I Know the Whole 50's Thing Has Been Done

But that doesn't mean I can't do my version of it, take my run at the theme, the mode, and see if I can add a twist or give a new spin on the old dance. I am not sure I have. But these old Alps cards from the 50s discovered in someone's old house full of their parents things saved after death work a little magic. The mountains as the container for the drama unfolding. The whole vacation feel of the resort areas allows the 50s characters, taken from old Life magazines of the era, room to act a little. They are meant as advertisements, so their poses are seductive or charming or curious already. I wanted to tell a little story too. A family facing a divorce but pretending everything is okay. Sounds like the 50s to me. Says the mid-60s end of boomer, not quite Gen-Xer.

50 Series, # 2

I forget who I gave no. 1 to! Charles? Anyone?

50s Series, # 3

50s Series, # 4

50s Series, # 5

Ramble

Just back in from an end of day, night falling walk in the neighborhood, Urs off on her sniff and pee and wag tail ramble, neighbors in or out, dogs and cats settling into their tight circle of night, stay close, and the trees sighing heat out and getting ready to absorb cold, that weather tidal chart we're all enacting, me too on this walk, in between glass 1 and glass 2, a lovely Cab opening up as the wine glass sits, waiting for me you could say, calling my name, Sebastian, come back to the desk, come in
from the night

Lost Summer Collage # 3

Lost Summer Collage # 2

Lost Summer Collage # 1

Book Cover with Crow for Avery

Earlier, walking the dog in the autumn chill, I heard a gang of geese flying overhead. They appeared from the tree tops above,
chattering in a baker's dozen, reminding me, of all things, of Team Cinzano in that old movie, Breaking Away--a small in-group of cycling pros cruising by on their ultra-llght bikes--they chat to each other as the amateurs cheer, ragtag, on the side of the road.

Set on Way

another piece from larger collage

Wing Flap

This is a small section of a large, sectioned collage in the works.

O'Hara Poem

Merce & Hazel, Black Mountain College, 1948

“A one-eyed man is able to see,
a lame man is able to tread.”
I-Ching


Naming a lake “Eden” sort of raises the stakes,
don’t you think? Though that may have been the point
at Black Mountain, where the men and women who arrived
came ready to work. Rice with his Socratic attacks on placidity,
Albers’ to make open the eyes, and Olson’s all-night rants
(with breaks to frequent the local tavern). Heaven above,
the lake below, the I-Ching chants, assuring us that all’s right
when the inner and outer achieve equilibrium. Picture this:
Hazel in her wheelchair, camera in her lap. Someone’s helped her
to the field by the lake, or she’s roughed the ruts on her own.
Merce has begun his next course in soaring. Earthbound seer,
airborne spirit, inhabiting reciprocal grounds in our frame.
What strikes me when I flip through Hazel’s series of Merce
is that absolute stillness has been coupled with essential motion.
But don’t the eye and finger flick and the body in space come
to momentary rest? Not standstill but progress, the German Wilhelm
explains to elucidate the Eastern philosophy. Simple conduct,
progress without blame. In each new shot, Merce defies even
our idea of gravity. He floats out of the frame, hang-time
galore, then drifts across the lens’ ground, a balloon in his own
parade. Hazel? She’s in the middle of it all, the traffic of everyone
else’s simple creativity swirling around her. At still
center, the flag of her vision flapping on its pole, each unfurling
clap a shudder click. Each breath a hurling jump in the air. Off
in the distance, out of the cropped frame, Black Mountains rise in
an old staircase dance. The water on the lake makes its topographic
music. Soon it will be time for dinner, a much needed break to reload.


for Alice Sebrell

VERTIGO BABE

Thoughts on Collage Making, Ray & The Law of 3

"When in Doubt, Reverse It!" Ray Johnson told his old friend, Bill Wilson. Bill, in an email, hints at the importance of a third force always coming in to alter and confuse any dialectic pair. That you can compare two things but not three. The energy embodied by two forces in direct relation to one another (lovers in love, an apt metaphor, good conversation over wine or coffee, one color set beside another) gets broken open by the third force's entrance into the field. In fact, there was no real field until the third force came in. Now things are triangulated. (This is me now, fumbling around, not Bill Wilson.) An old lover comes into the room. The metaphor, now activated, undresses itself. The night's talk explodes when the check arrives. A slip of red undermines the agreement made by blue and green.

Holy confirming force. Holy denying force. Holy reconciling force. (Ouspensky)
Strophe, anti-strophe, epode
Curly, Larry & Mo

Reversal is one of few ways the art-maker can have a hand in this old, mystical law of three. You make another move to break up an interesting pairing, follow a blind trail to see where it comes out. As we know, Albers' exercises all about breaking the mind out of habit so the eyes can see. The practice of practice, as Alice Coltrane put it. Just ways to step from the formal garden of 2 into the wild field of 3 (& so on).

Ray Johnson

photo by Hazel Larsen Archer

Mother Daughter (Reunion)

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portrait by Guillermo Velasco

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Student Work

..by one of Jess Jones' students...her exercise: 
I have a 2D project that I learned from my adviser and it involves collage. In my class it reads: "Making no arbitrary cuts, cut out whole images (as whole as possible) from magazines and by their configuration make them all lose their identities." So, the connection across the images should be stronger than our brains' desire to separate them. The students learn the value of order to convey chaos (I use the analogy that when I describe a random event, I don't use random words) I attached two (of the good) images. 

She continues: "My rule with teaching the exercise to students is... you have to make 6. The first one must be terrible (this makes them forget the fear of making something for the first time). Those are the #5 or #6 from two students. It takes a long time to get to that point- at least 2 weeks. Also, non-arbitrary cuts are contours, really- and cutting along them actually helps complete the assignment. Those are 18x18, so start large. Remember that some things never lose their identity: logos, faces (of clocks, cars, people, etc), eyeballs, most circles, hair, human figure, etc. Your brain can't help but spot them. National Geographic is the best for this project. A single magazine can make 18x18 easy."

Face Me, Ana

Venus of Willendor

a friend's collage

Holy Trinity

Prof's Door

Up, unable to sleep, but know I'll fall back to bed after a hot shower. Woke to a vivid, labyrinthian dream and thoughts on Ray and a "field of friends," the art work always and only seen in its relation to other people, other pieces, time and place, the act of giving, etc. As with an old prof's door and some student's collage taped beside two other pieces. The hall door a mini art gallery/ mixed media collage/frame for conceptual and visual puns to play. Ray walking by and liberating one, or reversing the triad, or making a new frame. Or removing the door...

Early Ray Johnson, Page in Letter to Arthur Secunda

Just finished up a conference here in Asheville on Black Mountain College, put on by our Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center. I got to present on Ray and hang with other Ray enthusiasts (as well as attend and/or chair panels on Olson, Albers, Ben Shahn, MC Richards, Hazel Larsen Archer, etc. etc.) A complete blast. Especially enjoyed meeting and sharing Ray stories with Kate Dempsey. Her talk on "decoding" Ray's work through exploring his early fascination with codes and decoder rings was top notch. Julie Thomson's essay on Albers' influence on Ray both as artist and teacher was also eye-opening. I talked about the way Ray interacted with his early friends (Secunda, Asawa, Prufomo), his first teachers at BMC (Albers, Motherwell) and his cohort in the early 50s Manhattan art scene (Richard Lippold, Ad Reinhardt, etc.) informed his creative process--that he gave his friends, lovers and teachers the gift of his communication, and that act of generosity was vital in his art making. The conference ended today out at the Lake Eden campus. Many of us had just heard Ann Dunn talk on Hazel Larsen Archer's photos of BMC, and seen a stirring slide-show of her work, so were ready to commune with the (as we imagined) empty and ghosted campus. But a church BBQ was underway, and the campus was brimming with families, tacky music and zip-lining maniacs.

Fitting in a way, and in the lovely afternoon sun about 50 odds and ends BMC enthusiasts ended up at the old study building, gawking quietly at the history leaking out of the old building, grand Black Mountains behind. 

& here's a new one, reaching back to the past....

"In the Woods"

Here's an oldie, from the "archive"

Inner Vision

Bath House

The base is a montage of pages and fragments from Danny Lyon's The Destruction of Lower Manhattan. Last night: put in the bath house man. This morning: the birds, flowers and other pieces.

Force Majeure

One of the great things about doing this blog has been watching the collage connection with Charles (and the art connection between my brother Bill and me) blossom and grow. We're back in, confident now with our collage moves in ways we didn't even know of back then. (My dad once said that Bud Powell made mistakes on moves other pianists didn't even think to play!) 

Here are the latest sides sent by Charles. My "Antiquity Blues" with a Green Man backing is winging its way to Charles as I type. 

Automation, Front and Back

newly arrived PC from Charles Farrell

Transcendantalism

SEX Day

Ray Postcard, Backside, Homer Simpson Stamp

Ray Postcard

Deep Ecology

Airport, California

(Got Those) Antiquity Blues (Again)

5 in 5  

5 Moves in 5 minutes.

Parker & MIles, Takes 3 - 5