City of Marigolds

++==++==++

2009-06-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

We've moved into our new house, where I'll be for the next three days before I travel to Italy.

Recently, I've been really digging the '100 Days 100 Nights' record, by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Good moving music.

Distance

2009-02-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

I have been severely neglecting my blog and my flickr lately. For the past several months, I've experienced a complete upheaval in my studio practice, and have really been putting in the hours trying to get things sorted out. Things are very much in the air. It's exciting, but nerve racking at the same time.

Regardless, I haven't felt much like putting myself into words. I have, however, been using my tumblr more or less regularly. And of course, I am always adding links to my delicious.

Let's keep in touch.

Jennifer Hartley at Flicker Theater and Bar

2008-12-09T05:55:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Hartley has new paintings on view tonight at Flicker Theater and Bar on Washington Street. Come out and see them-- they are beautiful!

Crop Circles: Review

2008-11-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

A really awesome review of the Crop Circles group show at Eyedrum is up right now on Atlanta art blog Burn Away. There's even a couple pictures of my piece! Check it out here.

Interview.

2008-11-17T12:54:00.001-08:00

Poet and Do-gooder extraordinaire Emily Benton has interviewed me for her blog series, "People Who Make Things." You can read it here.

Silence Piece.

2008-10-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new project tomorrow, which some of you may be interested in.

Beginning at 10 am, tomorrow morning, I am not going to say anything, to anyone, for any reason, for one week.

I will not be taking or receiving phone calls, nor will I be writing or reading emails. I am reducing all communication to nonverbal forms that have to happen right in front of me. I am attempting to make myself invisible.

If you like, you can watch my progress here, which I will be updating and posting to daily.

See you in a week.

NYC

2008-10-25T14:13:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to upload some pictures from our recent group trip to New York City, but Flickr has been experiencing some problems lately, and it's been a slow process. In the meantime, you can see more here.

Follow Up, and Article

2008-10-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

My opening at the Eyedrum Gallery last Saturday evening was tremendous fun. I was fortunate enough to see several old faces that I hadn't seen in quite a long time, and the whole shebang was busted up by a literal roving band of gypsies, who played polka music in the gallery, got almost everyone to dance, and stepped on nothing (including my piece, much of which is on the floor)!

The following night, the second edition of Talk20:Athens, was equally successful. We had a packed house at ATHICA. (almost 100 in attendance, a significant increase from last time), and ten wonderful presentations from some real characters. If you were in the audience, thank you very much for coming- I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

An additional bonus, our distinguished visiting artist for the week, Mr. Mark Dion, flew in that afternoon, and my thoughtful and wonderful Art History professor (who shall remain nameless for posterity) was kind enough to entertain him that evening by bringing him to Talk20. Having no idea he was in the audience, I was unable to adequately prepare with pencils in my pockets, but he didn't seem to mind, and told me later over supper that he had a great time.

What does a young artist do after a weekend such as this?

He takes his laptop to a coffeehouse in Athens, and begins research for a paper, plans his next performance based-project, makes copper plates all day, and does not sit down.

Onward, into the mist!

Opening at the Eyedrum Tonight

2008-10-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hello. Long time no see.

I have an installation in group show Crop Circles, Cosmograms, and Psychogeographies at the Eyedrum Gallery in Atlanta, which will be opening tonight. It's a big, coloful installation made of fabric, cut paper, miles of yarn and almost a thousand straight pins. Intrigued? Come on out at 7 tonight and see the craziness for yourself. When I was there installing, the work that was being put up around me looked pretty interesting -- promises to be a good time.

Additionally, tommorrow marks the second edition of Talk20:Athens, which will be at happening at ATHICA at 7 pm. Admission is free, and presentations promise to be excellent.

The planning and execution of both of these events have kept me away from my blog lately. I'm keeping my head down and plowing ahead, folks. If you're around come and see what I've been up to!

Questions

2008-09-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

Emily has tagged me to reveal 6 facts about myself. Don't you just *love* things like this?

1. I have epileptic seizures when I don't get enough sleep, skip meals, or get very stressed out. Any combination on the three will guarantee sure-fire results.

2. Although I don't really consider myself to be someone overly interested in fashion, I find clothing endlessly fascinating. Especially when considered as 'wearable, durable, washable sculpture,' which is how I like to think about it.

3. I have extremely good hearing. Often, I listen in on the conversations around me in a crowded room, and can distinguish each one at any given moment. Sometimes, when two people are talking, and one cannot understand what the other one is saying, I can repeat the entire statement, word for word, even if standing across the room. It's because I'm a superhero.

4. For a brief period of time, and for apparently no reason, myself and a friend (who shall remain nameless) tried to go on an "all-reconstituted" diet. We would only consume foods that grew to their edible state when soaked, cooked or simmered in water. Nothing else. We did this for two weeks.

5. On that note, I was vegan for about 5 years. Although I rarely got sick and had lots of energy during that time period, I was stupendously underweight (this is tied in with the "all reconstituted diet"). This fact hit home one night when I cracked a rib riding on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the South Carolina Spartanburg County Fair. Following that, I began eating fish. Then milk. Then cheese. Then bacon. Then chicken. Then cold cuts. Then burgers and hot dogs. That's about where I'm at now.

6. I think Weiner Dogs are God's gift to all mankind. Along with fire, oil paints, and Kate Bush.

Here is a Weiner Dog in a giraffe costume.

And there you have it!

Guest Appearance

2008-09-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've been plugged on ATHICA's front page!

Here's that photo a little larger, so you can really look into those "inquisitive" eyes.

What is happening with my mouth?

Planning for the upcoming edition of Talk20 is going well. I have a bunch of really interesting folks lined up for this time. Last time was a blast -- this one should be even better.

Happening: October 19th (Sunday) at ATHICA, 7pm. Libations, smiles provided.

Daily Serving

2008-09-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Sally Smart, one of my recent new favorite artists, is featured today on the excellent art blog Daily Serving. Hop to it soldier.

How did they know I love her so much...? I wonder if I had anything to do with it... ?

(*wink wink*)

Project in Progress

2008-09-13T19:14:00.001-07:00

First Four Weeks of School

2008-09-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

The hell have you been...?

2008-09-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

School started like a tidal wave this semester. Before the first week was over, it seemed like I was already behind.

My friends have been reminding me that this is the way things always feel at the beginning of the year, each Fall. Having only done this once, I guess I forgot-- or I wasn't anticipating it.

Predictably, I'm busy reading for art history right now, but I thought I would mention a few points of interest:

1. My Drawing class is going well. In two weeks, not one of my students has had a single absence or tardy (!!!). This is noteworthy because the class is at 8 in the morning, and also because it's the best class ever. Why would they want to miss it? (One student arrives, ready to draw, every morning at 7:30 in the AM. Gold star!)

2. My gigantic, tedious, time-eating window installation has been executed and installed in the I.C.E. windows for the world to see. It looks great. I was honored to be asked by Mark Callahan, the director if I.C.E. to take on this project, and I sincerely hope I lived up to his expectations. Pictures forthcoming.

3. It is official: the second edition of TALK20:Athens is scheduled for October 19th at ATHICA (Athens Institute for Contemporary Art) in conjunction with the soon-to-be-opening exhibition 'Overload.' Starting putting your slides together.

**UPDATE** I'm going to be presenting myself this time, on Stendhal Syndrome. Hot diggity!

Being that I'm not at my laptop right now, I don't have access to my Flickr or photos. They're coming soon, I promise.

And Jen, if you're reading this, don't think I've forgotten about your request for photos of the new building--also forthcoming.

See ya!

Things to look forward to:

2008-08-16T15:20:00.001-07:00

This semester, I really lucked out with my course schedule.

"Really, you're too kind!"

Firstly, I will returning to the print studio, and working on metal after a three year hiatus. Many rosy days of my undergraduate at Tulane were largely spent in Teresa Cole's print shop, painting copper with hard ground and spitting into acid (*sigh*). The prospect of returning to print, specifically Etching, is a little scary (after three years, I'm guessing I'm a little rusty) but exciting nonetheless. Future results will be shared here, no doubt about it.

Additionally, I'm enrolled in a 'Seminar in Contemporary Art.' Doesn't that sound good? From what I understand, the course material is largely based around a 5-day trip to New York City taken together as a class.

"Shit!"

Considering that I've never really been to New York (except for one weekend when I went with my family to do the Times-Square-New-Years thing), this is pretty exciting for me. Apparently, with this professor as our guide, we hit "everything" in a five-day period. "Everything" could mean a lot of things. I'm guessing there won't be a lot of free time, but I'm sure I'll manage to make space to pick my jaw up off 5th Avenue.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is a coveted spot in a Postmodern Theories course. Not only will this class fulfill one of my two pesky art history requirements, but, moments ago, I received word that Mark Dion will be attending our lecture on the notion of the archive and the collection.

Mark Dion.

In class.

With me.

Possibly sitting next to me.

Potentially borrowing a pencil from me.

This is all too much.

Internet Kiosks, and Where I Have Been

2008-08-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have figured out by now that the phrase "City of Marigolds" (that's the name of this blog, aimless internet rambler) is the tagline for Winterville, Georgia. Winterville was, up until one week ago, the small town directly east of Athens that I lived in during my first year of graduate school at UGA-Athens, in the Lamar Dodd School of Art. It was, among other things, scenic, secluded, quiet, populated by horses dogs and chickens (the latter primarily free-range, ostensibly autonomous, and mostly in my backyard[!]) and 20 minutes by truck into town, each way.

Here is a picture of some dudes that comes up when you google 'Winterville, GA,' as I just did.

Hi guys!

I first saw the little sign for Winterville on Athena Road when I was moving in, I thought the tag, "City of Marigolds" was so charming, I decided to name my blog after it. And here we are.

During last year, it quickly became abundantly obvious that I was going to be spending the majority of my time in the studio, at the University, in Athens, and that my buculoic home life was something I was missing out on (big time). My clearest impressions of my house were the 15 minutes I spent unlocking the door, taking off my shoes, brushing my teeth and getting into my bed inside it (not to mention the extra 5 minutes I spent getting dressed and brushing my teeth the next morning). The commute, what with gas prices, was too expensive to make multiple times in one day.

So I moved into town. I now live in the Normaltown neighborhood of north Athens, where my good buddy Jessica Mills used to live, with her two roommates and all of my piles of crap.

...and no wireless internet.

It's cool Brian, it's cool. It's not like you need to get on the internet everyday, right?

I mean, maybe you would get more painting done if you weren't constantly checking to see who's "favorited" your photos on Flickr?

Or adding more artist websites to your enormous collection of internet bookmarks?

Or reading other people's blogs, including the blog of that crazy newscaster* in Austin?

*you know who you are.

Obsessively checking Pitchfork, Sterogum, You Ain't No Picasso, Brooklyn Vegan and MOKB for free mp3s? (I admit it).

Analyzing obscure wikipedia articles for the slightest inaccuracies? (I admit it).

Or writing your own blog, Brian...? Do you really need to amuse yourself and roughly one dozen other people with your pithy comments and found internet photos on a daily basis?

Do you?

Yes, yes I do.

Not having internet in my home has led towards some increasingly alarming behavior on my part; for instance: I have been bogarting one of the shiny new internet kiosks in our shiny new studio building since I got back from Greensboro. This disturbing trend shows no signs of slowing (by the way, I bet you can't guess where I am right now!)

Also I seem to be clenching my jaw like it's going out of style. But I think this has more to do with smoking only 7 (!) cigarettes a day. Take my word for it, it's a major improvement.

So, to round it all off, if the blogging seems inconstant these days, it's not because I don't love you. It's because now, for the time being, I am forced to go without.

That, and:

1. I have been contracted to illustrate a forthcoming book of poems for South Carolina author John Lane. If all goes according to plan, a limited edition of letterpressed and hand bound copies will be printed by Horse and Buggy Press of Durham, NC. It's quite a project. I'm trying to finish it before school starts.

2. I am almost one-third (!!!) done with my first novel, Worn Out Joy, which consists entirely of paintings, drawings and collages on paper, one for each paragraph. I'm trying to finish it before school starts.

3. My forthcoming book of photographs documenting my recent residency at the Elsewhere Artist Collaborative is well underway in design. Once that's through, I'm going to send it to Lulu, so that it can be profesionally printed and perfect-bound for anyone who wants to know what it's like to live for 5 weeks in crazy-town. I trying to finish it before school starts.

Clearly, these things are not going to happen. But I can die trying! :D :D :D

So give me a few weeks, friends, and I promise, and a more regular barrage of hilarity (which I know you all come here, again and again, yearning for) will be once again available. For now, I'm in the studio cutting tiny branches out of construction paper.

Syllabus

2008-08-09T12:02:00.001-07:00

Spending most of today writing my syllabus for my upcoming ARST 1050 class. For all the laymen out there, that's University speak for Introduction to Drawing.

That's right folks, in less than two weeks I will be teaching college.

And I know you know what that means.

Almost Ready....

2008-07-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Been working like a dog on fire in the studio lately. I have a show in Swainsboro, GA that opens next week. Aren't you excited?! Oh, you're *so* sweet!

Today is the final stupid stuff - building little hanging contraptions for the works on paper, framing a painting, and building some hangers for this guy:

Which is going to a separate show, and will be installed in a restaurant in South Georgia along with about 20 of my friends' works as well. However, the actual name of the town escapes me right now.....

...I'm sure it will come to me sooner or later....

In the meantime, I'm moving from my house in Winterville (where the above was photographed), into the Athens metro area (if you could call it that). I'll miss being out there, with all the chickens and friendly horses, but I won't miss the 20 minute drive between my studio and a home-cooked meal, not to mention the staggering cost of gas. From my new place in town, I should be able to walk or bike to the studio, daily; which means pictures taken while riding my bike!

I know you're excited, but really, you've got to calm down.

If anyone needs me, I'll be at Micheal's, buying clothespins and fixative while sniffing fake flowers.

---

2008-07-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Forgot-

2008-07-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

I never posted pictures of my final product from the Elsewhere residency.

(pretty cool with the lights off as well...)

And there we have it.
The piece came out well. There was not much separation between what I envisioned and what I was actually able to create this time -- meaning, this is almost spot on what I wanted. Anyone who makes art (or anything, for that matter) on a regular basis is probably familiar with this phenomenon: you see something wonderful in your mind, and when you've gone about creating it in the real world, there's a chasm between what you envisioned and what you were able to make. That chasm, in this case, was extremely narrow. This is heartening news for me.
I added a page to the 'Projects' section of my website about my Elsewhere experience. If you're interested, you can find it here.

In case you were wondering....

2008-07-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

If your out-of-state license plate is stolen, and you go to the plate office requesting the following:

a) That your registration be transferred to the state you currently live in and

b) That you get another license plate for you vehicle,

...expect to through a gigantic wrench into the inner workings of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Also, you better have the title to your vehicle (where the hell did I put that?!) in your hot little hand.

Also, you better have a driver's license for that state you are registering for.

Also, you better have car insurance in the state you are registering for.

I would also recommend that you actually have a license plate on your car when you are driving around town acquiring all these things. An incident report from the police may cut it in some situations, but not all.

("Officer, I'm not trying to be rude, but what exactly do I have to gain by fabricating a story like this? I'm *just* asking.")

If you are going to the local DMV to transfer your driver's license to the state you are living in, you should be sure to bring the following:

a) Your current driver's license.

b) Another form of state issue I.D. (read: passport, Military ID, what have you)

c) A document proving your current residence is in fact, within the state your are transferring the license to. Bank statements are acceptable. Library cards, University IDs are kosher, uncontrollable rage/tears/an exploding head are not.

Make sure that when engaging in all activities above, you at no point mention that you are in fact moving to another address in a week and a half. To do so will insure you have to start the whole process over again, which means more driving around with no license plate on your car, more waiting in lines, more terrifying vending machines (don't ask), and a boatload more of that certain brand of charm, found only in government employees.

At no point, should you:

a) Cry. Ever. Don't. ("Sir, please pull yourself together.")

b) Seek pity.

c) Offer personal details about why you are doing all of this in a vain attempt to gain footholds. There are no footholds to be gained. This is a surface-less mountain.

In other news, 26 year-old male motorists owning red pickup trucks are in some of the highest insurance brackets. And despite being almost an hour and a half apart, Athens is considered a suburb of Atlanta--you know, the city with the worst traffic in America? How interesting!

Thief!

2008-07-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

Who the hell steals a license plate off of a pickup truck in the middle of the night?!

Fucking jerks.

Can't write more, I'm waiting for the po-po to come out to my house so I can give a full account.

Dammit!

More Famous Friends

2008-07-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

Kim Deakins in New American Paintings! This is a really shitty picture!

Jon Barwick in New American Paintings!
Both Jon and Kim are in graduate school with me at the University of Georgia. Congratulations to both of them for making it in to his years Southeastern edition of New America Paintings, and Jon for the second time! (What a punk!)
I've never submitted, but I'm thinking that this may be my year.... we'll see!

Elsewhere Artist Conversation, Excerpt: Conceal

2008-07-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Several days in, something happened, which I’m not sure I fully understand; however, after this experience, everything shifted. I made an unlikely friend in an unlikely place.

Yuri is one of Elsewhere’s interns. One day, we ran into each other on the third floor, where I had returned once again to try to understand these spaces that had been so carefully constructed, and whose purposes had continued to elude me. One in particular, appeared to be nothing more than an office. Here it is.

Yuri explained to me that this was the ‘Dead Letter Office,’ built by recent visiting artist group ‘Eight Dollar Sweater’. One evening, Eight Dollar Sweater invited the public to come into Elsewhere and select an object to which they felt an emotional response. That emotional response was then written down, and sent up to the third floor, via the hole in the building. Remember?

Upon receiving the letter, the responses were numbered and catalogued, stamped and filed. Following that, the artists typed a response, and crafted a small gift to be sent down the hatch to the original participant.

Video cameras were set up in the Dead Letter office on the third floor, as well as the first floor where the participants were waiting, and both were able to view one another. It was during this event that Yuri first entered Elsewhere. He has yet to leave.

I sat on the floor listening to this story, and watched this person whom I had met earlier that day become more and more excited while telling me his story – his enthusiasm recreated the experience for me, and I felt as if I had been one of those people, eagerly awaiting my response from a bucket lowered through a hole in the ceiling. Out of nowhere, Yuri stopped speaking, and without a word, picked up the stamp used by the artists to catalogue the letters, inked it, and stamped his arm. I watched him press the stamp into the ink again, and raise it, looking at me. Silently I extended my arm, and Yuri catalogued me as well. Without a word, we left the room and moved on.

It is so rare that strangers touch one another, and it is a powerful act. Would this man have stamped me before he walked into Elsewhere that evening? Would I be someone who would do such a thing when I would eventually leave?

Elsewhere Artist Conversation, Excerpt: Reveal

2008-07-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

I knew that before I could add to this chaos, I had to somehow impose order. I looked towards a room full of old wood; some rotten, some in decent condition. All of it filled with splinters and rusty nails, and most likely tetanus. The room however, held great potential. I wanted this room, I wanted it clean, and I wanted to fill it again.

I cleared a space in the piles of material on the third floor, and installed two sets of industrial shelves. Once we realized they were too tall for the room, we did what anyone would do, and sawed into the ceiling. Problem solved: let's stack some wood.

I was in it now. My hands were dirty, and I was spending my days and nights on the third floor, stacking and moving everything I could find. Downstairs, the former wood room was opened ground, tilled and ready for secrets of my own to be planted. Upstairs, objects were uncovered, some obviously undisturbed for years. There were many moments when I would remove my dust goggles and marvel at the treasures I'd found:

An old leather suitcase, so worn as if to appear forever wet. Two beautiful glass bottles, containing nothing save dusty old air; a small pair of white women's shoes, the straps attached to one another. An issue of Time, from the year of my mother's birth, a camera, from the year of my own. Another shoe, this one a man's, so formal and severe yet impossibly small, a rusty knife with a wooden handle, loose in the hand and razor sharp to the fingertip.

Thank You!

2008-07-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to my Conversation. After some initial technical difficulties (seriously, all I did was move my computer downstairs, how the hell did it *erase* one of my videos?), everything went off without a hitch. It was exciting. It was poetic. It was like this.

Are you seeing this? Amazing.

Special thanks to my good friends Jennifer Hartley, Rob Peterson, and Emily Hadland, who drove up from Athens (!!!) to see my performance. You guys, seriously, we are the coolest graduate students in town.

For everyone who couldn't make it, no worries. I will be putting the videos on my web site soon, as well as an in-depth explanation of this entire process, so you can *feel* like you were here, from the comfort of your own home! (Which I imagine has air-conditioning, and this place definitely does not.)

So, for the 5 or so days I am left here, I'll be finishing my piece, extracting my stuff from Elsewhere's chaos, and enjoying these wonderful people's company for one last week. I'm going to miss it dearly...

Elsewhere Artist Conversation Series: Brian Hitselberger

2008-07-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

I hope you'll be able to join me tomorrow night for my Artist Conversation at Elsewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina.
During my residency at Elsewhere, I re-curated what was formerly the "wood room" on the second floor of the 24-hour studio. I cleared a space on the incredibly messy and dusty third floor, installed two sets of industrial shelves, and built a wood management system. Hopefully, future artists and residents will use this system for as a safer and more organized system of access to the raw materials that Elsewhere has to offer. The long-term plan for Elsewhere is to convert the third floor into a "more traditional" artist workshop. This was the first step in that direction.
Once the room was emptied of wood, I thoroughly cleaned the walls and floor, and applied polyurethane to all surfaces -- it was sparkly and clean. I then began creating a room-sized installation, referencing the coexistence of poetry and chaos within Elsewhere's space.
At once Utopic and terrifying, Elsewhere serves as a completely self-sustaining museum, in which no materials leave the premises, and only selected elements are brought into the space. To create work here is an exercise in reuse, re-contextualization, and reinvention. However, because of this process, the physical environment itself is constantly changing--nothing stays in one place for long. The net result upon visitors is a quickly shifting world within a decaying space, a sensation at once exhilarating and ominous; in this maner, Elsewhere functions as a scale model of our reality, where real-life sordid politics, uncomfortable inter-personal relationships, and fragile international relations are played out in metaphor with old objects, cracking paint, falling ceilings and urban detritus.
Within this space, I wanted to create a place-holder illuminating this union of discord and order. My piece, 'Goodbye to All That,' attempts to straddle a sense of poetic beauty and silence, while significantly altering the physical space, and manifesting an environment of an ominous an consuming unknown. In this manner, the piece is a model of Elsewhere, which is a model of our reality. It is a model of a model.
My Conversation will attempt to re-create for an audience the experience of working and living daily, for 30 days, in this place. The nuances of Elsewhere, as well as it's extremities (reflective silence and deafening visual noise) will be equally straddled through a serial narrative projection comprised of photographs, videos, and sound, accompanied by short texts authored by the artist illuminating the materials from an individual perspective. However, these texts will not be read by the author; rather, audience members, both willing and unwilling, will narrate the experience in real time, in a sense allowing others to occupy the role I have filled for the past month.
'Goodbye to All That' will begin at 8pm in the Elsewhere, at 608 S. Elm Street in downtown Greensboro, and should last about an hour. Admission is free. Expect surprises. I hope you can make it.

Rage, rage against the dying of light...

2008-07-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Joanna visited me from Portland. She came to check out Elsewhere, and help me with my installation.

We got a lot done.

It's starting to really come together. I'm feeling good about it...

...and so was Marybird.
Tommorrow, the the following day, I have the horse-blinders on my for my Artist Conversation, which is scheduled for 8pm, here at Elsewhere. I'd love for you to come.

But right now, I think I need some sleep.

Sigh

2008-07-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

It's going.... slowly but surely....
I guess it never occurred to me that by taking a room in a building without air conditioning, and completely covering the walls in red drapes, I might end up creating and environment that is *very* hot.
Whoops.
Regardless, I am almost ready to move on to stage two. By the way, there are three stages. So I guess you could say I'm almost halfway done. Stage two involves electricity, as well as a trip to Home Depot! Two of my favorite things!
I will keep you posted. As always, more photos on my Flickr site. If anyone needs me, I'll be upstairs stapling.

...in progress...

2008-07-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I've been being too shy about what I've been up to.
I've totally reclaimed the former wood room, shellacked every surface. And I'm making it red.

Still going on this step, but there's much more to come, I promise.

Meng Hsuan-Wu

2008-06-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last night, fellow Elsewhereian Artist-in-Residence Meng screened her short film, 'Looking for Mr. Greensboro,' documenting her ongoing performance in the city of Greensboro. Meng has, since she arrived here at Elsewhere, been walking daily around the city, looking for Lane Green, a man she has begun calling 'Mr. Greensboro.' He calls her 'Ms. Formosa."
While walking, Meng wears a sculpture of a house on her back like a backpack, that houses a hidden camera inside it. People looking at the house on her back will see themselves on a television screen inside the piece. Brilliant.

I've liked Meng since I met her, but last night, I realized how much I admire what she does. While watching this charming film of her daily travels, I realized how incredibly fearless she is, to travel alone into an unknown city everyday, speaking to absolute strangers, wearing a house on her back. This is not something that everyone could get away with - I think it takes a special kind of artist to undertake a task like she has.
Congratulations, Meng! Last night went wonderfully!

Pigpen

2008-06-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

There's quite a bit of dust on the third floor.
Cut through the ceiling yesterday to set up a shelving system for all of the wood at Elsewhere. This was a group effort between George, myself and Aliya. Following dinner, and a very informal artist presentation (in which I waxed poetically about my work in between mouthfuls of fried green tomatoes), many awesome people showed up to move wood and drink beer. Folks, we got it all moved in under two hours, and we drank all the beer in less than one.
To everyone who came out last night to help, thank you thank you thank you! I hope my piece in my new clean room will be a fraction as awesome as each of you!

Pictures and Cleaning

2008-06-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

Closet outside Angela's installation, full of and bound with ribbons.
Books and more books. Next to my desk.

Staircase with ribbons.
It's early right now. I've been getting to bed before midnight (when was that last time that happened?) and waking up at 7:30 to be alone downstairs for a few minutes, before things get cracking around here.

Wednesdays are cleanup days. At noon, everyone at Elsewhere comes together to clean and organize various spaces within the museum. This is also the first day of our public hours for the week -- we'll want things to look nice, won't we?
I've begun re-curating the space for my proposed project. For the past two days, myself, Aaron, Eliza and Aliya have been pulling all the crazy untouched junk out of the storage space on the third floor (lovingly referred to by those here at Elsewhere as "Shit-continent"), and re- organizing it so it will take up less room. In the space that remains, myself and many very helpful volunteers will be moving all of the wood in the 'Wood Room' on the 2nd floor up to the 3rd, effectively creating a wood organization system, for the benefit of future artists-in-residents as well as the entire Elsewhere community. Hey, somebody had to do it.
Then, once the wood room has been cleared and swept (maybe as early as tommorrow?), I start building my piece.
Oh my!

Things are going much smoother and faster than I expected *knocks on wood.* This probably has a lot to do with the fact that everyone here has been completely rad in helping me with my harebrained scheme.
But wild scheming is certainly what this is all about.
Pictures of the reorganized third floor are hard to capture, as the level of airborne dust makes photography a trial. But I promise, the final products will be well-documented.
In the meantime, I signed up to cook everyone dinner next week..... you have been warned.....

The new digs, in words.

2008-06-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here we are; home sweet home.
I once was fortunate enough to see artist Lesley Dill speak about her work and practice. Among other things, she recounted about her experience traveling to India with her husband, a documentary filmmaker, for a film job. Not exactly knowing what to anticipate, she was 'alarmed' to discover, on stepping off the plane, 'how immediately at home I felt. Rather than coming to this country for the first time [which was in fact the case], it seemed as if I was returning after prolonged absence.'
I think I could say the same of this place. I was expecting to be completely overwhelmed. I was expecting to be completely disoriented. I was expecting, I admit it, to be afraid. I was not.
The speed that I found myself acclimated to the rhythms of life here (surprisingly, in an environment as chaotic as this, they exist) was and is amazing to me. Wake up. Get to the bathroom to brush teeth (only one for upwards of 15 people!). Have appropriately strong coffee with other early risers. Walk to the YMCA. Swim. Shower. Walk home. Have lunch. Write. Take pictures. Make short movies where photos aren't appropriate. Venture upstairs (not recommended for those not fully awake). Look at what you can. Be aggressive about it. Take more pictures. Make plans, knowing they will soon become decisions. Write some more. Go back upstairs. Leave again. Walk -- this is where you will get the majority of your thinking done, in the visual silence of the sidewalk, as well as the sight of your own feet, one in front of another, away from (and eventually back to) your temporary home, this maniac place you have already (less than 48 hours!) come to love.
This is one tack to take when living here that I've found, but I cannot speak for all of us. Every person here, no matter what role they are playing, exists in their own mental space, navigating chaos (contained, albeit loosely). There is not enough room for everyone's mental world, and they frequently bump into each other. This is when you decide to open your mouth. This is, in many ways, the best part.

The first floor is the most social. The tools, common spaces, kitchen, front door are all located here. The Aviary, a large porch-sized 'shelf' roughly three feet from the ceiling (created by Mary Rothlisberger, a former resident artist and current employee of the staff), offers some respite from the never-ending flow of visitors and residents -- or at least an opportunity to watch them secretly.

Another section of more consuming privacy is the Log Cabin, constructed by former resident artist (and current visitor), Susanna Mira.

Unsurprisingly, many of the projects undertaken by the past residents offer some form of isolation-- this is a busy place, with many people moving through it, with much to be done. When asked as a visitor to create something within it (over the course of one month), many individuals feel it entirely necessary to manufacture some form of solitude, and create silence in a constantly changing live/work space.
When you get right down to it, it's not so different from anything else, anywhere else. Except that here, rather than TVs, iPods, cell phones, car horns, traffic lights, barking dogs and intercom speakers, we find ourselves surrounded by visual noise, which takes the form of fabric, ribbons, old wooden furniture, books (and more books), toys, glass panes, 2 x 4s, instruments, assemblages. If everything object here spoke with a barely audible whisper, the ensuing din would be enough to deafen one for life. There is noise here, all around you, everywhere.

How fortunate then, to be asked to craft from this noise, music.
It became clear to me today (2nd day!) what I will do while I'm here. In true Brian-fashion, I won't be talking about it anymore than I have to until I'm about halfway through - my idea is still raw, freshly hatched. It must be nurtured in silence for a bit longer, and then I'll speak about it.

Elsewhere - Day Two

2008-06-20T14:06:00.001-07:00

Getting into the swing of things.

Much faster than I expected.

With help from my main man, Gambit. Gambit, you have and always will be my favorite X-Man.

Elsewhere - Day One

2008-06-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

All i can say at this point is this:

I arrived at three.

I looked around for the next three hours.

I think I've met everyone (but probably not).

I got a desk.

Here it is:

This is mine to "personalize." Anything I put on this desk becomes (for the length of my stay), mine.

I need to be here for a couple more days before I start really talking about it--- it's a lot to take in, but for now, let me say it's thrilling.

Traveling to Elsewhere

2008-06-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

As of tommorrow, this is where I will be living for one month.

These photos are from the official website of the Elsewhere Artist Collaborative, in Greensboro, NC. It's a 4 story warehouse, filled, top to bottom, with stuff. Stuff like you would find in the world's most amazing thrift store.
But you can't buy any of it; instead, artists from all over the world are invited to come and live in this facility for weeks at a time, and use the raw materials found in this building to create works of art. Nothing leaves this place, including the work you make. It's an exercise in arrangement, and re-contextualization. It's postmodern. It's also, as of tommorrow, my home.

Over a year ago, when I was living at Hub-Bub, I met a woman who drove up from Georgia to attend an exhibition opening for one of her friends. For whatever reason, we started talking. She told me she herself was an artist, and that I should check out her website. The following day, I did so; while poking around, I happened to take a look at her CV, and saw that she had (several years earlier) done a residency at this place called "Elsewhere," something that I had never heard of at the time.
Living at Hub-Bub for so long, I became extremely interested in "residency culture," and was doing much research about various artists who literally traveled from one residency to another, for years on end, all over the world. These individuals were particularly fascinating to me, because it somehow resembled (intellectually, anyway) a critically sanctioned form of homelessness -- a way of life that, having just come to South Carolina from New Orleans, I also found interesting and (dare I say it?) strangely appealing.

It's important that I mention: I never, ever thought I would be this kind of person. The kind of person who would even desire to travel from place to place, making work in new environments, making new friends (both ultimately beneficial and enriching experiences, but truly exhausting). Maybe that's why I became so interested in this kind of lifestyle initially -- because it is so thoroughly not the kind of person that I am.
And I've continued to do it. New Orleans to Spartanburg, and Hub-Bub. Spartanburg to Athens, and graduate school. And now, Athens to Greensboro, to Elsewhere-- but only for a short period of time.
Consider this: Annie Proulx, author of the short story that eventually became the film Brokeback Mountain, has been traveling the world for years now, going from one program to the next. While writing about two men falling in love in the American Midwest, she was living and working in eastern Europe. Hindsight, recollection become the framework upon which to build your work.
After learning of this program, I think it's fair to say that on some level, I became obsessed. I waited for a time when I thought I could make the journey without interrupting the rhythm of my life in Athens, assembled an updated portfolio, filled out the application, and mailed it in. This entire time, I knew I was not going to be accepted. I continued to believe this when I was contacted about a phone interview. I interviewed with the program director, knowing full well that this was too much a pipe dream, that I wanted it too much to have it offered. Several weeks later, when I was offered a month long residency in this program, I wrote them back, accepting the offer, and still, still knowing that this was some kind of mixup, and that I would not be living in a warehouse full of stuff, making art.
Tommorrow, I make the two hour drive from my parents house, where I am writing this, to Greensboro, to live and work in Elsewhere. It's happening. It's real.

There's no air conditioning inside. You walk or bike almost a mile to use a shower. You live, work, and sleep in close quarters, with people you meet the day you get there. You are asked to arrive without a plan. You are asked to arrive with a flashlight and a canteen, to prevent becoming lost and becoming dehydrated. You cook meals together, and incorporate found objects, installation, assemblage and performance into your process (a process which, for the majority of the visiting artists, may have little or nothing to do with your previous endeavors). Towards the end of your term, you speak publicly about what your experience. You leave with nothing but photographs.

Can you tell, from my writing this, how fucking excited I am? I cannot wait.

How is it possible for someone to do this, and not leave a changed man? How could this experience, which I anticipate to be draining in so many different ways, negatively impact someone who is still very much in the process of forging their own artistic identity?
I have a strong suspicion that nothing but good will come from this.
I promise, I will keep you posted.

Arts Workshop at Converse College -- Final Exhibition

2008-06-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Again, belated post, but these kids worked their butts off last week, and I wanted to give credit where credit was due. Here are some photos of finished pieces, all mounted and hung in the Milliken Art Gallery at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

I should note, all these photos were swiped from Miles' facebook photo album -- I was a dingbat and neglected to bring my camera to the final exhibition. Am I lame or what?

Alex's Obesession drawing

Ashley's obsession drawing

My favorite of Dylan's Gestural pieces

Miles' Screenprint/monoprint diptych
Ashley's Cut Paper drawing, with rainbow monoprint pieces and ink washes
Tou's Expanded Forms drawing. Part one of two.
Brock's awesome screenprint diptych.

Way to go, everyone! Andrew and I had a great time working with you over the week. We couldn't have asked for a more motivated group of students-- once we explained our projects and gave you guys demos, you all went crazy! And didn't take breaks! Not even to go to the bathroom! HOW DO YOU DO IT???
On the last day of the workshop, Andrew asked me if I would be willing to come back next year and teach again-- I was flattered! Teaching is something that, for a very long time now, I was so certain I wanted to dive right into after Graduate School. I've really been questioning that lately, and whether or not I would be any good at it, so it was heartening to receive a request like that; not to mention the undeniable proof of a week of good teaching hanging on the walls all around me. Thanks a lot guys!

More Awesome Friends

2008-06-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

...and more things that I'm missing out on.

Congratulations to Kim Deakins, Jon Barwick and Rylan Steele on their exhibition, "Athica Emerges" at Athica in Athens, GA. Why oh why did I pick this time to go on the road?

Y'all check this biz:

Jon Barwick - "Multiverse"

Kim Deakins - "Synthetic Landscape"

Rylan Steele - "Athens Import Automotive"
Working in the same space with Kim and Jon for the past year, it's especially exciting for me to see their work in this context (albeit through photographs and 'over-the-phone' eyewitness accounts). Both of them will have more paintings featured in the upcoming issue of New American Paintings, the Southeastern edition.
Congratulations again guys! You're setting the bar pretty high for all of us!

Interlude

2008-06-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

You're damn right!

Field Trip to Hub-Bub

2008-06-16T11:55:00.001-07:00

Belated post here -- but I wanted to finish up with the descriptions of the week long workshop.

Wednesday evening, after the kids' first day of screenprinting, we were all fortunate enough to be invited to the Showroom Gallery at Hub-Bub, where this year's crop of Artists-in-Residence had planned a series of short presentations on their work for the students, as well as Q + A session, in which they spoke openly about how they got to where they are now.

**although I'm sure most of you know this, some of you may not: in 2006, I was one of four young artists invited to be in the first group of artists-in-residence at this new program in Spartanburg. The program is now in its third year, and shows no signs of slowing down (if anything, it may be expanding soon!); I will always have a special place in my heart for it, having lived there for a year when I was 23.**

In an attempt to "set a good example," (this is what teachers do on field trips, I believe) I paid rapt attention and didn't take too many pictures. But I had to get at least a couple. Here we are:

Sarah Witt introduces herself before her presentation.

Ellie Pierson reads from her MFA thesis.

Image of the interior of Ellie's studio, with cake!

Maybe because the audience was composed of high schoolers, there was a lot of emphasis on education-- art college, graduate school, the desire to return to school, the pros and cons of a higher education degree, etc. Pretty interesting to hear, since that's the situation I've found myself in right now (and I question it's validity--in a completely objective manner--constantly).

Following the presentations, all the students and counselors were invited upstairs to the apartments/studios of the artists. I think they kids were in awe of how nice the living conditions, provided (for free!) for these visitors really were.

Sarah in her studio, with a burlap Gingerbread Man.

Hanging torso lamp in Sarah's place!

Rad shadows!

Seems like the majority of the photos I took were in Sarah's apartment. I guess I always liked those orange walls, which I will, forever and ever, associate with Justin Plakas. Although while peeking through Jonas' new apartment and studio, I did notice something familiar on the kitchen counter.

Paper phone!

It's still there, King of Karaoke.

On the ride back to the dorms that night, the kids were pretty outwardly impressed. One of them even ventured to ask, "If you are an artist, and you go through one residency program, can you get out of that one and then go to another, somewhere else?" Funny you should think that--I found myself thinking the same thing two years ago.

More pictures, including those of the student's final exhibition, forthcoming. Just as soon as I steal them off of Facebook.

Day Two - Monoprinting and Cut Paper

2008-06-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Day two of the workshop started off with a presentation on artists who work with cut paper techniques. I tried to show the kids some work by artists that they might not have been familiar with previously.

Laura Cooperman

Jen Stark

Sally Smart
...and of course...

Kara Walker
Following that, I executed a short demo on monoprinting techniques in Andrew's gorgeous print shop. It had been a while since I'd worked in here, and even longer since I myself had done any monoprinting of any kind; I must have done okay, because they kids proceeded to make the best stuff they'd made so far.

They got so into these projects that I had to scrap my fourth drawing idea, the Collaborative Drawing. Oh well. They seem to work pretty well on their own.
Later that night after supper and open studio, Andrew and I led the kids through a critique. I was surprised at their candor and positive criticisms of each other's work, and heard some of the language I'd been using myself over the past 48 hours coming out of their mouths. Teachers, however much we are aware of it or not, have a profound effect on their students. I hope mine was positive!
Today Andrew is introducing the kids to screenprinting. I'm about to head over to the shop to work on some of my own drawings, and take a look at what they're up to. No doubt in my mind: it will be awesome. Later tonight, we'll be going on another field trip to visit the new artists-in-residence at HUB-BUB down town. This will be my first time meeting them--so far, I've been hearing good things!
After two days of printing, Andrew, myself and the kids will be mounting and hanging their work in the Milliken Art Gallery at Converse for public display. A reception (open to the public and with free food!) is planned for 12 noon. If you're in town, come out and see what these talented kids have been up to! Should be a good time!

Day One - Success!

2008-06-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Day one and two of teaching are over! It went really, really well. I wasn't able to write about it as it was happening because of the inexhaustible students I was working with. For the past two days, I 've been waking up at 6 am and falling into bed at 11 pm. But the kids made some great work. Here's some photos:

Andrew, my generous house and partner in teaching, explains the layout of the art building to the kids on Sunday. Everyone was very shy, not talking too much. Lucky, Andrew and I are total hams, and made up for the kids introverted-ness with total lack of dignity.

"We are your art teachers!"
I started off with the kiddies on Monday for a two-day drawing session. The first project was an obsessive mark-making exercise, in which everyone was given one pencil and one piece of rag paper, and had to use the entire pencil before the end of the session. Once that was gone (and trust me, they went quick), I broke out some charcoal and let them continue to go hog wild.
And hog-wild they went.

I loved Ashley's goat drawing.
After that, lunch. Then we started an "Expanded Forms" project, in which I presented them with tons of materials, and let them combine them in various techniques. It was a little bumpy (I think I had too many options) but we ended up with some cool stuff.

Stupidly, I brought some old copies of Arthur for collages, and some of the kids got distracted.

"I didn't know Joanna Newsom was dating Bill Callahan! How charming!"
Later that night, we were lucky enough to get a tour of Spartanburg artist Jill Jones' home and studio. Jill was kind enough to show off her sizable collection of rad paintings, drawings and prints in her home. As you can see, the kids were stoked.

"Hey."

"Cool."
These pictures don't do it justice. Seriously, they had a good time, and Jill was a generous host.
Open studio was scheduled after our field trip, but everyone (including Andrew and myself) was so pooped when we got back, that we called it a night. Tommorrow morning, I'll be introducing them to the print shop, and working with them on their cut paper projects.

Back in Sparkleberry...

2008-06-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

...home of the Giant Peach Water Tower. Miraculous. Awe-inspiring. Orange.
(For you purists out there, the Peach-Tower is located off 85 as you pass Gaffney, not Spartanburg, but who's keeping score anyway?)
I'm up here for the next week, teaching with my buddy Andrew Blanchard at the Converse College Summer Arts Workshop. Andrew and I spent the morning going over our individual classrooms and setting up supplies. The kids get here later this afternoon, and orientation is tonight. And then , believe it or not, your handsome narrator will be in front of a room full of high school students, teaching drawing at 8 am tommorrow morning.
What to expect? I'm hoping for something along the lines of this:

And not so much of this:

Updates and pictures of actual people and events from the workshop to follow.

Awesome Friends

2008-06-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a lucky guy to have so many inspiring, talented friends. Either that, or I'm a shameless leech attracted to the ever-alluring glitter of others' successes.

It's probably the former!

Regardless, several people I should mention who are currently in various spotlights:

Teresa Cole, my former print professor at Tulane University, is having an opening of her new work at Gallery Bienvenu tonight in New Orleans. I wish I could go! Teresa's just coming off of a year of research and travel, which took her as far as Estonia, India, and to a residency in Belgium. Here she is in Belgium with her bike.

Looks like fun!

Also, another one of my former teachers, the wonderful Sandy Chism, recently had an exhibition in Santa Fe of new paintings. Check it:

Again, if only I could be there... This recent exhibition for Sandy was a return to Santa Fe for her, having completed a residency at the Santa Fe Art Center there several years ago. The show received a lot of press. You can read about it here. And here's a picture of Sandy and myself that makes my head look huge.

"Hi!"

I still miss both of them.

Last, but certainly not least, the inimitable Emily Huffman...

Emily has cleverly locked all the images on her website, so I can't seem to post one. But you should click on her name and check them out herself.

Plus, she was recently featured on the awesome, awesome contemporary art blog, Daily Serving. Way to go, Emily! You can see her individual post here.

I visited Emily and her boyfriend Joe in Raleigh a couple years ago, and while I was visiting at their house, they showed me a pair of birds nesting by their front door.

"We are not amused."

Congratulations to all these folks!

First piece in the new studio

2008-06-06T11:10:00.001-07:00

Quite some time ago my buddy John Lane proposed the idea of my illustrating one of his forthcoming books of poems. Fast-forward one year, and I'm bringing the first piece finished piece (shown in progress above) up with me this week to Spartanburg, where I'll be meeting with him and his publisher.
Obsessive collages, like this one, seemed only appropriate for the project, since they will hopefully be paired with poems. Each piece is hand-cut, hand glued, equally considered, like each word in a poem. My hope is that each will come together to form something greater than the sum of their individually constituent parts. Wish me luck!

Distractions, Distractions...

2008-06-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

But good ones at that....
I'm working at home today. Trying to get all my presentations ready for my upcoming workshop in South Carolina, as well as packing for my summer residency at the Elsewhere Artist Collaborative. I've got three definite visitors while I'm up there... any other takers?

Lazy blogger

2008-05-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I haven't even gotten off my ass to customize this site. It's pretty ugly around here, don't you think?
Since school's been out (hallelujah), I've been putting in extremely long days in the studio. I'm giving myself one more day of worktime before I start packing everything up to make the move to the new, beautiful Visual Arts building on south campus. It's gonna be great. I can't hardly stand it.

In the meantime, I've been researching new painters (nothing out of the ordinary, really). I've been trying to bookmark all of my awesome finds on my delicious page, which you can check out if you're anywhere near as nerdy as I am. But I found someone just now who merits special attention.

This is Miriam Vlaming. Or rather, this is a gorgeous painting my Miriam Vlaming. Here's another.

Miriam Vlaming "Countryside"

I happened upon Miriam's comprehensive website while looking around one of my old standby

blogs, Escape to New York. Jen's post about Neo Rauch's public conversation got me interested in the new Leipzeig School of painting, of which Ms. Vlaming is a member. In fact, she once studied under Neo Rauch.

Miriam Vlaming - "Gewaechshaus"

Vlaming's large-scale works on canvas clearly reference photography as a source material. Whether the photos are purloined or of her own creation remains a mystery, but her rendering and treatment of her imagery creates a unique style. Neo-romantic, symbolist. Totally fucking gorgeous.

Miriam Vlaming - "Primat"
This one above could be an etching. Love it.

Miriam Vlaming - "Raststaette"
And there's more where that came from.
Recently, I've been very attraccted to these very epic, but very dreamlike and nostalgic painterly paintings. I think it started when I encountered the paintings of my new main man, Peter Doig (incredibly, I had been making art serious for almost 8 years before this happened.... HOW?). In my own studio, I've been making lots of quicker, smaller works on paper, all using dry or water-based media.... but these paintings are teasing me. "What can you add to this pool, Brian? Don't you want to aggrandize feelings of tenderness, and communicate exclusively through unspeakable, silent beauty? Show us your guff, kid."
I just might have to do that.

Maybe one day....

2008-05-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

...I'll make something as amazing as this video for the Knife's 'Pass This On.'

Seriously folks, this is blowing my mind.

Peter Doig on Pierre Bonnard

2008-05-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

"Yesterday I was looking at the faces in the Bonnard paintings at the Zurich Kunsthaus. Despite the lack of visible information, they give you everything you need to know: not only their identity, but also their mood. It's quite extraordinary, And it is this quality that I would perhaps like to search for in my own work -- an openness that allows viewers to enter the work and fill it in for themselves, not in an easy way, but in a way that ends up really involving the viewer. But it all depends on his ability to submerge himself in the painter's world. Bonnard gives you so much to look at. You get the impression he wouldn't have made those paintings in one sitting.

"I don't know about his working habits, but he must have worked on several paintings at once, returning to them, adding a touch here and there. That's the way they come together, through hatching added over time. Yet I don't think he had a master plan. It has something to do with -- I don't want to use the term 'modesty' because I don't think that's the case -- the way he was.

"This lack of a master plan is also what allowed him to paint in fragments, without any concious will. I have always been interested in the way Bonnard seems to have recorded time. Through drawing, for example, with each tiny instant. His drawing is so directly related to the painting, he creates the impression of not covering space, but of finding space. It is amazing that he could translate that so well into color. He somehow manages to create a space between what he is looking at and thinking about, because a lot of his work -- especially when he is painting his wife -- is thinking back. Somehow he is painting the space that is behind the eyes. It's as if you were lying in bed trying hard to remember what something looked like. And Bonnard managed to paint that strange state. It is not a photographic space at all. It is a memory space, but one which is based on reality."

--Peter Doig, January 2005

The Buzz...

2008-05-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

Totally got buzzed about in Jenifer Hatley's new blog.

Jen, in addition to being an great painter and my good friend in graduate school, was one of the first 10 people to participate in Talk20 last week. Hear what she has to say about it!

Possibly the best book, ever?

2008-05-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

I found the listing for this when I was looking at books that I hope to acquire for my "library" (ahem). Or should I say, my "research."

You know, because I'm so smart.

I Don't Get It by Gerrit Vermeiren and Luc Tuymans seriously may be the art text I've been waiting for all my life.
The following is lifted directly from the publisher's description:

In this stunning monograph, the internationally acclaimed Belgian painter Luc Tuymans opens up and reveals, in the form of Polaroids, film stills and other source documents, what has up until now been a largely hidden part of his artistic practice--thereby making it possible to chart both the subjects that fascinate him and his rather idiosyncratic working processes. On the one hand, Tuymans' methods are influenced by photographic techniques. The artist would, however, immediately deny this, claiming that the more than 1,000 Polaroids he has used as the basis for his paintings are not photographs--for the emulsion and the chemical formation of the image behave very differently in each. On the other hand, Tuymans' paintings are imbued with cinematic techniques such as the close-up, slow motion, montage and animation. He draws inspiration from cinematic techniques to load the painted image with topicality and pertinence. This volume, whose reproductions were extensively edited by the artist himself, unravels the anatomy of Tuymans' treatment of images. It is an essential addition to any contemporary art library.

'Stunning' is a pretty good word to desribe something like this. I think it's tremendously rare that artists like to fully reveal how they do what they do (rightly so, in most cases). There's a certain removal of the more magical elemnts behind making art, and crafting images. And here we have a book essentially about just that--oh and by the way, it's a book about one of my favorite painters doing exactly that.

Not only is Luc Tuymans totally rad, he is apparently an extremely generous person. Ever since reading this, I feel as though this book has been published just for me. A present. Here you go, Brian!

Now all I have to do is scrounge up the 40 bucks to buy it. I'll let you know how it is once it does belong to me, and believe you me, I will own this book.

TALK20:Athens

2008-05-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I'm finally getting around to this blog after I just finished a really awesome project, one that would have done well with a little blog-advertising.

Already, off to a crappy start. But starting a blog at the end of your first year of graduate school is a tall order. And if you've never met me, I should tell you right now, I am one tall guy.

This is the Cine Theater of Athens, Georgia. Cine is glorious. Cine employs exclusively friendly, wonderful people. Cine show movies you can't see anywhere else in town with world-class projection and sound equipment. Cine serves beer, goddammit. Cine whitens your teeth. Cine makes you more attractive to the opposite sex. Cine teaches your dog to find your keys. And, recently, Cine hosted the first installment of TALK20:Athens.

TALK20 is a global phenomenon in which individuals working in various creative fields come together to present their work and research in Powerpoint format. The kicker is: each presenter has only 20 seconds to present each slide. 20 slides, 20 seconds. Each presentation is 400 seconds long (6 minutes, 40 seconds). It's not a lot, but it can be structured in such a way that that is all you need.

I myself participated in a TALK20 event when I was an artist-in-residence at the HUB-BUB Arts Initiative in Spartanburg, South Carolina. At the time. I was really, really impressed with the overall system of this format, and the variety of presentations individuals were able to form within this structure. It had a profound impact on me, and the manner I realized I visually organize information, not to mention the methods I use to speak and write about images. For an artist (and a painter specifically), this was a big deal.

And then I moved here, to Athens, and entered into the MFA program at UGA. From the get-go, I felt myself surrounded by brilliant people who were doing and making wonderful things, all within a very small community, broken up into smaller communities by a variety of factors (different facilities in which we all worked, conflicting schedules, outside obligations). The spaces in which we all could come together, to simply look at what each other were doing, making, reading and thinking about were few and far between. Out of these concerns, I decided to start a TALK20 series here in town, to provide another venue for this exchange.

And to really spice things up, I decided to get it rolling during finals week, the week of the end of my first year of graduate school.

But miracles happen everyday, folks! On Tuesday, April 29th at 6pm, we had ten presenters, we had a beautiful venue at the Cine Theater, we had a shoebox with the word 'Donations' written on it, and we had an audience of almost 70 people. I had a microphone in one hand, a PBR in the other, and a head still intact on my shoulders. And everyone, everyone had a good time.

Here's some photos to prove it.

Jessi, Emily, and Jon, eagerly anticipating slideshows!

Rob and Jon's back, both looking slick in plaid, discussing the evening's events.

I have no idea who these people are. But they were hugging all over each other.

Action shot! Bart during his 'Steam Plant' presentation. The Drama!

I'm being facetious here. The whole evening was really wonderful, and everyone who particpated, either in the role or presenting or audience member, had a great experience. Mnay thanks to all those who helped realize this project (this means you I.C.E.). Best of all, this is an entirely manageable project, and I have plans to keep up this lecture series for the remainder of my time here. I'm thinking I can handle my head exploding once a semester or so. Interested in participating in future TALK20 events? You should contact me to get on the mailing list.

**and thus completes my entrance back into the blog world...**

===+++===

2008-03-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am assembling my website.

You're going to love it, I promise.

Testing - First Post

2007-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Ground control to Major Tom....

Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.