Its about stars

My most recent piece after getting back into my studio after a 4 month hiatus turned out better than I was expecting. I had been using the star symbol in my work before the baby was born, but not to the extent that I did in my most recent work. The traditional symbol of a star with multiple points is a quite nice shape and with all the many connotations that accompany a it, a start can mean so many things. Thinking of all the places I see stars including the sky. I can not escape them. There are stars in the entertainment industry, in business, in athletics, in the military. They represent states and countries. And even have their place in religion. With all of these associations, stars are one of the most ambiguous and abstract complex shapes (it has a minimum of 10 sides with 5 points and 5 valleys) I can also forego the entire shape of a star and represent it as just a dot. It then becomes something different while still representing a star. When a star becomes a dot, it becomes a point, and as such becomes even more ambiguous. I think I can play with the concept of stars for a while.

Pictures of me with other peoples work

So, I have been hitting a the equivalent of writers block for an artist. Until I start getting some work of my own to show again on this blog, I will be posting pictures of me with artworks in some of the chelsea galleries. This one is by a fellow Iowa artist Dan Attoe and it is part of a group show at Stellan Holm Gallery.
Back to my problem. My art making has been pretty stagnant for the past 3 or 4 months. I have been finding that expressing the problem is part of the solution for me. It forces me to think about why I am not making work. I have been using the excuse of a recent child but now it is time to get back at it. I started December off with a trip to my studio and a new drawing. The studio seemed like a new environment, divorced from what I new it as before the baby was born. I had to reconnect with the place, find where I had put my supplies, search for the tools I wanted to use, and make it feel comfortable again. It was like catching up with good friend you haven't seen in a while. Everything is the same, but there is the events of the absence that create a new niche in the relationship. This is how I felt to get back in the studio.

Obelisks

In January, my wife and I will be working on a project together which will involve building a 16-20 foot obelisk. Right now we are in the planning stages and are making drawings and starting to build models. The models have proven to be a valuable reference when it come to realizing the drawings. for example, The first idea was to have an 8 ft base that narrows to 6ft at the top, right before the pyramid cap. When it was built, it looked more like an old oil derrick and not as much as a obelisk as first imagined.

The peice needed to be more narrow but still have a solid base so it would not topple over. As can be seen in the photos, the solution was to make an obelisk with a 4 ft base and a 3ft top while adding an 8ft base. This larger base keeps the obelisk stable and adds to the dynamics of the piece in general.

Skulls, my connection with David Dunlap

The use of skulls has been a recent addition to my work, but is not new to my interests. As a young boy, I was fascinated by the components that living creatures are made of. I loved looking at diagrams of muscle structure, veins and arteries, and of course the skeletal system. The skull in particular was striking in that it is made up of many different bones, but unlike the rest of the skeleton, the bones of the skull combine to form one unit that rely on each other and remain fused together even after all other parts have turned to dust.  

In my teenage years the skull acted as a way to bring out a rebellious side in me and tell authoritative  figures in my life to "stick it". Skulls were scary they belonged to the dead or those soon to be. They represented pirates, criminals and the lawless. Seeing someone with a tattoo of a skull instantly told be that they were a dangerous person. 

It was not until I saw an image of David Dunlap including pirate flags into his art that I started using skulls in my own work. It was a way for me to communicate with the man in a strictly visual way. I started sending images I made of skulls and he in turn would send me new images. It is a fun way to communicate with a limited verbal interaction. 

Instead of trying to verbally interpret what the other person is saying with their imagery, it is done using only visual cues. This has been an interesting form of communication that I hope will continue. 

Island Hoppers

After my post of T.C.'s Chopper, I was reminded by my good friend that while on the ground, T.C. drove a VW Vanagon with a matching paint scheme. 

I will make a prediction and say that the same color format and configuration will show up in a future artwork of mine. (i got a lock)