|
June 5,
2006
It’s been just over two months
since the last TeamWetDog update — working a new job has put a lot of
other stuff in flux, and finding a momentarily firm foothold from which
to say “this is what I’ve been working on” has been tough.
So, first off, a couple of updates… A chunk of “The Mount Pleasant
Project” is on display again. This time it’s at Bedrock Billiards, at
1841 Columbia Rd. NW, in Adams Morgan (Washington, D.C.). Much thanks to
Bedrock and to B. Stanley (director of the District of Columbia Arts
Center, and curator of Bedrock’s art space) for showing the project. It
should be on display there through June.
I’ve also participated in the Fourth Annual PrintZero Print Exchange,
along with 283 other printmakers. The idea is for artists to create and
submit a limited edition print, which will then be distributed among
other artists and included in a traveling exhibition. So, if you happen
to be in Portland, Seattle or Coral Gables at the right time then check
out these shows:
Basil Howard Gallery, Portland, OR – June 2006
Sev Shoon Arts Center, Seattle, WA – July 2006
Rainbow Bldg Gallery @ University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., Sept.
2006
On to the rambling part of
this email…
Going back “to work” was a pretty abrupt change from the full-time
photography I did for six months. In some ways, it means a lot less time
to really work on the personal projects I care about. And it absolutely
means less time to make photographs, although I still try and update the
web site several times a week.
But there is a flip side. Having less time has made things seem more
urgent. Time once again seems like a precious commodity, and so I spend
a lot more time thinking and planning different projects. I’m not sure
what the end result is. Planning and dreaming at a frantic pace — but
having less time to execute — may just mean standing in place. But I
feel like I’m still working to do projects I care about, and either way
that’s probably the most important thing.
I’ve become fascinated with dreams lately, and so I’ve been working on a
sort of amalgamation of poetry and transcription. Basically, I’ve been
waking up, trying to recall my dreams and then working them into some
sort of narrative format.
|
At first I was trying
to mold them into paragraphs or even a short story format, but that
obviously didn’t work. The things which occur in dreams rarely follow
any sort of story arc, and details and words and nonsense tends to come
in and out.
So a little experimenting led me to start fashioning the dreams into
“poems.” I use the word “poems” lightly, because it isn’t the sort of
normal writing process I think of. Part of it is basic transcription – I
saw something, and now I’m just writing it down. Part of it is taking
real nonsense and trying to make it slightly more orderly.
It’s a long process, for a few reasons. First, I don’t remember my
dreams every night. And even when I do, sometimes it’s nothing more than
a detail or a flash, not enough to really play with. And since I can’t
very well sleep all the time, it’s taken a while to collect enough.
Finally, the process seems to be coming to an end. I started this about
a year ago, on and off, and I think I’m finally getting something
“finished.”
Anyway, point being, it’s time to
do something with it. This piece, along with two other pieces of fiction
that rely heavily on dream imagery, will ultimately become part of a
small volume I want to publish through TeamWetDog. None of it is
particularly “marketable” in a general, money-making sense, and so
there’s no reason not to take on the task myself. Independent- and
self-publishing has become more and more affordable in recent years, and
while I still I think there’s a sort of stigma attached with
self-publishing I also believe it’s a sin to leave something you create
sitting on a shelf to never see the light of day.
So hopefully, with a little luck and planning, the [tiny] volume will be
available around August. It’s something I really want to complete and
make available, but at the same time I look at the dreams I’ve
transcribed and I have to cringe a little. There’s a lot of obvious
symbolism and emotion going on in dreams, and the idea of throwing that
out for anyone to see is a difficult one. But at the same time, I feel
like a lack of honesty sometimes holds back the things I want to post on
TeamWetDog. There are definitely things I write and begin to post, but
then do not. So it’s something I’ve been working on – trying to be more
comfortable with more honesty in more of my work. We’ll see.
Hope all is well with all of you…
-Robert
(click
here for the previous entry)
|
