Beloved inspirations/Semitophile

   

    Today, I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of the most influencial people in my life, Susan Josepher, who was the department Chair at Metro State which I attended from 93-99.   We met at The Chocolate Room on Court Street, owned and run by her daughter.  Its a place that oozes chocolatey warmth.   Susan is smart, sassy, powerful, warm and funny.  My time at Metro was enhanced by her presence.  In spite of being a busy department chair, she made time for our conversations in her office, where she would explain details about art history that I found confounding.  The New York City Happenings of the 1950s and 60s, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism for instance, were considered "important" by our art history professors.  When I asked her confidentially what was so important about them, she said, "You had to be there".  Now that I live in NYC and have experienced my own happenings, I get it.  She is the embodiment of why I am a semitophile.  Also, the image of a sane, intellectual, powerful lady in the arts was stabilizing counterpoint to some  of the flakiness I had observed.  After I told her (I thought she knew) how influential she has been to me, and how she is the primary reason I going to Brooklyn College (It is her alma mater), she was a little stunned.  "I was just doing my job", she said.  It was a chance for both of us to reflect on the people who have buoyed and pushed us, and whether they know what a  powerful lasting force they've been in our lives. Her work can be seen here.  http://www.susanjosepherart.net/home

     Not suprising in this time of colliding worlds,  and speaking of powerful forces, I find myself seated in the Chocolate Room beneath a  Jonathon Blum Piece.  Note the dog with cake on its head in the above photo--a commission by the family to commemorate beloved dog.  Jonathon Blum, the titular Rabbi Painter, is my first real NYC friend.  We met at a loft party, where I had a painting up, and he, in his ever slightly exasperated manner, charmed me into coming to see his storefront studio on 5th ave in Park Slope. He has a printing press, and makes mostly monotypes.  Before his kiddies were born and before I had to become an adult, we would spend long nights making prints and talking about life, music. and art.   Jonathon is a Brooklyn maven.  It takes a certain personality to have a storefront studio on a busy street where doors are open to anyone who wants to wander in.  He is kind and patient with the wide range of humanity that stop by.  He has encouraged me relentlessly for the entirety of our friendship.  We have an art date this coming weekend!  His collage techniques are embedded in my pscyhe, and are the technical inspiration behind much of my mixed media work.  

https://www.jonathanblumportraits.com/

Tracy Emmins/ Death of the Author

     


     

  One of my teacher's said, "Sometimes, its almost like even making your lunch is art."  She was referring to how when we immerse ourselves in art, study it inside and out, eat, sleep and breath it...its hard to tell anymore.  .I find this slightly alarming, as I have fallen deep into that rabbit hole.  Its a loss of distinction.  The capacity to discern.  Criticism, judgement, differentiation, filtering, sifting, discarding....they are all a part of the creative act.  So building that from the ground up, a good place to start is what I do not care for, what I do not agree with, what is not inspiring.  Re-embracing the judgement that one must be rid of in the name of all-important open-mindedness.
         We are tasked with the assignment in school now to write an artist statement by our Master Thesis Professor (MTP). I met with him to go over a few things.  into these new resources which I have been starving for.  He gave me some very good feedback, including one bit that I had to chew on. 
     I am having a difficult time separating myself from the ideas that are motivational in my work.  This compulsion to write my own story, which I personally find fascinating, is limiting me.  It lacks sophistication.  It fails to reflect the complexity of my worldview. I was directed to the work of Tracy Emmin. A "confessional artist", in the tradition of Louise Bourgeois, her work is about barfing out her personal life.  Louise Bourgeois, whose work I always liked, seemed much less interesting after learning that her work is motivated by the trauma she suffered after discovering her father was having an affair with the governess. 

     Radical vulnerability can be useful in art, and in human relationships. However, it is so potent, that maybe a little goes a long way-too much can be offensive, like garlic. 

       Also, my recent experience with cleaving my way out from the grip of a narcissist  has left me raw with distain for that weakness of egomania.  MTP also spoke about the origin of the art in me, what is getting sent, and what is getting received.  After rereading Death of the Author by Roland Barthe, I needed to get through that initial response of (grad-school-green) acceptance, and settle on certain points.  Very reactionary.  Why does the author have to be dead?  Why can't they just dial it in?   A work of art is a product of billions of choices; in this state of fluidity, it reaches a certain audience across a rather vast spectra.
     MTP encouraged specifics:  good answers to good questions.  Inquiry--deep inquiry, even if its the very beginning of a deep inquiry.  He also suggested reading up on semiotics.  This may have been a response to my blurb about "the failure of language".
 
*~*~*

Collaboration

  I have to admit.  I dread the idea of collaboration, but it is not unfounded.  It has to do with crippling social skills, my lack of ability to understand where other people are coming from, a lack of confidence that I am being understood, and a sort of laser-like focus on my own ideas, and a burning fear that I am not getting done what I feel I must get done-lack of patience.  My efforts to combat these has often left me feeling helpless and stuck, and very lonely, which may be part of the reason I started making art in the first place when I was a little kid.  The teachers were always telling my Mom that I needed to "get checked out".  I was checked out by a doctor.  I spent nights awake in laboratories hooked up to electrodes. For some reason, I had to be sleep deprived, and my Mom (bless her heart) would keep me up with coloring books and drawing supplies.  The results always came back the same.  "She is absolutely fine.  She just likes to look at clouds."

On the flip side, I will never give up, ever, on being the best version of myself possible.   I adore companionship and am well aware of the positive outcomes of collaboration when it goes well. That mysterious synergy. I experienced it with the Madagascar Institute.  I did not participate in this production but here is an example of what these brilliantly creative kids put together.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CBcaK45WT0



One of my classes this semester is called collaborative studies.  I enter in this with the greatest of open-mindedness.  Our teacher swore the pairings for the first assignment were random, but I have to wonder. I was paired with a man named Alberto Bursztyn.

                                                    albertobursztyn.com

The assignment for us to take turns assisting each other. Within a short time, improbable parallels emerged between our works.  We have a friend in common who curates shows from time to time, and now we will be in a show together in November!  I learned so much already from this project, and leaves me feeling so optimistic.

Incidentally, I still love looking at clouds... ~*~*~*

Saul Steinberg

Saul Steinberg (1914-1999)    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Steinberg  , a New York City illustrator, made work that utilized perspective that was slightly "off", deliberately to create an effect that was all his own.

The piece above for an example-the art on the walls is a perfect candidate for simple one point perspective, which he used, but he tweaked the angles just a little.  Makes the image interesting.  It is this manipulation of perspective that also makes collage interesting.   The piece below is straight forward perspective-wise, but he so beautifully captures the vertiginous quality of the building...

The reworking this piece below will employ these concepts.  This piece got sold a while ago, but I would like to make it larger scale, and to spend more time on the perspective so that it is tight, but tweaked a little..

 Tomorrow marks the second week of school.  Tomorrow I am meeting with my "assistant" assigned by our professor.  This will be a four hour long session, and I am very much appreciating how I am forced to think a different way to accomplish this.   ~*~*~*