Tuesday, June 30, 2009

a schedule


Although the majority of my life and work is lived sort of day to day, month to month hand to mouth and moment to moment, i suddenly find myself with the next 6 months scheduled. This is a very strange feeling indeed. For better or for worse I have fueled my art by this total uncertainity that at any given moment i will need to jetison what i am working on and pick back up in the next spot. I still enjoy seeing one thing lead to the next, and in my present mode I am being led from one work to the next, just click the image above to go to the schedule page on my website and i promise i will keep it updated as more things get confirmed.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

between anxiety and productivity


I seem to live my life somewhere between anxiety and productivity. This leads to prolonged moments of anxious production. This is one of those moments.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

moved, settled, unsettled

here is the studio once i finished moving out, almost 2 years to the day that i moved in. We scheduled our move to begin May 16th, so literally the day after I finished the city gallery piece we began moving the apartment first and then the studio followed shortly after that.

here is the load of studio stuff en route to columbia, there was an identical trailer and truck load of stuff/furniture that traveled up to columbia the week before this.
Moving is one of those processes that can lead to good things. While I don't recommend making a habit of it, I for one have moved on average every two-three years for the last 15 years and see no signs of change on that front. On the positive side it forces me to be incredibly selective about what i keep ,and in recent years what i move from studio to studio. It always feels like an episode of sanford and sons when i move(see above image.) I take great pains to only move what i will immediately need and try whenever possible to get rid of, destroy, or store art that i am not actively working on. This sets up a certain type of thinking that i like; The notion that each time I enter a studio, a gallery, or exhibition space I am starting over. It is true I cannot erase the work I have done before nor can I forget the lessons I learn each time I make a piece, but I try to only imagine the work in the space where I am working is the only work I have. On some level this is just a simple strategy to get over the paralyzing fear that grips me in the beginning moments of any project or piece. the fear that what i make will either A)not get finished or b)be not worth the effort when i reach the other side. To overcome this fear I often utilize systems and strategies of my own devising. To a lesser extent this may be why I try, whenever it is feasible , to make work in or specifically for the space it will be seen in. It is also why i prefer non-alchemical systems of making art .I rather prefer making work where the system of it's creation is self-evident. But this is art and there are no rules other than the ones i continually make for myself. This leads me to the thing I am working on right now.
This is the beginning of my "vibrating coffee cups with mocha tone generator". This installation will consist of several motion activated vibrating coffee cups hooked up to an amplification system. This is the early stages of the wiring and I still have some presentation and display issues to resolve but they will get their first installation July 24th at the Redux Contemporary art center as part of the Past presence show curated by Redux's director Karen Ann Myers. Once I finish with this piece I will begin preparing for two stir stick installations at University galleries and an acrylic installation tentatively scheduled for the fall.