New Beginnings

First day in new office.  Last week I quite my job as Creative Director, and am now focusing on creating an hour long feature film from the work I've done in Nepal and Israel for Ecopolitan EcoHealth Community and the Everest Learning Academy.

Now this is what I call living.

BenSackArt.com

Oh Artists....

Dancing Techno Cats

Couldn't find this song on YouTube, so I uploaded it myself with on of my paintings.  The painting came from a photograph of me and my girlfriends dressed up as the Cheshire Cat for Halloween.  We all pitched in to help make the entire costume, including the helmets which were welded and had a special material stretched that allowed us to see out but no one to see in.  Spectacular really, one of my favorites yet.  Might I add, I love my girlfriends.

Photo Credit to Vasho Photography
SHAH Dj's, Vancouver's Drum'n'Bass crew.

Huuuup

If I hadn't been a visual artist, I would have learned dance.

spring is here...

time to get busy!

Video Expertice

Its been fun trying to teach myself how to make videos. After trial and error with previous videos, I finally made one I am proud to put my name on it.

How to use Color Pencil

The new video I created for my mom is how to use color pencil (I would like to spell it colour because its in my nature to be defiant, but my auto correct doesn't seem to like it.) The point to these videos are to post free art lessons online so people will be more encouraged to try and create their own art. Its been a fun experiment and I've learned a lot. Considering I never went to school or had lessons on how to film or work on editing software, I think I'm doing pretty good.

However, my mom is a painter, and has never really dedicated herself to mastering the art of color pencil. That was my thing. In high school I would carry around a box of some 96 different colors so as to better be able to ignore my teachers when I was in public school. That said, I was able to put in a lot of hours on learning how to use this material to its fullest.

That's why, in this video, even though it my mom introducing the tutorial, it ultimately was I who colored the image. She tried to get me to do the whole thing, but there was no way I was getting in front of that camera. In the end, I think it turned out okay.

Some of the images I used to color in 9th and 10th grade:

Other People's Articles

Yes.

6 Things Rich People Should Stop Saying

A short note. Anyone who is 30 and younger sees the world much differently then the generations above them. I spend a lot of time discussing with people who are watching the state of affair of our planet, and we as a global society have reached a point where things can not function the way they have been. People generally hate change because they can't think of how to do it, or they are scared of possibly failing if they try.

We are built on a consumerist society that rewards the corporations by giving them free reign and unsupervised control. I have spent time around both parties, and when talking to people in the 1% they seem to be clouded in their own delusions. I could go on, but I could not say it better then in the above article. What the rich don't seem to get, is that their continual profit comes at the expense of other people. If you think that we live in an ideal society, watch the video below.

In Ideas of the Great Philosophers by William and Mabel Sahakian, Communism is defined as :

Contrary to a widespread assumption, Communism is essentially a philosophy advocating the "common ownership of the means of production," or, from another point of view, the "abolition of private property." No individual person (or limited group of persons) may monopolize property, except for minor personal belongings, because property belongs to the people as a whole. Whenever property can be privately owned, "exploitation of the many by the few" results.

Until a few days ago I was completely ignorant to the true idea behind Communism because I fell for the white-washed propaganda told to me in our educational system. Yet now I understand why government told us to fear it.

I am not trying to attack people with wealth. But in my thinking I believe that more people could live better lives if wealth was distributed properly. Monopolies allow only the top dog to profit, everyone else becomes a slave to that system. The largest companies are now so large their is no longer any competition, because the ability to compete is almost impossible. Most of us are waiting around for the fat-cats to wave their magic wand so that we might catch some of the sprinkles trailing from behind it.

There is a documentary that just came out. It's called Thrive. It is absolutely phenomenal. If you are a little unsure why our society is the way it is, this video is a great overview. It talks about free energy, the banking system, and offers solutions of ways we can act in order to start changing to a better future. It is possible. People just have to be willing to try.

Black Whole

This makes me more happy then could ever be described. "This guy" started were Einstein left off. If you've ever liked mathematics, fractals, science, sacred geometry, physics, metaphysics, idea of infinity, and anything about the universe really, you'll like this documentary.

Its been a while sense I've watched it, but the ideas still ring loudly in my mind. The first time I saw it I got chills, kinda made me giggle that I finally understood why I paint what I paint. Not that I hadn't understood already, but this gave me reassurance.

I remember in 4th grade, our class was studying Space, and we were all to choose a subject and create a project to turn in. Most people chose things like planets, stars, what a galaxy is, or a nebula. You know, things that could be explained. I chose to talk about Black Holes. You can imagine the extent of my research, considering that in the 90's there was no scientific explanation of what they are other then the fact that we know they exist. I guess if I had been a smarter elementary school kid (or had scientific parents) i could have talked about how the gravitational force of Black Holes bend time. However, I had to settle on creating a silly clay model in a shoe box. Now, the questions that have been turning in my head about black holes sense age 9 has finally been answered. Enjoy!

Nassim Haramein - Black Whole from Milo on Vimeo.

If you haven't seen these movies, you should.

Triplets of Belleville

This is a clip from the movie. I want to call it a silent film because there is no talking in it, but there is sound. Well worth seeing more then once.

Coraline

I had seen this on the selves of movie places for a while, and had never bothered to pick it up. One day a friend who owned the video told me how good it was and that I must see it. Now I'm passing the same advise to you.

Spirited Away

I think after I rented this I watched it several times before I returned it.

Tekkonkinkreet

As far as Anime goes, this is more of an Artistic-Fantasy-Ninja flick with cool-dark-metaphoric undertones.

InBruges

The trailer sucks, the movie is brilliant. If you have ever liked Guy Ritchie films, you'll like this one, because everyone loves European mobster movies.

RSAnimate

For the holiday weekend, I'm spending my time drawing , cooking, and watching all the RSA animate videos... Again. I enjoy revisiting these videos from time to time, because something new always pops out at me.

While watching Sir Ken Robinson's lecture "Changing Educational Paradigms," a quote about the arts seemed prominent to my interests. This particular lecture focus' on the educational system, its history, and the issues present to current institutions and its children. Having finished school only a year and a half ago, I feel I was an eye witness to the issues discussed. One of which was the amount of people being 'diagnosed' with ADD or ADHD. These drugs which are being force-fed to children are Anesthetics, something which dulls your senses and you mind.

Sir Robinson noted that the Arts (as well as Science and Math) are the subjects that suffer the most from these drugs.

The arts especially address the idea of aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience is one of which happens when your senses are operating at their peak, when you are present at the current moment, when you are resonating with the excitement of the thing you are experiencing, when you are fully alive.

The arts are a very prominent part of my life, spanning from music, dance, theater, writing, film (not Movies) and just every day expression. When you take away people's ability to enjoy these things, life just wouldn't seem to be worth living. I have no valid premise to support my argument, because really you have to fully experience these things for yourself in order to understand. Or, if you need further explanation, listen to Sir Ken's speech hear:

Good vs. Evil

In physics it is said that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I think this applies to more then just physics.

The simplicity of the idea makes it monstrous. It even has its own logo, yin-yang. This idea has been understood for thousands of years by humans. In our own history we have come across periods of time of growth and accomplishments. Then followed by destruction and chaos. Religions claim to document such events, as well as history books. Great civilizations continuously rise and fall. The more I try to figure out why these things happen, the more frustrated I become by the deviousness of the people responsible.

At one point in my life, I would remark how stupid these people were. Then I came to realize it isn't stupidity, because only someone who was highly intelligent could conduct such an outrageous crime. Instead its pure evil that could do things such as burn the Library of Alexandria, sustain the middle ages, or start the Holocaust.

In the book Shantaram, there is a conversation between two men. They are discussing universal right and wrong (the word universal being up for debate). One man says what is right will lead to perfect order, and that which is wrong will lead to chaos. Within our own existence, we are working towards perfection (he relates perfection as being god). However, there are people who stand in the way. This is where it gets interesting. His philosophy is that there are around 100 truly evil people on this planet, so evil they surpass anything imaginable. On the second level there are about 100,000 people that are not the evil masterminds, but will work happily beside them. Then on the third level, there are 10,000,000 people who voluntarily and blindly do the bidding's of the evil men before them without question. Like Gandhi said, they only have power if you obey them.

America was started on one simple idea, freedom. So where are we at now? Has it all gone as planned? We've created vast amounts of technology, made enormous scientific discoveries, and lived like kings. You might think that we reached our climactic moment of glory. Or is it the other way around? Have we instead been demolishing our environment, polluting ourselves as well as the planet, and living in fear?

If it were the first, that means that we've had a good run, but everything is soon to crumble because of a small handful of truly evil people. They command others to enforce laws that will break the spirit of its citizens, and we will fall.

Or...

We've been on the ground all along, too blind to see we tripped. Even though we think we are an advanced society full of intelligence and pride, we are nothing but kids in a playground. We still have much growing up to do. We are ready for our Renaissance. Could this be our chance?

Occupy has been nothing but peaceful, and it has been met with evil. It is now come to two side pushing against one another. Which side is going to give?

Remember remember the 5th of November.

Video #6

As time goes on, I get a bit better. For being the 7th video I've ever created, I think I'm doing pretty damn well.

Please enjoy!

How to paint a wolf

Another video, today I am working on being the teacher and doing a lesson on how to use colored pencil. You think it would be easy enough, but i have some cool techniques that I've been keeping to myself for many years. hard part is doing the filming and the coloring all at the same time.

Free Painting Lessons (BERGSMATV)

I've been slacking BIG TIME! My creative energy has been invested into getting my mums painting videos launched. As the director, video photographer, producer, editor, the list goes on, its been taking up a lot of my time. Especially when I'm self taught.

I'm working on the new Final Cut Pro X, and I have no background with video. This weekend, we will have launched at least 3 videos. I am also trying to recover our first practice video, and hopefully make one extra to be able to launch five videos total. I've been working with this for a month now and so far, these three videos are an example of my progress.

I know this doesn't replace my weekly Image post, but its a look at to what I've been doing!

This is a starting video on helping people understand color theory by creating a pigment based color wheel, rather then the traditional color wheel. Its a one of a kind.

This video is also going to be one of a kind. It is a tutorial on how to paint different kinds of washes. This way, for the rest of our video series, we can create time lapses and allow people to enjoy the process rather then telling them over and over again.

This video is a better example of what most of our videos will be like. It is the first one, so as we experiment more, it will obviously evolve. Hope you enjoy!

About the Moment

At the moment I am in Colorado, making me unable to make my weekly art post. Having forgot before I left, I'll do it when I get back. (If you read everything you'll realize the irony in this statement) But I still wanted to post something I thought had substance, then I stumbled on this. Please follow the next two steps.

Listen to this....

And read this....

The World in a Grain of Sand

This relates so much to how I am feeling right now. Being in a place I have never been before, with two great friends from High School that I have not seen in 6 years. Shana turned to me and asked "When do you think it will set in that this is actually happening?" I said "Probably when we leave."

This happens a lot. Things pass by as if it where a dream, and after its over you asked yourself it it really happened. Things move by in a flash, you make plans for the future, and reminisce about the past, and never truly realize the now.

I couldn't be more happy that I made it to where I am. I feel like I am where I need to be, and the signs keep pointing in the right direction. Wesly and Danny, I am so happy for the two of you, and thank you for inviting me on the journey. I wish you all the Love!