Art and the narrative

I’m really lucky to have artist friends. My every day job brings me in contact with some really cool scientists and administrators, but on my own time, I relate almost exclusively with artists.  When you know an artist well over a period of time, you can watch their work take shape and evolve. You have conversations about all sorts of every day things but it always turns back to art: making time to make art, getting over fears, finding an audience for your art, obtaining materials, developing new methods, struggling financially and socially.

I’ve noticed recently that many of my favorite artist friends have a strong narrative feature to their art. Clay Harris makes comics- writing and developing a story are just as important as finding source material for locations, arranging perspective, and balancing darks and lights. My buddy Eric in San Francisco has been busy making detailed computer graphic drawn images of himself in elaborate dreamed and nighmarish scenarios. Zofie Lang’s recent works focus on fairy tale stories. Zofie creates assemblage boxes- part sculpture, part collage- inspired by the dark and mysterious archeotypical stories of European oral folks tradition.

I’ve always loved expressive art the best: art that’s heavy and dark- moody and emotional. I’ve struggled for a long time with the desire to lay my soul bare while being afraid to put myself out there- to be judged, condemned or worse- ignored. I’m less afraid of this now than I used to be. I realize that fundamentally- people are all the same inside- and respond well to honesty and openness.  I don’t really have any secrets.  But then I wonder if I don’t really have anything interesting to say any more either.

The left brain with it’s linear thought- the part of our mind that puts one word in front of the other, is different than the right brain with its big picture conceptions the still image is frozen in time.  How can I bring the two together to make art that tells a story- communicates feelings- conveys the subtlety and conflicts that are the core of human experience?

I think in the most traditional art-school way- most of the sequential aspect of my art comes with each new piece that's developed- the way that one idea builds on the next. A more literal narrative comes into play in my journals- here I can combine the written word with images, and every page is a new day. This is also where my art is most expressive because it's easier to make demons when you know they can be closed up in a book- rather than having to face them every time you walk into a room and see that image hanging on a wall (or on an easel, or propped on the floor leaning up against a wall). My art journals began when I was 18- now I have a collection of nearly a dozen- chronicling my development as an artist and a person and they sit on a shelf in my new dining room studio. But how should I share them? Reproduce them for publication? Blow them up into big printed posters?  Display them somewhere? And I fear that the more public my journals become, the less safety and privacy I’ll feel while making them. The fact that I made them just for me is part of what makes them so special.

Artomatic 2012 begins

This morning was the first day of site selection for Artomatic. Dale and I woke up at 7am. Dale made the coffee and the breakfast and he walked Pugsley while I drank three cups of coffee and tried to focus my eyes before showering. We arrived at the new Artomatic location in Crystal City just before our scheduled 9am orientation. The registration process took a long time, but finally we got upstairs to select our spots by 10:30 or so. Dale and I ended up choosing an office room on the 9th floor- where many other friends are also exhibiting. There are fantastic artists showing on many different floors and in many different types of spaces. I just can't wait to see it all set up. It will be amazing.

I'm having a hard time choosing which pieces to display. I've made tons and tons of work since the last Artomatic in 2009 and I haven't shown anything anywhere since then. The difficult thing is that I have so many different kinds of work- figurative, abstract, paintings, drawings, iron sculptures and video art. Some of these are about babies, some are about dreams, some are about the ocean, and some are a romantic idealistic syrupy sweet notions, while others contrast those notions with darker images and ideas. I want to show it all- but I also want my own portion of this exhibit to hang together well and have unity. I think I will need to choose two related themes and save the other work for another time and place. I need to promise myself that I will be more persistent about finding more opportunities to show my work. Submitting applications to artist calls a few times per year just isn't enough. I need to be more creative about finding a venue to show my work- and I need to develop thicker skin when these attempts don't work out. I don't make art simply to pile it under my bed but to share with the world, and I know that there must be somewhere in the world where my images fit.

Youtube Vidoes from Long Lost Mix Tapes

For better or for worse, songs that remind me of SUNY Purchase in the 90's





Janice Joplin- Turtle Blues- I used this song in a 2D design class project freshman year. It also reminds me of George and Frida- my two awesome little red-eared slider turtles who didn't stay little for long.



Prince, Starfish and Coffee- this was on a mix tape that Eric sent to me during Winter Break in 1994.



James, Laid- also on a mix tape from Eric. The version he sent included a recording of him requesting it on a radio station, dedicated to Lauren and Diane.



The Pixies- Debaser- This seemed to be playing everywhere. There were also two alternative-type painting majors that I'd see around the Art Building who kind of looked like pixies.



Madder Rose- Madder Rose. Also from the same mix tape that Eric made.



Ray Charles- What I Say- on a mix tape that Mike made in Freshman year. My dad and I would play it in the car and sing along while driving over the Tappan Zee bridge.



Pete Seeger- Little Boxes. Some guy I met at the Clearwater Festival in upstate NY during the Summer of 1992 sent me a mix tape of Pete Seeger's children's songs. Then I bought another Pete Seeger tape that included this song. I'd play it in the car when my mom was driving me up to Purchase. I'd sing along until it annoyed her and she'd ask me to turn it off. Pete Seeger always reminded me of Purchase. My very favorite drawing teacher, John Cohen (famous for his photographs of the Beat poets) was related to him by marriage. He always gave me good advice about art and life.


Peter Paul and Mary- Puff the Magic Dragon. In the summer of 1994, while visiting Amber, we visited Woodstock, NY. I bought the album Peter Paul and Mommy Too and played it all the time for Matthew. This was also my favorite song from the original Peter Paul and Mommy album that my parents had when I was a kid.


Ani Difranco- Anticipate. I saw Ani Difranco live at that same Clearwater Festival and I bought that tape and listened to it constantly until it disappeared. I suspected my mom of hiding it because she got sick of hearing it (and perhaps feared that I would turn into a lesbian). I'm sure my mom never actually took this tape- it's not the kind of thing she ever did. But still... I never found out what happened to it.


Tori Amos- China. I first heard Tori Amos when visiting Timmy G. in Pennsylvania back when we were still in high school.  It was one of the only CD's I owned, and I played it fairly constantly for years, especially during the summer of 1994 driving around with Alana and Belinda on Long Island.


Beastie Boys- Slow and Low. I could post a dozen Beastie Boys songs that would bring back strong memories of Purchase, including No Sleep Til Brooklyn, and the entire album, Paul's Boutique. These songs always make me think of Matthew with blue hair dancing and singing along.


Fugees- No Woman No Cry. I think we played this song a lot during that hot summer with no hot water when Franklyn, Amber and Matt and I all lived in the one-bedroom apartment with lots of rats, lizards and other animals.


Remember in the 90's when people thought that Oasis might be the new Beatles? Ha! But I can't post about the 90's without including Wonderwall since this song always seemed to be playing somewhere. It brings back memories of cramming in the back seat of Diane's car with a crowd of people and driving to the White Plains mall.


Bob Marley- Mr. Chatterbox. Freshman year, Mike made a green Mr. Chatterbox mask out of a cardboard box which he wore while dancing for our 2D design class. The professor loved it.


Coolio-Gangsta's Paradise. Strange video. But I remember Matt singing along to this- it was quite cute.


The Specials- Free Nelson Mandela. I had this song on tape freshman year. During my first semester, I took a history course, "Black and White in South Africa." I ended up dropping the class after getting a C- on my paper (which is partly due to having borrowed a friend's computer to type up my paper- and I didn't understand how to use his spell-check resulting in many references to the "indigoes people of South Africa"). Shortly after I dropped the class, Nelson Mandela was set free. I played the song loud and danced around my apartment alone in my dashiki.



Velvet Underground- All Tomorrow's Parties.  This pretty much sums up everything- tea parties while wearing thrift store dresses, popovers served on vintage china, romanticized ideas of heroine, East Village inspired art cool...



Night on Bald Mountain. I played this song when that bearded Design Tech guy in the leather jacket with a seatbelt attached to it helped Amber moved her stuff out. I'm not sure why. Well, yeah, I kinda know, but I won't go into it. It wasn't her fault but I was heartbroken.



Beatles- Happiness is a Warm Gun. The White Album always reminds me of driving to Connecticut and back with Pat. Matt would sing along. We were a happy family for a long time- and music and driving were some of my best memories.