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  • Happy 2016 Everyone!!!

    10 January 2016
    Can’t believe that another year has come and gone so quickly it’s already 2016 and things are already moving fast. There seems to be a lot going on in the world these days and so this should make for an exciting year ahead. Last year had its fair share of challenges, however, this is how we learn and now it’s time to take the lessons we learned in 2015 and apply them to 2016 and make this year a wonderful and productive year. As the world markets open, there are more and more opportunities for us to harness information technology and the wide reaching power of the internet and connect with others to do great things.

    If I could take away one thing from what I learned last year is that there will always be challenging times along the journey and it is very important to always do the daily things that we do that make us who we are because these are the real things in life that give us our value. Just because we are going through a rough patch we should not stop going to the gym or seeing the people that matter or eat the food that we love because these are the things that make us who we are and that will sustain us through the challenging times. We are looking forward to a wonderful year of growth and challenges and wish everyone a Happy and healthy 2016. My New Year’s resolution is to start blogging again.

    “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

    So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

    Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.

    Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”
    ― Neil Gaiman

    “Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come.

    Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level. Goals give our life direction.

    What would you like to have happen in your life this year? What would you like to do, to accomplish? What good would you like to attract into your life? What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you? What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?

    What would you like to attain? Little things and big things? Where would you like to go? What would you like to have happen in friendship and love? What would you like to have happen in your family life?

    What problems would you like to see solved? What decisions would you like to make? What would you like to happen in your career?

    Write it down. Take a piece of paper, a few hours of your time, and write it all down – as an affirmation of you, your life, and your ability to choose. Then let it go.

    The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.”
    ― Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency

    Nexonta Technologies Inc
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  • And we’re Back!!! Welcome To September!

    09 September 2015
    September (from Latin septem, “seven”) was originally the seventh of ten months on the oldest known Roman calendar, with March (Latin Martius) the first month of the year until perhaps as late as 153 BC. After the calendar reform that added January and February to the beginning of the year, September became the ninth month, but retained its name. It had 29 days until the Julian reform, which added a day.

    It is the start of the academic year in many countries, in which children go back to school after the summer break, sometimes on the first day of the month. Every September no matter how old we get it always feels like the summer is over and it is time to return to school. I guess it is a sign that we never really out grow our youth totally. September also marks the beginning of our favorite season and time of year over here, the Fall, when the leaves begin to turn and the air becomes crisp and clean with just a slight drop in the temperature allowing us to wear that Fall fashion which takes us back to when our folks would take us back to school shopping for cool gear for the beginning of the school year.

    September begins on the same day of the week as December every year, because there are 91 days in
    September, October and November, which is a multiple of seven (the number of days in the week). No other month ends on the same day of the week as September in any year. This month and May are the only two months to have this property.

    While there are many challenges facing humanity at the present time it is also clear that we are
    starting anew with opportunities to take what we have learned over the past five years and applying that knowledge and experience and doing things better than we have done in the past. It really is an exciting time looking forward with much work to do but like with anything else in this life if we apply ourselves then we will see the results and in life like in tech there is an APP for that and if one does not already exist then there is your first assignment this school year, Go build one!

    In many ways, September feels like the busiest time of the year: The kids go back to school, work piles up after the summer’s dog days, and Thanksgiving is suddenly upon us.
    Brene Brown

    I love September, especially when we’re in it.
    Willie Stargell

  • Computer Code Is The New International Language! Back

    04 August 2015
    All of today’s kids will need—along with reading, writing, and arithmetic—a basic understanding of computation and the role that it plays across a wide range of disciplines. Coding is engaging and empowering. It’s a necessary 21st Century skill ~ Jan Cuny

    More and more countries as well as industries are relying heavily on computers and computer programming for not only their future growth but also their current daily operations. Every day we are moving closer to a paperless society and depending more and more on the internet for many of our day to day needs. What this means is that writing, reading and speaking code is becoming more and more essential if countries and individuals are to stay competitive in today’s high-tech economy. Today you can consult with a Lawyer or Accountant in any country around the world and have your tablet or smart phone translate the communication for you in real time. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

    Chinese tops the list of most popular world languages, with over one billion speakers. English trails in third place, with 335 million speakers. This data represents first-language speakers. In computing, source code is any collection of computer instructions (possibly with comments) written using some human-readable computer language, usually as text.

    The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source code. The source code is often transformed by a compiler program into low-level machine code understood by the computer. The machine code might then be stored for execution at a later time. Alternatively, an interpreter can be used to analyze and perform the outcomes of the source code program directly on the fly.

    Software, and its accompanying source code, typically falls within one of two licensing paradigms: open source and proprietary software. A program’s source code can be written in different programming languages for example HTML or HyperText Markup Language, commonly referred to as HTML, is the standard markup language used to create web pages. Web browsers can read HTML files and render them into visible or audible web pages. HTML describes the structure of a website semantically along with cues for presentation, making it a markup language, rather than a programming language.

    The way a program is written can have important consequences for its maintainers. Coding conventions, which stress readability and some language-specific conventions, are aimed at the maintenance of the software source code, which involves debugging and updating. Other priorities, such as the speed of the program’s execution, or the ability to compile the program for multiple architectures, often make code readability a less important consideration, since code quality generally depends on its purpose.

    One of the first court cases regarding the nature of source code as free speech involved University of California mathematics professor Dan Bernstein, who had published on the Internet the source code for an encryption program that he created. At the time, encryption algorithms were classified as munitions by the United States government; exporting encryption to other countries was considered an issue of national security, and had to be approved by the State Department. The Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the U.S. government on Bernstein’s behalf; the court ruled that source code was free speech, protected by the First Amendment.

    Source: Wikipedia

    https://code.org/quotes

    Sheryl Sandberg
    Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

    An understanding of computer science is becoming increasingly essential in today’s world. Our national competitiveness depends upon our ability to educate our children—and that includes our girls—in this critical field.

    Anne Wojcicki
    CEO and Founder, 23andMe

    All students should have the opportunity to learn how to program. Computer science is the basis for modern day creativity and expression. The computer programmers of tomorrow will revolutionize medicine.

    “People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines. There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.”~Bill Gates

    Nexonta Technologies Inc.

  • Welcome to our Summer 2015 Blog!

    22 July 2015
    We have not posted a blog in a little while and so welcome to our Summer 2015 blog. We started this journey back in June of 2008, right in the beginning of the world economic down turn and we are happy to say that we have sailed through some fairly turbulent waters and very trying times however we all agree over here that we would not trade any of the growth experiences we have learned from over the past 6 years. “Smooth sailing makes not a skilled mariner” You don’t learn anything standing on the sidelines.

    The world is becoming more global every day and it is hard not to notice the huge cultural and economic changes happening everyday all around us. Take for instance the Pan Am Games currently taking place in Toronto, Canada. The excitement and energy of the Games goes beyond the stadiums and pools. Throughout the region, fans will gather and celebrate the spirit of the diverse cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean through music, dance, art and food.

    The Pan American Games are the world’s third largest international multi-sport Games; they are only surpassed in size and scope by the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. Just venturing out in Downtown Toronto one can’t help but to notice a wealth of cultural diversity with athletes from all corners of the globe taking part in this 2015 Pan AM games. It really gives a sense of what most cities will look like in terms of cultural diversity by 2020.

    Today’s date is July 21st and this means that we are already one month into the season of Summer. It always astounds me every year without fail how we anticipate the coming of summer so much, especially if we had a long drawn out winter and before you know it the Summer is over and here comes the Labour Day weekend signalling the beginning of Fall. Don’t get us wrong we love the Fall and I personally think it’s the best season of the year what with the Fall fashions and back to work and school hustle and bustle, however, we don’t want to throw in the towel on Summer quite just yet – there is plenty of Summer to still enjoy in 2015.

    Inspired by Nikita

    “Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
    ― Henry James

    “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
    ― John Steinbeck

  • The future is mobile friendly!!!

    02 June 2015
    As Google explains it, in order for a site to be considered mobile friendly, its text has to be readable without tapping and zooming, its tap targets need to be spaced out appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling. In other words, the site simply needs to be easily usable from a mobile device.

    In 1997, there were approximately 1 million websites, and 10 years later, there were 150 million. In 2007, there were about 1 million mobile websites, and the number is supposed to reach 150 million by 2017. It is clear that mobile friendly websites are going to increase exponentially in the years to come. The internet started on the PC but with more than 3 billion mobile phones being used worldwide, we are soon approaching a time when many people’s first internet experience will be through a mobile device. These rapid changes have left the business world with no choice other than to adapt to them. With mobile devices taking over the place of the PC, not having a mobile friendly website is like committing business suicide.

    Despite the warning, a number of extremely well known brands are still scrabbling to minimize the impact of Google’s mobile algorithm update, leaving smaller businesses with the advantage as long as they don’t panic according to leading UK and US Search experts.

    “Small businesses tend to be far more flexible with their tech teams able to apply changes far quicker and easier than larger enterprises due to a less complicated infrastructure, which also makes it easier to roll out new software and processes.” Jono Alderson, Head of Insight at Linkdex, added “In many ways, it’s easier for small businesses to pivot and reinvent themselves and their business strategy based on how their customers prefer to interact with them.”

    And given that many businesses, particularly in retail and other ecommerce sectors, rely heavily on search traffic to drive up sales and keep their bottom line looking healthy those who haven’t addressed how their sites appear on mobile need to act urgently.

    Even those who have apps need to address the issue as it is websites where search traffic is sent – and a bad experience here can put people off going any further, if indeed they can still find the site after Google makes its mobile move.

    Making a site automatically change layout depending on what device is being used to view it, known as responsive design, is the best way to ensure it is mobile friendly, while working to keep load times as low as possible will give the site the best chance of performing well.

    Source: Forbes, iMarket factory, TechCrunch

    Nexonta Technologies Inc

  • Extra, extra read all about it!!! Is your website ready for Google’s algorithm update?

    07 April 2015
    The biggest update in years. Call it what you want: On April 21 Google will be releasing an update to its algorithm that could have a big impact on your search engine rankings if you and your website aren’t prepared. What is a mobile-friendly site? Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to find out. Just run your website through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test page keep in mind the mobile friendly test is generally a useful gauge of a site’s mobile performance.

    Google will launch a new mobile crawler (probably with an Android user-agent) that can do a better job of crawling single-page web apps, Android apps, and maybe even Deep Links in iOS apps. The new Mobile-Friendly guidelines that launched last month focus on exposing JS and CSS because Android apps are built in Java, and single-page web apps rely heavily on JavaScript for their fluid, app-like experience.

    The Algorithm Assesses Each Page Individually

    A notable feature of the mobile algorithm is that it analyzes mobile compatibility on a page-by-page basis, rather than a website-wide basis. This announcement came from Google’s Gary Illyes during his SMX West presentation and was reported by Search Engine Land. What does this mean practically? If your site has some mobile-optimized pages, but some non-optimized pages, then Google will look at them separately and promote the one that is optimized. They won’t “penalize” (if that’s the right term) an entire site based on the off chance that a few pages aren’t optimized.

    Realistically, though, if a site is responsive and well-designed, then this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I’m sure there are some sites with a few optimized pages and a few that aren’t, but generally speaking, an entire site is either mobile friendly or not. Google can only assess a site’s mobile friendliness when it crawls the page and indexes it for search. At this point, your site is scored. If the page is not mobile friendly on April 21, but becomes mobile-friendly on April 25, then we can assume that Google’s next crawl should be able to identify it as such.

    Already, we know that this update will be bigger than Panda or Penguin. We also know that Google considers mobile to be so significant that they are working to dominate nearly all of its manifestations. With this search update, we should brace ourselves for a tectonic adjustment in the way that mobile search functions.

    Some of the experts are making the following basic predictions. That non-optimized pages will virtually drop from mobile rankings and possibly desktop rankings. Some are predicting that any page lacking mobile optimization will cease to rank for head terms. Some are also predicting that SERP results on page 1 for longtail keywords above a certain search frequency threshold will feature mobile-friendly only pages.

    If you’ve been hanging on to your old-school website design for the past decade, Google has officially given you a reason to upgrade in the next two weeks. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, don’t panic, and definitely don’t pay someone from a spammy-looking “Your website is in danger” email to fix your site.

    The focus of this update is to provide a better search experience for mobile users. To accomplish this, Google will be “expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.” So what does that mean in plain English? If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, your search engine rankings and ultimately your Web traffic could take a hit. So definitely run your website through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

    A new mobile-only index to go with the new crawler also makes sense because Google wants to index and rank both app content and deep links to screens in apps, but it does not necessarily want to figure them into the desktop algorithm or slow it down with content that should never rank in a desktop search. We also think that the recent increased focus on deep links and the announcement from Google about Google Play’s new automated and manual review process are related. This announcement indicates, almost definitively, that Google has built a crawler that is capable of crawling Android apps. We believe that this new crawler will also be able to index more than one content rendering (web page or app screen data-set) to one URL/URI and it will probably will focus more on feeds, schema and sitemaps for its own efficiency.

    Responsive design, not separate sites for mobile devices. Google has stated in the past that it prefers responsive design over other solutions. Redesigning a website can hurt existing search engine rankings if not done carefully. Any links with long-standing high rankings can disappear if a URL structure is incorrectly changed. Inbound links, an important ranking factor, can also be impacted in a redesign. Previous experience transitioning sites is important to retain any existing search authority.

    Once you’ve gone through a site redesign, or any time you make tweaks to your site, it’s important to run through every page of your site and make sure links are working and pages are loading properly. Run through it on a smartphone or tablet if you can, to avoid all punishment from Google on April 21. Now, you can focus on adding relevant, local content to your website to climb the search engine rankings even further.

    What’s Good For Desktop Is Also Good For Mobile…Sort Of

    An additional insight from Google’s John Mueller is that Google mixes some of the desktop and mobile ranking signals. Page speed, for example, is blended in its impact on both desktop and mobile search. Additionally, it seems true that Google’s top heavy algorithm also shares the desktop/mobile impact.

    We can safely assume that some of the features that are good for desktop are equally good for mobile, assuming the page has a mobile-friendly design. But keep in mind that the algorithm may begin to differentiate the various factors that are currently bundled as one and the same. Because of the vastly different platforms, load time, layout, etc., between desktop and mobile, it would make sense for it to do so. “Mobile-Friendly” designation in mobile SERPS may be temporary, as long as SEOs and webmasters feel incentivized to make their CSS and JavaScript crawlable, and get into the new mobile index. “Mobile-Friendly” in the SERP is a bit clunky, and takes up a lot of space, so Google may decide switch to something else, like the “slow” tag shown to the right, originally spotted in testing by Barry Schwartz.

    In conclusion this 4/21 change will be bigger than the Panda and Penguin updates. Again, we think this fits well with an infrastructure change. It is unclear if all mobile devices will be impacted in the change or not. The change might be more impactful for Android devices or might impact Android and iOS devices equally—though currently we are seeing significant differences between iOS and Android for some types of search results, with more significant changes happening on Android than on iOS.

    Sources: SEL, Inman, The Moz Blog

    Nexonta Technologies Inc

  • This ain’t your Grand Pappy’s Ford!!!

    24 March 2015
    Last week, I had the pleasure of eating in one of my favorite restaurants in the city La Societe on Bloor Street in beautiful downtown Toronto. While the experience was wonderful (I had a 25 dollar burger it was delish) however, that is not the point of this blog even though it was so gourmet you could write a blog just on the food there but I digress. So after my triumphant dinner choice I ventured over to Hemmingway’s which is the watering hole in Yorkville for the up and coming thirty, forty and fifty somethings and while sitting at the bar enjoying a cold Stella on tap I got into a conversation with about 6 post university kids who have been in the working world for about 3 years each and after discussing tech of course for about half an hour it became clear that these youngans didn’t have a why.

    These guys were smart and hungry and what I got from them was that they wanted jobs that paid well and I get that, I was the same way when I was at that age but the world has changed so much and today we know so much more about everything than we did twenty years ago and we also know that it is essential to have a why today. Most business owners want employees to actually care about what they are doing at their company for an average 8 hours a day. The why brings the passion, let’s face it most industries have progressed tremendously and it’s simply our turn to take the reins and drive them forward. Music has evolved so much so that you really need to be multi-talented today to be an effective musician. I call it the super car effect, we will always try to go faster in a sexier super car and this is with everything homes, clothes, watches, food, movies. It doesn’t matter what industry your in all that matters is that it excites us and you have a passion for it.

    The cars today are amazing, there is so much technology in these automobiles that soon they will drive themselves. I didn’t really have the luxury of calmly trying out different things till I could find what I loved doing, I had to figure it out on the fly and was really lucky to have a really supportive business partner like Dee (who by the way wakes up at 6:00am every morning burning with passion for her day, this is how you know that a normal 9:00 to 5:00 simply won’t do). I really think if you find what really matters to you and you build a life around it and execute with passion you will be successful at whatever you decide to do in life. I don’t think we are supposed to reinvent the wheel but I do think we are supposed to be somewhere on a team developing a better one or a better burger for that matter.

    The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

    William Morris

    Nexonta Technologies Inc.

  • Just stay in school!

    13 March 2015
    Do you remember those days when all you had to be was cool, popular, good looking and well connected to get ahead? Well those days are gone y’all!!! Today you need education and a good work ethic as these are the cornerstones of success today. I remember many years ago when I was in high school and all of the cool rich kids seem to do well no matter what they got up to and I remember thinking to myself, I am not that cool and certainly not rich and if high school is any indication of the real world then I’m in for a bit of a rough ride in my future supporting a hottie and a couple of rug rats not to mention the BMW payments.

    Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and or research. Education may also include informal transmission of such information from one human being to another. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but learners may also educate themselves (autodidactic learning). Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.

    The world today is changing and globalization is no longer just a term spoken by academics but it has become a global reality which affects us individually on a day to day basis. As the trend of consumerism continues on a global scale it is becoming more and more important for us to be on the same page with our extended separated by geography half way around the world family on issues like what is Kimanye (Kim and Kanye) up to. The reality is we don’t want to leave our iPhones, BlackBerry’s and high end German cars not to mention our custom designed smart homes in the hands of folks with no edumacation and work ethic simply because our quality of life depends on that stuff.

    Today we no longer have to wake up before the animals to go hunt and gather but we all have to work to help contribute to this evolving world and education today matters more than ever. Years ago if you came from the right background you would get a position based on who your family was and you really didn’t have to do much to maintain that position however today with shrinking profit margins and so much riding on most company’s bottom line. Let’s just say that it’s not enough to look great in a Brooks Brothers suit or that low cut blouse and tight skirt you actually have to know what you are doing.

    The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
    Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
    Nelson Mandela

    The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
    Aristotle

    Nexonta Technologies Inc

  • Life is all about coming full circle

    04 March 2015

     

    To come full circle is to complete a cycle of transition, returning to where one started after gaining experience or exploring other things. I don’t know if you are like me but lately I would look around at different mediums like movies, television, art and even restaurants and say to myself I think I have been here before or seen this before but just in a different way. There exist a theory that life is based on a circular pattern of happen stance which repeats itself every 10 years or so and in order to find out what happens next one only has to look at the previous cycle.

    Everything is amped up!! Food that used to taste good now it’s amazing. Movies use to be great but today through the help of technology and digital enhancements they are mind blowing. Television at best was entertaining but today TV is compelling, between amazing content and wonderful HD picture home television has become a worthwhile experience with shows like Empire and Nat Geo Wild it’s hard to dismiss television today as a waste of time. Can you imagine 10 years from now where we will be based on where we were 10 years prior? The possibilities are limitless.

    I think it is important to remember what we set out to do and make sure we finish what we start. I saw a business model about 23 years ago when we were just starting out and I wanted to base a company on that model. 23 years later here we are. I have totally come full circle. (Luckily, I found the right business partner) While it was not easy (mind you it is never is easy) the experiences this journey has provided are invaluable. To be cynical about life is a waste of our opportunity to push life forward, if you read about the historical experiences of many families who immigrated to North America and the struggles and hardships they endured in order to give their families back home a better life. It kind of makes you appreciate that today all we have to do is read a bunch of books and follow a curriculum and we can probably support our families reasonably well.

    Today it’s really hard to find a good fit in the work place while we transition from brick and mortar to the technological way of doing things. There are definitely going to be pit stops at jobs that are simply a means to an end and where you’d rather be anywhere else but there. That is just life. Over the next 10 years the world is going to open up and dealing with Africa will be just as easy as dealing with New York. The only question we need to ask ourselves is: Are we brave enough to come out on top of this next growth cycle?

    “I at length reached the last house but one, where the path to the summit diverged to the right, while the summit itself rose directly in front. But I determined to follow up the valley to its head, and then find my own route up the steep as the shorter and more adventurous way. I had thoughts of returning to this house, which was well kept and so nobly placed, the next day, and perhaps remaining a week there, if I could have entertainment. Its mistress was a frank and hospitable young woman, who stood before me in a dishabille, busily and unconcernedly combing her long black hair while she talked, giving her head the necessary toss with each sweep of the comb, with lively, sparkling eyes, and full of interest in that lower world from which I had come, talking all the while as familiarly as if she had known me for years, and reminding me of a cousin of mine. She at first had taken me for a student from Williamstown, for they went by in parties, she said, either riding or walking, almost every pleasant day, and were a pretty wild set of fellows; but they never went by the way I was going.”
    ~Henry David Thoreau

    Mathematics … would certainly have not come into existence if one had known from the beginning that there was in nature no exactly straight line, no actual circle, no absolute magnitude.
    ~Friedrich Nietzche

    Nexonta Technologies Inc

  • Welcome to our Blog on Jean-Michel Basquiat

    16 February 2015
    I am so excited to share this blog with whoever reads our bi-monthly offerings. Over the family day weekend I took the opportunity to attend the Jean- Michel Basquiat exhibit at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and I must say that it was one of the most moving and relevant exhibits that I have ever had the pleasure of attending. First of I should start by providing some background on the artist himself.

    Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist, musician and producer. Basquiat first achieved notoriety as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti group who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City during the late 1970s where the hip hop, post-punk and street art movements had coalesced. By the 1980s he was exhibiting his Neo-expressionist and Primitivist paintings in galleries and museums internationally. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his art in 1992.

    Incredibly 35 years later Jean-Michel Basquiat still speaks to the social, political and economic climate as it did when his art was first introduced to main stream culture. To me this is the evidence of a truly great artist. Work which touches the very fabric of who we are as a species. Basquiat used social commentary in his paintings as a “springboard to deeper truths about the individual”, as well as attacks on power structures and systems of racism, while his poetics were acutely political and direct in their criticism of colonialism and support for class struggle.

    Use what you got comes to mind when viewing some of this gifted artists work as he would literally paint on discarded wooden materials he would find in the street and turn them into master pieces taking inspiration from books and television and music and social commentary. Basquiat’s art focused on “suggestive dichotomies,” such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. He appropriated poetry, drawing and painting, and married text and image, abstraction and figuration, and historical information mixed with contemporary critique.

    Recently his works have sold for as much as 50 million dollars at auctions around the world and he has been displayed at the most important art galleries internationally and his pieces hang in some of the most important private collections in the world. All of this in 27 short years. Jean-Michel Basquiat has been called one of if not the most important artists of the 21th century and after seeing his works up close I can see why. His work made sense and his pieces speak to the viewer. You don’t have to be an art lover to appreciate what he left behind. His genius speaks volumes to us about who we are. The good, the bad and the ugly. If you get a chance this is an exhibit that will give you a bit more insight as to who we are as a culture and as a society at least it did for me.

    Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
    Scott Adams

    If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
    John F. Kennedy

    Nexonta Technologies Inc.

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