Things have happened

Once again, it has been a while since I've updated here.. But things have happened that are certainly worth mentioning.  Earlier this year I had the pleasure of meeting Cey Adams in NYC in a very serendipitous fashion, and just participated in his summer show at Jane Lombard Gallery in Chelsea.

 It opened on June 29 and will be up until August 12!  There are some wonderful artists involved, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to show with them in this beautiful space.

Plus.. my parents came! 

Also, Last week (6/11 - 6/17) I got to collaborate for the first time with  Richelle Soper at a new space in Greensboro, NC.  It was a week long pop up residency at Greensboro Project Space, where we created new work in the space, set up the show on Saturday, and dismantled everything on Sunday evening.  That week was a whirlwind but definitely worth it.  It sparked so many ideas for future projects.  More collaborations to come ************


"The important thing about humor is that it opens people.  They relax their guard and you can get your serious intentions across. If I were as didactic in my work as I really am, I would bore people to death. But, because I can put my message in a colorful, engaging form, my message isn't heavy."


- Claes Oldenburg 

 

Sign O the Times

I had an interesting disagreement the other day with someone about the historical relevance of moments in popular culture - which stemmed from a commentary on some recent ridiculous events (e.g. a now infamous Miley Cyrus performance and numerous other twerk related incidents).  My argument was simply that although of course such things are incomparable to more impactful historical markers they can still shape perceptions of our generation.  In thinking about sexuality I find a lot of inspiration from public personas and trends.  In a way I feel studying them is almost equally as important as brushing up on my feminist literature and research.  

I recently read Touré's new biography of Prince, I Would Die for You, where he discusses how pop culture icons are really reflections of the generations they perform for.  We see something in them we deeply relate to even though on the surface reasons why may not be apparent.  He says, " Stars entertain us.  Icons do something much more.  They embody us.  They tell us something about who we are and who we want to be.  They are both a mirror and a shaping force."  In some sad ways fame and iconography have transformed into different monsters than they were in Prince's prime.  We lift people up for a host of other reasons, but regardless I think there's still a lot of truth to that idea.

I just got a new book in the mail!  I've been wanting to read The Second Sex for a while now.  Reading Paglia has introduced me to a long list of feminist texts that I am just barely getting started on.  Other than this acquisition I have very little news to share at the moment.  My projects are gradually progressing and I'm still steadily working.  Here's an in progress piece and close up of more collaborative work with Elizabeth Arzani:

 

painting it out or putting it in

"There seems to be something that you can do so much with paint and after that you start murdering it.  There are moments or periods when it would be wonderful to plan something and do it and have the thing only do what you planned to do, and then, there are other times when the destruction of those planned things becomes interesting to you.  So then it becomes a question of destroying - of destroying the planned form; it's like an escape, its something to do; something to begin the situation.  You yourself, you don't decide, but if you want to paint you have to find out some way to start this thing off, whether its painting it out or putting it in, and so on."

-- Franz Kline, Interviews with American Artists

I've been reading Interviews with American Artists, by David Sylvester lately, and it is really refreshing to see these reflections of great historical icons that relate so well to my own personal artmaking experience.  So often I do feel more led by unexpected occurrences in composition or reactionary impulses rather than what I sought out to do before being faced with a surface. Increasingly my process is becoming more about these reactions and compositional elements. 

Above is a snapshot of some in progress paper pieces.