whaled light ...

gabriel's horn ...

in tonight ...

vision said ...

hard to believe its been ten years after
to tell a vision ...
this was the time of the year
when changes began to form the basis
of what would become the 'paris paintings’ ...
the travel, experimentation ...
colors, cultures, and changes ...
and changes again ...

[time to document the 'paris paintings'
as an updated version of my pursuits
with a similar 'salon' motif].

scale changes ...

the body electric, 472. 2007.

4 am - lucky enough to be here again ...
to begin again, or continue, or proceed ...
the time of ‘elixir’ ...
for meditation and transformation,
and monks ...
a time of the day when the anticipation
of dawn hangs silently and still ...
dreams conclude or ‘wrap’ for the night,
nocturnals find their way to safety,
the body refreshes and the mind prepares ...
for what looks small from a distance ...

beyond intervals ...

the body electric, 468. 2007

in light of the evidence ...

"body electric", 2007

crab nebula - nasa

from antonin artaud ...
"to get carried away by things instead of fixing on some of their
more specious sides, and always to be looking for definitions
which reveal only the smallest aspects of the thing,
but still to have in oneself the current of things,
to be level with that current and at least to be level with life
instead of always being left in the interval by our deplorable
mental condition, to be level with objects and things,
having both their global shape and their definition at once inside you,
and have the focal points of gray matter start their motion
every time their feel and vision of them inside you starts moving".

where to go or not ...

admittedly, i’ve avoided posts over the past few days.
it resonates and re-res’ too often; “if you don’t have anything
nice to say ...” and “restraint of pen and ...”
but that’s it - enough is enough ...
i’m in a quandary about a few things
that contribute to cognitive constipation ...

1. web page = there are so many people who claim expertise
in ‘web design’ and html programming knowledge that don’t have
a clue about the key component of their title - ‘design’.
one would think that some basic understanding of alignment,
typography, clarity, color theory, and balance would be
within their repertoire. not so. the same holds true for the
countless people i encounter that claim to be artists that
don’t know which end of a brush to hold (or that a brush
isn’t even required), interior designers whose abilities
are divinely transmuted through late night reruns
of martha stewart instead of the due diligence of a.s.i.d.,
and musicians that can ‘technical talk’ you through
the seven rings of hell but can’t explain feeling -
let alone play it ...

i could go on ... so i will ...

2. characters of questionable principles who depend
upon the benevolence of others to sustain their deceit ...
a bible-thumping, spaghetti western, snake oil cure salesman
comes to mind - update, 2007 - they’re still around in the
guise of slightly ‘damaged’, pseudo intellectual victims
spinning webs of pathos for profit while calculating
the roulette odds of spiritual consequence ...

3. the cost of health care for children vs. the cost
of one month of ‘progress’ in iraq ...

i started this blog to post my thoughts and/or preoccupations
on a daily basis - not to avoid honesty or pose ...
some people have said they can do without
political issues and abstractions ...
for now, they are unavoidable portions of my reality ...

air are you ...

moonlight, stareways to heaven, vanishing skylines,
vanquishing sky lies, sucker holes for flight ...









the 'brain' used to power a speaker,
now it empowers the speachless ...

hear !
busy libing ...
braking fromm works ...
programming puzzling, procrast ...
seaing season change, moonlight ...
broccoli sunset fool, clean screen movie ...
‘samo’ scares et desires ...

part 1 - being and breath ...

an important part of my painting ‘process’ has to do with editing ...
lyrical or gestural abstraction, expressionism,
elemental collage, and ‘others’ yet to be defined
are additional components.

initially, i familiarize myself with the surface to be painted ...
the scale, the material, the surroundings; mobility, access,
environment, lighting, etc.,
it’s a ritualistic dance of preparation for the journey, the hunt, ...

surface and environment ...
whether paper, canvas, or wood -
the surface is prepared for paint with multiple coats
of gesso, sanding, texture, etc.,
it’s a familiarization that helps to clarify
characteristics, obstacles, and assets
for what will come when my preoccupation
with paint or duende kick in ...

[the music analogy: before a concert, performance, jam,
or recording - i tune and warm up - get the ‘feel’
of the instrument, move around the room - sense its’ acoustics,
identify the dead zones, pathways, and sweet spots ...
eliminate obvious ‘surprises’
so as not to detract from the moments of music].

short answers ...

ambiguity
benevolence
centric
cleverly coy
cognitive static
disparity
dissonance
ethical imperative
fixation
here and there
ingrate
mandatory
arbitrary
meandering
necessity
nothing
more or less
permutation
piper’s rate
postulate
reservoir
refute
this and that
unconditional
viscous

rhythm ...

i’m so grateful to be here,
to be part of the ‘living’ as we know it ...
most of the time world/local/personal politics,
principles, and behaviors wash over me ...
it’s the distraction from my appointed tasks
or irrelevant obstacles
that infuriate (even enrage) me ...
[the news(?), noisy neighbors, blatant stupidity,
banality, so-called conveniences, and the
maintenance of their sustainability, etc ...]
serenity ?
i’ve tasted it - along with transcendence,
duende, and mild forms of bliss ...
being an artist, and working to that end
is what i love most ...
when i’m not living the dream of freedom,
being in the moment, accepting, ...
it’s then i feel like a hornet
caught in the sludge of some
impertinent ooze ...
[some images pertaining to the lithuanian part
of my heritage; ‘a fiercely independent people’,
the ‘land of amber’, ‘dreams of freedom’ as
they gather on the baltic sea at sunset -
(the other part is austrian empire -
you know, the struggling artist/house painter,
and the deaf musician) ] ...

four years ...

today, my father has been dead
for four years ...
a lot can happen in that time ...
one can go to and graduate college ...
a world war can be fought, and won, and lost ...
one can age through vitality
to being handicapped ...
move from wanting of nothing
to losing everything ...
the people who survive you
can grow to profoundly appreciate
your contributions and sacrifices ...
the dignity and commitment
to your life, loves, and death ...

too.., or not ...

urgency ...
what i still haven't done continues to haunt me ...
i wake in the middle of the night with lists of words
and images of projects
scrolling through my half sleep ...
until the tedium of recalling them
exhausts me back to dream time ...
inspiration, or knowing what to do next
has never been my problem;
its always financing or time management
that becomes the issue ...
lately i've been thinking about the two books
i have in the works for nearly a decade -
one is a process/memoir 'thing'
and the other is
a perspective on contemporary art ...
since i'm not a 'writer' by training,
i seem to have difficulties finishing ...
or knowing what finished is ...
that being said,
it's time to get them out there!

here, there, ...

unfettered ...

the difference between ‘i don’t mind’ and ‘i don’t care’ ...
one is respectful indifference and the other is crassly rude ...
‘mind’ is thoughtful and tolerant, ‘care’ is thoughtless and cruel ...
it’s always interesting to learn how words define who we are;
our thoughts and actions.
i have so much respect for a well-crafted statement -
for poets and wordsmiths who accurately
define the depth of a thought -
its’ truth.
i have the same respect for artists who articulate their ‘vision’ -
unfettered by the constraints of peer pressure,
popular demands, and self indulgence.
i’m interested in pertinence.
ultimately, i respect the truth.
i do care.

in time ...

wake up call - the temp dipped below 50 last night, which i know is aberrant for this time of year - but it doesn’t change reality - soon i’ll have to stop working outside! there’s something so special about being able to experience ‘nature’ while working on the paintings - from dawn 'til dusk, and even knowing they’re out there all night with the cascading magic of crickets, locusts, spiders, moonlight, seasons, and dew. they are, after all, ‘informed by nature’ - they gain their soul from her - from the initial sanding of wooden panels, to the patterns of gesso applied during the cage-like symphony of birds, bugs, and wind - their ‘layerings’ baked by the sun, diluted by the rain, and modified by the varieties of changing light and daily recognition of subtleties we all know but forget to remember - and the completion that arrives when an uncanny and unforeseen balance is achieved - as if it were directed by forces beyond my aesthetic.
perhaps i should find a way to continue this enthusiasm by working outdoors in a moderate climate (with nature) all year long - not that i haven’t done it before (ie., venice, ca) - now, my reasons and way of working have evolved - that changes everything. appropriately, it all began with ‘genesis’ - the book of fifty paintings i did on retreat at a nature preserve in palenville, ny. i had a profound enough inkling at that time as to the course my work was taking, but not the clarity of its’ necessity.
the mother of invention.
i suddenly recalled having lunch at a vegan cafe in venice years ago and a conversation with frank zappa who was sitting next to me in cramped quarters at an outdoor patio that seemed to be designed for ‘littler’ people. we remembered meeting years earlier in allentown (muhlenberg college) when i showed him my 20’ ‘guernica-style' mural of the horrors at ‘kent state’. another humorously charming, sarcastic genius slipping into eternity.
Jo Zawinul, the father of 'weather report' and jazz great passed away this week.
"it's all about harmony".

truth be known ...

i've been cringing every time i hear that idiot in the white house say ' a safer iraq means a safer america'. when all other battle cries failed to rally $upport, this vague abstraction that subtly instills fear and cleverly diverts attention from realities was pulled from the bush bag of tricks. Finally, during general petraeus' testimony (under oath) he replied "i don't know..." to the question of whether america is 'safer...' .
this has got to be the biggest political debauchery in history.
with regard to a safer america, and its citizens - how could the trillions of dollars been better spent? does universal
health care, social security, assisted care for the elderly, education, highway and bridge maintenance, veterans benefits, poverty, etc., etc., mean anything? i believe that the current regime of republicans know their tenure is coming to an end if the fascist christian 'right' can't salvage their disgrace. and if you're not 'right', you must be 'wrong' or 'left'. as usual, the democrats are going to be left with trying to clean up the mess by initiating long overdue social programs, constructive foreign policy, and morale boosters to pull our country from what will be more horrific than the cultural malaise that accompanied the 'great depression'.

mourning glory ...

mourning glory, 8-11-2001. acrylic paint on paper, 30"h x 22"w.
the fall, 9, 2006. acrylic paint on wood. 80"h x 72"w.

elastic instability ...

no moon last night - no birds sounding the break of day - no breeze - a calm but eerie silence on this gray monday occasionally broken by the sound of jet engines gaining altitude from their takeoffs at newark - everything seems distant or appears as facade - even the innocuous, pale ochre dawn which only a month ago, and a few months before that were more vibrant vivid, and more full of energy than could be anticipated - now its as though the hands of time have reached their zenith and momentarily hover while gaining momentum for a fast fall - a quick and muffled thud like the overripe walnuts on a thick cushion of dry grass and prematurely sun-bleached brown leaves ...
that is how this monday morning appears here ...
today,
maybe there’s a lesson in laura bush having her pain in the neck relieved ...
stay tuned for more info on redford’s ‘sundance summit’ ...
general petraeus will report to his boss ...
does fossettt pull a howard hughes - i hope that’s the case ...

water memories ...

had a dusk ride around lake nockamixon last night and an early morning drive along the delaware with rickee lee singing "last chance texaco' - tranquil waters and haunting voices - i look forward to the next full moon - a friend of mine suggested a late night kayaking adventure at the lake where herons along the shore doing food reconnaissance break their stealthy silence with exaggerated silhouettes and blood curdling shrieks - something pterodactyl-like - a great way to spend the harvest moon and halloween...
memories of saturday night trips up the coast to malibu with leonard cohen music - a formidable presence and resonating clarity - sunday morning walks along the pacific in venice fade through my broken collage - this pisces do love water; the way it looks, feels, tastes, sounds, and smells - the extra-energy it gives off - liquid sensation ... and from what al gore says, we could (in some areas) be expecting more ...
heard something on the discovery channel last night as well - what physicists don't know about the origins or end of the universe has to do with not understanding 'dark matter' - basically, you can't know what you can't see ...

mmm ... how does faith fit ?

for loss of words ...

haven't posted for what seems to be a long time -
in reality only two days - been caught in my head
again - it feels like low tide or re-entry from what was a productive, now waning summer ...
on days like these i tend to see more and spend
more time looking, listening, and being than thinking and planning. at this point i think its probably better for my health and well being ...
for some reason, feeling vulnerable sums it up ...
...'way to go atlas'.

fruits of wrath ...

war, suspicion, coversion, anger, mistrust, fear, futility, sadness, depression, opposition, exclusion, pain, suffering, oppression, insanity, destructive, hatred, self righteous indignation, ego, stupidity, inhumanity, demoralizing, disdain, discouraging, dis, fanatical, tyrannical, justifiable, souless, greed, power, lust, lies, killing, dehumanizing, torture, cowardliness, extremism, horror, insolence, sinful, evil, vengeance, vicious, vile, qualmish, insurgent, insurrection, destabilizing, sadness, ...

just walk ...

strange how thoughts come and go - i read something this morning during my usual morning meditation that jumped off the page - "balance and poise amid change..." - also, over the past couple of days, whether reading something on art, physics, movie reviews, or geopolitical concerns - the idea of losing 'self' keeps popping. then, for whatever reason, i remembered an incident in vivid detail that occured when i was about ten years old; i went fishing with my father one early spring evening after a heavy april rain storm - the creek was wild and the wind was fierce - a large fallen tree stretched across the stream which my father sure-footedly navigated with ease - as i followed, i began to lose my 'balance and poise' about halfway over - seeing my discomfort my dad simply directed me to "don't think about 'it' - just walk" - needless to say, i ended up in the creek. all my dad said was "i doubt that'll happen again". i haven't thought about that in forty years - why now? why not every day?

safety in numbers ...

enjoyed the weather of labor day - decided to treat myself to the september issue of 'art in america' - a magazine that generally gives one the pulse of what's going on in painting and sculpture - the expectation itself sets me up for failure - seduced by the image of stingel's installation at the whitney on the cover and a few of the thumb-throughs i began examining it in more detail. it became laborious. what ever happened to the momentum from the league of giants that preceded us only a generation or two ago - either i am or i'm getting too cynical, too old, too discriminating, too impatient or everything really is looking like a bad copy of pretty much everything i've seen before. granted, there are still a (watch) pocket full of some pretty amazing artists that produce some good stuff (when they get out of the way of their own mythology - ie., the fast track hype,image, and/or self deception), but for the most part i'm not seeing much more than student level work (and i'm not putting down the plato version of student). so i guess 'a in a' is still living up to its reputation of being on the pulse - its just not doing my blood pressure any good!
the day ended with the news carrying another bush employee pep rally in iraq. when is he going to stop preaching to the converted and start explaining the logic behind " a safer iraq means a safer america". how many people could have eaten hot dogs and had a day off with the amount of money it cost to fly airforce one to bhagdad and back?

sporadic colonies ...

alien spores -

flying dorito -
solar south pole -
eye of a needle -
silk circles -
coral candy -
fluid schools -
tidal dance -
static leaks -
sponge bells -
palm braids -
amethyst pools -
trumpet fiber -
azurite scrim -
hydrangea bred -
compost cascade -
bubbling souls -
tasty textures -
fertile seductions -
macadam transparency -
polymer panes -
time drains -
erupting life -
filament whisper -
curdling skies -
lucid density -
parallax wind -

devilish details ...

as it turns out with my paintings, a major portion of what was painted (as shown in these details) seldom makes it to the final edit. as many as fifty paintings exist on the surface during its morphology with only potions of each surviving in the end. i've been exploring this method since 1974. material advances over the past decade has allowed me to pursue the process in more depth. lately i've come across a few new developments that will be appearing in the next round of pieces. very darwinian in nature and definitely appropriate in terms of representing our culture.

mapping memory ...

i've been assessing and assembling 'works on paper' from the past few decades in an effort to show some lineage of thought or mind maps of painterly endeavors. the most provocative seem to address the idea of simultaneous thoughts and images through 'veils of time'. this one, entitled: "make political what you can't control" was begun in venice, ca in 1988 and went through a few dozen transformations until 2006 when i finished it here in pa. it started (and ended) with the idea of dante's rings of hell, the notion of hell - and later evolved to include the sounds of solar winds, water memory and camus. "earth song" (a musical composition), - and one of the last pieces i recorded with erik cartwright - accompanies this series of works.

two of jung's four ...

categories - vanishing views - comfort below 60 - physical pain - endurance - a life of advocacy - pledges - promises - tolerance - defiance - character - right - rights - entropy - absolute zero - political tools - words - webs - dendrites - tentacles - fear - uncertainty - responsibility ...
1986©, 2006©, 2026, 2046, 2066, 2086, 2106 ...