Anxiously

Got a new confusing phone. I have given in to the whole texting thing. So why not the kindle? I wanted to try J. G. Ballard and was able to have it in my hand in seconds. So this is definitely more convenient. But although I know text exists beyond a physical book, I could not divorce writing from the volume I was reading. My memory of Mrs. Dalloway is intimately integrated with the sensation of holding the Whitestone library volume and how the plastic protecting the cover was sticking to my hand as I started to sweat either from the summer heat or from the scary page-long initiating sentence. Now will words be more abstract? Or will I remember them as being framed by the white galaxy phone I had during this transition period in my life as I prepare to enter the legal profession? Well, only one way to find out by starting High Rise.

Consumed on 6/1/14

The New York Post Saturday, May 31, 2014

Newsday Saturday, May 31, 2014

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Walking in New York, I see people on sidewalk who are not in New York. I am invisible as they back into me to get a more panoramic view (why not use eyes?). Does the bodily contact jolt people into a reminder of physical reality? I was at MoMa yesterday, a great opportunity to be nervously close to paintings. You can see the brushstroke and the decision feels palpable. Yet viewers insist on editorializing the composition by inserting themselves and flatting a textural object into a flat image. I can go on and on about the ubiquitous cell phone photo taking rituals but I don’t because I just sound really old and self righteous. But today when I saw the photo accompanying an article about teens who won a chance to view some awesome private collection at the Museum of Natural History, I felt scared. There were a group of boys and girls taking a cell phone photo in unison of what is probably an awesome specimen of something really cool. Instead of being there, we digitize and archive. We are information gatherers, sure, but how about be a little more selfish and just consume a book, a movie, a work of art? Why filter everything out and disengage? I did not take a single photo at the MoMA yesterday so does that mean I have no memories? Actually, I do. I can zoom in and out of a Rothko in my mind and my memory of the painting is tinged with being a little hurt (I don’t know why) that my friend doesn’t care for it. I remember my legs hurting but still not being able to tear myself away from a Rauchenberg painting that reminded me of a collage piece we worked on in Mariano’s class. I remember being dazzled by the transfer drawings of Gauguin, the security guard engaging me in a conversation about it, and staying up late to try for myself the technique. Memories (life) is possible (better) without the filter of a smartphone screen. And I think we can live in a less self-absorbed culture (just a guess) if we selfishly consume more art, place, life.

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

The New York Times Magazine Sunday, May 25, 2014

Consumed. 5/3/14

Today I read…

Newsday Friday, May 2, 2014

Consumed.

Today I read…

The U.S. Constitution And Fascinating Facts About It, 6 Ed.

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper

Newsday Saturday, Apr 26, 2014

Daily News Saturday, Apr 26, 2014

New York Post Saturday, Apr 26, 2014

Consumed.

Today I read:

USA Today Thursday, April 24, 2014: news, life, money.

New York Post Thursday, April 24, 2014

I was always too snooty to read the New York Post, but these days the Post has become a guilty pleasure-read. It is hilarious, fun, and does not make my head hurt. I feel less annoyed at the absurd world I traverse daily and all that. And it has cartoons. And sudoku. Score!

Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises, 2nd Ed. by Bryan A. Garner

I picked this up at a real physical book store in nyc being a dinosaur I am because I thought it was going to be a special writing book. But while I was at the said physical location where you can hold the book before buying, I also should’ve read a bit of it. Then I would’ve realized that a good legal writing book is a good writing book. Actually, I have no idea what a good legal writing book is given that I don’t know anything about legal writing, but I am finding this book to be an incredible writing book about clarity of thought and elegant simplicity as the aesthetic aim of a writer of any ilk.

The New York Times Magazine April 20, 2014

Would it be possible to go do a painting on North Brother Island? And why have I never drank a bloody mary in my entire life? Am I still a real adult?

Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist by John Piper

1L of a Ride: A Well-Traveled Professor’s Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School by Andrew J. McClurg

I think I can do those case brief thingies. I am kind of excited to do those. Is something wrong with me?

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Michael said during the last lecture of the year on Friday that in order to become an artist, the art student should have a life outside of school, always carry a sketchbook, and read everything. I started today to try reading everything since the advice resonates for this aspiring artist and attorney who intends on literary living. Furthermore (and more importantly?) reading is one of the least guilt inducing way to procrastinate (that is, unless you have actual assigned/obligated reading to do). And I will nurse my neuroses by keeping a record of what I read daily (let’s see how long I can keep this up) so that I can also sorta blog again.

As of today…

After the initial confusion, I decided take this as a sign I am making real progress as an artist: my teachers are telling me to do what they have precisely told me not to do when I started training as an artist. “Don’t squint” “Use limited value range” “draw curves”

Art is dialectical, an intricate balance of the opposites. As a neophyte, I had to train myself to isolate and separate the components of visual languages to study them and manage the overwhelming visual experience. Can I finally start to juggle the opposites now? Or at least attempt to do so without getting disorganized? A long way to go, a lifetime to go, but will keep at this impossibly wonderful task of making pictures.

As of today, I don’t have a lot of money. But I have physical health. I have art. I have love. I am content.

Art training: the evolution of my painting surfaces.

An observation.

In the first year in art school, I bought Ampersand panels, dutifully gessoed them, and painted on them. Too scared to try anything else, I used only the first surface I was introduced to.

In second year of art school, I bought linen, cotton, more expensive wooden panels, thicker wooden panels, and just went nuts on surfaces. I said I was experimenting, but really, I couldn’t hold off on buying a new genre of art supply. Oh the joys of a sophomoric year!

Then in third year in art school, I cut up some cardboard boxes, gesso the heck out of them, and paint… because who has the money, the time or the space??

As I progress in my art training, the painting surfaces get cheaper, the brushes get better.