Done

all paintings are done for my next show, a dual solo in London next month.

up there, are the works varnished & drying, waiting to be scanned last night.

now they're at the framers and i'm so nervous!

i've never had local custom framing, so most of the time,

i pack my pieces and ship them off to framers near the gallery i'm showing at,

and they're off my hands.

this time, i imagine this must be a tiny glimpse into a new parent's life

when they send off their baby to daycare for the first time.

here's the flyer for my upcoming show :

it's my first larger body of works in over a year...

so it's making me even more nervous.

nervous for what, i don't know.

keeping fingers crossed that the paintings come back looking

good in their new frames.

Hair : rambling on symbols

+ another long rambling warning +

i'm not sure how other artists work, but for me, when i incorporate symbols into

my works, it's very likely that i wasn't aware of the action, or i did it without any

cognitive thought process. i wish i were able to do it out of will, more,

able to send out messages and stories, and all that good stuff that really good artists

must be able to do.

(maybe "metaphors" is a better word than symbols).

midway through preparing for my next show, i started obsessively drawing hair in strands and folds.

it was something that kind of started being a pain, due to its slow progress and completion time,

but it was soothing at the same time, and i felt like there was something in there for me as well.

listening to some books and music, letting the stories and thoughts seep into

each strand, fold and crease i drew - i can still recall what i was listening to or was thinking

when i run my fingers over different strands!

some people have comment that they love the "hair style" i create, or say that maybe

i must particularly like long, flowy hair.

(probably since my hair is short, it must seem as if i have hair-envy. i don't.)

these were a bit more literal that what i had in mind...

... which made me think about this for a while about symbols.

i've read somewhere that hair, traditionally, symbolizes lust or vanity.

(which is why monks and nuns often got rid of their hair first).

i knew that this meant little to nothing to me, maybe a little bit.

after some thinking, (and recently having gained a little more lucidity in mind),

my own, personal meaning in the hair started to take shape slowly :

hair seems to be something that we have no control over.

it grows as if it's got a mind of its own - the speed at which it grows,

or its shape, form or texture, we can't control.

you can keep cutting it off, but you can't stop it from growing from you.

maybe i am using hair to represent a part of oneself that one wants to get away from and hide.

or the opposite - something you want to protect yourself with and hide behind.

or perhaps the sprouts of thoughts and ideas (inner demons, even) that you are

incapable of stopping, and only have to come to embrace.

all the folds and creases of the hair might reflect the mazes of the mind,

which might reflect the mazes of the environment?

in the earlier pieces i'd done, the hair flew more freely in more of a mass bleeding into the background

- where the girl perhaps wanted to blend and melt into the environment,

letting the surroundings seep into herself...

the 'self' now maybe wants to be enveloped by its own burden, or even be protected by the

surrounding elements and find its own holding spot.

in spite of all the faults and shortcomings, embracing oneself...

sorry about such a long ramble!

writing a little statement about the upcoming show has got me thinking more,

and thought i'd write a little bit out here in case i forget.

............................

"There are symbolic dreams-- dreams that symbolize some reality.

Then there are symbolic realities -- realities that symbolize a dream."
— Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase

also :

"Symbolism and meaning are two separate things."

— Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore.

+ EDIT : the finished pieces that are shown in progress are posted here now.

In the Trees : Twin Peaks 20 Anniversary Art Show

i've been so fortunate to have been invited to be a part of a group show

that celebrates 20th anniversary of Twin Peaks, the legendary show

from 1990 by the amazing David Lynch!

..........................................

In The Trees: TWIN PEAKS 20th Anniversary Art Exhibition
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, February 12, 2011
8:00PM to 11:00PM

ON VIEW: Sunday, February 13, 2011
10:00AM to 3:00PM

PLACE: Clifton’s Brookdale
648 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Online preview of pieces HERE!

...................................

the venue seems like such an old, historic restaurant,

which might echo the ambiance of the Double R diner in Twin Peaks.

i believe this is only a 2-day event, so please make sure to be there!!
several of the cast and i think David Lynch himself will be there, as well as his artworks.

please check the website for more info & line-up and for inquiries for previews, etc.

below is my contribution to the show:

Audrey. 11" x 14". Acrylic & Colored Pencil on Wood. © 2011.

i chose (if it isn't so obviously already!) Audrey Horne for my inspiration for the piece.

i often found the dualistic identities of doppelgangers, dream-like story telling of
David Lynch very relatable to my personal works, at least in concept if not visually obvious.
i thought the same when i watched Twin Peaks (well, i guess the duality theme is included
in the title), how each character seemed to have dualistic characters, straddling two (or more)
worlds. just my take, that is.

something about the character of Audrey Horne was very intriguing.
a girl, on the verge of being a woman, a smart, sassy, mature character that also
has that innocent naïveté. something just starting to sprout out that could either become
either "black" or "white" (as in the lodges in the show).
i find that i'm very drawn to characters/people that reside in the in-between worlds.
(maybe, probably because i identify with them).

so i chose her to represent my impression of the show (though not a portrait, per se),
although there could've been so many other facets to explore obviously.

here's the framed view :



also some previews of other pieces are on Daily Du Jour

On routines...

this will be a very wordy post, so please feel free to skip!

just my ramblings ...

...........................................................

lately, i've been living a slightly "normal" schedule.

rise in the morning, go to bed at night.

not the night owl schedule i used to have all my life, off and on,

despite my best efforts.

i tend to get into this regularity during winter times,

when the days are short and i tend to get winter doldrums

due to reduced possibilities of physical activities.

a little after the new year has begun, i fixed my schedule

(done by staying up about 24 hours) to how normal people live,

awake during the day, asleep into the dawn.

also because i have several shows before even spring comes around,

and i have a lot of work to do. solo shows are different that group shows,

where i have to have that long breath of ideas and energy streaming

inside in a consistent manner in order to keep a group of ideas tied together.

soon i found a rhythm i felt comfortable with... a kind of ritualistic routine.

which is weird because i never thought much about routines.

but i see that routines does give your daily life a ritualistic rest for your mind.

i wake up, stretch a bit, make coffee, sit down with it and read with small breakfast.

then start painting for a few hours listening to podcasts or audio books (first time!).

go out for lunch or dinner with matthew sometimes, some type of physical exercise

somewhere in there, and work a bit more, stretch, then sleep.

pretty much the general gist of it.

this all has been reinforced when i started reading haruki murakami's

"what i talk about when i talk about running" lately, just small bits at a time.

and because i'm so bad with words when i read his writings,

often times, i am struck with how exact his descriptions are.

this book, especially since it's a memoir (not a novel/fiction)

i can really relate to his thoughts and ideas that reside beyond his stories.

the part that really stayed with me, besides a sudden urge to start running,

was that because as a novelist (or as any type of artist, i imagine) you have to

delve deep into the ugliest parts of humanity, which will inevitably take

tolls on your mental/mind health, you have to make sure to keep a healthy body.

last year, or even before, i struggled with the kind of the dark ugliness he spoke of.

not that i, myself, is like that but to explore the kind of darkness

in order to search what i'm looking for in my works made it hard to

balance my real life with my work world.

and my tendency to have an erratic night-owl schedule didn't seem to help this either.

now that i've been kind of keeping a regular schedule,

a kind of lucidity dawned upon me (with my life and my work)

that i don't think i've had before. a kind of sharpened focus of sort.

simply since everything other than my work having become a little

more settled, thus causing me less distraction (well, there's always more i can find)

i do notice that i can think better when my studio times comes around.

knowing myself, i don't know when this steam will run out...

but for now i hope to keep it going, painting, drawing, sculpting

a bit at a time everyday, keeping healthy everyday,

keeping that balance. that clarity of mind. the focus.

making each day a little bit better than the day before, in one way or another,

i'm sure i'll be able to find that balance.

- end of rambling -

fake

i just recently saw this image a few times (last time here),

credited to my name... i have no idea who created this.

but, unfortunately, that piece above is NOT mine.

that image up there is a copy of this piece of mine below :

Je Te Veux. 6" x8". Mixed Media on tea-stained paper. © 2008.

i am not sure why, or what i want to accomplish through this,

but i felt the need to clarify.

EDIT :

- found the source of the top image (thanks to a reader on facebook!) which hails from here.

- although it doesn't make me super comfortable to have works copied to a tee,

mostly i'm just flattered, it's not meant for any commercial gain except for just study and appreciation! i only wanted the right credit to go to the correct artwork.

so, thank you, beatyourgreens!