Everyday: 7/23/15

(Baltimore silt, Old Bay, and glass bottle)

the physical presence of absence

Today I took some time to wander around the Greenmount Cemetery.
Undoubtably, this is the best grave marker in Baltimore. Elijah Jefferson Bond, "patentee of the Ouija Board".

I think I will need to do a performance at/on this grave... with a stone planchette.

Plus this gem. It is the top of a large marker/tomb that had a bonze grieve dropping bronze flowers on the grave covering. Most of the flowers have broken off - but there is an outline still from where they landed.

Olea Sancta

After teaching a lesson on Iconology where we discussed the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait and Mark Rydan's album cover artwork for Michael Jackson's Dangerous, I went to the library downtown to check out Zone One by Colscot Whitehead. When I came out, I decided to check out the Baltimore Basilica and ended up getting an impromptu tour from a guide. I was particularly taken by the (purposefully) rotting Cardinal's hat, the crypt, the feet of a dead man in a painting depicting the plague and it's effect on French soldiers near Tunis, and a small locked door labeled "Olea Sancta" in vinyl letters.

30

Baltimore Police Helicopter Night: Marcus Floyd

Marcus Floyd. We're looking for Marcus Floyd. Marcus Floyd, call home or go home immediately. If you know the whereabouts of Marcus Floyd call 911. We're looking for Marcus Floyd.

-via the police helicopter that is circling Waverly, Pen Lucy, Ednor Gardens, and Original Northwood. 
police sirens in the not so distant distance, NW of us.
12/15/12 1:00am, Baltimore, MD

the light in baltimore is always mediated

a beautiful sunset through my blinds

light reflected off of cars in parked along the street (the red is a reflection from a tail-light)

it seems like my (and our) experience of baltimore so far has been one of loneliness and seclusion. we're in a new place, most of our good friends are really far away, we don't feel completely safe here, work here has been stressful, and the art community doesn't compare to chicago. creatively i am still able to find what i need - i never have really had a problem with that - but here it is more hermetic. these two images are perfect examples of that. here are two beautiful phenomena that are caused by the outside world, but my experience of them is mediated by the one place Allie and i have found some comfort - our house. the work i've been focusing recently refers a lot to this unsettled-ness that i've (we've) been feeling. lots of allusions to security grates, wandering, protection, confusion, and dislocation have been coming up. i know how i work - either i'll work through it or we'll move before i get there. either way this new setting and brain-mode (for lack of better words) has been an ok trip for my studio so far.

found: Baltimore

 found poem, along Ellerslie Ave.

 found collage, Giant, Waverly

found sculpture, Robert E. Lee park

grey jay, square nails, spare keys

just what's been going on in my studio

 big drawing in progress - Window, Baltimore (charcoal rubbing and acrylic on paper), and some finished sketches/ideas/etc

and for the first time since we've moved to Baltimore, things (sketches) are starting to get weird. finally!

 Black (collage, smoke, pencil, acrylic, marker, and stickers on paper)

 (pencil, marker, and acrylic on found paper)

 

10/22/12 11:40am, woman's shirt, MICA lecture (acrylic on paper)

 (cricket legs, fluorescent paint, and collage on paper)

Labor Day / Morning / Baltimore / 2012

Today is a good day.

backyard

evergreen

crow

whining dog

overexposure

(my backyard, Druid Heights, Baltimore, MD)

"fear is present, fear is also a spectacle,... and fear might be real, or just as real as we allow it to be." - Irene Pérez

discoverig Baltimore

i found yesterday that the BMA is my current favorite place to spend time in Baltimore, followed closely by the Conservatory and Druid Hill Park. their collection is pretty nice and odd, and it's quiet and more personable than museums i am used to; like the Art Institute of Chicago.
the contemporary galleries in the BMA are being remodeled, which gave me the opportunity to spend time with some work that i may have passed by.

Henri Matisse - Interior with Dog (oil on canvas) 1934

Jean Dubuffet - Orator at the Wall (oil and crayon on canvas) 1945

Georgia O'Keeffe - Cup of Silver Ginger (oil on canvas) 1939

Joan Miro - Portrait No, 1 (oil on canvas) 1938

fire alarm in the mens bathroom

the work i was drawn to reflects some things that i am focusing on in my studio: pattern, brush stroke, and high energy (in particular the high energy and signifiers that come with alerts and warnings - thus the fire alarm makes it into this groups of research-images). O'Keerfe seems to be the odd one out here - i think i was more interested in the title and placement of the painting (in the gallery) than the actual work itself.

Social Sculpture

i live in a world of image-meaning.
Social Sculpture, in and around Baltimore

Druid Heights, Baltimore, MD

Halethorpe, MD

Morell Park, MD

outside a church, Druid Heights, Baltimore, MD

Pennsylvania Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Druid Heights, Baltimore, MD

along McCulloh St., Druid Heights, Baltimore, MD

security and stained glass

not everything is unpacked yet, there are many errands yet to do, but Allie and i have made time to work in our studios a little bit every day. this is a drawing/sketch i made today. it is a rubbing of the fence/gate that is over our downstairs windows and acrylic paint. (please excuse the bad photo, we haven't found out studio lights yet... or painted the walls)

Adam Farcus - Window, Baltimore (charcoal and acrylic paint) 2012

soduim-vapor and gold

Making due and getting by

 

the sodium-vapor lamps warm on, to tint our block with orange, "Squash Blossom", light

across the street some old porch steps cast shadows that curve like mountains

        a building in bad need of some graffiti

                no roof or floors, but a tree in the middle

as kids we made potions with shampoo, Windex, whiskey, dirt, milk, and hid them behind our TV

        mom told us that our feet were too wide for Nikes

I've since added gold, like jewelry, to my allergy list

***************

i had to exhaust myself while at my studio table (reading about MoCA and Jeffery Dietch) last night 'till something creative fell out of me. i wrote this poem, from notes that i took last night and from some things that i've kept in the back of my head for a while. i'm not sure about the title, or the "Squash Blossom" part, but that's ok. the title is a reference to a Richard Wentworth piece of the same title, and idea. [the formatting is a bit off here because of the size of my blogger. the lines that wrap, and are not indented, are not supposed to wrap - they are long lines.]

Richard Wentworth - Making Do and Getting By