is art dead?
This has been just about the busiest August I can remember. We've been back five days and I still haven't downloaded all my photos. Unheard of. By the weekend I hope to have dealt with the most pressing of the drudgeries but meantime, here's the drawing, taken from a photo I took the evening before near Radium Hot Springs, that I demo-ed at Effusion Gallery on August 16th.We covered 3000 km in 10 days and I spent most of that time looking for dead and dying trees to photograph (even at 140 km/h) as I am completely enamoured with their expressive beauty right now. Hell, I'll take anything dead -- and I did. I brought home cow, badger and skunk skulls, an assortment of antlers and horns and a half a cow jaw from Alberta. OK, so I don't exactly do my vacation shopping in the
tourist shops. I have Michelle instead, who collects these things while riding her horse on the plains and in the foothills. That's way more valuable.And speaking of the value of good artist friends, check out John's experiments in negative-space drawing. I love his latest approach to problem solving. Do drop by; with a little encouragement I'm sure he'll post more.
I may do dead art but art is definitely not dead. This is the best electronics reduce/reuse/recycle I've ever seen for ages, using dead phones to make very alive art.
posted by andrea at 9:50 p.m.
28 Comments:
Glad to see you back and bloggy. Jealous of all the skeletal remains you returned with...
And I'm glad to see another view and a credit for these phone-sheep. I posted these same three pics a month or so ago on my blog, but didn't know who had made them.
Those dead trees look ready to dance maybe the danse macabre?
I had a dream where I met Death and he showed me his collection of hands, feet, bones etc. I told him off for being so ghoulish but somehow I think you'll be making good use of your exhibits!
Oh the collection of bones sounds interesting. I can just imagine what you will be doing down the road.
Hope all went well for your exhibit.
Oh my goodness, I love the sheep. those telephone heads really are exspressive!
Cool, the sheep are great. I'd go back to those phones in a second, just so I could find one when it rings. I'm a sucker for dead trees too. And bones. When the kids and I (and Kellan) hike, we consider any bone a treasure. We know where the coyotes hang out and can usually find something there, but not always the most highly prized, a skull.
Tara: When I was posting this last night I had the feeling I'd seen it somewhere already. I'm guessing it was at your blog! I got it in an email that didn't credit the artist either, so I just googled 'sheep phone'. :)
Caroline: Who knew that Death was also an artist? :)
Toni: Time for a little still life I'm thinking?
Michelle: Did you look at the hooves?
Molly: I'm wondering if I put them in my garden if the wet west coast weather will cause them to decompose too quickly. Alberta is drier, like Colorado, so not a big problem.
It may cause them to decompose, but what the heck, if it's that or the fireplace mantle, put em in the garden where you can enjoy them, after you're done with them of course. You could always photograph them if you think you may return to them later.
Love the trees. Glad you're back. And if your ears were burning the other day it was because Todos Santos Vic, his artist wife Diane and I were talking about you and extolling your artistic prowess.
I like your assortment of curiosities you brought back. I also share your love of dead trees, they're so architectural. Sounds like a great trip and your inner cowgirl was fulfilled.
Welcome back! Lovely post, as always :)
Molly: Good suggestion. I can do both!
Ian: I've missed your rants. Must go over there now. And I'm really glad to hear you and Vic are becoming fast friends!
Ellen: I think that ol' inner cowgirl was just encouraged. God help me.
Albina: Thanks -- good to hear your 'voice', too.
I bring home skulls and bones, too. I fond a wallaby skull to bring back while I was in Tasmania. Very cool. (See, I read the words too.)
Those Sheep.Rock. I even called the kids and the hubs to look at those pics!
Glad you are home albiet busy.
Hugs,
a.
P.S I think your pretty hip yourself, lol. :)
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sounds like a good trip!!! Love the idea of relics ... and the dead tree drawing is so interesting.
Awesome trip eh? Ditto.
We only took 600 photos and they were all up on my good-lady-wife's F-Book before the Cock-a-doodled...I put a few up on the Blog but most of them went straight into that old dusty shoebox in me 'ead for safekeeping.
Those Sheep are SICK! Do kids still use that term?
Not a ba-a-a-d metaphor for how Tele-barketers (EWE!) try to pull the wool over our eyes and RAM their crap down our throats...er ears.
Not just an artist - he also spoke with a Dutch accent.
dem bones, dem bones, gonna ...make art?
Your reply to Ellen has me worried.
Hey Andrea, glad you are back. I missed seeing your great art.
I think the sheep are cool. We have to find something to do with all the outdated technology.
Welcome back :-) Love the dead tree drawing (the grass of course, always love your grass) and the blues in the hills. Hope you had a good trip. You will tell us the highlights right?
Welcome back! A dead-fetish, huh? Good, good. :-)
And love that telephone art. Very smug.
so was it all successful? (definition of course is whatever success may mean to you).
sounds like you had a great time.
:)
Citizen: They make great garden decorations, among other things, don't they?
Andie: I want one for my kitchen.
Peter: There's something right about going to the prairies (sort of) and bringing home bones. Much better than a Calgary Stampede t-shirt.
Donnnnnn: No respondy to me no respondy to you. (Yeah, I'm vindictive that way. :)
Caroline: And I always thought he was South African.
Dinah: It's a sickness, I know. Still looking for an appropriate 12-step program.
Deborah: I once plastered an old computer with my blog posts as a statement on books, but that unfortunately ended up in the same place as other old computers. In the end it's all just hardware.
Alda: Smug. That's the perfect word.
Nadine and KJ: More coming, I promise. Just one more nursing home to tour and I can tackle my photos. I swear.
OH?
Then allow me to take the high road and apologise.
Andrea, I am sooo sorry.
(which to any passive/aggressive worth their salt is just a way of heaping burning goals of guilt upon the other person's conscience heh heh heh)
Now I've forgotten what I did wrong? Typical male eh?
Crap! We should begin anew, put this unpleasantness behind us, and hug it out.
Donnnnnnn: OK, you're forgiven. But I'm at that age where I forget even my own name. What am I forgiving you for? :)
Andrea, somebody emailed me those pictures of the recycled sheep. I agree. It is AWESOME.
And I love your tourist finds. You would be in heaven here in the high desert. Dead pinons. Bleached skulls. And of course those O'Keeffe paintings of the expressive dead.
Your painting speaks to the beauty of nature's graceful recycling.
Did you ever come up with something to honor those scattered feet?
Welcome back! Your drawing is a keeper - the gnarled limbs are way more interesting than a perfect specimen.
The sheep are great - my mom sent me a link to them a few weeks ago, and I fell in love with them and the concept behind the installation.
San: Nothing yet for the feet and you're right -- I think I'd love New Mexico.
Cynthia: Thanks -- and I agree about the exposed, decaying limbs.
Post a Comment
<< Home