“ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” – Book of Genesis, King James Version

 

 

Page one, Genesis: This digital page is no longer a blank canvas as Void and Form have been distinguished. I am beginning my ad hoc web diary of musings and observations. The more I write, the less studio time I will have. But the more I write, the clearer my thoughts, intentions, and work. The more studio time, the more to think about. Ourobos, once again. Robert Rauschenberg once told me how it was the sacred duty of the artist to make work every day. He believed in the social importance of making work. I think he was correct.

From 1986 – 1996 Herve Fischer and Ginette Majors produced a series of prescient exhibitions in Montreal, Canada called Images du Futur. I was part of a group of New York City artists working with contemporary technology whom they invited for their summer 1993 exhibition. But I am getting ahead of myself. It appears as thought these pages are going to be non-linear. Akin to Vonnegut’s Billy Pilgrim my thoughts and recollections are somewhat “unstuck in time.”

Light and Dark, Chaos and Order, Civilization and Barbarism, Right and Wrong, everything around us is clear and distinct. Equivocation and shades of Grey are synonyms of self-deception and the willing corruption of self.  Life is too fleeting to allow for the meandering of spirit, word, or deed.

Eνατένιση is a Greek word for contemplation (to stare, to see). In May and June of this year, I had the good fortune to return to Greece at the invitation of artist Electros (Babis Vekris). Six weeks of  meeting many wonderful people, seeing some amazing things, and best of all, living in situ; struggling with the language, remembering and re-learning my identity.

A night or two in a hotel room has a way of ushering in introspection and personal assessment, six weeks even more so. Time alone is neither good or bad: It is what it is. Though … … if I had lived a different life, Ellison’s long-clawed bear wouldn’t have been waiting every night, waiting for me to close the door and turn out the lights …