painting – IT IN Place http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:02:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.15 Cog Changes http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/11/22/cog-changes/ Sat, 23 Nov 2013 04:47:38 +0000 http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=4771

Click here to view the embedded video.

cog1122cogstudyday2

ch ch ch changes

]]> Closer http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/09/30/closer/ Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:38:44 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=4576
Music video for Donald Johnson’s song, “Closer.” Recorded By Javier Hernadez-Miyares at his Rego Park Studio. I like to call it the Rego Ragga. The instrument you see at the beginning is a small Indian made synthesizer that is used to play Sitar and tabla against etc. It fills in for those weird squeezebox and crank driven drones that are used in Indian music to such wonderful effect. Javier likes to collect all sorts of odd little synths and electronic noise makers I thought this one would work well with the “Eastern” sound of this song, while still being contemporary…. plus I thought switching it on would make a good beginning and ending of a shot.

]]> Finish Frost http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/09/16/4538/ http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/09/16/4538/#comments Tue, 17 Sep 2013 02:52:24 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=4538
drost5drost4drost8drost1drost3Drost2drost7drost6
Finished drawings from the Last few weeks drawing at Frost. Over half of these are already sold, which is nice.

]]> http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/09/16/4538/feed/ 1 Norwegian Wood http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2013/09/08/norwegian-wood/ Sun, 08 Sep 2013 19:54:17 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=4497
FlowerselzerBoneup

Some things I made above, some stuff I saw below:
god1god3

And some starts on wood
god6god5Godseye

]]> Big Ideas http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2010/06/17/big-ideas/ Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:42:14 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3756 Some of the large cardboard paintings I did at Frost Street. Leather King and Bank of Amorica are collaborations with Henry Matyjewicz (aka Poster Boy). Pouring Downtown was done with Javier Hernandez Miyares.

]]> Underground Man http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2010/03/03/underground-man/ Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:31:13 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3595 An improv from the last Zipperhead rehearsal. Mostly for the archives, but enjoy if you care to watch the process of writing some new parts using video instead of a pen. I was watching Orson in Touch of Evil and I DreWrote this. Boy was he good at playing bad.

]]> Pot Luck http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/12/01/pot-luck/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:38:27 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3456
Press the photo to see the play list for Sunday’s Pot Luck Open Mic. It was our biggest turn out and this time people brought food and drinks (a behavior I really want to encourage people!). Lot’s of old friends and new friends and many perfect strangers. I painted one singer, Carly Howard with ink on piece of scrap sheet rock while other people created a slew of drawings. I hung some on the wall.

]]> Long Legged Ladies http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/08/05/long-legged-ladies/ Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:53:02 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3289 Walk up and down the city streets in silk summer skirts and tall boots. Maybe its all the rain? Here is a work in progress.

]]> Jung Lions http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/07/10/jung-lions/ Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:49:51 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3253 Installing the Lions with Javier at the New York Public Library.

]]> La Belle et Le Bete http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/07/05/la-belle-et-le-bete/ Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:30:53 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3246 Hung some paintings for the Rock Show at 17 Frost in Williamsburgh. Paintings will be up all summer. You can stop by and visit if you give me a heads up (in other words open by appointment. And there most of the week painting… some of these paintings will change!

]]> The Man Who Fell To Earth http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/06/27/the-man-who-fell-to-earth/ Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:49:49 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3219
A storm system roared across Manhattan and left a strange Pernod colored sky in its wake. I ran home to try and catch the sunset. It was one of those sort of Spielberg skies where you think maybe the saucers will emerge and land on Flatbush Ave.

]]> Lady Bug http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/06/26/lady-bug/ Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:42:26 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3212 I’ve had some weird experiences lately. The day before I left for Paris, I went out to Connecticut to spend the day with my mom and at some point during an old fashioned/nostalgic pick nick, a ladybug landed on my red sweater. My mother told me it was a good omen. Now it is true that I lived most of my life with an illustration hung by my bed near my head (imagined by the illustrator Etienne Delliserte) popping out of the black on red spotted carapace of a ladybug. When I was in Paris wandering the chaos streets of Bellville I fellinto an all night alimentation oriental store and bought a pack of Marllboro (they had that and lights and it was an emergency) and then I realized I’d lost my little lighter so I bought a bic and the Chinese man handed me what: Lady bug with horse shoes. He smiled at me and I realized he was the guy I’d been buying snacks and beer and wine from the day before… I was home! Talk about luck. If not for that lighter, I never would have noticed and maybe just kept walking in the blurr of Paris streets. Then the night before I left … or in the end didn’t leave… a second ladybug landed on my red sweater. I said, “I hope this is a good omen”… and maybe missing my flight was the best thing that happened as it gave me back a day and sense of months.

Yesterday I ran into John Kole… the Grande American from Hub. I haven’t seen him in five or seven years I can’t recall. I dragged him back to Frost street and we talked about old times in Paris. Encore fois pour deux K. etc. He makes restaurants and clubs now. He’s doing well, but I miss his paintings.

]]> Talk To Charlie http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/06/20/talk-to-charlie/ Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:06:19 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3187

]]> Trouble in Purgatory http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/06/03/trouble-in-purgatory/ Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:50:35 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3131 Well I’m back on the couch and or pulling vampire all nighters at the studio. This year is like last year and like the decade before that. They say the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting different results… Guess I know some crazy people… but joy joy the cog has arisen Christ/Phoenix-like from the blood and ashes. Viva La Cog!

]]> Surfs Up http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/05/29/surfs-up/ Fri, 29 May 2009 12:13:27 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3126 Pixies and painting with oils at 17 frost mini studio. Not to mention dropping the epoxy resin on the Cog finally and then Alex Garcia shows up and drums while it cures…. I mean he was like a jet engine and blew out the mike. You should have been in the room. Felt like making surfboards in some Zuma beach shack, or whatever.

]]> Crowds in Motion Stay in Motion http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/05/14/crowds-in-motion-stay-in-motion/ Thu, 14 May 2009 15:16:33 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3077 I was thinking about scale as I tried to deinstall the large crowd drawings to put safely away in Storage and then the wind from the new ceiling fans moved the huge sheets of paper like they were napkins on the bar. We’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning at 17 Frost in prep for the last show of the season: Ricaro Deoliveira. Tonight is the opening. Swing by for a drink and some art and video…see the new walls and bar and fans and floors etc.

As all these repairs took place, I had to hide the Frost mini studio and work at home where I’ve been finishing a few movie themed poster drawings to ship to my friend in Portland. I had a funny coincidance yesterday while taking a long walk to Williamsburgh. The Replacements song Portland came up on my ipod just as I was thinking about the city of Portland. I sang to myself, “It’s too late to turn back, here we go. Portland oh no…” when I noticed I was looking at a sign for the Portland Cafe and Then I looked up at the street sign: Portland Avenue. I’ve walked it many times, never noticed it’s name. It was an uncanny moment. Everything’s coming up Portland green. Must be all the rain.

]]> http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/05/05/3053/ Tue, 05 May 2009 05:53:51 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3053 Stayed late after rehearsal to work on some paintings. Not done, but I thought it might be nice to save these stages. Happy Birthday To Me and my Pops wherever he is (Sylvia says he’s playing cloud fetch with Bailey which is a very nice image).

]]> Puddle Wonderful http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/04/22/puddle-wonderful/ Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:07:14 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=3007
mixed on paper 22″x30″ 2009 and playing with my new HV 30 HD cam.

]]> Fine Art http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/04/02/fine-art/ Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:31:54 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2913 Saw an old man posing in a second story window facing out on Flatbush Avenue. He reminded me of a naked Walt Whitman. Set up my small painting studio at frost and on my wander over bridges to shoot Manhattan, I saw this bit of street art which made me drop my pack and pull out the still camera. I think its on Kent by the water in Williamsburgh.

]]> Humbert Humbert http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/03/24/humbert-humbert/ Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:35:47 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2882
I think I’ve finished this (maybe the first?) version of the Kubrick Lolita poster for Jauques’ SUpEr Trash Show. There could be others or even other movies, but strangely this fucked up raw thing actually took over a month to get finished. The head is painted in one of the Little Prince covers.

]]> The End of the Meal http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/03/17/the-end-of-the-meal/ Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:39:31 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2825
I was over at Frost Street last night working out a Narration idea with the fellas in Sineparade when the trinity collaboration crew of the next show showed up (Akaash Nihalani, Posterboy, and Ellis Gallagher). No one was quite sure when they were going to, but they did, so suddenly I was rushing to photograph some things and start tearing down the walls. I’m trying to document the dissolve from one show to the next and so far the video looks good, but I’m holding off to see what today brings. Here’s the big trinity of eaters that I shot yesterday. Press the image to see it large.

]]> Long Gone Train http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/03/02/long-gone-train/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:39:20 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2764
One of the first Artists I met in New York, Richard Heinsohn, came up from Nashville (where he beat a retreat from the cruel and fickle New York Art World to concentrate on his guitar and songs). He was up to visit our old Gallery gather some new paintings from a recent show there and play a couple of gigs in Dumbo. He stopped by Frost Street with our Buddy Major Tom Drum to see my show and collaborate on the long scroll…. and you know…. drink beer. Dave was practicing and the P.A. was up and the mikes hot and the nylon string classical guitar tuned up (not Richard’s normal instrument) and I asked Richard to play us a song then. I haven’t heard him in a few years and clearly Nashville has been good to his music. It’s nice to see someone grow in their talent over time. If you click on his name at the start of this post, you can check out his recent paintings too. We agreed that the key to life as an artist is: not to die.

]]> Give Me A Leonard Cohen Afterworld http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/02/28/give-me-a-leonard-cohen-afterworld/ Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:21:07 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2757 So I can sigh eternally. I tried to go to a friends play, but I got sort of lost and when I finally found the theater I couldn’t go in because the door entered onto the stage. I tried to sneak in, but found myself face to face with the audience and so I retreated back to Frost street and drank some jug wine and pretended I was on stage, which in some way I was.

]]> Take This Waltz http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/02/27/take-this-waltz/ Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:20:03 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2755
I attempted to flatten some of the creases and folds in an old canvas I grabbed out of storage. The best I could come up with was to soak the whole thing from the back and try to soften the aging acrylic paints. I danced a bit of a jig on it to help the process along and what’s funny is that you end up meeting a lot of people when you are canvas dancing on the sidewalk. They come by with their dogs. I met lots of neighbors and strangers and this is what I’ve learned: People tend to talk about their dogs more than themselves. One guy didn’t have his dog with him so he showed me photos on his cell phone. I didn’t tell them, but they just kept reminding me of my own dog and so I danced to her end if not the end of love.

]]> Wyld Bites http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/02/26/wyld-bites/ Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:43:32 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2748
In what feels like a flow of collaborative energy, I spent yesterday editing some footage shot by Dave Scarborough from my opening party of The Royal Wylds playing 17 Frost Street. I quite enjoy how the talking head sometimes seems to synch with Will Croxton’s vocals. A great software program would be to take the thousand head man and build a audio sensitive logarithm that could fit the face to certain key vowel and consonant sounds in speech so that the head would be like a giant Wizard of Oz and would synch up behind the singer, or comic, or performer, or whatever. Oh if I knew anything about computers I’d do it. But even in this ambient accidental method, it’s a pretty funny trick. Later that afternoon I played with some of Akaash’s tapes on the floor: letting them and the tiles dictate some abstract gestures, etc. I’m hoping he’ll swing by and work into it. Ironing out details on the closing party. More on that later.

]]> Love Plus Zero No Limit http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/02/14/love-plus-zero-no-limit/ Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:33:06 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2697
Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day. I’ll be doing a screening Sunday Febuary 22nd at 3pm at 17 Frost Street. I’m toying with the idea of making Lolita the invite/movie poster. It might be the only way I get it together for SuperTrash anyways.

]]> A Parade of Signs http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/02/11/a-parade-of-signs/ Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:26:08 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2672

Sineparade rehearsed last night and Aakash came by Frost Street to collaborate a bit on some stuff for the next event (Sunday Feb. 22 afternoon video screening wine and talk sort of thing). I watched the raw video while listening to bob and waiting for the L and this guy started ranting and I decided to shoot him without knowing what he was saying (I had my I pod up loud). I don’t know what his deal was… some sort of stand up preacher. Some how the video and the music and the mad man all felt meaningful.

]]> Somewhere Under The Table http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/01/28/somewhere-under-the-table/ Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:29:42 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2611 Another invite another vlog. Setting up gear and finishing the first large work on paper I started back in December. Javier keeps a little music box among all his high tech boxes… Over the rainbow, under the table and around the corner.

]]> Further Forward http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/01/23/further-forward/ Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:50:07 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2597

]]> Obamanation http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2009/01/21/obamanation/ Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:50:52 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2591
It snowed and so the world looked better already. I went to see the inauguration at Monkeytown and Obama gave a great speech and the world looked better still. So I went to 17 Frost to try and make the installation look a little better too.

I was also struck at how Cheney in a wheel chair seemed to channel Barrymore as Mr. Potter in Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life:
The abomination of the last eight years gives way to the ObamaNation seeking inspiration.

]]> Big Eater http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/12/21/big-eater/ Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:49:25 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2468 A grab from a time lapse video of a large ink eater from Friday. It’s slightly distorted by the angle I had the camera at, but it should give you the idea. I’m getting closer to what I want. Working at this scale with ink is something else…

]]> Opportunity Frost Bit http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/12/19/opportunity-frost-bit/ Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:02:04 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2449
Knocked up another large paper and ink drawing at Frost Street and then Alex, the drummer for Sine Parade showed up to practice his drums in the theater. Christ can that guy drum. My neighbor’s kid is back from college and so even at home I am living with drums all the time and then the pile drivers banging away next door at the construction site… Rhythm of life is banging on and i’m trying to bang out some paintings. I did a diptych with gloss enamel and painter’s caulk on some old oil paintings I found in the trash a few months back. I like to build my dreams on the broken dreams of others…It’s the American way….LOL weep LOL.

Also I’ve been playing with installation and making new works to tie up the old works. The skull is my memento mori I made on day one… it is a painter’s tradition to make a death painting to guard the studio from death… like a gargoyle or a feng shuai mirror….or a pug dog, or a gun, or whatever.

]]> Frost Bite Bit http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/12/17/frost-bite-bit/ Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:00:15 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2443
Second day at Frost Street was mostly about moving some of my older work from home and storage… it was fairly comical and thanks be to Major Tom for his hatch back and strong back and so a lot of things I haven’t seen for a couple of years came out of cold storage… like all my old fridge doors. I can’t resist showing the fridges in a place called frost… and the frigid air, etc. They look good and match perfectly with the new ones. When I went outside, the sky was full of “chemtrails”, or contrails, or whatever. It looked positively surreal.

]]> Frost Bite (The Dead) http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/12/16/frost-bite-the-dead/ Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:42:06 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2437
I’m working on a new show in Williamsburgh Brooklyn that will be a sort of survey of all the art I’ve made since the war started. Death is all around us. Sometimes we forget the dead and so I thought I’d start with my own recent loss.

I took all of Bailey’s toys and threw them on the naked white paper to start. Then I used them as brushes and mops along with my best calligraphy brushes. The central idea of the drawing came from a sketch I’ve been working on with pencil and an old white enamel fridge door. It says Welbuilt.

This is the first of maybe many large works to illustrate the themes I’ve been on since 2003, but anyway one should begin with Joyce and Mingus and so I did….Plus the snow was faintly falling and falling faintly on New York.

]]> Screetch http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/12/15/screetch/ Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:54:39 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/?p=2434
Study after the death of Stanley Kubrick. Idea for installation at Frost Street.

]]> Hamlet http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/11/07/hamlet/ Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:03:31 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/11/hamlet.html hamlet08.jpg
I keep nudging this painting that I started painting two summers ago. You can actually see the start of it in a time lapse I used in this video.

]]> When I Paint Over My Masterpiece http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/11/06/when_i_paint_over_my_masterpiece/ Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:29:54 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/11/when_i_paint_over_my_masterpiece.html
salesman.jpg
Took down the Reading Room show on Tuesday. It was the end of something and I carried the whole show in two hands like a Salesman with Samples and got home to see the beginning of something else. Death of a Salesman, Birth of a Nation, etc.

]]> Screaming Guitar http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/11/03/screaming_guitar/ Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:26:35 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/11/screaming_guitar.html screamingguitar.jpgSaturday after Halloween was an H day: Hung over we ate Hamburgers and watched Horror movies… Today it’s back to Hub and working on the preface part which I started writing late on halloween night a bit haunted by wine. It’s kind of a violent death haunted period I was writing on and it sort felt right to commune with those ghosts on all Hallow’s eve. Naturally today I deleted everything I wrote and started over, but the genearl map I’d left myself at 1:30 a.m. Friday was indispensable. Here’s a painting on a toy guitar that I’ve been working on for a few weeks.

]]> Hallow Head http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/10/31/hallow_head/ Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:24:12 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/10/hallow_head.html hallowmansm.jpg
Been working all day on this painting and another while writing just a little (and having very little left to write). It really looks a feels right to me at this moment, but who knows how it will dry?

]]> First Frost http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/10/07/first_frost/ Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:58:28 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/10/first_frost.html
The folks at 17 Frost Street were kind enough to give me some space to start knocking out drawings in The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince as it’s actually in French) while Aakash Nihalani installed his tape show and the band rehearsed. It was a nice way to start this new projet which I am imagining as a sort of modular, multi platform, multimedia memoir of my time at the turn of the century in Paris…

Though I hope it will be open enough to use as part of my ongoing blogging/vlogging experiment, the end result should be a fairly focused narrative electronic book.

I learned recently that they found St-Exupery’s downed plane in the sea. Not only this, but the German who shot him down came forward to own the kill. The irony was that Exupery was the Nazi pilot’s hero and had inspired him to fly in the first place. He had carried with him the fear and dread for all these years that he had shot down the writer/aviator and when they found the plane he knew from his flight log that it was his mission and his gun. Small world indeed.

Anyways the opening of Aakash’s show is thursday:

17 Frost and Bose Pacia Present: Aakash Nihalani
Thursday, October 9, 2008
7 – 10 pm

Located in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, 17 Frost, an auxiliary venue of Bose Pacia New York, will now begin hosting performance and studio arts projects. We are excited to announce the inaugural event on Thursday, October 9. Please join us as we host New York based street artist, Aakash Nihalani, who will present his impromptu and ephemeral tape installations.

Bose Pacia
508 West 26th St, 11th FL
New York, NY 10001
T: 212.989.7074
F: 212.989.6982
mail@bosepacia.com
bosepacia.com

The music here is The Replacements: Can’t Hardly Wait

]]> Fluxed Up http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/10/06/fluxed_up/ Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:21:35 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/10/fluxed_up.html fluxedupbook.jpg
Fluxed Up from MariaNYC on Vimeo.
Wonderful documentation of my USSA show by Maria Niro with some real live fluxus (well recorded and found on Ubu Web) music and poetry: Poem Whispered History of Art / Robert Fillou
Overlaid on Symphony Natura/ Henning Christiansen.
Followed by Ground Swell solo sax by Colin Stetson

]]> Hanging Myself http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/09/23/me_hanging_myself_right_now/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:52:25 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/09/me_hanging_myself_right_now.html studyinjoyce.jpg
Not funny really in this time of Infinite Jests, but maybe it is really exactly how I feel. I mean in the sense of eternal return, or Metampsychosis, or however you spell it and whatever Joyce was talking about…. I’m hanging the show. I feel like a worker… in the Marxist sense of that word: working on the ladders with the back into it. I mean to say that hanging a book is a physical act. I’ve been training for it like a boxer at the gym.. but my fucking thumbs are still weak for the push pins and the map pins and the pins and needles and needles and pins…..feel like a carpenter… feel like Christ crucified… stigmata on my thumb. LOL. music here is some odd Brian Wilson post Smile mid mad period song. Fucking lovely and perfect fit for my raw time lapse. More to come…

]]> Reading Room http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/09/17/reading_room/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:20:54 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/09/reading_room.html readingroomevite.jpg
Friends,

I will be filling four walls with a floor to ceiling installation of images extruded over the last several years for the Art Blog: IT IN Place:
http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/

The work will include drawings and collage made over the pages of Fluxus, Time Life Collectibles, and Ulysees. A selection of animations and experimental videos will be projected into the grid of pages.

The Opening is Friday September 26th from 6:00 to 11:00 at USSA Fine Arts which is located in Willamsburgh Brooklyn, right along the Williamsburgh Bridge, between Bedford and Berry Avenues:
109 South 5th Street #204
Brooklyn, NY
718 305 1676

There will be live music and refreshments. I hope to see you there. The installation will be up for about a month. Please forward the invite to anyone you think might be interested.

thanx,

alex
readingroomucitys.jpg

]]> Four Screen and Fire http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/08/29/four_screen_and_fire/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:47:55 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/08/four_screen_and_fire.html housebox.jpg
cigar box to I work on and rework on since last summer. This was yesterday’s state.

]]> Not Face, Nor Film http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/08/23/not_face_nor_film/ Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:22:04 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/08/not_face_nor_film.html redeyenotface.jpg
Been so busy drawing faces and more recently sorting through tons of old video and the attendant technical difficulties associated with all the myriad formats I tend to mash together that I haven’t been posting much or even drawing much that I care about as drawing in itself. This scrap of red and black abstraction was started a few weeks ago as part of a glitch ink video. I did it half blind, looking through the broken video camera. It’s been laying out on the palette for three weeks or so…. getting the occasional stab of brush…. waiting. Right now it feels like one of the best drawings I ever made. Maybe just because it’s not a face or a video, or anything like it. It’s just itself. A record of the time. A friend.

]]> The Ugly Little Pugilist http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/08/12/the_ugly_little_pugilist/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:01:30 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/08/the_ugly_little_pugilist.html dscn0078.JPG
put em up.

]]> Plum http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/08/03/plum/ Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:32:08 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/08/plum.html plum.jpg
Tasted a plum at the farmer’s market. This is one of cigar box paintings I’ve been reworking since last summer. It is shown about real size here.

]]> Hands http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/30/hands/ Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:32:05 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/hands.html redand.jpgblackand.jpgDrawing heads and more heads and then more heads I took a break yesterday for some studies of hands. I was also spending some time listening to Hiram Bullock who died the other day and this memorial surf lead me to spend some time with Jaco Pastorius and his adventures in sound and insanity. So I was sort of sad, but also in the thrall of some amazing sounds and sweating and scanning till the we hours.

]]> Glitchportrait http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/25/glitchportrait/ Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:28:11 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/glitchportrait.html
glitchportrait.jpg

Drawing after broken machines on broken machines. Covered things with plastic wrap and decided to color outside the lines and all the way off the paper. Been thinking about the phenomena of talking head videos online. I set out to make one as a reference for drawing faces for the talking head animation, but got carried away with this project instead.

]]> Paint Over The Past http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/23/paint_over_the_past/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:35:27 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/paint_over_the_past.html pastdityqe.jpg
Reworking some of the cigar boxes I’ve been playing with since last summer.

]]> Cracking Vanya http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/21/cracking_vanya/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:49:19 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/cracking_vanya.html vanya.jpgSun and Eggs and watching a workshop of Uncle Vanya got me thinking about the geometry of time. Seven eggs in a bowl form a hexagon.

]]> Room http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/20/room/ Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:00:48 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/room.html abreturn.jpg
I keep having this dream where I am supposed to speak polish and they are installing a huge print from one of the glitched frames from the last few experimental films. Why Polish?

]]> Redeye http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/07/18/redeye/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:50:56 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/07/redeye.html redeye.jpgstill thinking about yesterday’s video.

]]> Over Heard http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/17/over_heard/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:56:20 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/over_heard.html bloomsface.jpgbloomsphone.jpg
I’m walking along Seventh Avenue and I hear a man say into his cell phone, “Where are you?” and I walk a few more steps and hear another man say, “I’m right here.” I suppose they were to meet right there beside the pizza parlor, but it also seems possible that the logical flow of words might be a total coincidence; two snippets from two entirely unrelated cell phone conversations. I thought how beautiful it would be if this illusion of a conversation continued up the street from the mouths of a series of unrelated strangers. That would’ve been a great Bloomsday miracle.

]]> Under The Back Seat http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/16/under_the_back_seat/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:26:17 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/under_the_back_seat.html sake.jpg
I am driving around with my hand searching in the back seat of the car. I slide my hand below the seat and feel something smooth and warm and I am wondering if it is flesh, or leatherette. I feel around the area untill my finger touches lips and the mouth opens and tries to bite off my finger.mouthand.jpg

]]> Thrown from the Dream Throne http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/14/thrown_from_the_dream_throne/ Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:40:49 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/thrown_from_the_dream_throne.html dreamthrone.jpgthronedream.jpg
I had more elaborate dreams last night, but in the morning they escape me. Here’s the end of yesterday’s.

]]> A Night Out With The Whores http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/13/a_night_out_with_the_whores/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:01:37 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/a_night_out_with_the_whores.html nhboots.jpgThe pretty young one has the idea first, but the ugly and the old and the plain all go along with it. “Let’s have a dinner party,” she says. “Just a few friends at a restaurant some place downtown; away from the little bar and all the beds.” She’s so cute as she says it and so full of naive vitality that it convinces the whole bitter group and they set about making lists and reservations and raiding closets to find the right outfit; something classy, something that doesn’t scream “Whore!”

I get talked into going. I don’t know why. I never could afford the brothel, but I know the pretty young one from when she was an “art student” and I had wanted her then and I suppose I still want her now, or I’m at least fascinated that she has capitalized on what I felt was MY desire. I had wanted her. Now everyone wants her. She’s the star of the whole whore house and it makes me feel strange. Do I have common taste, or was I simply ahead of my time? It’s like a song you love until it becomes a hit and then everyone likes it and you pretend you never liked that song but still you tap your toes when you hear it.

She had on a purple short shorts number when I saw her and she made the night sound like an erotic dream. I told the wife I had some dumb thing to do at the gallery and she barely listened because she had some dumb thing to do with her idiot friends and I wasn’t even invited and it pissed me off to the point where I nearly announced: “I’m off to dinner with the whores. Don’t wait up!”

I smiled to myself and beat it down to the back room of the restaurant where some of the girls were setting up decorations; streamers like it was a child’s birthday and I take a seat next to the large brunette with the curly hair and she jabbers away asking me all sorts of questions about what I do and how are the paintings coming along and frankly I feel at a loss. It puts all the onus on me and I can’t turn the conversation around because I know what she does and I can’t very well ask her how’s the fellatio going and how are the johns coming…..along. At least I can’t sober. I order a whiskey and slip out of excitement into irritation.

Not only my mind, but my bowels. I Never should’ve had Indian food for lunch. Gurggle gurggle. Then the “boyfriends” arrive. They wear little leather jackets like toughs do in the movies and they sport elaborate, ugly tattoos and speak in dees dem and doze. I can’t imagine what the hell any of us will have to talk about all night. Why had I agreed to come? SHE isn’t even here yet. I drink down the whiskey and resolve to get drunk when my stomach constricts and I quickly run off to the toilet.

A whole gaggle of men and women fall out of restroom door, laughing. “Now this is interesting,” I think. “Some sort of cocaine orgy right here in the bathroom.” Pity I missed all the fun. Pity I’m about to shit myself and I rush through the door only to find that It’s one of those gender neutral restrooms they have now, with one common sink area and separate stalls for both men and women. No orgy, no cocaine, just too cheap to put in separate bathrooms. They’ve spent the money instead on an elaborate decor where you have to climb a sort of pyramid of box shapes to get to the toilet. It’s way up there near the ceiling. It looks wonderful, but not when you actually need to crap. It’s a god damned obstacle. I get to the top and drop trow and let out a symphony of shit just as I hear HER laugh down by the sinks. Suddenly I realize that this will not be a night of erotic heights, but rather an evening of humiliation and embarrassment… but still I love her laughter. It makes me nostalgic for the days when I thought that I alone wanted her that she was my own mystery; back when I thought I loved her, back before I was a hack and she was a whore. Then the whole room starts moving, like a train leaving the station and I’m clinging to the toilet; terrified that I’ll be the thrown from the throne and topple down the pyramid of useless decor, shitting myself at her boot clad feet. Then I wake up.
nighwhores.jpg

]]> Pictures From A Lost Day http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/12/pictures_from_a_lost_day/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:36:29 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/pictures_from_a_lost_day.html lostdesk.jpgThis was yesterday. All day on the phone to Roadrunner rebooting the computer and the modum ad naseum. Later I ate dinner alone on the couch watching the finale of Top Chef. Pointlessness so grand, I felt I had to paint it today.ldcouch.jpg

]]> The Sun Bathers http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/11/the_sun_bathers/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:58:43 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/the_sun_bathers.html sunbathers.jpg
Somewhere out there is lovely half naked humanity basking in the bright light of this summer day, but I wouldn’t know it. I’ve been on a phone all day trying to figure the recent internet troubles I’ve been having. It’s too god damn annoying to describe, but they came pretty close to having me take the computer to the shop, but when I talked to the the third person (after going through two charges of hand held phone batteries so I had to keep calling them back and go through the whole elaborate script again and again) he realized it was probably a faulty modem. I’m posting this by the good graces of a neighbor’s open wifi.summerunner.jpg

]]> Conversations With Myself http://futureofthebook.org/itinplace/2008/06/05/conversations_with_myself/ Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:20:24 +0000 http://www.futureofthebook.org/itinplace/wp-content/archives/2008/06/conversations_with_myself.html fragile.gif portmap.jpgRecently, I’ve had cause to want to point out the documentary bits out of my last couple of shows in Portland and New York. They were extruded onto the blog in bits and pieces several months back. I thought it might be nice to have them all together in one entry so that I could just forward that link to people. It becomes something like a four channel video piece if you can play them all at the same time, or a story if you play them in order. The box gif is new.

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