painting painting

the first one i've made in about 7 years. it is now hanging in my brothers new house!

Adam Farcus - Double Refraction (Calcite/Libra) (acrylic, pencil, and matte medium transfer on canvas) 2011, 36" x 48"

ecstacy and god

Charles Simic

Night Picnic

There was the sky, starless and vast—

Home of every one of our dark thoughts—

Its door open to more darkness.

And you, like a late door-to-door salesman,

With only your own beating heart

In the palm of your outstretched hand.

All things are imbued with God's being—

(She said in hushed tones

As if his ghost might overhear us)

The dark wood around us,

Our faces which we cannot see,

Even this bread we are eating.

You were mulling over the particulars

Of your cosmic insignificance

Between slow sips of red wine.

In the ensuing quiet, you could hear

Her small, sharp teeth chewing the crust—

And then finally, she moistened her lips. 

 Gian Lorenzo Bernini - Ecstasy of St. Teresa, ca. 1647-52

some inspiration

Michael Queenland - Meant Every Other Way (detail) (constructed box, cats, cotton Lycra fabric) 2007

Abraham Cruzvillegas - The Invincible (rock, feathers, and mixed media) 2002

Abraham Cruzvillegas - Menu in progress (set of 60 boxes, acrylic paint on cardboard, wood, paper, plastic, and polystyrene) 2005

 

Alexandra Bircken - Stammgäste (wood, wool, acrylic paint) 2006

Jeppe Hein - 360 Presence (steel, sensors) 2002

 Suchan Kinoshita - Gordijn (Curtain) 2006

BSA Art

My mom has often told me that at a young age she and my dad realized that I was into art. Her friends told her that if I was into art that she needed to get me into scouting. I do attribute a decent amount of my development and interest in arts to Boy Scouts, but not in the institutional structure. I liked walking around campgrounds and councils, alone; discovering animals; watching sunsets; fantasizing about ghosts, monsters, psychopaths, and ufo's in the dark; and finding odd natural and man-made stuff (trash, dams, trees growing around nails and fences, odd seeds, etc). I was also obsessed with the (quasi-military) insignia and iconography. I collected (and still own) as many pins and patches as I could. I was interested in what those characterized images symbolized, and the beautiful aesthetic that went with them. They stood for so much, not just some requirements that were fulfilled, but a set of moral and social codes - most of them were often romantic in their yearning for a more simple and righteous time. I never made it to the rank of Eagle (I only finished the rank of Star, two short of Eagle) because that wasn't important to me. I wanted to explore and create the world, and not file my ideas into another pre-determined system.

Some of the things I did in the BSA seem interesting to look at now. Least to investigate the problematic Leatherwork and Indian Lore merit badges, below are the 2011 requirements to get the Boy Scouts of America's Art Merit Badge. (And it's still crazy how easy Basketry is compared to other badges.) I don't understand how this represents how art is currently practiced or taught at all.

1. Tell a story with a picture or pictures or using a 3-D rendering.
2. Do ONE of the following.
   1. Design something useful. Make a sketch or model of your design and get your counselor's approval before you proceed. Then create a promotional piece for the item using a picture or pictures.
   2. Design a logo. Share your design with your counselor and explain the significance of your logo. Then, with your parent's permission and your counselor's approval, put your logo on Scout equipment, furniture, ceramics, or fabric.
3. Render a subject of your choice in FOUR of these ways:
   1. Pen and ink,
   2. Watercolors,
   3. Pencil,
   4. Pastels,
   5. Oil paints,
   6. Tempera,
   7. Acrylics,
   8. Charcoal
   9. Computer drawing or painting
4. With your parent's permission and your counselor's approval, visit a museum, art exhibit, art gallery, artists' co-op, or artist's workshop. Find out about the art displayed or created there. Discuss what you learn with your counselor.
5. Find out about three career opportunities in art. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss this with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.

These investigations often lead me to consider what things could be making/doing now if I had gone to a progressive school in a city - or even an after school program like Gallery 37 or Spiral Workshop. (Even-though I did attend the art summer camp at Eastern Illinois University for two years in high school - even in its flaws I am very grateful for it.) In the end, it seems like I should not focus on what I could have been or done if I had had a better early arts education, but what I can do with what I have.

 a gate I made for our campground at a summer camp in Kentucky, 1996

report after ACRE

My time at ACRE this year was much different than last. I was more introspective and private. I guess I had a lot of personal/studio things to work on. I didn't make much, but did research, plan, work on ideas, have studio visits, travel around (lots), and talk with Allie a lot about how our practices work and work together (collaboratively). Here are some images and notes from my 12 days in Southwestern Wisconsin.

 farms outside Bloomington, WI

8/6/11 - ACRE

some notes from a studio visit with Jan Tichy

"The Stars I was Born Under" - he saw this as a talismanic object - because people enjoyed it and took them away - balloons are give-aways.

what does it mean that I'm interested in portals (hexes) now that I am "cleaning my space"

is kitsch not already spiritual, talismanic, and magical?

notes on hexes and White Hex:

-does it need to fit the space?

-permanence vs. ephemerality

-portal = door? window? person sized?

One Day at a Time (in process - I think it needs to be much larger - it is still at 'craft' scale)

laundry along Rt. E between Steuben and Boscobel, WI

8/9/11 - ACRE
some notes from a studio visit with Brandon Alvendia
"poetry" - artists often use this work incorrectly
mining - digging up
- I'm an anthropologist who joined (or came from) the tribe
what is the material link to the place my work/inspiration comes from?
thread to real life can deal (attend to) kitsch and irony
- where's the tell

Sentinel (for ACRE) - in the ACRE studios at the Steuben Lodge, I left him there

 
8/13/11 - ACRE
some notes from a studio visit with New Capital (Ben and Chelsea)
One Day at a Time - showing the/a dark underbelly of Midwestern America
cultural scale - is constructed of individual's opinions of cultural scale (melting pot)
Ben gave me a question from a psychology test - white rabbit in a white room - what do you do? A: I try to pet it but it hops away from me. (I evidently am not afraid of death, and want to know it, but it is elusive)
*they agreed that something else needs to happen to One Day at a Time - they suggested a scale shift - to take it out of the craft/folk realm.

me and some other resident artists watching the 32nd ward recall election debate at a bar in Steuben

detail of a wall at the Dickeyville Grotto, in Dickeyville, WI

8/13/11 - ACRE
notes from a studio visit with Duncan McKenzie
One Day at a Time - funny, but cute
-participates too much in the folk space
-it needs some "tooth"
irony gives you a (critical) distance - and enough distance to access nostalgia (in the avant-guard) art world
-enough to look at it / cold reflection / because it's scary and rich with meaning
he said that I'm replicating emo values
"you have no God before art" - art world's slogan - it is anti-dogma
belief - not theism
what have we lost by not having belief?
is there belief now?
art is good at exploring what can be "Art"
-doesn't/can't change the world
he wanted to know how do/can I live off of (have a career) with an intervention based practice?
-Conrad Bakker

an eagle, flying over the lock and dam on the Mississippi River at Davenport, IA

Jesus and Mary

i took these photos along Augusta Blvd, near Western Ave, in Chicago today. Jesus and Mary live at neighboring houses. the lens-flare in the Jesus photo was an (amazing) accident.

 Google Street-View of the location (with the crucifix and altar)

SW WI

 a house near Bloomington, WI

 a sign in Pairie du Chien, WI

a picture found in a Life magazine in the Community Thrift Store in Boscobel, WI

faith and support

 

 (photographs and notes from when I was driving from Chicago to ACRE [Steuben, WI])

• with help from some great people, i'm becoming a better person.
• so, i'm making work about help and support (for others), because thinking of others is a thing i'm trying to improve in myself.
• but, these pieces are also for me - to help me help myself.
• i find source materials and inspiration in places of support in our culture: Pennsylvania Dutch, Christianity, witchcraft, AA, counseling, astrology, and belief systems. i look to these things not to create my own faith, but to use them as a model for associative moves in my studio.