Gold Skull, gold leaf on plaster, 4 x 7 x 3 inches, 2009

Heart,collage and gold leaf reverse mounted on plexi, 10 x 5 inches, 2009

Humidity, mixed media on paper mounted on plexi (70 panels), 31.5 x 67.5 inches, 2009

St.Elmo's Fire, mixed media on paper mounted on plexi (70 panels), 31.5 x 67.5 inches, 2009

Sunken Gole, acrylic and gold leaf reverse mounted on plexi 14 x 12 inches, 2009

Pyramid, acrylic and silver leaf reverse mounted on plexi, 16 x 12 inches, 2009

Skulls, plaster, 12 x 20 inches, 2009

diamant, acrylic and gold leaf reverse mounted on plexi, 16 x 12 inches, 2009

In July 2008 I was invited by Andrea Hildebrandt to have a solo show at her gallery Kunstraum Gruenerhund in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood of Berlin. I decided to create an entirely new body of work in the two months before the show. At this time my wife was teaching in Florence Italy and had just finished her MFA at Indiana University. I worked in her large bright MFA studio while she was away, allowing  me to approach the work more openly. I only held vague thoughts in my head about the varied history of Berlin, colonial exoticism and the idea of a kind of revived global Wiemar culture. The outcome was a break with my previous work; the process became more fluid and experimental. I began using more enamel, airbrush and switched my painting media exclusively to acrylic for the speed. I also began thinking about 3-dimensional work which led to experiments with casting (this was the catalyst for later work and a further exploration of 3-dimensional forms). It seemed as if the work was complete before I realized it, and the next thing I knew I was packing it up to send to Berlin while I prepared to go to Florence to accompany Allyson for the final month of her tenure there.

In the end I think this body of work was a springboard, that freedom and fluidity together with an abrupt break from the work allowed me to get out and then get away from many issues that had been lying dormant in the work. In retrospect it seems as if it was a pivotal moment in my art making career.

Tobi Umi, oil on canvas, 25 x 60 inches, 2007

H.Goring' Childhood Home, oil on panel, 45 x 42 inches, 2007

Bird Cherry, oil on canvas, 40 x 58 inches, 2007

Another Rotten Cave, oil on canvas, 60 x 40, 2008

Darkening Matter, graphite and pigment on paper, 33 x 17 inches, 2005

Blackening Hearts and Darkening Matter 3, graphite on paper, 30 x 26 inches, 2005

Unter den Linden, oil on canvas, 40 x 58 inches, 2007

Blind Orientation, oil on canvas, 42 x 45 inches, 2006

Crystalline Echo, oil on canvas, 39 x 43 inches, 2006

Aleppo Pine, oil and silver leaf on panel, 12 x 9 inches, 2007

Taurus Cedar, oil and silver leaf on panel, 14 x 19 inches, 2007

Jackboot Sundance, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2006

Golden Pavillion, oil and silver leaf on panel, 22 x 22 inches, 2008

A selection of work form 2005 through 2008, each piece representing an important moment. Usually this means they represent a change in thinking, the beginning of a new direction in my work or a particularly successful (or surprising) piece. Up until 2008 I feel that I was circling bigger ideas, separating out themes and discovering what was really important in my life and my work. I was sorting through fragments. That is what these paintings represent to me.

…lectronic mist…

you may have noticed a lack of posts….or not…well what can I say I’ve neglected the blog too much…

It got too needy

and I didn’t keep it fed and watered

in fact it may have died… at least in its old form…

so I’ve decided to keep it casual

not do these long rambling posts

no rss feed, no comments, no unnecessary words (like these)

tumblr style

I think it will be better for us both

and hopefully will mean there will be more to look at

in the meantime check out the rest of the site,

added some new work

switched things around

I think the word is updated…

so keep your eyes peeled, more should be coming soon

(ish)

summer…what is there to say? It’s fun, it’s hot, it’s miserable…It’s not conducive to posting to this blog.

apparently.

But things are looking up, the amazing weather brings smiles and earthquakes!

I see this van everywhere…I think I’m being followed.

Do you think it’s trying to tell me something?

Nah.

Summer always involves a lot of driving, and this year is no exception…summer is that magical time that turns a 3 hour drive into…

a 5 hour drive!

Yes!

Non-stop A/C? Check!

Stop and go on the BQE? check!

Cemetery? check!

Van carrying the empire state building? Check!

Checkers? Check!

Did I ever tell you that I’m horrible at checkers?

Now I did, so- Check!

Summer involves finding cool dark places to spend a siesta…

…this is one of my favorites.

It was so hot out on this day that I saw a lady spontaneously puke while walking down the street, she didn’t even break her stride!

I’m saying it was because it was hot out, not that she was sick, or hung over or anything else. It was that hot.

Summer means incredibly inaccurate weather reports…

…and sudden afternoon downpours…

(this building has nothing to do with summer really, I just like the paint job. Taking pride!)

…and getting caught in massive thunderstorms while driving…

…and humidity…

…and random acts of violence…

Summer means appreciating stuff…

like the weather!

and reminding yourself how shitty winter was!

Summer involves lots of good group shows…

Abe’s Indiana painting at Mixed Greens!

Summer means vegetation…

Plants love the summer here!

Not like texas, when they all had to be constantly fed water like patients on intravenous drips…

Its like a jungle here!

Except not at all…but it is really green

Summer is almost over…

The line in, what keeps us going…

….mainline to the imagination….

…and my imagination is voracious. If nothing goes in, nothing comes out.

You can’t underestimate imagination. Really, think about it. Imagination fuels our greatest accomplishments.

and in every one of our greatest failures, the worst of human tragedies, in there, at the core, is a stark lack of imagination…

So wherever your imagination lies, don’t neglect it.

Feed it every day

Whatever it wants

No matter how outrageous…or mundane

Don’t judge it

or try to shove it away

Whatever floats your boat

Thats what this post is about

Sharing some of the places where my imagination likes to hang out

and some of its favorite foods

sometimes it surprises me

I love it when it does that

see?

…Whatever floats your boat…

Yeah this is one of those posts, sorry…

…well not really

sometimes the food gets a bit stale so,

spice it up once in awhile…don’t forget the condiments….

hot sauce

Hot Sauce

it may not always be pretty (or clean) but you still have to take care of it.

Give your imagination some mouth to mouth…

and don’t forget to make sure you keep the sluppy line flowing…

do you believe in rapture?

for some reason had that song stuck in my head the past week….

consider this post a visual mix-tape

its all about the transitions

gonna try to keep the words to a minimum

max zoom

zoom it to the max

decades of fire code regulations in one moment

incinerate/the firefighters are so nice/

wiggin out

flip your wig

lmcc open studios…

ryan schneider has flipped his wig

I love it!

these new paintings are so weird…

so good!

studios….

…Jess’s view

get it girl

gettin back home

Brooklyn bound

I’ve got a mule, and her name is Sal, Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie canal

or 1.5 on the gowanus canal…

very appropriate…

…just that little bit

nosy neighbor

ratcatcher

back here again?

vertical view

protracted profile

magnified mug

chelsea…again…

i don’t know what these are, but they looked amazing

just another window view

big sky’s too big to cry

One day we’ll be free, we wont care you wait and see

ok ok enough with the lyrics

what is this, a high school yearbook up in here?

b-side

ambiguity estuary

time has slipped by me almost unnoticed…

but I just caught it going by

That’s what happens when you’re busy…

…busy with a little of this…

….maybe a little too much of this…

…definitely not enough of this…

….A LOT of this…

(but never too much)

…speaking of too much…

…been doing way too much of this…

…and a whole lotta this…

…a bunch of this…

…more of this…

…and looking at more of this…

…leading to some of this…

…then back to this…

…somehow still having a little time for this…

…but mostly more of this…

…which takes me back to this…

…and then back to this…

…and on the weekend something like this…

…then of course more of this…

….and I guess that is that….

I’ve been noticing a particularly disturbing trend in my speech lately…

…the occurrence of the word like has jumped to levels unprecedented since 1993…

…perhaps I have killed too many brain cells. Or maybe it is because I am still recovering from the last 3 or so months…

…or maybe the cold has sent my mind into some kind of reverse cryogenic process causing it to revert to a twisted 14 year old version of itself?

at any rate there is no excuse for that kind of talk

So as you may have guessed the move is complete, Gowanus is our new home and we like it

like, really like it

like, a lot

like, totally…

ok enough already…

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

…my mind hasn’t caught up with my body yet, I’m waiting for it to snap painfully back into place…

On a lighter note

Went over to Pat’s studio this weekend. You remember Pat he was in this show I put together…

He has an awesome collection of old skateboard decks.

I had this one when I was a little kid!!

Allyson and I stopped by to see his new work, and it looks awesome…I don’t want to ruin the surprise so this is all you get…

He’s got an awesome studio…

…full of awesome paintings…but you’ll just have to take my word for it…

He surfs too!!

and he sings!

and draws too!

Seriously though, his new paintings look really good…he’s getting ready for a show in Chicago at this place

he showed us his Chris Johanson!

nice!

the lamentation of the cj…

fender bender

Anyways it was a great studio visit, had a lot of fun and got to go to Roberta’s afterward! Sorry no pics of that, but it was tasty…

Headed over to the gallery for the Brooklyn Rail Auction…sorry don’t have any pics of that either but it was fun..

here look at this view instead

ooooh…aaahhhhh right?

sorry, I still cant get over this view, probably because the last gallery I worked didn’t even have any windows….

so good hibino

Monday

ok just one…

Well this is an odd post, just a few pics that i never posted that I like…

and I thought I would post this interview that Greg did of me for a writing exercise, the interview took place right in the middle of packing so it was a weird time for me, but it is amazing how he captured that strange transitional time, and managed to craft something out of my utter disorientation…

“I hate talking about being an artist, being flaky, sensitive.”

This is a encouraging start to what will be a fragmented discussion about being an artist and believing in something so much that you are ready to crash and burn for what you believe.

The monitor goes from black and reflective, to being filled with a sense of emptiness. Boxes sit where couches were and the linoleum flooring that I never new existed has now made a conclusive appearance. In the background a final load of laundry bumps and whirls, completing the sense of rumbling chaos that surrounds the situation.

Shuffling into shot Tyson appears bleary eyed and distracted. Scratching at his head with a large screwdriver, his eyes scanning for things to be boxed, dismantled.Tyson is moving to New York, it will be a thirteen hour drive into the unknown. He recently lost his job as associate director of a university gallery in Indiana. It is in the middle of nowhere, in a part of the country full of fields and quarries. Not an ideal place for a young budding artist to flower into someone established. He is not out for fame and fortune but the chance to make a living doing something that he lives for.

New York is a teaming metropolis, a world away from where he is leaving. An artist is keenly linked to their surroundings, whether you accept it or not. I ask him how important this change will be for him.

“One thing that will change is the landscape and energy, which will naturally connect to your work but the more important thing is the need to push the boundaries of my work” “A place like New York will make you up your game.”

It is a simple statement but an important one. Living comfortably can create an atmosphere of mediocrity. While I would not say that he has been living comfortably for the last few years,sitting out in the pastures of the midwest does not generally engage your senses and connect you to communities that can encourage creativity within oneself.

The decision to move does not come lightly. Uprooting everything, dismantling his studio or what is in a way to him his mind-space. A place where everything is connected, setup to function as seamlessly as possible in order to execute motion with fluidity and precision. Here energy is not lost to distraction, physical or mental but harnessed for pure thought and creativity.

“Setting up a new studio is disruptive, stressful. You loose on a physical level, even down to your hand eye co-ordination from brush to canvas.”

“It’s nerve wracking but we have no choice.”

You can consider studying someones artwork as if it is an exploration, the more fascinating experience is not seeing the artist within the work but using the piece as a platform for connecting with the incommunicable existence that surrounds our cognitive understanding of the world we live in.

Tyson is a painter that navigates this intangible field for us, laying out fragments or clues that build an atmosphere for us to dwell within. A landscape to step into, structures that implicate the positive and negative space, withdrawing certain elements and leaving you with a intense familiarity that captivates you and does not distract oneself with overtly representational objects.

“A big part of art is beyond communication and could fail miserably, that’s why you take risks.” “Personal gain is pushing the envelope and not worrying about the consequences.”

In a world where Tyson dedicates himself to trying to create something intangible,he could fail miserably but……

“You take the risks, it’s what makes life worth living”.

At this moment in time, lost without a studio,his creative shell. He sets out on the road unprotected, raw, senses peaked by a new adventure. He is engaged in the gradual evolution of his work, not believing in instant transformation.

“It’s not sincere, when people know something or think their on to something, they’re not.”

This is frustrating to watch from the outside. Some of his work connecting with you, others lost to experimentation or patience. This is not the the first time Tyson has moved cross country. For one reason or another there has been a need to move, each time slowly establishing himself in the art community. He has the notion that this is the final move but will this one provide the catalyst for some kind of metamorphosis into a explosion of artistic marvel or will he reach beyond his grasp?

He hits the road tomorrow, Tyson and his wife have sold everything that they don’t hold near and dear to them. His materials are packed and the cats still have know clue what they are in for.

An artists journey will never be complete.

Greg knows me well, and I think that his assessment of me and my work is fair in the present moment, and it is truly this kind of perspective that only a real friend can give…

Allyson and I have moved temporarily, waiting for the holidays to be over before we make the final push into the city, looking for jobs, looking at neighborhoods, places to live…it is exciting and nerve-racking, we are finally just going to take the leap and do what we think is necessary for our long term happiness, even if it means near term pain…So it is no wonder that I still feel quite disoriented…without a studio, without a job, in limbo in so many ways…but its ok.

This too shall pass…

…saying goodbye to my old studio…

just about one year …whats next?

Packing up the studio, getting ready for the big move…

I spent one last day in the studio and manged to finish up a few things.

This work is something of a departure for me, after working on the sculptural forms I found myself making the paintings more about the space in front of them rather than the space inside them…

I want them to be able to compete with the 3-d forms in a room

or maybe relate is a better word than compete, directly relate…

…maybe, my mind is mush from packing…

…anyways, I’m pretty happy with them

I think…

some more than others i guess

Anyways
I want to continue with the sculptures but it will probably be awhile before I get in the studio again, at least a few weeks…

It makes me nervous to think of not being able to work in the studio for that long…
one thing that I am proud of in this work is that it feels very…true…for lack of a better word…

that is the one that started this series, a real one off painting…those don’t happen too often

this was most definitely not a one off painting, it was a real battle, but I think I beat it into some kind of submission…

Thats it from me for a little while, I’m going to be working on updating the site with this plus a few more new things and trying to make it a bit more well organized and easier to navigate…next time you hear from me I’ll be in New York

Here it is, I’m sneaking in some true preview shots of the exhibition I curated, it is up, it is lit and we are just waiting for the opening…

[blockquote]Playing Fields features the work of Patrick Berran, Melissa Oresky, Ryan Schneider, Olivia Schreiner and Jered Sprecher. These five painters’ work and careers represent a spectrum of approaches to the practice of contemporary painting. Through their work and lives each one of them is playing a role in developing the current ethos of their field. [/blockquote]

[blockquote]Each of these artists demonstrates a distinct method of working within the medium of painting. There is a sense of play in the way they approach their work and a sense of excitement in exploring the boundaries of painting. Each artist expresses a clear knowledge of the medium and an ability to create work that is visually stimulating and represents a unique expression. This exhibition features paintings that tug at the intangible and speak to the importance of art in life. [/blockquote]

[blockquote]Tyson Skross, Associate Director of the SoFA Gallery and curator of Playing Fields, notes: “The idea for playing fields was to put together a mini-survey of painting by artists working today. We wanted to have the opportunity to present current work that we believe is exciting and engaging without an elaborate curatorial theme. The overarching idea is that each of the artists is working in a unique way that is relevant in the larger field of contemporary painting. The artists are living and working in a variety of cities in the U.S. and their work has never been previously exhibited together. We feel it is important for the SoFA gallery to be able to bring this work to Bloomington to provide a glimpse of the current state of contemporary painting for our audience and our students.”[/blockquote]

[blockquote]Patrick Berran lives in Brooklyn, NY and has exhibited his work at numerous venues across the nation. He is also the lead vocalist in an internationally touring punk band. Melissa Oresky’s work has been shown at numerous venues including the MCA in Chicago, OQBO in Berlin and Soloway in NY. She currently teaches painting at Illinois State University. Ryan Schneider has exhibited his work extensively with numerous international venues; he recently curated the group show Big Picture at Priska C. Juschka and maintains the website Cedar Tavern, featuring studio visits with his peers. After receiving her BFA Olivia Schreiner was awarded an apprenticeship at the renowned Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. She is active in the Chicago art scene and shows her work nationally. Jered Sprecher is the recent recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, he teaches painting at the University of Tennessee and shows his work in New York, Boston and L.A.[/blockquote]

In no Particular order…

Jered Sprecher:

Melissa Oresky:

Ryan Schneider:

Patrick Berran:

Olivia Schreiner:

ok finally the last installment of the european odessy….

Prague…

its kind of unfair for me to post this picture of Greg without him being here to defend himself…but i think its hilarious

not to be a debbie downer, but prague kinda..well…sucked.
Sure the beer was amazing and cheap, but it has turned into such a crazy tourist hell hole it was hard to enjoy…particularly in the touristy hell holey type places…

but we didn’t go there to do that…no we went to go to Kutna Hora
(for those fellow dyslexians out there be very careful how you pronounce that in conversation…)

What would you expect to be the following line on this sign
“out of respect for the chapel and the dead…”

“no photographs” maybe?

Nope

“no eating or drinking” perhaps?

thats not it either…

how about “no shirt no shoes no entry”?

No…no that…
give up?

no smoking!!

if you guessed right you get a prize, email me to claim it
(disclaimer, you will be very disappointed, the prize is purely delusional)
Of course being a former communist state I can understand why, but its still shocking to me that that is the one thing they had the need to make a sign to express their displeasure of…

Some people find this creepy, but I don’t, at least not because they are human bones…bones are too removed for me… at least in this state…

Or maybe its just because real death is so much more powerful than these feeble reminders…?

look at this poor guy, getting his eye pecked out for eternity just to fulfill some rich family’s vanity

at least he didn’t get turned into a candle-holder…

well that is enough of the poor old Sedlec Ossuary. It was in terrible shape. Of course I could give you all the info about it but since we’re on the internet here JFGI…

Sorry I’m in a bit of a mood, its been a rough couple of weeks

see, don’t mess with me or my knedliky

I know what will cheer me up…

HAHHAHA! Greg always knows how to make me laugh!

there is a whole story about how we ended at this place in Kutna Hora, but its too long and not that interesting…but here is an interesting tidbit, did you know that Czech-Mex (yes like tex-mex but with Czech food) is all the rage in the Czech republic, so much so that nearly every restaurant in a small czech town serves mexican inspired dishes??

Greg is a serious Mexican food aficionado, so he won’t havin it as the British would say

So to cap it off, the Metro, the Beer and Cafe Meduza were the only cool things about Prague (luckily Cafe Meduza and beer made up for about 75% of our dissapointment)

Not that it was all bad, we made the best of it we did.

see ya

that ain’t no golem

but that is his restaurant…

yes… for those of you familiar with Jewish mythology we are now in prague….

…now berlin…

…prague again.

ok ok I’ll stop

this was our first night in Berlin, Greg and I went to alpenstueck, this restaurant was amazing…
the waiter was amazing as well…we didn’t catch his name so from now on he will be known as Gunther…no stereotyping here…

see? mmmm…good veal ravioli, corn chicken with smoked mashed potatoes, venison goulash…
we ended up getting pretty blitzed after aperol aperitifs, many beers and hand crafted plum schnapps…

Berlin is a magical city, they grow corn on the streets….

see corn!

we eventually made it over to cafe eintstein and got the einstein breakfast

again amazing…I love the 21st century…when you can get amazing food in London and Berlin without hardly looking for it!! This breakfast was out of this world.
German for Breakfast is Frühstück, the perfect word for breakfast…
This place was awesome, there were two guys sitting next to us with a jet black great dane (I think, I’m no dog expert, but he was huuuuge) who just sat there on his big red satin pillow (with tassles) in his diamond studded collar calmly waiting for his master to finish reading his ipad… I didn’t get anymore pictures though, maybe greg got one…

We did a lot in Berlin, saw the Gert and Uwe Tobias show at CFA, was really good, did the tourist thing, which I missed out on last time

greg channeled the new german nationalism

bullet patchwork…my dad was in berlin right after the wall fell (and several other times in the 90s) It must have been a pretty crazy landscape then before western capitalism came and fixed up all those broken old buildings…

there is a ton of great graffiti and street art in Berlin but this is the best I got…its so prevalent even in really nice neighborhoods, you kinda forget about it…

I’m pro graffiti by the way

This is another of the last remnants of Berlin’s wwii past, the Humboldthain version of the infamous flak towers…

This is only half of it, the rest is buried under a pile of its own rubble…people rock climb on it now which I guess is pretty cool

Good god this post i getting long, and I haven’t even gotten to prague yet…or the ossuary
but thats enough for now….

here is a little sneak peak of the show I’m curating at the SoFA gallery…

Jered Sprecher and Ryan Schneider…I’m super excited!

Also if you’re planning on being around Leipzig this month check out this group show I’m in at Transponder…

Info after the jump…

TRANSPONDER invites you and your friends to the opening of Peng! on Saturday 16 October, 20.00 hr

Sofie Arfwidson
Sebastian Burger
Axel Gerber
Elisabeth Haug
Andrea Hildebrandt
Inga Kerber
Philipp Kremer
Simon Menner
Sebastian Nebe
Juliana Ortiz
Moritz mucilages
Tyson Skross
Kerstin Wagener
John Weiss
Bas Zoontjens

Opening: Saturday, 16 October 20.00hr

Exhibition: 16 – 23 October 2010
Open: Sun / Mon / Sat 17-18hr and by appointment

TRANSPONDER
Radius Strasse 19
04179 Leipzig – Neulindenau

info@transponder-projekt.de
www.transponder-projekt.de

I’m such a neglectful blogger

someone notify the authorities

…ever get the feeling…

British Brutalist Building; Balfron Tower

the promise of tomorrow days!

Greg took me on an archi-tour of London visiting sites all around the city

its amazing how fast concrete can rot

the people in this place (i forgot the name) got the short end of ‘tomorrow’

but they see to be trying to make the best of it…some great squash growing going on there

These people on the other hand…

this is the Barbican… a huge complex of apartments, galleries, theaters, restaurants etc etc

so huge in fact I cant be bothered to go into all the detail…just google it

I mean really, even the elevators are cool

seriously…?

The Thames Barriers were also a part of the tour, we grabbed lunch at this cool little building in the park there, it was full of grannies!! Sweet…unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures…but here is the park…a tad unkempt, but well designed…like much of london actually

all those grannies made me think of my grandmother, who is not in good health

so the rest of the day was tinged

but that isn’t so bad, sometimes its nice to think of people even if it makes you a little sad

crown of thorns…aye

we took a boat down the thames….it was crazy to see that every single one of those old warehouses appears to have been converted to lofts…

I mean really, all of them, and there are a lot of them…

luckily we stumbled on this pub while waiting for the boat, actually its a brewery. Crazy, english micro brews!! London is changing so fast…

but its still good ole england…

We ended up at Pizza East, this is a shameless plug even though I have no association with them, because the pizza was amazing…

there was a guy at the bar whose sole job was to slice meats….nice

There is so much more to share, like the cyclist bar, the dirt house, the British Museum, The ugly bunker on the horse parade ground, the barclays ride share bikes (awesome idea, fun to ride) etc etc but I’m all shared out for now…

I’ll leave you with this picture from the Fiona Banner Installation at the Tate Britain

I will post pics from Berlin and Prague once I’ve recovered

I’ve been thinking about visualization a lot lately

not so much the mystic-y kind of ‘picture it and it will come true’ kind of visualization
although that too

but more about “data analysis through the use of interactive visualization”
or making pictures out of data

(yes I know I already used this picture but I forgot I wanted to use to with the other two V pictures)

Fyodor! I wonder how he visualizes with one eye?

and visualizing what I want my next show to look like

(family portrait)

my Aunt Linda and Uncle Gene came to visit on friday and they stopped by for a studio visit so I took out a lot of work. When I went back to the studio I opened the door and saw this painting that I made a while back

it looks so much better in the dark…

and upside down!

Linda wrote a really beautiful poem about one of my other pieces but she says its not finished so I won’t spoil the surprise.

Its always strange to hear other peoples’ interpretation of your work. Especially though another art form. Strange in a good way.

I suppose these are my words

and rhythm, meter, rhyme, punctuation, (etc)

cheesy poetry-painting metaphor over

somehow I think this picture is a better metaphor for making work than anything I could write about it anyway

I had this idea for a post with pictures that reminded me of lyrics…

…Hard to the dome like a chrome microphone

I’m ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bad to the bone to the bone
Danger zone, that’s my life and my song…

but then I forgot about it because that was weeks ago…
I’m neglectful

a neglectful neglecter of blog entering

I’m not feeling the words too much today,
symbols are better

I’m a bit burnt out on words the past couple of days

get it? burnt out?

oh boy

But I’m really excited about this show I’m putting together at the gallery…its going to be great!

its a secret though shhh….

well I guess its time for some ketchup

went to ’100 acres’ a few weeks back, its IMAs new sculpture garden…
I think it should have been 10 acres…especially when it is 90º degrees…

it left me feeling kind of like that…

this is Andrea Zittel’s (ZIT-el, zi-TEL?) piece…its gotten a lot of press…

one of mike’s students is living in it…look there she is!!

oooh there she is! Do you see her?

we decided to send her a message,in one of these miniature igloos…

but even though mike put a heroic effort into tossing it out there

it couldn’t escape the treacherous current…

and beached itself along with all of the other igloo babies…

…there was some other stuff too

…but none of it was really all that interesting
Everything was so spread out and the heat was too much (alfredo Jaar’s piece was like walking into a giant pizza oven)
and I felt bad for all the sweating families with their little kids…

…would it have killed the IMA to put in a snow cone stand or something?

Anyways I won’t talk about it anymore, I’m being too negative…

I’m calling this one folks, its getting too long and I need to get to the studio

…speaking of which do you want to see some more studio?

well here you go if you do…

this is the third time I tried to take a picture of this graffiti with my phone, I think its homophobic…

here is some more b-town style graff…

never say never…

Its summer time in Bloomington…that means everyone’s gardens are quickly overflowing…

this is our garden (well mostly Allyson’s) its overflowing with beans beans beans

it also means that its the time for tornadoes and crazy thunderstorms, neither of which I have any pictures of so here is a different kind of windpower

…it also means school’s out for summer

school’s out forever

school’s been blown to pieces…

summer also brings out all the animals; the bunnies, the chipmunks, the groundhogs. I mean its ridiculous, so many cute little animals its like a Disney movie out here…if that disney movie was set in a town described as being “Where Patchouli and Axe Body Spray come together in nauseating harmony” by my friend Kevin.

Oh and where the streets are paved in vomit during football/basketball/baseball/little500/cornhole season…

…not all of those animals are cute and cuddly though, my friend mike saw a mountain lion in my backyard!! For real! No kidding! Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of it, so this will have to do

I know it sounds unbelievable, but it walked right past him no more than 15 feet away, he saw it for a good 30-40 seconds until it looked at him and sauntered away….

That was one cool kitty

that’s mike, he is channeling ‘his kitty’
Maybe I’ll get him to draw a picture of it for you

sauntering

…not just news anymore…

…also pictures of my studio…

…and sometimes other people’s studios…

…sometimes things outside of the studio…

…sometimes really really tiny things in my studio…

…sometimes funny…

…sometimes not…

…oh and people too…

…and don’t forget animals…

…and that reminds me, crappy cell phone pics as well…

…and gotta have pics of fire right…

…and lots and lots of pictures like this…

…probably too many…

…but I just can’t get enough…

…I know its incredibly cliche but I love paint…

…sometimes more than others though…

…ok that’s enough for now…
if you keep reading this blog you will learn of my love for the …
and hopefully learn to love it too…

…oh and you might even see some pictures of my work everyonce in awhile…but only in-progress work…this arena is not serious enough for completed works…that’s TIC…

…remember this one…?

A big thanks to Anna and Phil at the Fuller Projects for selecting my work for an exclusive one night show. It was a lot of work, but I had fun installing it, thanks to everyone who made it out!

I am honored to be able to announce that I was named a 2009 Efroymson Fellow of Contemporary Art…

Five Midwestern artists receive $20,000 each from the Efroymson Family Fund
Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowships help artists continue their development

INDIANAPOLIS (Nov. 24, 2009) –The Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship awarded five artists from Indianapolis, Bloomington, Hammond and Cincinnati $20,000 grants to help them continue their artistic development. The Fellowship, made possible by the Indianapolis-based Efroymson Family Fund, has distributed $500,000 to artists in five years.

The 2009 Efroymson Fellows are Casey Riordan Millard, 36, and Chris Vorhess, 37, both of Cincinnati; Tyson Skross, 30, Bloomington; Anila Agha Quayyum, 44, Indianapolis; and Jennifer Reeder, 40, Hammond. They were honored at a reception Nov. 23 at the Wheeler Art Center in Fountain Square. The recipients were among 249 artists who submitted applications.
Created to recognize gifted contemporary artists, the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship originally focused on Central Indiana. The program, managed by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), is now open to artists from across Indiana, as well as Louisville and Cincinnati.

“It’s amazing the work that Midwestern artists are doing, pushing boundaries and their creativity to achieve more for themselves, and also to promote the value of contemporary art,” said Jeremy Efroymson, vice chair and one of three Efroymson family members who advise the Efroymson Family Fund on its gifts to the community. “This annual Fellowship continues to grow, and we continue to be impressed with the high-quality work being created in the Midwest.”

The Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship is unique among fellowships nationally, most notably because it has very few restrictions. While eligible artists must live in Indiana or in the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) of Louisville or Cincinnati; be age 25 or older; and work in photography, painting, sculpture, new media or installation art, those applying for the award aren’t required to have a degree or a minimum amount of experience. In addition, Efroymson Fellows can use the grant money any way they choose to further their artistic careers – for living expenses, equipment and supplies, studio rental, travel essential to artistic research or to complete work.

The idea behind the Fellowship is simply to encourage emerging and established contemporary artists to continue their artistic development. Since the Fellowship’s inception, The Efroymson Family Fund has awarded a total of $500,000 to 25 artists, and many of those artists say the Fellowship was a career-altering award.
The 2009 Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellows are:

Tyson Skross: 30, Bloomington, painting/sculpture. Growing up in Switzerland at the crossroads of a new century helped shape much of the art Skross creates, as he works to form a new way of understanding history. The materials he uses – silicone-based rubbers and urethane plastics – reflect his youth. “I have recently been casting objects, taking the military models of my childhood and deconstructing them. Literally re-casting each piece in order to depersonalize or virtualize it,” he explains. The form alludes to the spiritual, mystical and historical. Skross believes mystery is important, and the meaning of a piece should be submerged just below the surface, underneath the experience of viewing the work. Skross plans on using the fellowship to rent a larger studio space to create large scale installations, travel to Germany, the Czech Republic and New York for artistic research and create a catalog of his work.

Casey Riordan Millard: 36, Cincinnati, sculpture/mixed media. Her iconic “shark girl,” created five years ago, provides a whimsical approach to address the darker issues of the human condition. You’ll find “shark girl,” in Millard’s sculptures, mixed media and paintings. “Shark Girl began as a personal filter for my worries, and she has become a symbol of the human struggle with one’s limited time on earth and filling that time with diversion,” Millard said. Her sculptures – many life-size – are constructed from steel armatures and then covered in wax, fabric, papier-mâché and paint, while smaller sculptures generally are made of hand-built bisque-fired porcelain and then painted with oils. Millard will use the fellowship for living expenses, to create two new works and to rent a studio space.

Anila Agha Quayyum: 44, Indianapolis, painting/mixed media. A decade ago, Quayyum, who is a Pakistani immigrant, decided to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, a journey that defines much of her art, which has a global perspective, and explores how Pakistani culture has affected her life. “I believe it is vital to understand and provide comprehension from multiple viewpoints; and educate the general public about diversity and cultural differences, creating tolerance, acceptance and comprehension.” Her artwork is made up of series of collaged drawings that explore how social and gender-based issues result from the concepts constructed by history, traditions and the contemporary society. Quayyum will use the fellowship for studio rental, to create new large-scale works, purchase materials and supplies, and travel to the United Kingdom.

Chris Vorhess: 37, Cincinnati, sculpture/installation. When you look at Vorhess’ art, he wants you to smile. Have fun. And to know that he had fun crafting it. “As serious as I think the content of my work is (to me anyway), I think it is just as important, if not more, to be moved to smile and be filled with wonder when experiencing art.” Vorhess’ work is influenced by the home-improvement/remodeling phenomenon, using common furnishings – patio furniture, IKEA designs and dumpster finds – to create sculptures that marry art with the role of the consumer. “I like to appropriate and combine materials, aesthetics and practices from these sources; reworking and confusing them into forms that resemble furniture, sculpture, landscaping and architecture,” he explains. “These ideas and forms are blurred together to highlight and celebrate contradictions and coincidences of design, language and function.” Vorhess will use the fellowship for living expenses, studio rental, artistic professional development and to purchase equipment and technology used to create new works.

Jennifer Reeder: 40, Hammond, video. Reeder, who grew up in Central Ohio and lives in Indiana, is influenced by the vast skies, flat landscapes and the everyday people of the Midwest. “I tell stories about women and the Midwest. I make art work from actual experience and observation and my projects, which range from single and multi-channel video to drawing, sculpture and installation, and are specific in mood and perspective,” she said. Reeder’s work has been part of exhibits at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, the ASU Museum of Art of La Casa Encendida in Mardid and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. Reeder will use a majority of the fellowship to produce, “Tears Cannot Restore Her: Therefore, I Weep,” a production of 15 sculptural objects, which is scheduled to be part of a September 2010 show at Andrew Rafcz Gallery in Chicago.

A four-member selection committee consisting of national and regional representatives chose the five recipients in a blind selection process. The selection committee members were Jeremy Efroymson, vice chair of the Efroymson Family Fund; Ben Heywood, executive director of The Soap Factory in Minneapolis; Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Pamela Alper associate curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; and Sam Lee, director of the Sam Lee Gallery in Los Angeles.
Fellows are selected for the quality, skill, creativity and uniqueness of their work, their commitment to developing their work, and the impact the award will have on the artist’s career.

“The Efroymsons have a tradition of being entrepreneurial, and the Contemporary Artist Fellowship program is a great example of this. CICF is so proud to help make Jeremy’s philanthropic idea a reality – now five years later and $500,000 invested in the best contemporary visual artists in the Midwest. It is a great privilege to work with the Efroymson Family and help them in their charitable giving,” said Brian Payne, president of Central Indiana Community Foundation.

The Efroymson family has supported the art community in Indianapolis for decades, believing that art is a vehicle for exploring new ideas and stimulating community dialogue. To further plan and maximize their philanthropy, in 1998 Dan and Lori Efroymson established the Efroymson Family Fund with Central Indiana Community Foundation. Their initial gift to the fund was $90 million and since the inception of this fund The Efroymson Advisors have awarded more than $55 million in grants to local, regional and national not-for-profit organizations. In addition to their arts support, in Indiana, the focus of the family’s community contributions are to improve the viability of Indianapolis by providing funds for the welfare of the disadvantaged; the natural environment; historic preservation; and the well-being of the Jewish people.
For more information about the Efroymson Family Fund and its Contemporary Arts Fellowship, visit www.cicf.org or call 317.634.2423

The art blog the daily serving was kind enough to feature my work on their site, which in itself is news worthy. But unlike many other sites they have gone the extra step to write a little something extra…. LINK