research(es)

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/29138/jacques-bedel/

i just read about the artist jacques bedel in modern painters, and the image in the article is outstanding. i'm trying to find out more about his work, or at least some more images of books. the image is arresting to me because of the transparency of the book... transparency is a formal concern for me, and I have been trying to make a clear books....

and a friend sent me a link to this artist, edith collath, who makes books that breathe. it's heavily humorous, i guess, her work is a playful momento mori.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYdQkoQymWM&eurl=http://edithkollath.wordpress.com/

more images

images of "illuminated manuscript: page 2", installation view at 4731 Gallery.

media: etched copper, etched glass, epoxy resin, paper, and candle.
image etched on glass is also available as a serigraph gocco print in silver.

a few images

installation views at 4731 gallery....


Palimpsest: Archives
Leaflet


more to come... i have quite a few to sort through.

CODEX

my solo show, CODEX, opened in the beginning of November. i have a lot of images, and am now in the process of tearing down the show in the gallery. it is a strange feeling to see all of the work i have made in a year, collected in one big room, and it feels stranger still to now move it all back to my small studio. i hope it will give me a bit of perspective.

my December task is applying to three graduate programs. i feel like i am ready for a more rigorous course of study, but it seems so long since i've been in an academic environment that i have to re-adjust. i am excited to do so...

i'll get some images together and post them here, hopefully it will help my review process so i can plan my portfolio. daunting, but exciting.

new work

the above image is "palimpsest: for laura", 2008.

i am working on new pieces and applying to a show next week. it is exciting, i have been making the first works that are non-representational or illusionistic... and to me they are about something more universal.

here are some studio images:

above are some works in progress and a view of process.


the palimpsest concept is one of constant re-invention. i write over words i have already written, spill paint or wax to obscure meaning in a passage or to illuminate something that was once hidden. it's as though i am working in a way directly opposite of a conservationalist.
i am experimenting with materials like wax, charcoal, thread and copper to create a narrative- a parallel to the narrative that i am writing on the pages of the books. i am using my penmanship- which is greatly inspired by traditions in calligraphy- and languages like hindi and braille to pull texture into the written pieces. the language and material are creating direct references to alchemy, the body, and the practice of journaling.



the work has become meditative and very introspective in the studio. it's freeing to write and erase personal statements.... the books are in a constant state of change.

एक्सपेरिमेंट.

because, on the last post, one paragraph transliterated into hindi by accident, i have decided that i am going to use this blog to translate a passage from my new piece and include the same passage in both languages.

here it is in english; not the most amazing passage of writing, but it's all free form and will be erased, so i won't be hard on myself:
"if it isn't right, then it isn't right। but i intend to try. i could lose, i could gain, but it's all in the narrative. i keep losing and regaining the narrative, it's fragmented and fragile, and i won't know where it's going until i'm finished with the page. and i think i need these words because the visual narrative has never been strong enough. i've tried to force it into images, i have tried to say that "i'm telling a story", but that is not telling a story. it's like a high school english class, i need to show, not tell, and now i know what i am showing, and it's not just on image, it's layers of image in words. ezra pounds' "phanopeia, melopeia, and logopeia... throw a visual image on to the readers imagination."

"इफ आईटी इसन'टी रिघ्त आईटी इसन'टी रिघ्त, बुत इ इन्तेंद तरी। इ कोउल्ड लोस, इ कोउल्ड गईं, बुत आईटी'स अल इन थे नार्रतिवे। इ कीप लोसिंग एंड रेगैनिंग थे नार्रतिवे, आईटी'स फ्राग्मेंतेद एंड फ्रागिले। एंड इ वों'टी क्नो वेयर आईटी'स गोइंग उन्तिल इ'म फिनिशेद विथ थे पेज। एंड इ थिंक इ नीद ठेस वोर्ड्स बेकाउसे थे विसुअल नार्रतिवे हस नेवर बीन स्ट्रोंग एनौघ। इ'वे त्रिएद टू फोर्स आईटी इन्तो इमागेस, इ हवे त्रिएद टू से ठाट "इ'म तेल्लिंग अ स्टोरी", बुत ठाट इस नोट तेल्लिंग अ स्टोरी। आईटी' सलिके अ हिघ स्चूल इंग्लिश क्लास, इ नीद टू शो, नोट तेल, एंड नो इ क्नो वहत इ ऍम शोविंग, एंड आईटी'स नोट जुस्त अन इमेज, आईटी'स लायेर्स ऑफ़ इमेज इन वोर्ड्स। एजरा पौन्ड्स' "फनोपिया, मेलोपिया, एंड लोगोपिया... थ्रो अ विसुअल इमेज ओं थे थे रेअदेर्स इमागिनाशन।"

search.

i am looking for a studio. yesterday i saw a raw space that belongs to friends in hamtramck that may work really well, if it can be available by june. i know i shouldn't be so nervous, it's barely may, but i want it secured because i want to keep working on the palimpsests. i have an amazing momentum going so far.

today i looked at a very not-raw space in ferndale, an office space. the owner didn't seem leery about renting to an artist, which is great, it just may be difficult to have as a studio i can use for encaustic and etching, which is important for this series. i may be able to talk to him about it, though. on the other hand, it's a two room space for super cheap, and i can use the front room as a mini-gallery/ office- he said there was no problem punching holes in the wall. awesome.

tomorrow i go to an artist studio building in detroit. i've seen studios there before, and it is good because it's established, and a little more auspicious, they have studio shows....yet, i've heard rumors that it may not be too secure a space, and there's parking issues, i'm sure.

so much of this is generating a lot of focus, so i'm trying for one appointment a day, and then coming home and working on pieces। i made my first mach-up for a palimpsest yesterday, and i am hoping to have my first piece done next week, after figuring out the encaustic method i will use. i just need a few more pieces of equipment.

हियर इस अ पीस ठाट इ ऍम उसिंग अस अ रेफेरेंस, ठाट इस फाइव येअर्स ओल्ड, कॉल्ड "त्र्यिंग टू फोरगेट इकारुस", आईटी'स इंक, चर्कोअल एंड एन्काउस्टिक ओं पेपर विथ चर्कोअल (इ हवे नो आईडिया वही माय पोस्ट तुर्नेद टू हिन्दी बुत इ तोताल्ली डिग आईटी):

the above text was accidentally translated into hindi! what i was trying to say is that the piece below, called "trying to forget icarus", from 2003, is my reference piece for this new series. i am using the same pallette and encaustic method, just on books:

first.

today i went for a long walk, then stopped to buy some books. i really wanted an anselm kiefer mono, something i would refer to forever... but instead bought the latest art news, a book called "art & fear", and a philosophy, selected essays of michel foucault; "language, counter-memory, practice". i passed up many other books, of course, quite a few which were more practical.

i am establishing this blog to round out my new series of art pieces, called "palimpsest". i'm naming it after my favorite word, umbra, which has a variety of textured meanings, my favorite of which is the dark accompianment to a physical body. i am going to use html from this source and transfer it to my artwork.

i have been thinking more and more about graduate school, and about the bookmaking residency. this week i am also planning to apply to the artist's market for a solo show, even though i am in rudimentary stages of the palimpsest series, it will be a good practice for me to start answering calls for entries.