A gay day at SOIL

It was a hot, sweaty Saturday Talk at SOIL last week when we new members talked briefly about our work. I could be wrong, but I think SOIL might have been all hetero before this round of homos joined this year.  It was nice/interesting to see common yearnings in our work. All three of the gay members present for the talk (one bear couldn’t make it) are making work about our sexual identities, histories, and relationships. And, all three of us are using somewhat abstract means to do this. Also, I think talking comfortably about these things in a gallery setting is relatively new to all of us.

Chris Buening talked about how Mad Dog is a kind of abstract “portrait” of his fifteen-year-old self drunk on a date with his much older boyfriend.

Derrick Jefferies found the body for Anatomy in cinnamon and mint chewing gum, stretched and and molded together to shape sinews and nakedness.

I’m using The Song of Songs from the Bible as a way to paint the trajectory of my love song to my wife and son.

Related: Erin Shafkind’s take on the Saturday Talk.

Me + You + December

I usually put stuff about my own work on my other blog, but right now there are several things happening that I’d like to invite you to.

Right NOW – December 11th:

The ownership of my piñata is up for grabs for Strangercrombie.

December 11th:

Matt Offenbacher and Margie Livingston have invited me and about 30 other painters to talk for five minutes each at The Henry about paintings we love right now. It’s a “Seattle Painters Mini-Symposium” because “painting is awesome, interesting, central to contemporary art discourse, and we’re doing it here in Seattle.” Let’s talk about Painting!

{left to right, top to bottom; some of the participating painters: Margie Livingston, Joey Veltkamp, Ken Kelly, Kimberly Trowbridge, Nicholas Nyland, Matt Offenbacher, Eric Elliott, Susanna Bluhm, Robert Hardgrave}

December 12th:

I’m opening my studio in Georgetown during the Georgetown Art Attack. Come see my new paintings and have some cookies!

Studio Group

We’ve started a studio group here in Seattle. Anna and I had been wanting to participate in a group of artists that visited each others studios, so we decided to start one. I emailed local artists I already knew personally, as well as the members of SOIL and Crawl Space. People were very responsive, and a truly great group has taken shape. Members are: Saya Moriyasu, Troy Gua, Sharon Arnold, Laura Ward, Amanda Manitach, Damon Mori, Margie Livingston, Thom Heileson, Ryan Molenkamp, Etsuko Ichikawa, Joey Veltkamp, Anna Callahan, Susanna Bluhm.

Amanda Manitach

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Etsuko Ichikawa

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Sharon Arnold

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Joey Veltkamp

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Laura Ward

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Troy Gua

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Ryan Molencamp

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Anna Callahan

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Margie Livingston

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Saya Moriyasu

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Thom Heileson

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Susanna Bluhm

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We wore mustaches at our first meeting.

{Troy Gua and Margie Livingston}

A lot of us hadn’t met before, so we introduced ourselves and our work. It was really great to see the variety of paths that brought each of us to this art community. Among us there are several high school dropouts, a former professional chef, a former engineer.

{Amanda Manitach, Joey Veltkamp, Sharon Arnold, Thom Heileson, Anna Callahan. Joey Veltkamp’s apartment was not on fire. I’m not sure why this photo came out like this!}

We’ll take turns hosting the studio visits, and the hosting artist will decide on the topic. We’ll talk about each others work, stuff we’re thinking about and reading, projects in early stages, etc.

Sometimes life as an artist can feel rather solitary. It can feel like you’re working alone in your studio in a kind of void. While that sensation is probably my favorite part of being an artist, I also feel the need for my work and my art practice to connect to a community that functions in a world. I think I’m in art not just for the making, but also for the being. It has something to do with the role I play as a worker in our culture, and the way I want to relate to other people.

This gathering felt more like a reunion than a first meeting.

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FLOATING WORLDS

Gallery4Culture, Seattle Washington, October 2006

“Floating
Worlds” refers to popular “Ukiyoe” prints of Japan in the 1800s.
Moriyasu interprets the prints, buddhism investigating the absurd
optimism of heaven and travel.  The escapism of landscapes and heaven
take us away from the here and now.  The popularity of Asian landscapes
that grace landscape painting, dishes, lamps and consumer items speaks
of our desire for that “other” more perfect and less complicated
place.

Sponsored in part by a 4Culture Grant

Price available upon request.  Photos by Saya Moriyasu.

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