soft focus
Last month I traveled to Kenosha, Wisconsin to the University Of Wisconsin - Parkside to do a couple cool things:
to announce the prizes for The 29th Parkside National Print Exhibition, which I juried.
to install SOFT FOCUS, an exhibition of some of my work, all of it dating from the past 5 years or so.
this is what an art show in a rental van looks like. It was only about a four hour drive and I mostly listened to Beach Boys and Tortoise.
look mom: i’m campus programming
in the moments before I left for Wisconsin I scanned the studio for last minute additions and spotted this old friend. Dog and Log, together again.
more friends, in full color.
I joke, but it was nice to see this work again and alongside some newer things. It felt good in a different way that some art shows do. I think about art shows a lot like records or concerts, what those must feel like to people that know what they are doing.
I remember these: The Magic Blankets. I love these guys. I remember making the wood hanger things in my garage. They were exhibited originally over COVID times so I never got to see them up on a wall together. They are still Magic Blankets but they are also now flags to carry and hang.
I tried to go pee and thought somebody spiked my coffee. Wisconsin is cool.
the void has a parking lot.
the next morning I spoke to students here and used power point and everything. whenever I do these kinds of things I must remind myself that I actually have a point of view and know what i’m talking about because here I am. it’s almost as though nobody knows what they are doing.
this is what I was thinking about the whole time.
you can learn a lot from a salsa bar. stay open!
other things from the trip:
-I met cool people who make cool art and are making the world better for being in it
-I had an amazing breakfast burrito
-I saw my friend Fuscia play viola with the Bonnie Prince Billy band in Evanston and it was a joy to behold. truly wonderful energy out there still
-I slept in a strange dorm guest suite and didn’t turn the tv on once
-I did not blow it