What an exciting time to be breathing. It is around 10 pm and the rain’s pleasant pitter patter calms my brain. I love the sounds I hear through our bedroom window that faces the backyard, like my landlord Cecilia whistling for her cats to come in at night, and distant voices from the high decks of a nearby apartment building. They are usually laughing. It makes me feel good. Birds chirp at sunrise and I hear an owl hoot in the morning.
Today I worked at the big art warehouse, checking artworks for damages or irregularities. They are massively heavy. As God as my witness, I will NEVER make artwork that is dangerous for art handlers to lift, or will hurt their backs and knees. After work I joined Joe to help sculptor Adam Parker Smith move into his old apartment from their upstate rental house. He is a very energetic person and when you are around him, it makes you feel like possibilities are out there! That good things are accessible! That it is the right and just thing to execute your ambitions! His wife, Carolyn Salas, is an amazing sculptor too and she has a show at Mrs. Gallery in Maspeth this month which I will visit when I am back from NC.
Time and time again, I recognize that one’s attitude towards life is reflected back at them by their surroundings. I have depressive tendencies and accept defeat easily, but have great appreciation for the little things, and feel so grateful for the love in my live. So I think I’m a fair enough balance, when combined with dedication, that good things come my way.
I remember wishing for a visual art community, feeling like I had none, and then we naturally found each other. Maybe we aren’t a collective with a mission statement (yet) or radical collaborators, but we check in on each other and support each other.
My artist and prop fabricator friend Mickey Hoover has been creating a series of very moving photographs lately. She hasn’t shared it publicly yet, so this is me telling you to look out for it!
I had an inspiring and mysterious late night bar conversation with my dear friend Russell Hymowitz, and musician Reed Bateh of of Bambara. We talked about eating flies after you kill them, and my experience taking care of a rose garden in New Orleans last Summer during the lockdown. I hadn’t really connected that I’ve been painting roses ever since, until they pointed it out to me. Reed’s band’s new album Stray is very good. I own it on vinyl. He said he has lived in the same basement apartment for 10 years so that the band can rehearse down there, and the rent is cheap which is good for touring. I admire this dedication. Russell has been recording over the last week with a musician named Good Leaf at Adam Amram’s recording studio After The Fall Records. I met him a few years ago and am very pumped to hear this album when finished!
Lastly, and most specially, Joe officially finished his script, Love In The Year 2064. After three drafts! It has been fascinating to observe the fruition of this script.
