Seared into the peripheral

There's a construction site on East 53rd St in Midtown Manhattan that has a covered pedestrian walkway plastered with vertigo inducing banners representing renderings of the finished structure.

I passed by there a couple of weeks back on my way to Rich's for dinner. From the corner of my eye I was instantly and viscerally stunned by a caught glimpse, recognizable by way of the hard wired memory of a vision that is still so disturbing, so powerful. The thought of those conditions that precipitated the unimaginable choice made by so many is still terrifying.
The power of an image: an illusion set forth for the mind to complete, and the mind completes it unsparingly, and convincingly that for that second I believed that what I saw in two dimensions was real and it was happening at that very moment.

In the Promised Land

Above: Dar Williams performing at her CD Release party on Sept 9 at Spire Studios for her new album Promised Land. There are more images of the evening at maykr, and on the maykr flickr page. Below is the the cd liner notes page featuring the reproduction of Vantage.

Dar Williams CD Release Party at Spire Studios

Vantage
My oil on canvas triptych 'Vantage', from 1998, is among the artwork that is included in the liner notes of Dar Williams' forthcoming CD 'Promised Land.
Dar, who as her own writing shed located at Spire Studios as part of the Habitat for Artists project will be having a CD Release Party at Spire Studios on Tuesday, Sept 9 from 6-9pm
Beside myself, the other artists, many of whom are also involved with HFA, whose work included in the cd booklet are Maureen Beck, Richard Bruce, Sharon L. Butler, Val Clark, Aidan Draper, Kathy Feighery, Marnie Hillsley, Matthew Kinney, Grey Zeien and Simon Draper.
The party at Spire will include an exhibit of the artists' work, and most certainly, a sampling from the new album performed by Dar.

Depletion Drawings

I've recently been semi-conciously obsessed with consumption recently. My own material consumption to be exact. My well intended desire to recycle, not to be wasteful and in general be mindful of the resources I use has tapped into a deeper instinct to horde.

These are but a few of many drawings I've begun doing in my habitat that respond to this mini personal crisis and the spirited intention to deplete these material resources by fully consuming them in the furnace of artmaking.

The blue tape adds some nice puntuation.

The weekend afloat

This past weekend took on very much of an aquatic theme. On Friday, I visited the Met to see the Turner exhibit (and an exhibit of Pre Colombian feather work). Both exhibits were worth seeing, both populated by traditional, in the first case and antiquarian in the second that exhibited strong contemporary affiliations.

Peace—Burial at Sea, exhibited 1842

I had only just seen isolated paintings of Turner prior to this retrospective. I think most of what I have been exposed to have been the watercolors. I was struck by the brutality of the later paintings. The handling of the paint was far more aggressive than I'd anticipated. Interesting to me was that the gallery layout was exactly as it was for the previous Courbet exhibit, and there was an analogous arc of development in the work of the two artists from the academic to the iconoclastic. It's pretty amazing how Turner presaged both impressionism and expressionism, and much of the later, and unfinished work exhibited the scrawling graffito of Twombly.

One of the Swimming Cities vessels.

The next day marked the arrival in Beacon of the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea, the Hudson River flotilla instigated by the artist SWOON. I've got a bunch of links, images, etc. of that project at maykr. The crew had been on the water for a week already, and spent two nights in Beacon, taking up residence in and around Spire Studios. It was cool to see the tents nestled around the Habitats.

Live/work at the habitats..

The rectilinear forms of the sails in Turner's pieces, particularly those in silhouette in the Burial at Sea, above infiltrated the drawings I was doing over the weekend.


The light filtering into my habitat.

New worque

It's been a while since I've posted images of recent work, so here are a few of the various forms of tinkering I've been doing of late. One thread of this tinkering is a riff on several patterns from African textiles.
These top three images are all small, 11"x14", painted on canvas.
Some of the many paperboard boxes that I've been hoarding have been receiving the pattern treatment. These are granola bar boxes.

A day in June spent in Manhattan

The view from our booth at Sammy's Noodles.

Hometown boosterism

Feral sculpture in Chelsea.

Stopped in quickly to vist it MOMA. The galleries were pulsing madly with the strobing of camera flashes. I had my camer with me, so I too chose to shoot a few things, sans flash.


This Ryman represents all that is or needs to be in painting.

This Rothko evoked a wonderful slap to the head, in a disarming way. I imagine it's the greater plum field that transported me back to my visits to the chapel in Houston. The voices in my head were quelled briefly while standing before this piece.

The incredible nearly-edible ephemeral sculptural material

As I was trying to formulate the plaster version of Ground Cover for the In the Spirit of the Text exhibit in Nov, I began testing possible materials in which to cast the herringbone pattern. One option was hot dogs, which is still a possible option for future incarnations, but my initial test didn't give me an immediate desired effect. After casting the small tile below, I deposited the hot dogs used back in the freezer for possible future use.

Angelika couldn't understand what the white stuff was on the hot dogs as she was grilling them up on my birthday earlier this week.

I must become more diligent in distinguishing which household items are serving a greater purpose than that which they were originally intended. I did consider making a meal of the weiners as an oblique reference to John Baldessari's painting ash brownies but decided against both the action and the consumption.

my little finger sausages.

Opportunistic art moments

A couple of examples of inadvertant sculptures/installations on the scene of my buddy Rich's wedding in the Berkshires two weeks ago.

Observed and Considered extended into August

The exhibit of paintings on view at the CCS Bard Library has been extended into August, so you have plenty of time to stop in and take a look.
Opening at Bard this Saturday the 14th, the CCS/Hessel Museum is hosting exhibits by Bik Van der Pol, and Michael Beutler, Esra Ersen, and Kirstine Roepstorff.

In the Habit - at

I kicked off the holiday weekend working in the hab. Doing some more quick brush studies and then tacking some swimming pool fragments to the outside of the structure. I began placing a simple grid 2x2" grid with the intention of using it as a platform for further sculptural additions to the skin.
As with most work I do, plan very little before hand, and try to develop as I go. That's what happened here. As I spend time in the habitat, I find myself concious of what I'm doing in there. Is it different from what I would do elsewhere? No, not really. Should it? Maybe, perhaps not. When I consider the space, I know I want it to be evolving, not static, functional, and hopefully dynamic.
How it's adorned, and how it's used will change. As I was tooling around with my shards of blue plastic, (shards that have been sitting on a shelf for nearly two years, therefore I'm happy to put them to some use, thereby validating my sometimes compulsive aversion to throwing out) creating little dimensional paintings, I was weighing the validity of a decorative vs. functional exterior modification. I had early on figured that I would want to incorporate some retractable work surface on the outside of the structure, and I realize for practical reasons, I could certainly use it. Where would I put it? When a clear componant of this process is that the structure is a sculpture, where should the art end and the design begin. Should every inch of this place be useful - functional? Yes. But would that not simply a be a beautiful shack, and a bit of easthetic exploration for its own sake, is that not valid?
These are internal diatribes that fire back and forth in an instant when I'm working. They are not profound probings, and not worth much of a mention here except that as with the previous post serve to triangulate myself on the path of process. Whether many others read this, I will eventually, and it will add context for me.

Kamp Maykr review

Here are a couple of images of Michael Natiello's mowed grass piece that was part of last weekend's Kamp Maykr project on the grounds of our apartment in Beacon. Over at maykr.com, I've posted some images of the other pieces from Kamp Maykr as well as the happenings at Spire Studios that were happening at the same time.

The brunch we held on Saturday was really enjoyable, and the weather was excellent. I appreciate all of the artists that participated in the project, and I'm grateful to everyone that came by on Saturday morning. It's a positive reminder of why I continue to throw these types of things together; interacting with and being inspired by other artists' takes, and pushing myself to step out of my normal habits of seeing and making.

Just as Meatballs had its sequels, so too will Kamp Maykr. Stay tuned.

Inside the hab

Here's a quick tour of the inside of my habitat from Saturday's HFA event. I've posted a few images over at maykr with more to come.

Of heart and mind

Ingredients for discovery: soft architecture and toasted whole grain oats.

I remember building forts, when I was young, in the kitchen or living room with random furniture joined with ligatures of blankets. Having that veiled sense of comfort. The world softened, filtered to meet my eye. I can’t remember now when I learned about it, and I don’t want to project preference onto memory, but at some point, some teacher of mine spoke to us about the notion of “querencia,” basically a Spanish term that refers to one’s comfort zone; a place from which one draws strenght. Those structures of fabric and re purposed dining furniture represented the tangible form of my Querencia. Come to think of it, the evocation of a place of comfort comes originates,for me, in same conditions lo these 30 years later.
I’m on a bent to relate the sense I have when entering my “hab” at night, but it's not easy to convey. The corrugated transparent ceiling panels let in a bounty of wonderful light. That ceiling is responsible for transmitting a good deal of heat and stuffiness, so yesterday I installed a baffle. A white sheet attached to lengths of wood on two sides to swag across the ceiling overhead, softening the light and buffering the heat. The effect of soft architecture and muted luminance even more strongly evokes that feel of the child’s fort. Not until I used the word “structure “ In the previous post did I realize that this temporary workspace and sculpture is not just like building a fort as a youngster. it is a fort. Built for my own pleasure, largely improvised by what I can easily scab together, its intimate and all together my own contemporary incarnation of a querencia; one in which to move freely and confidently in thought and courageously in action.
Speaking briefly tonight with Alexis Elton, who is back in Beacon for a short break from her current stint in NM, about the relevance of we artists partaking in this project making space for to make our little objects, when, in Cerrillos, south of Santa Fe, she’s spent time with a program which works with individuals to construct similar structures to simply meet their basic needs. I agree that there is something potentially, inevitably frivolous, about a group of artists “roughing it” in a parking lot, making artwork out of doors, devoid of electric light and convenient potty. What is this artist's process of leaving a trail of objects but frivolity and diversion, particularly when war and suffering exist? At it’s best, though, this tinkering and crafting we do is a vehicle to engage with the materials of this life to put forth an effort in demonstrating an appreciation, if not a comprehension of all there is in this life. I appreciate her take, and in a broader sense of mayking, I myself have struggled with it in that past and continue to do so. This hermit's pursuit tracked through the production of objects and actions is as often philosophical as it is random and silly. It's a pursuit that allows me to touch realms of meaning that enhances my experience of life. It's the sharing of the fruits of these labors that, if needed, lends relevance. Whenever you capsulize an experience or even a philosophy and put it on show, there's something of the prurient and voyeuristic that seeps in, but that's a side effect of communication. There is a bit of the ridiculous in the row of mini buildings that have sprouted at the south end of Spire’s parking lot. But that ridiculousness that is part and parcel of that artist’s experience. (insert here, some Shakespearen quote regarding the clown's profundity)
It's ridiculous to fixate and contemplate a bulk box of Cheerios. But as the experience of so many in our culture, myself included, is not directly shaped by the tides of war and capricious Mother Nature, a significance relevant to broader questions may come from that contemplation. Being able to carve out a moment of Querencia in which to pondering the depth of such frivolity provides the gumption to draw audacious connections to areas of true significance that can lead to deeper understanding - connections which otherwise would not be entertained for lack of confidence or fear of embarrassment.

Habitat For Artists Project Launch, May 17, 1-6pm

It mayks a village. Here's a glimpse of the habitat enclave as it looks now - nearly. After you fill your belly at Kamp Maykr, run around to a few other sites in town, make it back to Spire by early afternoon and start imbibing whilst you check out what might turn out to be a weird analog to Colonial Williamsburg. "Come see and experience artists in their natural habitat." Check out the Habitat for Artists blog for updates on the day, and the overall project as it develops through the Summer.

On initial marks: green and pulpy - blue and runny

I arrived home this evening from two days of a painting job in Ridgefield CT. to find Michael Natiello standing in front of our lawn looking like a deranged farmer. Michael began work on his mowing piece for Kamp Maykr. Angelika took some photos of him doing his thing... I'll post those shortly.

As for other beginnings, it's taken nearly a month and a half after the skeleton of my Habitat went up that I finally made it in there to begin some work myself. I was expecting to jump in and start spending a bit of each evening in there tinkering in early April, but it just wasn't in the cards.

As my habitat is parked right under one of the lampposts, I benefit by piggybacking the lightsource well into the night, and it is certainly a sufficiently bright to work. So, late tonight, I put myself in there and christened the joint with the first drips and splatters. I have a big tub of navy blue rit dye left over from a recent dyeing project which will be my medium of choice for the purpose of letting loose on some paper. The images depict the first several sketches of many to come.