well, that didn’t take long. finished. actually, the plate I’ve had prepped and waiting for an image for at least 3 years. THIS is why they’ll find me in a hoarder-house someday. Mind you, it’ll be hoarded full of artsy-farts material waiting to be ‘podged together.
Anyways, this is a plate with a gel-medium transferred image. The image is three images cobbled together via photoshop.
Are Yesterday’s Execs Keeper of our Music Z
Is obscurity itself the test tubes of tomorrow? Or is just the testing done to pave the way of sorrow? Is the chalice set upon the table for the bride of prima donnas? Or can indeed, the world be freed by finger popping mommas? Is the confusion of immorality little more than a doubt on the face of infinity? Or does indeed immorality feed upon itself And hence hasten to speed it’s own mortal conclusion? Is the scent of melting tin upon the tracks of time The mere excuse for letting loose the calling cards of crime? Or is this verbose verbosity that very violation? Does not the babbling brook run its way to oceans and streams Only to dry up and rain once more? -from “the knife fight” by THE RESIDENTS off of ‘WHATEVER HAPPENED TO VILENESS FATS’
This piece comes to you by Divergent Thinking. The question after the answer, The solution from the making. Materials arrived at a time when issues had to be addressed and were used accordingly without hesitation, which created new issues which were then pursued. The background, made nearly a year before the rest, are circle punchouts from a bunch of CD covers mostly 90’s rock/pop/etc., randomly placed. Somewhere there’s a GIF file showing the placement.
I just saved a bunch of money by switching to WORDPRESS! OK, advertisement over. I’ve had the wordpress blog for a while now in addition to my website, but, 2 things:
1. I’ve been paying a lot of money for the website –silly really. I don’t know the HTML stuff, and needed something simple to put a website together and so I was using WIX. It was easy, and expensive, especially when you consider I was making no money off the site.
2. I don’t update either my blog or my website as often as I should. The proof is the date of my last post here –it’s basically been a year.
SO, going with the cheaper deal, here I am, like so many others, on WordPress! Not dissing WP though. I’ve just got a lot to learn to really make it do what I’d like.
As I said, basically a year since my last post here. Geesh. 2013 hasn’t been an amazing year for me, artistically. I sold some pieces (actually more than I ever had before, mind you, they were small, cheap pieces but still), and I made some new work (the least I’ve made since 2007), but I kinda stayed out of the scene, so to say. Ah, but life continued on, that’s for sure. The biggest change 2013 sent me was having to find a new place to live, and dealing with what that means for me —After living in the same place for 8 years, you could say I was “settled in”, so, 3 months in, you could say I’m still “unsettled”.
Still, art must be made, and like I said, here it is, basically a year later—
THE BIG 400! December 14th, 2013! Same deal as last year, only bigger —The fine folks at People’s Gallery round up a big ol buncha artists of all shapes, sizes, ages, and skill levels (the “400”, which, as usual, is actually more than the number stated –last I heard, over 600 people participating), give them wood panels to make art on, and, around 2 months later, taah-daah, we got a gigantic show with lots of awesome work that you pull off the wall and buy for $40 a piece! Phew! Yeah, I’m doing that. See you there, and don’t forget to bring a can of food (or two) for the Oregon Foodbank.
Here’s a few of my BIG 400 entries
“clutterbaby”
“We are a consuming fire”
In more recent events, I had my “Homage to Albers” series and the “triangle series” show at my church, Imago Dei Community. This was something that took quite a while to “get the ball rolling” (not on my part) but once it was up, it was very gratifying. Nice to see my Brothers and Sisters supporting my creative endeavors. Actually sold a piece at that show too. I know it’s not fair to say that no one likes my art because no one buys it, but when I have a sale, it reignites the idea that maybe someday enough people will buy enough of my art that I could make a living doing it, it affirms that people actually DO like it. “Put your money where your mouth is” goes through my head when friends say they like a piece, or “I’ve heard lots of good stuff about your show”.
OF COURSE, it should go without saying that I’m not doing it for the money –obviously not the case. But it sure does make a person feel better about spending so much time and money into a project.
Now, as in a week from now, will be the opening of the “88 STRONG” show at the Goodfoot Lounge. This will be the 3rd year I’ve participated in this show. Basically, the good folks at Goodfoot give artists eight 8″x8″ wood panels to create art on, using 88 possible “themes”, which are single words/phrases. Examples of this would be: Art Mafia / Compost / Dreads / Eat your face / Hick / It’s in my mouth / Lebowski / Roller Girls / Vegan —you get the point, pretty random word/phrases. Your blanks can be 8 different themes, or all the same, or any mix. You’re given basically a month to turn these blank panels into art, which are then framed and shown (100 some artists x 8 a piece=’s a lot) and sold for $50, the artist getting the majority of the $. It’s open to artists of all skill-levels and mediums, as long as it’ll “fit” onto the panels.
I love this show and “the big 100″ show (which is similar in concept, except no themes are given) because they’re basically a work out for me, and usually end up teaching me either a new technique or a new set of ideas or a lesson of some sort. They’re a work out for me because I have to keep at it –8” square panels are small enough that they don’t have to be time consuming, yet having 8 to make in a month’s time makes it challenging. My artwork typically takes a 3 to 6 month turnaround, mostly because I think a lot on the piece, making the revisions and figuring out the technique in my head before actually applying to the work. And, honestly, I procrastinate a bit too. The 88 Strong doesn’t allow that. I’m always a bit of a mess at first, cause “whatamigonnadoohshit”, then when that’s figured out it’s “ohcrapi’mgonnarunouttatime”, but I have yet to fail with getting something made that I approve of by the deadline. Well, I usually approve of most of it. Sometimes it doesn’t all work the way i want it, but I allow it because others may approve of the final piece even if I’m not fully behind it. The artist is his biggest critic, and all of that.
So, this year, my 8 pieces all revolve around the theme “DAMAGED GOODS”. This started out with a roll of packing stickers I’ve had for at least 3 years, which is my argument for why artists (in particular collage artists) should not be criticized for being pack-rats. As soon as i saw that phrase, I knew I had to use them –Neon Orange stickers with bold face ACCEPT ALL DAMAGES printed on them.
The process went something like this –cover panels with these stickers, somewhat randomly, then apply white spray paint over about 3/4 of the surface. Then I took stills from a video, which then got worked and re-worked in Photoshop (I won’t go into detail, but I imagine anyone who knows photoshop decently could back-track the filters/brushes/techniques I used) then printed these out to fit specific panels and transferred them onto the panels via gel-medium transfer. For me, this was good training on specific techniques I use in photoshop to take images and ready them for 4-color process printing, though the end result was not made into screen printed images (not enough time and too laborious for one small print), and was also educational on how to “colorize” a black and white image.
As for the subject –The stills were taken from a you-tubed video the house is black, a documentary made in 1962 about a Leper colony in Iran –very sobering, with it’s narration being parts Old Testament/Koran/Poetry, it’s beauty is it’s ugliness. Leprosy (aka “hansens disease”) has been around since the Old Testament and many passages in the Bible are devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and care of those afflicted. Like the Plague, it is rarely seen today, though both still exist and both can still kill if not treated immediately and effectively (Paul Gaylord of Prineville, OR. is still recovering from the Plague, contracted from a cat bite earlier this year). These people, no matter when in history, have had to deal with not only the devastation of their health and body, but their entire life. Lepers in the past were kept away from everyone they loved, hushed away to colonies. “UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN!” was their cry when coming anywhere near anyone, to warn them, to keep them away, strangers, friends and family. In this day, Paul has the stigma of the Plague on him before he is even out of the hospital. People who were going to help him have now bowed out, under the fear of being infected (even though it is not passed by human transmission).
Biblically speaking, Leprosy is considered a metaphor for sin. As leprosy kept the afflicted away from others because of his uncleanness, sin keeps us away from God. Unsaved people often say “I’m a good person” or “People are basically good”, and so go on with their lives thinking they’re “good enough” for God. But God is not only a Good God, He is also a Holy God. Impurity is NOT allowed in His presence, no matter how small. Even if we ignore the doctrine of being born in sin, put under the magnifying glass of God, we all have sinned, we all come short, we all would come into his presence having to cry out “UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!!”. Praise God that He provided us with His begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who can clean us of the leperous sores of sin, who can redeem us, who makes us presentable, righteous, in God’s presence. Christ’s good work not only saves us from eternal death, but through the Holy Spirit, works on restoring us from the damages we’ve made to ourselves in this life. Like a leper, we come to Christ as we are, dirty, damaged, falling apart, broken people. As it’s said of the Church “it’s not a museum for the good people, it’s a hospital for the broken”. (mark 2:17). If you accept Jesus as your Saviour, He “accepts all damages”.
larrychristensen 