"I Hate the Rain, I Hate the Snow..."

Having seen Ray Johnson create art and spread it through the postal system, it was kind of neat for us to do something similar.

Taking time in class to just let loose and collage together whatever we felt was enjoyable and, to an extent, necessary.  It was quite nice not to worry so much about this creation we are making.  The idea of putting things together and then sending them off on their way is quite interesting, actually.  What if we chose a random name from a phone book?  What if we chose a random name for our return address?  How might our piece that we mail out affect the person that gets it?  All of these questions and more were being tossed about in my mind during this exercise.

I think this was also a great chance to just play - which can be very helpful at times.  It allows one to just see what happens when one medium/element/technique meets another, and hopefully find something useful (or entertaining, at least).  As far as I am concerned, more of this playful exercise needs to happen in my art, in my life.

Hit The Lights!...

The best things in life are free.  

Really, though, I feel like the best things in life are improvised.  

Our performance at the Radius Center was not completely off the cuff, though - we had gone through a few dry runs beforehand.  The true beauty of the show, in my opinion, is when we all come together and play our various parts.  We run around backstage, toss light switches back and forth, bring random props onto and off of our makeshift stage.  When all is said and done, our show had gone well - plenty of people have shown up to watch, and several participate in our shenanigans, too!

Personally, I thrive off of situations like this.  No one can discount the benefits of some prior planning, but the uncertainty of what will happen, the mistakes we make, the happy accidents that help us out, and the thrill of seeing everything come together is what really makes me love performing.  

I must take some time to thank Ken Little, for pushing me to do my first Performance Art piece a while back, and Leslie Raymond for increasing my exposure to and knowledge of Fluxus artists, happenings, and the like.  Because of them, I am now confident in my live performance ability - whether it is in the realm of music, theater, or art, I am ready and willing.  

Red Rocks, Parking Blocks, and Dead Crows...

 

As many times I have been downtown, it never ceases to amaze me to find something different.

We split up into groups, grab our cameras, and head out.  With no destination in mind, we set off to follow wherever our feet will take us.  Along the journey, I am constantly snapping photos, capturing any little thing that catches my interest.  Not too far from the campus, my group suddenly slows down; they have stumbled across a dead crow.  We are not too sure how or why he ended up on the sidewalk, but there he is - reposed and complete with a platoon of ants marching away with his remains.  Carrying on, we come to a crossroads,"...rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Straight ahead it is, and onward we trek.

Amongst the various pieces of trash and metal structures with character, there are moments where the landscape opens up and indulges us with an interesting vista.  Storm drains, alleyways, and abandoned buildings are all unanimously surveyed with our cameras.  We also linger on instances of graffiti, odd street signs, and moments of flora overtaking man-made objects.

After traversing several blocks, the fates (and our stomachs) decide that it is time for lunch.  With a fresh round of Bill Miller's on our plates, we relax in the reverie of our journey.


(more pice here!)

Scotch Mist

Rhythm Automaton

9.2" Diameter

Pencil on Paper

As I create this mandala, I am definitely feeling more improvisational than on my previous one.  Part of it is most likely due to the fact that we have music playing at this time, and Radiohead at that.  There is something meditative and ritualistic about creating these mandalas (at least, that is the approach I take).  I enjoy it a lot, actually - slowly tracing and redrawing, while at other times quickly bouncing across the page, but always in some sort of rhythm.  It had all started with a circle, and as I go around on the paper, I feel an urge to move my hand just the slightest bit, and at different times.  After seeing the results of that, I decide to play with it even more.  Further into the process of drawing the mandala, something suggests that I should trace over a certain series of lines, creating the darker, amoeba-like shapes seen in the image above.  Made completely of circles, curves, and figure-eights, this image is smooth, continuous, and organic - which is similar to my state of mind at the time.  

Look Inside...

Look Inside

9" Diameter

Pencil on Paper

This round drawing is made of varied linework, including geometric as well as curvilinear shapes.  Several circles can be found in this image, creating the border of, at several points within, and some even masked by the piece.  Towards the center of the drawing, there is a circular line of characters resembling text.

Several elements of this piece give it a ritualistic theme - the geometric lines along with the central inscription are similar to circles found in some shamanistic and pagan ceremonies.  The simple shapes used (triangles, circles, and the like) are used to represent the methodical process of creating a circle such as this one.  With no previous plan in mind beforehand, the artist relied on instinct and inspiration to create this drawing.

A Still Life is Not Worth Living...

A Still Life Is Not Worth Living is a performance piece about moving on from past events.  In this performance, the artist walks around a container of water with various objects, recites a few letters, and drops these items into the water.  They are mementos of a past relationship, and tossing these trinkets into the container intends to destroy and cleanse them of any memories attached to them.  As the artist walks around the container, a short note is read aloud, giving insight to the ideas and conversations held by the subjects of the piece.

After kneeling beside the container, items are  dropped one by one into the container - each given a moment of contemplation, recalling the past and imbuing these objects with the memories and emotions once held by the performer.

Finally, the artist closes the lid of the container, and covers it with a jacket, which has its own set of memories attached to it.  The ending of the piece is inspired by ideas of Joseph Beuys and his felt suit symbology - where the cloth used represents a "spiritual warmth" allowing for evolution and rebirth.





"My knuckles have turned to white, 
there's no turning back this time,
kiss me one last time..."
It's Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door by Underoath.

Kittens everywhere!!

"Are we getting close?"


"...No, yeah, we're wayyy out there"


Our trip to Franco-land is turning out to be an adventure itself - but it is only a taste of what's to come.
We find the house...but there is also a minor deterrent (namely, a lack of road from where we are and where we need to be).  


As we pull up to the house, I am immediately entranced and engulfed by the atmosphere of the place.  The layers of history and energy swarm me, much like the plants that have immersed this pair of unassuming lots in west San Antonio.  While being introduced to Franco and his studio/home/installation piece, the onion skin peels back even further, revealing a life of stories and vivacity.  One thing I always find, and come back to often, is the intrigue of the curious tales we all possess - everyone has a story, and there are always interesting things to find.  


Amidst the cats and kittens fumbling about, I enjoy a moment to take it all in - the plants and animals, the stories and advice given by Franco, the pieces of people he meets, everything.  We talk, paint, laugh, and eat.  Seeing Franco work, and hearing what he has to say about making art, I get another spin, another method of approaching the ever-elusive "Art World."  He has given me plenty to think about, and really, just a great day - which is all we need, sometimes.  






"In Tao, the only motion is returning.
The only useful quality, weakness.
For though all creatures under heaven are a product of Being,
Being itself is the product of Not-Being."
Ch.40 of Tao te Ching , Lao Tzu

The World is a Vampire...

Well,


It's late, and I am just now getting around to toying with Photoshop.
I am finding that I enjoy it a lot - and even though the two pieces I had completed are nowhere near perfect or amazing, I am pleased with the turnout.  The simple fact that I understand this particular technique a bit more is motive enough for me to dive deeper.

So, here ya go - the pieces I had been kicking around for the last few hours:

:P

So yeah, I was fairly enthused...thought this was pretty decent for someone who never did anything like this before.

**nods**


"If you do too much, people get dependent on you. And if you do nothing, they lose hope...If you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
-God, to Bender, from Futurama

Alligator to Zest

There they are...

After rummaging through my apartment, I had all sorts of things lined up along my dinner table.  Fire extinguisher, Milk jug, Wah pedal - one by one, I lay each down in front of me and sketch away.

One thing I start to find is that the more I sit here and draw these things out, the longer I am taking, which is not a bad thing.  These little drawings are turning out rather interesting.  Truthfully, I often find that my drawings can be really great (and I surprise myself sometimes), but only after I have taken too long on an image (at least, what I feel is too long).  One of the hurdles I need to get over is simply drawing faster, and trust that I know where to place the next line.

Of all the sketches I have done for this project, there are a few that I like, especially when they are situated next to each other.  For some reason or another, I am drawn (pun, much?) to the pack of gum.  I have done another drawing in a similar fashion, back in the Spring semester, where I was drawing an image with just a couple values of one color.  I am only using two colored pencils here, and I like the way the two mingle with each other.

hmm.

As I was saying earlier, too, I really like the way this image sits with the Headphones, iPod, and Joy sketches.  Each image is fairly simple, with not too much going on in the background, but the colors of each picture tend to complement the others in a way that I did not plan.

"Sound comes to the ear, the ear goes to the sound. When you blot out sound and sense, what do you understand? While listening with ears one never can understand. To understand intimately one should see sound."
-from Bells and Robes of The Gateless Gate.