Two Weeks Project Day Seven: Back from Earth

Back from Earth, 20" x 24", C-Print, 2012

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

Two Weeks Project Day Six: Figure Blossoming Over Da Vinci's Insides

Figure Blossoming Over Da Vinci's Insides, 24" x 20", C-Print, 2012

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

Two Weeks Project Day Five: Those We Left Behind (The Killing Field Part 2)

Those We Left Behind (The Killing Field Part 2), 12" x 12", C-print, 2012

I had an impulse to take out these characters who I've used before in another project, and who I initially rescued after a photo shoot where they were not good enough to be photographed next to luxury handbags and shoes. I'm thinking about the sustainability of objects and their continued use in work.  Unfortunately for these guys, this is their last call. I like their impact here atop styrofoam, which will never go away.

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

Two Weeks Project Day Four: Mom and Dad Take me to the Montgomery Airport after Christmas

Mom and Dad Take me to the Montgomery Airport after Christmas, 12" x 18" each, 2 C-prints

 

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

Two Weeks Project Day Three: Identity Theft

Identity Theft, 11" x 8.5", C-print, 2012

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

protagonisto

I came across two articles today about fiction.  One, a short essay by the novelist Keith Ridgway in the New Yorker blog about how everything is fiction.  And the second from a future novelist Michael Bourne about the hard work it takes to clinch an agent.

The day after I destroyed the first draft of my novel these two strong points of light seem to be guiding me back to that manuscript, seven drafts later, which ripped my heart a half dozen times.  I never intended to give it up.  But with visual art now at the forefront, it's given me a break to look at the novel from a new perspective, to see that I need to write a compelling story, not a clever one.  To write more honestly.  To attempt to distill more truths.  To write for a reader, not some fantasy boyfriend of Halloween past or the Literary Guild of America.

I've only been handed less than a handful of rejection letters because I never had the balls to go very far with submissions.  The good news is the relationship I've developed with an agent at Inkwell.  She's read my manuscript twice and given me great advice.  Now it's time to return to her second letter of advice and polish off another draft.

I have a lot on my plate.  And to avoid looking like this
, I will be patient and deliberate--slow and steady wins the you know what.  I will concentrate on my art, the novel, my health, my relationships, and the taming of this blog, and avoid trifling diversions so that I won't disappoint my Thousands of Readers and Fans.  Thousands of Readers and Fans is the nickname I gave my mom.

Two Weeks Project Day Two: A Portrait of an Office as a Young Artist

I think I'll call this one A Portrait of an Office as a Young Artist.  Anyone can do this at the office, if you have a bit of freedom to have these kinds of pauses.  Discover your own materials.

Portrait of an Office as a Young Artist, 20" x 24", C-print, 2012

For more information on the Two Weeks project click here.

Two Week Project Day One: First Draft

Before the day was out I wanted to post the image I selected from my first mini-project from the Two Weeks project.  The title of the piece is 'First Draft.'  I used the first draft of my novel.  Did I mention I wrote a novel?  (This artist is beginning to think that perhaps it wasn't such a good calling, but he won't give up trying to make it into a great novel . . . eventually.)  I also used some tools from my first round of art projects that I began in February.  So it becomes about first efforts, choices (some call them failures, mistakes, blessings, and triumphs) and being drenched, swallowed completely by your calling, and fully alive for the first time.  For more images from this shoot, visit my website in November.

First Draft, 20" x 24", C-print, 2012

If you want to do this project at home, here is what you'll need:

• The first draft of your novel, printed double-sided on cheap paper, left on a shelf or in a box for four and a half years while you complete seven more drafts
• a sculpture armature, preferably broken and rusted over after being used for three or more times
• a tray of some kind
• a large bowl of water (not pictured)
• camera (not pictured)

1. Form the Armature so that it stands on its own and place in the tray.
2. Starting from the first page, wet each page of the novel manuscript and place on the armature.
3. When the armature breaks or falls over, re-position so that it stands on its own.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until entire novel is wet and on the armature or at its base and the sculpture stands on its own.
5. Photograph the sculpture in your choice of setting.

For information on the Two Weeks project click here.

The Two Weeks Project

I'm giving myself a little project beginning this Sunday and ending on Saturday, September 1.

I returned to sculpt a week and a half ago to get new inspiration for a new painting.  I found that it didn't go as well as I would have liked.  Plus the painting that was supposed to be inspired by Sherry (The Great and Powerful) also hasn't been going well.  But instead of whining, I want to take a break from the sculpture paintings and do something completely different.

A new mini-project every day until school starts again (with a two-day break).  I want to try and make something from what I have . . . either at home, or at my desk at work.  I will turn everything I create into a print and display them in the fall as a celebration of creation and my life as an artist.  A fall harvest, a coming out party, a reinvention.

Of course I'll continue the sculpture paintings until the end of Winter 2013 (maybe beyond) but I'm hoping this Project will keep me focused and refraining from depression, which loves to cuddle me.

this is the end of 'this'

I've already admitted to hating summer, but as the season gears up for its final stretch why not look back on its many joys so far.

Reading.  The one thing I loved about summers starting in middle school were our summer reading lists.  While I haven't read anything as compelling as Lord of the Flies or The Scarlett Letter or Huckleberry Finn, I have been entranced by a number of books.  Here are links to some of them:

1. Inside by Alix Ohlin (a short compelling character study with an intense beginning)
2. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (the perspective of Ernest Hemingway's first wife)
3. The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt (a revealing look at the psychology behind happiness)

Seeing a bridge disappearing.

Hiking.

Making more art with Barbie.

Gaining ten pounds and not caring.

Being in a relationship.

another this is another new beginning

Each time I start a painting, I get to begin again.  Each one is like a chapter in an epic novel.  (Edit 8/15 Blah blah blah.  This making of things is a mystery.  I have no idea what I'm doing.  I just follow my intuition.  And in the painting's current state, which I'm embarassed to share, my intuition is telling me to burn it.) Sometimes they need editing.  Sometimes you want to skip over them. Sometimes they take very little time.  And that's what I thought about when I finished the first draft of the painting based on the portrait of Sherry.  I really like this silhouette and the green on black and even the texture of the paint on the black canvas.  But, that would be lazy.  I can always look back and appreciate this photograph, but I can't stop now.  Who knows what will become of her.  By the way, I'm moving on to my third religion on this one (the gospel of the media), praying to the scary wizard from the The Wizard of Oz.  Mmmm Hmm.  Because, Hunty, you know she IS the Great And Powerful Sherry.  Yes, I know, I've been watching too many RuPaul Drag Race reruns.

summertime blues

I hate summer.  Towards the end of June, I always get depressed.  Perhaps it was all the half naked bodies obnoxiously having fun on MTV Spring Break Beachouse productions during my child and teen years when I had little to do but watch television and play street tennis in the sweltering Alabama heat for short bursts until the sun chased me back inside.  Boo hoo.  But that melancholy I felt as a teenager has stayed with me all these years, and last week I could barely get out of bed.  Plus, my studio at school is on different hours--my schedule has run amok.  And to add more vitriol, my new painting hasn't been going so well.  But I kept my head down and continued picking up the brushes and hating and loving the process.  And I came up with its current condition, which I'm growing to like a little.

this is another new beginning (phase D)

I love starting a new painting.  There is only optimism and endless possibilities.  Then reality sets in and doubt returns over and over again like a bad case of bed bugs.  I finally began my painting from sculpture of the model of Cherry.  She will be the sister of Lazarus / De Kooning's Stopping By Later whatever I'm calling it these days.  I really like the idea of these religious paintings.  Although I'm not a religious manchild, there is some beauty in worship and religious stories.  But what about other religions?  Perhaps Christianity has relatives that Christians are too afraid to accept.  And if that's the case, then Cherry's alter ego might be pagan.

this is the drawing bored

I suppose my totems are guiding me toward creation, not only symbols of my current state of mind but also inspiration for the new paintings that I'll start today.  One is elated, the other introverted.  And perhaps that's the balance I'm trying to achieve in my life and work right now.

                

The left totem will--in my head but of course most paintings end up being different from the way one envisioned them in the beginning--end up being the sister painting to The Rise of Lazarus.  She will stand in for Elijah.  And ever since I stumbled upon this religious theme, peeking inside the head of The Great and Powerful Sherry, I discovered that she has entrapped the whale this time.  My favorite person is supposed to tell me the Jonah story in greater detail since I am not Christian and focused on crafts instead of paying attention to Bible studies in Sunday school.  I want The Great and Powerful Sherry to be huge, maybe two or three canvasses...not really sure yet.  The drawing bored, which is really the walls in my studio, not so boring.  But boarding can often times be tedious.

these are the many faces of sherry

About a month ago I arrived at sculpture studio to find our new model, Sherry.  I began forming my armature to her pose but during that process one of the legs fell off.  Of the armature, not Sherry.  I couldn't fix it, and since I like the idea of using the same armature in all the sculptures of my current process, I balled the metal figure up and began forming Sherry's portrait around it

Now, Sherry's story.

When I first began I thought she was angry at me for looking at her, or she didn't want me there, or hated men . . . something like that.  I became extremely self-conscious and anxious.  But when she came out of her pose, she was polite and cheerful.  A sign of a good model!  She captured a state of mind as she went into the pose, becoming a new person experiencing something profound.  Capturing this emotional side was quite intriguing.  One minute she was angry, the next sad, regretful, then consumed, resigned, peaceful.  Repeat.  This slippery slope of change found its way into the sculpture without me realizing it. You can imagine that I look forward to creating the painting from one of these images, all offering a different level of emotion really.

Thank you Sherry for an amazing energy.  My creation is for you.

this is another view of fire island

            

I've never been great at socializing.  My parents didn't really do much of it, so perhaps it's something innate, my introversion.  Large groups intimidate me, and one of my best friends, who hosted me this weekend at his house on Fire Island, is just the opposite.  He loves having parties and going to parties and meeting tons of new people.  I've actually stayed at his house before and left the party because I just couldn't do it--social anxiety at its best--and walked around the island until it was over.

This weekend though, I brought an accessory.  I don't think that suffices in describing him.  Perhaps life line might be better.  When he was around, I did the larger parties and spoke more easily to new people and it felt good to socialize.  I could be myself because he likes me for myself.  Myself being a extremely weirder character than my appearance might suggest.  That's me.  Nerdy, strange, shy, but when you get to know me, kind and loyal. 

And it was nice to be able to stay at my best friend's party and share it with not only him but also my new favorite person.  We sat in the sun one afternoon and I made a fast pastel.  I also drew him while he napped.  We were both sunburned later that day.

this is giving horror head

When I was a little boy and my parents watched the movie Halloween and disallowed me to watch it but kept the sound up high so that the disturbing music and screams haunted me in my room, I began a fascination with horror movies that lasted through high school.  I still like a good scare every now and then, and love dark movies and noir cinematography (off the top of my head movies from last year I'm thinking of Martha Marcy May Marlene and Drive).  But when I had to dismantle my current sculpture, a portrait of a lovely model named Sherry, I had no intention of creating this odd story.  But I stumbled on some creepy lighting, and the rest, as they say is herstory.  I will tell Sherry's story in my next posting, but for now, in honor of Sharon Needles, and Halloween junkies everywhere, I present this story of the macabre.  Goodbye, Mr. Hitchcock, where ever you are.  If you can guess that reference without Google, I'll buy you dinner.