Memphis day 3

my primitive time keeper.

based on the cups of coffee consumed it must be day three.







so i brought the edge of the wall out and connected it to the other section, I think I will work on resolving the other edge a little bit tomorrow.

memphis day 2

today i began to understand the room a little bit better, until day three.

Memphis day 1

so this is how it starts.

until tomorrow

Memphis on the horizon, and what i am leaving behind.

just some shots of the "finished" studio. more accurately the state i got to before i needed to work on other stuff.
this is the idea wall with images and plans for the gallery spaces still to be tackled on the next leg of the tour, and i seem to be adding more all the time.
so i decided to cover the exposed insulation in more insulation, actually sheets of blue foam insulation. I am finding that the color combination of bare sheetrock grey and light blue foam insulation reminds me of a mid-6o's brice marden color scheme,so yes i like it.

I took apart what had been a false start for an unrealized installation of woven ribbon stock steel and am now re weaving and welding it into the image of a fallen iced coffee drink.

I still have a ways to go in terms of weaving the structure fully in with steel, but the piece of 2" conduit turned out to make the perfect straw. i should point out that the circles of steel helping to define the shape of the cup and lid are from an old display stand I found behind urban outfitters last year. I toted the circles with me when i moved because i knew they would be good for something. This piece will make it's debut in the things show in November, if I can get it finished in time.
I made myself a new studio chair. the ingredients a discarded breuer chair frame, some plywood and blue foam, good as new.

These are the woven stir stick panels I made ahead of time for the Memphis piece. Since I am driving I will be able to load them myself into the truck and won't have to build a proper crate

I have been trying to develop a proposal for an outdoor piece I would like to make. in order to understand my ideas better and to facilitate the proposal process i made a simple scale model with some scrap wood and photos of the site. I even got some of that train set grass and the miniature people. I have three distinct ideas for this space and will submit them to the people who make the decisions and let them decide which if any they would be most interested in developing.

this is the lightweight blue foam and 1x4 travel package for the stir sticks. It is sized to fit the bed of the truck with no over hang...i hope.

So I always have these moments before installations where I take stock of what is going on in the studio and what is going on in my head art-wise. Each time I get the opportunity to build a new woven stir stick piece I learn somethings new, either about space and the interaction of artwork and people within it, or lately about systems of drawing. With the recent shift in my practice from spending extended time working in the studio punctuated with occasional site work, to now focusing on multiple installations of my work punctuated by occasional bouts of studio work I have learned something new about how I think. I find myself, thinking more and more about drawing. For me drawing a line, whether on a page in my sketchbook, or in the gallery with sticks and shadows, is what it means to be an artist. I am also open minded enough to understand that "drawing a line" can be metaphorical. I think that new media artists, institutional critique practitioners, painters, performance artists and others who don't present drawings as finished work still draw a line either to history, ideas, the audience or simply to themselves. It is in my nature to immediately try and understand the context for which works of art and design exist in the world. I long ago embraced the idea that art is everywhere, and I can have just as moving an art experience in wal-mart as i do at the met. This is possible because I am constantly drawing a line between what I am seeing and what it's place is in the larger universe of culture, objects, and things. This is a strange thought to have on my mind as I scramble to get the last loose ends and materials packed in the truck before I hit the road for Memphis on Sunday. I am particularly excited for the trip to Memphis as I will be driving the route that takes me through Birmingham, then through Brilliant Alabama, then into the end of Memphis that has the FedEx headquarters. I like these long drives as I have time to watch my train of thought move across the landscape and draw new connections between what I see and what I do. I especially enjoy this chance to draw a line of thinking as I notice more and more how technology and google in particular deprives humans of the ability to draw their own conclusions. It is very precious to me where a train of thought goes, and for me the google algorithm, especially the new google caffeine, is not where my mind goes. As a way to ween myself off of allowing google to find the answer, I have stopped "googling" for useless facts I cant remember. A case in point was a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to remember a very important sci-fi movie that dealt with cyborgs, and post-modernism and it starred Harrison Ford and was just re-released, it was on the tip of my tongue. I could easily have googled this but instead I let my forgetfulness linger and the next day while I was working in the studio, the name "blade runner" came back to me. But more importantly what came back was the last time I attempted to watch it and couldn't finish it, and how robocop 2 made a much stronger and for me more watchable critique of modernism. I suppose this is a simple way of saying I am looking forward to a brief road trip as a warm up to Memphis, as a way to help me focus and prepare mentally for the challenges that lie ahead. I for one can't wait for the train to leave the station, and maybe miss a few stops along the way. and if the train gets lost i can always use googlemaps to help me find my way.

8 years on

i still find that much of my motivation is related to this experience. As someone who lived/lives life with no particular plan for what is coming next, I remember my cage being rattled by this moment. I was in the studio, in college that morning. someone brought in a radio and said we were under attack,and i remember the moment I said to myself what difference can i make in a world where this happens. I remember going back to the studio that evening to process what had happened and for the first time feeling how incredibly powerless art making made me feel. It was in the following weeks that I cut my dreadlocks, and made a commitment to produce art that was impactful to me and felt more of this time than of the turn of the century. Ironically this desire to connect so sincerely with my time led me to an in depth investigation of the art of other times, particularly the art of the late 60's in america and the early 70's in england. For some reason I felt a kinship with these two moments and places. Through this process I have found my own voice and interests. Not least of which is to engage with my audience as directly as is possible. Although I am fortunate as an artist to experience the transcendence that comes from art making on a daily basis, to share some amount of these feelings with an audience is the real gift of making. As I continue my travels over the next year taking my "shtick" on the road, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to acknowledge one of the profound events in my life that gave me the motivation to commit to art making. I remember reading an article following semptember 11th that said the purpose of terrorism is to terrorise, and disrupt life. I imagine if I had followed my line of thinking after september 11th I might have taken a different path in life, abandoned art, music and expression and figured out what my purpose was in a different way. Fortunately the listlessness and anxiety I felt after September 11th led to a stronger commitment to my studio practice. This is what I think about each year that passes, and I think about this moment as the beginning rather than the end of an era. If the time before September 11th was the age of anxiety, than Post 9/11 is the age of commitment and resolve for me.