Writer workshop

Detail of text from Brule © evertson 07

I'm off to a one day session of the week long version of Wesleyan's

Writer's Conference. From my earliest years as a student I've

included text and type in my work. I've made videos that actually

required a great deal of writing. I find it does not come as natural

as some other skills, thus I have great respect for the writer's art.

I have some hope that I will come away with a renewed sense of

inspiration. Ravi Shankar (who doesn't play sitar), founder of

Drunken Boat, one of my favorite web zines, will be a speaker.

Add to the mix some advice from novelist Kit Reed and editor,

publisher Ron Hogan among others and I have my inkwell

overflowing.

Text Messages from the Dead insert to postcard ©evertson 09

Until my recent work on a postcard for A Book About Death

which contains a short story that co-exists with the card image,

I've primarily used text and typography as fragments and

visual elements in my collage.

Detail of text from Meltdown ©evertson

I'm not sure that impulse will continue as I've been so awed

(and a little intimidated) by some work I've come across.

Two artist I enjoy from the Drunken Boat can be found under

Web Art (I'll let you navigate on your own to prevent a dead end)

Mark Marino's piece Labrynth: The Rulebook without Game

is a visual treat of hypertext opportunities.

Travis Alber has a piece entitled 30 Days of Rain, which

is a story of leaving San Francisco told through 30 animated

haiku.

Last but not least -

Cathie Borrie's contribution to A book About Death contains

a fragment from her memoir concerning Alzheimer's. Her

main web site can be found here.

Detail of text from Dr. Strange ©evertson 06

I mentioned in a previous post my penchant for working beyond

my comfort level in different mediums as a way to break out

my ruts. So tomorrow I venture out into the scary but oh so

refined atmosphere of the literati.

It was a dark and stormy night....

Peace wish for Iran

A spark of freedom?

Not an art post today, but a post in solidarity with the students

intellectuals, artists and moderates suffering from brutality

in the aftermath of Ahmadinejad's "election".

Our fascination with new media, instant media and social networking

has an aspect that is playing out in the streets of Iran. Living and

working in the US with its sanitized non news can be frustrating.

Waking up and reading the newspaper is already passe for fast developing

events. Broadcast is no better. Leave it to the internet or tweets to

find out what you may suspect is lying in wait between the lines.

Checking my fb tonight I find that Matthew Rose put up a link from

Andrew Sullivan (warning - graphic photos) concerning the riots

in Iran. File this one under things not to ignore.

Checks in the Mailart

"Wish You Were Here" postcard containing short story ©evertson 09

Well, not a check but my postcards that are on their way to

The Emily Harvey Foundation for this falls exhibition of

"A Book About Death" an unbound book about death. The

exhibit opens September 10th in NYC and runs through the

22nd of Sept. If you follow the A Book link you will be able

to watch the ongoing contributions to the exhibit as it

continues to evolve over the summer. Follow the Emily

link to find her all too short but fascinating biography as

well as information about the foundation.

Insert of my story Text Messages From the Dead is included with the postcard

My short story Text Messages From the Dead is included in the

postcard. Yes, the postcard has a 'secret' compartment.

The project, originated by artist Matthew Rose, draws inspiration

from the late Ray Johnson. His unbound "book" was mailed to his

New York Correspondence School "students". The global nature

of the exhibition is a reflection of Ray's influence in the realms of

performance, mail art and Fluxus.

Back of postcard for an unbound book about death evertson 09

A visit to the A Book site is a constantly evolving visual

treat. P.S. any fb members can join both the A Book About

Death group or the Ray Johnson page.

For me this was a

wonderful opportunity to excise a few demons concerning

the untimely deaths of loved ones and honor the

contributions of an exceptional art pioneer.

Peace

More "A Book About Death"

Production facility for "A Book About Death" postcard

I swear it was Karen who had the wine not me when she suggested

I include the short story that accompanies my "A Book About Death"

postcard. The moral is if you don't want criticism, don't show your

work. My prototype was all ready with a front and back; I just needed

to post it to the printers site. The back has an address to my blog where

the story is available. Karen in her infinite wisdom points out that you

can't just put your finger on the postcard and hyperlink your way

anywhere. I knew she was right; the image and story are two sides

of the coin, canvas and paint; both are equal and integral to the

project. While the story is short, it was still too long to print on

the card. I had the front and back shipped to me and I'm sitting

and glueing them on three sides and inserting a copy of the story.

Only 350 to go as Karen glides by with her riesling and says, "since

when have you ever listened to good advice?"

Shiva and Kali battle Space Invaders ©evertson '81

pastel and gold leaf on paper

Before my postcards arrived I was continuing to rebuild the

last few files from my hard drive crash. I came across the

piece above. I'll keep that seemingly endless and addicting

game in mind as I finish up the cards this weekend. 349, 348,

347.....

Don't Look Back

contact sheet - Moses - West Side Highway ©80

I don't know why I keep telling myself this as if it's some profound

mantra. Perhaps if it's not fresh it's dated, past expiration, ready

for the compost. But things in the rear view mirror have their own

perspective that is hard to explain. I believe in many ways it has to

do with 'context'. Art Ravels covered the Whole in the Wall: 1970

exhibit and it pains somewhat to see street art ripped from

it's context. Still it's not surprising that we find ways to package

our art.

Context takes on a particular importance for certain types of work.

That graffiti on a canvas is bound to have a different effect on a

viewer is a given. The 70's if nothing else brought about an explosion

of site specific works. many of these works were driven by artists

concerned with re-defining the boundaries of what an exhibition

space is as well as ownership of "public space".

One concern in my art is confusion of context. Blending of opposites;

rich/poor, urban/pastoral, sanity/insanity.

I recently blogged about my piece Moses. The contact sheets above

are the trigger for the original context.

One of the topics of particular interest to me began in the streets of

NYC in the 70's and it concerns the plight of the homeless. Looking

back? The perspective don't seem to change no matter which way I

look.

Self Portraits as Derelict ©evertson '80

NYC has always had a role in defining the extremes of wealth

and poverty living side by side. The contact sheet above (circa,

1980 - Self Portraits as Derelict) contains photos I used as

publicity shots for a group exhibition. There are several great

blogs that feature current street art, waiting to be discovered

in context. An excellent place to start is the Wooster Street

Collective.

Salon des Refuses

If I see one more bad lighthouse painting I'm going to be sick. ©evertson 09

Let me preface this post by saying this is not a put down

of any particular artist media rather an observation of

the "I know what I like" mentality.

"I'm sorry but we're not accepting 'computer' art this year

because we don't consider it fine art." 'Rita's' disembodied

voice informed me that I would not be exhibiting in our local

East Hampton art show. I had called to sign up for this years

show and in all fairness Rita had that nervous tone of a

spokeswoman not used to issuing group opinions she didn't

necessarily share. She was quick to add that her daughter

did some "interesting things" on the computer ;)

Last post I related how I had spent the last 6-7 years re-tooling

my art with the liberating infusion of all things the computer

has to offer the artist. A whole new palette of color, brushes

and techniques. Sadly, here in my hometown the local art

league seems a bit less impressed. I exhibited last year for

first time in their art show, ignoring my feeling that this

really wasn't my normal venue; but since it is my town, why not?

I did get some of the strangest comments and questions.

Q. Where is the original?

A. On my hard drive.

Comment. It must be easy to make these with the

right software; do you use the program that turns

your art into paintings?

R Garriott, a fellow blogger, had an amusing post on the

13 things not to say to an artist.

I'm not heart broken and don't feel the need to educate

anyone that "fine artists" don't necessarily limit themselves

to oils, acrylics or watercolor. I'm pretty content as a 50

something artist with a decent resume and enough exhibition

opportunities to keep me busy. I can appreciate both traditional

media and new media and have worked in both. So while Rita

asked if perhaps I had some oils to pull out, I think not.

True Confessions

Another one?

In early '02 I returned from an all too brief stint as a visiting

artist in Thailand. Confession time. I realized I was stuck in a

rut. I didn't have half of the passion of the Thai artists I met.

Somewhere between getting my MFA back in '78, moving

to NYC for ten years, having a child and building a paying career

independent of art, my rut was a comfortable groove.

I wasn't uncomfortable.

Perhaps that isn't the best description for a art-working mode

but I'm more productive and the work is a bit edgier when I'm

operating out of my comfort zone. Whether it's wrestling with

a new topic/subject or needing to use a new and different media

to express; my artistic growth seemed strongest at that uncertain

confluence of "I don't know" and "I'm uncomfortable".

I mention all this because I started over in a sense. I had images

and ideas that I wanted to explore with new media; altered

photographs, animation, video. I found a source of inspiration

and knowledge almost in my own backyard. I began taking a few

graduate courses at Wesleyan University. Lo and behold over

the last seven years I accumulated enough credits to earn a

second masters.

The process made me refocus on my art in a

way I hadn't felt in years; and I relearned the joy of confronting

uncertainty. So while a second masters is extremely redundant

I just may have used those new building blocks to make a

staircase to the top of the rut. At least I'm not making piles of

dirt and calling it art anymore ;)

Miles to Go...

Diver ©evertson (version '09)

Only a few days left to participate in Rhizome's pixel billboard,

community builder and fundraiser. Rhizome is a premier site

for following new media. If you are blogging you just might be

interested. I added this "diver" and a linkback as part of their

fundraising collage.

dive suit photo ©evertson 2005

My diver began his artistic reinvention when I took the photo above

at a maritime museum on Lake Ontario. I'll save more on this piece

for a later post as he will show up as an element in a digital collage

for the Eclipse Gallery 50/50/50 Exhibition this fall.

Detail form "Wish You Were Here" ©evertson 09

I haven't posted my finished project from "A Book About Death"

because it's continuing to evolve. I mentioned I wrote a short story

and that led to my image for the exhibit. One last detail I was

struggling with was the organizers suggestion to include the

exhibition title to our works. I decided to take my drop shadow

displacement idea from last post and add a tattoo title. More

on this piece later. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Tattoo

William with Philip's Tattoo digital collage ©evertson 2009

My wife found a beautiful gem of a book for me. Published

in 2005; I hope you are not as far behind on your reading

list as I. The Tattoo Artist by Jill Clement is a beautifully

constructed story of Sara, an early modernist artist. The

novel unravels the tale of her art; successes, failures and

ultimately the pain of using her own body as a canvas. It

combines threads of early 20th century modern art and

primitive votive art forms with themes of immortality

and perseverance. The construction of identity forms a rich

undercurrent. While not without a few quirks: I found her

descriptions of Ta'un'uuan life much more believable

than her artist life in Manhattan. Still, I was impressed

by Ms. Ciments imagination and wit.

While not finding myself in the same circumstance as

protagonists Sara and her lover Philip, I was inspired to

attempt a version of Philip's tattoo.

Starting with my head shot I added a layer of black lines

rotated to the tilt of my head and created a drop shadow.

I made a new channel for the head shot and adjusted for

a high contrast.

Using the displacement filter I mapped the drop shadow

to my high contrast face channel. I continued with the

eraser, dodge and burn tools to create a more life-like

appearance.

I worked with Philip's tattoo mainly because I think I

would rather have Jill Clement's words paint the

picture of Sara's.

Moses

Moses ©evertson digital collage

A big thank you to the Hartford Courant for using my digital

collage "Moses" for the cover of an iTowns section today.

The backstory of this picture occurred many years ago. I worked

for an art gallery in NYC and one of my morning jobs was to

evict any homeless that had taken up residence in the doorway

for the night. Moses was always there and it was always hurtful

to me to try and pry him loose from his appropriated home. He

would move off with his shopping cart amid a flurry of

curses. One day while I was along the west side highway

taking photographs I ran into him as he collected scrap metal.

For the first time in a year he was together enough to find out

that he was a Vietnam vet. Alcoholic and perhaps suffering from

mental health issues, Moses was a tip to the iceberg of

our failure to care for our country's homeless. One day he

simply vanished. This piece combined elements of urban and

forest in the hope that we can find a "promised land" for our lost.