multi

matthew was on my mind, we'll have another skype session tomorrow, tonight's was brief. after encountering an "arcadia & anarchy" exhibit reminiscent of some of the ones we saw in tokyo together, i bought a new zealand pear (delicious) from the supermarket as part of my walking snack. now that it's just over three months to kisokaido, want to make sure i'm ready for it.
























some chess editing, this was a really unique one, michael using photoshop projected onto the board while i used wet paint, we both had access to black and white
























daniel seemed to enjoy my enthusiasm for traffic cone aesthetics, showed him this, from my walk
























and this cone in a cone in a hole (triggering "katharine" thought)
























can't imagine life without these people. the people i thought about today, or saw today, or talked to today - would i want to remember what it was like before i knew matthew?

maybe this isn't clear, what it has to do with what i did, or my art, or what my friends and my life have to do with my art. and it maybe won't be, and i want to go to sleep, but quickly - matthew has been on my mind; our collaboration isn't going smoothly; which is fine; not everything can be smooth; human relationships aren't cake; at the guggenheim, i saw that exhibit which contained the sort of pantings we used to see at department stores in tokyo; those joint excursions formed a lot of my early encounters with paintings, painting as a medium, bits of art history, little bits at a time; while editing, i saw paintings between people i had forgotten had even "played" "chess," which were interesting; i saw michael and i taking turns using photoshop and wet paint together, and felt super-lucky that we were able to do that, but again aware that i don't see him as much as i'd like; in the evening alex had organized a little get-together by the river and after an hour daniel and i realize where we each know each other from - we both presented on the same night at dorkbot; so we got to really talk art, best of all, we've actually each seen each others' work - often if you can actually talk about art, you haven't already seen each others' work, it's different that way - and also there were three other people who painted on chess boards; and then matthew reminded me that i wrote him letters from china, this is way back in the day, say 1995, and i was making small paintings with very little conviction, just the desire to paint, to make art, to be an artist, and that it was important to keep painting, but really a lot of thoughtless floundering, and not prolific, not at all, and all these people, i think it makes a difference. we help each other.

when i stand in the guggenheim, and i see a kandinsky painting, and i remember "yes, these were big ones, these were some of the things that made me want to paint" and a mondrian and another mondrian later on and a giacometti, and each of these things were touched by those artists, it's almost a direct connection. christina talked about rothko a bit, and she said simon had a similar experience, me too, that first encounter with a rothko painting, and that's still a direct connection between you and mr. mark rothko who made that with his hands and his antiquated technology in his post-orson-welles world. still fresh, for us. and when i talk to matthew, even if it's skype, it's direct, it's fresh. and when i see michael and i painting together, digital and analog, it's exciting. and none of those things happens without other people. today, i really felt that. we do sometimes.

all art is time based right? well no art is solitary. no kandinsky, no rothko, i don't think. no orson welles, no rothko, i don't think. no matthew turner? very different erik sanner life and paintings, i think.