Genesis

I listened to the Red State podcast (http://smodcast.com/redstate/) on a recent trip back to Ontario.  Actually, I must have listened to the entire suite twice through. It always fascinates me to hear about the genesis of someone’s  idea because you never know where the idea is going to come from or ultimately what form it will take but the ideas are there germinating, waiting to take hold.

As much as those podcasts kept me alert while driving across eastern Montana and North Dakota, they actually taught me quite a bit about acting, which was an unexpected bonus.

If you have listened to the podcasts you’ll know that for Kevin Smith, the genesis of Red State began when he saw Michael Park’s performance in From Dusk Till Dawn.  All he knew was that he wanted to work with an actor of  Parks abilities.  That was the starting point for Red State, a performance so subtle that it slipped under the radar for just about everyone, except for a few highly trained eyes. 

I usually watch movies in my studio while I am working, which is to say I listen to movies. In other words, I am not a student of acting and could not really tell brilliant acting from a hatchet job.  So I wanted to see if I could see what Smith saw and at first I did not get it. The second time through, still did not get it. Third time through I was questioning his integrity when it hit me. You really do forget that Parks is acting.

So I watched the clip a fourth time. This time with the sound turned off and my focus dialed in on every nuance of Park’s performance, except his words. Then I got it.  I saw what Smith saw or at least I think I understand. Parks acting so dissolved into his role that you completely believe what is going on.

I strive to paint this way.

I strive to coach this way.

Thanks Cuz..

This from my cousin’s FB feed:

Children with special needs don’t have an illness, so there is no cure and it’s not-contagious. They want what we all want – to be accepted. Most of you probably won’t copy and paste this. Could you do it and leave it on your status for at least an hour? It’s Special Education week, and this…is in honor of all the kids who need a little extra help and understanding.

Edge

I was looking at random formations at the side of the road on my run, pausing both to catch my breath and just take in something that caught my eye. I think what I like in nature is also what I like in art: randomness, entropy and discord.

Running being somewhat new to me, I have yet to know my body well enough to pace my effort and thus find myself running at a pace that exceeds my current fitness level. In that self-induced hypoxic state things can appear far more interesting than they actually are. The funny thing is that once again I find myself at the side of the road fascinated by that edge between our fabricated world and nature.

My imagination lives in that space.

Cool Article on Modern Art

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jun/20/modern-art-all-in-mind

Reality Hunger

Not that I could afford it but I purchased a second copy of Reality Hunger by David Shields to replace the one I lost in a Toronto Starbucks. This copy, not even two weeks old is filled with my thoughts, drawings and glued in collage elements now resembles more of a journal that a published work of another artist. I respect this work enough to unapologetically steal from it, write into it, over it and otherwise attempt to completely assimilate its contents. Today I actually realized that I started to paint this book – again. What that means is that I have always, when I am honest in my painting, been painting this book (sometimes literally).   

Some dead guy’s painting sold for 106 million. It’s just a baseball card at this point, really.

Bridget Riley

Just like her whole idea of the metier (working method).  Read Painting Now (1995) by Riley. It is one of the smartest essays ever written on painting.

Murakami

Pretty brain candy.

Rauchenberg

Newman/Rothko

What I have to say may not necessarily have anything to do with the clip presented..

Riley wrote in 1995 an essay called painting now where she suggested that if Mondrian is the Giotto of our age, that abstraction is still in its infancy. It is going to take “a lot of work to see this caravan get through the desert” (Dave Hickey). We’re just going to have to keep chipping away at the dammed question(s) through work, work and more work.  

Garcia

Okay. So I am working a crazy shift at work from Midnight till 7:00 a.m. and in order to make the best of it I brought a shit-ton of work to do. Going to study some anatomy and physiology for my personal trainers certification, going to work on sketches for my exhibition next Friday and going to post at least one new clip to my sight every hour till my shift ends.

But first – coffee. Lots and lots of coffee…

I want to start adding a little something to these clips to explain why I am selecting them. I think that artists need to start reclaiming art history from academia and the media. Much as I like Robert Huges and think his insights are pretty right on most of the time, the production on the PBS and BBC specials when it comes to art are so f#%king stuffy and unrealistic that they take the fun out of art and art histroy.  I want to hear artists talking about their working style, their metier, in their own words. Without bullshit production values…and yet for the time being trolling youtube for video clips is what’s on the menu. Each of the artists presented in these clips is posted here because their work or ideas have had some influience on me.  

What I like about Garcia is that his style of working with the piont and interval system is so antithetical to the demands of the art market that it is honestly a wonder how he made it. Sure his work is brilliant and technically just off the charts but it is so time consuming to make that if he produces more than a couple of paintings a year he’s doing well.

On a more personal note, working in the point and interval style is so limiting and restrictive that the opportunities which it opens up are limitless and that contridiction really appeals to me. I have not made a point and interval drawing in about nine years and I would love to work this way again, at some time in the future.