Our new friend

If we could all just be a little more translucent, we could glow like our friend, the mini lobster. When I was painting him I just wanted to get on a dance floor. Recently, I was on a dance floor with a dear friend. It became clear that my favorite song to dance to these days is one called 'Rhythm is a dancer." Have you heard it? It was determined by my friend that one day I might have a pet, and I could name this pet "Rhythm is a dancer." I would like to do that. However, I do not think I will have a pet for a very long time because I don't want one. For now, I would like to give this lobster, who was a temporary pet, and is now probably dead, but who is not dead to me because he lives in this painting, "Rhythm is a dancer." And for the record, if anyone ever listens to that song while looking at this painting under a black light, Riad (for short) will glow a little.

Sand dunes

This fabric was almost enough to make me quit the painting. But then I remember that I am going to finish it. I think it looks like the new Beck album I was listening to when I painted it. It is hard to beat the Georgia O'Keefe out of this painting! At one point I scrubbed the bottom half. Subtraction can be a beautiful thing. A thing I forgot.

This is where I left the painting for a week because it is easier to ignore things if they are ugly and pissing you off. Not to worry! That was then, this is now some other time.

Why are conceptual artists turning to painting?

I don't know. I didn't write this:

The dominant models no longer satisfy. It makes no sense to melodramatically invoke the "end of painting" (or any other medium-specific practice for that part) when the continous emergence of fascinating work obviously proves apocalyptic endgame scenarios wrong. (I WAS THINKING THAT THIS PAINTING WAS THE LAST PAINTING) Yet, to pretend it were possible to go back to business as usual seems equally impossible because the radical expansion of artistic possibilities through the landslide changes of the 1960s leave medium-specific practices in the odd position of being one among many modes of artistic articulation, with no preset justification (PAINTING IS A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK, BUT WE LIKE IT). How can we describe then what medium-specific practices like painting or sculpture can do today (THEY CAN BE AN OBSTACLE FOR A CONCEPTUAL ARTIST TO GET OVER AND THEY CAN BE PUT ON A WALL AND THEREFORE EARN SOME CASH)?

Likewise, it seems, that we can still not quite convincingly describe to ourselves what Conceptual Art can be: An art of pure ideas (ABSOLUTELY. ALSO IT IS REALLY FUN TO HAVE BIG IDEAS AND NOT HAVE TO DO ALL THIS WORK)? As if "pure" idea art were ever possible let alone desirable (UH)! An art of smart strategic moves and puns? We have advertising agencies for that (AND THEY ARE STAFFED BY ARTISTS WHO LIKE TO GET PAID). The social and political dimension of Conceptualism has been discussed, but often only in apodictic (A type of law, commandment, or prohibition that is unconditional, as in “Do not kill!”) terms, not acknowledging the humour, the wit, the existential, emotional or erotic aspects, as well as the iconophile, not just iconoclast motives, that have always also been at play in the dialectics and politics of life-long conceptual practices.

THAT WAS A STUPID BLURB FROM AN EMAIL TITLED 'WHY ARE CONCEPTUAL ARTISTS TURNING TO PAINTING?' AND I READ IT BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW WHY. BUT I DO KNOW WHY. FOR ADAM.

I will finish this thing.

"I am so obsessed with this"

Meet Adam, the soon to be father of the post, post studio practice. He was quoted as being 'so obsessed with the blog' when I was attending Chrissy's (friend and patron) birthday party this last weekend. I find happiness in that.
I found myself talking about the painting a lot. I think it was a slow night for me, where it was best to stick to the facts. What do you do? 'Oh me? I am painting a still life for that guy over there sitting on the couch.'
Things got frisky when someone was courageous enough to access the blog on their iPhone. All bad feelings about Steve Jobs aside (besides, I have to be reasonable-- he stepped down, so he might have NOT RECEIVED my emails, mail art, and invitations, and thus THAT was why he hasn't responded) I felt like a celebrity having my bad renaissance painting all up in the party's digital landscape!


So, to all you empty walls out there, soon there will be an end to this loneliness and monotony! We will all find something beautiful and we will pound it into our surfaces, and we will be full. This might just be one painting, but to me it is a start of a revolution!

Details of progress

High Pressure Situation

Two days ago, Ms. Chrissy, patron and friend, attended a dinner hosted by me for her at my house. This evening was planned for purposes of 'catching up' as well as to show her my progress on the painting.
I was concerned about how she would receive my very slow and unpracticed painting style. I feel like I am painting every part of the painting like it is the first time I have ever painted that thing. Each grape is a revolution in representation.
One thing Chrissy saw that I thought was a very sensitive observation was that 'each brush stroke looks like it could change the feeling of the whole painting.' That's what makes painting really hard and really fun.
The good news is that Chrissy does like the painting so far. I feel that I have far to go, but I can never really tell, since I never really finish anything. Not so long ago a dear friend called me 'the girl who never finishes anything.' I really took this to heart, and it is the kind of thing that wakes me up in the middle of the night and makes me feel really really bad. But luckily I still finish my night of sleep. I can do that. And I always finish my dinner. And I even make my bed. But as art goes, for me, everything is an infinite process. I carry all my projects with me wherever I go. So, this project is great. I hope it is something I can finish and hand off with a sense of completion. This has been somewhat of an experiment on myself. If I can do this, I might be able to do everything else.This is Chrissy, as she self consciously salutes the painting. It is her birthday next week, and for the record, Vermeer is her favorite painter.