variations | a day in the life: bike and mountain
Today the mountain called. Beautiful was the color of sky and earth.
variations | a day in the life: cats and boxes
Another one of those moments here at home. Thai-G and Little Baby needing to find the smallest box possible. It’s called love in a box.
variations | a day in the life: hiking at Paris Mountain
I just got the Galaxy Note II and I love the painting software included. For this “variations | a day in the life” series, I will be using either Paint Sketch or Picsart. I will not post daily, however I hope to explore elements such as architecture, objects, personal experiences all within the constructs of my personal vision. This series is the continuation of “images for Android phones” tag. 2013 has been a year of mostly new video work and the “variations” series. I am also in the final stages of completing my 200 page book of digital art. It too will focus on this year’s “variations” series. A book of poetry, prose, and imagery. With all this going on, and with work it has been difficult to keep up with everyone’s blog. Please accept my apology. I do appreciate all the support.
variations | a day in the life: wheelchair at Burger King
I thought I would, on occasion, randomly post scenes from everday life. I will be using Paint Sketch mobile software on my Galaxy Note II.
experiment: data complex 8 | a world floating by for you and i | video art
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“A World floating By For You and I” is an expression of ambiguity in how we exist within the world around us.
experiment: data complex 6 | all is forgiven
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All is forgiven …
with the final
curtain call
and their last dance
with our beating hearts
and the setting sun
with its’ last goodbye
All is forgiven …
when strange fruit
and black bodies
(hooded)
as they sometimes may be
succumbs … for the last time
to the poplar tree
variations | when biking le tour, we discover more about ourselves
The pleasure of the moment. In retrospect, a sense of warmth. The night turning to morning …
I was very excited about waking up at 6:30 a.m. to watch stage 9 of the Tour de France. The stage is a 168.5 km trek through the Pyrenees in Southern France. For me the mountain stages are the most exhilarating of all the various stages. The trek from Saint Girons to Bagneres de Bigorre includes four category one climbs, each over 5000 feet and a category 2 climb. A test of man and machine. I believe that climbing is my best skill as a rider, and I certainly can relate to the difficulty inherent to climbing. Whether it is mountain biking or road biking, I love the challenge. Climbing is very meditative; slow and methodical. One has to really focus inward. On the breath, and on the movement of the body. Everything is recorded over and over again. Sometimes with much pain. Physically and mentally is can be quite exhausting, but in the end very rewarding. There is a certain ‘Peacetime’ when the silence of nature, movement and breath come together. An inner bliss without end.
experiment: data complex 5 | a returning place | video art
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The journey to silence as visited through “A Returning Place”. Often the road to our true essence is discovered through the meditative path of silence. In that silence, we navigate the past; leaving it behind. We dismiss the anxiety of an uncertain future; freeing us from our thoughts. It is our hope that we find the journey without moving, The one that takes us on the road inward: The present moment, and the freedom through enlightenment to see things as they really are.
This video captures some of the elements of natural and man-made silence: Silent films, Space, singularity, and the journey one takes alone … in this thing called life.
variations | when, without moving we travel to a new vision
on the road
to Silence
> at last
quiet stillness
‘I think, therefore I am’, is far from the truth revealed in Silence (our thoughts are not who we are). As I move forward, stillness surrounds me. The ever-present moment awakens through the noise of distractions, attachments, thoughts. Creativity begins to make its presence known. The true vision that laid hidden … emerges.
There are moments, when traveling without moving; my mind turns inward. Often the idea for a new piece comes to me in the stillness of repetitive motion e.g. when driving home from work late at night or during the day riding my bike for hours. Both experiences are brought to a new level when simultaneously interwoven with ambient music of some kind: Inventive and emotional. Ethereal and far-reaching. Both movement and sound collapse the night and day into the black hole of my ever-expanding need for creativity. With each movement forward, with each night and day, like a sought out mystery, it mysteriously reveals itself. In Silence, I become one with my creative Truth.
Music for Backgrounds: Bvdub from the cd Resistance Is Beautiful and the track Nothing Like You. Perfect for that ride, drive or creative spark.
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variations | in a silent way
moving inward
floating forward
> finding the self
through the silent way …
The day continues, not un-like many other days; the miles, attachments, and memories forever with me … I feel the need to search for the path that will only bring the present moment to bare. Thoughts come and go. Emotions rise and fall. Circumstances are unending, but the silent way brings awareness, clarity, stillness and freedom. I find myself traveling without moving, seeing the beauty that surrounds me, and know that I am blessed in this present moment.
variations | the silent place of no maps or memories
In a silent place
with [no – thing]
> just the present moment
and the awareness of being present.
The day began with many thoughts, and as I rode past farms, creeks, trees, and life itself, the thoughts became less and less. Until I was one with the body. One with its perpetual motion. Forward and away. And the awareness of its progression to stillness. Being present. Being Free.
variations | the things we dream when all is forgiven
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the late night
turned into day
> dream
you say …
when all is forgiven
variations | the things we dream burn like the sun
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I want to thank Nancy my girlfriend, for fulfilling the dreams that burn like the sun …
You have made the waking day a sunlight that last forever ….
variations, rewind and remixes | postcards and influences 02
Some moments with Highwire Gallery, the Philadelphia Artist Cooperative, John Cage in performance, Digital Voice, fellow artist and friend Paul Curci, and my solo digital exhibition “Sometimes In the Waking the Reality is More Pressing than the Dream.” at Villanova University Art Gallery. The years 1987 through 2001.
Below are links to the original posts that I am using for these variations, rewind and remixes.
In the Reflective Mirror / Various Artistic Influences 03: why ask questions about art
variations | a returning ecstasy
you are …
a returning ecstasy
> now hold me tight
and never let me go …
variations | art matters
Over the past few months I have been creating digital artwork within a series called “Variations”. It developed out of a soul-searching experience I had with an exhibit I saw by Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko on display late last year at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina. Memories, dreams, aspirations, magic and loss have all found their way in different forms of expression throughout the series.
One of the developing constructs of the work is how do I relate to the thoughts that exist within the framework of my daily life? I think all of us, artists and non-artists alike, struggle with this and many other questions. One of the questions that has emerged for me is … does art matter? Has it changed anything of any significance in my life? Yes and no. Yes, I long to create. I am pleased with every waking moment that I find the impulse to create. For there has been many days, weeks, months, and even years when the drive to produce art could not be found. It is undoubtably a beautiful thing to shape your craft into self-expression. But to what end? Is there really any escaping the reality of lost things; loved ones who have passed away, beautiful times gone by, aspirations fallen short, collapsed dreams? What weighs more? Art or life? For me, in truth, I create art to either “escape” or find “answers”. No, art does not always save. No real answers here. And maybe that is the point. Perhaps the only meaning to life or purpose for living is to be blessed with the breath of a new day. Then take your pen, or brush, or camera, or whatever serves as your way of expression and try to find that which will give you peace. Even if it is, only for a moment.
variations | your heart in my picture frame
a heart framed
by love
your picture
next to my every waking moment
experiment: data complex 3 | nostalgia | video art
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The day on the beach brought back memories of beautiful times gone by: She the choreographer and dancer, and he the artist and filmmaker. Together they drifted back to the beginning of their artistic dreams. Fused with the technology of the post-modern world and the collective mindset of a creative construct, they forged ahead into the unknown: History has a way of repeating itself. What is old is new. The same as it ever was. Forever and a day.
variations | to a safe place of maps and memories
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lost in subjectivity;
perception and safe places,
found only …
in the mind of maps and memories
variations | in your sleep with our dreams
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another moment
with your dreams
asleep and shipwrecked
a Titanic love
is all we have
variations | a night with your heart by my side
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Your hair caressed,
by the leaves of the trees
my voice in the night called,
and your heart fell from the sky ….
variations | for now and maybe forever
if you thought
that things could change
remember …
for now
and maybe tomorrow |
it’s always the same as today
n e w d i g i t a l s c a p e s 