Dental work drawings

More dental work has revelaed more drawing. I feel like this is the summer of mouth replacement and it continued yesterday with gum sugery, which was part of the root canal, but I was the last to know about the procedure until the stitches were all tied up. Ouch! I did put my new sketchbook to the test, which I bought for camp, but seems to work well on the subway and in the waiting room of the dentist.

After popping some pain killers last night and holding an ice pack to my jaw (needless to say I did not go to any openings), I packed up my gocco printer and unpacked it at my friend Rob Burke's studio. We wanted to get a good ook at the thing before Lucas Reiner comes to town and we start inking!

doing, dusting, and eating french fries

It's hard to believe what Pocket Utopia looks like now that it has been through the first phase of demolition. I met with the now six photographers (we lost one due to a cross country move) out at the Life Cafe and we eat fries and looked at work and tried to comprehend a show within the dust and crumbling plaster of Pocket U. I think in a strange way it's going to work because this photo show will become a sculpture, capturing a moment before the next building phase begins.

While I try to figure out how to re-attach the florescent lights to the now 12-foot high, maybe higher ceiling, I've found a "free space" at Grant's camp! Of course, we have to successfully complete our separation process, meaning he plays and makes art with the other kids while I make art by myself, but this desk is just fine for me to camp out at for the next month. It's one camp day at a time.

Floored again

The floor is grounding. And I'm folding and drawing down here again. Tonight is the sixth "Excuse me, you have art in your teeth," food and art-based salon and it will essentially be a pre-show discussion with the seven photographers that will show at Pocket Utopia in the month of July. This will be a show in a demolitioned but not a renovated space. It'll be raw and ready to show or rather it'll be a raw space, showcasing Terry Girard, Dana Gentile, Jason Hanasik, Eric Hairabedian, Kristopher Graves, Tricia Zigmund, and Jersey Walz. The show opens Friday, July 6th, 6pm-10pm.

Giving up.

Last night presented a difficult space to get free with and I wanted to just give up. But I really don't have a lot to give up, for I don't have a studio or time to work in one. I don't have any money or time to apply for any. I don't have a babysitter anymore, so I did a little drawing and went to bed.

Today it's time to sell some stuff on ebay and make some "fold" drawings. I need to give more, be stronger.

A little Utopia

I sort of fell into an abyss after my root canal last week. Since then I've had guests and Grant started camp. I grabbed drawing supplies on my way to the dentist in an attempt to make the whole experience a little bit more utopic. I even drew all the way to the dentist on the subway.

I think I'll be doing a lot of drawing this summer in the backyard at Grant's camp, sitting on the couch between the nannies and the moms. "Freespace" and "Pocket Utopia" are all about discovery.

Gallery Space

The clock ticks away as I wait for my root canal appointment. I decided not to go to the library today and instead I sent the babysitter out to do errands and am working at the kitchen table trying to balance my artist and now gallerist roles and responsibilities amongst others I must fill.

James Wagner and Bloggy both wrote very nice blog entries about Pocket Utopia. I liked what James said about his difficulty in distinguishing the relics of the hair salon from the art and that when he left the installation he found inspirational subjects everywhere his eye might find a rest. Perhaps he entered the "freespace," where art is everywhere, all the time? Or did he enter a "pocket utopia," still to be defined?

The dentist chair beckons me, which is neither a "freespace," nor utopic.

Pocket Space

I spent most of the weekend out at Pocket Utopia, talking about the art installed and not really making art. Although revealing to sit within another artist's installation, it wasn't exactly the right place to make my own work. The space, itself, is my artwork.

Adam Simon came by the gallery both Saturday and Sunday, as did Molly Larkey, Rico Gatson and the wonderful James Wagner and Barry Hoggard. I even ate the Chinese food from next door! Pocket Utopia served up a salon all weekend long.

Drawing salon

I'm at Jefferson Library right now, blogging live. I think there's another "free-spacer" sitting across from me! She's an older woman, writing, on a similar laptop to mine. She has lots of papers and looks like she might benefit from one of my segregated folders. She uses binder clips. I want her notes for my collages! Looks like she's writing on the Roman Empire.

I'm going to start drawing in a few minutes. I've been starting to think about what Pocket Utopia will look like next, after demolition. I want the space to have the look and feel of a salon. I want everything I do right now to look like a salon, all the drawings, and all my stuff in storage (old drawings and sculptures), all my everything. The female "free-spacer" sitting across from me just signed deeply. Rome was definitely not built in a day.

Grateful for some time

I was so grateful today to walk into Jefferson Library. It's definitely, a "wow" of a space. Not only is it a beauty of a building, but after discovering that Donnell Library is no longer open on Sundays, I was even happier to settle in at Jefferson and catch up on the drawings after a few days of working on other projects.

Jefferson Library hopefully will keep me feeling grateful this summer and Pocket Utopia is definitely going to keep me busy.

Soft opening

If I am lucky, every once and awhile, I look at art and then experience and examine life differently. Then as a result of that visual and conceptual feedback loop, I look at art differently and that is what I experienced last night after Jonathan VanDyke's "soft opening" at Pocket Utopia. His art, within the space, changed me. That is the goal of art to effect change.

With a renewed sense of my ability to effect or rather be effected by change, I am going over to my favorite friend/collector's house tonight for a little plein air "free-spacing." I'll try to work on some of the "by-product" drawings by moonlight.