Friday, July 24, 2009

Long After the Sandstorm



the man standing here, by his very presence and relationship to his surroundings, seems to beg many questions. "what is he thinking?" we have to ask that, right (?), his house hs been taken over by sand! how about: "how long has he been standing there?" or, "whats with the sand at his feet?" "what was he thinking when he arrived as opposed to now?" "when did the storm hit?" "does he really care about his house?" after questioning and observing it seems clear that he must have been present durring the storm-see the sand at his feet? He must have watched his house from before, durring, and long after the sandstorm (see the weeds and sticks poking out of the long settled sand, also the cob webs in the open door?). but then why does he appear surprised? why does he look like he is arriving? why is he holding luggage as though he's returning from a safer place as to avoid the storm, (yet never leaving?)? the answer is symbolic in nature. one may look at his life and believe that there must be something wrong with it-that it is taken over and of no worth. he stands outside of it with such crippling beliefs and, almost ready to check out, he sadly gazes into it seeing it as something it is truely not-worthless, taken over, weathered and perhaps destroyed. little does he know that such thoughts bring the storm that will only confirm his belief. from the start he stsnds here and sees the invisible-inevitable, inevitable and invisible only because HE sees it. eventually with such negative thoughts of his life the storm happens-it takes over his life, it takes over him. Of course, because we are redeemable creatures, we can stop this before it ends us.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Statues In the Water

There are many possibilities here: Either these statues-these creations were made to face the moon only on a certain time of year, and at a certain time of night, thus facing an empty spot in the sky all other times of the year-and at night. which would mean that they were created with a statement to the significance of this light source in relation to a certain time. That, or they are always facing the moon...that's right-they could be living, rotating, light-attracted stone giants created by the hands of a magician-like stone carver with great secrets to his design. wait! maybe no man created them but they are works of the gods. but could they have always existed? perhaps they can look anywhere they want but choose to face the moon? or maybe I'm lying to you and these statues in the water don't even exist-i just conjured them up. this, i guess is a work of questions- without a given answer, or maybe there is an answer, maybe more than one. Now what are you? are you a creation made to be already pointed toward the light, as a statement of its significance? are you a living art form naturally designed to move about wherever good is-who knows how...a mystery of nature? maybe you and i are created by the Governor(s) of the universe? but could we have always been? do we choose to be looking where we look? are we even real? This is the great dilemma placed upon us as we enter, and then go about this life viewing one another...what is going on here? who are we? where do we come from? why do we face where we face (and why do we love the light)? well whatever the answers, we are perpetually questioning due to the peculiar nature of our very existence-how we stand, where we face and how we came to be. We are statues in the water.



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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Moon

yea here you go. i couldnt come up w a better title, sorry. ok this is the first, and yet one of the best moonscapes i have ever made! do you see it? can you feel it? i can! i think that the reason it was so good for its time, even better than many i make now, is the same reason any artist often creates better things in the beginning. its because at first all you have is blankness. a canvas, a paper-thats all. from there you are not pressuring yourself to improve, you are only exploring-unafraid of mistakes. as time passes you begin to compete with yourself and any mistakes are, to you, a supposed sign of digression, or a step backward. the blank canvas becomes a dare to conquer yourself-you having created so much already. now the drawings of the past are not percieved by you as step by step creations, they are there own living thing, appearing as though theyve always existed (because, i guess, in a sense they have). And viewing things like that (looking back rather than ahead-and without the encouragement of seeing the steps) can be very intimidating to you. funny how you intimidate yourself. a pride thing perhaps? one of the many artist blocks suffered by most-all you artists are so prideful! Me too dagnabit! this is a fear i have struggled with for years. this drawing, along with Faith Fishing, Pure Thoughts, and Rise of the Tree-Men are the poster children for what i am speaking of here. they seem to dare me to try, saying "Beat this!" i will. Betsy Bush you better believe i will! this piece now belongs to Jenny Miller, a very good friend of mine.

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