Monday, September 22, 2008

More Work!





Top to Bottom: I'm Tired; Idol; and Phantasmagoric. They're unfinished.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Dream, Night of 19/9/08

Last night I dreamt of a women who fell into a tank of body parts in water. She struggled to get out, but because all the parts were so similar to her own, she was mistaken for parts. People grabbed and poked her from the outside because she was just the parts to them. 

Then I diagnosed a man because the blue outline of a box appeared to me that enclosed the spot of his illness. He was a wheelchair dancer. 

Then a powerful schizophrenic shape-shifter disguised as a woman's husband. I was the woman. She pulled the covers off his face to get in bed, but his face-shape was off; too long. He turned to his original form; a small rodent skull in purple gelatinous blob; and rolled violently about the room biting at her. The woman and her husband tried to throw a hammer at it, to no avail. The finally she grabbed the skull between her fingers and squeezed it out of the blob. Instantly, both forms disappeared and the non-form of an iridescent human brain appeared. It was the energy of this thing, and it was pure evil. Because it had no voice to speak, it began to write in the air with its iridescence about it's energy; the G Force; and our utter inability to understand words on the level it did, even something as simple as "yea". To it, we were pathetic. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Some Works in Progress.




Just a few examples of what I've been working on in the past week or so. These are all ebony pencil, pen and ink drawings on paper (almost newsprint, but thicker). They are all untitled as well as unfinished. Tell me what you think.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Contract



I began working in my studio yesterday, drawing mostly, and found out, it can be maddening, to work in a studio all day long; to get lost inside your own head so deep you forget most things. I am creating my own world.
I had my first meeting today with a teacher named Andres Wiecherink. He is a charming older man with a Safari-esque hat, who told me to continue making books, to start collecting images to add to my drawings, to collage almost obsessively, always adding to my reference. And so I will begin. Maybe my excessive internet research will payoff.
Above; Day 2: a photo of my studio the wall to the left will soon be overrun with images, and Day 1: first drawing, titled Contract that will hopefully find itself into some kind of bookform by the end of my stay here.
P.S. That window you see was completely covered in paint that me and my studio-mate had to chip off with the paint scrapers you use on garages. Tedious yet relaxing.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Begin: Semester.


HKU (pronounced haa-kaa-yueuw) so far seems to be similar to SAIC, mainly in its approach of the artist as an interdisciplinary individual. I was assigned my studio today in a crazy warehouse, some ways out of the centre, named Tractieweg (pronounced traquesiveg) after the street it's on. It houses about 90 artist from the Fine Arts program at HKU, which includes both 3rd and 4th year students, on three floors. 
I will work independently for the majority of my studies here. Teachers come once a week and we are able to sign up to meet with them; there is one for most mediums, including an "intermedia" teacher who I'll meet for things such as my bookbinding. They come around to our studios (I was under the impression we would have to run around looking for them!) and discuss our work with us, and we can sign up for meetings as frequently as we desire. I will share the studio with Marit (pronounced Maareet) who is here from Norway. She is interested in found sculpture and installation, with a focus at her home institute in Art Education. All we need is a table. I can't wait to begin working. 
The exchange students also have access to the facilities of the IBB (pronounced ee-beh-beh) building, which is on the other side of the centre; as far as the Fine Art program goes, this has the 1st and 2nd year courses, 2nd year studios. It reminds me a lot of the Columbus and Sharp buildings put together. All the mediums are in this building, including painting, printing and sculpture dept, a small photo and fashion dept, an even smaller video dept, and a wonderful bookbinding room with an abundance of letter presses (something SAIC sorely lacks) as well as a cafeteria, a library, a "Service Bureau"-like place and an art supply store. All the other concentrations are in other parts of the building (Art Education, Graphic Design etc) but I do not know anything about those areas. 
We also have, every other week, a Cultural Theory class discussion. It is lead by a man named Klaas Hoek (pronounced Hoouk) who I can already tell is going to be a great mentor. Today in class, we watched a video on the architecture in Las Vegas. So far, I've noticed Dutch people seem to have a pretty stereotypical view of Americans; those kitschy Las Vegas-going-Americans. I guess this is a large majority of our population, however, it's interesting to be outside of that national-demographic yet experience the prejudice towards it first hand. To hear people tell me that I don't seem like an American, or that they hadn't met an American before but I seem different/different from what they thought, etc, etc. 

Something I found out today; It takes 4-6 days for a priority letter to get to the States. That's sweet. 

Monday, September 1, 2008

My Arrival.

The strangest thing is not to hear a familiar voice for so long when you're used to hearing them for so long. All the streets are winding here and at times I walk in circles. The signs are also vague or absent. However, I never feel afraid. I have begun to unpack my things after spending the last five days with one hundred extra pounds on me. Soon, I will learn to tell weather in centigrade. There are church bells that sound almost continuously.