Throwback in the Self-Referential Sense.

In the spirit of 1998...



I present a little watercolor piece called "Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight."

This came out of a watercolor class I was in Connecticut where I was the only male, and the only person under 50 I believe. There were a lot of flowers and soft pastel colored paintings in the group, and this painting was a response to that. It didn't go over too well. But the class was great.

I happen to like the deep color blue of the night sky and the way the mask sits on the face. It appears to almost be grafted on. The style is very comic book like, which is difficult with watercolors. The mask seems more alive than the fellow who wears it.

Whoa!

Watercolor is a medium that was completely censored from Carnegie Mellon University. Not officially, of course, but the underlying tone of students and teachers alike was "turning up the nose." I think watercolors require a deftness in paint application that can really be beautiful.

I will be chasing that beauty in 2007.

Painting as a focal practice.

Painting has such a commanding presence when I am "in the zone." To sit there for hours upon end, extracting the shapes and colors from the mud changes my thinking, as if my brain is on another more vibrant level. Things become clear. I feel more articulate.

To compare this with the feeling of spending that time on the computer is interesting to me. Computer time is more like becoming a receptacle to information. I am excited to learn new ways of digesting and structuring that information, but I don't achieve the active agency that closes the loop so to speak. It's all downloading into the mind, much like the helicopter instructions in the matrix movie. I think ultimately, that leads to an overwhelmed feeling, because there is literally no end to the information, and therefore nothing to stand upon. Where do you draw lines of value?

Painting provides a reflection point back upon the self. One that reinforces and centers value.
It's what I like to call participatory consciousness, or passionate engagement. The way that your reflection always meets with you when you look into a puddle or pass a mirror. The agency of that meeting is shared between you and the reflection. Mind like water.

With a computer, you lack that bounce back. The more you engage with computers, the more information pours into your brain, and the more your soul gets sucked out into the vapid realm of indifference.

If you're not careful.

A Tree Blooms in South Philly

This photo was taken on Dec 15th in South Philly, right in front of the cheese steak houses on Passyunk. In fact, many of the street trees in that area are blooming in this fashion. 2 weeks later we continue to have 50 degree days.

Trees Bloom amid winter warm spell
False Spring won't damage plants..
Anybody seen signs of winter?

Obviously, there is a warming trend. I remember just a few years ago becoming alarmed seeing trees with buds in the winter. I guess when leaves start coming out, I will truly be worried.