Glimpse and Gimps

I realize I have spent some time talking about one of my current projects, at length even, but have not been addressing other things I have been working on. Perhaps I relish in my occasional mystery and grand reveal, but I can say this: other than learning ink techniques and scribbling furiously in sketchbooks, I have been gathering materials for a new endeavor. Costumery and raw material.

I have taken a liking to printing photographs on metal, so with that in mind, here are some teasing glimpses.



Perhaps a familiar face to some.



But perhaps less so now. The model referred to it one night as an "effigy of agony" and the name sort of stuck. Disregard the fez, my sketches are not so sacred that they are spared a few spontaneous strokes. Or maybe I am just saying that to mislead you. Perhaps it is more amusing to speculate.



Oh wait this is not a teasing reveal of things to come involving plague doctor masks and bondage gear! This is a large burly man with no clothes on! How did this get in here!? I simply will have to have a word with my production and promotional staff.

A Degree of Mother Fucking Art

It is said that the best way to learn is to teach, and I've never been one to disagree. It's something I enjoy very much, though the chances I've had to do so have been fewer than I'd like. Some summer classes, helping friends and colleagues, that sort of thing.

For some time I had been considering continuing my education, and had certainly gotten encouragement from a number of people to do so, but remained on the fence - getting a Masters is costly, work intensive, and would be hard to juggle with, well, my life. But I love learning. I would stay in school forever if someone gave me the opportunity to. It weighed on my thoughts.

There are few straight up benefits to a Fine Arts Masters, some might consider it a vanity, but it is the route to a career in academia at the college level. As in, teaching.

Last night I spent hours in a Denny's, sketchbook laid out, helping someone in the principles of drawing. He had been drawing for all of his 24 years, and wanted some pointers. At the end of the night, looking over his work he said, "these are the best drawings I have ever made in my entire life." He'd spent years studying anatomy, certain skills, but had never had the structures to put it all together, the tricks I take for granted, the framework. He kept flipping back through the pages, a look of happiness on his face that I'd seldom seen on him. It was amazing to make such a difference in such a small but significant way.

Over time, I've gotten distracted and spun out like a length of thread. I maintained that getting a Masters and becoming a professor were a good way to deal with my life and the trials brought on by my body's insufferable medical condition, but I'd forgotten something important.

I really want to teach.

Anamnesis Closing Reception

Assorted photos taken at the closing reception of my Anamnesis show.

Taken at Busch Gardens, Jan. 19th. She had just finished feeding the meerkats.

The Greatest Stage

I've been thinking a lot about tourism lately, namely around here in the good ole' sunshine state, my home since as long as I can recall. But honestly I am not sure why.

I've never had any fascination with tourism, or even kitsch, though I have certain soft spots for it. Florida simply oozes both of these things, with it's amusement parks, resorts, and seaside boutiques, but I've never paid it too much mind, it was always simply a "thing that is".

Yet lately I HAVE been considering it. It started with a trip to Busch Gardens. I live nearby, and my beau and I bought each other passes for Christmas. We were waiting in an exceptionally long line - a new ride had opened. So I had a lot of time to sit, stare, and - our favorite - people watch. Between comments on the girl in the leopard spandex pants and the lady with hair liberally daubed with glitter, I noticed some slats in the wall, through which I could see large mechanical structures, grey and boring, like air conditioning vents. I wonder, I said then, why they did not cover it up. My companion declared that he liked it, and so it was.

Later we caroused about in the middle of the night on one of the local beaches. Staring through the closed shop windows we encountered an especially buxom mannequin garbed in a bikini. Oh what a delight! I had been to the store before, when it was open and knew it to be also home to a giant stuffed gator and endless amounts of shot glasses that bore the name of anyone at all. It was all awful, cheap, basically junk. But there it was, taking up prime real estate. So strange.

The seeds, I think, were planted then. I recalled some time later an article I'd read about a man who photographs postcards - a Florida icon that is slowly dying in favor of emails and digital photos. One bit in particular led me to look it up again:

"He taught me - and it was a good lesson - that a postcard photographer has to pretend he is standing in the tourist's shoes when he makes that photo."

A postcard has to be a cliche, he learned, though a well-composed one. The sunset has to be golden. There should be a big fish at the end of that line instead of a boot. A postcard has to be an ideal, but it has to look as if the tourist might have taken the picture had he owned the right equipment. (The full article)

And so there it is. We crave this kitsch because that is the way it should be. It is what we want and expect and in some ways need.

We are all playing pretend.

This great big group of people playing make believe with Mickey Mouse and endless sunshine. That is why those grey boxes struck me, they were a tiny chink in this giant carefully staged facade. And that was interesting to me, more so than the display itself which I am at this point immune to.

In fact, when I took pictures yesterday on a grey, rainy "winter" day, I was interested in the strange emptiness, the forlorn landscapes. I was fascinated by the tourists themselves - I was, perhaps, being a tourist of tourists. This strange balance of viewership, voyeurism, expectation, and staging is beginning to wrap itself into constructs in my mind.

I want to explore it more.

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Link Parade

Ah yes, a new year has begun and spring is in the air. My break is over and its time to get back to work. Anyone excited about new up and coming pieces? Of course you are. I can see it in your eyes.

However, you shall have to wait. For now, you can look at some other snippets, new and old, and sate your hunger for art.


To start I give you Riusuke Fukahori. If you only look at one link in this blog, let it be this one. Riusuke uses a technique that involves alternating applications of paint and resin, building up 3-D impressions of fish and their environs. Just incredible. Watch the video.

I am really really digging the work of Drew Young.

A mysterious unknown artist is leaving elaborate sculptures made of books in libraries across Scotland. Simply fantastic.

Jólan van der Wiel uses metal fillings and melted plastic to create furniture by pulling up the legs with heavy magnets. You can see a nice video about them here.

Zander Olsen created a work I absolutely adore called Tree Line. I can't for the life of me, however, find evidence of anything else he has done.

Tyree Callahan made a type writer that, well, types paintings. They read as sort of abstract, misty landscapes. Be sure to check out the rest of West Collects while you are there.

WebUrbanist has a great post about art in abandoned places. I especially like the work of Marjan Teeuwen, but her site is fairly indecipherable.

Is digital art accepted yet? No? Ok. Anyway, Michal Lisowski.

Speaking of digital, where is that line that divides commercial art and illustration with fine art. I know of many artists who freely walk back and forth, while students are often frowned at in some crowds when their work looks too like something you would see in a mall or billboard. A point to discuss.

I have never much cared for furniture, but I really enjoy Vivian Chiu.

A work by German street artist, Tasso

Irina Werning does some masterful replication of old photos and family snapshots.

Kate Kretz is a multi-media artist who works with a lot of "traditional" media for women - embroidery and sewing - as well as painting. Don't let this throw you off though, her work is top notch, and I am guiltily digging the vagina dentata purse.

Gavin Worth creates some really elegant wire sculptures, as well as other constructs and designs.

Every two years in Bregenz, Austria, they construct a stage for performances that floats in the lake next to the city. They are always amazing. Check some out here.

I've always enjoyed the work of Kehinde Wiley, just as I always forget his name when I wish to bring him up in conversation.

I was going to talk about Bob Verschueren, but his website is absolutely intolerable. I'm serious, I'm not linking it.

I know that set building and miniatures is sort of en vogue right now, but I really enjoy the work of Frank Kunert. It's realistic enough that people often mistake his set photographs as real places.

Ola Harström

So. A 6-foot long camera that uses x-ray film for the image. That's pretty cool I guess.

Regine Ramsier used a special treatment to freeze dandelion bulbs in place to create this stunning installation.

The winners of the 2011 National Geographic Photo Contest.

This artist uses high speed photography to capture water droplets, nothing too unusual nowadays, but his flickr set also contains photos of the setups he uses to make the images. Certainly worth a look.