Sapiens

     According to Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari, we didn't domesticate wheat.  Wheat domesticated us.  The first crop was wheat, and the first people to decide to give up their nomadic lifestyle in lieu of predictable weather, favorable location, and a lot less schlepping were rewarded with many children. By the time they got around to checking in with the Jones's to see how things were going with the hunting and gathering, it was too late to join in the fun, because their families were too big to tag along.  The agricultural revolution. 

Patricia Puccini/Hans Bellmer

Back in early October, at a New Lab Open House party, Eleanor and I got started on the topic of biomorphic humanoid forms in art. She dropped a very important name: Hans Bellmer. German.  Worked in the mid 30s.  He is known for photography involving dolls. I found his work of great note. 

I wanted to counter with a mentioning of Patricia Piccinni whose work I encountered in Chelsea years ago:

But before I could do so, we were distracted by the beauty of this:

Jason Krugman Studio

People Who Have Helped /Eye

     


         

           The other day, I was walking down the Malcolm X blvd thinking about the felcan, and about how it is emerging as a creature under observation.  I was musing to myself about what a scientist may want to observe about the felcan.  I came up with two answers; its flesh and its eye.  I had acquired a while back a stack of ugly linoleum tiles which looks vaguely fleshy. 

I walked past a fenced off empty lot, and saw this:

 After doing some detective work, I was able to find the whereabouts of the building super from his wife,   whose daughter, the next day,  gave me access to the yard, and was only too happy to let me have what to her, was garbage. They  had no idea how happy they made me! 

I am currently in the process of cutting the linoleum into "scales" and screwing them into this fiberglass form. 

The felcan's progress...

A short Photo Essay

For more artist statement and prologue (the story of the felcan), go here: felcan

"The Felcan's Spring" in Progress

The Felcan's Spring nearly done.  Turns out, lighting will be key to making this piece work. LEDs in the mail!

It became apparent I was going to need a model.  

The felcan- a study

Mold-making expertise furnished by Kim Couchot. 

A felcan x-ray in front of "The Girlfriend"

More mold-making expertise....this time furnished by a friend I met at Craftsman Artist Supply,  Logan Wall.  I was in there enough times getting mold-making advice!

So excited about this next phase!

A short crappy video from Open Studios, where it all started to come together...maximize for full effect. 

Marcel Dzama/ Ralph Bakshi

 



Marcel Dzama is an artist that was recommended to me during one of our group critiques.  I was told to look for his work on instagram, as a lot of it is deliberately undocumented by the artist.  I was able to find plenty about him on-line and listened to a podcast by Zwirner Gallery, which represents him.

  The anachronistic aspect, the cast of characters, and a general underpinning of mischief are of note.   He works in a mind-boggling array of media, which is inspiring at this time, when I oddly find myself open to working in installation, performance, and possibly "social scultpture".  The idea of interactivity has taken on a rich meaning, especially after these newly present opportunities to incorporate viewer responses into the evolution of the work.

Paul C. sent me a link for Paul Bakshi, an animator.  He speaks to cartoons and fantasy, and the far-reaching capacity of animation beyond the domain of children.  Paul also knows a simple way of making animation that sounds way too labor intensive, but I would love to learn how to execute this method he described.

I am too immersed in casting now to even think about another medium at the moment!

Open Studios

Things People referenced while viewing my work...

• Edgar Allen Poe...the BFAs. His short story, The Cask of Amontillado.  Which lead to discussion of "darkness".  We discussed the complexities of pinning down this concept.  We talked about monsters and demons in the work of Hieronymous Bosch, whose name ellicited cooing of approval from BFAs. 

• Tim Burton....Spencer, one of the BFAs.  Also in my Wakanda class, he shares a space with the bubbly BFA girls, and speaks so thoughtfully.  We talked about the dog who is a character in the Nightmare Before Christmas, who lives a "cursed existence, but does not know it"-a comparison to the felcan.

                                       

• Ralph Steadman...Jenn McCoy.  I had to respond that he is way up there in my pantheon of inspirations.  

                                         

• Catdog -- This cartoon was brought to my attention by two people now.  I checked it out, and see the correlation.  The animation is abysmal and the storyline is profane, but here you go.  

• Eduardo Kac's genetically engineered glow-in-the-dark bunny. Brought up by a late-coming straggler.  Learning about him was accompanied by a conversation about the importance of knowing artists who are doing work in the same vein.  Eduardo Kac's work in transgenesis I find interesting in its allusion to evolution.  The assumption that humanity in all of its abortive glory would control evolution seems inevitable.  I would not call this art, however, as the artistic imperative mandates a companionable and non-hierarchical stance concerning animals.  

Topics that came up...

Eggs...and how they are not male or female, just a "becoming" -- .a faculty member. She saw eggs in my Ben Wah ball piece. I restrained myself from naming the piece to her and asserting  the connection between sex toys and fertility.

Rayograms....Ed Cuppola, a faculty member, and our safety consultant. 

"darkness" 

"Does the felcan feel pain?"  --MJ, from my Collaborative Studies class.  I responded yes, and referenced the importance of this concept as explained by David Foster Wallace in Consider the Lobster. 

"I was really worried." -- Steve Keltner, on the extension cord piece.  "I like a lot of your work, but that thing looks like I could buy it at K-Mart".

Dale Williams

     I had the pleasure of meeting Dale Williams' work at the opening party for Gowanus Open Studios.  The vast space was all but covered with his charcoal and paper works. Many of them approaching mural size, they were impressive against the white washed brick interior.  His work deals in characters, narrative, and history. Dale is a graduate of Hunter College, and has been working in this Brooklyn community for over 25 years.  I enjoyed the sketcherly quality of the finished works and noted their power, despite the presence of color-all of the emphasis placed on the stark graphic quality of the black and white. 

Here's a great write up on him and his studio on Douglas Street.  Dale Williams