Surface Disruption 02 has now made its way out of the studio to the 2012 subscribers! This series is Toner on Vellum, folded with archival double-sided tape. All works begin with an 8.5 x 11 inch page of perfect black space, which then succumbs to the weight of its own history, collapsing the purity of the monochrome surface. (ed 12/12 pictured)
I’m in the midst of an exciting new project along with my friend and fellow Malevich devotee Dannielle Tegeder. She is currently in a residency program in DUMBO through Bose Pacia and has developed a collaborative transparent studio project which is bringing in other artists and performers with a relationship to Constructivism and exploring the connections in contemporary art practices and social climate with early Russian Modernism. It’s shaping up to be a very interesting project, and there are some exciting events coming up including a new blog that will extend the project well beyond the close of the residency, to become a central hub of these ideas with both historical and scholarly documents as well as listings of events and exhibitions happening in the present tense.
Stay tuned for more on this VERY soon…
I was in Chicago recently installing a new iteration of Composition To Threaten Your Existence for an exhibition at Carrie Secrist Gallery. The show is titled (No) Vacancy and while being organized had been referred to by the gallery as “the Holes show” as it was intended to be (…and is) an exhibition about holes, emptiness, voids and all of the tangential ways in which that could be explored. It was great fun, and I had the opportunity to catch up with many old friends from when I had lived there, plus meeting new and interesting people and seeing a lot of artwork. I enjoyed seeing new work from artists I’ve known for many years, and seeing the way the different galleries evolved and changed to meet new challenges. Everything evolves, and when you live in the midst of it you don’t always notice the changes until later down the road. The same thing happens when you live with a work of art over the course of several years. It may have had an initial draw that seduced you at the beginning, but as you live with it and continue engaging and thinking about it, you notice other elements, or angles, which may continue to grow on you and reveal more of the work’s mysteries.
I received the image below from a dear friend, a collector and long-time supporter of the work and a subscriber to 2011′s Drawing Subscription Mystical Geometries. He and his wife chose to frame the works individually and arrange them in a descending design creating an interesting flow to the work and further breaking up the formal constraints of the work. I’m sure as the work ages, and as they live with it, the drawings will continue to grow in meaning and significance. That’s the fun of living with art.
Saturday the 28th will see a new rotation of works in the 3rd iteration of the Lineup series of exhibitions at SUGAR in Brooklyn, NY. I’ve known Gwendolyn (SUGAR’s proprietor) for a number of years, and she’s got one of the more unique curatorial visions I’ve had the opportunity to both work with and observe. She’s always been very engaged during studio visits, and comes in both prepared with a very specific idea of what she’s looking to achieve, and with an openness to being surprised by coming across a work she may not have been expecting. As a result, she generates exhibitions as conversations between works/artists/the audience and allows all of the parts to breathe organically into the reality of the whole. That’s what has been making the Lineup series so interesting, and has taken the conversation(s) to another level.
I’m really pleased to be able to show a new piece from the Composition To Threaten Your Existence series in this next round, and also another manifestation of the series in (No) Vacancy at Carrie Secrist in Chicago (Opening Feb. 4).
Enjoy this installation teaser courtesy of Gwendolyn and SUGAR:
…and check out a longer version on SUGAR’s site
Surface Disruption 01 has now made its way out of the studio to the 2012 subscribers! This series is Toner on Vellum, folded with archival double-sided tape. All works begin with an 8.5 x 11 inch page of perfect black space, which then succumbs to the weight of its own history, collapsing the purity of the monochrome surface. (ed 12/12 pictured)
The gentlemen at Progress Report put together a very nice profile on my studio and practice.
We had this EPIC brunch one Sunday morning in Brooklyn and then headed up to the studio to talk about the Ritual Aesthetics show that was about to manifest. They managed to catch Composition To Threaten Your Existence as it was in-process, and we had a wonderful time talking Black, belief, and non-objectivity.
Good times…
Here we are diving headfirst into another year of exciting possibilities. The second series for the Drawing Subscription, Surface Disruptions, is sorted and underway.
Speaking of disruptions, or breaking of the boundaries within a planar dimension, I often think of how incredibly good Ligeti’s Metronome piece is. In taking the object(s) of timing and rhythm (or rather, the structure of aural composition) he sets each in motion amidst 99 other object-structures and let’s them create a situation wherein the whole of time/space is pitted against itself. The early science fiction writer Ray Cummings said: “Time… is what keeps everything from happening at once”, and the achievement of Ligeti’s piece is that it manages to force time to happen all at once, both syncing and harmonizing with itself, and unabashedly breaking free of it’s intended purpose.
This is a disruption of the surface of time(ing), and this is what you can expect from 2012.
Mystical Geometries, 2011
Now whole and complete, Mystical Geometries, the first offering in the Drawing Subscription series, is available as a complete set to interested parties. Because we all know how much it sucks to miss out on something awesome, the subscriptions are structured such that the # of subscribers who sign up between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31st of the previous year, + 5 additional pieces, comprise the final edition number. The +5 become reserved as complete sets for after the year has run its course. Mystical Geometries culminated as an edition of 12 and all of the works should now be in-hand for all of the subscribers. Those who had the foresight to reserve complete sets will be getting theirs after the New Year – just to play it safe – because of the massive volume of mail at the end of the year.
Mystical Geometries was an exploration in mark-making and void. Presence and absence. Inspired by Hermetic and Occult diagrams, particularly Robert Fludd’s black square etching representing the Prima Materia, as well as Tantric paintings done as exquisitely simple meditations on the world, these works were meant to explore both material and process through the simplicity of form. Taking the obligatory black square of Malevich (and so many others now), this project unfolded over the course of the year as a square window into that flat-black void. Attempting to pull back, fold or bend, peek around, and explore the peripheral areas of the contained system we have become so familiar with and finally, coming to accept its location firmly entrenched in the (w)hole of the viewing space.
Through the repetition of creating these, I worked out the aesthetic logistics of a larger series of works on linen which are coming along very nicely. The project also provided a space for consideration, both in parallel to and reaction against the immediacy of the works, and evolved into the schematics for next year’s subscription as well as other larger scale projects. The active meditation of making these works has provided an excellent space within my mind for the continued percolation of ideas and projects which I am truly looking forward to continuing with next year’s series Surface Disruption.
December’s drawing for Mystical Geometries revealed!
And here we are in the throes of December. The final installments for 2011’s Mystical Geometries have been sent out and should find their way into the generous hands of a special group of people I am very grateful to have been able to share this project with throughout the year. As the year comes toward it’s close, and Mystical Geometries has been made whole and complete, the studio is preparing for the next chapter in the Drawing Subscription: Surface Disruption.
The past year has been incredibly productive for the studio and it is certainly the goal to continue as such through next year as well. As I compiled some images for the usual cycle of grants and residencies and so forth, I realized just how much has been accomplished this past year, and it’s been great. I’m very much looking forward to finishing the rest of the projects that are still “in process” and also jumping in to several new projects that have been gestating in the back of my skull and are really ready to burst into their own corporeal reality. I’m starting to line up a few shows in the next year, and some printed/publishing projects that I’m very excited about. It’s always great to be able to show alongside, and work on projects with people whom you respect, admire and mutually support. For now, keep an eye out for updates about shows in Kansas City, MO, Chicago (x2), and Brooklyn, and other projects coming out of Brooklyn and Tuscany, Italy.
So a big thanks to all of the 2011 subscribers, and all who have started lining up for the 2012 subscription (You still have until Dec. 31 to sign up!), as well as all of the generous supporters of other projects and shows that have manifest this year, and are being worked out for this next year.
