles of the Seven Days Battles.

Update:
I've added yet another map -- The Battle of Gaines' Mill -- to Civil Warcraft. So far I've finished 4 of the 7 battles of the peninsula campaign. Even more exciting, I've finally figured out how to make water that people can walk thru, and Gaines' Mill has a huge swamp in the middle!

Update II:
I've added a map for the Battle of Savage's Station, another of the Seven Days Battles. It's a rearguard action, a small fight, but it was fun to put in all the flies and the corpses of Union soldiers that had been left behind in the previous days' retreat.

Update III:
Thank God for holiday weekends and TV marathons! Nicole and I are watching Twin Peaks and The Sopranos (alternating every other disc) and I have tons of time for making Civil Warcraft maps. Thus -- The Battle of Frayser's Farm (also known as the battle of Glendale). Now available at civilwarcraft.harveylovesharvey.com.

Update IV:

One more map -- The Battle of Malvern Hill -- the last of the Seven Days.

Twitter

2007-12-30T17:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Matt,
I was reading an article about twitter in wired and how it kind of made the author have a subconscious link to the friends he subscribed to. He knew when he got together with that person what minutiae they had been up to the past week or so.
I liked this idea of kind of keeping up with each others lives almost unconsciously. You did your laundry, or watched this movie or celebrated an anniversary.
My ID is:
http://twitter.com/HLH

maybe it's useful for civil war? I think maybe more for harvey, not even as a piece but just to keep up with each other in a ridiculous way.

1st Annual HLH Christmas Party a success!

2007-12-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

I can honestly say the first annual xmas party was a success. We could have stayed honestly for a long time, no one was going to botherus. Even the passed out drunk guy in the corner didn't even get up. Next year it could be even bigger and better. We could move to other ATM's or other public spaces.
Me and Hajoe had a great conversation about public and private space and surveillance but it was a loud party and it didn't make it on the video.
Hope you can make it next year!

Football picks - 12/21/07

2007-12-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

So, here is what I did:

I took the book I am currently reading, The Battles for Spotsylvania Courthouse and the Road to the Yellow Tavern by Gordon Rhea and started with the page where my bookmark is (p. 71). Beginning with the first full paragraph, I marked each NEW person mentioned. If they were from the Federals, I marked column A, if they were Confederates I chose from B.

Here are the results:

B - Pvt Dame, Richmond Howitzers
A - Genl Wainright
A - Genl Buell
A - Genl Warren
A - Genl Hancock
A - Genl Sedgewick
A - Genl Meade
B - Genl Anderson
B - Genl Ewell
A - Maj Hyde
A - Gel Wright
A - Genl Davies
B - Genl Kershaw
A - Col Lyman
A - Lt.Genl Grant

Here are the football picks for this week:

~~Dallas~~ at Carolina
Oakland at ~~Jacksonville~~
Philadelphia at ~~New Orleans~~
Kansas City at ~~Detroit~~
Cleveland at ~~Cincinnati~~
Green Bay at ~~Chicago~~
NY Giants at ~~Buffalo~~
~~Houston~~ at Indianapolis
~~Atlanta~~ at Arizona
Tampa Bay at ~~San Francisco~~
Baltimore at ~~Seattle~~
Miami at ~~New England~~
~~NY Jets~~ at Tennessee
Washington at ~~Minnesota~~
Denver at ~~San Diego~~

football pool - it's almost over

2007-12-21T13:54:00.000-05:00

OK here's the games:

Dallas at Carolina
Oakland at Jacksonville
Philadelphia at New Orleans
Kansas City at Detroit
Cleveland at Cincinnati
Green Bay at Chicago
NY Giants at Buffalo
Houston at Indianapolis
Atlanta at Arizona
Tampa Bay at San Francisco
Baltimore at Seattle
Miami at New England
NY Jets at Tennessee
Washington at Minnesota
Denver at San Diego

Now I want to use the civil war somehow, what I'm thinking is pick a date in the war and the A column is the north and B is the south. starting with whatever arbitrary date you pick follow battles and whoever won historically, pick the team..email sawyer. cc me.

Picks for football pool

2007-12-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

Here's the picks for thursday. I'll work on instructions for you for next week.

Football pool

2007-12-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

Here's the teams:

Denver at Houston
Cincinnati at San Francisco
Jacksonville at Pittsburgh
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Seattle at Carolina
Green Bay at St. Louis
Baltimore at Miami
NY Jets at New England
Arizona at New Orleans
Buffalo at Cleveland
Tennessee at Kansas City
Indianapolis at Oakland
Detroit at San Diego
Philadelphia at Dallas
Washington at NY Giants
Chicago at Minnesota

I will play some golf.

Football instructions for 12/16/07

2007-12-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

OK, I know that you have a lot of golf games for your various gaming systems. So, here are the instructions:

Play a round of golf on your Xbox or Playstation. For each hole you play, choose from the A column if you are under par, and the B column if you are over par.

If you play hit par, then choose A if your opponent is over par, and B if our opponent is under par.

If both you and the computer hit par, then the hole does not count.

Play until you get enough choices to pick all teams.

Document all results.

---

P.S. I can't wait for the ATM party next weekend!

Football pix for dec 6

2007-12-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

Here they are:

More Unwound...

2007-12-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

Weird timing... I was working on this today when you posted Mike's new cut below. Lot's of Unwound for the fans.

Here is Unauthorized Biography:

Mike's cut - corpse pose

2007-12-04T17:32:00.000-05:00

Damn I like Mike's cut, he did an amazing job, even matching the music to cut's. It realy feel like a music video. If this was going to air on MTV5, I'd use this one.

Football instructions, week whatever

2007-12-04T09:23:00.000-05:00

Here are the new instructions for picking football teams for next week (go Pats!) --

I know you have a drawer full of take-out menus. To pick teams, remove the menus from the drawer in order, and look at the phone number of the restaurant. If the last digit is odd, pick the team from the A column, if it is even then choose B. Do this until you have selected all teams. Post all documentation here.

ATM Xmas Party - preparing

2007-11-21T15:29:00.000-05:00

I've been getting the cards ready to mail out for our ATM Party coming up in December. I printed some invites and I've been gluing them inside some Hallmark cards I bought at CVS.

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, that is a painting by Thomas Kinkade - The Painter Of Light™! We here at Harvey Loves Harvey are huge fans of Mr. Kinkade, and feel that this painting of a cabin in the woods best represents our feelings of winter joy and the good times we hope to share with our friends at the ATM Christmas Party.

Check your mailboxes -- we'll be sending them out after the Thanksgiving holiday. If you want to guarantee your invitation, please email us.

Below are images that Jason sent me earlier today of the site of the party:

If she's ready

2007-11-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, from the archives, I can't believe this footage existed, I really lost it when I put the VHS in the player. I think I may have only seen this once before. Amazing, so much crazy footage, me on your bed with a typewriter.

Just seeing the way we had the recording studio set up in that basement is amazing.
What did you do all the effects with? I don't think we could do that now if we wanted to, they are so of that time period.

That's my dream to have a studio like that again. It would be awesome if you bought a shit drum kit and soundproofed an area in your basement and we reenacted this. Well not reenact but just be able to do it again, for like a week straight.

Wanted phone messages

2007-11-15T12:05:00.000-05:00

Hey, did you ever check the messages on those Go Phones in the days after we did WANTED!? I wonder if there are any crazy sightings of you and me, or angry park employees who have to take down all the signs, or whatever. There could be some interesting audio there. You should post it all here.....

Football sucks -- here are our next losing picks

2007-11-15T09:12:00.001-05:00

Cleveland at ~~Baltimore~~
San Diego at ~~Jacksonville~~
~~Miami~~ at Philadelphia
~~Oakland~~ at Minnesota
Kansas City at ~~Indianapolis~~
Carolina at ~~Green Bay~~
~~NY Giants~~ at Detroit
Tampa Bay at ~~Atlanta~~
New Orleans at ~~Houston~~
~~Arizona~~ at Cincinnati
Pittsburgh at ~~NY Jets~~
Chicago at ~~Seattle~~
~~St. Louis~~ at San Francisco
Washington at ~~Dallas~~
New England at ~~Buffalo~~
~~Tennessee~~ at Denver

Football sucks

2007-11-13T22:05:00.000-05:00

We need a good strategy this week....we are in dead last.

Jason-68 points - 9th place

Here's the pics:
Cleveland at Baltimore
San Diego at Jacksonville
Miami at Philadelphia
Oakland at Minnesota
Kansas City at Indianapolis
Carolina at Green Bay
NY Giants at Detroit
Tampa Bay at Atlanta
New Orleans at Houston
Arizona at Cincinnati
Pittsburgh at NY Jets
Chicago at Seattle
St. Louis at San Francisco
Washington at Dallas
New England at Buffalo
Tennessee at Denver

Ok to pick:
Using itunes, playing on random, the next song that comes up look at the 'Play count' column. If the song that plays next has been played less than 20 times, pick the team from the 'A' column. If it has been played more than 20 times than pick team 'B'.

Post the results.

Football pool - part 10

2007-11-10T23:58:00.000-05:00

Here's the picks:

Cleveland
Washington
Carolina
St. Louis
Buffalo
Kansas City
Jacksonville
Green Bay
Cincinnati
NY Giants
Detroit
Chicago
Indianapolis
Seattle

It's weird to see still frames of the tv, it takes me back to some of our early work. It's like they were never meant to be seen like that. Or it's too easy for them to look really funny?

Bang Head Here

2007-11-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

I was looking at this old piece, and thinking about how interesting it would be to create stencils with this icon - "Bang Head Here" -- and grafitti it around various cities. Imagine coming out of your job, frustrated by work and life, and seeing this icon on a wall.

Harvey Loves Harvey: Bang Head Here

Football picks - part whatever - instructions

2007-11-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

For this weeks picks, here are your instructions.

Turn on your television
Switch to a random channel
Make note of the first person you see on screen.
If the person is female then choose team A, male for team B
If there are no people on the screen, try again.
If there is no clear choice for your decision, or if there are too many people to pick one and choose gender, try again.
If the first person you see is transgendered, use the gender with which they identify.
Animals, cartoons, puppets, muppets and other non-humans do not count.
Do this 14 times.
Document everything and post here.

Football pool - part whatever

2007-11-06T17:37:00.000-05:00

These are sad, hard times...we are in a solid last place...oh well, we are the real winners with a conceptual art piece that no one can take away!

the choices this week:

Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Philadelphia at Washington
Atlanta at Carolina
St. Louis at New Orleans
Buffalo at Miami
Denver at Kansas City
Jacksonville at Tennessee
Minnesota at Green Bay
Cincinnati at Baltimore
Dallas at NY Giants
Detroit at Arizona
Chicago at Oakland
Indianapolis at San Diego
San Francisco at Seattle

tell me what to do.

Football picks for November 4th & 5th

2007-11-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

The picks:
~~Denver~~ at Detroit
San Francisco at ~~Atlanta~~
Cincinnati at ~~Buffalo~~
Carolina at ~~Tennessee~~
Green Bay at ~~Kansas City~~
San Diego at ~~Minnesota~~
Jacksonville at ~~New Orleans~~
~~Washington~~ at NY Jets
~~Arizona~~ at Tampa Bay
Seattle at ~~Cleveland~~
New England at ~~Indianapolis~~
Houston at ~~Oakland~~
Dallas at ~~Philadelphia~~
Baltimore at ~~Pittsburgh~~

Affordable touch screens

2007-10-31T13:41:00.000-04:00

Matt,
I found this affordable way to make any screen touch screen...keep it in mind...:

http://www.magictouch.com/addon.html

Football Pool

2007-10-31T13:11:00.000-04:00

Ouch...we are loosing big time, There's the pic of Jason's daughter choosing teams. But she really didn't help us much...oh well, it's not over yet.
Here's the results:

Week 8
Jason (6-7)

Season To Date
Jason-55 points 7th (tie)

So here's this weeks teams:
Denver at Detroit
San Francisco at Atlanta
Cincinnati at Buffalo
Carolina at Tennessee
Green Bay at Kansas City
San Diego at Minnesota
Jacksonville at New Orleans
Washington at NY Jets
Arizona at Tampa Bay
Seattle at Cleveland
New England at Indianapolis
Houston at Oakland
Dallas at Philadelphia
Baltimore at Pittsburgh

Here's the instructions: They have to use your cats in some way... make two areas calling one A and one B, they should be pretty close together. Then put a treat or a toy or catnip on both areas, whichever one they go for that's the pick. Repeat 14 times. It could also be you and nicole both calling them...etc. You get the idea.

Endspace

2007-10-31T12:00:00.000-04:00

Matt,
In homage to shoegaze and that style of dense/fuzz/drone/psyche rock. I want to make an applescript or something (I will need your help) to open the myspace pages of my bloody valentine, ride, slowdive, and their modern contemporaries, luff, wooden shjips etc, all simulataneously so you get an amazing fuzzdrone to rival any other noise ever created.
Let's finish this once and for all.
Jason

(maybe thats the title or "A script that opens drone/shoegaze/psyche bands myspaces simultaneously to create the endgame drone noise")