Anyone Can Be an Artist. My Trip to London...

I've traveled many countries and when I was told that using the Underground can be quite confusing and I was a bit worried I may get lost. The Underground is what we Americans know as a "Subway" and consists of, to the unfamiliar traveler, a multitude of colored lines, twists, turns and connections. For anyone that has considered traveling the Underground "Difficult", I invite you to take a trip through Japan's transit system where there's probably 3x as many lines and nothing is in English. So for 25L I got on the train and took off to the Tate Modern Museum where the Nissan Free Ride Challenge awaited my arrival.

If you don't know what free riding is, check out the video. It's kind of like a cross between mountain biking, BMX and Urban Riding. The grand prize was for 100,000L and if you convert that to American cash, we're talking $200,000…where do I sign up?

I've actually considered taking up the sport, however, entering at 31 years old and not being very coordinated, I'll stick with the old style mountain biking where your bike typically stays on the ground.

I didn't stay for the full event but I did manage to get some video. I was a bit disappointed when I arrived and went to take a couple shots with my regular camera only to find out I left my battery on the charger back at the hotel. So all I had was my video camera that only takes sub-par 1MB still pics.

Once the qualifications were done I took a break to visit the museum at which the event was taking place…I learned what "true" modern art is and discovered that anyone could be a potential artist. Cameras weren't allowed but it is something you have to experience in person anyway.

To become a modern art artist, buy some oil paint and a canvas, dip your hand in the paint and splash it on the canvas. You can use one color or several. It doesn't matter because what you create will be hung on a wall for others to sit down and study the painting for hours and discuss amongst each other what you were thinking at the time you created your work of art.

There is also modern art in motion; something I certainly didn't know existed. This is a film that is created and shown on the wall as if it were a painting. Here is one way to become a motion picture modern artist…Pull out all but one of your teeth, shave your head, have somebody punch you a couple times to puff up your face, dye your head red, get naked, tuck your penis between your legs and dance to African drums…now that's art!

My curiosity was really getting to me to see what the rest of the place consisted of but it was time to catch the train back, otherwise it would cost another 120L+ ($250) to stay another day. Till next time London…Cheers!