It was winter and there weren't any lush green rolling hills for me to video tape.  The solution  was a process that has become pretty useful and intriguing to me - recycling media from online sources. This is made of 5 or so videos that aint mine!  It was made for our first new members show, Prospects at little berlin.

Im not liking the way blogger compresses images and videos!

me tarzan you jane

 artist create work of art - observer complete work of art- observer react in accordance to  own past experience

this endless landscape

Really enjoy making these 

on retrsospect

Seing things in retrospect is a very intersting concept to me. The way we REALLY realize things is always after the fact.

Ive been having these conversations with people about "home*." When I say the word "home" it seems like we all think of a place where we are not currently living. Its not to say that we want to be living there now, because it's usually the place where we grew up, where our parents live or once lived. "Home" is a place that is strongly connected to, or represented by a feeling. That feeling comes from a memory. "Home" is something we remember; we identify it with something in our history rather than something in our present. But when we were there (all those years ago) it wasnt really that important.

** when I say the word home i dont mean it like "i gotta get home before it starts raining" or Shit, I left my tazer gun at home"

Another interesting place for retrospect is in realizing history. When we talk about historical events that happened a very long time ago- the stories of them are a lot more concrete. "This president was bad, This war happened for this and that reason, Everybody all felt this certain way during this certain time period." But when we talk about current events -the things that are happening in our lifetime, the explanations become vague, there is no general consesus that can be printed in textbooks.  Ex. The war in Iraq, whats happening In Israel, the enviroment and what could be/should be done. 

This may be the very thing that separates us from 'god,' the ultimate tragedy of humanity - always realizings things too late. This is what makes us human again and again - the fact that we will be forever learning from our own mistakes. 

Wondering if my wonderment makes sense to others...

again

Its important for me to distance myself from the complexities of my own life that drive me to make art. Instead, I find it more effective to find parallels between those issues and things that are more gentile, prettier. Windows, nature, etc

ROOM 4 U; Installation, 2009 - In order of encounter

still needs serious tweeking

animation of this still image:

                     

taking a drive in the summertime

first plans for

an installation

wooden frame roughtly 6x8 ft sq. walls made of fabrics with a more sturdy slightly green linen on the outside and a mesh color on the inside inbetween the two sheets will be fans and greenry- tree branches and leaves moving with the wind, projections of abstraced road footage. sound.

one and two and

one and two and... is an exhibition about experiments in sound and motion. Nine artists express the current pace of life with multi-dimensional works that are in constant flux. The show features a dance party, several instances of improvised sound-making, various listening stations, a light show, kinetic sculptures and more. The exhibition is meant to operate as an occurrence; each moment of the evening will be different from the one before. Little Berlin invites you to come in and become a part of this progressive multi-media experience.

Participating Artists:

Ben Contois

Jim Scannel

Dan Murphy

Caitlin Welge

Megan Jensen

Jim G.

Masha Badinter

Jenna Wilchinsky

July 10- 25th

Little Berlin

119 W Montgomery Ave.

Opening Reception July 10

6-10PM

model

I built this model of some rooms and a closet out of foam. Its roughly 25 inches long and 5 inches wide. Used two tungsten light fixtures. that is a photo of the structure

ROOM 4 U

floor plans, floor plans

lil berlin throwdown

inspired by Hans-Ulrich Obrist's online exhibition, "do it" and the notion of interpretation as an artistic principle,  Little Berlin invites you to contribute a set of instructions for an installation/performance/ work of art to be interpreted and carried out by another. Feel free personalize your instructions according to the aesthetic nature and/philosophies of your own work. The ideas behind this experiment are to observe the effects of translation on artwork, topush the boudaries of traditional art-making and exhibiting, and of course to make cool shit! 

All chosen instructions will be displayed with their corresponding outcome.

The instruction maker as well as the instruction carry-outer-er will be given credit. 

All instructions recieved will be published and displayed at Little Berlin (dates of exhibition)

The following is the information needed along with the instructions:

name, birthday and location of the artist

name of the work

the instructions can be written in whatever format the artist sees fit, they could be numbered, written bullet points, written in a paragraph, essay format, poem, or just a few simple sentances however, do keep in mind that the instructions may be actually carried out so please consider the safety and integrity of the person who will recieve your instructions. compile the instructions with the proper level of specificity or ambiguity according to your own desired outcome of the work. Feel free to include images, drawings,  sketches, or even materials to your contribution.

Saw Net 1.1

before I awake i look out my window and before i awake i see your face before the days begun and when i get out to do my day to days- 

that familiar hallway where theres that photo hanging of someboy dead and gone and shes got your smile Id like to think you are her son.

On a rainy day or i feel silly and days when i feel weak- I cant bear to look at her face at all

but its been hanging there for months and its been hanging here for months

and its so clear in my memory by now

I feel like you're looking at me behind a dead woman's eyes and if i look my soul will go through my stomach and my soul will leak out onto the floor-

and  then ill have nothing left at all.

You see, I've never felt so nervous before about anyone or anyone's eyes before and before this I've never been more enthralled with anyone in my life.

Im waiting patiently for you to decide to run into me again and spend some time not getting to know me again or yourself again. again again again.

I make stories up in my head about how it will happen and I get so caught up in them-

these magical moments, that i have to remind myself that they are not real and i have to unwind myself cause im floating at the top left corner of the room - 

not me, but my soul.

First i felt like Gaugiun or Bob Dylan but now I feel like Petrarch and it feels so good to be so into something again even though it may be for all the wrong reasons and it may be a lost cause for all the wrong reasons again.

non-existing conditions

Imagine if myspace (or your space) was an actual, physical space. I suppose it wouldnt be free, but lets think hypothetically. It would be in a warehouse somewhere, maybe in kensington, or maybe even in space- on the astral plane. You would have to walk up roughly 6 flights of stairs and then you would open the door and turn on large industrial florescent lights- there would probably be really high cielings as well as exposed piping. And then there would be these larger than life, glowing photographs of yourself (like light boxes) and they would maybe even have captions under them ( florescent signs). You would even have to dust them off every now and then. The bizzare part is that you would know that even when you left to go do whatever it is you do in life, that they would still be existing, taking up 24/7 space in a dark room because you cant always keep the lights on because it costs too much.

window 1

projection, flickering image, 28x24" window frame with broken glass, backlit paper, 2008

window 2

a little bit of summer, a little bit of spring

I am feeling nostalgic for my life a year ago. This is a a re-occurring issue. My state of mind, my level of excitement, confidence and inspiration for the future that I was embarking on then and am currently living now; not quite what I had in mind. Then, living on the outskirts of a different life; an imaginary life that i found so captivating and invigorating. A life that was raw and exciting. untouched, unknown. 

In ways I consider myself having the same psyche as Paul Gauguin; always wanting more; and ultimately he never found what he was looking for, and as I go through life I wonder If the same will become of me.

I remember days when it was just getting warm; the days were getting longer the hunger to be outside, the wild things. (On a side note I consider summer to bring out the most sinister people in all of us, as winter turns everyone into their own version of a hermit.)

note.

Its important for me to distance myself from the complexities of my own life that drive me to make art. Instead, I find it more effective to find parallels between those issues and things that are more gentile, prettier. Windows, nature, etc. 

what am i trying to do? (first draft of thesis)

In a very vague sense; I am interested in the relationships that people are involved in, and how they have changed/stayed the same with time/throughout history(*)

(*)I believe that my generation, tho seemingly more sexually/romantically open-minded, is jaded with relational delinquency as well as dissatisfaction. More people are just not satisfied, everyone has an issue with their romantic situation. So may people seem alone, and/or have no desire to share a future with another human being. This bothers me because of my own ideals (***)that have manifested through my own personal up-bringing.

(***)Ideals play a big role

Including but not limited to;

Relationships with family, with lovers, with friends (not so much the people themselves but rather the relationship one has with the  ideas/thoughts they associate with the person) 

More Specifically: Relationships with memories, with feelings, moments, 

Relationships with ones self and with one's sences.

(the things one tends to notice/remember)

I try to confront these issues by providing or in some cases merely implying  a multi-dimensional environment/setting or space which lends itself as a venue to sit back and just feel something. 

A setting for a narrative that the viewer can themselves, complete. 

I am hoping to let the viewer feel comfortable/vulnerable enough to focus not so much on what is in front of them (******) but rather  what is inside of them/ what it makes them think/feel

**** The visual aspect (what i am presenting the viewer with) would be atmospheric, ambient, having a certain fluidity that is meant to sooth and calm. 

More Specifically: imagery of windows(**)

**Windows;

For this project, I would like to  simmulate the enviroment of a room/bedroom. An architecturaly simlple/plain room, one that can be easily identified as.

Romanticized memories that are fuzzy and vague /accessible enough for the viewer to use it as a foundation from which to re-build their own story/memory off of.  

issues/questions I am asking myself:

I am interested in addressing the intent/process. I want to address the fact that I have spent time to re-make a memory, to place importance on re-making/ re-modeling of memories, the importance, if not just the dire need to remember things as a human being.

experience that is fabricated from the fragments of memories as I recall them.

considering that the memories are only my versions of a history of moments. 

current/previous work;

I beileve the ideas and intent are strong, yet become hindered by the carrying out/presentation of the work itself; which often times seems unfinished or not totally realized. This is an issue I am struggling with because I myself beileve I am finished, yet the viewers want more. I have to decided weather or not the idea of something being unfinished is a deliberate characteristic of the work; in which case  it needs to be investigated further and executed in a way that seems more intentional. 

My process as an artist begins with feeling and impulses. The ones that I choose to investigate are often connected to a memory that I try to re-create visually, often in a (photo)graphic manner

some observations

I get the feeling that in this life, people are often times un-fulfilled, more specifically in matters of love than anything else. Everybody around me including myself has a story and though they all differ, their is the one thing that is stringing them together - the painfully clear negative undertones of loss and discontent. Weather the person is unhappy in a relationship or unhappy alone, unhappily bouncing back and forth between lovers, or what have you - there is always something. In fact it is so common that I feel that my generation is permanently tinted with relational dissatisfaction - a generation that seems jaded. Its so sad.