I thought that was a wonderful idea, but how did you do it?” I’m torn up over the passing of Ray Bradbury, more than I realized I would be. This man was a hero to me in so many ways I find difficult to articulate. Maybe when I’m done reading Dewey’s Art as Experience I’ll be better at “expression”, but for now I’ll be revisiting Mr. Bradbury’s exceptional work. As suggested by a tweet, I started here.
Finally bought a portable audio recording device. Feel like the whole world just opened up again.
Shedding Dignity, 2012.
I was in NYC this weekend and stopped by the Schiaparelli vs Prada “Impossible Conversation” exhibit at the Met. While I could barely experience it under the weight of Baz Luhrmann’s heavy-ass hands (seriously, what is his deal? Strictly Ballroom was so good, everything since so bad), one caption in one part of the exhibit did leave a lasting impact on me. Specifically, it was a quote from Miuccia Prada about how she strives to dress women with dignity.
Later that night, watching kickball in McCarren park, boyfriend and I discussed this at length. We came away with the sad realization that men are granted dignity in self-presentation, while women have to fight for it.
$2
I’m a fan, personally, of art that sucks at marketing itself, that doesn’t have a cute backstory or a built-in “platform,” that is not cuddly or “adorkable” and doesn’t immediately lend itself to a hierarchy of “rewards” for “backers,” that is antisocial and prickly and deeply strange. So the trend towards crowdsourced funding for exactly the opposite kind of art leaves me cold.
I’ve been thinking lately about people who “play the game”, people who make work that is marketable or invent a marketable persona. Some of them are just regurgitating what’s SoInRightNow in a way I find largely irritating and superficial, as touched on above, but some are doing the equivalent of putting on Spanx to go to the convenience store. If all of that second group would stop trying to win someone else’s game, maybe there would finally be a market for the unmarketable.
Ultimately, the game is pretty hard to get away from when everyone is self-conscious about their bottom line.
Heavy handed, 2011
One of those moments I’m so glad I get to keep.
just a picture, 2012
I’m finally willing to accept that you can’t make something happen if you aren’t ready for it. I want nothing more than to finish my Birds of Paradise project, but I’ve done nothing but spin my wheels for like two month. On to other things, then.
In which I continue to explore awkwardness.
Our new/old DJ night is finally back up and running with an appropriately new/old name. This will be our 5th year! With this, our first new flyer, I made it a special point to include orange juice and snacks in honor of the other names we were considering.
One man’s trash…, 2012
Found/did this, and found it immensely appealing.
So, I secretly use Instagram. And I like it.
I haven’t told anyone (until now), I follow no one, and my only follower is my sister. But I admit it… it’s fun.
-John Dewey, from his book Art as Experience.
There are a lot of experiences in the world, and I am stingy with my attention. In most cases, I appreciate/dismiss through a brief overview; If I find no deeply compelling reason to dive in, I move on. I’m impressionable, so this draconian attitude is just self-preservation.
The work of John Dewey is something I’d chosen repeatedly to dismiss (despite the overwhelming obsession my friends have with him) - until today.
An experience is a product, one might almost say bi-product, of continuous and cumulative interaction of an organic self with the world. There is no other foundation upon which esthetic theory and criticism can build.
How can I choose not to experience an entire work about the experience of experience? I can’t.
Untitled, 2012.
Big Changes
After months of nail biting and anxiety, I finally heard back: I’ve been accepted into my first choice graduate program for an MDes in Interaction Design. A decade ago I swore I would never go back to school, but here I am.
I’ve been working on a photobook and associated gallery show, and it’s occurring to me now that it might be prudent to “finish” this project before August…
Blank Slates, 2012.
Four photographs of white paper.
Here is that Joel Meyerowitz quote, largely for my own future reference since I can’t find it on the internet:
What are we all trying to get to in the making of anything? We’re trying to get to ourselves. What I want is more of my feelings and less of my thoughts. I want to be clear. I see the photograph as a piece of experience itself. It exists in the world. It is not a comment on the world.
Printed in the book Color Photography, Assouline, 2001.
