January 28, 2008

My Project 52 upload: portraits

"ira & brett: right; left"

"christy & ed; trish & mike"

"amzie; mom "

In progress:

January 21, 2008

My Project 52 upload: Town Square, Bentonville, Arkansas

January 14, 2008

My Project 52 upload (for an explanation, see January 7 below):

two works in progress.
left: 36" x 60"; right: 24"x24"; both acrylic on canvas.

i realized that my current exploration in painting is about my environment again. but this time, it's about what i am seeing on the walls of local galleries passed off as contemporary art and a contemporary palette. i like the palette of soft pastel colors, but i want my paintings to lack focus, to challenge balance and beauty, to teeter on the edge of the unattractive. this amounts to a reaction against convention and a retaliation against the staus quo.

the meat market gallery show, "intellectual property," is great—funny, irreverant proposals about the use of the space, including tearing down the building to build a safeway parking lot, or crashing an asteroid into the space. my exhibit proposal, called "we all fall down," was serious and severe in comparison, but i believe it would make for a strong, compelling exhibition nonetheless.

January 9, 2008

New Orleans Zoo

January 8, 2008

why can't I play?

January 7, 2008

As part of a friend's Project 52 idea (uploading new work every Monday for a year to our websites), I submit my proposal idea for the Meat Market Gallery's "Intellectual Property" show that opens this Friday night.Here's the description and conceptual context for my proposed use of exhibit space:

Description: Upon entering the gallery, viewers will be confronted with a bold, colorful, noisy front room. A video loops on the right side, a family arguing at the dinner table; flanking the video are large, playful, pop-art style photographs of images from the Iraq conflict and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; the wall on the right, painted yellow, is similarly covered in rows of smaller photographs more intimate and personal in nature. The wall in the back is papered in a pink paisley flocked wall covering. Sand pours from three holes in the wall, collecting on the floor beneath. The room creates anxiety in the viewer as they are over-stimulated by images and sounds that are unfamiliar or uncomfortable.

Front room

Continuing into the back room, the viewer steps onto dry, cracked earth. Three walls are covered in pink paisley flocked wallpaper. A video monitor directly in front of the viewer continuously loops a silent video of a wooden motor boat on a lake, an American flag flapping in the wind on the back of the boat; the wallpaper is stained with “water lines” suggesting the depth of water previously in the room. The fourth wall is painted the same yellow as the front room. This space is quieter and more contemplative for the viewer.

Back room

Conceptual Context: Having lived through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath while in New Orleans, I have a profound need to do what I can to remind people of the hurricane’s destructive force and its impact on the residents of the city and the Gulf Coast. Try as I might, the events before and after the hurricane have changed me in a way that prevents me from being silent. Now having moved back to Washington, DC, the drive to tell the story compels me to seek out a venue for that purpose. The Meat Market Gallery is perfect for that expression for the reasons described above. Likewise, the invasion of Iraq has called into question our national identity and our willingness to acquiesce to those in power. The similarities in these two events deserve comparison in a public forum.

The exhibit will challenge the viewer to question what he or she knows about the management of this ongoing war, natural disaster, terrorism, etc. How have these two events in particular changed us individually and as Americans? How safe are we? Can we count on the federal government in times of extreme need? What is the role of government in natural disasters and in day-to-day life? Are our tax dollars being used effectively? How much power do we give over to the president during these times? In light of the abuses of the past, the questions never cease.

As we approach a new election year, we are remain hopeful that a change in administrations will mean that the failures of the past won’t be repeated. Yet, with a complicit media and corporate consolidation, it almost guarantees that we as citizens will remain uninformed of the abuses of power of future administrations. This moment in history requires that we be actively engaged in the community to ensure that our needs are being addressed. It is imperative that we continue this dialogue and demand change and accountability or forever risk losing our democracy.

January 4, 2008

"My humps" are on display at the Studio Gallery's Midcity Artists show featuring the work of 32 artists. The show runs through January 26. My piece shown here is 48"x 36" and is a bargain at $900. Make sure you see it.