Oh, that question...

As you know, I've been away and will be off again this weekend for another week. I've been traveling in places short on cell reception and internet access. I actually had to make a call last week while standing in a swamp in two feet of muddy water. I used one eye for dialing, the other for tracking a few alligators who were lazing nearby. I'll blog as much as I can meanwhile and then I'll be back for a good long stay. Nice to be chatting with you again—I suffered from severe blogmissitis!

Continuing with our media thread, Stacey Williams-Ng is painting a new series in which the paintings are a response to the significance of social media, and in particular, to status updates. As we know all too well, status updates are a mainstay of social applications like Twitter and Facebook, answering the question “What are you doing right now?” The result is collaborative and democratic—everyone is visible, and equal.

In her heavily textured oil paintings, figures are seen performing mundane tasks, such as cooking pancakes or reading while other more quixotic pieces contain no explicit narrative other that the status update that inspired it, such as the peculiar “Rafiq A. Spring…the end of my winter of discontent or just the next pithy chapter?”

On the road again...

Travelling without cell reception deep into the mountains, Really. Will be offline until next wednesday. In the meantime, here's a new movie — companion to my paintings in an odd sort of way. It has beautiful music by Conrad Cummings. That's one of the benefits of being an artist, while you always have doubts about your own work, you are never unsure about how wonderful and brilliant are the efforts of your friends. If you crave more of Conrad's music...




Michael's Snow — a film by Susan Shaw

Michael’s Snow is a reference to two very different kinds of seminal events in my life. The first has to with art experience. I saw Michael Snow’s Wavelength in 1967. In the film a camera zooms slowly—from the end of a room to a photograph of waves on the wall at the opposite end. The zoom is accompanied by a sine wave as it gradually progresses from its lowest note to its highest and passes through color filters, film stocks, positive and reverse exposure. I have never seen the film again but it has always remained with me—thus I know it was/is a seminal art experience.

The second has to do with sadness and loss, relational in proportion to the people I love. When I made this film I thought it was about snow, now I know it is about the winters of my heart.

Snippets Samplings Static—the Opening

If you missed the opening, there's still time to sample it. The show doesn't close until April 10. Besides if you don't see it, how will you be able to answer Cora's question, "With the end of modernity and the loss of absolute ideals, faced with a sense of fluctuating values, instability, in a context of incessant questioning, reconsideration, how do artists make work?"

I ask myself that every day....
Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, 197 East Broadway, NYC on the Lower East Side!

Verily Verité

Writing about Cindy Sherman seems redundant but a terrific film I saw this weekend has prompted this post. A look into two artist's processes, an incisive and funny slant on the art world, and a fairy tale of love, Guest of Cindy Sherman is a terrific ride. Artist and TV personality Paul Hasegawa-Overacker (known as Paul H-O) has warmth and charm, and I felt for him remembering that my own ex once introduced himself as Mr. Susan Shaw. After the film, he took questions from the audience—I've posted a few clips (including a hard luck for artists clip) here as well as a clip on Cindy Sherman from Ovation TV. There's also nice article about the film on ArtInfo by Jillian Steinhauer, and to flesh the column out, some of the amazing chameleon images from Cindy's work at Metro Pictures.

Thanks Soooooooooooooo Much!

Just wanted to take a minute to say "Thank you!" to all who came to the Snippets Samplings Static openings, who read this blog repeatedly, who email me about exhibition and grant opportunities, who offer criticism and mentoring, who help with technical know how, and who are my cheerleaders no matter what. You are great and I am grateful.
THANK YOU!

A simple walk #... oh, who cares

We've had a great spell of warm weather and I've been using every free minute to walk in the sunshine snapping away and plying my movie camera. As I was on my stroll, I was greeted by a very elderly lady, also out enjoying the weather. She saw my camera and commented, "yes, there are some lovely things starting to bloom." I had to agree although the only thing really blooming here is myself.

More Apples...

When you have more than one child you need to follow the equal time rule. Here are some of the artistic pursuits of my other two and yeah, I'm just as proud.

Max is interested in Dance and Theatre. Here are clips from recent performances:





Chloe is more interested in design and photography when she's not playing the guitar, violin, mandolin, clarinet, piano or drums. This is a book of her photographs that I really like.



There you have it. New York is a place for creative people—and for apples. We're the second largest producer of apples in the United States. As for our creative people, it's a wonderful fragrant orchard, apples and interesting seeds.