Sometimes we find inspiration in places and through means that we do not expect. I am not saying that I found inspiration in some off the wall place. Actually I found it at a museum and in art class. The artists that I was introduced to were amazing, but it was not so much their art that inspired me as the fact that each of them worked in mediums and methods that I had not even considered. First there was Louise Nevelson. She is famous for creating sculpture from found objects, not so unheard of, but it was the way that she used the objects that was so miraculous to me. She used the objects in relation to each other to create fascinating compositions. The objects themselves had no bearing on the work, they were simply means to form space. In fact she would paint the finished pieces either black, white, or gold, thus making the objects uniform and the space between even more important. Next there was Lesley Dill. I was not in any way excited to see this exhibit. I had a misinformed notion of what I was going to encounter, but what I saw got my wheels spinning. It was the execution and materials again. She had used cloth, hair, metal and words to create these delicate expressions. I was not especially blown away with the work itself, but the fact that she could use these materials in the way that she had gave me a feeling of permission. Permission to try things that maybe I would not have thought of before. The final piece of the puzzle came last Saturday. I was at class with Moe and saw a book lying on his dining room table. As soon as I opened it I was so unbelievably blown away. The artist is Lee Bontecou. I had no idea that work that good and original existed. Her older pieces were made by welding metal armatures and then wiring canvas over them, creating, what I would call, a cyber bio-mech black hole that sucks you in and won’t let go. Moe told me that I was not to have seen that book until later on in my lessons. I believe that he was right about that. I was instantly inspired. The thought is that possibly I was not ready to see this work because he knew that I would aspire to that level. She used methods that were, again, foreign to me. The point to this missive is that I am beginning to understand that there are no limits to what I can do. I don’t have to fit everything into a neat little box in order to be valid. Looking back on my work I see that I am guilty of that, but as I am now learning, I can do anything. First I intend to get all the rules down. Then I am going to stomp them to pieces and see if they will fit together in a totally new way. Wish me luck

There have been one or two changes in my life since I last updated my site.  Part of the reason it took so long to do so is that my home ip address got blocked from my own website, and not being a computer person I could not figure out how to fix that, even after asking for help from the host.  So, there will no longer be any posts From The Trailer Park, because I am done with the Trailer Park.  We finally have our own house.  Now it will be posts from Tag Asylum.  Also I have a new job.  That came about back in October.  I am now employed at iGNiS Glass Studio, and Christopher Mosey Glass Studio http://www.christophermosey.com (basicallythe same place, there are two names because the gallery is separated from the artists studio).  Chris has turned out to be a pretty great boss, and I am really enjoying being around a totally different art form.  I get to sit here and watch glass being blown all day and hope that they don’t catch the building, or themselves on fire.  Kerrick Johnson http://www.kerrickjohnson.com/ and Bruce Benefield also work with Chris doing the glass, and they are amazing glass artists in their own rights.  Oh, and don’t forget Shadow May http://www.shadowpottery.com/, who is an awesome potter that has his studio behind us.  Rachel White is our brilliant Gallery Manager and she has labeled everything since she has been here, including the dog.   Oh, and I am the office manager,,,don’t ask how that happened, turns out I am pretty good at it….It’s been pretty cool being here in the middle of the Southside and watching the art scene start to take shape.  It has a ways to go, but I hope that in the end it will all work out for us.  Ok, end of commercial.  So basically I have been just running in circles for a few months, but maybe it is about to settle down.  The trailer is sold, I am moved (but not unpacked) and I am so frickin’ ready to get some painting done.  The only place that I am showing right now is here at iGNiS, 1800 Rossville Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37408.  I am thinking about maybe doing Finster Fest, and Four Bridges next year though.  We shall see, and I will let you know.

A lot has been happening lately.  My show at Michael’s Fine Arts went very well.  I sold 4 original pieces and have contacts to hopefully sell even more.  I got great response on my work.  The Contrapasso show was a joke, I got good response from the crowd, but had other problems.  My art classes with Moe Mitchell are going along smashingly.  I really love studying with him, and he is really having a noticeable impact on my work.  I will post more work from that soon.  My next show is the Dalton Creative Arts Guild Fall festival.  The exhibition will go on from August 4 till September 21.  The Patron Party will be Friday September 19.  I will be exhibiting 3 of my contemporary pieces.  Also I have started taking Taekwondo at a local studio.  Hopefully this will help me to get in better shape and become a more focused individual.  I am very excited about all of the new things I am learning.

I have two shows coming up.  The first is kind of short notice.  Friday April 25th starting at 9:00 pm and running till 1 in the morning.  I will be showing at a new art center called Contrapasso.  Contrapasso is a multipurpose arts facility with a focus on modern dance and performance art with a large art gallery in the front.  Friday will be a kick off benefit.  Admission will be $20 and there will be a silent auction.  Drinks are being catered by Big River.  Contrapasso is located on Rossville Avenue next to Loose Cannons, which is part of the new South Side Development in Chattanooga.

The other show is on May 16th from 5:30 pm till 8:00 pm at Michael’s Fine Arts and Framing in Dalton, Ga.  I will be showing a selection of abstract work and Dennis Sprinkle will be showing his nature photography.  Admission to that show is free.  Wine and light hours dourves will be served.  Michael’s Fine Arts is located 1/4 mile off of Walnut Avenue on Dug Gap Road.  Take I-75 to exit 333 and go East on Walnut Avenue approx. 1 1/2 miles to the intersection of Walnut and Dug Gap.  Turn at the Walgreens. 1325 Dug Gap Road.  any Questions call (706) 278-8840.

Ok, the story,, I think that she visited me in 2003. I was asleep in my apartment one night and I was awakened by screaming. I opened my eyes and there was a woman leaned over me screaming a high pitched blood curdling scream. She was glowing bright red and her hair was undulating around her. To the best of my recollection she was nude. I bolted up in bed and watched her run out of the room, I jumped up to follow her and saw the living room light up and then heard the front door slam. I made it to the door and checked it and both the knob and dead bolt were locked. I went back to bed and did not get much sleep for the rest of the night. Now I know this sounds like a dream, but I was completely awake and chased her out of the apartment. Within the next two days I did a sketch of her. I didn’t sketch her as I saw her, but I decided to bind her. The woman in the painting The Exquisite Deterioration of Vienne is the red lady. Now for many people who have seen that painting she has come across as creepy as well as strong and defiant. I gave her the look of someone who put herself into that position. Her hands are free, she is not totally bound, and her disposition is calm. She wants to be there. I have had fun with people over time saying that one day she might come up missing from the painting, and if that happens I may be a goner. All good fun, right? I will admit that before the painting was done,,,which was a long time in the works, I believe she visited me again. I woke up another night to find the apartment lit up like it was on fire. I got up thinking that there was a problem in the living room and as I walked to the door the room darkened again, but up till the point that it did I could see everything in the room as clear as day, but when the light went away it was pitch dark again, and there were no lights turned on in the rest of the house. I have heard stories from others who have lived in that area. One man who lived there said that he went walking in the cemetery on the corner from the apartments and saw a beautiful woman walking among the tombstones. He went to talk to her and she disappeared. He then realized that she had been glowing. I don’t know if she was red to him, but it seems like a funny coincidence doesn’t it. I also know that the apartments had caught on fire once, and another building on the property had actually blown up years ago from a furnace explosion. The old furnace is still sitting in the fields where it originally was. I will leave it up to you to decide if this story has any merit.
PAIN 07

Believe it or not, I am finally taking some real drawing classes. A retired professor from Ringling School of Art is offering classes through the Hunter museum in Chattanooga, TN and with help from my boss, seeing as I am to poor to afford something like this, I have been able to join up and get challenged a bit. Below is one of my homework assignments from this class. I will post more as the class goes on. If you are interested in taking any of these classes then you can contact Erin Noseworthy at the hunter enoseworthy@huntermuseum.org and she can give you more information.

I finished a new piece last night. It is called Horror Pussy. It is located in the Horror and morbidity page in the gallery. I don’t really have a cool story to go with this image yet, but I’m sure I could come up with one if I tried. Basically what happened is that I was looking through old search strings for my website, and one of them showed that a person searched Horror Pussy. I really liked the way the name sounded a the image came to life in my head immediately. Check it out.

Getting to go see Marilyn Manson tonight in Atlanta. Twiggy is back with the band so I am super stoked to see this. I hope we don’t have to stand in the rain for four hours to get in though,,,I had to do that last time I saw him at the Tabernacle and I was not pleased,,,,but I guess I will do what I have to.

Got to thinking about it. I identify myself as a Chattanooga area artist, which is true. Nearly everything I have done artistically, such as shows and galleries I have been involved with have been in Chattanooga, but the hard bruising truth is that I was born and live in Dalton, GA. Now I am all for being proud of where you come from, showing respect for your roots,,,,but this town is hard to deal with. It is dying a slow painful death and taking it’s inhabitants with it. There is nothing here but carpet mills and hard working, not too bright people (with very few exceptions). The carpet industry has a strangle hold on the economy and always will. They have kept every other industry out and now the carpet industry is starting to die. You start to see what corruption does to a society on a smaller level over time. Everything stagnates and then starts to die. You can only shit on one spot so long before it becomes to rancid to take. The only thing growing in Dalton is the business area around the main interstate exit, which consists of restaurants, grocery stores, Walmart, and recently, clothing stores. It all looks good if you don’t go over two miles from the interstate. The only people who really have anything are the carpet mill owners and execs. but even they will not buy art in Dalton because they are ashamed to say that it came from here. The local art guild is a pile of crap and has never really been of use to anyone who does not sit on it’s board. Art doesn’t matter here. Whatever. So I sit here in the Trailer Park and wrack my ragged brains on how to be seen. I wave the flag but it remains invisible from here. Now I will save my Chattanooga rant for another day, but things are actually worse there…I will explain later, it’s a good one. I tried to raise the flag there, but someone set it on fire and pissed on the ashes. The frustration of trying to do what I do in the middle of the bible belt is quite maddening. So, what to do. Don’t really know yet, but the harder it gets, the madder I seem to get, and I think that is good. I think that if you live in this country right now and are not mad as hell about something then you are a corpse. The thing is I don’t know if my battle can have a good outcome, but I am going to fight anyway. Maybe the work I do isn’t valid, but to me it is, and it is what I love to do so fuck it. And if you don’t understand or share my struggle then I wasn’t talking to you anyway.