Walter Partos, of PARTOS CO, has started his own blog. I recently said that although I hope to benefit others by linking to them from my blog, I recognized that This Is A Race is a pretty selfish outlet and that I mainly do it so I get more hits to my site. I don't feel that way about Walter having a blog. I'm really excited to hear more from him:
There are few things are narcissistic as a blog. My whole life, I have loved getting others to think, to consider the world in a new way. Hopefully, along the way to get them to laugh. To have fun. There is a look people have when you have gotten through, when you have changed their world view even a little bit, I live for those moments.
I want to do interviews and get to understand that person. All walks of life. There is a news story about a surgeon who hurt quite a few people by his actions. I would like to find out,"what was his internal monologue that allowed him to keep going, to keep hurting people." I want to interview Noam Chomsky about what an "ideal state is, how does it function? what would his place in it be?". I want to understand. I believe that we have to understand what it is before we can have any meaningful conversation about what we would like it to be. I think the deepest enjoyment in the world comes from understanding.
Make me understand, Walter!
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Labels: ART, JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Every once in a while I break up with myself. It's painful, but it has to happen. For the dumper side of me it's a relief and I look forward to moving on to bigger and better stuff. For the dumped side of me, I go down the rabbit-hole and am forced to painstakingly analyze everything I've done wrong. I'm like a Mini Wheat. A soggy Mini Wheat.
I was once told by someone who I thought mattered that the most interesting thing about my photographs was seeing my discomfort as a photographer reflected in the expressions of my subjects. I clung to this deduction like it was the only thing that made me unique, and I've just realized that it's something I've been hiding behind.
Ever since I began making images seriously I've bounced back and forth from using just my camera and the sun to making HIGHLY CONTRIVED and constructed work. My struggle for the past few years has been trying to define myself as an artist. How do I reconcile my aesthetic and thematic disparities?
I've often blamed my eclecticism for my difficulties in getting shows with my own work or for failing to get grant money for short films I've written and photo series I've proposed. I thought having done ad work made people think of me less as an artist. I got a big head and thought I was too big for Toronto. But recently I came to the realization that maybe it's not them, it's me (see, it really is like breaking up with myself). And, although I have to keep doing what interests and excites me, maybe I need to grow up a bit, too.
I admit that I like the look of distrust in my photographs, but it's gotten me into trouble. I've always found it more interesting and engaging when my subject doesn't look pretty. I've never been interested in making the people who sit for me look good; I've been interested in making a compelling image. Avedon's images of a despondent Marilyn Monroe are more interesting to me than any other image of her. I've never requested "fierce" from someone I was photographing. It just doesn't thrill me. I find it so disposable. But I've often been unfair to my subjects. I've objectified them because I believed it was more interesting. While I stand by my photographs, while I think they say as much about my insecurities as they do about the subject's, I now understand how cruel I can be.
After spending a couple weeks in San Francisco with photographers at different stages of their careers I was thrown for a loop. Of course I have been around photographers I think are amazing for years, but I mostly went to school with them. I saw them do crap and I saw them do great things and I saw their insecurities and their strengths grow and change as they did. And they saw mine. Being around Parker, Ryan, and Luke changed my mind about what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I'm sure they all have their insecurities, but unlike my colleagues in Toronto, I didn't see them grow, I just see them now, and I'm humbled in different ways.
PARKER is a brash young thing heading into his first year at California College of the Arts. He's one of those photographers who loves having a camera in his hand and takes it everywhere. He's going to kick my ass big time and he's going to do so well in school. I'm so excited for him and can't wait to see what he'll do. It makes me remember how people who had taken time between high school and university did so much better in the photo program because they really knew they wanted to be there. Parker's really unselfconscious with his camera, he trusts that people want to be photographed and want to be photographed by him, as well they should. I've never had that confidence. I always felt like my subjects were doing me a favour rather than getting anything out of the experience themselves. Watching Parker shoot with such excitement for the medium was both inspiring and disconcerting. I felt like I didn't get nearly as much out of my education as he will. The lucky thing is that I'll get to go back to school this fall. I can't wait to approach my film education with a fervor and understanding that I lacked in my undergraduate experience.
LUKE, who I didn't get to spend a lot of time with but hope to get to know better in New York, is fresh out of UCLA and blowing up the photo world. His work is really fantastic and beautiful and original and varied but coherent - something I aspire to but take too far in some ways.
RYAN is a well-known young photographer who did his MFA at SVA and watching him photograph was so fascinating for me. We use the same camera, but not in the same way. I am sure that in some ways the style of my university education gave me this complex that I have to have a set or a gimmick going on in my photographs in order for people to be interested in them. I've felt like just having my camera wasn't enough, and I felt that from the people who asked me to take photographs of them. I didn't think anyone would trust that my photograph was going to be interesting unless I had a stylist and an elephant on hand and we were going to a treetop village in the Amazon. Watching Ryan trust himself and trust that a camera was all he needed was fascinating. And when I sat for Ryan I suddenly understood how unfair I could be with my subjects. I totally trusted Ryan because I knew his photographs and I knew he would not be unkind to me. It was when I was sitting for him that I understand why people might have been reticent to let me photograph them knowing that my photographs were all about what I wanted them to be, not about who or what they really are.
I have not been a subject for anyone for about six years. I didn't really understand what it was like to be in front of the lens, which I now realize is something a photographer must experience seriously. I thought I knew what it was like to be a subject, and I had disdain for subjects who (I assumed) wanted to "look hot". Both Parker and Ryan photographed me, and while I'll never ask them to retouch an image of me or have the delusion that I'm a model, I see how vulnerable it can make someone feel to be photographed.
So, moving forward, my overarching modus operandi is becoming clearer. When editing my photographs from San Francisco I went down the rabbit-hole because I was afraid others would think them boring landscape photos. But, for once, I'm going ahead with what I believe in rather than what I want people to think is exciting and fresh. I resisted the urge to hide behind digital gimmicks or design tricks and just edited the straight images from an intuitive place.
I see these images as a continuation and purification of what I began in London. London was an accidental beginning to a theme that carried through the photographs in Are We Having Fun Yet? When I went to Mexico I expected this theme to continue, but I mostly just found good people genuinely wanting to enjoy themselves with their families and getting along and having a good time, so the focus shifted. My own solitude began to leak through as I felt on the outside of this group of people I didn't want to judge anymore. This came out as well as a methodical and almost meditative way of photographing. A centre-heavy, Bernd & Hilla Becher informed framing of the subject emerged. I was compelled and excited by this somewhat boring regimented style of photographing. This style reappears in the San Francisco photographs and is even more methodical and unapologetic in its wistful prettiness. I think this way I'm photographing is a foil to the gimmicky pictures I do. It is the most consistently recurrent style of photograph I have taken over any period of time. And it's not to say that I won't have fun with photography and image-making ever again, but I'm really trying to pay attention to what these are and why I'm doing them.
Parker told me that when we went to photograph together that he felt he totally was not a part of my process, that I was working alone. It's true. It needs to be a solitary act for me. I need to get lost in it, I need to feel uninhibited and not judged or scrutinized.
In the end I still haven't been able to pin down what I'm going for, but this way of photographing is leading me by the hand to somewhere I want to be. It's taking me back to the photograph and the medium itself. Kind of purifying it. And it's still me. There are themes that I've always imbued in my work - loneliness, smallness, boredom, apathy, bleached or faded vibrancy, existentialism, and a kind of hush and stillness or stasis beyond the obvious stillness of the photographic medium. I think these themes are not hiding behind anything else anymore. I hope they're not so earnest, that maybe they're a little more natural.
Though all this was a tricky mind-trap to navigate I feel better, lighter, and ready to move forward. I'm still proud of the things I've done. Some things more so than others, but it's all brought me here. And though my work may sometimes be schticky and sloppy, I'm glad to say that I've never approached it from the side of irony.
So for now this Mini Wheat is floating alone, but sugar-side-up in a warm bowl of milk.
Labels: ART, BAD DOG, DEATH AND DRAMA, EW, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, NARCISSISM, PHOTOGRAPHY, THINGS I WISH I'D DONE
I've redesigned MY WEBSITE and my blog. In this time of transition I felt I needed cleanliness and simplicity somewhere. I'm really happy with the change on my site - it's about the work and it's nice to see everything I'm proud of laid out on one page.
Also, I've added images from San Francisco and from the New Rituals GIFs.
I have been really analyzing my work as I've done this, and come to some humbling realizations. I'll post my thoughts soon. They will be more effective than NyQuil I swear.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY
I have had a really busy few weeks, packing, working, houseguests, and being sick. I don't think I've mentioned it here on this blog, but after VISITING and applying to grad schools I've decided to go to Columbia in New York to do my MFA in Film.
I'm in San Francisco for a while right now, which is fantastic, and then I'll be moving to my hometown for the rest of the summer to save money before going to New York. San Francisco is amazing, New York is going to be amazing, going home will actually be quite nice, but my departure from Toronto really snuck up on me. It was a few days before I left, as I was biking from one informal goodbye dinner to another, that I realized what I'd be leaving. I listened to my music and pedalled from West to East and was hit with nostalgia. It is definitely time for me to leave; I have the same feeling going to New York that I did when I was leaving my hometown for Toronto. A sort of panicked desperation to move on. But this is different. I've been in Toronto for the past 8 years - in some ways they were the most formative and eventful years of my life. Toronto is easy, it's home, it's my favourite place to be in the summer. Leaving high school was like leaving a place I didn't want to be in in the first place.
So I look back on these 8 years and feel a bit wistful, but I like that more than panic.
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Waaaaa I can't wait for the future! Now sucks! I'm sure this technology will be glitchy for a while but when it gets good it's going to be amazing.
Via JEREMY.
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, NOBODY LIKES A NERD
It hurts, but he doesn't show it. I could learn a thing or two from Chopin. Sometimes the day just resolves in a minor chord no matter how good things are.
Jag vill se du när sol stigningarna , och äsch hur den vilja stigning min vännerna.
Labels: DESPERATE AND SAD, FILM, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Uh-oh. I'm in a sensitive cycle. Mercury's in retrograde till the 30th and all I want is Jane Siberry and a warm set of arms. I know that's repulsive, which makes me crawl into folk and fetal that much more. Alela Diane will have to do for now. *Sigh* says Charlie Brown. I'll bust out again soon enough.
![](http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif"http://graydonsheppard.com/blog/uploaded_images/panny3dhd-703893.jpg")
At least I won't be alone in my wonk. 3D in HD.
More HERE.
Thanks JEREMY.
Labels: BUY ME THIS, FILM, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
I wrote this post in October of 2007, but I chickened out and didn't publish it that day. I really wish I had remembered this post earlier cause now I'm realizing that I should probably just give people coupons to Burger King instead of discs of crazy. May this be a lesson to my fellow over-zealous, over-emotional Scorpios:
October 27, 2007
I just have a few tips/thoughts on giving someone a mixed tape (or CD or whatever you choose).
I always enjoy a good mixed tape/CD, but here's the thing - they can totally backfire.
I've received a few good ones in my day. I even got a tape delivered to my work once with its own custom-made jean sleeve - it was romantic/scary cause I had only met the guy once and happened to casually mention where I worked while we were talking. I was also involved at the time. But he eventually got a date or two out of it. Basically I'm a whore.
Then when we were dating I got another mixed CD from him. It was painted on top. Now don't get me wrong, I really liked it and all the creativity and effort and such, but it fucked up the disc drive in my computer. But the music was good, as I remember. There were some first exposures to a few artists which is always nice.
But, see, this is the thing...why would songs I've never heard before make me think of him after one date? Or me and him together? Isn't that the intent of a mixed tape? We had no musical experiences together, so what the fuck do I do with music I've never heard before, relation-wise? It might have been different if I heard it for the first time with him, but I'd never heard most of it before, period. So were these songs the ones that reminded him of me? If so, why do I need to hear them? He should just listen to them and think of me and then make me dinner or something I can really use. I think he wanted to show off how much he knew about music or something. MEAN! That's not true. He was sweet. I was cold.
Now, I've made the same mistake for sure. I actually gave the same mix to two different guys that I really liked. How awful is that? I obviously didn't relate experiences with them to the music, but I just wanted to give them something and impress them. It didn't work.
I got the best one I've ever received around this time last year. I was really into him and had seen him around and been asking about him for like 6 months before. Turns out he liked me, too, I guess. But when we finally started hanging out I was dating him for all the wrong reasons (even though he was gorgeous it just wasn't a good fit for me and I knew that but I kept going out with him for selfish reasons). We had hung out like twice I guess, and he gave me the CD. We sat down and he told me the titles of all the songs. "Love" was in more titles than I cared for on a third date.
Here comes the pathetic part.
The music was beautiful, and I listened to it on repeat for about 5 days. Most of the songs were about love, or the losing end of a breakup, or nostalgia - once again these were not things I had experienced with the mix-giver. Ironically, I think the music was so powerful that it slowly changed. It morphed from making me think about the guy that gave it to me and just made me think about the guy I was rebounding from. I think the new guy was sad and romantic. So was I, but I didn't realize it until I listened to the CD he gave me. The CD wasn't for me, it was about him.
Not long after, I broke it off. I think, had it been a different time and place, that relationship could have been good. He was much cooler than me with a lot to offer, (and with much cooler friends), but for once I didn't care about that. It just wasn't right for me.
A couple months ago my mom gave me a box of cassettes to go through after she moved. Among the Bette Midlers and Michelle Shockeds and Lion Kings and Dance Mix 94's was a tape with a single song on it labelled "When You Say Nothing At All." It was the first mix I received from a boy, but it was just one song. It was possibly the gayest song in the world (sung by Ronan Keating from Boyzone). But fuck, it meant something. I destroyed the letter he gave to me when he gave me the tape because I was terrified of someone finding the letter then curbing me (I was 16 and in a small town and American History X had just come out at the video store he worked at), but I remember the letter saying something about how even when I didn't say anything we were still connecting. So cheesy, but so far the most meaningful (though not the best musically).
Now I'm here, listening to the mix I got last year. I have some primordial response to the fall, almost like a seasonal version of olfactory memory. I'm remembering all the boys that have come and gone, the music they gave me mashing up against itself and their memories. Even though some of those compilations backfired at the time, they still stir up something about the men who gave them to me.
I'm looking forward to hearing some new music.
Here's a favourite from a mix - Finger Bib - Aphex Twin:
Labels: BAD DOG, DESPERATE AND SAD, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
I think that was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done! After six weeks (SIX WEEKS) of costume building, prep, and rehearsal, it all came down to performing in front of a big live audience.
I had a wireless mic that turned out not to work at the last second so I had to use a wired mic without ever having practiced with it before. In any case, having popped my drag cherry, I have a whole new respect for queens and what it takes to get an audience's attention. But I am so happy that I went all out and that my crew was so helpful. Thanks to Jeremy, Ryan, Vanessa, and of course Proddy and Mary for letting me jump onto a giant wiener in front of an audience.
Labels: BAD DOG, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, NARCISSISM, REALLY FUCKING GAY
Parker's (above) BLOG is new so this is to encourage. The paintings he posted by CHRISTIAN SHOELER (below) are quite beautiful, but I'm mainly linking to his blog cause he's gonna cop my style and I wanted proof for when I take him to court. He also makes fun of my accent.
Labels: ART, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY
EXCUSES EXCUSES
I don't have money
I don't have a good idea
I'm not cool enough to be an artist
I'm not weird enough looking
I'm not good-looking enough
I don't have a studio
My camera sucks
Oprah's on
Art should not be my therapy
I actually want to be a video artist, not a photographer
I actually want to be an installation artist, not a video artist
I actually want to be a photographer, not a painter
I actually want to be a painter
I actually want to be an actor
I didn't get that grant
Or that one
Or that one
Or that one
I don't want anyone else to be in my pictures
I shouldn't be in my pictures
I should put naked people in my pictures then people will look
But I don't know any naked people
I'm not young enough to re-paint
I'm not old enough to sell
It's Semolina-Terina's birthday so I'm gonna go to that and as soon as I get home, as soon as I get home I'm gonna write a novel
It's my birthday I'm not working today
I'm a hack so what's the point
I'm better than them
I live too far away
I am going to give this up and steal a car and drive to Bolivia
Oh but wait what about my bed?
I should go get a coffee
It's cold out I want to sleep
It's nice out I don't want to work
Someone already did that
I only have a bachelor's degree
Canada is too conservative
Nobody gets me
I should go to the gym I'm fat
I haven't been out in a while I should go dancing
I'm hung over
My room's a mess
I'm bored of this project
I'm too old
I don't know enough
Lost is on
I'm too rude
I'm too nice
I'm boring
I'm the funniest person I know
Shit someone already did that too
I don't really care
I finished it but I don't have anywhere to show it
Are you kidding? I can't afford to print/mount/frame all that
My hair's not long enough
I look like a hobo how could I ever sell my work?
It's not about selling work, if that's my goal I'll fail
I'm just gonna buy lottery tickets instead of dinner
I don't have money
Okay that's out of my system. Now...
I don't have money
I don't have a good idea
I'm not cool enough to be an artist
I'm not weird enough looking
I'm not good-looking enough
I don't have a studio
My camera sucks
Oprah's on
Art should not be my therapy
I actually want to be a video artist, not a photographer
I actually want to be an installation artist, not a video artist
I actually want to be a photographer, not a painter
I actually want to be a painter
I actually want to be an actor
I didn't get that grant
Or that one
Or that one
Or that one
I don't want anyone else to be in my pictures
I shouldn't be in my pictures
I should put naked people in my pictures then people will look
But I don't know any naked people
I'm not young enough to re-paint
I'm not old enough to sell
It's Semolina-Terina's birthday so I'm gonna go to that and as soon as I get home, as soon as I get home I'm gonna write a novel
It's my birthday I'm not working today
I'm a hack so what's the point
I'm better than them
I live too far away
I am going to give this up and steal a car and drive to Bolivia
Oh but wait what about my bed?
I should go get a coffee
It's cold out I want to sleep
It's nice out I don't want to work
Someone already did that
I only have a bachelor's degree
Canada is too conservative
Nobody gets me
I should go to the gym I'm fat
I haven't been out in a while I should go dancing
I'm hung over
My room's a mess
I'm bored of this project
I'm too old
I don't know enough
Lost is on
I'm too rude
I'm too nice
I'm boring
I'm the funniest person I know
Shit someone already did that too
I don't really care
I finished it but I don't have anywhere to show it
Are you kidding? I can't afford to print/mount/frame all that
My hair's not long enough
I look like a hobo how could I ever sell my work?
It's not about selling work, if that's my goal I'll fail
I'm just gonna buy lottery tickets instead of dinner
I don't have money
Okay that's out of my system. Now...
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
This is the design that won the PS1 YOUNG ARCHITECT'S PROGRAM. It's made of a thatchwork of recycled materials and is called Afterparty. It's meant to be about the hangover architects are facing after the recent excesses in the industry.
Via INHABITAT.
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Six of Pentacles
Justice
Three of Cups
I had my Tarot read on the weekend. The card placed in the first house was the Three of Pentacles - REVERSED! It was supposed to describe me:
Miserliness, missed opportunities through fear of loss, inability to benefit from the advice of others as a result of obstinacy, conceit or prejudice. Effort that yields disappointing results.
Sounds about right.
Above are some amazing 3D constructions of the Tarot from Second Life. This is so far beyond post-modern that I want to cry. Here's the SLURL to get there (Second Life URL): http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wales%20Springs/199/183/38
Click the pic or HERE to see images from the really nice and unseasonably warm day I spent with OWEN, Patrick, Meghan, and Chuey, and whiskey on the island. Dresses by JEREMY.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
My trip to the US last week was a whirlwind affair. I took the bus down coz I'm po', and arrived at Penn Station at 5:40 on Wednesday morning. I ran out to Brooklyn and drank big coffees at VERB before I could get into my sublet to drop my stuff off and take a shower, then ran back to Manhattan. First stop - Columbia University. Gorgeous campus on the Upper East Side. I had never been and knew very little about the school so I walked around and gave myself a little tour. Then I went to the Film School and got to speak to some people and ask all my questions. They gave me DVDs of student work and all the info I needed.
Then I went to SCHILLER'S in the East Village to have a greasy lunch and watch a couple of the student films on my laptop while I ate. After lunch I went to BBLESSING and had a look, not that I could buy anything at the moment. Then I checked out the Elizabeth Peyton show at the NEW MUSEUM but I wasn't that into it - I kind of get turned off by paintings of cool people, not because they're not good, but because it makes me feel like I'm a loser again cause I'm not friends with those people.
Elizabeth Peyton's "Live to Ride" at the New Museum:
Next stop, ZOMBA on Madison Ave. to pick something up. I could feel Britney all around me.
Finally, off to NYU Tisch for their info session - which was much more administrative than informative which was a little disappointing...but I got to ask what I needed to ask.
Back on the L Train to Brooklyn where I ran into WHITNEY, one of the winners of America's Next Top Model. Poor thing isn't fat anymore, she's just a pretty girl now.
Whitney in her glory day:
Quick rest up and check in to see if anyone was up for a drink or dinner, but alas everyone was busy or non-responsive and I was starving so I went to BONITA, my favourite Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, for some Mexican Corn, Fish Tacos, and Sangria while I finished reading CAMERA LUCIDA.
Back at the sublet I checked out what was going on in New York, and almost went to the BAD ART AUCTION in Manhattan, but decided to check out THE METROPOLITAN in Williamsburg instead. It turned out to be ladies night, so I downed a pint in .2 seconds flat, waved goodbye to all the lesbians ("Enjoy your death trap, ladies!"), and headed back to the apartment before midnight for an amazing sleep.
Thursday I was up at the crack of nine, heading to Grand Central to catch the Metro North to New Haven. A couple hours later I arrived at YALE SCHOOL OF ART for their open house. I was early, but so were the other 50 people who were on the shuttle-bus with me. We sized each other up silently on the short trip. When we arrived we signed up for the open house at the school and then had half an hour to kill. I checked out the CURRENT FIRST YEAR MFA SHOW and was excited. It wasn't the most polished work, but it was all fascinating and invigorating - especially considering they had put it together within a short month and a half. Ran across the street for a coffee, then headed back to the atrium for the open house with visions of being the idiot who spilled his coffee and caused a ruckus during the introducton. I sat next to a woman in the overcrowded room as we both hoped this was a usual turnout, rather than an especially competitive year. After looking around for a while I turned to her and said "Everyone's so pretty..." And they were. Skinny, polished, fashionable assholes everywhere you turned.
The dean, ROBERT STORR, spoke beautifully about the school, its history, and its philosophy. I was filled with excitement because everything he said was exactly in line with what I wanted from grad school and where I felt I was in my career. But I suppose that's why it's such a good school.
The group broke off into their respective areas of prospective study. I went down to "The Pool" - the crit room for the photography course. GREGORY CREWDSON and RICHARD BENSON led a presentation on the photography program, along with some first and second year students. Then we broke and they served some food and I got to speak with Crewdson a little bit, which was gut-wrenching and exciting and affirming. Then it was back to the station to catch the bus to Boston.
Richard Benson:
Five annoying hours later I arrived at MASSART and met JOBANANA. She took me on a tour of the school and then we ate Kraft Dinner with cream and margarine and washed it down with Trader Joe's. Oh student life.
4 hours of sleep and then we were up at 5:30AM to catch the bus back to New York with a handful of Jobanana's classmates. Upon arriving we went to APERTURE in Chelsea to see the LUIGI GHIRRI show, which didn't blow me away save for a couple images. Then we met up with ABELARDO MORELL, Jobanana's professor, to get a tour of the WILLIAM EGGLESTON show at THE WHITNEY by one of the curators of the show. It was amazing to see the godfather of modern colour photography's prints and video work with the insightful commentary of a curator.
Abelardo Morell's "Camera Obscura: View of Volta Del Canal in Palazzo Room Painted With Jungle Motif, Venice, Italy", 2008:
William Eggleston's "Untitled", 1975:
Downstairs at The Whitney we saw CORRIN HEWITT doing his exhibitionist photo-performance. Then I got to sit down with Abelardo (Abe) and talk with him and the class about the shows and why I was applying to grad school. So amazing to have had that chance.
Corin Hewitt's "Seed Stage" at The Whitney:
Then it was off to THE MET to meet a curator from the photography department, Jeff Rosenheim, who greeted Abe like an old chum which was really impressive. Jeff then took us through a few exhibitions, including REALITY CHECK, an exhibition about truth and representation in photography which was of particular interest and concern to me as it related to my work a whole lot - particularly CRAIG KALPAKJIAN and JULIAN FAULHABER (whose print was cleverly hung facing THOMAS DEMAND'S). Crewdson's photo was also hanging in that show.
Craig Kalpakjian's computer generated photo-realistic "Corridor":
Julian Faulhaber's "Tankstelle":
Thomas Demand's "Attempt" - made out of construction paper:
Gregory Crewdson's incredible 48x60 inch "car and spooky garage from Twilight":
The other show he guided us through was an ACQUISITIONS show, which he was so excited about, and it rubbed off. Being in the same room with Van Gogh, Brancusi, and Thomas Struth was pretty great. I was also struck by SARAH GOODRIDGE'S "Beauty Revealed" and ADELINE HARRIS SEARS' "Autograph Quilt" (but superficially cause of the cubes).
Sarah Goodridge's comment on marriage, "Beauty Revealed":
Adeline Harris Sears' beautiful and architectural "Autograph Quilt":
Finally, JoJo and I split from Abe and the class to go to The MOMA to see PIPILOTTI RIST'S POUR YOUR BODY OUT (7354 CUBIC METRES).
Pipilotti Rist discusses her installation at The MOMA:
Johanna's phone photos of the Pipilotti Rist installation:
Johanna sipping a Margarita:
Spent, we headed back to our friend's to crash.
Saturday we slept in, had Polish bagels with veggie cream cheese and milky tea, went to BEACON'S CLOSET where I found a great velvet and vinyl sweater (sounds gross but it's great) and a t-shirt with boobie drawings on it, then headed into Manhattan. We met MIMI (our friend who was kind enough to let us crash at her place) at PACE MACGILL GALLERY where she works, and saw the Richard Benson show (one of the professors from Yale) and got to see/hold some PHILIP-LORCA DICORCIA prints (another Yale prof) prints, some WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY prints, some TOD PAPAGEORGE prints (another Yale prof/director), and see a rare platinum-palladium IRVING PENN print.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia:
William Christenberry:
Tod Papageorge:
Then we went across the street to BONNI BENRUBI to see ABE'S SHOW and really be blown away by having spent the day with him on Friday. I was so inspired and impressed and excited to see his prints in person.
Abelardo Morell's "Nadelman/Hopper -Yale University Art Gallery", 2008 - the colours in this are incredible in person:
Then Gingerbread Lattes at Trump Tower, a tour through BENDEL'S, and back to Brooklyn for a DARK AND STORMY (it was a ginger-filled day) and round two at Bonita. This time I had fish tacos and Mexican Corn again, but a CHELADA instead of sangria, and we had a chance to catch up with Mimi.
Dark and Stormy me having a Dark and Stormy:
Then Johanna and I drank KALIMOTXOS and wine and figured out I am ripped and had an art/life meltdown of big intensity over $2 Pabst Blue Ribbons at CLEM'S.
Sunday morning, Johanna and Mimi had left and I was on my own. I grabbed a coffee and headed into Manhattan for a leisurely walk through Central Park on my way to THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, cause I had never been. I ended up getting pretty distracted upon entering the museum, so I did a SQUID AND THE WHALE tour, checked out the Mexico wing, then left while still trembling. Bugged out, I decided to do an easy stroll down good old Bleecker, where I saw an overly tanned (and taller than expected) VALENTINO, then wound up at CARACAS for yet another South American meal and a beer.
That beer led to a litre of Sapporo from the convenience store on the way back to Brooklyn where I gathered my things and settled my nerves before heading to the overnight bus, where I ran into my unwitting muse ADRIENNE. Then I popped 4 Gravol and clicked my heels and was at Union Station having McDonald's breakfast with iced coffee before I could say "Snickerdoodle".
And that was my trip! I'm so excited because I felt at home and validated and affirmed at all those things after the past while of rejection and questioning...
Coming soon...Owen Pallett photos and a video in January that I'm really exciteg about.
Labels: ART, BAD DOG, JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPHY
I'm having such an incredible soul-filling time visiting schools and being in the US. I'll write more soon but I'm just about to crash after a fantastic day of touring NY museums with the graduate students from MassArt. We had curators personally guide us through William Eggleston's exhibit at The Whitney and a contemporary exhibit, 2 mini-exhibits, a book exhibit, and an acquisitions exhibit at The Met while Abelardo Morel lead the group. I'm so inspired right now. And drunk.
I leave you with one exciting find from today: Joachem Wtewael, a 16th century Dutch painter who used copper as his canvas for oil paintings - they glow so beautifully in person.
More soon.
Labels: ART, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY
The Mac's campaign that I took part in directing won gold for viral marketing at the ADCC AWARDS in Toronto on the 12th of this month.
God, that seems like a lifetime ago that I did those things. I feel like a completely different lady now...
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
My dear JOBANANA just sent me this photo of The Guggenheim from her fucking iPhone. Fuck you. I love you.
So much going on right now. Just got my scans back from the shoot with Owen Pallett on a warm November day. I'm working on some web stuff for people I like. I'm applying for grants and things like crazy. Going to New York/Boston/Connecticut for a little road trip in a couple weeks. Hopefully going to catch the SALLY MANN lecture at MassArt on the 20th of November. Yes. It's all happening.
More to follow...
Labels: JEALOUSY, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Test I just made for an idea...onward onward.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
I'm leaving for New York for a week. Thank God.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
My brother's baby girl, born today. My sister's is coming soon.
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
Another test from my upcoming series.
Labels: DESPERATE AND SAD, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, PHOTOGRAPHY
...but I've been playing a lot of SUPER MARIO lately.
Labels: I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER, NOBODY LIKES A NERD
The MAC'S WTF campaign took a silver at the MARKETING AWARDS last week.
Still don't have a commercial rep...ahem...
She is posing for a picture at a hotel in
See you in a week and a bit.
I'll say hi to Jean for you.
Labels: MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER