time travel

the canopy
of late in may
diminishes
in density
the sound of rain
on a sunny day
and the smell of autumn
in the air
fragments of leaves
dry underfoot and
caterpillars
in your hair

the voice of laundry

more compelling than
still images,
the monitor mesmerizes
with sound and the
illusion of movement
which act on our
basic defense mechanism
until it's overwhelmed-
and then
we buy a thy-master

we might think of
cloths flapping in the breeze
as an act of subversion

katimavik challenge

install clothes lines-
using good pulleys
mechanisms
and intelligent
lay-outs
to encourage
painting
with laundry

unattended documents

unattended documents,
like needles in haystacks,
sad too say
may hold secrets
to our survival

be it a painting
or an herbal recipe
for an antibiotic
from the trees
of the tropical
rain forest,

oppotunities missed,
opportunities lost.

dark ages

dark ages
occur when
when clouds
of greed
obscure the
wisdom of light

as the competition gears up
and world powers realign
this time the spoils will be different.
rather than the usual,
"winner takes all"
this time, the last man standing
will mark the end of the fall.

as the oil spews into the sea
the CEOs with their experts in tow
align for blame and litigation
stunning in their inability
to imagine any feasible plan "B".
any old small town plumber could have
had it solved three different ways by now.

art for dark ages

the monument:
the final testament of man's achievement

a baker's dozen figures- more or less
male and female
fat
on-all-fours
in a circle
heads up each other's asses

(in bronze because it will last a long time with no maintenance
... and make a couple for each continent so the next intelligent life to show up
will be sure to find one- we owe them a good laugh )

hear no, see no, speak no truth

how are we to a trace
the best of our passing
in the sands of a language
that is slipping through
our fingers?

Switch languages
as perception fails-
as in autistic necessity?
like leaping between boulders
looking for meaning
and finding the secret of architecture
through the dance?

it's not all that easy compared to
reading the "writing on the wall"

does the message fail if nobody notices,
as well as when language has been
overwhelmed?

time travel

As I walk the lane to pick up the mail:
I notice that some of the ash trees-
which leaf-out much later than the maples-
have retained the leaf stems from last year-
rather than being in bud.
Wondering what, if not
emerald ash borer
may be killing them?

"art and visual perception"
was my first attempt at writing about art.
It brought to light
the problem of
the interconnectedness
of all things
in simultaneity.

The model that first arose to illustrated the problem came as the drawings unfolded
around the performance art piece of sept 11 -01.
Time re-assembling itself as in
images merging towards each-other
from all different directions.
As the first of the 40-odd drawings emerged
it was apparent that there was a large gap
between the individual drawings-
some with a few graphite lines through bees wax
while other were buried in wax crayon.
But, by the time they filled the room,
sequences linking them up were everywhere.
Eventually they were shown nine-up
as they had been pinned
to the canvas stretchers in the studio.
As such, at least they could be "read"
in all different directions-
in two dimensions-
the connections shifting
with the intuition of the viewer.

colours

the double helix
might make a better model
than the colour wheel

learning

Words to the Blind

Being firmly entrenched in
the age of denial,
even if we could see,
it is not in our best interest.
If i was to paint a forest in summer leaf
with a snow covered forest floor,
would it not would be unsettling-
to anyone who
took the time to look?

May 9th- 2010
There were no song birds
singing this morning
when dawn broke
below zero
with snow.
If a volcano
was to spew
white ash
it might look like this.


For the most part,
our day-to-day existence requires that
we make assumptions about the world around us
and reject what is "wrong."
However, there's a nasty human trait that adds the ego
to reinforce willful blindness when
it comes to what we believe.

Galileo and Darwin and
"Constable's snow"
come to mind.

When I say , "I like to be wrong",
why is the statement taken with such suspicion and disbelief ?
because it's not "normal"?
because it's not normal to want to learn?
without readily abandoning
an opinion or a belief
how can we learn?

Thanks to several generations of education that
has been focused on
encouraging the student rather than
an accountability to learning,
we have an "entitlement" generation who are
unable to differentiate
their knowledge from their feelings.
To critique their work is to walk on egg shells.
Hurt feelings may be met with irate parents
and even their lawyers
( i wish i was making this up)

They want to be famous- to be "celebrated" without
troubling themselves with
learning or working to achieve
anything of note.

A university student complained "why do I have to be judged?"

If everyone in class is given an "A" just for signing up,
will best students be ok with that?
Studies have proven otherwise.
Of course she meant is that she didn't want to be "criticized" or "corrected".
Of course she did want to be judged-
but only to be celebrated.
Why the disconnect?

Remember "war is peace"? Orwell 1984?
"Big Brother" has so successfully taken control that
the young and trendy are convinced that it's their idea.
"Dumbing down" is helpful if you want to control a population.
Democracy depends on the ability to express oneself -not just permission.
Unfortunately the dumbing down has been too successful .
The "experts" who the shortsighted politicians rely on
have no idea how their policies will unfold.
(re. experts: When will they try a "wet-vac" with a tapered steel tube on the end to clean up the oil spill?)
So, the politicians resort to polling...
and doing what their dumbed down "folks" want
simply to stay in power.
Following is now
passing for leadership.


Being a painter,
How could i even imagine that
someone from the entitlement generation
would spend some time in a room full of paintings (without their personal sound system)
in case there was something of value?

If it doesn't move, flash and make noise they don't seem to be able to see it


Further,
How could we imagine them
exploring the silence
and finding their inner voice?
exploring their curiosity?
exploring the natural environment?
following the connections as they shift
with their intuition ?

Surfing the web-
on the surface may seem like
a form of exploration but
the surfers will all hit the same top
rated sites and again
succumb to the popular.

So, where does their sense of belonging come from?
what kind of "tribe" might they belong to?

Unfortunately, most of what passes for self-expression
in this consumer society
is choosing which "brands" to align oneself with.

So, if they were to recognize themselves
reflected in such an outward expression
as a painting on a wall, chances are they
would be recognizing "their brand"?

wasn't branding initially used to differentiate
livestock?


Despite some braying to the contrary
most people are content with following
the leader...
and where do we find our leaders-
our role models
but the tv and the movies
"who wants to be a millionaire?"

who else might they apprentice with?


how do you describe colours to someone
who has never seen?

snow in May

shelter

after one week in may
the forest canopy
now solid green
with rain and wind
a deer came in
from the twlight of
the open pasture
to the darkness of
forest glade

feeling

the warm embrace
of sun and earth
through the
moss coverd rocks
of spring

listenenig

for the sound of your smile
as gusts of wind
pick up leaves
curling as they emege
from the press
of winters snow

looking

through your blue eyes
as i drag a brush through colours
your expression guiding my hand
intuitive
with the music
of your gaze