Sleepless

Tissue Waves Evertson © 2009

I fell asleep dreaming of water last night. (I spent studio time on

photographing tissue paper waves yesterday.)

Then suddenly I was being tormented in a Hieronymus

Bosch painting.

I may need to re-boot my brain from this existential mode

if I want to get anything done (or get any sleep).

Odds and Ends

I've been having a bit of fun with Oddcast's PhotoFace

demo. Just a distraction from what I should be

working on. (like the essay I mentioned last post) You

can upload a photo and the program performs a

little animation for you. A little creepy but fun; I

just had to give "The Scream" a try.

Sink or Swim

Swimming the Witch - Medieval woodcut (note innocent person in foreground)

I'm off onto magic for awhile. I've been taking graduate

courses at Wesleyan University since 2003. Why I do

this is a mystery although I started as a way to get

up to speed on digital media arts. Its morphed into

history, sociology architecture; essentially everything

I wished I had time for back when I was getting my

MFA. I'm up to my eyeballs trying to write a final essay

for a fascinating course in Miracles and Magic in the

Middle Ages. Of course now that I'm well into writing on

patriarchy, misogyny and rural communities I could be

writing a great paper on the role of art in defining magic.

Pact with the Devil - Medieval woodcut

While slightly off track from primary readings, I've been

finding some fascinating art. I fear as a whole the artists

may have proven the adage that a picture is worth a

thousand words. As stereotypical images of witches

became more available the hysteria that led to hunting

witches grew. Although I believe artists are much more

in tune with modern witch hunts I am less than optimistic

that our culture is anymore civilized than our Medieval

ancestors.

Best Face Forward

Thailand - Cast Buddha head (collection of the artist)

My last couple of posts have touched on my belief in

ignoring group think (ie friends and family) when it

comes to what goes into your art. Unless, of course, it

is a collaboration. I also believe we are more likely

to be inspired when we spend more hours making

art. An artist waiting for inspiration to hit is a

musician that doesn't practice. Our work is our face

to the world.

Pond - Photocollage by Ian Evertson

I'm backing into a topic that was inspired by an e-mail

exchange (cousin of a friend) concerning whether

attending Berklee College of Music would give their

son a fallback career. Our son attended Berklee and

she wanted the 411 for their college decisions. The

short answer is yes they do, they offer many music

career paths. But my long answer concerned commitment

because like the visual arts, music takes talent, luck and

work, work and more work. No school can prepare you

for an arts career. I hope I didn't put nails in the kids

music coffin. Our son is doing just fine because Berklee

didn't kill his dreams. He works hard at his "other job"

but has a lifetime ahead to work even harder on those

dreams. If you have interests in photography, music

reviews, slam poetry and zombie sightings check out

our son Ian's new blog. It can be a tough road with an artist

father but at least his mom is a mental health professional.

Applause

Right Handed Applause (©2009)

What keeps artists going? It certainly isn't the money,

fame and glamour. Why do we make art? Matthew Rose

(he's organizing the "A Book About Death" exhibit) claims

that "I like the hours". Certainly about the best

explanation I've ever heard. I'd wager most of us

somehow just knew at some point that making art is

just something we do. Probably something most of us

wouldn't give up even if we were offered that 'real job'

that our relatives or friends may sometimes suggest we

find. Instead we struggle after working the unreal job

to find the hours necessary for the 'work' of art. So why

make art? Well - somebody has to do it.

Swarms

In the Same Boat

It's good weather for ducks and I'm still contemplating relevance.

How do some artists stand out in a crowd and influence other artists?

I mentioned the wikipedia effect last post. Simply put, it is a group

effort that collaborates on a project. Usually the result is a 'good

enough' but not necessarily the best solution. Good for the group.

I use wikipedia in my links on occasion so I don't knock it, but the

content is optimized in search engines such that its 'solutions'

seem authoritarian. Museums act in much the same way in that

they filter the background chatter and come up with a pretty

good consensus. Great for the art community; some-

times bad for individuals or groups out of favor.

Wiki Artists Option

For the actual artist our work isn't like this relevance model. We're

not seeking a consensus. Although we're part of the art community

usually art is a lonely process. We're better off as individuals

utilizing that solitude rather than listening to advice of friends,

family or supporters. When we're producing we tend to fight a

variety of roadblocks just to spend a few hours in the studio

working idiosyncratic ideas through.

The Rogue

Our artistic search engines are found not only on the Internet or

museums. Mostly our search is a filtering of our unique

perceptions of the world; observation of nature, other people and

our interactions with social norms. Really we're at our best out

in the world ignoring relevance and finding our own way.

In swarm theory eventually people will check out new options.

Relevance

Wish You Were Here - trial shot for "A Book About Death" postcard project

(see "Text Messages from the Dead" on right)

The other night I'm at home trying to work through my

yoga routine. Difficult enough, but at the same time I'm

talking out loud, more to myself than my wife who is trying

to read. She points out that most practitioners are not letting

their minds wander. True, but I'm sitting tied in a knot wondering

"what is relevant"? I suppose this could be useless, maudlin or

even a dangerous thought for an artist. Except for the fact that

my art is in a fine place right now. I'm just making it; not

hesitating, over thinking, the ideas are flowing and I'm

along for the ride. The photo up top is one of my experiments

for a postcard I'm working on. Needs work, but at least I'm

in the studio butting my head against some ideas, so all is

well.

My Google result formula for mass relevancy

So, I think what's really on my mind is not what makes an artist

relevant but what makes an artist relevant to me. There are plenty of

widely recognized artists; artists that define what our understanding

of what art is or the next direction for art etc. that just haven't had

much influence on me or my work. I enjoy work by Warhol but I was

amazed that there were so many more Google results for him vs Johns

or Rauschenberg who I owe more to in understanding Pop Art. My

simple equation above doesn't do justice to those who theorize

relevancy algorithms or swarm theory. Still I have to wonder whether

the wikipedia effect isn't derailing our inner critic.

Sidetrack

Ornamental Grass

On my way from A to B to C I blinked and ended up at 9. Life

would be much simpler if I could just use both sides of my brain

sometimes. I've got two projects that I'd like to devote some

creative flow to but I ended up exploring a tributary. I've got

my Landfillarts hubcap and I've got my idea. Plus I've got my

postcard idea for "A Book About Death". Over the weekend

I posted a short story inspired by Ray Johnson's mail art.

(On the right side of my blog). I decided my postcard would

involve a photo of the tableau that the story brought to my

mind. Yesterday I began experimenting with some exposures

I wanted to use. One shot was an ornamental grass at the

side of a pond. Nothing to do whatsoever to do with autos or

mail art; more about random camera exposures.

Nest

After a bit of drawing, filtering, extracting it became a

nest. So, from hubcaps to Ray Johnson to plovers. Today is

a new day so perhaps I can back track a little and find

where my train of thought derailed. Humm? - trains? ;)