Semester 3 Installation [version 1]

Revised installation...

stamenesque, sculptural forms of reverie and the process of making

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I am in the process of making several related works, in response to the three Dickinson poems, which explore the role of the bee as performer (and the audience/viewer as bee). I am playing with the idea of scale, making large stamen-like forms which hang from the ceiling. Above are some of the hanging sculptural forms [stamen] I have been working on. I haven't photographed them all together yet, but my intention is for them to hang a few feet apart so that viewers/participants are able to navigate around them. There is still much tailoring (sewing and fitting) to be done to the exteriors. Additionally, I am working on three large drawings of clovers and poppies which will accompany the forms. Below is a sketch of my planned installation.

Reactions to Emily Dickinson

Dickinson's work appears simple in its everyday context. It is striking for its accessibility and openness, making its relevance uniquely suitable to its reader. I've selected three specific poems to work with. I've selected them based on their connectivity to one another and heavy connections I've formed with them in connection with my own work. So much of her work seems to be heavily grounded in introspection, yet she is so clever and mature in the associations she makes to nature, sexuality, love, sense of self, and the emotional realm. It is this "ownness" that interests me. It is a surety which transcends loss and void and it is remarkable.



To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.





His oriental heresies
Exhilarate the Bee,
And filling all the Earth and Air
With gay apostasy

Fatigued at last, a Clover plain
Allures his jaded eye
That lowly Breast where Butterflies
Have felt it meet to die-






A Bee his burnished Carriage
Drove boldly to a Rose-
Combinedly alighting-
Himself-his Carriage was-
The Rose received his visit
With frank tranquility
Withholding not a Crescent
To his Cupidity-
Their Moment consummated-Remained for him-to flee-
Remained for her-of rapture
But the humility.

some gallery pics

There are many fantastic works in the student gallery this residency.
Here are just a few...
Scott Cantrell
Dennis Hart
Susan Holt
Kate Renner
Tariq Gibran
Some other residency pics...

Residency Lectures

Guest artist (and CalArts professor) Shirley Tse, lectured about her body of work and talked about her studio practices and creative processes. It was a profoundly interesting lecture, as Shirley unraveled the deep impact and connection between manufactured materials, globalization, and foreign exchanges. Here is a link to Shirley's website. http://shirleytse.net/

Lecture by guest artist, Mary Lum. Mary talked about her creative processes, involving collecting various things, shooting photos which reveal relationships, and arranging. Here is a link to some of Mary's work. http://www.frederieketaylorgallery.com/2009Jan.html

A fascinating lecture by our artist-in-residence, Leslie Hewitt. Leslie spoke about her work with 3rd cinema, Project Rowhouse, and some of her photographic works, such as her Riffs series. Here is a Whitney Biennial 2008 link showing some of her work. http://www.whitney.org/www/2008biennial/www/?section=artists&page=artist_hewitt

Faculty Contemporary Art Historian and Pomona State (CA) professor, Marie Shurkus lectured on the topics of Relational Aesthetics and Affective Labor. Truly fascinating. This lecture was very profound for me and for that reason. I will be shifting away from feminist studies this semester and toward relational aesthetics and affect. I am interested in exploring how the role of the viewer in art occurs as both performer and audience to produce affect. By doing so, the viewer's body becomes part of the form of the work. To investigate this further I will be extensively studying a specific work by Felix Gonzales-Torres. More to come on this topic... no doubt.

Faculty, artist and CalArts professor, Ashley Hunt walked us through his current video project. It is a project which explores and gives voice to the tragic loss of forgotten prisoners during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. As the video progresses, it becomes apparent that the prisoners were not the only ones forgotten...
Ashley narrated the video in person while sitting at a desk in the front of the room. This "in room" narration was very powerful and added to the meaning of the work. Here is Ashley's website. http://www.ashleyhuntwork.net/

Faculty Art Historian and International School of Photography professor (NY), David Deitcher, lectured on artist/educator Tim Rollins + K.O.S. Here is a Crown Point link to check out more. http://www.crownpoint.com/artists/rollins Here is Tim Rollins website link. http://www.diacenter.org/kos/

opening reception

Last night was the opening reception of the gallery spaces here at the residency. There are so many intriguing works to see and interact with. This is my first time exhibiting work which falls under the umbrella term of "installation". The video projection is difficult to see in the photograph. It is a projection of combined three sequences and web-appropriated images which run on a loop.
More pics of other works from the gallery coming soon....

20 hours of road with the pink, furry man

Boxed pink, furry man... heading for 20 hours of road... then installation begins. I tested out the projection. It works... which is always good. more to come.

The Atlantic Highlands One Minute Film Festival 2009

exécution de baiser, (my performance kiss video) was selected for the Atlantic HIghlands One Minute Film Festival on July 18th in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Visit Film One Fest for more info. To see the video on archive.org click here> http://www.archive.org/details/ExcutionDeBaiser

pink, furry man (and his girl) go on a road trip

Today, I brought my installation to the U of M West Bank Arts Gallery (Minneapolis) for a working crit with my mentor, international artist & professor Andrea Stanislav. Andrea's crit was really great. She has phenomenal conceptual insights, technical experience, and contemporary knowledge about art to offer. I have been very fortunate to work with her this semester. Because of it being summer, the gallery in the arts building was empty so I was able to set up my work in there. Many good advantages to setting up work in a gallery-type setting. It allows for the simplicity of the work to be taken in wholly.

Still many last minute technical things to finish up on the pink furry man's casted parts and some video to put together to project. I am looking forward to working on new directions for this project and finishing it up for the showing in Montpelier in August. Andrea and I talked about including some domestic items in the installation (allowing viewers to fully enter into the experience as an environment). I will be including items, making them white in color... creating an emphasis in the two figures and their engaged actions. I will be bringing a 6' x 6' white, shag rug along as part of the installation... as well as a small white table, a white ipod and headphones (for viewing a "gaze" performance video sequence... and listening to a specific playlist of songs), a white pillow or bean bag chair, and a small white, metal vanity. I plan to play with the arrangement of these items when I arrive at the residency. Largely, much will depend on the space I receive in the gallery. The installation will be titled, "My Big, Pink, Furry, Pony" - suggestive of both; typical American girls' toy and female fetish object.

pink, furry... phase one

I've put together my pink, furry installation figure to check for issues relating to balance, etc. Much more to do....

Casting with Bondo

After much failure casting with spray foam, I have decided to carve down my foam figure parts and re-cast them inside my molds while casting the parts with Bondo. This has worked much better... although Bondo is quite nasty (toxic) to work with. The only unfortunate issue is the added weight on the figure.... hoping it will not throw off the balance.

modeling the face for the installation figure...

Still much to do in tweaking the face model before mold making and casting. I will be making a two-part plaster mold and using spray-foam to make the casting. Hoping this will work well as I need something lightweight, rigid, fairly durable, and paintable.

... casting with foam has been a bit challenging. The venting in the molds doesn't work as predictably as with metal casting... lots of air bubbles. I'm on my fourth set of castings, in search of better results. Today I tried using Bondo to fill air holes. Tomorrow... sanding begins. More to come....

Learning How to Shoot

Learning How to Shoot, combines tragic news reports [IRIN Radio] with a close up shot of my mouth glutonously eating a banana and nectarine. The main audio was taken from an IRIN Radio interview [2008] with a captured and enslaved Ugandan girl. The interview is overlaid with another less dominant track from today's date from Afghanistan. This is the first version. I'll be shooting other alternate footage clips to go along with the audio... just to see what comes of it. I'm hoping for more thought provoking imagery... as the audio is quite powerful.

Audio is an important component of this video so you may want to adjust the volume on your computer. If you'd like to read more about the Ugandan story visit IRIN Radio: http://www.irinnews.org

Installation figure...

The figure for my installation, "Subjugated Gaze" is progressing. I am nearly finished with the internal wire frame. Next will be to experiment with foam casts for the hands and face. Then... time to cover the wire structure with the pink faux fur.

Initially, I had cast a masquerade type mask from iron to use with this installation and planned to have a second figure [made from barbed wire]... but now I have decided to keep the installation more simple... less convoluted with diverging concepts. In order to keep my intentions direct, I have decided to include only the male [voyeur] figure engaged in looking at the female, nude intaglio [subject]. My intent is to explore the historic-female subjugated gaze and sort of reenact it through understandings of visual pleasure and how it plays into our identities.

... more to come...

... the actions of identity gestures

Continuing to explore identity / gesture relationships. I am using my macbook pro camera to document typical and random gestures... working to develop a particular type of portraits related to gestural /obscured imagery. I have been using myself as subject for the sake of functional utility and convenience... foregoing the pains of finding willing subjects/models to act out my intended narratives. Hoping to someday try this as a video project. I think it would be interesting to capture the process of identity-related, semantic translation between artist and actor.

documentary photography / drawing... irises... side track

...charcoal drawings worked up from some of the digital photos.
... a few days ago I gathered some irises to put in a vase. Since then, their figurative forms have haunted my dreams. ... decided to investigate this dream-imagery through documentary photography. A bit of a side track from my current project... oh well.

Construction of the installation figure begins...

I am creating a wire and aluminum rod armature of the life-sized male figure for my installation. I have been using a fine gauge poultry netting and a variety of thin wires to sew the molded form pieces together. I have aluminum rods which will be inserted into the form grounding its balance in cast cement [inside a pair of men's dress shoes]. The majority of this figure will be covered in long, pink faux fur. I am not yet sure how to present the face and hands. I am thinking about casting them. Also, I have a cast iron mask. Not sure if I will have the figure wearing the mask or holding it in hands. Much to do. More to come...

exécution de baiser [performance kiss]

This version of exécution de baiser is about 5 minutes. I shot the film very quickly [only one take]. The film sequence documents a performance kiss from an extreme close up perspective. I slowed down the speed to approximately twenty percent of the actual speed of the shot footage.The film was inspired by Yoko Ono's fluxus film "eye blink". It's a silent film showing [close up] the striking of a match in slow motion. it's one of my favorite short films. If you know me, you'll see that I have put my own twist on the concept.

photo booth documentary - alone in chicago

I've been using photo booth for photo documentary [in relation to identity-based imagery]. These photos were shot while I was alone in Chicago for a visit to the Video Data Bank. These shots reveal a narrative which I find interesting... especially in relation to other more domestic, identity based shots I've taken while cooking and doing laundry.

more photodocumentary pics