so-apparently

Dave

2012-01-27T22:28:00.001-06:00

Todd

2012-01-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

The Railroad

2011-10-05T10:13:00.002-05:00

These three woodcuts are the beginning of a series inspired by my relationship with an etching my father gave me while in College, The Omval by Rembrandt van Rijn. I loved it right away (it was the first thing I framed) and loved Rembrandt, but was incredibly intimidated. I mean you don't get any more old-mastery than him, and abundant and overwhelming skill is what I thought you got from the old masters. A few years ago, while researching for a Fullbright, I returned to Rembrandt and the rest of the Dutch Old Masters, and to The Omval after many years. My understanding of him now is more of a very smart BennyHill-character, hiding people having sex in the bushes, dogs pissing and elaborate boob jokes. He's hilarious. I love him.

Enlarge these. See what you find.

The Forest Bridge

2011-10-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

The flood begins

2011-10-05T10:11:00.000-05:00

trilety

2011-05-14T15:44:00.000-05:00

George

2011-05-14T15:43:00.000-05:00

Goodwill/youthbuild

2011-04-13T20:48:00.004-05:00

So I spent a couple months on this one with several youths involved in a program through Goodwill, entitled "youthbuild". The program works with high school dropouts to get a GED and undergo job training while building habitat for humanity homes. All in all a good program. The figures, modeled by the kids who also helped design and paint the mural, are a little bit bigge rthan life-size.

Acrylic on drywall, 18'x30'

Simon

2011-04-13T20:44:00.003-05:00

An afternoon with Simon got this one rolling. I tell you, it is kinda hard to do work involving your son and not have it just ooze sentimental. But I do love my boy.

Guache and graphite on Paper, 60"x42"

Walter

2011-04-13T20:42:00.001-05:00

So Walter is a great older guy who comes by the studio and does odd jobs now and then. This is what he and I came up with.

Guache and Graphite, 60"x42"

Power Broker

2010-09-15T07:24:00.000-05:00

Charcoal, Graphite and Watercolor on Paper
62"x42"

Flesh and Blood

2010-09-15T07:22:00.000-05:00

Charcoal, Graphite and watercolor on paper
60"x42"

Dangerous Liaison

2010-09-15T07:20:00.000-05:00

Charcoal, graphite and watercolor on paper

Nomadic Studio

2010-08-03T13:52:00.005-05:00

In July, I spent a week working on a mural-sized site-specific painting for Nomadic Studio, an exhibition at the DePaul University Art Museum. My idea involved a life-sized train engine and Black angus steer, as well as a page of interview text. The text outlined one woman's family's migratory path from Mississippi to Oklahoma and eventually to omaha as well as the role of the Railroads and Slaughterhouse in making that path possible.

This painting is 97"x260"

Mayacama

2010-08-03T13:45:00.002-05:00

This is a big one: 75"x228". Sorry I didn't get any of the source watercolors in the blog before this one was finished. Oh, and all the female figures are modeled on katie.

Haywain/my parents (constable/hockney) [stuart]

2010-03-02T16:30:00.001-06:00

This will just be dry enough to show in my next exhibition. Been thinking alot about my friend across the pond.

behind the grotto

2010-03-02T14:00:00.001-06:00

yes yes yes. It has been very snowy here. There is still several feet of snow on the ground. yes yes.

Elmwood creek

2010-03-02T13:58:00.000-06:00

The snow goes somewhere

2010-03-02T13:57:00.000-06:00

The shortcut to UNO

2010-03-02T12:40:00.001-06:00

weezie

2010-01-13T15:37:00.002-06:00

For this, Eloise chose a portrait of Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein, I assume because of its ornate fabrics and patterns. regardless, this will be used for the postcard publicizing my next show, at Jackson Artworks in March.

Official title is: After Jane Seymour (Holbein) [Dear Eloise]

Michael's Back forty

2009-12-03T12:55:00.001-06:00

My other painting, which I just finished today.

Michael's Back Forty, Oil on canvas 55"x145"

Menagerie

2009-12-03T12:22:00.002-06:00

My first trip back to Michael in a long time has resulted in a couple of very large paintings. Here is the first.

Menagerie Oil on Canvas 55"x163"

read

2009-08-31T15:33:00.000-05:00

infornography, anyone?

2009-08-31T15:29:00.000-05:00

Litfest

2009-08-31T15:05:00.004-05:00

Litfest is a great thing organized by a dedicated author and professor out of Lincoln, Timothy Schaffert. It runs for a week or two in September and bring a much needed jolt of writer presence into Omaha. The people they get are really good and somehow it all happens every year, despite seemingly being a one-man show.

This year I did some posters.

The theme of this year's litfest is: The sordid arts of the American pulp novel.

I am participating in an exhibition based on the work of Jim Thompson, Omaha native and pulp artist.

Homer at the Pizza Shoppe

2009-08-26T13:32:00.005-05:00

Finally, here is the finished mural designed using ideas from my mentee, Andrew, Benson High soon-to-be sophomore. If I can, I'll post a "before" image.

Benson Mural project

2009-06-12T09:09:00.003-05:00

With apologies for my updating frequency, I thought I'd get a little more up-to date.

This is the final design which will be getting painted soon on the alley-side of the Pizza Shoppe and PS Collective in Benson. It is a collaboration between Amy R, Andrew F. and myself. We are currently a little delayed because of a sandblasting issue with the wall.

I think the wall itself is about 12' x 40'.

There will be two other murals (executed by other artist teams) to join this one later in the summer.

Mural unveiling

2009-04-22T20:02:00.000-05:00

Dundee Mural cycle (autumn)

2009-03-05T14:56:00.006-06:00

The third mural is done. I know these pictures are pretty hard to read (it"s a big wall and going around windows doesn"t help.

here's some details:

The Card Players (after cezanne) [craig]

2009-01-28T11:31:00.000-06:00

Dundee Winter tree Mural

2009-01-28T11:15:00.003-06:00

Please pardon my scaffolding. At some point I will have more professional shots taken, but until then I'm getting into the third mural as quickly as possible.

Dundee spring tree mural

2009-01-28T11:09:00.001-06:00

This is in the Library and the top of the tree is about 18' from the floor, which makes the width, what like 30' or so?

Dundee Library Mural

2008-09-17T10:14:00.002-05:00

This Autumn I will be executing four large murals in the cavernous library of Dundee Elementary. I just got the final go-ahead today and I'm very excited about it all. There will be plenty of work (I'm anticipating to be in the library every day for the next three months), but it will be fun and should look good when I leave. It will also be seen by hundreds of kids every day for a long long time.

These are the elevation views of the mural. The detailed drawings will follow soon.

Oratorio in Retrospect

2008-09-17T10:05:00.002-05:00

This past weekend "The Blizzard Voices" oratorio was performed twice. For me, it marked a number of firsts, which was pretty exciting. I'd never been involved with a theatrical production like that, never gotten to take a bow on stage (even though I felt a little out of place, but honored), never collaborated with people I knew (and thought famous) that went well.

I think it went well. The Holland center was full. I liked it...although in no small part because I was so familiar with it and the parts that were totally out of my control (music, singers, etc) sounded much better than I had been thinking they would.

I got a lot of press out of the deal, a nice mention in all the articles about the production. My picture with Ted Kooser in a couple of papers. Lots of reproductions of the drawings. nice nice nice.

I'm sometimes worried about praise, tho, because I don't think people would actually tell me if they hated it or thought my part of it sucked.

But even with that grain of doubt, I had a great time. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The opera folks were a pleasure to deal with and often had very good input on what I was coming up with.

Dewey Park mural proposal

2008-09-05T13:26:00.001-05:00

This is a proposal for a mural on the side of a handball court in Dewey Park. If executed, it would be 20'x40'.

Blizzard voices

2008-08-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

Blizzard Voices

2008-08-05T15:31:00.003-05:00

So I am currently doing a project which is very exciting for me. I'm designing the visual component for a new Operetta to be produced by Opera Omaha. Its based on a book of poems by Ted Kooser about the Blizzard of 1888 (lots of kids die). For The Blizzard Voices, I am producing 50 or so drawings which illustrate (in some cases) or make counter-points to the action in the libretto.

Down sides to the project?

1. I've only heard the music once, because the music director played it for me on the piano in his office.

2. I will have less than a month to be introduced to the project, plan it and execute it. It premiers on Sept 12.

3. doesn't hardly pay anything.

Still, it is a very fun job and hopefully I'll get some good publicity.

Blizzard Voices

2008-08-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

Call for artists

2008-07-11T13:09:00.001-05:00

“Adornment”--Print Exhibit Prospectus

Dear Print Artists,

The Omaha Print Guild at Hot Shops Art Center has reserved January 10, to February 9, 2009 for a juried print exhibit at Creighton Lied Fine Arts Gallery. We anticipate a huge variety of print approaches, all on paper, including etching, wood block, linocut, monoprints, lithography, hand produced books, and digitally manipulated prints.

The “Adornment” theme suggests many possibilities: costume, rituals, uniforms, personal identity, social statement... The size maximum is 22”x30” paper, with no minimum. Artists may enter up to three print images for a jpeg judging, due by November 15, 2008. Artists will be notified of accepted artwork by November 22nd.. Accepted work must be framed and delivered to the Creighton Gallery by January 5th. All framed work must be under glass, with wire for hanging. Dimensional print objects will be presented on gallery bases.

Contacts: Watie White, watiew@yahoo.com
Amy Haney, amyelhaney@yahoo.com
Eddith Buis, ebuis@cox.net (930-0029)

Relevant thoughts: “Clothing may simply provide a symbolic shelter, but it may also draw the lines of social relationships. Through the coding operations that allow an individual to view another’s attire as a signifier of rank, clothing is a means of classifying other people, and therefore it qualifies as a ritual activity. Whereas clothing reflects a primarily social need, fashion expresses an individual need as well: psychic gratification through competitive display; however, by this sometimes aggressive and rebellious statement about the self, faxhion also provides similar marking services. Whereas garments themselves are neutral, their use, in this sense, is political. They can be used as fences or bridges, in strategies of intrusion (in imitating the next higher reference group), or exclusion (which includes upscale counter-consumption).”
From The Psychology of Fashion.

And: “ In China’s past, the woman’s desirability was in direct proportion to her inability to walk.” From: The Unfashionable Human Body.

Due by November 15, 2008:
Email up to three jpegs of actual printed work, with list of titles and sizes--vertical first, horizontal second-- clearly stated in body of email to Watie White, watiew@yahoo.com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Due by November 17th by snail-mail:
Please send this part of form to: Eddith Buis, 1018 So. 36th Street, Omaha, 68105, along with the $15.00 entry fee,
(Made to The Omaha Print Guild), as well as the list of titles and their sizes, vertical first, horizontal second:

Name:__________________________email:_______________ phone:___________chosen technique:_________________

2-d? or 3-d?:

1) title: 1) vertical size: 1) horizontal size:

2) title: 2)vert. size: 2) horiz. size:

3) title: 3)vert. size: 3) horiz. size:

Solo Show at the Fred Simon Gallery

2008-07-11T13:05:00.001-05:00

Bouquet for Katie, Simon's bouquet for Bud

2008-06-17T14:22:00.000-05:00

Paulo's empty bed

2008-06-02T16:16:00.000-05:00

Paulo's food, unfinished

2008-06-02T15:54:00.001-05:00

Paulo's water bowl as he left it

2008-06-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

Paulo will no longer take his medicine

2008-05-30T14:12:00.000-05:00

The tiny bird's nest Simon saved

2008-05-30T14:08:00.000-05:00

Apology Accepted

2008-05-30T14:07:00.000-05:00

A fruit bouquet for neglected commitments

2008-05-30T13:48:00.001-05:00

Amsterdam Tulips grown for Katie

2008-05-30T13:47:00.002-05:00

Weezie loves Papa's glasses

2008-05-30T13:47:00.001-05:00

This many tickets gets the boot

2008-05-30T13:45:00.000-05:00

I prefer Girls, redux

2008-05-02T15:23:00.000-05:00

The wrong turn

2008-05-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

open studio

2008-05-02T15:07:00.002-05:00

My open studio officially started six minutes ago. I'm at the stage where I'm nervously straightening everything and pacing the floor. I'm happy when I find something that I absurdly left in the middle of the floor, but the returns on that are diminishing.

I'm probably about 15 minutes from the nervousness induced wine drinking on an empty stomach, which never is a bad idea.

I've no idea when anyone is going to show up at all. Right now I'm really hoping that the fine folks at La Buvette show up. They have supplied me with my favorite meal of the moment--as open studio food: trays heaping with fine cheese and cured meats, a big basket of fresh bread and a small tub of hot mustard. Couple that with the nervous wine I have in my near future, and I should be pretty good to go.

Somehow I have spent the past week straightening and cleaning my studio and it would appear to be much the same as it always does. Maybe when katie comes, she will be astounded and the remarkable makeover the studio has had. To me it is hard to tell what I have been doing for the past week except NOT making anything new.

My hope is that people lie the pulp series. They are incredibly indulgent and I'm always hoping that everyone will like the most indulgent things I do, so I will have no choice but to make more of them.

In part, I am having this opening now because it coincides with the berkshire Hathaway meeting, although I have a very hard time believing that out of town fat cats loaded down with art-buying ducats will make the trek all the way down the road to my studio.

OK, now I'm sounding silly

Lust is a woman

2008-05-02T09:06:00.002-05:00

Beast in View

2008-05-02T09:06:00.001-05:00

Alligators, anyone?

2008-03-25T14:57:00.002-05:00

OK, so this sunday is Simon's Sixth Birthday and I am duty bound to make a compilation CD for it. The Theme? Alligators.

Help.

OK, Crocodile Rock, check. Iguana Man from the Gear Daddies, check. See you later, Alligator, check.

Again, HELP!

Please bear in mind that I will have to listen to this cd hundreds of times in the car, driving to and fro. Please save my sanity.

I prefer girls

2008-03-24T16:18:00.001-05:00

Work in Progress

2008-03-21T14:23:00.004-05:00

Its been too long since I posted, but that's in large part because I have many blocks which have been carved, but yet to be printed. I also have a project going which I haven't figured out the finishing part of.

It started like this: I have these postcards of politely smutty 50's pulp novels. They are a guilty pleasure, certainly. But seem ripe for something. I've always been nervous about using text in my work, its hard for me to use well. Recently I did a series of portrait prints and laid text from interviews with the subjects on top. This seemed to work well to allow a second point of view in the portrait. Anyway, it has emboldened me. So I've done watercolors of these pulpy novels (the cards and other novels) and plan on layering it with text.

The only issue is that I don't know what kind of text to be using yet. What to use? What should it do? I am thinking areas of uncomfortable harmony and pointed contrast. I'm looking at a Linda Lovelace autobiography, which is pretty depressing. Excerpts from smutty novels, but with Male rather than female sexy characters. Or high minded criticism drawing out the manipulative signs in these images from someone like Susan Sontag.

Anyone have suggestions?

Mary Louise

2008-01-14T12:38:00.000-06:00

My portrait of Mary Louise, a very youthful 90.

Amsterdam Canal

2007-12-14T13:50:00.000-06:00

Niut Meer

2007-12-14T09:20:00.000-06:00

For some reason still unknown to me, I did not want to take my paints to Amsterdam. Katie convinced me to bring something, soI chose to bring some acrylics, which I had used ony once before without incident. It was a bit of a disaster. Instead of working outside, I had to work only in my studio to keep them from drying out instantly. This painting, was the culmination of my acrylic adventure. The subject is the nearby park, which housed the memorial to Amsterdam jews killed at Auschwitz, which is barely noted on the extreme right of the composition. Each panel is 18"x24".

postcards home

2007-12-14T09:16:00.000-06:00

So, one day in Amsterdam, I went took my large drawing pad to the Van Gogh museum to copy a painting. I found the painting I wanted, a poster of which hangs in the entry of Simon's school. I had to go out to call home before I could sit down to draw and when i came back, they wouldno longer let me take the drawing pad inside. Instead, I purchased postcards to send home and made watercolor copies of them before I would send them back to the states.

home again

2007-11-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, the pleasures of being home.

Yesterday I returned home after being in Amsterdam for a month. Whew!.

It has been wonderful. Simon ran down the security ramp to give me a huge leaping hug. Followed by about 3 seconds by Eloise who toddled over in her Spider costume. That was some serious cute, let me tell you. It was a wonderful night. we got home and Simon and I went out Trick-or-treating on our block. I think we went to about 5 houses, but Simon was pretty nervous for the first couple. But he got into the mood of it all after trick-or-treating our own house. After which, Eloise wanted to join in the fun so I got to carry her around the block.

(What's new about Eloise in the last Month?

She's extra squishy.
She loves candy--I mean LOVES candy.
She's talking alot and will tell you when she does not like what you are doing)

After getting a sack of candy, we came back to the house fo the first dinner as a family in a long long time. Katie made pot roast (incredibly yummy) and Simon made a smoothie. Katie also made a fire which we settled around to snuggle and play until time for bed. I gave out the presents I had brought back with me and showed the art which had actually made it to Omaha (one bag was delivered about 2:00 in the morning). It was a great night.

I got to put both kiddos to bed, reading Simon an extra new book so he would "go right to sleep, i promise". Eloise got books and a nice long snuggle with a bottle. It was great.

Exhausted, Katie and I were in bed at 9:30.

My best night in a long long time.

a day in the life

2007-10-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

The tally so far:

Drawn copies of old master paintings and Gothic church carvings: 14
Paintings: not very many...about 10
Watercolor copies of museum postcards: 26
Drawn linocuts: 36

With a week to go I may be able to deplete my supply of linoleum and postcards, (although I have more paper to tear down for them).

Since I discovered the grocery store, my dialy routine has been something like this:

Wake up 8:30 or so.
shower
(important not to be the smelly artist, if you're bound to be the dirty artist.)
go on the archaic computer and email Katie/read emails from Katie & occaisonally Simon
Go to the studio downstairs
do a watercolor postcard
go to a museum and draw something
call Katie and the kiddos
Wander around some neighborhood looking for Linocut compositions.
(sometime after its gets dark and too cold to stay out)
come back to the studio do another watercolor postcard
journal
go upstairs and email to Katie & Simon
sleep around 12:30-1:00

I guess somewhere in there I eat. I basically bought all food that you could leave out in the studio for a number of days without worry. I'm going through a lot of fresh fruit and cured meats. Viva la cured meats! (For a better idea, click on the flier for my studio smorgasboard.)

Now, with one week to go, I'm starting to think about what I need to bring home in terms of my remaining materials and the subjects here. Oh, how I want this last week to fly by productively.

everyone is invited

2007-10-21T16:27:00.000-05:00

OK, I won't hold it against any of you if you're a little late...

Ailene

2007-09-25T13:23:00.000-05:00

About five
in the morning,
we’d sneak
my parent’s car out
and
drive around
the neighborhood until six
and
then put it back.

We did that
for a good
year and a half
before I got caught.

Simon

2007-09-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

I had to
go to school
on a day
when I didn’t want to
go to school.

I think
I could
cry right now.

Denied Access

2007-09-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

This painting is pretty big. Click on the image to enlarge the details.

Edric

2007-09-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

You know what
I got
cool?

A real sword…

yeah.

Larry

2007-09-21T11:38:00.000-05:00

Be a man

If you got kids
be a man
and
own up
to your responsibilities
and
take care of that child.

me me #1: Superstar!!

2007-09-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

A universal trait that runs through all the painter friends I have known is an interest in the 1990's period of Saturday Night Live and concensus on its funnniest sketch ever. Jon Lovitz did a scene whre he played Picasso at a sidewalk cafe, drunk on his own fame. Every outrageous act followed up by the declaration "I'm Picasso!". The Barrista comes to his table, explains how she has painted for 10 years and never sold a thing and Picasso scribbles on a napkin, throws it in her direction and declares "Now you can retire! I'm Picasso!!".

This is essentially what all my professional aspirations are aiming for.

Without much commercial effort on my part, I am simultaneously "discovered" by galleries, museums, writers, international intelligentsia, politicians, celebrities (who I am able to disdain in "In touch" and "People" magazine, imbuing myself with even more artistic credibility).

People who have never met me, nor people I would wish to be personally close with to desire pieces of autobiographical work fervently. I want this desire to grow so strong that all facets of my life gain a measure of fame, merely by being in my own presence. Crap things I did as a student are treasured because they show my inherent humility, how I'm really "one of us". Articles are written. Documentaries are produced. Streets are named.

Institutions who would not accept me as a student or an anonymous person to wish me to come and instruct them. Places who did not care for my work enough to place it in large group shows will clamor to display it proudly, proclaiming it the best of who we are as a people. They will take it to far off places, as I inspire an untraditional patriotism in Venice, Munich, Sao Paolo.

My ideas find fertile ground across higher education worldwide. Even crackpot saying are taken seriously for a time, until eventually people see the absurdity in what I say and declare undying respect for my layers of dry wit.

Once I was told a story about Jackson Pollock, Phillip Guston and his wife (whose name I don't know). It was in the early 50's and Pollock had been proclaimed by Life magazine as the greatest artst in the world and his splatter paintings had created a stir. He was rich, but his friends, the artist he had matured with, who had probably pulled him out of the gutter numerous times were terribly poor. Well, as the story went, Phillip Guston and his wife were sitting around the table, shivering in the cold and wondering how they could buy food for the holidays when the phone rang. In order to scrape some money together, they were trying to sell the christmas card that Jacson Pollock had sent out--a kind of tiny splattery thing. The wife got up to answer the phone while Phillip and Nic (the narrator) sat at the table tryng to think up a plan. The phone conversation was short and businesslike and when the wife retrned, she was in a bit of a daze. It was the gallery, she said. They wanted to buy the Xmas card after all, for $50,000.

This, too I aspire to.

Tokens of love and friendship translate into a vast underground currency, gifts of immense wealth. I do a portrait of a man without a home, give him the print, then years later, he is offered $50,000 for it from a collector. The lifelong friends who have received special tokens year after year are rich beyond measure, their children without a care for money throughout their life.

Tammy

2007-09-21T09:44:00.000-05:00

Amsterdam

2007-09-20T20:52:00.000-05:00

In about 10 days I am leaving for Amsterdam. For a month. Alone.

It is terribly exciting. Its kind of the follow-up to the Fulbright I did not get and the residency I have not been doing since we began to have the sweet kiddos.

ah, the kiddos. There's the rub.

I am going to be gone a month. Simon is a sweet and often easily sad boy. Oh, sure he can be mollified with tv pretty much anytime, but I'm worried/racked with guilt.

I have no doubts about Katie with the kids for a month--it will be hard and I certainly appreciate her efforts to bring this all together. In a great many ways, this would never happen without her constant support and enthusiasm. She's a rock star and a great Mom.

At least Eloise isn't talking too much and won't be able to say "are you ever coming home?" to me on the phone, like Simon did when I went away for 4 days in 2004.

I don't know how much I will be talking to Simon n the phone either. I am planning on sending a great number of postcards and emailing daily. But I'm worried about the calls. I think I'm hoping K will just keep him distracted for a month and then when I show up on Halloween, he'll be like, "oh, you're back so soon."

My coping mechanism is to do as much as I can before I leave, so that it will appear as if I have just left the room.

In addition to cleaning up things, getting the house stocked, the pantry organized and filled with the staples that the family could subsist on if the grocery store is out of the question, I am planning on a few treats.

I'm making mix cd's for Katie, Simon and Eloise (although her's is more of the cd where the extra songs that did not fit on the other cds went).

A dvd of me reading books for Eloise, and maybe a couple for Simon. Of course, this in contingent on being able to figure out how to use the IDVD on my mac as well as transferring out DV Tapes onto my computer.

A story cd (Simon will usually request a story in the car--the favorites are "Star Wars", and we are talking the whole trilogy, and various Super Hero stories, usually needing to involve every single traditional superhero he can think of as well as Super Simon (of course), the Teenage Mutant ninja turtles and yoda.) The story is titled "The Superfriends and the legion of Doom VS the Planet Eater". (Simon recently requested a story in which the Superfriend and the Legion of Doom worked together..I'm oddly proud of him for that). This is of course, contingent on figuring out how to convert a Windows Media file into a mp3 format or some such thing.

I'm also making a calendar for simon to mark off days until Halloween. I'm going to be pasting pictures of evryone I know who will be visiting to paste on the days when they are here.

That may be it. I've finished my large work that i had to before I left, so now its all about getting everything else ready.

under the overpass

2007-07-20T14:53:00.001-05:00

Mona Lisa kitsch (ann)

2007-07-20T14:51:00.000-05:00

media day

2007-07-16T10:11:00.000-05:00

Huzzah for media!!!

Why you ask? well, for one, there is a third season of Radio Lab available online now. Combined with This American Life, I am pretty well set for my entire studio day. Check it out!!

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab

As if that weren't enough, I also have a new favorite show. It is called "Flight of the Conchords". Very quirky, very funny. A two-man band from New Zealand trying to make it in NY. Its on HBO, but if anyone has digital cable, it is on-demand.

Trust me, its funny.

Two Sisters (Stanley Spencer) [Judy and Robin Phillips]

2007-06-25T15:59:00.000-05:00

Bob Rogers

2007-06-19T12:22:00.001-05:00

If
a person wanted to be the best
and
take one of the great things to be done
whatever it may be,
I don’t know,
you got to get goin’ on it
and
not be
wasting any time

Robert D. Rogers

Clarence Dennis Smith

2007-06-19T12:20:00.001-05:00

If
they come from Alaska…

have your papers,
have your information.
Don’t lose your ID,
because
these people
are not with it.

It seems they hired a lot of people without PhD’s.

Clarence Dennis Smith
Peter Paul’s Number One Model
ACE

Alena

2007-06-18T15:26:00.000-05:00

There was this guy
who walked into a restaurant.
He said ”
I want something to eat
and
to drink
and
to play with”.

And the waiter gave him a watermelon…

Alena Barbara Akse

Eleanor

2007-06-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

OK, so here's the oldest person I have ever met.

Whew!

2007-06-08T20:25:00.000-05:00

OK, so I know I'm totally lame for being away so long. Let's get caught up.

So I've been gone for 3 of the past 5 weeks. Went to Seattle to babysit the kiddos while KWW was in a conference. Big props to Bladio for being awesome. All of this was done with Simon's absurd tonsils and strep throat. An excuse we had actually used to get out of a trip the week before.

The New York for a week of Babysitting the kiddos while KWW was at a conference. This time, for the first occaison in as long as I can remember, neither kiddo got sick as a direct result of the travelling. Spent a good part of every day in one f many parks, and even got to see some Carleton friends--Anupam, Elyse and lttle man Dev. (Pronounced "Dave"--a perfect blend of traditional indian culture and complete assimilation). Also got to have lunch from a street vendor in the park with my man, Ed-Dog. Also very fun and great with the kiddos. For basically spending a lot of every day trying to keep either kid from being kidnapped, (or in Eloise's case, being arrested for baby stroller theft), I got to see a good deal of art. Speant like 3 hours at the Met and went to the National Academy show, where I got to see the work of many of the people I have studied with over the years.

The, the day after we get home, I drive to Chicago for a week to do a portrait commission. I don't really do portraits too much and those of you who have known what my work has been like for many years, you know that its only very recently that the person I'm painting actually looks like the person I'm painting. I was doing this commission for another artist, only one 25 years my elder and far more successful than I am likely to be anytime real soon.

So, I basically figured I'd be in for a week of--What?!? That's Crap!

The subject was the artist's 96 year old mother. seriously, 96. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest person I ahve ever met and I was completely impressed. After I was certain that she worked longer than I had the night before (yes...I didn'y get out of the studio until 10 last night...) she would make me lunch, as me very politely which contemporary artists I liked. Thankfully, we deeply agreed on Richard Diebenkorn..seriously he's great. OK, so its not like he's contemporary, but he only died 15 years ago.

When I was finished, she was very impressed with the likeness (Whew!) but told that all the blacks I used became holes in the picture.

50's dad

2007-04-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday after being with the kids all afternoon, kww got back from Master swim, uh sorry, Mas-Tah Sweem. Anyway, I had been attempting to read the Sunday paper unsuccessfully all day.

I want a bath and to read the paper. "shall I make you a martini?" Why...yes...

OK, those 50's suburban fathers of Leave it to Beaver fame did have a few things figured out. It turns out that 5:00 is the perfect time to have a martini while reading the paper and negecting the kids. Especially if the martini is vodka, dirty with 3 olives.

bachelors

2007-04-13T21:08:00.000-05:00

Kww and the baby girl got back tonight from Chi-Town.

Here I am legally oligated to give a huge shout-out to Mamie for her rock-star work with aforementioned baby girl.

For the past week Simon and I have been bachelors.

A familiar refrain:

What do bachelors eat?
Anything they want!

What do bachelors do?
Anything they want!

Now a week is a long time for a small boy to be a bachelor. The first couple of days were spent sick. Actually, on Sunday, Simon puked in two diffferent states and in the air--probably over Iowa. It's like he's already in high School...but I digress. He went to L Cook and then eventually to school. Only one day was spend in full bachelorhood.

Now it seems being a bachelor boiled down to a few dearly held beliefs. One should get to watch a lot of TV. One should be able to play a game where your father is actually your brother and the two of you can spend your time conspiring to undermine the authority of the unseen "mom" who makes you do what it is you want to do already. "You mean I HAVE TO fast forward through all the boring commercials, but HAVE TO watch all the kid commercals?" "You mena I ahve to have ICE Cream again?" It Means the occaisonal doughnut breakfast. Plenty of Poppa sleeping in your room, especially if you have been puking for the better part of 500 (air) miles. TV Dinners are not merely for babysitter night anymore.

Frankly, I'm just glad I was the only one drinking.

nightmares

2007-03-29T11:49:00.000-05:00

OK, so everyone has been so helpful in compiling a cd for Simon I thought I would put out a call for other helpful tips.

Simon has been having nightmares. It has been upsetting for him and has been difficult to think of solutions for it. Simon has told me in no uncertain terms that the way I have been trying to help has not been very effective in his case.

It has been a vey long time since I had nigtmares myself. It seems that my own nightmares stopped about the time that my own dreams became more lucid. One you knew you were dreaming, you could fly. If you could fly, there was nothing to be worried about. Monsters chasing you? Fly away. Plus, it is only a short hop from flying to any other abillity which would help you more easily deal with those scary things threatening you. My plans with Simon have been centered around trying to get him to fly in his dreams. He tells me it does not work. Yet, I hope.

KWW reads lots of books, and in the past has read even more. She has said to me that seeing as now he is so consciously concerned with becoming powerful (please refer to "oedipus ox") that he subconsciusly balances it out and becomes un-powerful and scared of monsters. Makes a certain sense to me, but I'm not real happy with just waiting it out.

Do you remember any good nightmare solutions? I'm sure Simon will be happy to give any of them a shot.

cookie

2007-03-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

So, on Sunday, we were cooking out, as we are wont to do. Afterwards, we are hanging out on the couch enjoying some fine--may I say very fine, even--chocolate chip cookies that Simon made. Well, picture this: the baby girl is making a bee-line for her lovin Poppa. Cruising along the floor, she gets to my knees reaches for my own sweet dessert and demands "Cookie".

Yep, she said cookie. It was independently verified by others in the room, although none in the immediate family (evidence which makes the story seem all the more verifiably true to everyone but KWW). I believe her other pronounced words to date are "mama" "thbbthbbthb" and I think, "buh buh" once. She may have said "poppa" after much prodding, but not nearly as clear as "cookie"

Those of you familiar with family lore are aware of SImon's versitile use of "turtle", his forst two-syllable word, when he was 18-20 months. I'm telling you, "cookie" is some kind of amazing testament to KWW's incessant reading while pregnant and the undeniable lure of sugar.

famousity

2007-03-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

Hey, check it out--I can now be found in about 5 bookstores around Chicagoland.

http://www.roosevelt.edu/oyezreview/current.html

I know, I am lame and haven't figured out how to paste this as a live link yet...but someday, I will. I promise.

Omaha Cool

2007-03-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

Boy, let me tell you, Omaha is oh so very hip. A cultural moment is going on here, yep, that's what it is, a cultural moment.

I went to the Southern Graphics print conference in Kansas City this past weekend. I laid my portfolio of prints out on the table and when anyone asked where I was from, they always responded in hushed tones full of awe "Omaha....what's that like?"

The, I realized they must get the NY Times before me.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03talk.omaha.t.html?ref=tmagazine

After reding this article and the one about how LA doesn't get any respect at all, I realized that, yes, we are all that and a bag of chips--"cool Ranch" I imagine. And I had heard of one of he bands that is mentioned, which means I'm not yet "Omaha Cool"

the big dig

2007-03-12T20:14:00.000-05:00

Paleontologists.

Has there ever been a profession more well suited for child-level pop tunes?

Simon will be 5 on the 30th. Apparently, I now must make a cd for every party for the goodie bags. Birthday number 5 is a "paleontologist party". I'm thikning dinosaur songs and poems. That brings me up to 2 and the poem, Shel Silverstein's "if I had a brontosaurus" is only 10 seconds long.

"If I has a brontosaurs, I would name him boris or morris. If one day he had a lot of little brontosauri, I would change his name to Lori".

Seriously, if I have to listen to a disk of cloying kids tunes about Barney every day in the car, I will go insane.

Please help.

Chomper

2007-03-09T10:57:00.000-06:00

Eloise has her first tooth. It was discovered this morning by yours truly, because I am always sticking my fingers in her mouth.

For those of you wagering, first tooth--hereafter known as "Chomper," because, as in the discovery of new bugs, I have naming rights--was spottted at 10 months, 3 days at 7:55 am.

From here on out it will be all steak all the time for the little girl. Possibly some lamb chops thrown in for variety.

oedipus ox

2007-03-05T10:45:00.000-06:00

So Simon wants KWW to be his girlfriend.

Graciously, he will allow her to be my Momma. But his Girlfrend.

Thankfully, he has yet to mention anything about killing me to finalize the deal. Nor has he shown any bouts of eye-gouging guilt, even when he inadvertently broke the mother's day pot he made for her at his old school.

To this point of fatherhood, I have been reuctant to accept what the past hundred years' worth of experts say will inevitably happen. I want to belive in the individual, that perhaps I can concede that if you have a wide enough view things do track that way, but individually, it is not so. Not my kid. My boy won't be shooting up the house soon. The girl isn't going to be decked out in the frilliest pink, before bringing some guy home who looks a little too much like me to be comfortable with. They will have individual interest, molded completely by the controlled environment in which I keep them hermetically sealed, until they are old enough to go and get me more beer.

I was listening to Radio Lab online, as I do. They told the story about Sir francis Galton, 19th century elitist founder of Eugenics (the theory of broad racial superiority, used to great effect by your average Nazi or Charles Murray). Anyway, he went ot a county fair where they were selling tickets to have ordinary peasants guess the weight of a giant prize steer. Of course there was not a single steer-weighing savant in the crowd and everyone was wildly off. Then Galton asked if he could have all the lottery tickets, ostensibly to see if there was a pattern to these foolish chumps, who probably shouldn't be allowed to have kids anyway. It turned out that the AVERAGE guess was within one pound of the exact weight of a steer that was in excess of 1300 lbs. it is like the mob knew what no one part knew.

So, in listening to the freudian mob of child development, I will try to to say anything to Simon in the near future that could, potentially, drive him to patricidal rage.

I should even get the book to see how this all turns out in the end.

heroes

2007-02-28T10:19:00.000-06:00

So I made Simon a cd about heroes.

It started out intended to be about superheroes, but it turned into be a necessary examination of the "hero", a deconstruction of the elements out of which a hero can appear. The playlist is as follows:

Nature Boy---------------------David Bowie
Super Baby---------------------Matthew Sweet
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots----Flaming Lips
Flash Gordon-------------------Queen
Goldeneye----------------------Tina Turner
Secret Agent man----------------Johnny Rivers
Kung Fu Fighting-----------------Edwin starr
Superfly------------------------Curtis Mayfield
Hernando's hideaway-------------Snatch Soundtrack
Killer Queen--------------------Queen
Godzilla------------------------Blue Oyster Cult
Save Me------------------------Queen
Holding out for a hero------------Bonnie Tyler
Theme from Superman------------John Williams, score
Superman----------------------REM
Superman----------------------Five for Fighting
Jimmy Olsen's blues--------------Spin Doctors
Ode to a Superhero--------------Weird Al Yankovic
Spiderweb----------------------No Doubt

So Queen is perhaps over-represented, yes. But they are oh-so-very dramatic. I also think its funny to have "save me" after "godzilla", like they are being chased.

There is a stretch of songs about secret agents and badasses from the 'hood. I think these are both occupations that Simon could and should aspire to. Selections 5-9 are more like career training than anything else. Plus, the boy has got to learn his funk from an early age. My youth was distinctly funk-less and look at me now. Hopeless.

What I am proud of is really tracks 10-13/14. I realized that this disk is not propaganda for already fantastically powered fantasies, no sir. What it should do is get Simon to realize the symbiotic relationship between good and evil in this world. What is hero without a villian? Well, probably an annoying bully, I guess. If his attraction to the crazy maraca action in Hernando's hideaway is any indication, he's right there with me on this. Plus he wil now sing "godzilla" on request.

I also think it is a small accomplishment to put the Weird Al at the very end, so Simon has to listen through all the stuff I want to before he gets to the gooey center of Spiderman. It would get annoying to have it in the front and have to listen to it every time I get in the car.

So far, the favorites are, in no particular order, except track order: Flash Gordon, Hernando's Hideaway, Godzilla and Jimmy Olsen's Blues.

These CD's are available upon request. Seriously, if you want one, I'll send you one.

trifecta of crapitude

2007-02-26T11:00:00.000-06:00

So Friday was not the best day.

First, we had received a gas bill for the house we are still trying to get rid of in Chicago. This is a house we have not been inside in months. Heat set at 55 to keep pipes from bursting, from freezing, anyway. Nothing cooked since early september. It seems to me like the expenses to maintain a house in suspended animation should be rather small. The gas bill received was $330. For one month. This, I thought absurd. No one must have been able to read the meter (we aren't there, after all). It must have been some crazy estimate, assuming we would have used much more gas than last January, when we actually lived there. The last time I was in town I did stop by for just this eventuality, and read the meter myself. I call the gas company with reading in hand. "Oh, no no noooo, they say. We read the meter with a satellite, they say. It must cost $11 a day to run your water heater, which surely you haven't turned off, have you?"

*^!!#$$%%!!!!!@!! satellites!
#@#$W%(&^%@! Gas company!!!!

Then, the gallery director in the big O! (seriously, that's like a town slogan. Its Everywhere. O!. It looks like either Oprah has bought the town outright and is making it a subsidiary of the magazine or the town has decided to adopt a whiny, jewish accent "oi" when discussing itself, but I digress) came by the studio. Didn't really seem to care for the work I have here, reiterated that "everyone knows you have to wait at least two years between shows". Then she suggested I do some "scenic views of downtown", as that's what they really like here. You know, Nebraska stuff/Crap. Really makes one wish for a decent gallery in this town. Some place to actually want one's work.

Then, I get a call on my cell phone. Its Sandy, the real estate agent. The last time she called me like this I was very excited until she told me about the drunk driver who had driven his car through the intersection and into our garage/fence. Needless to say, my excitement did not last long. So I was able to restrain my hopes of a story that begins "I have some good news...". What I got was "I've got something to tell that will make your day worse..." Water, lots of water. Thankfully, the water was probably plenty warm (see crap #1 above). But it was gushing into our kitchen from 1-5 days. The pipe did not burst, like a normal pipe, but instead, pulled off the other pipes, pointed straight out int the room and fire-hosed unabated. Luckily, Sandy pointed out. that's what we have insurance for. However, seeing as we have not recieved any reimbursement for the sewer work we had done early last spring, before Eloise was born, nor the drunken garage killer from this fall, so the wonders of Erie Insurance aren't thrilling me on the inside.

Here's pulling for Monday.

race I'm scared to win

2007-02-19T09:11:00.000-06:00

So...about a year ago I began applying for a fulbright grant. The baby Girl wasn't born yet and KWW and I were planning out the next few years. First came maternity leave. Working on her dissertation while romantically living abroad with a young family seemed ideal. I began working on applying for a grant. I attended a seminar at NU on applying for a Fulbright Travel grant.

I can only speak a rudimentary form of english and was interested in doing work with a prominent art museum, --that narrowed down the world into London and Amsterdam. I figured everyone would be interested in going to London, so I crafted an application outlining a course of study and work in Amsterdam. Lots of things fell quickly into place. A professor at Carleton is a durch painting specialist and gave me the contact information for the head of pretty much everything I care about at the Rijksmuseum, who wrote on my behalf. I received help from the Art Institute of Chicago. Artists I know wrote effusive things in my recommendations. Emailing resulted in opportunities to have two exhibits of my work in Amsterdam.

THEN..., KWW got a job in Omaha and took a leave of absence from NU. This job has ups and downs, but even at its worst is probably not one that any idealistic scholar would walk away from eagerly. Kids are thriving here. We currently own two houses.

I recently found out that my Fulbright proposal has been recommended to the Foreign Scholarship Board and some equivalent set-up in the Netherlands. I have not been awarded anything, but my chances have increased from, say 10% to 50-66%. I applied as a student (there is a 5 year window), but would not be abe to do so again at a later date.

What seemed like a great idea a year ago now would, if I were to be awarded it, require me to leave my family for long stretches of time. Ahh my dilemma. In some ways, getting turned down now would be the best result. I would feel good at having made it so far, but would be able to craft a smaller residency and make things easier on those in Omaha.

Dilemma...dilemma.

among the short

2007-02-16T15:18:00.000-06:00

Today, Simon hosted us at his school for a "love Lunch".

I wanted to say "hosted" so that I could have the mental image of him in a tiny tuxedo, showing us to our seats, recommending wines and serving us a meal.

Anyway, in a room where it is hard t understand how a class of 13 3-6 year olds can function properly, those kids' parents sat with them and enjoyed heart shaped pasta and green beans. It was packed and I had to strategically plan a path to walk through the makeshift lunchroom because those tiny chairs are hard to get out of. It was also clear that some of the parents had a more difficult journey getting up and down then others. It was very sweet, although I was definitely relieved to go back to the studio bbefore the ice cream sundae bar really kicked in.

Simon is always proud to show off his friends and one of my purest joys of fatherhood has to be watching him run and play with his friends. I'm telling you, if you haven't seen the boy run and play with kids who are also running and playing, it is adorable. Although I fear that it will lose some of the cuteness as he gets more able to run without falling down. If any of you have gotten to see him run and fall down while still having fun with other little friends also running and falling down, hoo-wee THAT is adorable.

I'm sure after the sundae bar kicked in, there was plenty of running, and it was probably loud and less than adorable.

already old

2007-02-14T15:52:00.000-06:00

I am finding that there are some good things about Omaha.

One whch occurs abundantly to me now is my studio. It is a great studio. Easily 2 perhaps 3 times larger than my previous studio. And, thanks to the landlord's website, it comes with an internet connection.

I have used this to kick my former addiction to music on tapes with Internet audio. I have my computer in the studio and it has been transformative. I have lots on itunes, which works easily for my music fix. I am perhaps afraid of the sound of an empty studio, so I have something on non-stop. However, I have been sucked into the wealth of great things online to listen to.

Radiolab is one. There have only been two seasons but it is endlessly interesting. check it out if you have the time for it. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ Unfortunately, I have plowed through all of it and moved on to other things.

This American Life is great. I also keep listening to A Prairie Home Companion, which is hard to expain to KWW, whose passionate dislike for it is a rare an inexplicable thing. Its hard to think of exactly why I like it. The stories are long-winded and the jokes leave me chuckling, but are never anything I would dare to recount to anyone. They just don't seem like they are that kind of funny. Although I notice that in the 15-minute long tales of a fictional youth by a man in his mid sixties, there is often a theatrical de-pantsing. And, really, who doesn't like a theatrical de-pantsing?

Perhaps it means I am already old.

superheroes

2007-02-13T09:59:00.000-06:00

The boy loves superheroes.

Yes, when I was a boy, I loved superheroes. I collected comic books. When I bought my first house, my comic book collection was the only thing I rescued from my parent's house. I think there's like 600 of them, all of them old and beat up and worn out. Although I have not shown them to the boy yet, I will have to at some point. In a couple years, I guess, when he will read them instead of needing me to read them all to him, as would be the case today. But regardless, I get the superhero thing.

I am also attepting to replace the "outer space dance mix" compilation cd that was made for his last birthday with a new cd to listen to every day in the car. Every Day. Seriously, it is hard to get him to not want to just jump to Weird Al's "Yoda", which is almost always followed by a request that I then tell him the story of Star Wars. And the Empire Strikes Back. And then The Return of the Jedi. He will alllow me to pause the story after the car ride is over, only to start it again when we get back in. He always remembers. Always. But, I digress.

Anyway...I am selling him on the idea of a superhero themed cd. I could really use some suggestions, as my tendencies go a little afar afield. The boy received a cd with tv show theme songs, but I can't locate it yet.

Please note, I am considering the following:

Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult
(this will undoubtedly require making the successful argument that Godzilla is, in fact, a superhero and is sent to save us from ourselves)

Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
(ok, I'm worried that this woud totally freak him out..after all, he's still only 4.)

Kung-Fu Fighting...by someone I can't recall, but its on Pure Funk Vol 1...and its already on the playlist.

KWW is making the case for the peter cetera song that says something about "I'll be your knight in shining armour".

I used to have a tell

2007-02-09T10:33:00.000-06:00

Lets start with a little about me.

I used to have a tell. I am the kind of guy who likes to tell jokes. However, my jokes used to often take the form of an elaborate lie. Didn't really matter what it was about, but, oh the joy I would get if I could get someone, anyone, to believe the most outlandish lie even for a minute. It was not too long after I convinced someone--and you know who you are--that the practice wedding cake we had left in the car while running into Zio's for a slice fo pizza had melted into a chocolate puddle int he back seat, that I was revealed.

Every time I began a sentence with "Apparently..." the sentence was a complete lie. Then every time I said the word "apparently" , it was repeated again and again. This has made my work only that much more difficult.