Piece #3 - Routine and Repitition - the Path of a Swivel

We have each completed two paintings in this project. In thinking about the subject for the next piece I found myself wondering about my schedule. How busy would I be? What else needs to be done. When will I have the time to write, paint, and correspond? This is an in-escapable reality as an artist.

This blog has become part of my routine. That is good considering that it adds creativity to my list of things to do. Among the other things of work, family, friends, darts, making beer, gardening, exercise, croquet, cooking, playing music, teaching, on and on and on there also must be some time to make art.

Remaining active is an essential component of the artswivel. Wait forever to paint a masterpiece and nothing will happen. Paint ten paintings and maybe one will be good. Slow and steady wins the race and the artswivel must follow the same mantra.

So let's each make a painting about routine. Painting itself is part of this projects routine so it makes sense to me to focus on it as a subject. I really have no idea what to paint. I know I don't want to paint a calendar of my life's events. So who knows where mine will end up?
Deadline: Posted by mid march with an accompanying description.

Here's to the routine of the artswivel. Round and round without ever really moving.

until the next post,

Patrick

Art & Film

So currently in Missoula you will find the Big Sky Documentary film festival. This is an annual film festival exhibiting, as the title suggests, documentaries. This festival is gaining more and more recognition each year, and exhibits some fantastic films. This is my first year attending, and the only film i have seen so far was called "Bomb it" which is about street art and graffiti across the world. This film was good and entertaining. It first described the history of "bombing" and then followed to interview contemporary writers from multiple countries. The ones i was most interested in are ones that dont write their names, like the "os gemeos" they more or less just paint images- which i find to be more original in the realm of graf. I am in not so interested in the tagging of your name...it seems overdone outdated and lacking ingenuity. I am interested in street installation and image making. Writing your name seems way too self centered, and only interested in you putting your name on something instead of making something for the people to see and hopefully get something out of it. One thing i like about os gemeos is there connection to the the early 20th century Muralists of mexico and s. america, which was never brought up in this film. Putting images on the wall is nothing new, but apparently writing your name on the wall is, although the film does show some examples from the distant past of name writing, but it obviously is emphasizing the current trends in graffiti and street art--mainly rattle canned, wheat pasted, or stenciled.

one of the most interested bits of dialog the film brought up was the people they interviewed that were against graffiti. One of the major issues was what right do these artists, or vandals as some would say, have to go around and paint on property that is not theirs. I agree there is certainly an issue there, like how would you feel if someone came and spray painted your house? Ultimately most artists said that they only paint on public property, as KRS One said, "if taxes paid for it, bomb it" Which i certainly agree with. One of the major complaints by the graf artists was, who gives the right to all these rich business man to go around buy up our public space and put up an ugly building, and who gives the right to the corporate world to put up horrendous images of men in underwear, naked women, or other crap so they can convince people to buy their crap. To me this seems more of a crime on humans then a few poor kids painting their name. It is bogus that in this world it is ok to put up corporate crap but it is completely looked down upon to put some beautiful piece of art on a public wall.

We are an image based society now, we must stand up and take our visual realm back into our own hands, forget the desires of the corporate, make them earn our patronage through honest displays- like making good products, and not convincing us through media that their crap is good, when in reality is harmful, poorly made, or ethically intolerable.

STAND UP SWIVEL

Space Time Swivel - "What are you doing in this optimal prime moment in the history of the universe?"

Here is my second painting post for the topic space time swivel. Number one it is a diptych, mainly because i was struggling with finishing them independently, but when combined i liked it. Number two, I am not sure if either one is finished or if it is finished as a diptych, however i figured that the whole point of this blog thing was to present the readers with an intimate look at how the art is made- so showing work that is incomplete or in process or confused or lost or whatever is a great way to provide a closer look at the process.

So i have been hearing and learning and interested in the Mayan Calender and all the great myth behind it. Like 2012 is the end of the Mayan calender, and what could happen. Apparently the earth is going through a process of time acceleration, which sounds very fascinating, because what does it mean that time is accelerating. It is not hard to imagine, with how fast-paced the world is right now, and how nobody seems to have any time. The mayan calender is claimed by this website, http://www.paulapeterson.com/New_Revelations_Mayan_Calendar.html, to be a calender that sort of tracks the evolution of consciousness, and dec 21 2012 is one of those supposed moments of the evolution of consciousness.

So in this diptych i have used the image of the mayan calender, with a fancy watch with lots of diamonds & bling, with planetary shapes, with the image of Venus from the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, as well as our great modern day hero, Optimus Prime. For me Venus symbolizes creation or birth- which the myth of her birth is very interesting, apparently zues's gizzem landed in the ocean and wallah out comes the most beautiful god riding a seashell to shore. Optimus prime also symbolizes creation (creativity, artmaking, being), because of his ability to transform into things, so transformation is also a topic here. So with the ideas of evolving consciousness, transformation, time acceleration, creation this piece may pose you with the question "What are you doing in this optimal prime moment in the history of the universe?" - I think that will be title of this diptych. I personally am still trying to answer that question myself, (perhaps my answer is that i am creating) so dont expect this painting to provide you with any answers, i am not Jesus I dont save, you must save yourself!