Archive for January, 2010
Twenty sentences that won’t change your life.
There’s a little something around my sinuses that feels like it could be a cold.
Last night’s flight home was smooth and undersold, which meant that I had two seats to slump into while I read a copy of The Age of American Unreason that I had picked up at the Nashville Airport.
It turns out I really did lose my Panasonic Lumix somewhere around the Austin Peay campus Tuesday night, so I can’t show you any pictures of the polaroids of hot hunters from the Bar B Q shack’s “Brag Wall”, because those pictures were on the SD card in the camera.
Coming back to work after being in such a different environment is always like taking a leap onto a moving train.
These days, one of the only constants in my life is my tumblr account.
It was snowing pretty seriously around my block this morning but I bet it’s all gone now.
I worry that I’m losing the capacity for sustained thought, but then I’ve been having that worry for the past twenty years or so.
In his book David Antin told an excellent story of how Herbert Marcuse ended up not teaching at my alma mater, CalArts.
Simply because someone has progressive political views, it does not automatically follow that they will have progressive views about art making or how art functions in society.
If as a student, you work hard, I’m not worried about whether or not you share my opinions or already know a lot; I know you’ll get to something interesting.
Right now, much of the art infrastructure that I knew in my youth is simply not producing much of interest.
Yes, I’m getting old: the cycles of excitement no longer seem unique to me.
The most interesting thing so far in Susan Jacoby’s book is her quick history of the American Lyceum movement, the TED lectures of the late 19th century.
I’m only a third of the way through the book.
I don’t have a business plan, or much of a plan plan for that matter.
I’m getting tired of my office knick-knacks, meaning it may be time for some redecorating.
“Never enough coffee” is not a sentence, unfortunately.
Right now, making art is, for me, like licking the contacts on a nine volt battery: tantalizing, a little painful, always calling me back and yet producing the smallest flop of sickness in my stomach’s pit, a sensation that feels like a warning.
Hey, I know some sexy people.
My back-up camera is nice and does some things very well, but I’ve been spoilt.
Tags: art, camera, daily photo, musings, readingRelated posts
Here we go again…
Please let me track down my camera from wherever it is here in town. Oy.
Tags: camera, dissapointment, lostRelated posts
Are you rolling in the ears?
A member of the New York Correspondance School sent a package to the class here at Austin Peay. Inside we found twenty pairs of sequined bunny ears and the phrase “How to Bowl like a Bunny”. So of course we all donned them and proceeded to bowl for the evening while the jukebox played things like Root Down, and Joan Jett singing “now I wanna be your dog”. A great way for us to all get to know each other a bit better. Afterwards I had some ramen and slept like a rock for seven hours.
The weather has been a little schizo, snowing on and off. Clear and then cold, some hail. I feel calmer than yesterday, partly because of the sincere responses of the students. I’m easily frazzled in so much of my life, but in the classroom and in the studio, it’s hard for me to be unhappy.
Tags: bowling, daily photo, teachingRelated posts
Half empty?
Made it down to teach. There were moments around five this morning when I was feeling pretty dark. So much had to happen and things like MTA were not co-operating. I was functioning on very little sleep, forgetting things and slamming around the house so much that I woke my downstairs neighbor, much to my chagrin. Once I got to the train to the airport, I sat on the platform for what seemed like forever. Once I made it to the terminal I was too late to check my bag, which meant that I had to throw out new bottles of shampoo and conditioner, because they were over three ounces. When did air travel lose it luster? These days every aspect of it is cramped and cheap. Winge, winge winge. This stuff wouldn’t bother me if I wasn’t so frayed already.
But now I’m at rest in a lovely inn, recuperating and trying to assemble a to-do list. Tonight is bowling and tomorrow, teaching. For the present, I’m trying to take a little time to begin on the self organizing that I should have been doing all along. I hope it will provide me with a greater sense of caml and control to at least get a sense of the scale of what needs doing.
Tags: daily photo, frustration, planning, self examination, travelRelated posts
Another post about how I’m stressed…
Well, I just am. Going to try to squeeze in some sleep before heading to Tennessee tomorrow for some teaching. The next couple of months are looking packed as well. Have to figure out as better strategy for dealing.
Why do you need to know all this? That’s another question I’ve been asking myself with increasing frequency. I’m not happy with the blog becoming my very occasional vent spot.
Many good things are happening. I’m just not managing them especially well, and some old habits are reasserting themselves.
Highlights of the weekend? Seeing House, demented Japanese horror comedy from 1977. And then appearing in a sort of demented horror comedy shoot for a good friend. Took many pictures. A couple of good ones. Unfortunately no kissing, but there was kissing last weekend so that makes up for it.
Tags: daily photo, movies, stressRelated posts
Two trucks in two days….
This big odd thing was in front of my door today, pumping or flushing something underneath the street. ConEd sent it out, but I have no ideas for what purpose.
I’m back in the office, on what is usually a day off, trying to finish up some stuff before a teaching trip to Tennessee. Communication seems to be the watchword of the day, and we’re all struggling to come up with the right words to give shape to our plans.
Last night’s opening was quite nice, what with Lolita showing up, a quick dinner with her and my friend Lynne and then a surprise run in with another friend on the way to the subway. It all felt very civilized, and at the event I got to make the acquaintance of Napoleon, a kissy and excitable french bulldog. I’m hoping to get some more work done this weekend, along with getting my fridge cleaned out tonight and hopefully some laundry and other mundanities.
Lyn asked me about my feelings about the president last night. I couldn’t say much then, beyond not being over surprised. I do think that he needs to give up on the idea of winning over his opposition. They are too high on their bile at this point for him to even make a case. With the advent of Fox news, we now have a case where frothing yahooism has become a profit making business, where candidates can spend years amasing money and speaking past the government in a way that negates traditional notions of bipartisan governance. They make more money by yelling and sniping, without ever having to govern, to fix problems and deliver services. It is in the proposal for those fixes that all of the risk of politics resides. So Obama is hamstrung in some ways, because people don’t have to work with him if they don’t want and get more mileage out of their refusal.
Tags: daily photo, friends, my block, politicsRelated posts
Where to start?
Just had my first look at LJ in about six days. An 8am meeting at work today, so every time I look at the clock I can’t believe that it’s still so early in the afternoon. I bought lunch at 11:30 because I just couldn’t wait. And now I’m jonesing for a nap.
This is due in part to my efforts to finish a piece for an exhibition in in that’s opening tonight: http://www.annakustera.com/ . If you’re in New York City and feel like coming by, I’ll probably be there on the early side. After dropping off my piece last night I took this shot of a truck full of Richard Serra, probably destined for a Gagosian Show up the block.
I also took a trip to the Boston area this past weekend, and got to see some LJ folks there, including badfaggot and quirkstreet. It was a lovely weekend all in all.
Tags: daily photo, friends, making art, new york in black and whiteRelated posts
The road. I am hitting it…
Heading out of town for reconnection and recreation. More work on our return.
Tags: daily photo, night, travelRelated posts
Introducing the rantlet…
Listening to Grace singing “Bullshit”, if singing is really the right word for it. Doesn’t matter: I still love her. There’s a whole degree of “I’m bat-shit crazy, now and for eternity” in her whole career that I just have to admire.
I’m suffering from the inverse of the usual web rhetoric inflation impulse; every time I think to comment on something I pull back from really letting rip, stopped by {1}the prospect of having to reason out an entire argument in the slender minutes I’ve given over to writing and {2}an unwillingness to to contribute to the cartoon violence of online utterance, where every emotion must be at the highest pitch in order to be heard, resulting in much heat but little light.
But I can’t tamp down always, so here are a few sanity preserving rantlets: utterly unreasonable, barely considered argument flavored bits.
1.I’m sick of transparency, shading and gradients as the dominant style in user interface design. I want my computer screen to be plain and flat and beautiful like a Paul Rand page. Stop making everything look like cough drops you geeks.
2. It was turning to Satan that doomed Haiti, Pat Robertson? Really??? I’m mocking god right now, when do I get my earthquake? Art Clokey just died. Was god mad at him too? Geology is not Theology.
3.Obama has been proceeding with the Dem party playbook vis-a-vis queer people: make nice sounds during the campaign, once in office, hire people with little fanfare, and publicly distance yourself from any legislative or executive action. Treat em like crap a bit to show you’re a centerist. Explain that the time isn’t right for plainspoken advocacy. Delay until the second term and then forget about it. It’s not surprising to me, but it is tiring in it’s banality. I believe he’s a smart guy, but he’s pulled some dick moves.
4.Big time NYC art dealer Jeffrey Deitch has been appointed director of LAMoCA. Is this a good or bad thing? Should art dealers be Museum Directors? People point to his “good taste”. He’s a nice guy, I’ve always gotten along with him, and he owns an early piece of mine. But this is a lazy hire: his “taste” is irrelevant, since Directors don’t directly decide what hangs in Museums, curators and accessions committees do. Directors basically manage the Board of Trustees and beg other rich folks for money. Not so very different from what art dealers do. So it’s not such a big stretch, but I call it lazy because it’s one more surrender of cultural life and infrastructure to market success. It’s like electing Bloomberg mayor. It reinforcement of the idea that museums should be trophy halls for big game collectors. Sure they can be that, but why not try to think of them as something else? People worry about his conflict of interest issues, which is laughable in the context of overwhelming market reverence through out most of the museum world. Here’s one of MoCA’s biggest problems: they can’t figure out why any one should go there. And Deitch won’t be able to fix that with business savvy. It’s a class issue.
OK, that last was a bit long for a rantlet. BUT AT LEAST IT’S OFF MY CHEST. (whoops, must remember to turn on my caps lock earlier next time)
Tags: anger, art world, computer, daily photo, design, obama, politics, rantlet
