American National Standard

ANS year in review and future projects

2011-12-30T10:29:00.005-05:00

ANS had a moderately successful year. The still image division participated in two exhibits one resulting in a sale and the other a review in the Washington Post. The major activities of the past 7 months the central corporate studios have been undergoing a major renovation and redesign. 2012 has the potential to be a break out year.

May we suggest some modest goals and projects for the upcoming year?

-move into new studio space

-create new areas for visual art, sound and vision, production and archival storage

-acquire and instal digital injet printer (expand visual imaging into silk screen processes)

-complete unfinished projects: logo, letterhead, business card

-publish book: "the District..."

-print presentation portfolio and limited edition of "The District..."

-pursue exhibition and publishing opportunities for "The District"

-Sound and Vision: complete unfinished graphic design for recordings, Produce Sanction Album

Kodachrome

2011-07-17T13:11:00.003-04:00

An exhibit of these images:

Turkish Stencil Grafitti

2011-05-25T20:36:00.003-04:00

Colorado

2011-04-14T21:28:00.001-04:00

Colorado

Water and Air are no one’s friends

When its better to be left alone

Stations are coming in milliseconds

While I wait ..wait too long

The rain rekindled before we died

You should have hope for the things we tried

Your name is nothing without sound

Your number means nothing when you are not around

I am an electric blank outsider

I see the distance with my microcomputer

New Jersey Battlefield …oh yeah

Outside of Colorado

Southern disappears

No concern over the years

You were determined

Along with the rest

Expanding Operations

2011-03-27T12:03:00.003-04:00

ANS is proud to report an expansion of our creative arts division with the establishment of the Michael Horsley Studio website. Here we are able to present the activities of our visual art field unit and create a webpresence for our creative staff. While we prefer to hide behind the safe corporate walls of a confusing conglomerate of related endeavors, occasionally we have the need to put a face on the operations. Don't worry friends, it will all come together in the end. Besides we don't understand the creative process either. What do you expect when our interests are wide-ranging and we follow the freedom wherever it may lead.

Metro Deluxe

2011-03-05T09:38:00.004-05:00

Me-tro De-luxe

is.

my,

Favorite

Guitarrrrr

Oh, man

its, sooo, coo-ool

Its got F holes

and a bridge made out of wood

a bridge made out of wood

Its got sweet reverb, man

Its really Cooo-ool

and

a bridge made out of wood

Photography is Dead--Finally

2011-02-20T17:20:00.007-05:00

Face it photography is dead. Anybody can point a camera at something, old, cool, strange, bizarre, disgusting, or boring. Its too easy to make a photograph. Most of the photos (including my own) I see rely upon the subject to carry the message. I see many images that are OF things, but what are they ABOUT? You know what I am talking about: cemeteries, Tibetan peasants, squirrels, abandoned insane asylums, old cars, old signs, old motels, neon signs, or now the trendy industrial decay and banal.

I have wanted to quit taking photographs for awhile so here I am announcing my retirement from straight photography. I am now a Visual Artist who works with images, occasionally a printmaker, and kinetic imagist. This my first foray into the new world.

no do-overs

2011-02-19T15:09:00.004-05:00

it was a beat down Washington dc

hot summer twilight evening

was wandering alone in the hell hole

of trinadad new York avenue crack days 1986-1988

searching for the left over remnants of the 1960s

motel world dying days of an america

that will never return to it's glories...

lonely, lonely by myself and an analogue film camera

with expired out of date color shifted slide film

bad processing non digital can't change anything

stuck with the exposure you made

in that time and place one shot does it

no do-overs

Nuclear Motel

2011-02-01T13:34:00.002-05:00

Hidden Washington

2010-10-03T21:15:00.004-04:00

ANS has been busy lately. Our Archive Division has been reformatting old images from it's photo Imaging Department and posting them onto our Flickr account. At some point this series was discovered by local Washington DC residents and given favorable reviews on a local Blog or two. We are pleased to report that so far our Flickr account has received over 400,000 hits as a response. Here are a sampling of some of the images found in the set "Hidden Washington".

6th and K Auto Market

Lennox Motor Company

Atlas Theater H Street NE

Downtown Motel

Flickr

2010-10-01T21:24:00.001-04:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The Earth

2010-09-04T13:15:00.002-04:00

History in Photodocumentation

2010-08-15T14:14:00.005-04:00

Starting almost 25 years ago our photo imaging division began a documentary photo project creating images of people, places and things that seemed at the time to be relics of a bygone era that neede to be documented for the future. How quaint it seems today to think that you do something that will be more relevant 20 years into the future than it does in the contemporary. But that is how we thought back then. We saw a fading world but were not sure what it meant. Now we know--it is the faded glory of America. A common theme here at ANS. We presentbelow a sample of our work:

Continental Federal Building-demolished

Clarendon Motor Court-Demolished

Joyce Motors-Still in business (68 years)

Who's got it?

2010-08-01T10:33:00.002-04:00

Dart's Got it!

Sanction Video

2010-07-22T22:12:00.002-04:00

Another fine product from the vaults. Someone had to post it. Courtesy FBC Inc.

Sgt. Rock

2010-07-10T06:49:00.001-04:00

I'd almost give my whole bronze age superhero comic collection for this comic.

Dutch Typography

2010-06-26T11:01:00.002-04:00

The Standard was on a field trip to the Netherlands. A full report is forthcoming. Meanwhile, here are some samples of dutch typography and signage.

Hot Dog Cart, NYC 1988

2010-04-17T08:57:00.002-04:00

The advent of digital photography means that image making is more prevalent than ever before. We at ANS are concerned that in the flood of digital imagery viewers are saturated by the wealth of images and that meaning of images and why they exist are getting lost in the shuffle. We make no claim to "meaning" in the above image. Our investigation of the photographer has revealed that he merely passed by this scene in New York City somewhere in the Lower Manhattan area and took this image with a Nikon FM2 camera on Kodachrome transparency film in 1988.

No deeper meaning at the time than "something caught my eye so I took the picture". In 1988 the act of taking such a picture was deliberate, and the technology available then to convey it to a viewer was difficult and expensive. Only a small percentage of images such as this made it to a viewer. Usually through a vetting process for exhibit purposes. Thus a viewer was unlikely to see this image, and as a matter of fact they didn't until now.

So what is the value of this casual seeming and supposedly randomly created image. Well, it was not randomly created but certainly deliberately casual in intent. In 1988 it was not so common for amateur photographers to take images of random and non specific street scenes, with an intention for the composition and focal point to appear "casual" or non-deliberate. Thus that is the meaning and intent of this image and the point of this post.

Superfly

2010-03-27T12:41:00.003-04:00

Superfly, 1987 Federalington, WC

Back when we were young earnest street photographers we prowled the urban environment for any sign of interesting subjects. It was like hunting for elusive prey. Often we would spy upon some interesting denizen or two but were too timid to approach them for a photograph. Sometimes the scene was too risky. However, as depicted here the desire to be photographed met the desire to photograph. This gentleman had just walked out of a store and feeling good about his apparel and seeing Mr. Ed Porter with a camera asked to have his picture taken. This photo has never been published until now.

Super-8 Constructions

2010-03-21T12:16:00.002-04:00

A field report fresh from the research labs. Query: how best to repurpose imagery trapped in dangerously soon to be obsolete information technology. Case in point: Super 8mm film. Each frame is in itself valuable and informative, when strung together in a sequence at 18 frames per second-the human visual perception system interprets a moving image.

Diametric Blues

2010-03-14T10:02:00.002-04:00

The story of living down and out in washington DC in the '80's. A montage of street photography by the Kinorama Imaging Division and Music by Lee Hiway Productions. Winter 2010

follow up to...

2010-03-13T10:53:00.002-05:00

Kinorama says:

BTW--its in Philadelphia
Posted 11 hours ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )

dullshick says:

Aha! Thanks for the thoughtful reply. We certainly share an interest in the "built" landscape, but I'm hopelessly wrapped up in particulars. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm fixated on the physical place because I'm interested in the people - Who built/used/adapted/abandoned this unique structure? Where did they go? Who lives here (or near here) now? Who will use (or flatten) it in the future? Anyway, thanks again for the compelling images...
Posted 3 hours ago. ( permalink | delete )

Kinorama says:

Again, thank you for your thoughtful comments. It means a lot to me because up until the advent of things like flickr, much of my work never gets seen.

I am thankful that my image triggered the thoughts that you expressed because, those were mine too but they occurred in the span of the moment when I first captured the image while in the physical environment.

Later on when this series started to gel for me I started to ask the very questions you raise about who, what, when, what will happen. I hate to take credit, but often my camera destroys places that I photograph. Or put in another way I (like many other photographers working in this genre) perceive fragile or transitional subjects and capture them before the inevitable wrecking ball of entropy comes along. I used to bewail the demise of things like interesting signs buildings, etc. Now with the internet, online photo collections, the ubiquity of digital "everyman" is a photographer--I am free to move on to other problems. Thus my desire to push the "Hidden Washington" series out of my archives and into cyber space.

The reason why I resist explaining geographical locations for this body of work is that I am in a struggle to wrestle my photography out of the realm of depictions of specific things and into allowing specific things be the voice for something deeper.

That is why I am so grateful for your comments because you have allowed me to understand where I need to go next through this process of explaining my process.

Your statement "'...I'm fixated on the physical place because I'm interested in the people - Who built/used/adapted/abandoned this unique structure? Where did they go? Who lives here (or near here) now? Who will use (or flatten) it in the future?" expresses exactly what I am working on, but have not had the words until now.

More Conversation

2010-03-12T19:24:00.002-05:00

dullshick says:

Where is this? This isn't DC, is it?
Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink | delete )

Kinorama says:

Thank you for your interest in my work. I understand your desire to know where this is, but that is not the right question. Knowing the physical location will form an image in your rational mind and keep you from "seeing" the image I created. It is like the difference between hearing and listening. The answer is in the title.
Posted 24 hours ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )

dullshick says:

Fair enough. I'm not much for listening, but I do like interesting pictures - particularly of DC buildings, which is something you seem to have a knack for. Anyway, it's a fascinating picture (whether or not the structure itself is or was in DC).
Posted 19 hours ago. ( permalink | delete )

Kinorama says:

Thank you for your question. I understand where it comes from, and your question is one I get a lot for this series of work. Perhaps my answer sounds a little flip, but I have thought alot about your question. It is akin to asking someone "How are you?"--a way to broker the space between two strangers to allow further engagement.

The question: "Where is it", leads to the question "what is it about"--and that is what I am exploring. I find spaces and places such as this one in every city, so for me physical location is secondary. Except, the series "Hidden DC" that attracted your attention--those images are my first serious photographic work, and it was consciously documentary with an aim to presenting the subject matter 20 years in the future. I purposely photographed subjects that were nostalgic, historic, or appeared to be so.

This work here is the byproduct of a psuedo historic--documentary style that purposly evokes time and place while trying to be universal to the range of the american urban landscape.
Posted a moment ago. ( permalink | delete | edit )

One Year Anniversary

2010-03-11T19:25:00.005-05:00

Industrial Church

A Flickr question: Where is this? This isn't DC, is it?
I said: Thank you for your interest in my work. I understand your desire to know where this is, but that is not the right question. Knowing the physical location will form an image in your rational mind and keep you from "seeing" the image I created. It is like the difference between hearing and listening. The answer is in the title.

FBC Rapid Response Truck

2010-03-07T23:02:00.002-05:00

As a Subsidiary of the massive global conglomerate FBC, the American National Standard stands ready at a moment's notice to launch into action with our fleet of Rapid Response Units.

Deep Archives Project

2010-03-06T09:23:00.005-05:00

Above: Kinorama Imaging Department, ca. 1988

(due to lack of finances the FBC Real Estate Division was

never able to purchase this building. However we claim

virtual ownership of this edifice by right of having

photographed it before its destruction)

Dear Patrons,

The Kinorama Imaging Division is pleased to announce the initiation of the Deep Archive Project. Our Aim is to present the fruit of over 25 years imaging documentation by Mr. Ed Porter. Thanks to innovations and structures present in today's internet environment we feel that the time is right to engage in a scanning project to dig deep into the substantial image resources stored in the Kinorama Image Archive.

We face a time and attention challenge to sustain this initiative to its conclusion. However, there is a wealth of unpublished images in the archives that thanks to the capacity of online presentation, we feel that the time is now to bring these images to a greater audience. In the past only a select few of "fine art" images have been offered to the public in gallery of exhibition settings. The forum for presentation of this initiative will be the online photography site on Flickr.

Bob Peck Chevrolet

2010-02-27T12:40:00.003-05:00

A landmark commercial architectural statement for many decades. Located in Parkington County Virginia, just outside the small hamlet of Ballston Common. We believe this image to be taken in the early morning dawn hours due to its overall cool blue lighting and general camera shakiness.

Comic books

2010-02-18T22:01:00.004-05:00

Ok we need to talk comic books. A juvenile pastime that often turns to an obsession. Then typically they are left in storage at the parents house and left to rot until early midlife kicks in and we rediscover our youth. Then what do we do with them? They are made of cheap unsustainable materials which fade and disintegrate with time. But they have this great look and feel to them--and that old comic smell is indescribable. A favorite memory of Ed Porter is of going to the Key Bridge news stand and talking with Lobo about the latest comics.

Little Tavern

2010-02-17T22:20:00.002-05:00

You could buy them by the bag--those little greasy monstrocities. Why are some of the coolest things so bad for you?

GC Murphy Building

2010-02-12T10:13:00.004-05:00

Little did you know that the American National Standard anticipated the internet 20 years ago and had set out teams of photodocumentarians who scoured the streets of Washington DC to record the fading world of the past for future consumption. Our lead photographer Ed Porter took this shot of the GC Murphy building near 9th and G streets NW Washington DC in 1986. As is typical with this type of photography, the GC Murphy store closed not long after this image was taken.

A Poem

2010-01-30T13:06:00.002-05:00

Ending then

now Suddenly today

After all these years

I see the way

A wet street night

In a cold city

Longago commercial core

Reduced to decay

From the second story

Steaming broken watermain

Only the footsteps of before

Paved the way

Counter stroke

2010-01-26T22:01:00.003-05:00

Our friends at the Report have us on the ropes with their expert banzai charge. We had to dig deep into our well of knowledge of our favorite visual artists. We present here a mash of painters from the top: Charles Sheeler, Fritz Scholder, Georges Di Chirico, Sigmar Polke, Roger Brown, and Ralston Crawford. Maybe not the most well known painters, but they have all had a significant impact on the creative efforts of the ANS image department.

Return Fire

2010-01-10T10:03:00.011-05:00

We admit that our nasty little sneak attack upon the unwitting Otto Mannix Report was an attempt to overwhelm the Report's Art History Department with a counter gallery of our own. Fair enough, the Report's response has got us off guard and this return fire is an attempt to buy time while we reach into our wheelhouse. To make this a fair fight we propose that we limit our exchanges to 20th century Painting and Sculpture. And then we escalate from there!

Extinction of Useless Lights

Yves Tanguy

Mural Painting

Fernand Léger

Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale

Max Ernst

Composition

El Lissitzky (Russian, 1890-1941)

Front and back covers of the magazine Novyi Lef (New Left), no. 9. 1928.
Letterpress; Overall: 9 1/16 x 11 3/4" (23 x 29.8 cm).

Theo Van Doesburg

Everyday Traffic

2010-01-09T13:25:00.002-05:00

We start the new year with fresh ideas and new horizons.

Cyber Gallerie

2009-12-24T12:02:00.002-05:00

Yves Tanguey-the best surrealist
Paul Klee-synthesis of many art movements struck his own path
Feinneger-vastly underrated
Max Ernst--a master

White Tower #8

2009-12-23T22:15:00.002-05:00

The mighty White Tower restaurant number 8, Baltimore MD circa 1985. It caught fire soon after and was gone to the world.

Fluorescent Kiowa

2009-11-21T12:08:00.007-05:00

Announcing a new research project: The reconstruction of the painting "Fluorescent Kiowa". While doing research in our archives, our staff member Ed Porter located this interesting fragment.After many inquiries our staff have determined that the image displayed above was intended to serve as a reference for a repainting project of a lost painting by the artist Lee Hiway. What we have determined is that the original painting was done in the early 1980's on a drum head for the band "Color Anxiety"--a local Wakefield County Virginia Punk Rock musical outfit.

Somehow in a later incarnation the band changed into the group known as "9353" and the drum head was loaned back to Mr. Hiway to repair some flaked off spots. According to 9353's lead signer, Mr. Hiway went beyond his original instructions and completely transformed the painting into what became "Fluorescent Kiowa". From that point the story gets murky, but the bottom line is that the location of the painting is not know and the only evidence we have of its appearance is this fragment.

As we see above Mr. Hiway left some indication of his thoughts as to probably the dominat color schemes. Those being the terms Facility Blue, Antisceptic Green, Caution Yellow, Emergency Red, and Warning Orange which we knew were his way of naming colours that fit into a unique industrial themed color palette that bypassed the traditional color systems established in the long tradition of western art.

Based on this information and the background research conducted recently concerning the execution of My. Hiway's other paintings created durning that period Such as the painting depicted here (image courtesy of the Clyde Randall collection),

our research team is considering to attempt the re-creation of the painting "Fluorescent Kiowa". Hopefully, we will get the funding and institutional support for this project and keep you posted on its progress.

Cassette Tape Covers

2009-11-07T09:03:00.003-05:00

At one point the entire industrial output of the FBC Graphics department produced nifty cassette tape box covers. Here is an example circa 1984 of the recording "Green Concert Tape" by the band Sanction Smith.

A note from our Sponsor

2009-10-31T11:52:00.002-04:00

Have YOU thought about a new TV lately? Come down to Fred Walker Magnavox and talk to one of our salesmen and ask for the latest in Televisions, Hifi sets, and transistor radios.

Philadelphia Branch

2009-10-25T10:23:00.003-04:00

We have been busy expanding operations to take advantage of recent economic developments. Pictured here is our temporary headquarters of our Philadelphia Service Center. Come drop by during our business hours between 9pm and 5 am.

Nether Region

2009-10-04T21:31:00.006-04:00

The Standard has shifted most of its production machinery to the creation of these nifty new photomontage products. What were we waiting for all these years? Again thanks to that wonder crew at Lee Hiway Productions for the soundtrack, and also Mr. Ed Porter for the fine imagery.

Midnight City

2009-09-20T09:59:00.004-04:00

The Standard is please to announce the first installment of a new creative product line from the Kinorama Imaging Division operating under the RicknMikenBill unit. The Photomontage: "Midnight City" is the first attempt to merge our Ed Porter photography unit, Lee Hiway Music Division, and KinoRama together. Perhaps it is all too confusing. Never fear, this is what we do--we explore and create without thought of borders and deadlines, rules or restrictions. Order out of chaos and too much chaos creates order. The blend of Dionysus with Apollo.

Gas Stations and Taxi's

2009-09-05T18:35:00.004-04:00

Ponder the fate of the mid-century metal-wrapped building. Perhaps the classic American diner is the best example of this phenomenon of combining sanitary surfaces with streamlined eye lines. Metal-wrapped buildings are all but gone from today's contemporary commercial landscape. Lost are the days when one could pull into a nice brightly lit Midwestern gas station and be greeted by a crisply starched uniformed attendant who cheerfully would top off your tank, wash your windshield, and check your oil.

By the mid 1980's many of these wonderful edifices to American can-do mercantilism were either abandoned or re-purposed such as the taxi cab depot pictured here. Somehow in its decrepitude there is still a faint allusion to the ordered harmony of what was once a bustling, trim , and efficient petro-chemical transaction. We pause and tip our hat to the clash and harmony of the random color tones of this scene, and find nothing out of place, while the photographer pauses in entropy.

Mid-Atlantic Headquarters

2009-08-29T09:42:00.002-04:00

We are happy to report that our Mid-Atlantic Division exceeded all expectations last quarter. Pictured above is our division headquarters located in the Majestic Bowers Building in downtown Newark New Jersey. Our Division Director Mr. Clyde Randall is driving past our building in his brand new 1966 Chrysler Newport Imperial. Of course in the lower left and right of this picture are two from our fleet of black Cadillacs.

Warehouse Green and Red

2009-08-22T09:13:00.002-04:00

Due to an increase of internet chatter the Command Post has been relocated here. The little old lady who lives next door in the red house has no clue about "Those nice young men dressed in kevlar" who moved in next door. Meanwhile we finally got another report from our forward recon base in the eastern sector. It doesn't look good and we advise to lay low.

239 Central Avenue, Yourtown USA

2009-08-20T23:10:00.002-04:00

While our field unit is currently deployed in an advance recon mission in the heartland. We have retreated to this command post to wait out the sit reps.

Baltimore Architecture

2009-08-12T22:53:00.003-04:00

Basically this says it all: one side of a duplex tenement boarded up by the railroad tracks where even the radiator repair shop couldn't stay in business next to it.

The GC Murphy Building

2009-06-27T10:07:00.012-04:00

One of the activities of the American National Standard and its affiliates is to document, analyze, and preserve aspects of the American cultural and creative output and present it to new audiences. One of our specialities is documentation of American Commercial Architecture from the time period of the 1920's to 1976.

It is our contention that buildings, clothing, style, typography, and other forms of design have been in decline ever since. We no longer shed tears for the demise of this era for it disappears more and more everyday. We are steeled in our resolve to unleash the considerable photo-documentation in our archives and encourage our affiliated research centers to do the same. You may want to peruse some of the efforts of our Berlin branch who are undertaking a painstaking effort to bring a fresh viewpoint to the heritage of this city.

Introducing the first installment to this effort: the GC Murphy Building, formerly located in the Clarendon area of Arlington Virginia.

Seen here shortly before its downfall in 1986, the Standard sent an emergency photodoc unit to record its essential characteristics. We must caution the casual viewer of historic images that there is no substitute for visiting and experiencing these structures and building sites first hand. We note that in the digital age there is an ubiquity of imagery, but less analysis and discourse concerning what is depicted.

One may note in the image above that the facade of this structure takes on a particular aerodynamic shape with its pointed roof line and strips of glass windows. The front entrance is oriented down toward the Federal City as it scoops up potential customers into its mighty maw of commerce. Once inside patrons were confronted by a dizzying array of products pausing at its luncheon counter for a BLT and a Coke for refreshment.

Notice below that this building's rear facade illustrates that the architects and designers considered all facets of the building as a complete structure. Unlike today where design and material choices are made only to maximize profit.

Linked to its sister structure the Hecht Company building in the Parkington Shopping Center further up the mid-20th century Wilson Boulevard commercial corridor in Ballston,

and Anchored by the Radio Building to the South in the Courthouse Section.

We hope this brief foray into our archives has stimulated and informed you of the vast heritage of the American built environment. We wish that there is no lapse into needless sentimentality about days gone by, but to instead re-invigorate the concept of the impact of design on the the urban scene and one's interaction in it.

Parkington '51

2009-06-25T21:49:00.007-04:00

In 1984 we made one of our first successful art products, the Super-8 movie "Parkington '51". It has been showcased many times in the local independent movie scene in Federarlington, District of Corruption. In 2008-9 it was re-issued and offered up to the internets.

We are stunned today to learn that our research team in our Metropolitan Continuity Division has discovered a processing error affecting several of the films created by our Lee Hiway Productions Film Division. As you can see here the motion picture, "Parkington '51" is by and large originally shot and processed in negative.

The evidence is in and we must admit that the integrity of our film efforts have been compromised and must be re-processed. It must be done for scenes such as this one rely upon negative imagery for emotional impact and statement.

In particular, the scene starring William Peters is greatly enhanced in its original negative polarity. It was this sequence in particular that caught the eye of Mr. Clyde Randall who had remembered the original theatrical release in 1984 and noticed that the re-issued version had lost its original polarity.

We take all reports seriously

2009-06-20T14:56:00.005-04:00

Our friends over at the Otto Mannix Report have experienced a catastrophic computer failure that has had the Standard scrambling for its Business Continutity Plan. We take all reports seriously. In fact we staff a 24/7 help line shown here to field all of your calls.

In the event that we have a disruption of service, our Computer analysis datalab is fully equiped to initiate backup sequence Delta-5.

Downsizing

2009-06-10T23:03:00.003-04:00

Memorandum

To: Shareholders

From: American National Standard, Warehouse Division, Sub-facility Management Team

Subject: Downsizing

To Avert an impending Government forced restructuring of our business operations we are shutting down our Berwyn Heights storage facility effective immediately. Please inform all staff that surplus office furniture, holiday decorations, vital business records, supplies, and obsolete equipment will be discarded at the close of business tomorrow. The facility pictured here will be shut down and locked up until further notice. Trespassing, vandalism, and strange photographers will not be tolerated.

Back from Vacation

2009-06-07T13:39:00.003-04:00

Well now we are back from our much deserved vacation visiting the back roads of this great country. Here are some snapshots of the fine establishments we stayed at while on the road.

Before we go underground for awhile

2009-05-21T22:55:00.004-04:00

We are going underground for awhile here at the standard so we want to leave you with a little collection of oddities. We have an acquaintance who has a bizarre collection of different items.

Infiltration

2009-05-17T11:25:00.004-04:00

We have reasonable information that the Standard and several affiliated blogs have been infiltrated. Advanced monitoring facilities such as the one depicted here are in the process of monitoring and datamining our activities. We wish all those government agencies luck wasting their time monitoring this and others blogs. Who knows, perhaps readership will increase.

EasyRider

2009-05-07T21:36:00.011-04:00

Our Friends over at the Otto Mannix Report have opened up a significant discussion concerning the placement of the movie "Easy Rider" in the pantheon of Biker vs Road Movies. Here at the Standard we don't like to pick winners and losers in the cultural wars, however we could not sit idly by and not make some contributions from our personal archives. We do suggest that "Easy" spawned many spin off wanna be movies such as the "Cycle Savages". We note that several collateral actors such as Harry Dean Stanton and Bruce Dern were staple character actors in this genre. We leave it to our friend Mr. Ivanlandia, to set the record straight where movies such as "The Trip" and "Planet of the Apes" fit into the cultural landscape of late '60's alternative films.

Pseudopolis

2009-05-03T22:36:00.007-04:00

A found city in complete decay. I find myself wandering in a city and it seems unreal to me. It is unreal. It is so real that it disappears in the mind's eye. I go back to the same location and it is never the same again. Sometimes things have been completely changed or destroyed. Other times the obvious stays hidden in plain sight. You can't step in the same river twice.

The American city is in decline. Has been for awhile. White flight and riots have made their mark. There is a quality of craftsmanship and care in old structures that is missing in today's temporary environment. As the vacant lots multiply nature is slowly biding her time to reclaim the urban environment that man is gradually abandoning.

There are no tags, or identification of these images beyond the title because they are not pictures of places. They are places that are pictured. Unique and universal at the same time. Not a spectacle of urban disfunction but a paean to a culture in its waning years.

Pseudopolis is every city, an imagined city, imaginary parts of real cities, discovered and rediscovered, and the city of myth.

Dundalk Facility

2009-04-20T22:12:00.006-04:00

Our colleagues over at the Otto Mannix Report have provided a valuable public service to our world-wide customer base by exposing the activities of your hard working yet humble staff here at the Standard as we try to bring you the latest obsolete information regarding American Cultural History. We can not stress the amount of support that the Mannix operation have given to the Standard over the years. So as a way of expressing our thanks we have located deep within our corporate archives images of our Dundalk Maryland information fabrication plant and our loyal staffers Ed, Bob, and Jim who have been manufacturing flat plate information and stamped steel digital foil for over 50 years. We salute you.

Portait of Michael Horsley by John Jones

2009-04-14T17:31:00.002-04:00

More wet plate work by my class mate John Jones. The hand is Kerik Kouklis. The Portrait is of Michael Horsley. The spots are from the drying process. No one said this wet plate stuff was easy.

Fred Walker Magnavox--Signage

2009-04-02T21:05:00.003-04:00

Once upon a time in America quality mattered and a business clad their facade in neon signage. Sadly, beginning in the 1970's signs and typeface took a tumble in terms of quality and innovativeness. Brown colors and fat fonts dominated. Think of the Hardee's logo. Once neon breaks it is expensive to replace, and now it is rarely found. Here we present a former Arlington Virginia gem.

Wet Collodion

2009-03-30T16:07:00.006-04:00

Our staff have created this image using the latest in obsolete photographic technology. We coated a glass plate with a liquid emulsion and then ran outside to a preset large format camera and took this image. We ran back to the darkroom a block and a half away where we developed the image while the emulsion was still wet.

Un-Official Washington

2009-03-24T20:31:00.002-04:00

Lest our readers think that we here at American National Standard are hopelessly stuck in the past. We provide here an example of our most current work. An investigation into the industrial transition zone in SW Washington DC. Spittin' distance from some of our nations greatest monuments and part of the "Un-Official Washington" Series.

Lucky Seven Pawnbrokers

2009-03-22T22:11:00.002-04:00

Friends, even we at American National Standard have been down on our luck and had to pawn our Magnavox combo stereo Hi Fi and color TV set here at Lucky Seven. Lets say they had better days than what you see here.

Spartana, Baltimore MD ca. 1990

2009-03-21T23:08:00.003-04:00

An associate of ours has recently reminded us of this little jem of a photo. Our Scanning technicians and digital restoration experts have lovingly resurected this image from our deep archives. Enjoy.

A message from Ed Porter

2009-03-16T21:25:00.002-04:00

Many of you have wondered who it is that lurks behind the blog known as American National Standard. Some of you have commented that we are a little sinister. Well rest assured gentle reader--we wish you no ill will. On the contrary we are ordinary folk just like you. To prove it we have posted a recent photograph of our managing director Mr. Ed Porter. There, see he is a regular guy just like you. Someone you would trust with the keys to your house, or to take your dog out for a walk. In other words just a regular working stiff like your old man's boss.

The Room of the Dead Machine

2009-03-14T11:45:00.004-04:00

A major find from our archives! This tiny doorway was located at the bottom level of a downtown Wakefield County office building. This magical place was discovered by Mr. Porter and Mr. Randall while conducting extensive field survey work to scout out locations for experimental performance spaces. The truth is that there were no venues available for our budding performance efforts, so the "Room" served as our rehearsal space and concert hall.It was called the "Room of the Dead Machine" because inside the space was some form of disabled machinery--whose purpose we could not determine. Inside was a dirt floored utility space the size of a large living room. Unfortunately there are no interior shots known to the staff here at ANS, and there is one very crappy recording on audio cassette in existance. This recording is avaiable in digital form, however the technical staff here does not know how to distribute mp3's via the internets yet.

"Z" Site

2009-03-13T17:24:00.003-04:00

Mr. Porter is getting the hang of this blog thing. He knows his readers crave archival photographs of the budding Wakefield County Punk Rock Art Scene back in the '80's. Here is another gem from deep in the archives of an unidentified location we will call "Z" site.

Archival Research

2009-03-12T22:28:00.002-04:00

Ah, we see you have come back for more. Good. Our team of forensic archival researchers have uncovered some new images of the activities found in Wakefield County. We surmise that one image is of the area known a "B" site. This zone was originally discovered by our very first staff members as they drove around the Wakefield area late at night. Like good budding documentarians they were compelled to photograph any signs of non-surburban activity.

American National Standard Headquarters

2009-03-11T18:20:00.005-04:00

We Thought you might enjoy a snap shot of our first corporate headquarters circa 1984. We were located on the top floor of this wonderful postmodern office building designed by Mies Van der Rohe.

Opening Statement

2009-03-10T22:39:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the inaugural post to the American National Standard blog. We here at ANS strive to bring you products mined from the collective efforts of our research teams. Please bear with us as we explore new ways to tap our potential and deliver to you our latest creations.

ANS originated in the humble back country of Wakefield Oklahoma in 1979 when our two founders Mr. Clyde Randall and Mr. Ed Porter first met at what would later become known as "A" Site. That locale, centered around a high tension wire pylon at a mid-point between our two studios became the focus for a collective site specific art instalation that would later expand into several locations scattered around the metropolitan area.

Expanding operations into underground parking garages near the Radio and GC Murphy buildings, our founders assembled a team of experimental performance artists who gave limited invitation concerts in such art spaces as: the Room of the Dead Machine, the sub-electric room, Baltimore Air Coil, and other locations. Indirectly associated with underground publications such as Squirm, Fat Bleed Comics, Swollen Family, and New York Skyline; several affiliated efforts began to coalesce in the Wakefield County area.

Now over thirty years later our archivists are busy locating the relevant historical records that document these efforts. It is hoped that in this humble venue the fruit of many laborious researches will be revealed to you--our loyal customers.

Mr. Ed Porter

Senior Assistant Managing Vice Director

KinoRama Division

Department of External Communications

American National Standard

an FBC affiliate