Driving
January 19, 2012I love driving and I love my car that I have to get rid of soon. We have been in West Texas for almost two months now and I have fallen in love with driving again. When I was in MN, it was long solo drives that led to most of my art ideas. It even inspired a series of collaborative performances with musicians, at the Hammer and at Franklin Arts.
Here is a great blog about driving and cars from someone who has crossed the country by car 27 times: Peter Behrens. I look forward to talking to him more about it. And also to see how he handles being inside my sculpture when we film a performance of it flying around, hung by a crane tomorrow.
Flying House
October 10, 2011A few weeks ago I went to the opening of Sanford Biggers’ beautiful show at The Sculpture Center. It was impressive in many ways, not the least of which is the way he used that enormous space.
Five years ago I was able to build a sculpture in that same space, basically an elevated room meant to resemble a supervisor’s office, built into the wall of that space, with the face of it cut open exposing the interior. This was right after the Sculpture Center moved into the space. There was that old crane still there from its former industrial life. It was at the end of the show that I was able to do what I really wanted with the piece- I did a video of me inside the sculpture with Aaron Spangler, where the house was torn off the wall and swung around through the space. I was able to control the crane from inside the sculpture as we were hanging. Here is the resulting video:
My studio is currently being overtaken by a massive glass house I am making. Its built on a trailer and I will soon be bringing it to Marfa as both a studio space, performance venue and, likely, a portable campsite.
The translucent ink colors of the glass are a work in progress. And, since I may spend some nights sleeping in the elevated bed that will eventually be added, I have added an indoor shower and there will be a kitchen as well. And I have been imagining this piece also being swung by a crane. At first I imagined musicians inside, trying to play music while a person below is pulling it around, keeping them from being able to perform well.
I have also been imagining it swinging and burning, with smoke billowing from inside. Here is an amazing example of fire as metaphor-the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral during the swinging of the Botafumeiro.
Working in Chinati
October 10, 2011I have been at Chinati for over a month. We are living in old army barracks within the Chinati Foundation. The window over my kitchen sinks looks into the centerpiece of the Judd collection, the 100 Pieces In Mill Aluminum. The chance to see those works change color and shape and mood depending on the time of day and type of weather is one of the more amazing aspects of this residency. They blind me in the morning during sunrise, at night they turn the most amazing shades of silver and pink and blues during the sunset.
