In the fall of 2007 I was living in Portland, Oregon, attending Reed College, studying philosophy. I transferred to Reed from Portland State University after transferring to Portland State from the University of Nevada, Reno (where I became a philosophy major in 2005 (I had by then studied mathematics for a year), after taking a wonderful course entitled The Philosophy of Art). I was altogether unprepared for life at Reed (a small, private, infamously liberal liberal arts college): living off-campus, entering at junior-standing, generally soft-spoken and not out-going. Add a deteriorating relationship with my girlfriend at the time, Sarah, and bad things were destined to follow. I took a psychological leave of absence from Reed in October of 2007, following continual thoughts of suicide.
I continued to live in Portland through February of 2008. For the first time in the past three and a half years I was not writing philosophy papers, which were always more personally interesting than they were meaningful. Suddenly I had time to write whatever I wanted to, so I began a project which I had wanted to do for years and will likely take me decades to finish. I began a multimedia artwork, consisting of semi-fictional literature, visual art, music, and stop-motion animation. This work is titled On Clocks and Transience, a meditation on the interactions between time, the natural, the artificial, and cultural space, as inhabited and oft-inhibited by mankind.
This project gave me a good distraction and outlet for my energy, but I remained deeply troubled psychologically. As the fates would have it, I was at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show in Anaheim on 19 January 2008, and met one of the tens of thousands of people there, one Juli Anna Janis, a poet from Modesto, who has since become my life's great love. I moved back to my home town of Quincy, California and into my family's house, and with my family's and Juli Anna's emotional support, I daresay I've made a fairly good recovery. I'm still emotionally sensitive and introspective, but now I see these traits to be strengths, not weaknesses.
Looking back two years now to the last of my time in Portland, I am grateful for everything that transpired, suicidal depression included. My dark days led me to my passion, which in turn has led me to where I am now: on the brink of a new, grand adventure, surely to be full of inspiration, challenges, and tears, of both sadness and joy. I've been accepted into the fine arts program at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and will begin my studies there in January. I will be living closer to Juli Anna than ever before in our nearly-two years together: a mere 25 minute train ride north to Sarah Lawrence College.
Following is a number of artworks I've completed in the past year and a half (the majority of which were completed since this summer):
On Clocks and Transience, No. 2
55x74x6 (dimensions here and to follow are in inches)
acrylic, encaustic, and oil on fabric, wood, cardboard, string, and fiberglass. 2008
This was the first (of many) visual components of the multimedia art project mentioned above. The visual success of this piece is what caused me to explore visual art making to the extent that I have and shall continue to do, eclipsing writing and music as forms of personal artistic output for the time being...
Metempsychotic Window
36x44x6
acrylic on wood, tarry cloth, and rope, poetry on transparent plastic, glass; oil and encaustic on masonite, woven plastic, and tin. 2008
Metempsychosis (removable detail of above)
15x32x3
oil and encaustic on masonite, woven plastic, and tin. 2009
Ideal Soldier
37x54x10
found objects, wire, wood, acrylic on paper and fabric. 2009
Luna Over Portland
32x32x4
acrylic and encaustic on burlap and woven plastic. 2009
L'Arborescence 'Pataphysique
55x74x24
acrylic, modeling paste, and hair on wire and apple limb armature; acrylic and paper on glass. 2009
Transposition No. 1
28x50
acrylic, encaustic, collaged newsprint and toner ink on canvas. 2009
Transposition No. 2
48x60
Acrylic and collaged newsprint and paper on canvas. 2009
Transposed Cityscape
47x48
acrylic and monotype collage on newsprint and fabric. 2009
Unified Divide
26x47x3
acrylic on canvas, burlap, woven plastic, corkboard, and twine. 2009
Vacillation
33x41x4
acrylic and encaustic on burlap, woven plastic, and wood. 2009
Everlasting Decomposition
26x65x9
acrylic and encaustic on collaged canvas and paper, original photography, collaged newsprint, and found object on panel. 2009
American Dream
40x48x6
acrylic on found objects, canvas, paper. 2009
