Adios California

Funniest little hot tub in Palm Desert

View from the Palm Springs aerial tram at twilight (scary)

Vik Muniz's Pictures of Cars (after Ed Ruscha) at the Imago Gallery, Palm Desert

The Cabazon Dinosaurs through the front window of the Corolla (remembering Pee Wee's Big Adventure)

 Adam's birds stored on top of the refrigerator

View from Griffith Observatory at sunset (amazing!)

Jim Hodges' The Dark Gate at the Hammer Museum

From Jeff Koons' Banality series or custom made gingerbread houses at Gelson's in Pacific Palisades

Shadow Mountain Resort - Palm Desert, CA

In December 2007, Adam took me to a pool in December in Los Angeles and I was able to swim laps outside. It was especially gratifying because my leg had been encased in an air cast for a torn ligament for three months. It was at that moment that I established that swimming outdoors in the winter was a future goal (hello, giving snowbirds a good name). Last fall, I determined that the specific pool did not matter, it was the act that was important. Even though I have no previous history with the Shadow Mountain Resort swimming pool in Palm Desert, it became a source of inspiration over the course of 2.5 days.

It was difficult to convince oneself to dive in despite the 80º temperature of the salt water since the outdoor air was hovering around 65º most of the time. The most significant thing about my first California December lap swimming experience was watching the sky while doing the backstroke. In the images, it was important to include evidence of what lay above in addition to what was below. Anyway, these are the three I am thinking about (yes, there is repetition but it will be narrowed down).

As with everything in this series, none of the images are final. They are part of a greater whole (installation, book, sculpture, sound piece, video, mail art, etc.) that I hope will start to materialize once documentation from all the locations is collected (at this rate there are only five more - I may have added yet another one, damn it).

Coincidentally, the swimming pool opened in December (the 10th) in 1948. Above is a terrible photograph of it in a display case next to the clubhouse. Twelve people on surfboards is a good indicator of scale.

This postcard had my name on it (and will probably be featured in the end product in some fashion). Oh the times of dangerous ladders and pool toys that will never see the light of day in the 21st century and when Palm Desert still looked like a desert rather than an over irrigated, environmentally problematic oasis.

Stalking Artists: Ed Ruscha

In June 2011, Adam Davis took the above photograph of me outside Ed Ruscha's Venice Beach address. Later on, after reading a profile in the New Yorker, I realized he lived in Beverly Hills. At the time this image was taken, Adam and I remarked how surprised we were that he lived in a "dump." I owe Ed Ruscha an apology after seeing the remainder of his real estate holdings earlier this month.

I will reiterate that this side project is supposed to be humorous with an earnest sense of trying to discover the definition of "home" as seen through the eyes of other artists. As this activity winds down (with only a handful more to go), I cannot help but feel unease. I dread every single moment of it, most specifically when I talk myself into stepping out of the car and walking by the house in question. There will be a great sense of relief when this is done. If anything, Stalking Artists: In Pursuit of Home has challenged me in ways that I have never imagined (making art from the Internet, placing myself in difficult situations, researching the law and making sure that I am not breaking it, and so on). I cannot help but wonder if anything will ever become of these photographs other than documentation proving that I did something I never imagined I could do.    

A terribly blurry photo above of the Beverly Hills address (the cake was delivered here) and a well groomed front yard (proof that the poorly positioned sun could illuminate something correctly).

One Malibu address:

Check out those security cameras:

Another Malibu house:

Yet another Malibu house:

One conclusion: Ed likes his fences and security systems.

"Spiral Kitty"

Also see Francis Alÿs: The Paradox of Praxis (Cat Version) here.

Brought to you by Homesession Barcelona via an email link from Adam Davis. 

"Love Potion Specimen #1"

Brent Cole invited me to participate in this. I wish I had more than a weekend to work on it as the concept would be more developed. In addition, this was a challenge considering I never make artwork about this topic. The above tweet sums up the experience.

It will be exhibited, along with several other artists creations, at this exhibition next week in Indy. Here is a portion of the audio that will soon be available on the website:

For the past two years, I have collected water samples around the world in small glass vials. When thinking about the topic of love, Venice, Italy - the "city of love" - immediately sprang to mind. Incidentally, I also had a water sample from the canal, Rio d. Carmini in front of the Palazzo Zenobio that I collected on 21 July 2011.

The book is one that I have held onto since 1997. I wanted one that looked worn (= well loved) and it fit perfectly with the concept. The best part is that it is a sculpture (hooray!).

Two of my favorite artists and friends from grad school are featured in the archive: Adam Davis and Io Palmer. Check out their books here and here. 

Adam Davis's "Mantra / Repeat Ten Times"

Adam "created this piece through time-lapse video captured at Joshua Tree National Park in California. Throughout the duration of the video, a line from Madonna's Lucky Star is repeated ten times. In its new context, Madonna's voice has been removed and the line is now articulated through an electronic voice synthesizer pattern made famous by the eighties educational toy Speak & Spell. This vocal pattern is also commonly associated with and interpreted as the voice of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking."

Summer Solstice in LA/Venice Beach

It's been difficult posting art related projects because this trip is all about the accumulation of individual images that will make more sense once displayed as a whole. Adam and I went to the Hammer Museum today where we saw Ed Ruscha: On the Road. We were quite bored by the formulaic premise and walked away disappointed. If only Road Tested was on exhibit instead.



Here is a photograph that Adam took of me waiting for Ed Ruscha to come to the gate.

Little Did Adam Know When He Sent His Exhibition Announcement...

... that I was collecting cats.



Adam Davis, On Use and Possession at 643 Project Space, Ventura, CA.


Opening Night, 1st April (though the 23rd)

"I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just Asleep"

Excerpt from Adam's website:

"...one night in a dream that even by my standards was pretty unusual and worthy of professional analysis. In it, a young and hipsterish homeless guy asked if he could live with me. Without a pause I replied- sorry, I have no room. He then countered by explaining that he was like a cat and I would never even notice him. Somehow, this extremely week rebuttal must have convinced me because I let him stay. I attribute my doppelgangers inability to stick to his guns to the prior conditioning that took place in real life over my summer stint in Spain. Sure enough, within minutes of becoming my roommate, the guy started crawling around on all fours, meowing, and spent the majority of his days living under my bed. We got a long for what seemed like a long time under the conditions of this arrangement, but all that changed one day when he started barking like a dog. I promptly told him that our roommate situation was not working any longer, that I could handle living with a cat but not a dog. I told him that he had to go, but before doing so, would need to make a public announcement as to what was going on in my house. Apparently, I lived a life in the public eye and was very concerned about the damaging potential of false rumors that might begin floating around regarding our living arrangement. He kindly agreed and later that day announced to the Associated Press that although we lived together, our relationship was a strictly platonic roommate arrangement that came to an end simply because he could no longer live as a cat when he knew that deep down, he was really a dog."