The Bewildered Blue
Chaos ballet on the fractured fault line
Struggling with the inability to stance a truth
given the influence of
so many multiple perspectives
All equally focused and flawed
Shifting ever constant between fox, hedgehog, scorpion, and frog
Pleading please tell me my nature
to our version of god
who's legitimacy turned out to be
just a power hungry myth
made in the image of
Money and Industry
Heavens just hype like Disney World
Indulgences for the privileged who can afford it
Or those who saved their entire life
Just to wait in line after line after line
Possessive individualism pushing
whats mine is mine
to have a good time
Or just pass the time
It's fine
I choose to wait in this line
I am an informed consumer
The product of a mass produced mess
Passive observation to try and impress
The Joneses, Instagram, and the hole in my chest
that urges the consideration not to be
bewildered cattle but
To be Human, fighting the human battle
Forged forever in the pre-existing human condition
expressed in an infinite array that
the silver success illusions say
are not worth the coverage
As if humanity isn't something to be bothered with
When it's the only persistent commonality we have
in being alive
Choose love and kindness
despite the confusion
without wearing it like an arm band
or pin or flag
Carry it like a fluid force compass
that succeeds as a constant
Despite conflict
Have a dialogue
with whatever speaks to you or through you
As it roots as a riot in your heart
Might it bleed into an involuntary action
That the abundance of others
are sisters and brothers
even if you don't talk all the time or at all
Say Good is a possibility to inhabit and be,
could we look at the person beside us
without a screen
How can we?
When we best look ourselves with a filter
with the best angle and light
for the best representation of our highlight life
under the best circumstances with blinders high
for the best self-deception and indulgence like
just trying to get by and by
And get by endless
gripping the thought of transcendence
pouring out eyes and mind alike
Call to the tide returning to untouched sea
Screaming wait for me! wait for me!
At the mercy of this material limitation
with waxing and waning lunar envy
stunted and coddled by fear haunted
stifling
Paralyzed and wanting to be
A phoenix that lives in a full grown machine
Friday March 3rd from 5pm-8pm is Gallery Night in Downtown Ithaca! I’m real grateful to be part of the Group Exhibition at the CAP ArtSpace. “Our Daily Bread” is up along with beauty and talent from regional artists.
Program Director, Robin Schwartz, asked each artist to write about their inspiration and process for their work. Here’s a look at the inspiration and process for “Our Daily Bread”…
“Our Daily Bread” highlights art as a commodity, the use of appropriation, religious devotion, and the role of artists. It was created in an open assignment during my graduate studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Ironically, the work critiques the commodity of illustration as an art form that “puts bread on the table” over personal artistic expression. It poses the questions “how do you make something new and original?” and “how do you survive making art?” The rat in this image is an appropriation from a Banksy piece which reads, “I’m out of bed and dressed, what more do you want?” A star has been added to simultaneously emphasize and mock the significance of art making and artists. There’s a fine line in authenticity, where our images come from, what they mean, and why. There’s a fine line with the artist’s ego-a balance between loathing self-deprecation and an inflated sense of worth. This piece instigates the line between artistic authenticity, appropriation, worth, and the paradox of religious-like passion for art and jaded apathy of the whole thing all-together.
Created digitally, the original sketch of the rat was done in pencil and scanned into Photoshop. It’s a trial and error type of process. At the time, I was privileged to use Cintiqs-where you can draw right on the screen like a digital sketchbook. I now work with a Mac, Photoshop, and a Wacom Tablet for Digital Work. My primary art tools are ink and line.
The show will be up for the month of March. The ArtSpace is located in Center Ithaca on the Ithaca Commons at the Visitor Center.
This Fine Line presents American Beauty, a series about Truth and the pursuit of “ideals.” Feminism, the 2017 Presidency and Administration, music, film, and the desire to know and understand truths of our present day America inspired this collection. Issues involved touch on communication, social media, women’s rights, education, wealth, pageantry, illusion, and paralysis. This series celebrates the psychological and emotional strength of women and reflects the necessity of empathy and intelligent, honest, effective communication in our country. Each piece incorporates a patriotic red, white, and blue theme paired with satire, anger, and vicious sadness.
I’m real grateful for the third time showing work at Transformations Hair Studio in downtown Ithaca, NY. If you missed “Influence and Affect” at Press Cafe, or think the drawings are cool and want to see them again, you can see them up now until March 23. Accompanying the series are a small collection of “The Girls” and a few other line drawings that are new to display. Stop in, get your hair looking fabulous, enjoy.
You’ll also find an opportunity to purchase prints from the previous series,”Excess and Accessibility,” along with a couple original un-displayed line drawings and un-seen selects from “The Girls”
Transformations Hair Studio is located in the Ithaca Shopping Plaza. 222 Elmira Road. Ithaca NY, 14850. The works will be up February 9- March 23.
So…yeah…what is life again? The gravity of reality weighs pretty heavy on compassionate sanity lately. I thought reality was ambiguous before in it’s definition, cradled by the infinite perspectives and interpretations Art naturally provokes. What is it like having a zeitgeist of FAKE NEWS! and “alternative facts” every other day now? Or is it every day?
I made this piece about a week before Inauguration Day, thinking about what political actions are teaching us. The following post talks about seeing and participating as a resident of Earth, American, and Artist. There are details of this image at the bottom. Between here and there are some words you might choose to read.
this is 100% Ralph Steadman inspired, complete respect to his style.
As a resident of Earth, the ego fueled power hungry resistance or negligence of basic human rights and decency in our human community has existed before now. The issue has blown up. Fiercely, it wasn’t ok then, it’s not ok now. We are all part of this global community, we are.
On a national scale, a lot of humans have the privilege, honor, and embarrassment to be an American. In our technologically advanced, abundantly populated, entertained, capitalist, individualistic, divided, highly competitive, ego fueled consumer society there are a lot of things to be grateful for. There are.
As an artist, there is some calling, responsibility even, to address and respond to the insanity and dysfunction of the times. What an opportunity then for the artist, given the hellfire of our social, political, economic, and environmental climate. Also how terrifying. How terrifying to look the shit in the face and say, “I see it”, with the overwhelming, helpless, crippling depression and paralyzing fear and anxiety seeing it and also saying something, doing something, something informed, compassionate, and most importantly true, that comes with “it”, on top of factually observing what “it” is.
“OH! But, no, that all is really horrible and uncomfortable and nooooo”. Yes, it is.
Self-preservation is real. And yes, for the sake of sanity, we do need distractions and simple joys and pleasures. But I don’t want my life to be a fear-based guilty pleasure, where I don’t look past my blinders for the sake of desperate security that in the back of my mind feels like could be taken from me any second, ESPECIALLY if I do anything “radical.” And by radical…I mean with awareness.
I can’t speak from another perspective. I don’t know what it’s like to have lucrative wealth or competitive luxuries. But I’d imagine that if I have something that makes me feel safe and secure, especially if I’ve worked damn hard for it, I wouldn’t want that to change. It makes sense-and well….
There’s a lot of people. There’s a lot to see and to be said. There’s too many people, really. And a lot more issues that go with the unique, complexity of each individual person and the communities of persons as whole.
I’m far from perfect. I try and participate how possible. I get embarrassed thinking about it sometimes…. What it would be like to really feel and function in a community based, equal, abundant, compassionate, generally well place without the umbrella pre-existing condition of individualistic, “competitive”, fight or flight being and fear. How do I, we, live that harmony when it’s so predominantly unfamiliar?
Existence is an endless barrage of questions. It really irritates me sometimes because WTF, where are the answers? No such thing. If you’re trying, thank you, and keep doing the things. If you’re not, what would it be like to reconsider that? I end with these working conclusions, as something to believe on the daily, with hope.
Now is the time to see the works IRL! I’m grateful for the opportunity to display at Press Cafe in downtown, Ithaca NY. The Influence and Affect series, along with some of The Classics, are up for the month of January.
This Fine Line presents “SUGAR DEMONS & THE BABY BLUE”, a darker series about Sugar Addiction and Depression. Sugar is everywhere and it is addictive, especially if you are sensitive. It is like a drug. Sugar is arguably one the of most accessible, convenient, socially acceptable addictive substances on the market, causing just about as many problems as it tries covers up. Cravings and crazies you don’t want to talk about.
“Sugar Baby” Detail
The Sugar Secret; keep things sweet.
The girls in this series unfortunately could not, despite how they tried, they went mad. But they still try to have heart where it matters and to keep up appearances of course, with their high-fashionesque posing and empty gaze, conflicted by desire and not desire.
When something like this takes over, it’s a fine line- which came first- the Sugar or the Sad?
“Little Birdy Blue” Detail
Stressed? have a little chocolate.
Grocery Shopping…while trying to be mindful of what’s actually food, what’s a GMO, what’s organic, what’s fair trade, AND what’s affordable? forget your troubles-say hello to the candy aisle.
Thinking about our Political Situation, social injustices, what the facts of reality are anymore? grab anything, it surely has sugar in it.
Had a salad for dinner? hellooo dessert.
Think your Fat and don’t live up to the impossible beauty standards we are fed and/or are tired of trying to accept yourself as an individual and as a member of humanity? Have a little or why not a lot of something to take the edge off.
Not wanting to address your feelings? Sugar is there for you.
Having an existential crisis at 11PM on a Tuesday? why not numb the chaos with all the things.
Bored? well why not.
you don’t really need a reason.
Even when you know you don’t want it, past the matter of should or shouldn’t….even if you aren’t looking for it, a strange demon calls out to your inner baby…your logic replies:
(note: Depression and Addictions or Disorders in any form are painful AND can also be manageable. If you or someone you know is suffering reach out, seek out help-it’s ok. it’s not easy, and there’s no quick fix, but there are professionals and care available out in this world. and if you are working through something, keep going. it’s ok to be scared. i’m scared too. but i believe in you!)
The academic formative years- before I knew just how much I loved ink, I discuss the fleeting tragedy that is the pencil……
October 8, 2011
It has only been within the last year that I decided to form a relationship with pencil again. Our last stint ended when I found the precise v5 pen and adapted that as my primary art tool. As I am working on my latest assignment the truth of the pencil’s inconsistency shows.
A pen (unless it is dying) gives you a beautiful line, confidently, permanently. With a pen, it says, this is the decisive moment, here is your line. Pencil…pencil is a bit safer, and with good reason. When you aim to create something accurately, with proportion and scale and all good things in mind, it is necessary to have a trial and error process. You need something you can fix and move and manipulate. Pencil allows you to change and its companion the eraser will remove all the mistakes you’ve made so you and no one else will ever have to see them.
I’ve actually come to grow fond of my 7B pencil. But my 7B pencil…it is needy. The moment I start really getting into my sketch and the lines and shapes and forms start coming to life the tip is suddenly gone and the horrid woody stub of its former tip starts scrubbing its way into the paper. I have to stop, get up, find my sharpener, go over to the rubbish bin, crank it through a little metal hole, and by the time I get back to the paper the moment is gone. And if the moment is not gone then the mark is not the same. IF I am LUCKY, and the moment is still there and the mark is still the same…it doesn’t matter because I was never actually able to sharpen it because as it reached its prime sharpness the lead fell out, or it sharpened funny and the wood is creeping up one side. I hate it. I absolutely can not stand it. Not to mention once you start feeling good with that pencil, once you’ve worked all your shit out, it leaves. My beautiful 7B pencil that I finally started growing fond of is nearly a quarter of the size it use to be. What a fleeting romance. How perfectly unbearable you are.
This Fine Line; The Blog 