On Rejection

[3*] proposal image for RC Rat, a cardboard rat that moves by a remote control car

My work has recently be subjected to, what I feel to be, unfair judgment. In one instance a month ago an artist (with whom I will be exhibiting with in the future) made the comment that he preferred to install his more straightforward gallery work (paintings) as to not look "tricky or cute," like my art evidently does. Perhaps his intention was not be judgmental, but in that case then the wording in his comment was ill-chosen. I think I'll just have to find a way to forget about this.

More recently I was asked to put some work up at the Coal City High School (my home-town school) art fair; as a 'visiting artist.' I made concessions in my work to show pieces that are more accessible. I chose three pieces [1, 2, 3*]. 1 and 2 where denied by the art teacher for the expectation that the "powers that be" would not accept them as art enough for the $100 stipend. All of this censoring, mine and the teacher's, has happened even before anything was proposed to the dean, principle, board, etc.

I feel like I am being unfairly judged here; I mean geez, these are not Andreas Serrano photographs. But, as a teacher of art students (many of which are non-art-majors) I fully understand the alienation that comes with much of contemporary art. Thereby, I am writing a second proposal for the art fair: "What is Contemporary Art?: With Adam Farcus". In this I will have a few pieces installed around a small desk with chairs where I will answer any and all questions about art (to the best of my ability) that anyone may have. I will bring with me 2 written pieces as 'take-aways.' Both are by the wonderful Terry Barrett: Principles of Interpretation and Approaches to Postmodern Art-making.

falling stars

There's a Star and a Song for You (string, tape, paper clips, and cut note-cards) 2011
-the source of the title comes from a Sparklehorse song (written by the late Mark Linkous) called Spirit Ditch: "...there's a heaven and there's a star for you..."

Weight of the World (1 / 3.05E+28 grams) (phosphorus rock bought on Ebay) 2011
-my piece for the "Sustainable Phosphorus Summit" at Arizona State University

phone books and a new mayor

6pm walk home from work, in the cold, interventions

phone books that have been stacked outside our apartment door for 3 weeks now - placed on the poles of an ad hoc fence

Chicago 2011 mayoral election posters and tape - on two posts in a vacant lot

reseach and sketching

sketch for Feed Forms - part of the collaborative project proposal (between myself, Madeleine Bailey, Erik Peterson, & Alexander Stewart) for the forthcoming ACRE exhibition at Columbia College's A & D Gallery

sketch for Duck It - part of the collaborative project proposal (between myself, Madeleine Bailey, Erik Peterson, & Alexander Stewart) for the forthcoming ACRE exhibition at Columbia College's A & D Gallery

sketch for Duck It - part of the collaborative project proposal (between myself, Madeleine Bailey, Erik Peterson, & Alexander Stewart) for the forthcoming ACRE exhibition at Columbia College's A & D Gallery

test for a drawing - lines made by fingers on a fleece blanket

a snow face, found on a big metal ball (sculpture?) on the U of C campus

more every day

got ↑ late
so slow falling snow
acapella sinatra
jelly buttered bread
17°

winding-sheet

shroud; noun

1 (obsolete) shelter, protection
2 something that covers, screens, or guards
3 burial garment
4 a: one of the ropes leading usually in pairs from a ship's mastheads to give lateral support to the masts
b: one of the cords that suspend the harness of a parachute from the canopy

hands/stars/maps

In the form of a visual essay, these are research images (found, scanned, googled) for a project and grant proposal.

This proposed project will consist of 100 photographs printed through traditional black and white processing techniques. The use of light in printing seems crucial to the content of this project - light shining down from space onto babies being born. Each photograph document the given participant's hands on a black background with a representation of her/his astrological star map drawn on them. The photographs will be 12" x 12" each. Each participants will be demarcated only through the Universal Time of her/his birth and latitude/longitude of her/his birth place. As a working title I'm calling this The Stars We're Born Under - which is very related to the few earlier pieces that use the name of The Stars I was Born Under [1] [2].

Some things I've been considering are : romance in telling who you are - what you're born with - the individuality of each of our finger/palm prints - hand signs as a way of communicating something about you - what is passed to you from the cosmos.

palm print

palm reading diagram

foot reflexology diagram

hand reflexology diagram

hand reflexology glove

sign language, letters & numbers

gang signs

5-pointed star gang sign

Michigan's Lower peninsula

Yumi Janairo Roth - Meta Map (in collaboration with Andrew Blackstock and Casey McGuire, Pilsen, Czech Republic) 2007

Adriana Varejão - Contingente (Contingent) (from an edition of 100 unframed photographs) 1998-2000

Jeannie Thib - Tabula 3 (linocut print on paper) 1993

hand as example of how a topographical map works from The Boyscout Handbook, Tenth Edition, 1990 (these 2 pages, in the book I used while in Boy Scouts, are a major part of the genesis of my project)

Annette Messager - Mes trophées (acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on two gelatin silver prints) 1987

Annette Messager - Mes trophées (acrylic, charcoal, and pastel on two gelatin silver prints) 1987

Shirin Neshat - Unveiling (ink on photographs) 1993

cover of From Here to There by Kris Harzinski

planetary hand map from a 1964 Scientific American magazine via airform archives

stars tattooed on a hand (branding?)

Jane Hammond - Happiest on Your Hands (detail) (oil and mixed media on canvas) 2003 - at the Oak Park Public Library

Lakota Indian Hidatsa Constellation (The Hand Constellation)