Posted by Jay on March 30th, 2008
As I’ve said before, It’s a matter of doing things indoors while waiting out the season.
A few tentative results have come up in the interim. One is a bundle of gender symbols composed of walnut, mahogany and oak pieces that I’ve had around since I dressed as a younger man. The other is a serendipitous product made up of mason’s lath, a basic building material that I ran across at the hardware store.
These pieces are intertwined one circle through another to form a closed loop. Again, this is changeable as the mutual relations of the pieces depend upon which individual is picked up or hung on the wall. Makes me think of a story whose narrative, and the outcome of which, would depend upon a given word or paragraph being chosen in a programmed context. more… »
Posted by Jay on March 15th, 2008
Steve wears out skis in pursuit of his prey and I hardly leave the pavement. These are record shots, essentially, but they have a certain something.
The foreground twigs are a web cast upon the ice. more… »
Posted by Jay on March 14th, 2008
Below is a sketch for a plain and simple red circular object that I plan to make when the weather improves. My ambition is that it will hang in a state of minimalist implacability.
Why do I plan to do this? It has been on my mind for awhile and represents my usual mixture of ambition and sloth. Also it is in some respects a response to recent discussions of “perfection” and “beauty”. I’m looking to make something that is ambiguous in reference to either term.
How so? A circle is the simplest of shapes and admits to no variation except the extend of its radius. As a geometrical figure with infinite degrees of symmetry it is perfect. As for beauty, the usual comparisons of more or less, better or worse that inform the word do not apply – there are no better circles. Moreover, one can make a circular object quite simply and with a high degree of uniformity thus bypassing most issues of facture.
The chosen color refers to conventions surrounding love and pain which both tend to employ a blood red. This started out as a pie chart with a dividing line, but a deepening realization of the inextricable commingling of both sensations in the human condition made the line superfluous. I find no comparative value in this choice as the red simply suits the subject.
So there it is: The Ratio Of Love And Pain. How would you propose to critique it?
Posted by Jay on February 24th, 2008
Posted by Jay on February 15th, 2008
Change, the oft heard mantra of Democratic campaigners, has made an early stop in our house.
This post may serve as a small contribution to the ongoing conversation between Steve and myself about waterfalls as a cascade has here come undammed. It was time to get a new printer, and we got one. This drip was followed by a new Laptop to supplement our revered, but elderly desktop. I found that my equally elderly and revered Olympus camera could not be supported on the laptop. Not to worry as Jo received a new Canon Powershot for Christmas – but then its USB cable disappeared. Meanwhile the jewel case to my Photoshop program has itself gone missing. At this point the video card on the desktop went out, stranding my installed Olympus and Photoshop programs, leaving me with the option of buying a “new” card. These problems are – most of them – solvable with a precipitous flow of time and money. So, in the nonce, and failing anything new to show, I wish to present a little song and dance about t-shirts.
For the last four or five years I have done t-shirts for family and friends. I use simple iron-ons and depend upon humor and sentimentality to carry the day. Call it a little hobby of sorts, and different from anything else I do. So, granted my predicament, I beg your patience and forbearance.
I thrust my camera at a goose and added the moniker in recognition of my daughter”s – in – law old English major.
more… »
Posted by Jay on January 9th, 2008
Want to get the image up in the face of a computer or web connection problem.
Will say more when the connection stops timing out.
Posted by Jay on January 7th, 2008
A nice thing about A&P is that one can violate a cardinal rule and show unfinished work. And this is certainly the season for such.
There is a benefit to all the wind and snow in that it forces me indoors with its limited space and ventilation where I am obliged to work in a more preliminary mode. This time around it’s combinations of sticks as I try to stay on topic with the linkage theme.
As a follow up to the Christmas lights that I posted, I kept putting scissor jack units together, seeking to create a spiral effect that might either sit or hang. As matters sit it is hanging – for now.
more… »
