Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Hoochie Koo!

 Hoochie Koo!

Muertos Season is upon us!

Though it is time to welcome back and celebrate the lives of the dead, it feels too soon for me to celebrate my brother in this way. . . since we are still in the process of letting him go.

My own personal take on Dia de los Muertos is that it is less about grieving and more about facing our fears about death and showing off our acceptance of it: celebrating the cycle. When death tragically comes too soon, it is harder to reconcile.

I embrace the inevitability of my own eventual, unavoidable death by mocking its power over me. I like to make weird, wild and whacky Calaveras to show that skulls don't have to be morbid and ghoulish and fearful, they can be opulent, colorful and kooky! -Take that Death!

If you're headed to Last Thursday on Alberta, I hope you will visit Screaming Sky Gallery (Alberta & 14th) for the Opening of their Dia de los Muertos Group Show (I'm in it!).


Monday, September 5, 2011

Exploiting the Mystique of Accident

a Mixed-Media Collaboration between Aaron Goodrich and Alea Bone

After years of frustration over my lack of direction in art, this summer seemed like a good break to take a less serious approach and let go of all my stifling expectations and experiment a bit. Since I haven't yet developed anything that even remotely resembles a signature 'style',  I let go of all intentions to try to live up to what I see in my mind's eye and embarked on my first collaborative project into the mystery of the unplanned.  I have always been very product oriented, but this time it was about the process. . . the process of letting go. Letting go of what kind of art I want to make, or how I'm going to make it. . . and just play with paper and paint (regardless of the outcome).

But I can't seem to let go completely, even in the end I am still searching to critique the project; define what it meant to me and what I learned from it, when the whole point was to allow myself not to make sense and grant myself the freedom to just play for no other reason. I don't know WHY it is so hard for me to just lighten up and be playful! Those who know me know that I don't laugh as much as I should and I take life way too seriously. A penchant for angst I guess. -I'm working on that! I over think everything and nothing seems to flow naturally. It's a constant struggle to find my groove. I feel like a musician bursting with songs to play -but still searching for the right instrument (master of none). Being blocked sucks! Both as an artist and as a person. If only I could just scream "Fuck it!" and kazoo my brains out! Or PAINT my guts out!! Or just create something glorious.

But getting back to the point, Aaron was generous enough to venture into this game with me, and though our circumstances were not ideal (are they EVER?!) we made some art together. There is no theme. There were no rules. It was merely an exchange between 2 different hands picking up where the other left off. We had a few challenges with medium, but mostly it was a fun little exercise in unpredictability! We both wish we could have taken the project further, exchanging the boards a few more times. . .perhaps another 'Dbl A' collab?

We'll keep you posted.

Meantime, please check out our 'Combined Werx'  at First Cup on SE 41st and Woodstock thru September.