Dammit, I need to be depressed and anti-social…
I am a lifelong melancholic. Ever since I was a kid, melancholy was like a special room where I would go to think and write.
-from Americans’ fear of feeling sad may be threat to great art (as seen on artPark, the most excellent blog from Charlottesville’s Migration gallery)
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At the Starlight…
1. Robert Rauschenberg passed away. I read this quote in the Washington Post: “I do what I do because… painting is the best way I’ve found to get along with myself.” I know that feeling - I somehow need to find more time to get along with myself.
2. There’s some serious fun with the Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers. We went out to the event at the Blue Moon the other night - it was way too crowded to even get in the door of the back room, but we snagged a seat outside with a good view of the closed circuit teevee in the front room. It was an impressive display of arm-wrestling talent.
3. Ran the Batesville 10k Saturday morning - probably my slowest 10k ever. I didn’t care much though - I was happy just to be able to run 6 (very hilly) miles. I’ve been having somewhat serious knee issues for over a month now. It started when I twisted my left knee - usually the good one of the two - playing softball in early April, and it never really got better. I tried resting it, but eventually came to the conclusion that it needs exercise and strengthening more than time off. So I’ve been running a little bit and doing some strength exercises for it. And the Batesville race has always had a very special place in my heart - it was really nice to be out there on a beautiful spring day.
And if anything, the knee was a little better afterwards.
4. The Dave’s Mosquito Farm softball juggernaut is not going exactly as planned. We figured to be quite good this season, since we’re in a relateively low league. So far we’re 3-5 though, and 3 games out of a playoff spot. Still, the team is great fun this season, and the other teams in our league are nice and friendly. I wish we were doing a little better, but it’s all good otherwise.
5. Bug.
Movie: Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly): I don’t like Julian Schnabel, I hated Basquiat, but this movie is what the art of film should be. Visionary, inspired, thoughful, visual, brilliant. Easily one of the best movies of the last year.
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Picture.
From the “men and their power tools” department: I recently bought a new circular saw to replace the old one I’ve had for probably 20+ years, which was not only under-powered but hopelessly dull. I wanted a new one - partly to cut the MDF board I use for my new pieces, and partly because I had a bunch of old crappy masonite pieces that needed to go away.
I do this every couple of years: Whenever I change media/styles and don’t plan on showing the old work any more, I go through the old stuff, save the best of it, give away/sell cheap to friends what I can of the rest, then the other unwanted work meets the saw. Some people think this is crazy, but I absolutely love doing it. It’s incredibly freeing, and so much better than just throwing the pieces away - it’s a ritual sacrifice. It leaves me free of failure, with plenty of room - both in the studio and in my psyche - to move forward. (Twenty years ago, when I used to paint on glass, I had a big box in my studio and I’d take a hammer to the sacrifices. Now that was a release.)
So yesterday was break-in-the-new-saw day. Cut some new boards for new pieces, then about a dozen old Andrew artworks were cleaned out of my studio and out of my life. (And, yes, the new saw is like a knife going through room-temperature butter). The simple act of throwing away is an amazingly healthy exercise.
Onward.
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Relief.
In perhaps the best Route 66 episode of them all, “Fly Away Home”, Summers, played by the great British character actor Michael Rennie, says these beautiful words, written by the eloquent Stirling Silliphant:
I can sum myself up quite precisely. I’m a gaunt fellow, full of the sounds of the past, hearing nothing of the present. I’m aware of time’s despair, not despairing. I’m a lean and thoughtful fellow who gets about in the clouds to gain a temporary detachment. A fellow who wants to stop hurting, and being hurt. Simple as that.
Please.
1. First things first. You’ve been 404ed. It’s time to say goodnight, Hillary.
2. Wilford Brimley and the cats who resemble him. (Boing Boing)
3. The wisdom of our Vice President. (And they wonder why the rest of the world hates us). (Daily Kos)
4. This weekend I shall have two whole days of making art. You have no idea how I need that.
5. But most importantly of all, Tom Speaks! Say it with me now, “pehdtsckjmba”. (Thanks, Kim!)
6. Flags.
