“Then said the student Almitra, Speak to us of love. And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said: When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.”

S/ART/Q has some really exciting happenings in the near future. The first is our second annual Print Party which I created the poster and visual material for;

And in the next few weeks we will be presenting the next major exhibit (but you’ll just have to hold your horses for that news!). Stay tuned …

I am excited to start working on a video project with Ryan Nance, coupling a visual medium to his poem, Samarkand. It is one of the more challenging of projects, but something I have been interested in undertaking for a long time. Below are some of my beginning notes …

S/ART/Q Process Exhibition has been running for a week now and I have heard good things from those that have seen it. Look for a Process catalogue in the near future. It will be nice to produce print design again as my work has been focused on web development. If you read ‘Advertising Then & Now’ you can get an idea of why I spend so much time in this medium.

As far as my personal artwork is concerned, I honestly haven’t had much time for myself. Business has been floating with the inconsistencies of the stock market, unemployment and housing sales (or lack there of) which makes actual work very challenging (and extremely busy). On the other side of that (or what takes up my evenings) is dedicated to exposing the art collective, and producing, what seems to be my newest medium of choice, video.

In my quest for understanding ‘contemporary art’, not defined by a time period, rather an actual understanding of what contemporary art means, where its going and how I can successfully represent my work, I converse with contemporary artists I associate with. Naturally I get all different responses with nothing concrete to strive for other than doing what I did since I was a kid, be true to myself; make art for myself. However, one person did mention how contemporary art has landed into the realm of being “digitized” … so lets play with that for a while and see what comes of it.

I must admit that my United States Souvenir Series has been put on hold until this painting block (similar to writers block) gets lifted. The next paintings to come of that are Illinois, Colorado and New Hampshire.

(I recommend watching the video with music, you be the dj.)

video
projection
drawing
silk screen
fiber optics

guitar
songwriting
feeling
clarity

house
roommate
downtown
phone

new friends
old friends
compassion
understanding
respect

breathing
love

United States Souvenir Series

What defines the West Virginia Souvenir?

• Sugar Maple
• Rhododendron

View more works from the United States Souvenir Series –> click here.

In consideration to web development, you may have noticed the redesign on the homepage to this site a few times over the course of the year. One reason being it is a testing ground for other projects, the most recent change being the most successful (completed today 12/11/09). It ties into the inner bowels of the site and offers easier navigation for the most lazy of viewers.

A new site has been launched which is a collaborative project with Tobey Albright and myself. You can view this site by clicking on the amazing drawing that Tobey illustrated for the site.

Illustration by Tobey Albright

S/aRt/Q had its Inaugural Exhibition the beginning of November with great success. With the complete website launch, and all media designs visualized and implemented, the Collective is pushing strong for multiple events in 2010, and we are preparing for the next exhibit to take place some time in March. More on that will be posted soon. If you haven’t, check out the site at http://sartq.com.

The 3D poster that I created for the Inaugural Exhibition gave me much esteem for future projects that deal with electrical work, drawing in graphite, and I have recently been spending most of my creative time with water colors.

Light has become my primary focus. Without light we would only see what we perceive to be there. Fourteen reflections of reality, illuminated.

Therefore, my next project is planned to be some light fixture contraption in which I have many ideas and this is in no way the place I shall reveal those. However, in future posts I will expose my process. The Collective has been a lot of things. It is a surreal source of inspiration, motivation and most importantly, an opportunity to meet, work with and create amazing friendships. Out of all the good and stressful situations and opportunities it is the friendships that I’ve created that I am most grateful for already.

This was my second visit to Lewisburg, the first was just a few months ago for a wedding. We saw snow, my first time in about four years or so. It was cold, but really great. I greatly appreciate my time in this small town with such warm people. I am truly thankful for every moment. Thank you and all my love to the Berger family.

"The New History of Art in Sarasota" by Tobey Albright (Close Up)

As there were many faces present, there also were many not. It comes to my attention that those that chose to avoid or ignore this show may be indifferent to the cause in which we are leading. It is not for popularity standards that we do what we do, rather it is an opportunity to create an epicenter in our community for the expression of oneself, individually, with the help of others.

I hope in the future we will see more of the jealous folk change face and become part of something great. We don’t have to like each other to work together for a common goal.

To see photos from the exhibit, check out Daniel Perales’ great work here.