"audible"

spring break '07 work

aggregates*: (āg'rĭ-gĭt)s

*The sculpture is cast plaster, the portrait is drawn and pasted in a box. The inside box lid text reads "Inside_ box, _oxymoron could think of nothing but (non)conformity." Bottom half of box has the word, "Challenge one's own..."
The box hangs beneath the bust.


ag·gre·gate (āg'rĭ-gĭt)

adj.
Constituting or amounting to a whole; total: aggregate sales in that market.
Botany Crowded or massed into a dense cluster.
Composed of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means.

n.
A total considered with reference to its constituent parts; a gross amount.The mineral materials, such as sand or stone, used in making concrete.

v. (-gāt') ag·gre·gat·ed, ag·gre·gat·ing, ag·gre·gates

v. tr.
To gather into a mass, sum, or whole.
To amount to; total.

v. intr.
To come together or collect in a mass or whole.

Source: American Heritage Dictionary

things on my easel

things on my easel vs. things on my mind...

Excerpt of Elephant Head: Opener of Doorways
(by Michael McClure)

Great Ganesh, with your single tusk
and conch shell in your hand,
what is on the other side
of the Blackness?

purple ink

composition and the beauty of cropping

(more photos by alex lee)
with his permission, i've cropped the photos to slightly alter the content.

tools, efficiency, and old fashioned

After tweaking images by hand today, and posting them and
re-posting them the old fashioned way, I just wanted to make art.
This after the last 7 weeks making molds for sculptures rather than making new sculptures.
My heart craves creativity and newness, rather than repetition of the old.

However, I realize duplication or variations on a theme are sometimes necessary for personal "furtherment."
We have to rehash and rework the old in order to learn the new.

Here is a new photo (see also profile photo) by a wonderful photographer, Alex Lee.
I highly recommend his portrait and figurative work.


As for posting paintings. The answer is "duh...,use the tools!"
Photoshop. Sometimes we just make life harder for ourselves than necessary.
Look at this great, simple interface:
http://www.tsark.com/tsark_mar07paintings_tnails/index.htm

la vie en rose

tonight was a good night for art. i worked on a couple of polyU sculpture molds, and this painting titled
"la vie en rose."

the painting is on glass (which was given to me by my friend linda -- who's a fantastic painter), with the butcher paper behind it.
i decided to rip the paper off my easel and include it in the piece.
one of those random impulsive moments...

(p.s. my DVD recommendation for the day is "The Songcatcher")

still more napkins

napkin from the archive

i created this last year while on a flight somewhere.
since i am posting napkin art, thought i'd dig this out of the archive.

more napkin art

considering both days' napkin work.
am looking for feedback as to which of these napkins works best for ya...
comments appreciated. thanks. (votes or comments can be made right in the "comments" link below each section. just click on the link)

napkin art

reworked paintings and WIP

The "Trainstation" is part of my "On The Road" series for the Midterm at COM.
The WIP is part of a series of paintings based on groupings. (The flash seems to work in my favor here; I might paint it in.)
Onward to the month of March '07...

studio walls

more tao from the studio

as i was clicking shots of current work, realized i'd never documented some of these others.
curiously, the "tao" label came through unintentionally. (these were indeed the first three letters of a title on some magazine caption).

Midterm Paintings

Here are a couple of midterm paintings.
The topic is "On the Road."

inquisitive adventure '07

reality?

it's been a while since i've shared some philosophical meanderings, so i felt due...

does something become a reality because we believe it to be so?
does a dream continue to be (by definition) a dream-- even when it comes true?

these are the swimming pool topics of the week.

by virtue, dreams fuel our hopes and our fantasies.
when we stop dreaming, we often stop hoping; thereby grounding us in our own realities.

how, why, when, where
can we
bridge that gap?


(*paintings compliments of linda lieberman)

lunchtable

richard goldman portrait

the practice continues

Fire and earth... 2007

2007

'007...already quite the year. lots going on.
and in spite of it all, it took the loss of a dear friend and a great man to stop me in my tracks and slow down a bit.
john w. flynn.
i'll write a separate post as a tribute. (to follow in the next week).

for now, some friends asked me to post some new paintings to my website and i'm a little too entrenched to create new "pages." the easier way was to post them here.

'tis the season

(photo above is of the famous author mike moran and the fearless kevmo, aka kev reid)

for those who love the holidays, the season passes too quickly.
for those who'd rather it pass quickly, the season becomes a time of difficulty and stress.
for those who are indifferent, well, i guess those people are just indifferent types.

it's in those stressful moments, that we forget about peace, with a capital letter "P." It then becomes those little things that annoy us. Let us not let things annoy us. let us not forget those other little things -- you know, the ones that bring us comfort.

may you all have those other little things, those that we call comfort & joy...



happy holidays!

Tiny Show @ StudioGallerySF

Hi Everyone,

Will be showing two little 2"x 2" paintings
Tiny Show at the StudioGallerySF, 1718A Polk Street
SF, 94109 (Am honored and a little, ahem, nervous to be showing in the presence of some very cool artists.)

particulars: tiny, small pieces under $200,
Wednesday, 11/15/06 - Sunday, 12/24/06

reception:
Saturday, November 18th, 4-8 pm
3rd Anniversary Party:
Saturday, December 9th, 4-8 pm

the link:
http://studiogallerysf.com/wst_page12.html

the brief:
"...tiny is a show of all small work, perfect for gift-giving or treating yourself. All the wall pieces are all under 7" x 7", the tabletop pieces are all small, and everything is under $200. We'll have over 200 pieces on display, and we'll bring out new pieces every day. Work from over 80 local artists will be shown, and many of our favorite artists have made pieces just for the show. A great way to get unique, handmade gifts for the holidays or find that perfect piece for yourself, and support the local arts community at the same time."

hope to see you there!

on closure

is closure like happiness? -- you know it when you feel it?
do we need some event or someone or something to help up know when something's done?

is it the same for:
friendships?
love relationships?
paintings?

how do we know when to stop. when it *feels* done?
or when you're tired and can't work any more.

like paintings, we don't want to overwork relationships. especially ones that make us more tired.
but sometimes we fall in love with the experience, the image, the euphoria and (selfishly?) don't want it to end,
even though we know it's best left pristine and untouched for what it is?

there are some paintings that aren't the best, but fine for what they are.
we learn from them and leave them as snapshots to our learning.

yet, there are some, we know are wonderful and fresh and want to keep working, but know we don't quite yet have
skills or ability to finish.

the best thing might be to "walk away from the canvas" until we can see the image more clearly.
the best thing is not to try to make fixes on others' advice, no matter now experienced or skilled that advice may be.

for life is what we make of it.
it is our experiences that help guide our next ventures.
the painting might call us back or stand fine on its own right.
it is for us to decide to and viewer to judge.
for this is the only way we can ever find peace of mind.

To Sell or Not to Sell, that is the question

Is there ever a point where you feel you are "selling out?"

When do you let something go?
When do you allow someone to put a price on your soul?
When do YOU put a price on your worth?

Are there some things that cannot be renumerated?

As artists, we create concepts to share with the world. In many ways, these cannot be assigned monetary value.Yet, we live in a society that likes to price and rank and subdivide and categorize.
In light of this, we struggle with when to give over our "intellectual property."
We must then ask ourselves: Will these purchasing folk nurture our intent?

Can worth be measured by sales?
Do we sell our paintings or our ideas for the opportunity to make more paintings and share more ideas?
I think this can be falsely self-fulfilling.

As someone who likes to share and engage in ideas, I find it tremendously difficult to "sell my work." (Or, is the question really that I find it tremendously difficult to let someone own my work?)
As a producer, who has worked by helping others manage their idea$, I also realize that commerce is the way we negotiate a treacherous territory of barter. Folks, this is what I'd classify as a "double bind."

I guess for me, it all comes down to the fact, that my ideas are for sale, my soul is not.
My time can be bought, but my person cannot be sold.

If money were no object, could we live our lives without such a system?
One hopes this is the case. For now, let us return to a system of worth and value rather than the barter of want and need.
One also hopes that this could save many a lot of grief.