It's Alive

Well. I guess it's been a while since the last post. I'm alive and back at it. Here are the images of my solo show at Number 35...four months late. The title of the show was "Access to the magnificent room." The image above is of the piece I did in the window of the gallery. I've been trying to get the images to look the way that I want them to, but have been having trouble. These images aren't ideal, but they are the best of the HDR images that I've been able to make. I'll post images of the drawings soon, apparently, they are too big and I don't feel like resizing them right now. The title of the installation is "The effect of its breadth (Flamingo Casino, Las Vegas; Upper Belvedere, St. Gall Cathedral; Golden Nugget Sign)".

As I get more and better images, I'll throw them up here. These images aren't totally representative of the experience of the installation as the light in the gallery changed throughout the course of the day. These were taken at night just before de-installation. I was pretty happy with the show all and all. There are some new things going on with this installation. By the end of prepping for the show I was getting a bit tired of the piece and didn't really begin to like it until it was time to take it down. So it usually goes. I felt like the piece was a little overworked, at least in my head it was. Most of you probably know, but I was mentioned by Holland Cotter in the New York Times. As brief as it was, it was pretty exciting. Here is the link to the online version of the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/arts/design/14les.html?_r=2&ref=design&oref=slogin

If you click on the "multimedia/interactive" picture on the left (a picture of dudes dancing), it will take you to an interactive map of the city. Select the Lower East Side and there is an image of my piece and a nice little description. It says I use cardboard and masking tape, but I use neither of those.

Apparently Roberta Smith saw the show just before it came down and said that she liked it. Alas, she didn't write anything. But, I'm happy it was seen.

What have I been doing lately? We'll it seems I've taken a bit of a break from making like mad. I read the Border Trilogy by Cormic McCarthy. McCarthy has become my new literary obsession. I cleaned up my studio. I've been playing with a new foam cutter. The art has been slow. Hit a bit of a slump, but am coming out of it strong. I wanted to work differently on the installation, and am on the verge of working that out. I've read a book on the Baroque and finally finished "The Fold." I'm currently doing tons of the ballpoint pen drawings of spaces. Those drawings are developing nicely and I am hoping to use them to build up a wealth of stuff to work from to make wall pieces. Working on ideas now mostly. More to come...

Sneak Peak

I decided to move a tv and dvd player into my studio. I usually listen to music that I feel is conducive to the tone and aesthetic of my work. I wanted to see how it would be working with images that I feel have the same relationship to my work. I started with a my morning jacket concert, which was still about the music more, but it was easier to channel the energy of their performance. I'm excited to see how this does or does not affect my work or process. Yes, it is a bit dark in my studio. I like to work in the light of my installations and one other bulb only.

Mixed in here are some studio shots and glimpses of some things I'm kicking around.

Just one of my stockpiles of house paint.

Daily Planner 2000

Muji recently stepped up their game in the daily planner category. This is the "more intuitive" daily planner. I really really like this. The only problem is that I have a hard time using planners as I tend to wing it.

Progress

Here are some studio shots of what I'm doing now. I have begun the second leg of preparing for my show in October. In June I laid out a plan for peaking myself for October 13ish. Things have been going along perfectly. I found that Josh Waitzkin, in "The Art of Learning" has a similar method of bringing himself up to a high level of presence, performance, creativity, and productivity to that which I have been using in my studio. I was apply principles of peaking and performance that I learned in wrestling. Waitzkin uses methods learned in world-level chess competition and applies them to martial arts. He also successfully teaches others to apply those principles to any discipline. (Apparently he is good friends with Tom Otterness as well.) Reading his book has helped me to solidify my methods and made me feel less crazy for talking about a correlation between art and wrestling practice. * Josh Waitzkin is the chess champion from the movie "Searching for Bobby Fisher." He's the "kid" (man) the movie was based on, not the actor.

Right now I'm working of drawings and doing small things here and there for the installation. This is one last push to get a few more drawings finished so I have a better selection to choose from for the show. This will probably be a 2-3 week push.

A Night at the Drive-In (sit-in, actually)

Saturday night, Nicole and I decided to have movie night on the roof. This summer we set up a little lounge area on the roof top of the first floor which is outside our windows. Astro-Turf, palms, and wood chairs and table. (see Nicole's blog) This has been a great addition to our daily happiness and fantasy of living in a loft. Just this evening we ate our dinner out there with a perfect breeze and the sound our personal live jazz band practicing upstairs.

The moon was full, popcorn was oily/salty, and the newly purchased "Darjeeling Limited" was playing.

I've been thinking lately about the act of dramatizing one's experience. I think it has a lot to do with the things I'm doing and looking into with my work. I think that it is significant that I go to lengths to set things up romantically for myself. Creating mood, tone. Interjecting romance, meaning, magic. Looking for it. I'll get into this more later.

Journal Entry 1

I recently went to the Cathedral Church of St.John the Devine. Here is my journal entry from the experience. Excuse the lack of proper terminology, I was writing quickly to get down the experience of the space. I am also experiencing this from the viewpoint of someone without a background of religious experience, having also never been to church. It is mostly about the space to me.:

the area where you, the "common people", sit is darker. It is encased in an area that is made of older, rougher stone. It has archways on the sides, but they are not windows, they are blocked up with a flat painted surface. The area where the magic happens, up where the clergy sit is smooth finished stone. It has all of the magnificence. it is where you strive to be. it is lit by the stained glass windows, by God's light, the commoner's area is lit by artificial light or candle light. there is a definite threshold, a proscenium between the two worlds. the analogy of spiritual striving.

scripted space. the hero's journey. enlightenment.

dramatizing experience.

the immensity of the ceiling is hard to grasp, dizzying. like the thought of eternity. like the thought of universal truth, universal plan.

red ropes.

dark wood.

just out of reach. I want to strive for these unreachable spots.

I am down here, stuck. but, I want to be up in the immensity of the vaults. to see better up there. to see up there.

this structure is man-made, i know it is man-made. it is just as much about our power as that of the devine.

the silence is soothing. the silence is important. there is so much space that anything said in here gets echoed and swallowed up. power and futility.

everything in here is a journey.

"three acts in one second"

pointing up.

you can't see every thing at once = can't grasp the complexity of it all.

you are always approaching.

the dome is God. Its presence unavoidable. you can see glimpses of it from all around the area that wraps around behind the high alter.

Triumphant Return

Usually, when I go this long without posting, it's because I've not had time to work. However, this time it is because I have been working feverishly. I just ran a gauntlet of productivity, concentration, and creative presence that I haven't had since grad school. Below are some of the results. Yes, I finally finished those two installations. In addition, I worked up about 12 ideas for new installations, which I will be exploring as I perfect the piece that will be going up for my show in October. I also finished reading Societas Raffello Sanzio's book, Cormic McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," and am also almost done with "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitskin. I'll post images of some of my ideas soon. For now, take a look at these:




The title of the above piece is "The most vast and impressive room in the Great Palace, Moscow" I have stereoscopic images of this one.

The title of the above piece is "Four Seasons Hotel, Gresham Palace." Stereoscope in production.

Some nice things happen when I begin to paint over the pieces.

Here is a little teaser of what I'm working on now. I probably wont post images of the installation that I'm working on for the show until it goes up on Oct. 18.