Drawn

This Image is from my sketchbook. I drew it one night when I wasn't sure what I wanted to work on, but I knew I wanted to work on something. -- Drawing the bow. Being drawn in. -- There is something about the archers look... the intensity and focus... his mind must be so still... 

After I drew it I was reminded of this excerpt from the book "Creators on Creating", edited by Frank Barron, Alfonso Montuori, Anthea Barron.

Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel

"Eugen Herrigel was a German philosophy professor who studied archery in Japan. In this excerpt he discusses the importance of relaxation and concentration, and the role of  the teacher in allowing the student to realize for himself or herself what is needed to engage in the process of archery (or any other learning process) in a spiritual manner."

(Click on the images to make them larger and easier to read)

Dan Graham

Figure 7

Re-Vision Re-History

Re-History

Wandering through pillars of erected fixation- standing to the heights of invisibility- cast shadows bleeding into blurs of solidity-

Following one on top of- around and below and beside one another- woven knotted linking binding- whispering shouting splaying blinding-

Disoriented in Mazement- 

Charging forth and tiptoeing hero/heroin/heroish sees through- sees in- sees with-

Peeling out and off- rearranging particles of collected universal- etching figures in grime-

Hollow mythology fading wheezing tired- Sapling hallucinations Incarnate 

Paul Chan

I saw Paul Chan speak today at the Berkeley Art Museum. Every once in a while I see someone speak who I really feel I can learn something from, and this was one of those occasions. 

He was younger than I expected him to be. There is a quietness, maturity, and depth in his work that I just assumed would belong to someone with gray in their hair. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it seems to take people a while to settle and be willing to express sincere sentiments. It is not always fashionable to have heart and make work with a measure of depth and intimacy; and it is certainly not easy to do so without coming off as cheesy or contrived. Maybe that's the point. From listening to Chan talk today, hearing his responses to questions and explanations of his work - I don't think he is trying to make work that has heart, depth, and intimacy. I think that he has those qualities, and he is just making the work that he wants to make, the work that is right for him to make. And his work, because it is a reflection of him, possesses those qualities...

Hear Chan talk about his work, his inspirations, and about his project The 7 Lights. ("Lights" is supposed to be crossed out in the official title, but I couldn't get blogger to do it... note the official title in the video, and the use of crossing out words in the text pieces on his website):

Interview 

with Hans Ulrich Obrist of Serpentine Gallery

Check out his website National Philistine. You'll encounter text pieces, free audiobooks, free fonts, radio, and lots more:

Website

The Amen Break

Nate Harrison, Can I Get An Amen?, 2004, 
recording on acetate, turntable, PA system, paper documents
dimensions variable
total run time 17 minutes, 46 seconds

"Can I Get An Amen? is an audio installation that unfolds a critical perspective of perhaps the most sampled drum beat in the history of recorded music, the Amen Break. It begins with the pop track Amen Brother by 60's soul band The Winstons, and traces the transformation of their drum solo from its original context as part of a 'B' side vinyl single into its use as a key aural ingredient in contemporary cultural expression. The work attempts to bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that 'information wants to be free'- it questions its effectiveness as a democratizing agent. This as well as other issues are foregrounded through a history of the Amen Break and its peculiar relationship to current copyright law."

- From Nate Harrison's website

Show and Tell

I painted this bird today.

It's one of Alfred Wallace's specimens from Malaysia.

Specimens...

I haven't painted in a long time.

When I opened my paint box and went rummaging through the brushes for the ones I needed, it was like saying hello to old friends. I remembered the times we'd had together... moments with this one, and that one... the way they feel against canvas, paper... each one's particular character... it was a nice reunion.

The Body Reflected

The mirror is one of the many surfaces we encounter daily. The mirror is the looking glass in which we see our own body reflected. It is the individual encounters we have with other people, in which our social selves are reflected. It is culture at large, in which our ideas and thoughts are mirrored in the expressions of others. Mirrors are the measure by which we double-check our reality.

The mirror, being that to which we look in order to understand ourselves or the world around us, is not indifferent to our gaze. It’s reflections shift and bend, and sometimes, when it knows we are looking, it denies us insight altogether and shows us lies.

Carrie Mae Weems- Mirror, Mirror

LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR, THE BLACK WOMAN ASKED, "MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO'S THE FINEST OF THEM ALL?" THE MIRROR SAYS, "SNOW WHITE, YOU BLACK BITCH, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!"

Jan Švankmajer - Alice 

The mirror, both object and encounter, is the bridge that stretches between the inside and the outside of the head/body.

"My head, for example, my head: what a strange cavern that opens onto the external world with two windows. Tow openings– I am sure of it, because I see them in the mirror...

This back, which I can feel leaning against the pressure of the couch when I am lying down and which I might catch but only by the ruse of the mirror. And what is this shoulder, whose movements and positions I know with precision, but that I will never be able to see without dreadfully contorting myself?...

There's no need for a soul, nor a death, for me to be both transparent and opaque, visible and invisible, life and thing. For me to be a utopia, it is enough that I have a body."

-Michel Foucault "Utopian Body", from "Sensorium" by Caroline Jones

Michael Jackson- Man in the Mirror

Studio #91

Just in case you were wondering... that's where you can find me. Top O' the Stairs, Main Building of the Graduate Complex, California College of the Arts. Knock Loudly, I'm probably in the midst of a dance party with my iphone.

Here is my desk after a day of exploration through the creative wilderness.

p.s. I'm not killing that plant. I actually rescued it from the dumpster and am rehabilitating it. Sheesh!

Cupcakes and Spiders

What would happen if a processed, packaged Sprinkle-Head dared to head out into the unknown and discover what life was really about...?

Find out! In this adorable (and somewhat: oolala!) animation by Kirsten Lepore

"Sweet Dreams"



Also, a little folksy number to get you ready for bed:

"Story From North America"

Kirsten Lepore also has a great website, and blog of her very own, with more informations and animations:

http://www.kirstenlepore.com/

Joseph Beuys - What Would Buddha Say?

"Buddha would say... Art would like to release something... It is social sculpture that is no longer related only to the art business... But related to all people and the social problems in which we live... "

-Joseph Beuys, quoted from Documenta 6 Satellite Telecast

****Call 415.294.3609 then enter 407# to hear SF MOMA's audio regarding Joseph Beuys and the three works that represent him in the 'Participation' show, now on view at the museum.

Action:

The Jungle @ PlaySpace Gallery

Curated by Stephanie Mansolf and Natalia Nakazawa

Artworks pictured below by:

Nwamaka Amaka Nnenne Chika Ikejimba (floor painting/sculpture)

Natalia Nakazawa (hanging beaded sculpture)

Jen Prather (detail from larger installation: tangle of colorful pillowish things, yarn, jewels)

There are lots of other great artists and interesting works in this show, which is worth making a special trip to see. The pieces are meditative and thought provoking, as well as playful and sensuous. And the Raccoon in your heart will be pleased with all the glittery baubles. 

New Digs

Moving moving moving

I have a new studio... for real now! Time to dig in the heels and stir up the waters. 

What am I? I think I'm a social practice artist, who also draws, paints, and makes stuff. The important thing for me was always the context. That the dialogue about the work would revolve around social relevance, content, meaning. Yes, I paint, but I am bored by conversations about form and color. (Even though, I'm a sucker for pools of color my eyes can swim in)

All The Things

Late August - November 12, 2008

These are my 'notes to self' from my sketchbook. Artists, books, films to remember and check out. Ideas to explore, thoughts to think more about. Loose threads of fabrics not yet woven.

I'm trying out something new. This drawing of all the things I want to revisit and think about and explore. I have sketchbooks galore filled with ideas and references but they don't really help me in book form. My brain has been overflowing lately with all these ideas I'm trying to keep track of. At first I was sort of diagraming the information. Eventually the words began to feel like marks and a composition began to form. - Seeing it all at once makes so much sense to me. It's in my brain all at once.
I really like the process of discovering how things are connected.

Things People See

We see a baboon at Cape Point

in South Africa

photo blogs

200 years from now
100 solid years of digital photography, at least
everything has been seen
all is uploaded
we are ready for the virtual world
we can go anywhere
see anything
we just plug in
Already today
I've seen:

heroes

death

children
clouds
landscapes
lightening
cute animals
flooded piazzas
flooded frozen basements
barns
stars

"Destruction Is Creation"

While not posted as a comment on my last post, this was a response that I got to my reflections on the neon statement: "Artists need to create on the same scale as society has the capacity to destroy"

I've been thinking about this statement. "Destruction is Creation."

Here is a quote by Chuang Tzu, as translated by Derek Lin:

"When you break something up, you create things.
When you create something, you destroy things.
Material things have no creation or destruction.
Ultimately these concepts connect as one." 

Yes, this is true. 

It is true that forest fires create space for new growth and generate ash which is very fertile for the land.

It is true that the breaking down of a structure can allow for a new one to form. If one is not attached to either form than the "destruction" of one can certainly be the "creation" of another.

Still, there is something sticky. I suppose I am thinking about different types of creation and destruction. Different qualities, different intentions. As an artist, I'm thinking about my own creative process, and the things I've learned along the way. I'm thinking about a transformative process and calling one type of energy "creation" and the other "destruction". 

The process I am aware of, which I call "creation", has an intention which guides it. This process is deliberate and considered. It is a kind of refinement and also communication. 

The process I am aware of, which I call "destruction", uses a totally different type of energy. I feel like the difference is in the intention. I think that the attempt at communication is missing, and rather, it is a kind of erasure. 

Here is a piece that I "created" this past week for a show at 23HAM in Berkeley.

To create this piece I cut out 95% of all of the words that were printed on the map. This was a subtractive process, I was, in a sense, taking the map apart. Does this make it a destructive process? I don't think so.

I did destruct the map to create the artwork. Is that the same as cutting up the map aimlessly? Destruction that results in a pile of cut up paper? Is a pile of aimlessly cut up paper different than art? Hmmm... these are tough questions. My sense is that they are not the same. Intention seems like the key.

Here is a Scottish artist (who shares my name) who focuses in this type of creation through destruction, Georgia Russell:

De Baudelaire au Surréalisme 2007

Farmlab

Seed Samples

?

Is this supposed to mean that the one balances out the other?

First of all, destruction is a much more rapid process than construction... Second of all, that's a HUGE responsibility for Artists!

How about:

"SOCIETY IS ONLY ALLOWED TO DESTROY AT THE RATE AT WHICH SOCIETY CAN CREATE"

Junker Gardens

"... (they) grow from the engine cavities, cabs, flatbeds, and trunks of scrap vehicles. Conjuring new ways to integrate organic life into an auto centric built environment the wheeled vehicles are still mobile when pushed or towed."

-Farmlab brochure

Photos from Farmlab in L.A.

"Continuing to serve as a catalyst for community involvement and change through the development of art actions, projects, and otherwise, Farmlab is dedicated to the preservation and perpetuity of all living things."

Egret Observations

I see them

4 white Egrets in the marsh

fishing 

looks like

They have orange bills

they stand, they don't swim

every once in a while 

they jab at the water

Actually there are 5

Spied unaware

bathing together

on a warm afternoon

It's The Little Things...

I've been doing projects with found pennies since 2002.  Why? I'm asking myself that regularly. They are these recurring elements, falling in between valuable and worthless, noticed and unnoticed, cared for and disregarded. They are like so many, many things in our world. It's not about the pennies...