a ritual, a poem, a remedy for insomnia in trying times…
Updates - fade theory
un/necessary objects
Today is the opening of my show, Un/necessary Objects. It’s an exhibition about memory, objects, the connection between those two, and loss/value/impermanence.
When Pat Greene asked me to be the artist for March 2020, I immediately said yes. I had never been to the space before, but I am grateful for all opportunities that come my way. After visiting the space, I wasn’t sure what I would do. Credo Conduit is a co-working space, and the shows are installed in the lobby/entrance. Because it is a quasi-commercial space, I didn’t feel comfortable just displaying my work. That seemed too prescribed, especially because the display shelves are built-in (plus, most of my work is 3D and wouldn’t fit comfortably on the narrow shelves).
I hope it doesn’t seem like I am complaining, because my best work results from limitations and I like the challenge of figuring out how to work in different spaces. It took me two weeks to decide what I wanted to do. I had a lot of ideas (as did my partner Jonas) and a lot of doubts about those ideas… until the right idea came along. Or rather, it resurfaced. I had taken a series of photos about a year ago of my favorite objects, with the idea of writing about each one. It was an interplay between object and memory, and the impermanence of both. But then I dropped the project because a purely digital project is not satisfying to me and I had no other outlet at the time.
I’ve put a lot of work into this show in the last month and a bit. I edited photos, took some new photos, had them all printed, wrote about each object, edited (both the text and what I chose to include in the show), designed, edited some more, printed, trimmed, assembled, and installed. I ended up including 38 objects, some of which are my small artworks and most of which are things I collected or was gifted over the years. I hope that when people view the work, they will think about their own objects, memory, the value and worth of things, and impermanence (due to environmental threats and human frailty). I hope the personal becomes universal.
If you are unable to see it in person, I have created a digital version of the exhibition booklet (which is part of the exhibition, not a supplement). You can view it below or click here to download the pdf.
My thanks to Hannah Leah for facilitating and Credo Conduit for hosting!
on reclaiming the erotic
I love pussy willows. The bareness of the long branches, the otherworldly softness of the catkin tufts, the contrast between the dark branches and the light, almost iridescent catkins, and that they signal (and perfectly embody) the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
2017 reading
I guess I don’t need my reading list to be public, but I’m fairly convinced no one reads these posts anyway. That said, I’m tired of keeping so many files on my harddrive, so I figured this is a good alternative. I’ll be adding these as I go (unlike last year, when I posted about my reading for the year in August), so I’ll also include short reviews/summaries. I may go back and do the same for some of the books I read last year. Here goes:
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney – I like slim books. This one clocks in at 182 pages. This is McInerney’s first novel, from 1984. It takes place in New York City and features lots of cocaine (as any book set in New York in the 80s should). It is written entirely in the second person and somehow this is not at all annoying to read. The main character (a ‘you’ who is definitely not you) works in The Department of Factual Verification for an unnamed but prestigious magazine. He is a married to a model. He is 24. We learn very quickly that his model wife has left him with a phone call, after which he doesn’t see her again for quite a few months. During the course of the book, his life spirals out of control. He parties more and more, does lots of cocaine, hides the fact that his wife has left him, loses his job… And yet he doesn’t seem like a total asshole. This could be any 24-year-old guy who took a wrong turn. Thing is, it turns out his life isn’t spiralling for the reason the reader is led to believe. I don’t really like authorial tricks like that. Had we known sooner, had McInerney taken the time to create layers within the story early on, it would have made the read meatier. Regardless, it was a quick and worthwhile read.
So on to my next read. I picked up Infinite Jest by Steven Foster Wallace again today after a long hiatus. I’m at page 187. The book is clearly a work of genius, but it’s just not holding my attention. Even if it wasn’t over a thousand pages (with footnotes), I wouldn’t feel very motivated to finish it. I’m not convinced I haven’t already gotten everything out of it that I can. Even though I’m starting to embrace the idea that time is not linear, I don’t like feeling my time would be better or more enjoyably spent doing something else. I want to do what I want to do because I’m 35 goddammit and I want to make the most of this stupid thing called life. I’ll likely switch to Winter Journal by Paul Auster or M Train by Patti Smith.
poem for the new year
happiness tastes
like copper
tastes
pointed, strange, conductive, conducive
changing the flavor of everything
that comes after
other things that may cause a metallic taste:
drugs and medications
infections
cancer treatment
pregnancy
epilepsy
dementia
all these altered states
tasting of pennies
fraying memory
slowly fading alkaline ecstasy
changing everything that comes after
2016 reading
This isn’t so much a post for anyone else as it is a running tally (in no particular order) of the books I’ve been reading/read this year. I have already forgotten a bunch of titles, so these are just the ones I’ve read recently and do not include art technique books. I’ll keep updating this post throughout the year as I remember/read more. Let’s get things started:
The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
Things the Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett
The South by Colm Toibin
On Despair by Elie Wiesel
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Oreo by Fran Ross
I Love Dick by Chris Kraus
fin