Boonville and Kevin Sisemore

Copyright Kevin Sisemore

Last week I received an email from Kevin Sisemore about my Boonville project. Turns out Kevin used to hang out in Boonville, MO as a child. This is the second random Boonville, MO connection I have made in the last month. Also, a few months back I received an email from a German reporter living near Boonville, CA (you can write from anywhere these days).


Kevin Sisemore is a photographer living in NY. The above image is from his Zoo project. From reading his blog he seems to be quite an ambitious photographer.

- A few years ago I started a project entitled “Parks and Recreation.” The idea came to me after reading an article about New York Cities 1700 parks. Every week I set out for a new park. -

Copyright Kevin Sisemore, Randall's Island

See his great hunting series here and be sure to check out the rest of his blog: Site Under Construction.

Artist of the week - Jason Covert

Jason Covert drawing Laura, Catskills, Nov. 2006

Jason and I both moved to NY in the year 2000 and met shortly after in early 2001. We bonded over hating a certain photographer we both worked for - J was a studio manager and I was a freelance assistant. Jason and I have been close ever since. He has been a very important influence on my own art work - he was the original character featured in the "Boonville Project."

About 4 years ago J and I started an annual photo excursion. Last year we rented a cottage in Woodstock and Jason shot his Fairy Tale Series, one of my favorites.

The above image is a portrait I took of Jason just this past weekend while in the catskills.

The drawing Jason is finishing up in the above portrait is part of an exercise he has been working on. The rules are that he cannot look down at the paper nor can he lift his pen or stop his hand movement until the drawing is finished. For almost two weeks now Jason and I have been sending Postcards with drawings on them to each other. I am sending really crude drawings and old 4x5 polaroids with sketches and text on the back. Jason is sending old postcards with drawings created in the way I just explained. I am really into these drawings and I hope he keeps it up - see some of them below.


Postcard, Woman, 2006

Postcard, May I Ask A Question, 2006

Postcard, Frank, 2006

View more of Jason's work on his site and be sure to check out his blog Clogvert. . And here is a picture of Jason in their kitchen just before he made us a killer burger

Halloween in the Terrace...

Edward draws me a picture...

On Wednesday I posted about Edward Jinn, a homeless artist living on Manhattans upper east side. I met with him again last Friday. Because I was running late for a meeting we only spoke for a few minutes but before I left I gave Edward the PBJ I had promised him along with a mini snickers bar. He then drew me this picture.

Sleeping with your art

Today I met Edward Jin. He is a homeless artist that lives on Lexington Avenue and 55th st in Manhattan. I first saw him on Monday after my Physical Therapy appointment -- I quickly snapped a few images of his art work and said hello. Today I spent a good amount of time talking with him about his drawings and his living situation. I don't really know a lot about his situation yet but I told him I would be in the neighborhood on Friday and I would bring him a PBJ -- Maybe I'll find out more then. A few minutes into our conversation he noticed my camera and asked me if I would take a picture of him with his own PC card. This guy carries around his own PC card?

I'm not sure exactly why but I'm definitely a fan of his work. There's something about that stream-of-consciousness drawing that I like -- There's an "outsider art" quality to it -- Plus its on pizza boxes! I may also be partial to this style because of these cardboard produce boxes I have been collecting (example). I've got a good collection going. More on that later.

View a detail of Edward's above drawing here and then view a close up of my favorite piece here.

Artist of the week - Anthony Goicolea

Anthony is most famous for his multiple self-portrait series', see all of them in the photography portion of his site. The above image is taken from one of them - The 'Kidnap series'. Anthony works with many mediums and often enhances a series with a video or environmental installation, (he got his MFA from Pratt in sculpture). I'm very impressed with his range as well as his presentations. He is currently showing in a group-show titled 'Will boys be boys?' at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Any friends in Indy should check it out!

I especially like his Landscapes. See all his works here.

Artist of the week - Rainer Maria Rilke

When you fully commit to moving to NY and try to pursue whatever it is you pursue, most of the time you have to say good-bye to your childhood friends. Fortunately, Shane, my old neighbor and one of my best-friends is working for a private equity fund in NY. Shane came by on Saturday for a few hours, we had lunch, spent some time in the park and then started to peak through my girlfriends poetry collection. At this point Rilke came up for the second time that day. Not only did I mention him to Shane but I was reminded that Amy Elkins had quoted him on her blog, only hours before.

This leads me into the Artist of the week. Rainer Maria Rilke is considered to be one of the greatest German poets of all time. I was first introduced to him almost 3 years ago when Laura handed me my very own copy of "Letters to a Young Poet". It was the first thing she gave to me, only 7 days after we had met. She insisted that this book would change my life. She was right. I take that copy with me on every photo excursion I go on. Even though I don't read through it on every trip, I feel comfort in knowing its there.

The book is a compilation of ten letters written between 1903 and 1908 that Rilke wrote in response to a poet asking Rainer to critic his work. In many of the letters Rilke starts off by saying that he cannot help the young artist but usually ends with advice that could easily change the world, or at least an artist.

On a trip I took to Maine last year I found myself reading letter 6 over and over. I spent many days alone camping and shooting and for the last two days a friend let me stay in his families cabin, there was nobody within a 5 mile radius of my location. As the sun fell the first night a lot of things went through my mind, many of which were pretty frightening. Over the next 2 days I fell deeply in love with that letter. Recently, this letter has found its way back into my life while I deal with the pain and isolation that comes with my current situation (knee surgery). Below is a selected paragraph.

...But perhaps these are the very hours during which solitude grows; for its growing is painful as the growing of boys and sad as the beginning of spring. But that must not confuse you. What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours-that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child, when grownups walked around involved with matters that seemed larger and important because they looked so busy and because you didn't understand a thing about what they were doing.

Laura and I decided to keep up her tradition of naming our plants after poets/philosophers, see Rilke here.

Artist of the week - David Opdyke

A few years ago I added myself to almost every mailing list in NY. This morning I received my first email from Bravin Lee Programs. This new gallery is located in Chelsea on 26th street. Their upcoming show will feature the work of David Opdyke.

All of David's work is extremely political, but their is an initial beauty found in his drawings and sculptures that allows you see the art before you suddenly see his frustration. He blends them both very well. See his drawing 'An Outing' below and then look close to find his frustrations in the detail image. Below that is 'Achievements'.

'An outing'

Detail


'Achievments'

Detail

'Working next to a Portrait'... (after Jason Lazarus)

I took this photo today at work. This leads me into...

Artist of the week #2 - Jason Lazarus...


Copyright Jason Lazarus, 2006

Jason Lazarus is a photographer living in Chicago. I was first introduced to him because of his show at the 12x12 Gallery at the MCA, Chicago. He has a wonderful website and he has got himself a great Photoblog. Normally I am not a fan of "art on art" or "art about art".

Not all of his work is "Art on Art" but much of it is extremely conceptual. The first series of his I fell in love with was "Self-Portrait as an artist". The concept of these pieces, like most of the stuff on his blog is explained in the title. For Example... My favorite "self portrait as an Artist" image is titled "under the same moon as barack obama (self portrait as an artist series)". Most of these are on his site, JasonLazarus.com. Be sure to check out "Self-portrait as an artist (Burning down the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL" It's a good one!


Here are a few images from his new works...

Living with a Portrait series... One Two

Soundtrack series... One Two

See all of them on his Photoblog.

Artist of the week - Christopher Reiger

Christoper Reiger is now showing at AG Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.