Good Morning Andrew
Conceptually Oriented, Practically Confused
Organic Architectures
Organic Architectures - Petroleum Storage
I’m beginning a new series of drawings on vellum. Basically, I’ve been scouring the region, and looking at the mechanical arteries, hearts, and whatnot that make a convenient life possible. What if those forms (substations, pumps, onion domes) were given agency to grow and expand as needed? What forms would they take?
December 13, 2009
White Flower, 1960. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 72 inches (182.6 x 182.9 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Anonymous gift 63.1653. © 2007 Agnes Martin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
As the slide into full-blown winter solidifies, the concepts of failure and reduction have taken over my thoughts. When one thinks of improvement, of being a “better person”, the tendency is to look at what we lack and emphasize what we can acquire. I feel like I have been caught in this quagmire of acquisition for way too long (perhaps roughly 27 years).
Reduction.
Simplification.
These are my new goals.
By all intensive logic, I want less.
I want to fail.
What does it mean to fail? According to Agnes Martin, failure is a state which exists only when one has exhausted all means and possible courses of action. Failure is a terminal condition–an end of possibilities.
Can one consider it a victory to stop doing something? To cease to acquire? To cease to care? Is that really failure? Or is the act of losing all choice, movement, and flexibility that elusive apex of liberation I have been searing for?
Just a bit more Agnes and then I am going to call it a night, crawl into bed, and be blissfully unconscious.
“To progress in life you must give up the things you do not like. Give up doing the things that you do not like to do. You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind.”
I really cannot think of anything I would like more.
Saving Canvas + Making Empty Space Visible
Something shocking is happening in Minneapolis. A group of artists are undertaking a project to make art on the facades of unused buildings in the city. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the slickly printed, well designed signs for this type of work (I prefer guerilla style or ephemeral projects in public space). Intersecting artistic/private aesthetic interests with public space rarely works… but the Save Canvas project presented by Overproof Design Studio actually succeeds in its aims. It has been a pleasure to watch the empty structure along Nicollet avenue be turned into a work of art. Especially since this is the site of the unrealized Nicollet condo project (a 60 floor glass high-rise that never materialized thanks to the economic downturn).
Definitely check out their work.
On another note, I am reminded of something distinctly beautiful about the public sphere in Montreal. The city seemed to be predisposed to giving up automobile traffic for pedestrianized streets. In Minneapolis we have the “National Night Out” every year, during which certain blocks are closed to vehicular traffic. It takes a special event here to get people onto the street and walking around. In stark contrast, the above posters in Montreal indicate that the pedestrian is almost synonymous with the urban experience.
I couldn’t agree more.
Maps & Connections
Map ©Lauren van Wyke 2009
A few days ago I received this amazing map from a fellow artist and friend, Lauren van Wyke. I love this idea of us both being suspended in the air at the same time… stuck in the netherland which is air travel.
Thank you Lauren.
Visual Scavenger | Public Life’s Carrion
PROTOPURGE
As I was dragging my rather sorry ass to work this morning with a pharmaceutical and red wine hangover, I finally had the chance to whip out a camera and photograph. It has been quite some time since I’ve been able to see something + have a camera around to document it. I’m not sure if any other photographers out there have this question from time to time: Which is better: to experience and not create or to create and therefore lose your first-person experience of a place/object/subject? Details »
Up and Running…
Justin Lentz
During the avalanche of work yesterday, my friend in Los Angeles – Justin Lentz, sent me this great photograph from a photo shoot he was conducting. I’m excited to see the actual photographs that will emerge from his working process… but this iPhone image has me captivated right now. This little juicy tidbit reminds me of a recent blog post about photography as a lifestyle vs. photography as a strict, project based discipline. Personally, I love it when artists using photography are able to blend it into their practices as a human being… not simply running through the parameters of a project outline. (I will photograph X in X style until someone pays attention to how great thousands of images of X are)
It is only Wednesday and I feel completely drained. This week has been an energy vampire of unrivaled proportions. (Speaking of vampires, I find this article about fried blood on the menu in Chad really disturbing).
*****
On a separate note: I am finally going to break down and check out the “Quick and the Dead” exhibition at the Walker Art Center this weekend. Perhaps then, I will finally be able to see which ideas in conceptual art are officially DEAD and which ones the Walker has decided are ALIVE. Remember – ideas are just objects.
An Amazing Morning
Actually Evening in Brooklyn... But Today Feels This Good
All mornings are not created equal. This morning in particular has been exceptionally sublime… for reasons that usually go unnoticed. Listening to someone take a shower… putting the perfect amount of butter on a slice of baguette. These are the things that are outweighing all the stress, chaos, and financial burdens that have been pulling me under. On this fine, sunny Friday, I woke up, showered (ignoring my newly bald head) and decided to linger around Curtis’ place for breakfast. Absolutely perfect.
To make things even better, my first email of the day was a message informing me my friend and colleague Eireann had blogged about my work and linked to my Etsy store. Eireann is an incredibly talented visual artist, poet, writer, printmaker, and conversation partner. I remember sitting on the curb outside of the art building @ the U of M during my first weeks of grad school with her. I had just finished my first “real” critique with a faculty member and was completely thrashed… Eireann and I started discussing what makes art a place for possibility, not just a place for production. Looking back, that conversation was one of the things that now offsets all my student loan debt (another being… running around the winding streets of Istanbul @ 1:00 AM with two German girls looking for lemon soda and vodkas).
Check out Eireann’s portfolio and site here: http://www.ohbara.com/
Her blog is also great! http://www.ohbara.com/weblog.html