READY FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE
That's me in Athens GA standing on the trestle featured on the back of R.E.M.s first album "Murmur". My daughter and I were in Atlanta to see the Niners play an away game. We made the short drive so I could walk around where the band used to roam in their formative years. I like the sense you get walking around a place where great stuff got created. I felt it in the old converted house in Detroit where they hung a mic under a hole in the ceiling to create the "Motown" sound. I felt it when I was walking through the halls of The Chelsea Hotel in New York. That place was so thick with muses it was hard not to create something right there in the halls.
A lot of magic dust gets left in those places and I like to stir up as much of it as I can. The act of creating something is as close to magic as we get and, I would argue, the best buzz around. Just playing a clumsy chord, slinging a loaded brush or capturing a thought with a net of well chosen words can definitely get you high. No question. (any questions - contact me) Then, when you add other people to the mix, it just starts to multiply the effect and turns into quite a party. OK, a party where everyone is working really hard to harmonize, realize a vision or tell a story or two. In any case, that energy field that happens in the rush of production is a field I like to plow. (As much as I like to mix metaphors...till the cows come home... to the field... where the party is... and, apparently a dusty, magic tractor) I guess what I am saying is that I'd like to be in a place where great stuff gets made.
I'LL SHOW YOU MY BRAIN IF YOU SHOW ME YOURS
When I walked into the Gerhard Richter retrospective at the SFMOMA, I thought I had stumbled into the wrong show. I had seen a few of his blurry paintings before that and I thought I knew what I was getting into. But there I was, standing in a room with many different styles of paintings hanging on the walls. I thought for sure, I was in a group show of some kind. But they were all his; the blurry paintings, the neon "scrape" paintings, the flat swatch grid paintings. I remember a great sense of freedom washing over me when I took in all the different ways this guys was exploring paint. He was free to go where his mind lead him without having to rigidly adhere to any particular "style", just letting the idea dictate the medium. Was his interest really that broad or deep or did he just get bored easily? I don't know, and not sure it matters, but he kind of blew my mind that day and gave me permission to constantly be trying on many different hats. (and yes that is probably like the 12th metaphor thing so far. Sorry, I'll put a dollar in the jar)
So if you take a look through this portfolio you'll get a good sense of how my brain works and the many different hats that have covered it. I'd love to find a place that lets me wear a lot of them, and better yet, try some new ones on for size (or for cover). I love nothing better than trying on new things, I think we are all works in progress and adding more layers to the mess only enriches the patina. I may not have the greatest technical skills, or may not be up to speed with all the latest software, but I can more than make up for it and MacGyver my way through most any situation (with enough duct tape). And more importantly, I know how to be consistently Creative on Demand, Every. Single. Day.
As Chuck Close has said, "Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work." So if your brain likes what it sees from my brain, we should get them together and get to work!