You are the Hawk

You are the Hawk. As I prepare to go out, do I have everything, the right clothes, gloves, hat, the right tools, will I need a knife, a shovel, the camera, is it all there, the list is endless, or so seemingly. I think about the time of year it is, no leaves on the trees rotten decaying wet, what little activity is far and few between. I love the color, all the browns, umbers, sepias, whites, grays, and subtle greens. If I go and find nothing I will still have the pleasure of that brief time experienced in a place I hold fondly. The goal if it is a goal is the raptor, the eagle, the hawk. It is everywhere but nowhere. I see it, or at least I think I do, I feel it's presence so strong but knowing if it is, is uncertain until it is certain. What I mean is when it is a crow, a pigeon, a raven or whatnot, it is put into question, is that it, look, over there, something doesn't feel right. But a hawk is a hawk is a hawk, it is only what it is and there is no mistaking it. If only it were more compassionate to the lengths taken to see it, to be there for it. Maybe it would if only it knew, but how, how can you tell this. Many things are like that hawk, there is no mistaking it's presence. You look and notice how things are like it. You go to great lengths to share it's company. But likewise things aren't. It seems rightfully placed and displaced at the same time. And it's not just it, but everything, the whole, the mud, the grayed skies, the likens, the rot of the wood, the smell of the air. I see you.

thank you for reading,
Jonathan

Works

Here are some marks for you

Another draft of writing without posting, but HA! no, not this time. It occurred to me that maybe I should make a series of articles, unfinished works or discarded drafts, but that's something else. I figured, why not just post it, it is what it is. So here it is.

A thought boroughs unlike no other tangible thing. A thought digs beneath what is impenetrable, it's like a seed preparing for it's cataclysmic coming. Some months ago when I started working in sketchbooks, like a seed ready to grow, into what. This has been a strong turn to move towards. Towards what. The thought is still digging ever so deep, but I finally came to wanting to share more without thinking on what to write about. 

"I can not accept that there is no mark to communicate the way I feel for you." As overtly hackneyed this seems in some way as a few have. I made it anyway. Text as a mark has it's own meaning, yet this in particular is what steered me to share, even though it's meaning is unrelated. I suppose it's about trying, to not stop trying, because once you stop, you stop. That as well in some way, sounds kind of typical; however, some things are individual to a single person, so perhaps to simply explain instead of just doing, is why the thought becomes cliche- if that makes sense. But I like it and the slight cliche feel. With words, in part, writing something that anyone could hold or say is like a mark being made over and over, but it holds something personal or special like a person's name. Marks by themselves, and perhaps words too, they are ||\\||//|=|/.

Here are some marks for you. (Read more below)

made by soaking through

brushing on doesn't seem as genuine as a writing instrument

one of the first words as marks, i like the glow the red puts off when seen in person

(i also wrote a whole unpublished article on this one)

gold-leafed glue mark, I think this could be an entire separate focus

thinking about writing

thinking about the weight mark has outwardly and inwardly

letter as shape as letter

shape as letter as shape

direction

is it more a mark if less is thought

first color, and mark as form

making a mark as a gift for someone special was a challenge of it's own

over two hundred and fifty marks in a little over a square inch, not the most marks i made on one page but an idea of how many actions it takes to fill such a small area.

I wanted to share more, like names as marks, but I felt sharing someone's name was extremely personal, not necessarily for myself, but for the person who's name was written, and even when many names are not particular to any individual. When writing someones name for the sake of writing their name, it is a strange feeling, that it is them, also I am filled with the need to give it to them. Maybe it is one reason it feels so special to receive (and give) handwritten letters from people you know and care for.

Part of what I was doing before I started making marks, was the idea of art as social change, but without needing to piggyback on another cause. I never really knew to place that idea out their, perhaps because the strength of an idea, a thought, the influence words alone have, is tremendous. But a bigger part is making art for you... perhaps in a way it is related to art as social change. 

I wish I had the words to share, I want to show you, I want you to see it, how special you are to me.

this mark is for you

Thank YOU for reading

J

Allyson Packer at Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe NM

Stop Crying, Allyson Packer at Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe NM. 

You may have noticed, but if not, I have featured my friend, Allyson Packer, on and off, over the years I have known her. I really enjoy her work, the ideas and thought she puts in. On occasion I would show up and photograph her work, unofficially, it tended to be performance based visual conceptual work, if that isn't a genre of art, it should be. I do wonder though if documenting such types of work sometimes takes away some meaning from it all, as like, Stop Crying, at Axle Contemporary's mobile art gallery, was very in the now, and photographing something that is about presence, doesn't quite translate. Translation or no, I mostly did it because I like capturing those types of moments, particular of a friend that I respected her work. I have missed documenting a few of Allyson's similar works/performances, for example, one where I forgot my camera, but realized that it was mostly in the dark anyway, so needless to say, I would have ruined the ambiance with a flash. And one on a billboard, that I wasn't aware of till after the fact. But I also wanted to be a part of this one, mostly because it is Allyson's last show in New Mexico, at least for a while, as she goes to the midwest to advance her career, and I will dearly miss her presence as well as her art. I hope you can glean some of the enjoyment myself and others experienced from this small article, it surely was. I'm sure she will have more up on her website in the near future.

From the show, "Allyson Packer's performance Stop Crying will enlist the help of viewers to create a laugh track to be played as a sound installation in the Railyard. During the performance, Packer will work one-on-one with viewers to elicit and record the sound of their laughter. Immediately following each encounter, the new recording will be added to an audio track containing laughter from previous participants. As it grows over the course of the performance, the resulting laugh track will be played outside Axle in the Railyard. Packer's performance art explores vulnerability as a form of agency, and how removing boundaries can affect the balance of power in interpersonal politics."

Check out Allyson's work at http://www.allysonpacker.com/ and as check out Axle Contemporary at http://www.axleart.com/

Allyson elsewhere, Studio Club

As always, thank you for reading.

Jonathan

Fountain Fun Liquid Nitrogen

After closing hours at work the other day it was decided to pour the excess liquid nitrogen into the fountain, which isn't uncommon, however this time it was poured from the upstairs balcony. Check it out, I slapped together this animated gif for some fountain fun.

From my book of marks

Mark making, I am not sure why I started this sketchbook exactly, but I felt like it was some kind of algorithm for possible future  works.

New Ink

Making a fine line is hard, this should do the trick. Now, I just hope Copic's replaceable nib holds up to the abuse of drawing over watercolor.

Recent work, watercolor

Attempting a more close version of thought.

Recent work, watercolor

Needs a little flattening out but I may tweak it a bit.

Recent work, haworthia, watercolor