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Noted with appreciation: Reality Studio

Published January 27, 2010

I went about my day yesterday in the usual fashion – getting up, having coffee and getting to work. Of course like 98% of people I know I stopped to check facebook and a blog or two during the day and stumbled over this treasure trove of goodness about a gentleman named William Seward Burroughs.

Yes, I’ve written about him before.

This is different though because I was halfway to writing a letter to Tyler Green and Greg Allen because Allen had recently written a small bit about Mary Meyer (JFK’S mistress) and the relation to the Truitts. It’s funny because I know a bit more about that whole thing than I should, mostly because of a job I had earlier in my life. But the connection here is clearly conspiracy. Let’s be blunt about this one thing – WSB did conspiracy better than anyone.

Anyway I decided not to send a letter – because I really shouldn’t, and started reading some of the most interesting things I’ve ever read about Burroughs in a long time. I’m serious, really quality writing. (not like the drivel I write) I am fascinated by an article called “Burroughs and Beats in Men’s Magazines: William Burroughs Appearances in Adult Men’s Magazines” (URL). Even more interesting is an article about his writing for the magazine Swank. (URL) The article starts from this little passage;

Q: What is with all the men’s magazines?

A: Oh, I read them for the articles.

But here’s the punch line. In July 1961, Swank publishes a first section of what would go on to become Naked Lunch. Naked Lunch would go on to be published about a year later. Even further Burroughs was not the only writer to be doing this; Kerouac, Ginsburg and a host of others were publishing in these magazines. Burroughs would later go on to publish as many as 26 articles for the men’s magazine Mayfair.

Here is a quick rogues gallery of titles Burroughs published in in the 60’s and 70’s:
Playboy, Penthouse, Suck, National Screw, OUI, Club, Playgirl, Blueboy, Mayfair, Cavalier, King, Jaguar, Swank. Makes me almost wish that the sleazier parts of our culture would publish with a bit more variety between the cover.

For more information http://realitystudio.org/

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The shock troops of gentrification

Published April 27, 2009

My friend Ian used to say that “Punk kids are the shock troops of gentrification” meaning that these were people who were less afraid to go into a neighborhood and begin it’s transitioning into a different neighborhood. This could be viewed as good or bad depending on where you are in that chain of cultural demographic shifting. I think for the most part though – he’s right. The “Punk” scene is often made up of the disenfranchised – be it gay, mixed raced, artists, punks, grifters, and cheapskates or a little bit of all of that.

Do you remember when Dupont circle was a great place to go? I do and I miss that. these days it seems to be crappy shopping from emerging mainstream international brands and the flavor that “The Circle” used to have is pretty much gone.

In the paper recently there have been articles about artists leaving New York – not for Brooklyn but for Cleveland. I’m hearing more and more about cities courting the creative class and Cleveland has been hit really hard – artists want space and Cleveland is ripe with cheap spaces and low prices due to it’s economy. A few months ago when I was speaking to Patti Smith, she mentioned that for an art scene to be really successful, a city needs people up and down the economic food chain to develop into a fully realized community that can support the arts. The jury is out on Cleveland and I wish everyone there the best of luck, because they will need for more than that. They will need infrastructure, jobs to come back to Cleveland – we all need jobs to come back to Cleveland because if they do – that means jobs will be coming back everywhere.

I was speaking to the Artist Austin Thomas (who runs that great space in Bushwick, Pocket Utopia) the other day and we were talking about how I was inspired by Jerry Saltz (she had a great story as well – but that’s her story) – and I know that a few eyebrows will go up when I say that I was inspired by Jerry, however you get inspired where and when you do and in my case it was at Art Basel Miami Beach. Saltz had a brief presentation about money leaving the market – so what are we doing now?

He laid it out in a way that made a ton of sense in a way that was the direct opposite of everyone else. Bottom line was this – we are artists, we make art. What are we going to do stop? That’s almost laughable. If your Going to Cleveland, Oil City Pennsylvania, Plattsburg or Paduchah, I wish you the best. I think we all do.

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Art students (called Brian) observed

Published February 20, 2009

I speak of Brian Eno far too much. Thankfully AFC is linking today to a post by imomus deconstructing a piece of the book, Art Students Observed by Charles Madge and Barbara Weinberger (Faber and Faber, 1973).

ASO is a sociological study of art students at two British art schools at a very interesting moment, the late 1960s. A period of time I am more and more interested in. The book, according to Imomus, shows the tutors and students circling each other with wariness, coolness, misunderstanding, despair, appreciation. Then we meet a student named Brian. Imomus then makes his case that this is indeed Mr. Eno.

The post is a great detective story, I think you might enjoy it.

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The Sketchbook Project

Published February 19, 2009

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3215355&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

over the winter break I had a chance to stumble over the Art House Coop’s (Atlanta) website. They were getting started with a little project called the Sketchbook Project. I thought what the hell – let’s see what happens. Long story short I wasn’t interested in submitting a proper sketchbook so I made something more akin to a book as art. Using my approach to paperworks as a starting point.

What I ended up with was a project where I scanned a bunch of paint samples and built a continuous artwork that accordions open. I’m actually really happy about the piece and along with my friend Tony Eckersley, we made a quick video. (above)


The Sketchbook Project is all over the eastern US for the next year – check out the Art House website for details.

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New Artist Statements

Published February 11, 2009

I’ve been working on these for the last few weeks and besides tearing my hair out, I’ve decided to release them to the general public.

Here’s the deal, feel free to call me out on any of this, I’m very interested in feedback and promise you it will be taken seriously (or not depending on the note) – thanks ML

On Developing New Images.
My artworks link to a particular but unspecified presentation or location which could be in physical or non-pyhsical space. The artworks are composed both as a response to the question of how one might produce imagery for a particular kind of space, but also as work that is able to stand up to a large variety of environments and presentations.

The artworks come from a series of divergent strategies. One of building and extending – the other of reducing and minimizing. These disparate approaches are not a way to impose meanings on the work, but can be viewed as a metaphoric crossroads. This crossroads is about extending the relationship of these different approaches, while at the same time allowing the viewer the liberty of time for further reading of the work. The image making that comes from this strategic foundation will be clear, concise and rational, while at the same time allowing for a sense of community and/or contemplation to develop in and around the artworks.

The artworks are not linear narratives, this allows the element of time to be stretched or compressed to accommodate the viewer. This flexibility to time as well as environment allows the artwork to reveal itself in slower and calmer ways than an artwork that is based only on the relationship of drama and detail of the forms presented inside of it, while allowing those with a more compressed timeline to react to the base elements of the composition and painterliness of the overall approach.

This open ended approach is central to the artworks I create and allows them to be developed with a non-specific exactness.

February 2009

On Names.
Titles have become critical to my work. Primarily they re-establish a connection to the visible world and hopefully trigger a series of associations and ideas that are related between the artwork and the connotation in the viewers awareness. I avoid the descriptive and ordered approach (blue, or number 12, etc.) as well as using “untitled”. I view titles as an approach to open the viewer to a thought process that may influence the subject at hand. This could be viewed as a shorthanded poetry or similar device that allows further thought about or in connection to the artworks.

January 2009

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