Phase II Complete

Don't ask me how many phases, I won't know until it is done.

Detail Shot

Recycled paper, cyanotype, gum bichromate, oil paint. 1 out of 35 pieces.

Visitation

I had a visitor today while I was in the back yard making prints. I don't usually enjoy visitors arriving unannounced when I am working. That's why they call it "work". I occasionally will make an exception and entertain the surprise drop in guest. Today was one of those days.

You can come back any time little lady. I don't mind at all.

I did get some work done as well.

I see things.

Humidity Stinks

That is all. The humidity is wreaking havoc with my printing. I am not content with this situation. Please stand by for further important information.

Prep for Gum

Have to flatten each piece prior to the gum application. Once the gum is on, you can't iron it until after the exposure and wash.It needs to be flat so that the negative will sit right on the print when it is exposing.

Getting Ready for Step 2

Contemporary Art and Memory

"The fact that memory is as vital as ever for knowledge of the self and for knowledge of the world is fundamental to the assertions I want to make concerning art and memory, in particular that art has become one of the most important agencies for the sort of "memory work" that is required by contemporary life and culture."

The above is from the introduction to Contemporary Art and Memory: Images of Recollection and Remembrance by Joan Gibbons.

This strikes directly at the core of what I am working on this semester, examining the idea that we, as individuals, operate based on a construct of ourselves that is rooted in memory. Memory which is highly malleable, potentially inaccurate, and sometimes outright false. This could potentially be positive, in the way that we interpret our memories to make us a better person. Of course if that is true, then the inverse would also be true, and that is a palpably horrifying thought.

Today's Progress Image

Me and my dog Mickie to give it some scale.

Important Information

"There is nothing wrong with being a romantic." - Tony Apesos

First Step in the Next Piece

Digitally stitched together to get a sense of arrangement. None of this will hold true once the final pieces are constructed, but it is a starting point. Final image to be about 6' high, and maybe 12' wide. there is more to add out to the side of this.

Mentor Secured

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Stephanie Cardon has agreed to be my mentor for this upcoming semester. I feel like this is a great fit, and that she will be able to help guide me through this most critical of developmental semesters.

Memory and Forgetting

"Memory comes down like a rope let down from heaven to draw one out of the abyss of unbeing." - Marcel Proust

Reading Today

Back Up On The Wall

Last Nights Reading

"Postmodernism and Consumer Society" - Frederic Jameson

Jameson speaking about Postmodernism -

"the transformation of reality into images, the fragmentation of time into a series of perpetual presents"

Nice.

Catharsis

Read, believe, understand, know, delete.

Important Thing to Know

Every contact leaves a trace.

Artist Statement

I remember this day from my childhood vividly. I was three years old and it was a gloriously sunny morning at the zoo with my family. I was sitting on the shoulders of my Uncle Dave, and I wore a bright red baseball cap to shield my eyes from the glare of the sun. As we watched a giraffe happily chewing on some leaves provided to him by his keeper, it stopped chewing and awkwardly walked over to the fence where we stood. The giraffe stretched his long neck down over the fence, and gently took the baseball cap from my head, and retreated back to the center of his yard. It was an amazing experience that I told people for years. The only problem with this story is that it never actually happened.

How could something that I remembered with such detail be a figment of my imagination? This is the question that drives my work. How is it that images and scenes are perceived, stitched together as memories, and then recalled? How are memories created of events that never took place? How do five different people have five different memories of the same event?

Salvador Dali once said “The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.” Memories are like circles, never ending, no beginning, constantly trying to find an origin. Take multiple memories and try to stack them together and there are gaps; small spaces that require interpretation to fill in the details. It is in this place that I find myself; trying to fill in the gaps, trying to make sense of what I am seeing and of what I am feeling; trying to create an understandable thought out of unintelligible pieces. It is the ultimate conundrum, and it is the inability to find the solution that keeps me searching.

Tick, Tick, Tick...

Well, there is no avoiding it. Every minute that goes by gets us one minute closer to the next residency. I, for one, am thrilled that it is nearly upon us. I feel like I have had a very productive semester of work, and I have to get it out someplace where people can see it.

I was very pleased with the baseball photos that I made a couple of posts earlier. These scarred circles, remnants of stitches, simultaneously simple and incredibly complex. Miles of thread wound into a ball, stripped of its hide. Some were already stripped, some I helped a little bit, curious to see what lay underneath the peeling skin. It’s similar to the fascination I have with picking at peeling paint, glue, tape, or chewed gum stuck under a desk (I know, gross, but I can’t help it).

I then took these photos a step further, allowing the weather that contributed to the appearance of the baseballs to contribute to the appearance of their prints as well. I made large cyanotypes, using the sun to create the image, and let the negative stay on the paper until the wind blew it off, allowing nature to control the length of the exposure as well.

I am fascinated with these results. So this is where I am on June 1, 2015. Paraphrasing Diane Arbus, this has all become a question about a question. The more I figure out, the less I know.