miracles of improbability ...

i believe in miracles as much as i believe in the consequence of circumstances and logic - one doesn't negate the other; it only allows for the inclusion of all potential ...

more than once i've seen improbabilities align themselves to produce extraordinary results ...

they usually occur when a sequence of events produces unanticipated variables that co-mingle and fluctuate the momentum of incidence ...

so, to facilitate them; one can do the work of aligning what you can, introduce a few non sequiturs, or pray yourself out of the way of eventualities ...

since i'm practiced at all three, i'm doing what i can ...

events ...

"Venus" in progress ...

my life as an artist over the past thirty plus years has been far from ordinary - as are the lives of most people if you really look at them - but aspects of daily activity do become routine, and in their repetition - mundane ...

i mentioned yesterday about not posting images of work due to a lack of significant changes. My friend Rick suggested that with the number of things going on, a snapshot wouldn't be a bad idea. My immediate response was dismissive; still trying to maintain my original position - until passing by my bookshelf and catching "Cy Twombly: Photographs" - which obviously wanted attention. It's a wonderful, slightly over-sized collection - in contrast to the intimacy and nonchalance of the images - an assembly of images that's easy to peruse - and it takes me one step closer to understanding his paintings through a visual journal of seemingly unrelated juxtapositions - often, it's the ordinary that becomes extraordinary via the artists' perspective - and even if it doesn't attain that loftiness - it's a moment in time through the artist's eyes ...

But any snapshot is that - a moment in time, framed by its taker ... and i often miss those moments here in blog-land ... every morning, I read a few of my favorite posts before traversing the news of the day, and for such a casual format, the posts often come off more formal than probably intended [or maybe too over-dressed for downtown cyber space] ...

point being, Ukiyo-e; or pictures of the fleeting and transient world - a japanese word/concept i often use to describe my own work - opens another door ...

For instance - has anybody ever seen Lally's bookshelf or kitchen table stacked with magazines and newspapers - Rick's latest keyboard configurations and notes - Cartwright's new favorite guitar and tech manuals - or Elisabeth's Australia - or Jamie's LA day - or Joel's walks through the woods - i have, but like i said at the beginning - my life is far from ordinary ... i often think how enjoyable it would be to see through their eyes once in a while ...

then i read an essay in TruthOut alluding to the big business of 'terrorist threats' and realized that i'm slipping into a cultural malaise as well - that if something isn't framed by 'significant' or 'crisis', it doesn't get ranked highly on my pertinence list - even with the simple act of documenting the subtleties of a changing painting - i begin to overlook what has become routine in my experience - forgetting that it isn't ...

on and on ...

detail from "Logos" ...

i haven't posted any progress shots of the eleven large scale paintings i'm working on - there's little to see at detail stages; trimming excess layers, polymer coats to strengthen the surface for more aggressive applications, edging, gessoing, etc ...

working outside usually inspires a lot more daily photographs - mainly because the environment captivates me and influences so many subtleties of the painting - drawing attention to how much change is actually going on out there ...

disparities ...

i'm not sure what it is about today's politics, or religious views, art movements, television programming, etc., that leaves me feeling so uneasy - most times when i engage in conversation about these subjects, i'm left with an overwhelming feeling of discomfort ...

some of the by-products of coming up in the 60's included social awareness coupled with common sense and ethical fortitude if you wanted to survive in a world that wasn't quite designed for the 'fringe' element we wanted to participate in - and, one would often learn from the heroes of the day that were on the leading edge, whose remarks, opinions, and behaviors would often land them in a heap of trouble - the rule of thumb being - stick to the facts of what you know, finesse rather than bully and, be loving - because 'love' was a big part of what our generation was trying to fill the void with ...

all that seems like forever ago, but we adapt - and many of us have tried to maintain those core beliefs in the face of opinions compounded by unfathomable numbers and shades of grey ...

it's almost impossible to have an idea or opinion without being refuted by contradictory evidence - evidence that can often be substantiated by its existence somewhere in cyber-reality ...

and for some of the old trail-blazers, it all seems like too much hostility and antagonism to be bothered - like the resistance to what has become the mainstream is similar to being a life preserver in a tsunami ... and being discounted or dismissed for impertinence to the pervading myopia adds insult to injury ...

besides, the militant and reactionary aggressiveness of the factions that often headline the news has more tooth for ratings and frenzy in the 'blame game' than debates on principle and common sense ...

there's a reason why the ratings keep mounting for the likes of Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Hannity, etc - and programming about wisdom and art is so hard to find [or even Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine] ...

i believe the discomfort i mentioned in the first paragraph began to escalate around the time of Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings and Newt Gingrich's 'Contract with America' and crossed the tipping point when George Bush was dubiously elected President - since then, the 'pile of babel' has grown along with hypocrisy, distrust, and futility ...

Koyaanisqatsi ... that's the simple explanation ...

tomorrow's challenges ...

great little interview with joni mitchell by charlie rose - also - you may want to check out travis smiley's interview with mitchell, then prince ...

winter antidote ...

i'm just about shoveled out from what appears [at least in my memory] to be one of the most severe snow storms in a long, long time - some of the drifts were three feet high, but with every shovel-full, it fades ...

it was actually quite exciting to see life, the forest, and the countryside become briefly suspended - where nature became the dominant and enduring consideration ...

i found myself looping through the attached video short to divert my attention from what was going on outside while i did office chores, etc.

the contrast is interesting, as are the similarities ...

Santa Monica Bay, CA - November 13, 2009 ...

global positioning ...

i’m exhausted - and that’s just from daily routines and circumstances ...

been sleeping in three hour shifts every twelve hours to try keep up with United Kingdom time where my wife is stranded for five days as a result of a one day blizzard in Newark, NJ - does Continental Airlines offer hotel vouchers or the next available aircraft, or even upgrades for less than 4K to business first [where seats are available] ? - ix-nay !

Can you reach them by telephone without a message saying they can’t complete your call because of high volume - even though you called every half hour for almost twenty hours straight? - nyet !

so i surrendered to it and got to bed around 1 a.m. to be awoken by a panicking neighbor's phone call at 3 a.m. because someone was banging on her door and she was alone with two small children since her husband got stranded in Philadelphia because of the weather. It turned out to be a nurse whose shift ended at 11p.m. - and even though the highways were closed because of a state of emergency, the hospital didn’t offer to accommodate their staff - so the nurse attempted to take the overland routes using her G.P.S. which turned a half hour commute into a four hour drive under treacherous conditions. To top it off, her on-board navigator led her to the road past my studio/barn which is commonly referred to as ‘the goat path’ by locals, because that’s what its been used for over the past two hundred years - a single lane, 350 foot, winding drop, lined with trees that often fall when exposed to severe weather - and they did, leaving the nurse stuck and stranded.

And this wasn’t the first time - last spring a tractor trailer got stuck on the same road because his G.P.S. said it was the shortest route to his destination. It only took eight hours and two tow trucks and major damage to get him out ...

Did either one of them stop when they saw the road narrow or start to dramatically decline - did the township mount a warning sign after the truck did significant property damage? nope !

Are we beginning to recognize a pattern yet? yep!

Last night on Keith Olbermann someone was saying that our lack of effective mobilization during emergency situations represents a major security threat.

I’ll go one further - a lack of common sense and decency will destroy us!

there's a road ...

"beep, beep, mm beep, beep, yeah" ...

as predicted - and as of 6 p.m. - it's still coming down - 24 hours worth of accumulation ...

and as Lally suggests, some 70 miles east of here, "the world seems smaller, more intimate ..."

And unlike my friend, since i'm much more rural and exposed to winds and drifting, i haven't even attempted re-sculpting the environment - and it's not likely that there will be any visitors or mail since the roads have disappeared ...

thank goodness we still have electricity and connectivity, and prepared for most any eventuality ...

it occurred to me after looking at the above photo - that every visible tree and bamboo, i planted from seedlings only ten years ago ...

my, how they've grown ...

inside, out ...

"shadows of unseen things" ... plato

outsider, pt.2 ...

“Outsider Art” is a relatively new term, and by definition, always changing.

What was once used by Jean Dubuffet to describe the work of the ‘insane’, later became ‘art brut’- art, outside of the mainstream. Later, the art critic, Roger Cardinal extended the classification to include ‘naive’, and even ‘folk art’.

Today, “Outsider Art” is still considered to be produced outside the mainstream of popular culture, schools, and galleries; but as a result of broad-based consumerism, connectivity, and educational policing - the mainstream has extended its boundaries far beyond the usual urban art centers.

In addition, the institutions that were once the bastions of standards have become status quo and diluted by self-preservation, under-qualification, and special interest funding.

The current conditions no longer support the intelligencia that once propelled the activism of avant garde movements which contributed to the progressive developments of Western Art.

As a result, the majority of ‘true’ artists have migrated away from the ‘art centers’ causing de-centralizing of topical debate and further contributing to the non-specific pluralism that continues to erode at the fabric of significant advancement in the arts.

The systems that were established to inform and provoke art collectors, critics, and the public of accomplishment and issues are outdated in their reliance upon limited resources within the art centers.

I’m suggesting that today’s ‘real insiders’, the people who still draw their inspiration from that small pool of traditions as the League of Giants that preceded them, have become the outsiders.

There’s little room or time in the flow of the modern western capitalism to include the delicate honing of art forms or the development of one’s own true voice [as Keith Jarrett would refer to it].

Trends designed to maintain audience interest, require quick turnover.

And the issues of the day are no longer ‘insider‘ secrets - they’re only a Google away - but the work that addresses those issues with the skills of ‘vocation’ have moved so far to the fringe for survival and sustainability, that they seem irrelevant - or at least inconvenient in their accessibility to the marketplaces.

The ‘outside’ has become the ‘inside’, or faint pulse, of what art needs to survive in this culture.

Next, we come to the questions of what ‘art’ really is in our culture, and what led to the changes we’ve come to accept. Stay tuned ...