Freestylin'

I’m excited to be showing at Cupcake Royale in West Seattle… although their hanging methods are a bit of a challenge (stringing wires from the ceiling rail). With the help of my dear friend Kaylan, everything came together– despite an angry rail hook nearly claiming both our eyeballs!

The work in this show focuses on the mixed media work I’ve been developing this year. Many include my recent fascination with CD cases (jewel cases) as a surface element. Maybe it’s the influence of having worked as a graphic designer for a local CD manufacturer (Realtime Inc.) for a year and a half. Maybe it’s the recent CD design project I completed for musician Mike Greenleaf (see Jan. 16 2009 entry).Or maybe it’s just all the thoughts I’ve had lately of how quickly the world moves to update its technology, and the debris it leaves in the wake of this change. I enjoy painting on these clear little boxes, the dimensionality of painting on each surface and looking into the piece, or including findings inside of them to interact with the image.

I have realized that I am an impatient artist. My inspiration isn’t very polite– it doesn’t wait for a primed canvas and the perfect spread of paints. Creation for me is this inexplicable desire to interact with my surroundings, to tell my story with them. With this body of work, the creation of art is as much about how I see the world and what I choose to collect as it is about the technique of handling materials. With this in mind, I want to reflect on the time and place I NOW find myself– the things I thought about and what crossed my path along the way.

“It Doesn’t Matter, It’s Just Us, and Nobody Really Knows Us”-Mom, acrylic on jewel case with found cigarette foils and beer bottle cap mounted on book cover, approx 9″x11″

Look at What the Weird World Washes Up, acrylic on jewel case with pastel drawing, approx. 17″x11″

My reflection in a simple piece called “A Thought,” gold ink on an empty jewel case floating in shadowbox frame, approx. 10″x10″

My drawing today didn’t get interesting until I admitted my mistakes,
Until I stopped trying to be perfect,
Until I let the picture have something to say–
responding to what was really there, instead of my
expectations,
assumptions,
and fear.
I have often felt as though my art is my child–
If that is true, I don’t want to treat it like Michael Jackson:
Driving it to a destiny of artifice
and performance without substance…
Caving in on itself.
Honesty and uncertainty are the truly interesting things.

The human things.

Mi Casa, a house in Aruba, oil pastel on paper, 9″x12″

Artist Statement
I don’t ever want to settle into the complacency of “knowing.” The goal of my work is to reach that feeling of being lost in the woods (minus the fear)–that refreshing disorientation that makes you see everything with a clarity, as though for the first time. How does one stay awake that way, without letting the mind be lulled into the sleep of assumptions? I have recently started creating with found objects instead of automatically painting with oils on canvas, as I have done for years. In this way, I want my practice of artmaking to be a physical ritual of inviting the presence of mystery, not presuming to know where it will lead. What I have been surprised to find is that this way of working, for me, is often more truth-telling and autobiographical than ever before.

Paintings on view Dec 15- Jan 15th.

Artist & Craftsman Supply, 4350 8th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98105. 206-545-0091

Artist Statement: “B-sides and Rarities”
This show offers a glimpse of the often-unseen drawings and paintings that form the process of exploration through artistic academia. On view will be those pieces that stood out to me from the piles of work that line my path through classrooms and studios over the last ten years of study. I chose them for the energy they contain— raw, some of them unfinished, they reflect those moments that I was totally absorbed in making new discoveries.

Putting it all together… This was a great venue for this kind of show. There was more variety than I usually put up– and I brought way more pieces than I would need. The A&C guys were great help– donating last-minute materials, giving occasional input and swingin those hammers with me. Thanks, guys!

They even let me sign the wall!

This would be a beautiful thing to look out your window and see except on the day of your well-publicized reception!

Had a great time regardless! Thanks to those of you who ventured out of your houses that night to get there! And to those who missed it, the paintings will be up until January 15th.

What began as a move to new studio space became a move to a new living space as well… a total restructuring of my life. My work in the last couple months, (and lack of blog entries!) has been marked by this transition. I painted my last self-portrait directly on a mirror as commentary of my shifting environment– the figure relating to an ever-changing ground. I came up with the concept as I was looking for another room to rent in a house with roommates, and finding none that satisfied me. I realized now is the time to strike out on my own, to gather all my possessions that were usually spread out in bigger living situations, and condense them down to a 200 sq. ft. apartment. The gesture of the pose is me contemplating whether or not I can do it. The phrase also works on another level– the issue I’ve always had as a non-conformist: not wanting anyone to put me in a box, and always being aware of not doing that to others. Further, as I realize there are other ways to live than I had previously accepted for myself, I’m questioning the ways in which I create art that might be different from what I’ve been accepting for myself as well. I’m thinking of the box I had always fit myself within– and whether it may be time to break out of it.

I’ve taken to pairing found photos with found objects, because both are filled with histories I can only guess at. My job as an artist is to hint at the mystery while drawing out what I find beautiful about the objects themselves. I’m cheating with this one in that I know it’s my mom and dad’s car, but I don’t know anything else about the context of this moment, or how the photo even ended up in my hands. It keeps floating around in jewelry boxes or between the pages of books, begging to be noticed… it wasn’t until I found this cupboard door to paint it on that I truly appreciated the monochromatic greens of the photo.

I’ve been sorting through all the candid snapping-while-walking shots I took at the fair this year, focusing in on interesting compositions that include as many people as possible. Here’s the first of the images I cropped and photoshopped to tease out what I thought was visually compelling about it. (Below is the original snapshot)

I saw mothers with their daughters and sons and dogs,
bellies ripe and ready to unfold more
of this American life. I saw each and every one of them
hurrying for their slice:
A woman walking 10 dogs at a time
and the bumbling tangle when
she stooped to pick up their shit,
The pony-tailed Native American
with the Harley Davidson shirt and calloused hands
selling dream-catchers on the street corner,
The Asian man squatting for a cigarette break
in the shade of a dumpster
(the color of which matched his shirt),
The gangly nervousness of the sandwich boy
learning his job,
the smug grin of his co-worker
telling him what to do,
The girl in the black bikini who had 10 different ways
to giggle at her boyfriend,
The middle-aged man, multi-tasking,
flying 3 kites at a time,
The sullen face of the man who drives
the Honey Bucket truck
well past six o’clock,
The half-empty mimosa and martini
of a mother & daughter
laughing together like best friends.