sonnet one twenty-nine

Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and, till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad.
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe,
Before a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

- W. Shakespeare

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I stumbled upon this website last night when I was doing some research on the origins of what would become defined as Abject Art in the early 1990s.

LINK

Most of it is somewhat cut and dry, but there is also I couple humorous lines in there to keep you entertained for a moment. I also came upon this article from Artforum in 2004 which has left me to question the understanding of this type of work. There seems to be a fair amount of assumption on both sides of the coin. In the end I really can't tell if either position (the viewer/artist) "gets it"; perhaps that's the point.

Restorations 7"

LINK

I was working hard all day and then realized I just needed a...

point counter point

on assistants

Like most artists/photographers my age, I don't have assistants, I have friends. People that surround me and help out from time to time when I need an extra helping hand or just when they feel like having some adventure. I don't have money to pay these people. I don't make a living off the work I create. Christ, I barely make much more than a months rent from how much I create in a year (without considering the thousands lost each year developing, mounting, or framing). That's how the game goes. Most of us work day jobs to do what we desire.


For the most part, these people go unacknowledged, and so I wanted to dedicate some space to my "assistant" for the last couple years, Abbie Rhoads. She graduated from Moore College of Art a couple years back with a BFA in Graphic Design, and now currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA. A month after meeting Abbie we traveled across the country, and three years later I was privileged enough to have her company on this latest trip into the desert.



How it is that Abbie kept from killing me on this trip is well beyond my understanding, and without her trusted iPhone half the work we accomplished over the period of time we were away would have been impossible. Giant hugs go out to her, I can't thank her enough, and should probably apologize for hating on the Dodos so much (but I won't because really they are terrible).

Coo coo.



1. Omaha, 2009
2. Random photo shoot, 2006
3. The Drive with Meryl shoot a la 6 am on half frozen pond, 2007
4. The Drive with Meryl final image
5. Denver with cowgirl hat, 2009
6. The Drive with Abbie

[I should also make a note that her name is not a nickname or pseudonym; her parents are just Beatles fans and humorous enough to use their last name for it]