Some Thoughts & Writings

“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing”

~ Susan Sontag (as seen in Birdman)

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“Q: Why the rhombus shape?

I have worked in a rectangle before. This shape compels me forward,  making one challenges me.”

“set apart for its intended purpose.”

“…find the purpose of a mark. Each mark has a lifetime behind it.”  ~ Bill Catling

“rust is a clock, tree’s growth rings are a clock” 

“connect marks to meaning”  ~ my thoughts

“personal archeology”  ~ my thoughts

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Some doodles while reading for Summer Residency 2015

Printed versions of the projects

All of the Places I Have Been

This is the beginning of some interpretations of what it would look like to represent all of the major places I have been in my life. This is only a technical approach with experimentation with how it may look. I have some more research to do in regards to the actual locations.

Contemporary Art

Still Life?

Anonymous Portrait

Thinking about the way we consume or appreciate art in the internet age. Even considering how we interact with each other, and the internet’s provision of access to each other and to images. This group of images acquired from the Rijksmuseum program called “RijksStudio.”

Artificial Realities.

Even to the uninitiated, these are fairly recognizable or at least archetypical images. My addition to these question the intent of the work. But even more there is a question of the intent of the viewer.

I have been thinking about the life of an artist. The genuine work of an artist. You know, the actual manipulated art materials existing right in front of you. With its thickness, and weight and smell. I question if this is even important to anyone anymore. My feeling is, we are in a society that has generally lost a passion for the authentic experience. This group of images do not represent a way of working that is typical for me, but these are a way that I can “graphically express” my ideas.

Of each of these, the project that gained my most attention is “@Play” you can see more about it in another blog post.

@Play

biomap nodes

Late Seventies BioMaps

These latest maps depict prevalent trips that happened towards the latter end of the 70's for me. Trips between aunt and uncle's house and what would eventually become a new location for my parents to live. This was just before I moved to Los Angeles to go to Art Center College of Design.

We moved from the house where I grew up, to a small ranch property that would be where we lived in a mobile home while we built my parent's new home. It was mostly finished right before I moved down to go to college.

This map is the trip I made everyday while attending MJC. I played basketball there for a year before I realized my days on a bonafide team were coming to an end. I soon took up city league basketball and continued to play the sport until I was about 47 years old. At that time I started playing organized volleyball —a sport I still play and enjoy today.

One of the more endearing maps for me right now is one I made about all of the locations of teams I played against in high school. Known as the Trans Valley League, “TVL” comprised of many small farming communities. Each one had its own personality and crop they claimed to be the “world capital of cherries, apricots or whatever...”