4.28.2008
Memento Mori
I used to think this meant a remembrance of the dead, but turns out that is an admonition to remember that one is mortal. Don Juan tells Castaneda that Death is an "Ally," and that one should always keep in mind that Death is constantly at arm's reach, behind one's left shoulder if I recall correctly. That a constantly maintained awareness of impermanence can serve a useful and spiritual purpose I have no doubt. Indeed it is a central tenet at the core of Buddhist wisdom that nothing lasts forever except, well, Nothing. It's just that I don't do a good job of remembering Life's ephemeral nature. We spend so much time trying to hold on, it doesn't occur to us that nothing can truly be held for any length of time.
"And ice cream?" "Yes, and ice cream."
Today, I had the Aarbei (lit. "Earth Berry").
Jason tried the Snikker, which looked like it was Vanilla that had caramel and peanuts in it. I think he confirmed my suspicions, but I can't remember. I didn't try it.
Monique didn't have ice cream, it being fairly early in the day, but she went along to give some soup to the woman who makes/sells the ice cream as a thank you. She had given Monique some Beef Bones ("from the best part of the cow") to make soup with. I think they made a difference. They talked for maybe a half an hour, which I suppose translated to something roughly like "Hey, Thanks for the bones - they were great" and "Cool".
I noticed one of the things that I particularly like about this ice cream. It is intensely cream, certainly, but there is a chewiness that I especially respond to. Alan said he thought that it meant that they use gelatin, or some sort of thickener/stabilizer. I have no idea. Today it was cold and drizzly, which may or may not have had anything to do with it but the scoops were themselves harder (more frozen) than they have been previously. Even Jenny (if that's her name) commented on it.
What I noticed was that I am an ice cream chomper. I tried to lick the ice cream, like when you wrap your lips around the scoop and draw up, which I admit makes for a creamier mouthfeel. I couldn't keep it up for long, however, because the minute I stopped deliberately licking the ice cream I would bite down on it, like the Owl in the old Tootsie Pop commercial. I dug the tart bite of the strawberry cutting through the buttery sweetness of the cream and I loved the, well, toothsomeness is the word that has stood the test of time for describing things of this nature so I will continue to rely heavily on its ability to deliver the meaning I intend.
Dutch Television
The reporter from TV Drenthe called to say that he had had a concussion recently and won't be coming to video today, but maybe he or his colleague will come tomorrow.
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is one of my favorite films.
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" is one of my favorite films.
This just in (2)
from the Meppeler Courant:
De soep werd zaterdagmiddag daadwerkelijk bereid en geproefd in de voormalige zuivelfabriek ‘De Venen‘. Terwijl zij met een pollepel in twee dampende pannen bouillon roerde heette Monique Besten de belangstellenden welkom. In de uitnodiging voor de tussentijdse kennismaking met New Riddles & Constellations 4, werd de gasten gevraagd ingrediënten voor de soep mee te brengen. Aan die vraag werd overvloedig voldaan. Manden vol prei, kervel, ui en gehakt werden afgeleverd in de open soepkeuken. Zelf zorgde Besten voor water, een pan, toewijding en armspierkracht. Het welslagen van de soep werd zo medeafhankelijk van de inbreng van de bezoekers. De soep werd in de loop van de middag met smaak gegeten.
Musici Jodi Gilbert, Alan Purves en Albert van Veenendaal spreidden al intermezzo experimentele geluidslandschappen uit. Keltische zanginvloeden (in een boeiend optreden van de Amerikaanse zangeres Jodi Gilbert), inventieve percussie en moderne elektronica smolten daarbij samen tot een spannend geheel. Op de achtergrond draaide een presentatie met oude foto‘s, geleend uit het archief van de Historische Vereniging Nijeveen.
Buiten op het straatbord was de mededeling ‘De Amerikanen komen!‘ met stift veranderd in ‘...zijn gearriveerd!‘ Kunstenares Monique Besten woont sinds begin maart op het terrein van de voormalige zuivelfabriek en nodigde voor het eerste deel van haar ‘residency‘ drie bevriende kunstenaars uit de Verenigde Staten uit. Jason Ferguson, Christian French en Mary Rothlisberger voeren samen en naast haar een kunstproject uit. ‘Het is boeiend om hun kennismaking mee te maken met een totaal ander omgeving dan die zij gewend zijn. In Kolderveen leren zij een ander landschap en nieuwe mensen kennen.‘
Beeldend kunstenaar Mary Rothlisberger gaf een lezing over haar werk. Ook was er alvast werk te zien van de vier kunstenaars. Bijzonder in het oog viel daarbij een ronde tafel met daarop een perfect ronde graszode. Op het beeldscherm dat in het gras stond, zag de bezoeker de kunstenaar in actie in een weiland. Zwoegend spit hij in het rond en graaft de ronde zode en de banen daarom heen uit. ‘Een variant op de graancirkel,‘ gniffelde een bezoeker.
1 t/m 5 mei: expositie in de Kaashal met werk van Monique Besten, Jason Ferguson, Christian French, Mary Rothlisberger, dagelijks 13.00 - 17.00, toegang gratis. 4 mei: speciaal programma in de Kaashal met kunst, muziek, lezingen en performances vanaf 14.00 uur, toegang gratis
I heart Babelfish –
art project cheese factory almost on taste
Sunday 27 April 12.48
KOLDERVEEN - still one yielded the work period in the old cheese factory lasts, of 1 up to and including 5 May the final result is of the art project admire New Riddles & Constellations 4. artist Monique besten and its three beeldende collega`s from the United States gave already a look in the kitchen for belangstellenden to Saturday. The ` artist in residence.` Monique Besten compared the art project with preparing soup. A vuurtje, a pan with water, vegetables and a soup chicken, or creative people and music in a cheese hall. There always something comes lekkers or surprising on tafel.` New Riddles & Constellations 4 is almost on taste. The soup Saturday afternoon was effectively prepared and was tasted in the former dairy factory ` the Venen`. Whereas she stirred with a pollepel in two fuming pans soup were called Besten Monique the belangstellenden welcome. In the invitation for the interim familiarisation with New Riddles & Constellations 4, the guests were asked bring with ingredients for the soup. To that question it was satisfied abundantly. Baskets full leek, chervil, onion and gehakt were delivered in the open soup kitchen. Itself ensured Besten water, a pan, devotion and arm worm strength. The success of the soup became this way medeafhankelijk of the input of the visitors. The soup was eaten in the course of the afternoon with taste. Musicians Jodi Gilbert, Alan Purves and Albert van Veenendaal spread out already interlude experimental sound landscapes from. Amalgamated Celtic song influences (in captivating a performance of the American singer Jodi Gilbert), inventive percussion and modern elektronica thereby to stretching entirely. On the context a presentation twisted with old foto`s, lent from the file of the historical association Nijeveen. Outside on the straatbord the communication ` the Americans komen!` with stift had changed in `... have been gearriveerd!` art ares Monique Besten have lived since beginning March in the field of the former dairy factory and had invited for the first part of its ` residency` three bevriende artists from the United States. Jason Ferguson, Christian French and Mary Rothlisberger implements together and beside her an art project. ` it is captivating their experience familiarisation with total other one surroundings then which they have got used. In Kolderveen they learn a another landscape and new people kennen.` Expressive artist Mary Rothlisberger gave a reading concerning its work. Also there in advance work was see of the four artists. Particularly thereby a round table with then a perfectly round turf caught the eye. On the display device which stood in the grass, the visitor saw the artist in action in a pasture. Heaving he digs in round and digs the round zode and the job for this reason gone. ` an alternative on the graancirkel, ` sniffered a visitor. 1 till 5 May: expositie in the cheese hall with work of Monique Besten, Jason Ferguson, Christian French, Mary Rothlisberger, daily 13.00 - 17.00, access free. 4 May: special programme in the cheese hall with art, music, readings and performances as from 14.00, access free"
Kunstproject kaasfabriek bijna op smaak
zondag 27 april 12:48
KOLDERVEEN - Nog één week duurt de werkperiode in de oude kaasfabriek, van 1 tot en met 5 mei is het eindresultaat te bewonderen van het kunstproject New Riddles & Constellations 4. Kunstenaar Monique besten en haar drie beeldende collega‘s uit de Verenigde Staten gaven zaterdag al een kijkje in de keuken voor belangstellenden. De ‘artist in residence.‘ Monique Besten vergeleek het kunstproject met het bereiden van soep. Een vuurtje, een pan met water, groenten en een soepkip, of creatieve mensen en muziek in een kaashal. Er komt altijd iets lekkers of verrassends op tafel.‘ New Riddles & Constellations 4 is bijna op smaak.
De soep werd zaterdagmiddag daadwerkelijk bereid en geproefd in de voormalige zuivelfabriek ‘De Venen‘. Terwijl zij met een pollepel in twee dampende pannen bouillon roerde heette Monique Besten de belangstellenden welkom. In de uitnodiging voor de tussentijdse kennismaking met New Riddles & Constellations 4, werd de gasten gevraagd ingrediënten voor de soep mee te brengen. Aan die vraag werd overvloedig voldaan. Manden vol prei, kervel, ui en gehakt werden afgeleverd in de open soepkeuken. Zelf zorgde Besten voor water, een pan, toewijding en armspierkracht. Het welslagen van de soep werd zo medeafhankelijk van de inbreng van de bezoekers. De soep werd in de loop van de middag met smaak gegeten.
Musici Jodi Gilbert, Alan Purves en Albert van Veenendaal spreidden al intermezzo experimentele geluidslandschappen uit. Keltische zanginvloeden (in een boeiend optreden van de Amerikaanse zangeres Jodi Gilbert), inventieve percussie en moderne elektronica smolten daarbij samen tot een spannend geheel. Op de achtergrond draaide een presentatie met oude foto‘s, geleend uit het archief van de Historische Vereniging Nijeveen.
Buiten op het straatbord was de mededeling ‘De Amerikanen komen!‘ met stift veranderd in ‘...zijn gearriveerd!‘ Kunstenares Monique Besten woont sinds begin maart op het terrein van de voormalige zuivelfabriek en nodigde voor het eerste deel van haar ‘residency‘ drie bevriende kunstenaars uit de Verenigde Staten uit. Jason Ferguson, Christian French en Mary Rothlisberger voeren samen en naast haar een kunstproject uit. ‘Het is boeiend om hun kennismaking mee te maken met een totaal ander omgeving dan die zij gewend zijn. In Kolderveen leren zij een ander landschap en nieuwe mensen kennen.‘
Beeldend kunstenaar Mary Rothlisberger gaf een lezing over haar werk. Ook was er alvast werk te zien van de vier kunstenaars. Bijzonder in het oog viel daarbij een ronde tafel met daarop een perfect ronde graszode. Op het beeldscherm dat in het gras stond, zag de bezoeker de kunstenaar in actie in een weiland. Zwoegend spit hij in het rond en graaft de ronde zode en de banen daarom heen uit. ‘Een variant op de graancirkel,‘ gniffelde een bezoeker.
1 t/m 5 mei: expositie in de Kaashal met werk van Monique Besten, Jason Ferguson, Christian French, Mary Rothlisberger, dagelijks 13.00 - 17.00, toegang gratis. 4 mei: speciaal programma in de Kaashal met kunst, muziek, lezingen en performances vanaf 14.00 uur, toegang gratis
I heart Babelfish –
art project cheese factory almost on taste
Sunday 27 April 12.48
KOLDERVEEN - still one yielded the work period in the old cheese factory lasts, of 1 up to and including 5 May the final result is of the art project admire New Riddles & Constellations 4. artist Monique besten and its three beeldende collega`s from the United States gave already a look in the kitchen for belangstellenden to Saturday. The ` artist in residence.` Monique Besten compared the art project with preparing soup. A vuurtje, a pan with water, vegetables and a soup chicken, or creative people and music in a cheese hall. There always something comes lekkers or surprising on tafel.` New Riddles & Constellations 4 is almost on taste. The soup Saturday afternoon was effectively prepared and was tasted in the former dairy factory ` the Venen`. Whereas she stirred with a pollepel in two fuming pans soup were called Besten Monique the belangstellenden welcome. In the invitation for the interim familiarisation with New Riddles & Constellations 4, the guests were asked bring with ingredients for the soup. To that question it was satisfied abundantly. Baskets full leek, chervil, onion and gehakt were delivered in the open soup kitchen. Itself ensured Besten water, a pan, devotion and arm worm strength. The success of the soup became this way medeafhankelijk of the input of the visitors. The soup was eaten in the course of the afternoon with taste. Musicians Jodi Gilbert, Alan Purves and Albert van Veenendaal spread out already interlude experimental sound landscapes from. Amalgamated Celtic song influences (in captivating a performance of the American singer Jodi Gilbert), inventive percussion and modern elektronica thereby to stretching entirely. On the context a presentation twisted with old foto`s, lent from the file of the historical association Nijeveen. Outside on the straatbord the communication ` the Americans komen!` with stift had changed in `... have been gearriveerd!` art ares Monique Besten have lived since beginning March in the field of the former dairy factory and had invited for the first part of its ` residency` three bevriende artists from the United States. Jason Ferguson, Christian French and Mary Rothlisberger implements together and beside her an art project. ` it is captivating their experience familiarisation with total other one surroundings then which they have got used. In Kolderveen they learn a another landscape and new people kennen.` Expressive artist Mary Rothlisberger gave a reading concerning its work. Also there in advance work was see of the four artists. Particularly thereby a round table with then a perfectly round turf caught the eye. On the display device which stood in the grass, the visitor saw the artist in action in a pasture. Heaving he digs in round and digs the round zode and the job for this reason gone. ` an alternative on the graancirkel, ` sniffered a visitor. 1 till 5 May: expositie in the cheese hall with work of Monique Besten, Jason Ferguson, Christian French, Mary Rothlisberger, daily 13.00 - 17.00, access free. 4 May: special programme in the cheese hall with art, music, readings and performances as from 14.00, access free"
The Horses are around the bend
Albert took two slides to the lab in Amsterdam this morning and ordered two Duratrans prints to go into the two light boxes that will be part of the final presenting of the work done here. They have to be done by tomorrow, because Wednesday is a National Holiday ("Queen's Day") and Thursday is another Holiday ("Ascension Day") and because Monday is an optional Holiday ("Yippee we're free day") most people just give Friday a miss and call it good. Thursday is the opening of our closing exhibition, so let's hope everything is ready tomorrow.
4.27.2008
Tiny Raindrops
I wanted to say something a while back and it has been bothering me this whole time. I even tried, but I don't think what I said was really... I don't know, "It".
My interest in still lifes goes back a ways, and as I told you already, I realize that I have had a bias against representational art which is silly because I couldn't even paint badly if I tried, let alone as well as the people I have dismissed. In October, I went to a residency in North Carolina called Elsewhere, and while there I created a body of work. Photographs. They were photographs of objects available around the space of the residency, because this all took place in what had been until several years ago a Thrift Store. These photographs were taken with Mamiya 6x7 camera, which is maybe in some way important. This camera was the one I used 10 years ago to shoot abstract close-ups of bottles from a collection I had amassed for this purpose(and continue to expand to this day because, well, maybe I am not done with that body of work even if it has been 8 years since I last shot one of those bottle photos). The images were in some ways a return to that way of working I had started back when, arranging bottles in front of the lens, with the sun setting in the West. I stopped taking those photos – which were all shot on my porch – when they tore the 100 year-old Duplex, that I had been living in for six years on top of a hill overlooking Lake Union in Seattle, down. I didn't think of those as still lifes, but technically they could be considered as such. It would be useful if I could show you some of those images, but maybe that will have to wait.
At Elsewhere I found myself working with different things, not simply glass bottles. I found myself wanting to explore the idea that collections of objects could be arranged like a collage, or a map, representing ideas, or clusters of ideas, or trains of thoughts or trajectories or narratives. In Songlines, Bruce Chatwin talks about the idea that song predated language as a tool for mapping one's journey through the landscape. I wanted to see if there could be a visual equivalent I could create out of the relationships between objects in space.
There is, or was, an exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Maybe these things exist everywhere, but that's where I saw it 18 years ago. It consisted of a closed clear box that had a pool of Mercury in the bottom. As you watched, you could see these little streaks form of tiny raindrops of Mercury that would materialize from thin air and drop to the bottom, creating consecutive ripples in the pool. Ostensibly the piece was to demonstrate the existence of tiny rays that travel through space. These rays or particles or whatever they were were said to be so small (I have to take their word for it because I didn't see them myself) that they passed through everything in existence without bumping in to anything. The only way we know they exist is because as they streak by they generate just enough charge to crystalize some of the vaporized Mercury as they pass, which causes the lines of tiny silver raindrops to form for the time it takes for them to realize their independence and plummet to their ultimate reunion.
I think ideas are like this and I keep thinking that somehow I can show this... (to be continued)
My interest in still lifes goes back a ways, and as I told you already, I realize that I have had a bias against representational art which is silly because I couldn't even paint badly if I tried, let alone as well as the people I have dismissed. In October, I went to a residency in North Carolina called Elsewhere, and while there I created a body of work. Photographs. They were photographs of objects available around the space of the residency, because this all took place in what had been until several years ago a Thrift Store. These photographs were taken with Mamiya 6x7 camera, which is maybe in some way important. This camera was the one I used 10 years ago to shoot abstract close-ups of bottles from a collection I had amassed for this purpose(and continue to expand to this day because, well, maybe I am not done with that body of work even if it has been 8 years since I last shot one of those bottle photos). The images were in some ways a return to that way of working I had started back when, arranging bottles in front of the lens, with the sun setting in the West. I stopped taking those photos – which were all shot on my porch – when they tore the 100 year-old Duplex, that I had been living in for six years on top of a hill overlooking Lake Union in Seattle, down. I didn't think of those as still lifes, but technically they could be considered as such. It would be useful if I could show you some of those images, but maybe that will have to wait.
At Elsewhere I found myself working with different things, not simply glass bottles. I found myself wanting to explore the idea that collections of objects could be arranged like a collage, or a map, representing ideas, or clusters of ideas, or trains of thoughts or trajectories or narratives. In Songlines, Bruce Chatwin talks about the idea that song predated language as a tool for mapping one's journey through the landscape. I wanted to see if there could be a visual equivalent I could create out of the relationships between objects in space.
There is, or was, an exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Maybe these things exist everywhere, but that's where I saw it 18 years ago. It consisted of a closed clear box that had a pool of Mercury in the bottom. As you watched, you could see these little streaks form of tiny raindrops of Mercury that would materialize from thin air and drop to the bottom, creating consecutive ripples in the pool. Ostensibly the piece was to demonstrate the existence of tiny rays that travel through space. These rays or particles or whatever they were were said to be so small (I have to take their word for it because I didn't see them myself) that they passed through everything in existence without bumping in to anything. The only way we know they exist is because as they streak by they generate just enough charge to crystalize some of the vaporized Mercury as they pass, which causes the lines of tiny silver raindrops to form for the time it takes for them to realize their independence and plummet to their ultimate reunion.
I think ideas are like this and I keep thinking that somehow I can show this... (to be continued)
Yesterday was a big day. Later I'll post some pictures and write some things and backdate it to make it seem like there is no lagtime in blogland.
Now, there is a mostly empty glass of a Bordeaux that was two Euro at the store yesterday. That, and us. Ok, make that an empty glass. I like to joke that I am not a glass "half-empty" or "half-full" person, but a "as long as I can get a refill" person. Perhaps that's why people like the idea of reincarnation, the is always a refill.
There is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that took root in China a long time ago - when an Indian monk known as BodhiDarma (also known as Daruma in Japan) went North and spent 9 years staring at a cave wall (and is considered the founder of Shaolin Temple) - which then spread to Korea and Japan, called respectively Chan or Zen (as we know it in the West) that you have probably heard of as it has become extremely popular as of late.
Zen is a glass "always full" kind of perspective. I'm still working on that one.
Now, there is a mostly empty glass of a Bordeaux that was two Euro at the store yesterday. That, and us. Ok, make that an empty glass. I like to joke that I am not a glass "half-empty" or "half-full" person, but a "as long as I can get a refill" person. Perhaps that's why people like the idea of reincarnation, the is always a refill.
There is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that took root in China a long time ago - when an Indian monk known as BodhiDarma (also known as Daruma in Japan) went North and spent 9 years staring at a cave wall (and is considered the founder of Shaolin Temple) - which then spread to Korea and Japan, called respectively Chan or Zen (as we know it in the West) that you have probably heard of as it has become extremely popular as of late.
Zen is a glass "always full" kind of perspective. I'm still working on that one.
Still life, with sounds of China
An afternoon to recover.
An afternoon to lie of the couch, which is only two cushions wide, forcing me into odd and uncomfortable contortions as a matter of course. But then, if I were a river I'd overflow my banks regularly as a matter of course, so it's no surprise. It's actually quite remarkable how much misery we are able to put up with, given the right circumstances.
An afternoon to listen to "Release the Cheerfulness, China - Ground Up 2" the new CD field recordings and street and classical musics from Jason Kopec of Noise|Order Recordings. It was part of a crae package from home and a great way to lie on the couch.
An afternoon to wonder what the hell to do with my life.
An afternoon to lie of the couch, which is only two cushions wide, forcing me into odd and uncomfortable contortions as a matter of course. But then, if I were a river I'd overflow my banks regularly as a matter of course, so it's no surprise. It's actually quite remarkable how much misery we are able to put up with, given the right circumstances.
An afternoon to listen to "Release the Cheerfulness, China - Ground Up 2" the new CD field recordings and street and classical musics from Jason Kopec of Noise|Order Recordings. It was part of a crae package from home and a great way to lie on the couch.
An afternoon to wonder what the hell to do with my life.
Insert Text Here
Mention email from local reporter apologizing for the fact that the piece about what we are doing here, including the open house with the "Good Neighbor Soup" isn't in the paper for some reason that isn't entirely clear. Maybe they didn't like the photo.
4.26.2008
Naturally, after a full day of presenting, souping, drinking and visiting those of us left at the end went across to road for ice cream. Monique, Jason, Mary, Albert, Alan "Ginga Din" Purves and I had Ijs. Well, everybody except for Mary, who was "Full of Soup" which may or may not be a Dutch phrase translated. I too was full of soup, given that I had had, like, 15 bowlsfull, but it was very good.
Albert, Monique and Jason had the BoerJoungers.
Alan had the Walnut and, on my recommendation, Aardbei (in a cup).
I had a Chocolade/Walnut, because I thought everybody was getting doubles. That and I wanted to get this business over with and have something that wasn't Strawberry. It was ok. The Walnut is intense, with a bit of a licqueur cast to it. The Chocolade is fairly mellow and didn't stand up to the Walnut as well as I had hoped. Perhaps the Hazelnoot might have, but I think that would have been too intense. As it was I was worried I had gone over the top with the double to begin with, and Alan's story about drinking the three very strong Ekus in Belgium and (well the story has a long and visceral part in the middle, which was quite funny but a little gross and while it had a happy ending it was a bit much on a full stomach) perhaps I should have had the strawberry. Or a coffee, which I still want but she still doesn't have.
From now on I am just going to have the Strawberry and be done with it.
Albert, Monique and Jason had the BoerJoungers.
Alan had the Walnut and, on my recommendation, Aardbei (in a cup).
I had a Chocolade/Walnut, because I thought everybody was getting doubles. That and I wanted to get this business over with and have something that wasn't Strawberry. It was ok. The Walnut is intense, with a bit of a licqueur cast to it. The Chocolade is fairly mellow and didn't stand up to the Walnut as well as I had hoped. Perhaps the Hazelnoot might have, but I think that would have been too intense. As it was I was worried I had gone over the top with the double to begin with, and Alan's story about drinking the three very strong Ekus in Belgium and (well the story has a long and visceral part in the middle, which was quite funny but a little gross and while it had a happy ending it was a bit much on a full stomach) perhaps I should have had the strawberry. Or a coffee, which I still want but she still doesn't have.
From now on I am just going to have the Strawberry and be done with it.
Albert arrived with the film. He also brought Alan "Gunga" Purvis, the Scottish percussionist extraordinaire who along with Albert and Jody Gilbert will be performing improvised musical works as part of today's program of happenings.
Much as I suspected, the light in the Cheese Hall is lackluster, and, worse, many of the images have the quality of being an exercise, rarely breaking through from the idea into...
This is the thing. I came here to engage with this place and to see if I could make artworks worth the effort. I also, given my own interest in still life as an approach, was interested in the whole Dutch tradition of Still Life in painting, and thought that by taking this on as a form I could both explore and learn while trying to create here. Of course, formal exercise is not in itself enough: I didn't come all the way here to practice scales. Given the work I did at Elsewhere (trying to use objects to "enact" narrative passages through a performative modality), and the ideas behind the earlier Bottle photographs (that they stood for people and how they expressed light as a spiritual metaphor), an artistic tradition that embraced an ethic of "in the words of St Thomas Aquinas ‘a corporeal metaphor of things spiritual’"
promised to be right up my alley.
I like the idea of talking about the things that interest me, as well as the people I meet and the experiences I have, through photographs of objects arranged out on a table. So far so good. I also like inviting people to bring me things they think are interesting for me to add to the mix. It echoes nicely Monique's soup piece, where people contribute and then the final result is shared (even while it remains Monique who is doing the cooking). Still in order for it to really work it's going to take time, and practice before it becomes a fully fledged way of working.
For example: Still Lifes often have immediately recognizable "returns" (by this I mean a trope that can serve as an identifying characteristic) such as a skull or a scale or a butterfly that symbolizes rebirth, etc. Do I go out and get a pewter water beaker because that says "Still Life" like nobody's business? Of course not, that would be cliche, even cheesy in a not good way (unless I got a nice glass one, ummm). What's more, part of what makes still lifes compelling is their technical difficulty. It is easier to take a photo of a pear than to paint one well. Not to privilege painting however, because in some ways it is easier to paint a pear than it is to photograph one well. But I digress.
What is it that makes a still life come alive? Resonate with significance? Knock you out?
Love. And I can spot it's absence a mile away.
Much as I suspected, the light in the Cheese Hall is lackluster, and, worse, many of the images have the quality of being an exercise, rarely breaking through from the idea into...
This is the thing. I came here to engage with this place and to see if I could make artworks worth the effort. I also, given my own interest in still life as an approach, was interested in the whole Dutch tradition of Still Life in painting, and thought that by taking this on as a form I could both explore and learn while trying to create here. Of course, formal exercise is not in itself enough: I didn't come all the way here to practice scales. Given the work I did at Elsewhere (trying to use objects to "enact" narrative passages through a performative modality), and the ideas behind the earlier Bottle photographs (that they stood for people and how they expressed light as a spiritual metaphor), an artistic tradition that embraced an ethic of "in the words of St Thomas Aquinas ‘a corporeal metaphor of things spiritual’"
promised to be right up my alley.
I like the idea of talking about the things that interest me, as well as the people I meet and the experiences I have, through photographs of objects arranged out on a table. So far so good. I also like inviting people to bring me things they think are interesting for me to add to the mix. It echoes nicely Monique's soup piece, where people contribute and then the final result is shared (even while it remains Monique who is doing the cooking). Still in order for it to really work it's going to take time, and practice before it becomes a fully fledged way of working.
For example: Still Lifes often have immediately recognizable "returns" (by this I mean a trope that can serve as an identifying characteristic) such as a skull or a scale or a butterfly that symbolizes rebirth, etc. Do I go out and get a pewter water beaker because that says "Still Life" like nobody's business? Of course not, that would be cliche, even cheesy in a not good way (unless I got a nice glass one, ummm). What's more, part of what makes still lifes compelling is their technical difficulty. It is easier to take a photo of a pear than to paint one well. Not to privilege painting however, because in some ways it is easier to paint a pear than it is to photograph one well. But I digress.
What is it that makes a still life come alive? Resonate with significance? Knock you out?
Love. And I can spot it's absence a mile away.
"Things to do while Monique is in Meppel"
-- clean the livingroom
--- clean the bathroom
--- clean the kitchen
--- take all belongings up to the skyroom
---tidy up skyroom
----set up drinks in the kasshall
---make sign for streetside
--- make dinner preperations (lists, food. etc)
--- move images to monique
-----sweep the kasshall
----bathe
--- clean the bathroom
--- clean the kitchen
--- take all belongings up to the skyroom
---tidy up skyroom
----set up drinks in the kasshall
---make sign for streetside
--- make dinner preperations (lists, food. etc)
--- move images to monique
-----sweep the kasshall
----bathe
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