Memphis on the horizon, and what i am leaving behind.

just some shots of the “finished” studio. more accurately the state i got to before i needed to work on other stuff.
this is the idea wall with images and plans for the gallery spaces still to be tackled on the next leg of the tour, and i seem to be adding more all the time.
so i decided to cover the exposed insulation in more insulation, actually sheets of blue foam insulation. I am finding that the color combination of bare sheetrock grey and light blue foam insulation reminds me of a mid-6o’s brice marden color scheme,so yes i like it.

I still have a ways to go in terms of weaving the structure fully in with steel, but the piece of 2″ conduit turned out to make the perfect straw. i should point out that the circles of steel helping to define the shape of the cup and lid are from an old display stand I found behind urban outfitters last year. I toted the circles with me when i moved because i knew they would be good for something. This piece will make it’s debut in the things show in November, if I can get it finished in time.
I made myself a new studio chair. the ingredients a discarded breuer chair frame, some plywood and blue foam, good as new.

I have been trying to develop a proposal for an outdoor piece I would like to make. in order to understand my ideas better and to facilitate the proposal process i made a simple scale model with some scrap wood and photos of the site. I even got some of that train set grass and the miniature people. I have three distinct ideas for this space and will submit them to the people who make the decisions and let them decide which if any they would be most interested in developing.

this is the lightweight blue foam and 1×4 travel package for the stir sticks. It is sized to fit the bed of the truck with no over hang…i hope.

So I always have these moments before installations where I take stock of what is going on in the studio and what is going on in my head art-wise. Each time I get the opportunity to build a new woven stir stick piece I learn somethings new, either about space and the interaction of artwork and people within it, or lately about systems of drawing. With the recent shift in my practice from spending extended time working in the studio punctuated with occasional site work, to now focusing on multiple installations of my work punctuated by occasional bouts of studio work I have learned something new about how I think. I find myself, thinking more and more about drawing. For me drawing a line, whether on a page in my sketchbook, or in the gallery with sticks and shadows, is what it means to be an artist. I am also open minded enough to understand that “drawing a line” can be metaphorical. I think that new media artists, institutional critique practitioners, painters, performance artists and others who don’t present drawings as finished work still draw a line either to history, ideas, the audience or simply to themselves. It is in my nature to immediately try and understand the context for which works of art and design exist in the world. I long ago embraced the idea that art is everywhere, and I can have just as moving an art experience in wal-mart as i do at the met. This is possible because I am constantly drawing a line between what I am seeing and what it’s place is in the larger universe of culture, objects, and things. This is a strange thought to have on my mind as I scramble to get the last loose ends and materials packed in the truck before I hit the road for Memphis on Sunday. I am particularly excited for the trip to Memphis as I will be driving the route that takes me through Birmingham, then through Brilliant Alabama, then into the end of Memphis that has the FedEx headquarters. I like these long drives as I have time to watch my train of thought move across the landscape and draw new connections between what I see and what I do. I especially enjoy this chance to draw a line of thinking as I notice more and more how technology and google in particular deprives humans of the ability to draw their own conclusions. It is very precious to me where a train of thought goes, and for me the google algorithm, especially the new google caffeine, is not where my mind goes. As a way to ween myself off of allowing google to find the answer, I have stopped “googling” for useless facts I cant remember. A case in point was a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to remember a very important sci-fi movie that dealt with cyborgs, and post-modernism and it starred Harrison Ford and was just re-released, it was on the tip of my tongue. I could easily have googled this but instead I let my forgetfulness linger and the next day while I was working in the studio, the name “blade runner” came back to me. But more importantly what came back was the last time I attempted to watch it and couldn’t finish it, and how robocop 2 made a much stronger and for me more watchable critique of modernism. I suppose this is a simple way of saying I am looking forward to a brief road trip as a warm up to Memphis, as a way to help me focus and prepare mentally for the challenges that lie ahead. I for one can’t wait for the train to leave the station, and maybe miss a few stops along the way. and if the train gets lost i can always use googlemaps to help me find my way.