Communication breakdown

Although he isn't my pick for prez. I would like to give a hearty hand clap to Senator Christopher Dodd for showing some leadership and spine by threatening to filibuster the latest FISA bill which would have given the telecom industry retro-active immunity for helping Curious George & Co. with listening in on our phone calls without a warrant. Maybe Obama or Edwards could pick him for VP, or at least AG.

Goodbye Columbus

Autumn has passed and winter has made me deal with my discontent. So I say farewell to a midwestern city that was pretty okay in this Boston boy's eyes. If you're heading through Ohio, check out Columbus, you'll be surprised. Short North, Houndogs pizza, the Wexner Center, and some lovely little suburbs like Worthington. Zayt gesunt.

Morning Dew

Tali Gai

If you get a chance, check out the website of this amazing Boston artist.

Leave the Key in the Door

He said "I have many mansions

And there are many rooms to see."

But I left by the back door

And I threw away the key

And I threw away the key.

Gaze upon a Cloud

So does Lacan's mirror stage apply to a whole city?

This digital photo goes out to my friend at Pinko Feminist Hellcat

I've never really cared for the comic hero Superman - Man of Steel - isn't that what Stalin's name meant too? Humans are known for our adaptability, when we test our metaphorical metal we find that it bends in certain degrees despite how we may have predicted. Wouldn't it be wonderful to find that our inner steel, after all is said and done, turned out to look as beautiful as the one in this image?

The Right Tool for the Right Job

Here the Sherman Crew are controlling the burn out of the vessels that will be the receptacles  to be cast in bronze.

Bronze Pour II

Another shot from the action over at the Sherman Art Center.

Today I chose to skip my weekly meshugah assistantship meeting in order to actually have a learning experience. The crew over at the Sherman Art Center  were conducting a Bronze pour with a sand casting. I've read about it, heard about it, seen images of it, but it is truly cool to see it actually done.

What says autumn better than the color orange. Ok maybe some fool running through your neighborhood at midnight yelling "autumn, autumn, autumn!" But that's just some young misguided drunk Buckeyes fan, and in another few years he maybe your accountant, lawyer, or doctor. Don't let it get you down in the dumps - it's autumn! Have a happy Thanksgiving!

A note to Sassafrass:
It may be crumbling but it sure is colorful. The facade has taken a pummeling but I assure you it is still structurally sound.

Dr. Wifey is soon to be swooping into town and off to West Lafayette for Turkey.

Life is about choices - as both Neo and Alice demonstrated. Whether to take the blue pill or the red pill? Sometimes it may be better just to hide the capsule under your tongue.

The 2008 Faculty Show is up and we had the opening tonight. Glad that is over; last show of Autumn quarter! No more crazy marathon installations days! And a good two weeks until the take-down.

This specialized piece of machinery has probably been helping to hold up its train tressel bridge for decades. Support comes in many different ways, the wear and tear illuminates the innate beauty of a consistency and reliability. Those of us with a good support system should open our eyes to that beauty.

Slice of Life

a soggy day in Columbus. Found solace in a good gyro at Buckeye Donuts. It's the kind of 60's counter place where the off-kilter rub shoulders with the less mainstream OSU students. Donuts are pretty good too. Not brave enough to try the coffee - we all have our limits. Not bad for a camera phone.

Let's just say that this is my selection for a Philip Roth book cover.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. You can weigh all the pros and cons, but it all comes down to what you know is right for you inside. The mind is logical, but the gut has it's own insight. Anyone who has read Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" can relate to the methodology of keeping in mind that initial impulse, and referring back to it after exploring all the external justifications we can come-up with.

What would the Bill of Rights look like if Dick Cheney got his way? Something like this probably. The Bill of Redactions.

Trick or Treat? Definitely a Treat. We had Prof. Terry Barrett come to our Seminar class and facilitate a critique of some of our fellow grads' works. The man showed how it can be done constructively and with many voices productively contributing. He has a new book coming out soon from McGraw-Hill, " Making Art: Form & Meaning."

ps. enjoy your All Saints Day, ya bunch of sinners

Ah textures, textures, textures. Without a proper exposure unit, a kingdom or a horse - my creative impulses are left to the keyboard. But everything leads to something, and this may come into play at another intersection down the road.

Here is my avatar visiting a gallery in "Second Life." I wondered about the viability of art in this virtual world, until attending a lecture by Matt Mullican. He showed us how he had been experimenting with Mullican's World in virtual reality for some twenty years and at great production costs. Rendering graphics and opting for production shortcuts that cut thousands of dollars. Now any artist with computer skills and focus can build their ultimate installations/environments without getting grants from the French Ministry of Culture. I think it will be a little while until I'm willing to spend some Linden dollars on a parcel - but I can see some potential projects.

Okay my Graduate Assistantship is in assisting in the college gallery with installations of shows. My buddy here Ryan is almost ready to collapse in this picture cause this is the third day in a row he worked on the show. On this day, we worked from 9am to to 3:30am. So long story short - all my fellow artists, remember to be kind to the people who put up your show. It is a lot of work. Cheers to Sugar Bain who has been doing this at Hemphill for over a year!

Then again sometimes my program makes me want a strong drink. 

Sometimes life is like watching paint dry. Now as an artist that has it's place: a time of repose where ideas generate. But the more exciting metaphor is when the paint starts to chip off. That is the time of activity and metamorphosis. I feel the time of actually starting to create is coming around again.

The cooler weather is coming. The 90 degree weather has been very uncomfortable. What about the infamous lake effect up here in the rust belt? This picture is taken from the shore of a Madison, Wisconsin lake. I have no idea what made this texture congeal. Hopefully it is some side-effect of cool weather, though it is mostly likely just pollution.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Dr. Wifey comes to Columbus for four days!

Tally: Henry, I want to talk to you.

Henry: Hey. I told you, I didn't want that cage with the golden bars.

from - Barfly

Ibid... but I do see some promise with the ordering of new screenprinting equipment for the program.

Feeling a bit fenced in by required courses at grad school.

5 x 5 = 25 

Something so pleasing about that.

Our Emperor is down in the polls to an all time low. Zogby has him at 29% approval or as I prefer to frame it: 71% against the Shrub.

I betcha it tastes like Narragansett

Fleur de Fence

This humidity is nuts. I thought a dunk would do the trick, but thought better of it. On the other hand, it could be worse; I could be lobster boy like my brother-in-law Daniel. Us fair skinned suckers should stay out of the solar stream.

Autumn in Ohio is calling me. I am off.

Happy Birthday to my sister Debbie!

Vardøger

This is Robin, my father-in-law, with Kurt who works at the Corcoran College of Art. They both basically work in I.T. and I had always joked to each of them about the similarities between the two. Well when Robin came to DC and we gave him a tour of the Corcoran, who did we run into but his vardøger. Kurt took away the lesson from his future self that he should take better care of himself.

Coffee

If anyone is familiar with a cool independent coffee place in Columbus, drop me a note. Come to think about it, how about alerting people to your favorite coffee fixers at Delocator.

Addendum to last post:

Just to demonstrate, this is the next shot I took after security chased us off. I was out of site and beyond being hassled, by being sneaky. Now look to the deep left of the photo, see all those condos overlooking the base. Hmm? Those windows have much better views than I did. As well as all the residential buildings behind where I was snapping. As they say, "Common Sense isn't very Common."

In celebration of Fredo Gonzales stepping down as Big Brother, I post this picture from the past. The special history behind this picture was that this dilapidated facade was just beyond the fence of the Charleston, S. C. Naval Yard. For those that are not in the know, this is the base that holds the Naval Brig, which for a time it turns out held Jose Padilla. Now I walked up in plain site to photograph this building, frankly it is visable from much of that street and I could have taken it from many more concealed locations. But no, I was about a hundred yards from the main enterance, and snapped away at this beautiful shell. The security guard came from his entrance post screaming that I should stop or be arrested. I tried to tell him, I was just an artist, but he was pretty irate. Well as a fair well gift to our outgoing Attorney General, I just want to apologize for my endangering National Security. Bad Artist! No rights for you!

In a few days I roam out to my next challenge in Ohio. Blake talked about Man battling against his own "Mind Forged Manacles." Wish me luck as I push beyond my mental boundaries before they benight me. And I hope for the best to all my friends out there who are attempting the same. Carry on!

Yes - No - Maybe - Can You Repeat the Question
Often when going thru our photos, it is hard for Dr. Professor Wifey and I to remember who took what. We are usually passing back and forth the camera as we walk, and often taking different perspective photos on the same object. Sometimes we ask the other with the camera to take a particular shot or suggest one. We are a such the creative team! Who knew I'd be lucky enough to find someone with a great camera eye and can remember to mail out the bills on time? (Hint: anybody who really knew me.) Only the best for Craigola

August has been one hot month. Drinking plenty of water, which is good, but the humidity has taken away the pleasure of a nice schweppy ginger ale. In Europe, I would alternate between agua sin gas, and Fanta Naranja (orange Fanta). Now do not be mistaken, that this would be like having an orange soda like one gets in the States. No this tastes completely different. They manufacture it over there, and it must be a combination of a slightly different formula (less corn syrup?) and most likely the simple fact that water tastes different everywhere. European water in Fanta just makes it better!

The second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us, and yet New Orleans is still struggling not to be forgotten by us. I'd like to post a version of my first photo-lithograph that was inspired by Hurricane Isabel, a storm that hit Virginia and brought disaster to many coastal fishing communities. Nature is sublime as the Romantics expressed in their art.

Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs. What are the signs telling you?

There are many of us printmakers who have a fascination with "mark-making." We go gaga over the beauty of lines be they purposeful, random chance or accidental. The grace of a line can be as beautiful as an entire Miro painting. In fact many of his paintings sprang from some early fragment on his canvas which became the guiding foundation of that piece. Nature using man-made objects as it's matrix is probably the best mark-maker. Photographers of the Aaron Siskind perspective appreciate these as much as printmakers. I wish I could capture those works of wonder as well as he could. This photo is a digital effort from my travels in Spain. I believe it is the remnants of poster glue on a wall in Valencia.

You ever get the feeling that our Nation has been turned inside out. Not the everyday life - but what we stand for in this world. We of Alternative America need to rally and protect our ideals from the jingoistic bastards who are trashing the Constitution. Ever notice that THEY get upset about symbolic burnings of the flag - well no one ever symbolically burns the Constitution. The present administration unfortunately is actually destroying our most precious document!

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