During a long overdue dinner my mind was stopped by a very wise friend who recently read my post. “What if Suzuki never published?” she asked. I felt a shock go through my body. I was in a gap. Then a place of reasoning once my mind started again. Realizing – I had not thought […]
There is a thread here that it is about contentment. It is also about egolessness. It is my favorite part of day. I do not remember the last time I was able to enjoy it. 3:30-4:30ish, home; nowhere else physically or mentally. I note the position of the sun no matter the time of year […]
That “art doesn’t give a shit”, revealed by painter Larry Poons, is arguably the most profound utterance of this Century. The imbalance of the market is extreme, we all know that. The luck of the draw is prevalent. It is who you know. Much deeper than all of that nonsense; when the artist is still, […]
A quiet morning at the house. A small storm over Storm (the name of the mountain) across the valley. Cats munching breakfast, tea cooling. The wind blows in small, spring, storm gusts. I ponder, again, the trade-off. The trade-off of not having a college administrator’s life and instead having the life of an adjunct who […]
Duchamp, without a doubt, gave us our most brilliant theories on art and context. What is of the utmost importance to remember is that these ideas include the maturity and quality of the work as well as the actual object itself. “Bad” work in the context of a “good” gallery can be pure unadulterated crap. […]
We are in the advent of new scholarship on Agnes Martin; inclusive of some superior re-contextualizing of her work. Among the things to consider in this wake is a new type of model for women artists. Many thought they understood Martin. Pretty straight forward, in fact, there was nothing there really. Well, we instinctively knew […]
Talking is highly overrated; at times, even unnatural. Many people fill the space they are frightened by with their own words. Interjecting themselves into places in which they do not belong. Other sentients go about their days in relative quietude. There are moments of exchange – even chatter for some, but we as human, […]
5:41am a contemplative studio practice (I) The moon is bright through my studio window – the electric blue in the sky continues to increase. Emptiness. The basis of the contemplative studio practice is emptiness. Shunyata. For the Western mode of thought perhaps an oxymoron because emptiness is from where all things come. How can that […]
Wyoming floats and we can float in it when we are there. The land and its history make it so. Those who live there have a different perspective and more importantly a different perception. This is perhaps of the greatest importance for the artists there. In the Buddhist tradition it is our perception which roots […]
Notes for and to my students…. I often talk with you about your studio practice. No Pictures is dedicated, in part, to you because you ask how I do what I do. My hope is that this curiosity extends itself to the study and understanding of how others do what they do in this field. […]