A World of Pure Experience

This blog post has been difficult to write because I do not have a clear idea of what I am going to make for the exhibition. I have the beginnings of an idea, but no real plan. As a landscape artist I was most drawn to the strange terrain of the Galapagos Islands. I took the majority of my photos on the small island we visited on one of our day trips. I love these pictures, but the quality is not good enough for gallery display.

As a landscape artist I have always felt frustrated by the flatness of the 2D surfaces I have favored in the past. I want the viewer to be surrounded by the landscape, not just stand in front of it. I want to create an installation that relies on color and light to give an impression of the Galapagos Island in the photos above. I envision the structure surrounding the viewer, and viewers will be encouraged to sit in the installation and meditate on the colors and light.

For inspiration I will research the work of James Turrell and Robert Irwin. They both work with color, installation and projection.

If you know of other artists I should look at or are an expert with projectors or installations please give me advice. Thanks!

i sit like a cat

i sit like a cat atop my coffee table as i begin packing with no other furniture left in my apartment and similar to sarah, i still am in disbelief that i traveled to the southern hemisphere a mere month and a half ago. it all seems to be a dream; i am not the type of person to just go galavanting across the globe. but i did.

i recently finished scanning all of my 4x5 film from the trip and am very excited. some of you saw a few snippets while in studio investigations, but for the rest of you i will leave them as a surprise. i've even had to hide them from my mom! i'm just as surprised by their beauty as the fact that i was in ecuador. my jaw dropped when i made the first scan. i allowed for accidents to happen and for myself to purposely make mistakes, so the photos are very unreal.

it all seems to come together after recently working on a paper in teaching in new media about the "new sublime" (as i call it) and how the terror isn't something you can always see. these pictures are quite terrifying for me. when they were being taken, they were shot in a foreign place for me, amidst the mountains, even in the sky, all above the land. it seems as if the majority of the images are unplaceable and have begun making me think more about this theme further.

Keeping the ball rolling...

Thank you to those who have started blogging about your ideas. I appreciate all the different directions they're going. Although, I suspect, as with previous years, there will be 'themes' or connecting strands that emerge between us.

With Aaron's idea, if the group decides to do it, I would suggest having the installation movable so that it can be right outside the gallery for the reception and moved inside during the rest of the exhibition. Also, I would play on the economic (global v. local - US v. Ecuador) situation perhaps in how the items are priced or described or 'marketed'.

With Sara and Rebecca, I see a real search for place - place being a concept as much as a physical place. The personal and the ancestral. We all struggle to find our 'place' especially in light of the anchorless(?), mobile world in which we all to often ask "What's real?"

I'm still working through my map ideas. I got a great book "Map Art: Contemporary Artist Explore Cartography" by Katherine Harmon. As I reflect on the Galapagos Islands and our trip, I am struck by the forces, often just below the surface, that affect us. And yes, these forces are physical (tectonics, volcanoes, waves) and conceptual (ideology, politics, group dynamics). I struggle how to visually weave these interrelated 'maps of forces', but that's why I love making art. The struggle is the thing.

I hope to post some images soon.

Recollection- Sarah

I can hardly believe we have already been back from Ecuador for a month.
It almost feels like I dreamt the whole experience.

I look at my photos and see this person who resembles me, posing with tortoises, climbing volcanos...and yet. Here I sit in my small little apartment in Brighton.

My relationship with my memory and the way I experience it, has always been very amusing to me. Almost like I second guess it... “Did this really happen...? Did I imagine it? What relic do I have here, this physical thing that can surpass time and space, to prove that whatever event stored in my mind...actually happened.”

For years I’ve always been fascinated with this weird parlez I have with myself. I play little games to satisfy this wonderment, like picking flowers and hanging them to dry or pressing them. Some how watching the way they experience time- by drying out, proves the movement of time for me.

As for the show, I am thinking of a way to maybe share this strange tension I feel regarding me relationship with memory. So what I am thinking about doing is creating a small collection of pieces exploring the juxtapositions between my experience there and here. For example, while on our trip, wherever we went...I took pictures of my feet standing on whatever ground. A documentation for myself to later look at and say, “Yes look Sarah, see that’s you standing there on that ground.” I would like the take a similar picture of myself, here in Boston as well and then display them side by side. In the same vein share some of my other “documentations”, like, plants that I pressed in my sketchbook (oops...). and plants that I dry here as well. (Also, displaying them side by side). Share a sketchbook drawing from the trip, share a sketchbook drawing from here. (Both drawings be of similar things, ie: a building front, or something).

Basically, I would like my work to be a small catalogue of my documentations to help me remember my experience.

Consumerism on My Mind

First off, I'll say that I really like Aaron's idea. A lot of our experiences with the local culture of Quito, the Galapagos and Otavalo had to do with purchasing (usually food or hand crafts). In no way do I view this negatively - it was what it was and, frankly, I enjoyed this aspect of the trip immensely.

When I look back on the Ecuador trip (and when I describe it to others), I think more about the experience of being immersed in a culture so different from what I am used to, as opposed to the specific museums, destinations, etc. that we visited. I think about the women in brightly colored clothing carrying more than their weight on their backs, about the piles of dead chickens sitting (warm) on store counters in the streets of Quito, about the signs in every bathroom stall that read "do not flush toilet paper down the toilet," about the deep fried cuyi and, unfortunately, about the man who tried to steal Angie's camera. As much as I loved the trip, when people ask me if I would like to return one day, I say "probably not."  It's not because I didn't enjoy the trip immensely but rather because I feel that a return trip could never have quite the same impact as this one did.

Galapagos on the Mind

So I have been thinking about what I want to create for our show and I am pretty certain it has to be about the Galapagos. I am at the point where I feel like I need to just paint but I want to get some ideas out there and maybe a little feedback first.

Since moving back home to Marblehead from town and from New York before that I have been thinking a lot about living on the ocean. I have always felt a strong spiritual connection with the ocean not only directly from my life but also from my ancestors who came from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. As corny as this sounds, considering this I was particularly excited for our time in the Galapagos where, I could experience a new ocean and its spirit.

Since we returned from Ecuador I have been doing research about the Pacific, specifically colonialism of the Pacific islands. One book that has been my main resource is ­Lost Paradise: The Exploration of the Pacific by Ian Cameron. It is more of an anthropological look at the early Pacific Islanders and Spanish Colonialism but it has helped to give me direction.

So taking all this into consideration I am planning on creating a series of landscapes that I would like to illuminate the idea of “first-contact.” For me this means the first sighting of land and all that will ensue when that boat lands. I feel that this directly relates to our visit in the Galapagos because of its delicate ecosystem that is highly valued compared to many other Pacific islands that were terribly exploited. I am not totally positive where this will go once I start painting but I feel like it is a good starting point.

So any feedback or criticism based on this idea would be greatly appreciated!

Exhibition on my mind

I've been giving our exhibition some thought now, and I'd like to know what you guys think. These are just my observations and ideas, it's ok if you disagree. I am interested in finding the intersection of humor and social conscience. I know what I make for this show might be taken out of context, and may be considered offensive. With that in mind, try to assume I have positive intentions.

The exhibition is about our experiences while in Ecuador. I have a few thoughts on that..

As outsiders in a new country, we experienced Ecuador through the lens of tourists. Nearly every occasion was a consumerist outing. Whenever we entered a new town I found myself asking two questions, "What is the local dish?" and "What is the town known for producing or selling?" Keep in mind, I'm not complaining about any of this. I embraced most of the shopping and eating (for better or worse).

There were a few times during our adventures that people discussed the movie, "Exit through the Gift Shop." With that fresh in mind, the surreal experience of walking through the Quito airport's mini-mall seemed too perfect an ending to our trip.

Drawing off these ideas and experiences, I'd like to propose building an installation in the gallery. I would need everyone's permission for this, as I would like to take over the entrance of the gallery (the narrow part of the room before it opens to a big square). I would like to make a replica of a few Otavalo market stands, and the product populating the stands would be artwork made by everyone in the group (including myself), that relates to something about their experience. For example I was thinking of making little candy sneakers, playing off my lost sneakers and the idea of things being impermanent. Other ideas might be postcards, calendars, jewelry, knickknacks, etc.

If the art objects that populate the installation are made for sale (another decision the group would have to make), I feel the proceeds should fully go to a worthy cause in Ecuador (yet another decision for the group to make).

Again, I would need everyone to give me a thumbs up (or abstain) to the concept. If anyone is against it, no worries. I have other ideas I could run with. Let me know what you think..

-Aaron