Incubator: Rememberances

Incubator entries contain some of my germinating concepts that will work their way to full blown artistic expression over time.

My mother died recently after years of chronic illness. The memories of her that come to mind overall are good and amusing ones even though there was at times considerable distance between us, and at one time, resentments that over the years faded away. Some papers she left behind show her caring and her own trials. This has me thinking about memories and rememberances.

I will be remembered as … even our own day-to-day, year-to-year memories are fleeting, sometimes dead wrong. Does it matter how we are remembered; if so, why? One idea is generational -- how we are remembered impacts our family, perhaps our friends. Another idea is divinity -- we'll be judged later. A third idea is our highest and best purpose -- does the way we are remembered serve to achieve our purpose (even if we are unsure the purpose)? We pass the world onto others.

Open Studio

Here's are close-up shots of a couple of the figurative elements for The Open Studio Project, Vessels with Souls, and an installation shot. The project has been extended by the city into December. I am now working on other constructions with the newspaper, without consideration for graphite or pigment surface imagery.

The graphite pulled the repeated Vessel figurative shapes together and engaged the dynamic I was after: at a distance, each shape appears dark and singular, but on closer inspection, both the newspaper layers and the graphite imagery layer reveal themselves. As my thinking progressed with each shape, I became more interested in using the woven paper to add quasi three dimensionality to the pieces; at the same time, I also became more interested in using the graphite to obscure as well as to accent when integrating the graphite imagery into the newspaper elements.

The butterfly was a bit of a surprise, beginning as a meditative exercise in interlocking pieces and growing organically into a form. At one point, I could see it as a shroud growing to fill the the expanse of the room, and yet, since Vessels has representational content, I felt a deep need to maintain a representational aspect to the developing form; hence, the form felt complete when it reached this stage. It can go on the wall and be suspended from the ceiling, as well as lay across the floor or other forms, taking on the shape from whatever supports it is given. I see many dimensional possibilities, which I am beginning to explore. How form possibilities engage a concept remains crucial. I plan to engage the expansive room shroud idea in some manner, letting it run its course without the confines of the larger installation concept, at a later date.

Color Procrastination

I've become obsessed with color the last two days, perhaps because the elements I am working on in the open studio are going to be quite dark. At the moment, I'm settling for playing a little with color on the computer, to have a place for the thoughts to go. I'm not saving most of these exercise, but once in a while I hit on something I want to hold onto a bit.

Sincerety, real or faux, is not enough

Read an article in Artlies, Vol. 49, on (S)incerety in art ... really, faux sincerety. How much does it matter if the artwork is sincere or intentionally made to look like what loosely and supposedly passes for sincere, like what "sincerety" justifies, or what is in the manner of the "sincere"? If it's bad, it's bad ... regardless of intention. At times, it seems as though we've lost the ability, or at least the willingness, to judge the result of visual effort based on the actual quality of its aesthetic impact. Eliminating aesthetic standards, or expecting no aesthetic response, though does not make art work more assessible; indeed, it seems to put it further out of reach: to reach it, one must be okay with elevating the bad or ineffectual over the powerful and moving.

City of Chicago Open Studio

I am the Artist in Residence at the City of Chicago's Open Studio this month. The Open Studio gives the public the opportunity to watch an artist at work. I am working on the elements for an installation using woven newspaper figures as the surfaces for my imagery. My primary days will be M, W and Th from 9 to 6, and intermittent hours other days. The studio is beneath the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington -- access via elevator in the Cultural Center or through the pedway.

Two days into this, I don't yet have much up in the way of art. I sit behind a table, cutting and interweaving newspaper strips (after I read the paper, of course). Lots of cutting. Lots of interweaving. Staring at the wall/space and at some of my larger, imperfect scraps -- I do alot of staring -- gave me a idea for laying out a separate wall installation moving around a corner, related in general shapes/forms to the main work. Art is fluid that way. I'll be seeing what comes of the idea at the same time that those who stop in.

So far, most people that stop by have hovered outside the windows; a few have dared to enter and talk for a while, some about art and some about general events.

Text?

Ponder Deinstalled

Today, I took Ponder down at Evanston Art Center. The very large scale work fits into a shoebox and a three ring binder. Hard to make final observations, other than it came down much faster than it went up. When I arrived, the other work from the exhibition was off the wall and being wrapped (they are very efficient), leaving the floor somewhat cluttered with boxes. It's always a little sad when one sees an exhibition down, and yet, somewhat refreshing to see blank wall again.