punching the clock

Studio time has ebbs and flows. Sometimes it's pretty steady and sometimes it fluctuates wildly. I'm trying to get into a more standard routine this fall and so far it's going pretty good. I've been thinking about it more since I did a project for the College Art Association's career development pages. They just put up a podcast of it called Hybrid Careers: the work of balancing your work.

Starting Out

To warm up at Aferro, I'm creating some works on canvas tarp with house paint and large brushes.  Experimenting with black and white only, will give me insight into lights and darks. Since I don't have live models and my work references pop culture, most of my references are figures from magazines and newspapers. They run the gamut from football players to fashion models. Hopefully I will be able to snag some of the other artists to model for me when they are around the studio. To view more of my work, visit jameshornerart.com.

Dam Breach

 

During this “damming” venture I found it necessary to step back to distance myself from the activity because at some point “damming” became too exhilarating, too satisfying, too slick, too stylish and seemingly beyond reproach.  And so it’s a good time to find its weak points.  In the realm of actual dam construction, this point must be of utmost importance, where the catastrophic possibility of a breach is perhaps what drives civil engineers to intensely scrutinize every possible aspect of the dam: its design, structural integrity, safety, problems of seepage, corrosion and erosion, etc.  

“Damming” activity in painting and drawing - the term may be drawn from the functional constructed water barrier, but in painting and drawing, none of the practical imperatives mentioned above are pursued.  No lives, revenue or property are at stake, except for an aesthetic attitude.  Sharing the same term, linked by analogy- it seems there’s little else to tie together the activity of building an actual dam and constructing the "dam" for painting and drawing.  Regardless, the latter is equally subject to scrutiny as the former because every meaningful activity -whether it’s practical, theoretical, aesthetic or religious- harbors its meaningfulness in its transparency.

And so while utilizing it in drawing and painting I was able to find a weak point in the “dam.” This one is a tricky since the breach lies on the very intention the “dam” has been utilized for: “damming” is for strengthening the drawing, and making the forms, boundaries and categories clear.  But “dams” also fixate, establish and enforce them.  On that note, then the enforcement by “damming” gives no room for doubt when a particular boundary or category is false.  The falsehood is then set in place, fixated, and walled in by the “dam.”  This is merely one place where its faults fissure through.  

 More Bricks for your viewing pleasure.  Stay tuned for more on "Brick City Project"!!

Parking

The meter rules around the studio keep changing. I was talking to Bud about parking and it was so complicated to explain so I thought I'd make a little map. This is to the best of my knowledge, but maybe you know something different? Please share. Anyway I thought I'd post it. Also Evonne knows of a lot that's $5/day. I think it's near Hobbys? Maybe this can be the first step of an Aferro neighborhood guide.  Other welcome additions would be good coffee within walking distance, what's open in terms of food on Sundays, who delivers, etc.

Double Fervor: The Black Nazarene and George Kubler's Nature of Actuality

"Brick City Project" is my vision of the beauty of Newark.  As a Newark resident my goal here is to show the world and remind our citizens of the beauty that Newark has to offer.  Growing up in this city i was blessed to witness its many positive wonders and every day miracles as opposed to the publicized negativity.  Each brick expresses a certain perspective of Newark and places together gives a never before seen look at the city and its inner workings.
I was excited about doing my residency at Aferro because it seems appropriate as a stepping stone for my installation.  During my time here i have learned so much, met so many people, gotten so many positive reviews (learned how to blog...lol), made many connections and the list goes on.  The most difficult part was plain ole time management for me.....basically setting time aside to go to the gallery and work....but once i got into the swing of it the ball rolled along smoothly.  One of the most important things i learned  was from Evonne who told me that as an artist i needed to be spending the same amount of time "marketing myself as an artist as i do creating the art"....that made so much sense to me....(thanx Evonne).

So with the residency over now what?  Good question....the painting continues....more bricks will be made and then comes the arts shows.   Stayed tuned for more photos and info on the  "Brick City Project"

invoking Deleuze

from Gilles Deleuze's "Control and Becoming," Negotiations; New York; Columbia University Press, 1995; page 174

Damming

Damming.  This is the highlight of my studio this summer.  It’s a verbal alternative - an analogically appropriate one- to the procedural term “masking” in drawing and painting.  I drew out the word from a review by a writer who used it to describe a particular aspect in the work of a fellow painter colleague and mentor Timothy App - an aspect I’ve also been starting to  use in my own work.  

As a method “damming” consists of taping, tracing, slicing, making templates so that a particular area of the drawing or painting is secured, bound, extracted and made specific.  This sectioning off of areas privileges each area in a way that the hierarchies previously set between the different parts of the work are eradicated.  As I “dam” this area and that area, the form of each area becomes thoroughly specific and attains a status of equal importance or equal unimportance.

As the form of each area attain clarity through the “dam,” each area then becomes their own reality: a reality that is distinct -but not completely removed- from the reality of the bound area adjacent to it, and other bound areas in the work.  The resulting totality is a growth, a development, and a patchwork construction consisting of multiple constructed realities where each possesses their own particular set of internal dialogues, and whose clearly defined boundaries are the very spine that holds together the complex totality of the drawing or painting.    

This is not to insist that “damming” is the ultimate method to achieve this holding potential.  It is merely one of possible methods, all of which are equally potentiated to a particular goal.  But in the case of what I’m doing, “damming” works:  it clarifies categories;  it interferes with expectations; it’s a reprieve from the power of subjectivity; it checks and limits persuasiveness and fluency; it questions habits; it is doubt circumnavigating to make me unsure.  

CLUI does the Meadowlands

 The Center for Land Use Interpretation did a report/talk presenting their survey of the Meadowlands. It was interesting (weird, too?) to see the familiar examined by an outsider. They have put together a great interactive map and also a great print map (available at the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop) which includes the Smithson grave not far from Medieval Times in Lyndhurst. Matthew Coolidge, director of CLUI also talked about the unfinished Nancy Holt's Sky Mound which now houses that dirt mountain of solar panels near 15W. I love solar, but wish there were methane flares to look at when I drive home from the studio.

Inspiration for a drawing-in-progress

I can't believe the six months is almost over! It really has flown by and I'm feeling pressure from myself to complete one more thing before I leave. I had a ghost drawing sit on my desk for literally a month before it was time to make some tangible marks. I would just work on other drawings around it, on it, next to it, but couldn't quite bring myself to 'begin' 'it'. I think I psyched myself out. Had just finished another fairly large drawing and was afraid to do it again, only better. Finally, I made my moves and I'll be scratching away at the surface over these next few weeks trying to get somewhere.

Looking forward to meeting with everyone this week. We keep such different schedules, so it'll be nice to all be in the same place at the same time. I'm excited to see what everyone has been up to!

Saturday

I especially like #8.
Click image to enlarge.

Notes from a conversation on the future of independent publishing and artists books at the MoMA library:

Idea > Experiment > Product

What is the point?

• of online publishing
• object/self publishing
• data/idea sharing
• autonomy
• language vs. image
• language vs. object

Image</>= to object

Book as alternative space
Media Tools
Why object/book vs. web platform   (objects do not need maintenance)(or ask for "comments")
web platform is "open"
Object is closed and finished
web platform is open
object is purchased and owned
everything web is in progress

online:

• buckets
• channels
• containers

this is about moving and manipulating

Living in the book:

• ideas
• object
• commitment
• sentiment
• emotion

this is about feeling and traditional

Intimacy > Objects > Weight > Heavy

Show Paper = 10,000 copies (weight)

Craftsmanship?
Technique?
Process?          Online = the bastard step child?    

Art In America vs. Art In America Online!

Is this about cost?     What cost are apparent and what costs are hidden?

How do we occupy the space of the internet? vs Occupying the space of the page of an object/book.

The function of print.

Art > Sustainability > Profit

PM 100 - 1000

Economics of publishing

Community > Art making can be a very solitary thing, is that different or changing in the publishing community?

People seeking out the weird.
Why do people buy art books? Because they are fetishized? Cheaper than most art objects?
How effective is your consumption of information online?

Us, we as cultural creative workers have a very different idea about what online consumption is and can be vs the "average" data consumer?

mp3 vs. vinyl vs. live music < (The person most sensitive is the musician - not the consumer)

Information vs. Idea vs. Object

Comics > Collectable > Sharing/Trading   (Cannot separate comics from print)
Object Sharing - Community       (What else cannot be separated?)

(It's orange and blue and it's sooooo nice.)

Conceptual (comics) vs. narrative thread.
Artist writing vs, fiction
Narrative vs. sentiment
Zines = underground publishing
Zines vs. artist book

(I don't think any genre of literature is sacred anymore.)(Lord Byron would agree!)

What is the content?
What is the purpose? - To draw attention to something under recognized? Could it be something other than a book? Then why is it a book? C

Creative practice.
The linear.
The materials:

• paper
• thread
• tape
• ink

New Work

I just finished my new Video Series in which the first video ("Irrelevant") was shot at Gallery Aferro.  To watch the videos please go to this link: http://monakamal.com/artwork/2699942_Hot_Mess_Series.html

studio visits

looking forward to open studio conversations with everyone per Malik....Just had Latoya Ruby Frazier in the studio on saturday catchin up...She had great things to say bout everyone"s practice in Aferro studios...

Just finished Toure' book "who's afraid of post blackness", its one for the shelf...anyone else on that?

Human-power projects

There are several projects occupying my space and mind these days, the largest and most pressing is S*OIL.  This week I will be setting up the planters for final measurements for the fabricator and making adjustments to the electronic system.  This project is a three-planter installation with an electronically controlled irrigation system powered by humans using a railway handcar.  The photo is of the prototype at another location. Though I may not have it set up as such here at Aferro, I will be working on finalizing all the components.

The second project I am currently working on is Mobilis, another human-powered mechanism but this time it is in the form of a convertible car.  I've been working with a programmer (Slava Balasanov) to develop a mobile and web application that will communicate with each other via an online server.  The user will be able to virtually navigate through wilderness parks and the adjacent industrial sites using an iPad.  To view these sites the user must pedal the car (it will have a bicycle chain drive) to power the screen (windshield) that project these two images side by side. Below is an image of the Grand Canyon and the adjacent uranium waste sites. By scrolling their finger on the iPad glass, the user can navigate in the sites, like one would in Google Earth with their mouse.

Mobilis, Google Earth images of Grand Canyon area

S*OIL prototype #2

Posted by: Maria Michails

I think art making is like any other mental/physical activity in the sense that it requires some amount of exercise or practice. I started drawing when I was really young. Like most children who like to draw, I began with copying magazine images, tracing, drawing anything and everything that was in front of me. My art education was pretty formal with some old school teachers who still thought silver point on gesso was a medium. I appreciate learning this way...but only so now I can break all the rules! It has been YEARS since I've had any reason or desire to draw anything representational. I'm more interested now in abstraction in drawing. In the line and mark and layers of erasure. But it's funny how you always return to where you started. My love for representational drawing never left...I just stopped exercising the muscle. I came to Gallery Aferro not knowing exactly where to begin. So I began at the beginning. With a pencil. I'm all warmed up and stretched now...and have since returned back to non representational imagery to begin some laps..



This drawing and an in-progress non representational piece (still in progress) will be in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Academy of Music opening on May 17th.

http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=4353

brodsky fellowship

great to be out of a small bedroom and into a real space....beginning preliminary sketches for brodsky print...working with Randy @ Rutgers on concept...also focused on new book sculptures and school desk and works on paper for a few upcoming exhibits in new york and Delaware..looking forward to working with Andrew on video projects...Peace jc

Finally I got my studio ready to begin my first project which is a video series, one of the videos was shot in my studio at Gallery Aferro.  I had to make the studio mimic a gallery which meant plastering, painting the walls and the floor.  Even though it looked as if I did no or little work, it was a lot of work to make the space resemble a white box.  It was exhausting but it was nice to get my hands dirty and I told myself I'll never become an art handler.

Photos of the video shoot to come!

I am currently reading Keith Haring: Journals, it is amazing and inspiring. Keith got so much done in his short life and changed so much about the art world. One of his journal entries (I'm not sure what he is responding to), "I don't believe art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it."

I have also highly recommend David Wojnarowicz, Waterfront Journals.

What do you recommend?

Come to Gallery Aferro!

Andrew, one of the interns, was talking about how there is a lot of stuff going on the Gallery now... and hes Right!

Gallery Aferro started up again a few weeks ago and we welcome anyone to come experience 3 new exhibitions on display. Admission is always free and we are opened Thursday-Saturday 12-6PM.

Feminist Performance Art

Best Cheerleaders Ever

I came across Perform Feminism while doing teaching prep tonight. Pretty amazing resource.
They also have a blog by thematic category.

from north

2x2 collective will be exhibiting this March in the main gallery. They are currently in residence at Sculpture Space in Utica NY creating work for the show. When I think about collectives I think about some of the better commentary I read about the traditions and grammar of OWS. Someone pointed out that some of the language and gestures are from much older resistance culture, but that through OWS younger people learned them.

found

These drawings have accumulated and gathered in my studio.

The 2nd set_FULL VIDEO: THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 2nd set)_PART 1 of 2

THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 2nd set)_PART 1 of 2 from Jomar Statkun on Vimeo.

The 2nd set_FULL VIDEO: THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 2nd set)_PART 2 of 2

THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 2nd set)_PART 2 of 2 from Jomar Statkun on Vimeo.

Sidewalk Alchemy News

I wanted to give an update as to the current state of the Sidewalk Alchemy series that I had begun while in residence last year. I’ve continued to work on and develop this project for close to a year after the residency has ended and the images below show various large and smaller scale iterations of the project, which involves using photography to document random patterns created by chewing gum on Newark’s sidewalks, re-examining familiar and overlooked relationships between social interactions and physical spaces. Gold leaf has been applied by hand, to each print, bringing attention to the less visible chewing gum remnants—memorializing these varied and complex examples of collective mark-making.

Also I wanted to share a link to an art related radio show broadcast on WVKR, the radio station out of Vassar College. I had an opportunity to meet up The Dead Hare Radio Hour co-hosts Chris Albert and Matthew Slaats, during the taping of episodes 27 and 29, to discuss some of the ideas behind the Sidewalk Alchemy Project begun at Gallery Aferro. Podcast episodes can be accessed online at: http://deadhareradiohour.com/

Chewing gum patterns, horizontal sidewalk joints, and gold leaf. 5 feet x 10 feet

Chewing gum patterns, vertical sidewalk joints, and gold leaf. 5 feet x 10 feet

Chewing gum patterns, diagonal sidewalk joints, and gold leaf. 5 feet x 10 feet

Framed series with diagonals. 22 inches x 55 inches

Framed series with horizontals and verticals. 22 inches x 55 inches

An installation detail.

An installation shot from my studio in Beacon.

Know your rights!

From the ACLU: photographer's rights. Because it is often sort of hard in NJ to avoid photographing something connected with infrastructure, even if you're not trying to.

3 minute spot_THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - first set)

3 minute spot_THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - first set) from Jomar Statkun on Vimeo.

THE CHINESE PAINTING:

A Distinguishable Moment within an Infinitesimal

Increment in a Variable

1. An original abstract oil on canvas is

painted by the artist Jomar Statkun.

2. A photograph is taken of the abstract painting

using an image analyzing program. The program

analyzes the abstract painting and tries to find

its image on the internet.

3. As the program naturally cannot find

the exact image of the abstract painting, it

proposes similar images based on color,

composition, texture, and other visual data.

4. These proposed images are collected along

with their accompanying websites.

5. A selection of the proposed images are then

emailed to an oil painting reproduction factory

in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, China. There

the proposed images are made into hand

painted oil on canvas reproductions.

6. These oil on canvas reproductions are then

collected and photographed. They are then made

into black and white halftone images for

silkscreen printing.

7. In addition to being printed, these halftone

images are imported into a program that

converts images into sound.

8. The artist Jomar Statkun acts as MC and

manipulates the sound.

9. Invited performers interact with the sound.

10. The viewer is welcome to take pictures of the

hand painted oil on canvas reproductions and

to have their own made by the oil painting

factory in China.

(www.oilpaintingproducer.com)

FULL VIDEO: THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 1st set)_PART 1 of 2

THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 1st set)_PART 1 of 2 from Jomar Statkun on Vimeo.

FULL VIDEO: THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 1st set)_PART 2 of 2

THE CHINESE PAINTING (performance - 1st set)_PART 2 of 2 from Jomar Statkun on Vimeo.

For me, the creative process mirrors nature. There is always an experience of the cycle of renewal and destruction, a connection to environment, impermanence, and cause and effect. Here, I have the opportunity to explore this process in an undefined space, directly on the walls and floors with charcoal.

Read the comments too

An interesting article on the culture of borrowing (and the Richard Prince case)

Out of the mouth of babes...

intensification of intensity

As my personal landscapes became unattainable to me, the studio work became offensives in emergency retrieval of memories to prevent their further disappearance.  So I’m counting on photography, video and animation to assist in salvaging bits and pieces of scenes, things and sounds that define these landscapes the most.  There are people like me for whom places possess and emit an intensity that is sensate, emotional, and for some, perhaps philosophical, political.  Implicating media into this studio project is a furious intensification of this intensity.  

11/28 studio shares

It was really nice to participate in today's studio visits and see what everyone is working on. Ken's inner lives of paintings, Katrina's constellations/projections, Vikki's states of change and layers, Marci's story in a jar and peeled landscapes, Nell's grisage, my blackouts. Everyone is working very differently but I think it's really interesting that right now we're all working with ideas of transparency/opaqueness/layers/ghost images. Hmmm...

I'll raise you one...

Over the past weekend I was out in the New York City attempting street photography. I was on my way to China Town when I randomly stumbled onto a building where these people were playing strip poker; hey it is the city after all I thought.

I didn’t notice what was going on but I began snapping photographs of the crowd in front of me. What really attracted me at first were the curious faces of the public. There was a large crowd of people who were all staring into this building. There was a lot of curiosity to what was going on as all of these people were innocent pedestrians. I quickly took advantage of this moment and continued photographing all the reactions of the public crowd.

Each person there had a different reason for staring into these large opened windows. Most of them were plain dumbfounded as to why these men and women were naked while others were there for simple enjoyment. What I loved was the different types of people I saw and their reactions. Since this was New York City, there was a bunch of different types of people. Everyone had something different to say about themselves and what was going on. Even the passing cars driving the road noticed the event beyond these opened windows, some even yelled out their windows.

Among the crowd was Courtenay Finn, who explained to me that she knew these people playing strip poker. She explained to me that this is performance piece by Zefrey Throwell, and Courtenay is the curator. The people who were playing strip poker were friends of Zefrey and Courtenay and they are apart of the exhibition titled I’ll raise you one.

I’ll raise you one is a continuous strip poker game through opened windows. The game is held inside Art in General’s storefront, transforming it into this public absurdity where anyone is allowed to engage with voyeuristic freedom. After each game ends, everyone redresses and another game begins. This ritual is performed through out the workday from 10:30 am to 06:00pm daily. Anyone can view this exhibition through out this week until the 19^th be sure to check it out, I was lucky enough to run into it myself, oh and I saw Jake Gyllenhaal walking about too! Great weekend.

http://www.artingeneral.org/exhibitions/518

I’ll raise you one…

November 12 – November 19
10:30am-6:00pm Daily
Art in General storefront Project Space

79 Walker St. New York City

Photos by Kevin Hau.

Gallery Aferro, Closing Reception and Open Doors