(it loved to happen!!)

THIS BLOG BE MOVIN'!

2011-05-25T10:09:00.001-07:00

Hey all!

I'm making the big move to Wordpress. You will still be able to see all my old entries there, you just wont be able to see any of my new entries *here*.

Please update your bookmarks! The new address is : http://www.jessicacaisse.com/home/blog/

Cheers!

-Jess

Happenstance

2011-05-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

Ebb and Flow

2011-05-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

2011 is certainly proving to be a tempestuous year. From a personal and global view, I dont think I've ever been so continually stimulated by events happening around me; engagements, marriages, deaths, babies, jobs, homes, money, justice, politics, disasters. This past week of course being a perfect example, from the Royal Wedding to the death of Osama Bin Laden, and not to mention the apparent end of the world in three weeks (click here if you dont know what I'm talking about. No way I'm getting into it here).

I'm not sure why I'm bringing it all up at this particular moment, I am still too dizzy to arrive at any sound conclusions about anything. I suppose I just felt the need to stop and really look back at the last four months and try to process all that's happened, and what it means for the future.

How strange it is to be here and now.

Midterm

2011-04-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

"The Snicket"

2011-03-31T09:19:00.001-07:00

Espresso poured over a vanilla-soaked lemon rind, topped with steamed soy. Garnished like a gangsta.

"The First Date"

2011-03-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Short cafe au lait with mint leaf infused pour over and garnish.

Armageddon

2011-03-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -A.L.

Ben

2011-03-10T11:32:00.001-08:00

Spring Fever

2011-02-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

"It just makes a boy homesick to look ahead like that and see how far off summer is. Yes, and it sets him to sighing and saddening around, and there's something the matter with him, he don't know what. But anyway, he gets out by himself and mopes and thinks; and mostly he hunts for a lone-some place high up on the hill in the edge of the woods, and sets there and looks away off on the big Mississippi down there a-reaching miles and miles around the points where the timber looks smoky and dim it's so far off and still, and everything's so solemn it seems like everybody you've loved is dead and gone, and you 'most wish you was dead and gone too, and done with it all. Don't you know what that is? It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want -- oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

-M. Twain

V!

2011-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Gravity

2011-02-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have *OFFICIALLY* officially moved back to Oakland, and today I begin my new job.

Last night I asked my boyfriend if he got nervous on the first day of a job, he thought about it a second and finally cheerfully resolved, "Nope!". Fantastic. He generally likes meeting new people and is good with them, and he said that being new gives you, "at least for the first month", a sort of justification for screwing-up every once in a while.

There it is. The idea of "screwing-up", justified or otherwise, makes my stomach turn. It gives me the same sensation I get before I'm about to do something profoundly unpleasant... like cleaning someone else's toilet or catching a huge bug in a tissue on the ceiling right over your head. The kinds of things that, right before you actually do them, you ask yourself, "seriously... is this *absolutely* necessary?".

Yup. The answer is yes. How atrocious.

I often wonder if my claustrophobia is at the core of my fear of failure. As if taking a risk were on par with nailing myself inside a small wooden box and waiting for the tide to come in. What a dark metaphor! Do they make an herbal tea for remedying figurative-phobias??

Phew. All melodrama and insecurity aside, the the yang in me is pretty darn delighted by the opportunities ahead. And this weather is amazing-

Wish me luck!

"The Last Meal":

What is better than love

2011-01-30T20:37:00.001-08:00

I could swear I knew more red-heads...

2011-01-17T19:13:00.001-08:00

...I "harvested" these images off of my friends' profile picture albums on facebook.

New York

2011-01-13T22:59:00.000-08:00

Spectra Superstar

2011-01-07T17:41:00.001-08:00

I was looking though some old stuff on my hard drive and found these little gems.
Oh I miss that camera...

Noo Yeer

2010-12-30T18:05:00.000-08:00

Tequila Monday

2010-12-27T19:19:00.001-08:00

My windshield this morning...

2010-12-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Class.

2010-12-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

Wow. I finally watched Conan's goodbye speech...
Reaffirmation that he is just thoroughly my hero.

Work hard. Be kind.

And as long as we're being encouraging- one my favorites from my London scans:

Cute'n'Putin

2010-12-03T20:37:00.000-08:00

First of all- I feel the need to plead ignorance. I know this guy's pretty bad news... I know I should not revere him like I seem to do.
However I cannot help but be totally fascinated by Putin's PR tactics. It's unreal! He rides horses shirtless, he spoke about the importance of rap music at a youth rally, he released his own instructional Judo DVD, and, most important of all, he apparently loves animals. I mean I know people always commented on how much Hitler loved his dog, Blondie (...Blondie.), but Putin's taken the whole Dr.-Doolittle-political-distraction-tactic to a whole new level.
That being said, I do genuinely believe he likes these animals. Perhaps when you've committed so many atrocities and come to view human-kind in such a way they're the only things you can actually relate to anymore.
Anyway- here is the collection of photos I've gathered over the years (yes. years.)
Check it-

...hm... Its all a bit fishy if you ask me. But until I forsake ignorance and start actually reading about the KGB and current events in Georgia and Ukraine, I cant complain.

Wink.

The Comeback

2010-12-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yahoo!

I finally got our scanner temporarily hooked up and have been able to start scanning my old negatives from last summer.

It feels so wonderful to get my hands dirty again (...my hands are actually very, very clean when I work...). It made me want to drag some extension chords and surge protectors out onto the lawn and pitch a tent and call it my studio.

In other news;
Guess who was in Arnie's office at the State Capitol holding the sword of Conan the Barbarian?

nbd.

RULE BRITANNIA! Pt. VI: Finale

2010-11-14T03:00:00.001-08:00

aaand Home. Finished up with a weekend in Oxford and one last night in London. I haven't felt this exhausted in a long long time-

Also- Wasn't it HALLOWEEN when I left?! Now Thanksgiving is next week and I'm already behind on Christmas shopping?? And where did this giant pile of bills come from? And all these republicans?

Oh, how the duties of home descend.

Thanks for the adventure, England.

<3

RULE BRITANNIA! Pt. V: The Long Way Home

2010-11-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

Am now in Oxford where I am visiting family friends and feeling completely grateful for such wonderful people.

...and for taxis. Which get us home. Even after the sun has gone down at 4:30. And it is getting darker and darker. And we have insisted on walking home rather than catching a bus or getting a ride from said friends. And are subsequently very very lost and wandering home in the wrong direction.
Yes, we are humbled before our cabbies.

...but made it in the end.

Goodnight!--

RULE BRITANNIA! Pt. IV: Time to think

2010-11-11T00:53:00.000-08:00

RULE BRITANNIA! Pt. III- Now We Are the Masters of Our Fate

2010-11-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I left Thanet for London. I'm one of those people (... there are more of "those people", right?) that get pretty intensely anxious before I travel anywhere. The question that will usually keep coming into my head between the fuzz and nonsense is "What am I doing??" Why am I in/ on this plane/ car/ bus/ train/ smelly, steamy, over-crowded subway with weird upholstered seats? I've asked myself a lot this time around, especially having been traveling on my own with a sort of haphazard game plan.
Last summer was an eye-opener in the sense that I now really see myself and a lot of people around my age entering onto this same terrible tableau-rosa period. Its like being handed a blank canvas and some paints and being asked to paint the landscape of the rest of your life.
Woa!
Ulcer!
We've been hijacked into a game of musical chairs... only you know... instead of chairs, its jobs. Most people I'm close to are struggling in one way or another, which I actually think is okay- but what I notice that actual struggle seems to be is not so much that the jobs aren't there, its more that we cant seem to focus on any one thing, and its intensely frustrating. Not knowing what to do next.
Anyway the whole point of that comes down to the fact that, all this week though I have suffered through anxiety-a-plenty and asked myself a trillion times "what am I doing?", I am safe and sound in another part of the world and I'm pretty sure the remedy for this post-graduate stagnancy, or any other kind of rut for that matter, is to expose ones-self to as much opportunity as possible. And that's what I'm doing here. We stand to gain so much more than we might lose.

This soap box is too high to get down off of at the point... I think I might just curl up here and go to sleep.
...so high in fact that I can see the O2 Arena and its lcd light car-ads which will be shining in my window all night long!

Goodnight everyone!

RULE BRITANNIA! Pt. II- Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

2010-11-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Yay! After about 24 hours of door-to-door travel, I made it to my friend's place in Thanet:

Warm beer and a cold aside, it's been great! I've visited Margate and Canterbury and drank blasphemous amounts of tea. Guy Fawkes Day was yesterday and, though I did not get to see a stuffed-Guy Fawkes burned in an effigy pile like I wanted to, we had a great time at all the downtown festivities and pubs regardless.

Still have London to look forward to, and then those last three mystery days... meaning I haven't figured out what I'm doing or where I'm going. It'll be a surprise! Hide your tarps and cardboard boxes, bums! I'm looking for lodging!

Cheers, all.

Pip pip.

RULE BRITANNIA!

2010-11-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Yay Giants!! What a great send-off. Now I can spend two weeks bragging to a country who could care less. But you know what? I'm sure it wont be hard to find some other sports-related reason to drink in the United Kingdom.
Do you think they fire off shot guns when they win big games? The English? Someone living very close to me seems to be really into it. I can tell its going to be an interesting night of trying-to-sleep.

Tonight, "God Bless America"...

but tomorrow...

!!!

I'll be updatin'! Wish me luck!

If you sit still or if you run... here it comes

2010-10-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

United Kingdom! Where from my familial seeds were blown! T- minus 5 days!

The 16th

2010-09-15T09:44:00.001-07:00

If the patent leather kid-glove set did not yet appreciate this giant of a man, it was because they know no more of him than an owl does of a comet, blazing into his blinking eyes.

trains and static and trains that are static

2010-09-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

Jenny

2010-09-02T00:50:00.001-07:00

Santa Fabiola

2010-08-19T21:06:00.001-07:00

one of my favorite installations of all time. Santa Fabiola at the National Portrait Gallery in London by Francis Alÿs.

another favorite-

Helena

2010-08-12T19:09:00.001-07:00

The Inverted Forest

2010-08-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

"He doesn't love you Corinne"
"What?" Corinne said, though she heard Waner perfectly.
"He doesn't love you." Waner courageously repeated. "He isn't even considering loving you."
"Shut up." Corinne said.
"All right."
There was a long pause. But Waner's voice came back in again. It sounded quite far off.
"Corinne, I remember a long time ago kissing you in a cab. When you first got back from Europe. It was sort of an unfair, Scotch-and-soda kiss- maybe you remember. I bumped your hat." Waner cleared his throat again. But he put the whole thing through: "There was something about the way you raised your arms to straighten your hat, and the way your face looking in the mirror over the driver's photograph. I don't know. The way you looked and all. You're the greatest hat-straightener that ever lived."
Corinne broke in coldly. "What's the point?" Nevertheless, Waner had touched her, probably deeply.
"None, I guess." Then: "Yes, there is a point. Of course there's a point. I'm trying to tell you that Ford's long past noticing that you're the greatest hat straightener that ever lived. I mean a man just cant reach the kind of poetry Ford's reaching and still keep intact the normal male ability to spot a fine hat-straightener-"

-j. d. salinger

better late than never.

2010-07-22T22:45:00.000-07:00

follow you until you love me

2010-06-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

this kid is nuts. I dont even like Lady Gaga.

Look at those girls' faces in the background

soul bearing x 100

2010-06-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

seriously.

There arent many cool things about sitting in an area with a bunch of other people on laptops.

Except snooping on other peoples' iTunes library.

I like to try and guess who has all seven Harry Potter audio books. Or that Rick Astley song. Or the entire discography of Aqua (which if you are sitting in my network is probably me, by the way). It's weirdly personal.

Anyway I have been sick this week, and I decided to compile my top 102 songs (I couldnt knock off any 2 to break an even hundred. i couldnt.) of all time up to this point. It felt good.

surprises:
-there are more Sublime songs than Johnny Cash
-two of the songs are called "Jolene"
-Joe Jackson.

Golden

2010-06-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

As of 3 days ago we are officially Californian once more.

Oregon was a fun adventure. We will miss <3

Finale:

To commemorate the move, I made a new card for our friends...

It's on the etsy page if you are interested in your own.

golden.

REALISM

2010-05-07T18:19:00.001-07:00

also...

Check out my friend Jessica Schmidt's new painting in the Cover Show tonight...

woooOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

the Coffee Quest.

2010-05-07T17:21:00.001-07:00

Like... nothing to do with photography. Except that photos happened.

Today was my day off! and with three weeks and counting to go in Portland I realized I have a lot of catching up to do in terms of really taking advantage of the Coffee-Mecca that is the Northwest. It might be too late to make the rounds up in Seattle, but Portland... ohhhh Portland.

today I went on a Coffee Quest.

Here's the list:

I made it to five. My left eye hurts. My mouth tastes like warm salad. But I did it. I did it.

First stop: BARISTA! Serra Do Bonè by Coava Roasters

Thanks Brian!

WATER AVENUE COFFEE CO.! "El Toro"

Thanks Tom and Drew!

EXTRACTO! "Eleven"

my team! Thanks Matt!

THE ALBINA PRESS! "Hairbender" by Stumptown Roasters

Thanks bummed out barista!

STERLING COFFEE ROASTERS! Yemen

Thanks awesome guys whos' names I couldn't hear above the buzzing in my head!

...and as the sun is once again smothered by storm clouds, and my heart rate starts to return to normal, so ends today's coffee quest.

I dont feel pretentious enough to list all the characteristics of each of the espressos... but I will say Sterling definitely impressed me quite a bit today. A+ experience, vest-friends!

I have a lot more to get off that list in the next 21 days. Maybe less than 5 in one day next time.
I dont feel good...

Funday!

Where ya been? Where ya been?

2010-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

Oh life.

If the universe made internets and bloggies, why then did it not also make a 25th hour of the day for us to sit and play with them?

Anyway, today the universe has been making it rain sideways... which means I am allowed to stay indoors and warm and have tea with half-warmed quesodillas and NOT FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT...

I was interviewed recently by Taryn Cowart. She is starting an art blog called TALK TALK Collective, which she is using to exhibit and have a dialogue with artists. I'm excited to see how it grows. There's only two of us on there so far- but if you want the sweet deets on my post-grad life, check it out!

plans are a-brewin' to move back to the Golden State this summer...

stay tuned?

Back to Black. ...and White.

2010-03-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Yup. Haven't shot black and white since 2007- its amazing how your eye will change just by trying to foresee the outcome.

...it will take some getting used to. all of it.

Also- something tells me I want to apologize about that last one. I'm a little embarrassed. It reminds me of those very first contrived Photo I "still-life" assignments we had in college.
But that little creepy ceramic cat is much too significant to me to let him go unexposed.

O, Lament! Rejoice! The last great gasp of Winter's voice!

2010-03-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

La Pura Vida

2010-03-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Miss Monika with the skinned elbows is a very popular lady this month! The Vermont Photo Place show, a CD album cover (yyyup. I'll tell you all about it another time. I have been awake since some unholy hour.), and now not one but TWO online photo galleries...!

I'm pretty sure I've had the image on this blog many many times already- so here's another image from the show that I really liked by David Bruckner.

Check out the show- I really liked some of these- La Pura Vida

Black Dog Collective

2010-03-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

My image is on the most recent entry on the Black Dog Collective blog--

Thank you, friends!

skin's gotta breathe

2010-03-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

DO YOU LIVE IN VERMONT? ...me neither.

2010-03-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

BUT if you DO!

A piece of mine got into the Uncommon Portraits Exhibition at the Vermont Photography Workplace.
Here's the deets:

The Vermont Photography Workplace 3 Park Stret Middlebury, VT
Exhibition dates: March 9th through April 3rd.
Artists' Reception: Saturday, MARCH 20th, 2-4 pm.

As I'm sure most of you do not in fact live in Middlebury, Vermont, here's a link to the exhibit and the exhibitors.

GORGE-OUS.

2010-02-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

Hi! I have been MIA for a while, not for any one particular reason... just keeping busy. Which, when you're unemployed (still...), deserves at least a small pat on the back.

...

(right?)

...

I guess the first noteworthy busy-ness is that my Junebug In July cards are now on the market, yo! It's Offish'! Oblation Papers & Press in Portland's Pearl District is now stocking 5 different cards of mine, which is pretty awesome. I am trying to seek out a few more clients in town, but it hasn't been easy. I guess something about a cute, hip, eclectic, kitsch-y gift/ stationary shop leads me to assume that the women (I say 'women' because thus far they have *all* been women) who own them might be as cute, hip and eclectic as their business endeavor. As it turns out this doesn't tend to be the case. Today in fact the buyer for a Portland kitsch-y shop (which here shall remain nameless) remarked that many are too offensive for their "usual clientele". I hav to say I appreciated her frankness. I've received so many syrupy-smiles in the past few weeks I think I'm diabetic danger...
Anyway. Online order form soon to come.

and ALSO.....
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SIGN LANGUAGE IS FUN!!!!
I have signed up for ASL classes. Everyone has asked me why- I wont go into too much detail, suffice it to say that I feel absolutely, deeply COMPELLED to do so. I feel everyone should have at least have a basic understanding of sign language. Besides, its super fun. I'm not kidding, I had a great time. Too bad I didn't learn back when I was punished to sit on the other side of the classroom from my friends in 6th grade for too much a'tha chatta-chatta....

Finally, we took a really awesome day-trip east-ward along the Coumbia River to see the GORGE and its beautiful waterfalls. Photos from my Hassy wont be processed for a while yet- but got some with the digital.

Ibán Ramón!

2010-02-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

I haven't really done this before- but I want to recognize this really talented photographer I came across on Flickr the other day.
He's a Spanish (I believe) artist named Ibán Ramón. Apart from the "green-ness" a lot of his photos have, I really enjoy his aesthetic and love almost all of his portraits. They're like dutch paintings. So gorgeous. His website is here (though its all in Spanish) and his Flickr site is here. Check him out, I'm a fan.

Also check it out...
Ibán Ramón
me
Casper David Friedrich

...awesome.

I'm featured on

2010-02-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

Gilmo.net!

Thank you!

photo by Marlon Kowalski

blood, sweat, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

2010-02-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

If any one of you have been near me on facebook or twitter in the past week or so, you probably noticed my shameless updating in regards to the "re-birth" and progress of my two websites:
WWW.JUNEBUGINJULY.COM and WWW.JESSICACAISSE.COM .
Anyway. If you haven't been exposed to this audacity on facebook or twitter, I would like to inform you now of the rebirth and progress of my two websites, www.junebuginjuly.com and www.jessicacaisse.com.
Junebuginjuly.com used to be my primary art website, but I recently decided to separate the photography from the crafty-stuff. JessicaCaisse.com looks more or less just like the old website I had, just updated.

Anyway- the whole ordeal has taken waaay more time than I ever anticipated, and I can finally say they are where I want them to be. So take a look, pass it along, la la la la la.

Thanks for putting up with me, y'all.

Happy Tuesday.

Taking Photographs of My Friends Taking Photographs

2010-01-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was going through old negatives and realized that I happened to have *a lot* of photographs of my friends taking photographs. I don't think I even realized what I was doing... I guess it just seemed like a natural/ innocently voyeuristic thing to do at the time... but what a sweet little stolen piece of intimacy! How lucky! Good job, subconscious!!

They make a nice little series...

...I don't actually know that last guy. Not yet anyway.

the busy bee. of love.

2010-01-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

its that time of year.

winter III

2010-01-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

winter II

2010-01-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

for anyone unable to make it to Larry's memorial(s)--

2010-01-22T15:53:00.001-08:00

last post on Larry- I swear-

I know of a lot of people who would have liked to make it to these events but could not, so I did a little documentin' and thought I would share it here for everyone;

Earlier this week a "pin up" (not what you think...) show was put together in honor of Larry in the Oliver Arts Center (CCA campus, Oakland). The evening after the opening was an open memorial for him at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where several people including Robert Mailer Anderson, Sandra Phillips, Jim Goldberg and Larry's wife, Kelly, spoke to a crowd of over 500 (more details about the memorial are written here by Lifestyle).
It was a really touching ceremony. I have to say Robert Mailer Anderson took the cake... he was first to approach the podium, open bottle of 1946 Old Crow in hand, and immediately belted out "Anywhere I Lay My Head" by Tom Waits. It was great. I think everyone agreed Larry would have approved.

Here are some images I took from the Memorial Pin-Up Show in Oakland:

...I have questions about this...
!me and Larry at Sue's

Unfortunately I was less shutter-happy at the actual memorial in SF, but again, more details about the evening can be found at the link above.

(... I did get one photo.)

On another note I feel compelled to account for myself a little bit...
After a completely undeserved 33-day Christmas vacation home in California, I have finally returned to Portland and have officially entered the unemployement rat-race! ...!!!
I have dropped off roughly 7 to 10 resumes in the past two days. I think I would be a great hotel concierge. But my resume and hairdo disagrees with me.

I've also started up production of a bunch of new cards I've been negotiating selling to a local paper/ stationary/ letterpress shop here in P-Town, which would be exciting. I find it difficult to be creative and clever on command (...not such a good sign for an artist in this particular situation...), which I feel success at that kind of thing involves... but who knows what I'm capable of after begin stuck in my apartment for 5 hours with animal collective and lots of caffeine. I'll post some things tomorrow (or the next day or the next day) and see what you all think.

I'm currently in a muggy coffee place where Oprah Live is on TV and there's at least two people playing world of warcraft on their macbooks. Am I really in a position to be critical when I am blogging? I must have been crazy to bike here in this weather but I didn't want to pay for parking... I've decided it's kind of my punishment for not having any income but still buying music I've never heard on iTunes and a third bag of unground coffee.

Valentines day is coming! This is a good excuse to A: make and sell cards and B: listen to this great song:

enough media. Later, friends.

winter

2010-01-15T07:57:00.000-08:00

haiti

2010-01-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

hey everyone- please text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti. The charge is applied to your monthly mobile bill.

aand speaking of Alec Soth...

2010-01-04T17:44:00.001-08:00

I don't mean to rip off his blog -...(twice...)- but I was catching up on some of his older entries and found this beautiful response to Larry Sultan's passing. He posted an excerpt from a message Larry had sent out not too long ago.
I was so moved and comforted by this small intimate blurb from the past (he writes so beautifully), I can't help sharing it too.

“After hellish days and nights in hospitals, I have chosen not to be medicalized, but, instead, be here at home. Here in this house with my family, full of sleeping kids and wrestling dogs, and French toast cooking while next door in my studio, Dru is laying out a box of prints to edit. This is where I want to be. I realize whatever grace I’m ultimately leaving with is directly linked to my deep understanding that I have led a charmed life. So many charms, and the more there are, the easier it is to let go – at least today while I write this.”

once again, rest in peace Larry.

to read Alec's entire post on Larry, click here.

Glass Jars

2010-01-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

another reason why Alec Soth is one awesome slice of beard...

Glass Jars from Little Brown Mushroom on Vimeo.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T19:19:00.001-08:00

the dust and the pixels

2009-12-26T17:11:00.001-08:00

First of all, Merry belated Christmas, y'all---

I am a little embarrassed that it has taken me so long to express my sorrow for the loss of Larry Sultan. I'll try to redeem myself a little here,

He passed away from pancreatic cancer on December 14^th. He was a tenure track professor at California College of the Arts where I went to school, and was an icon not only within the contemporary photography community, but the art world as a whole. He was, to me, truly one of the last among the great dirt-under-the-nails photographers that has practiced throughout the extremely diverse and quickly evolving span of the art itself.

In the projects class I took with him in my final year of school he was really inspiring to be around. He was totally the kind of guy that could deliver crushing criticism and smile at you like he was your awesome grandma... the effect being that the blow to the ego was softened... but certainly not deafened. He was sharp as hell, an effective communicator and very nurturing without letting you get away with any bullshit.

In the throws of the digital age it's difficult for me not to feel nostalgic pangs when I consider the way a great craft was once done before technology arrived and de-mystified (my cynical side might like to say cheapened) the process. I think Larry comprehend it through and through.

And even if he didn't, who cares? His great contributions have and do reverberate throughout our art world, and the rest of us are left in the dust and the pixels in this awe.

Rest in peace Larry. Thank you-

"...so go get to work, damnit"

(above photo is by his wife Kelly Sultan, I believe. His obituary in the Times can be read here)

The Mean Reds...

2009-12-18T23:34:00.000-08:00

Fish and Bird

2009-12-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

fish and bird

Team Analog strikes again...

2009-12-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

I'm in a show which opens this Friday at the Launch Pad Gallery in Portland, OR.

Here's the cool thing: it's called "Light Sensitive Material", and that is everything and all that is featured in the show. Totally analog. Yee-haw. RIDE THAT CHROMOGENIC WHIP!

Here's a selected image I like by Robin Bogert:

OPENING FIRST FRIDAY DECEMBER 4, 2009
Launch Pad Gallery at the Egg
534 SE Oak St
6pm-12am
Free, all-ages and open to all

Featuring DJ's Cookiepuss and Shermstixx

click here for the Facebook event page

Sounda like a hip good ol' time. Bring your sx-70, no one wants to see your cell phone camera at this party, yo'.

See you there!

Jessica Skloven at Newspace, monsters with knife-heads, bad drivers, etc, etc...

2009-11-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

A week ago we went to Jessica Skloven's show reception at Newspace Center for Photography...

...one big fat gold star for Team Analog, yo'.

She's a CCA MFA Photography graduate. Her installation was really great and her CHROMOGENIC (bam.) prints and polaroids looked amazing. My crappy iPhone pictures don't really do either of them justice.
There are better images and a write-up on the Newspace gallery page.

If you're in the Portland area you should definitely swing by at some point and check them out, the show's up until the 29th.
Newspace Center for Photography, 1631 SE 10th Ave.

Portland is cold. And wet. I already caught a cold. I KNOW you all told me so... no need to remind me. In one of my more frustrated bed-ridden moments I made a greeting card in honor of the situation...

...but I am now up and active again and going to see basically the most amazing thing I have and will ever see tonight.
It's a Japanese monster movie from 1969 called Gamera vs. Guiron, which will be played on a big screen without sound, with dialogue and sound effects performed live by sound effect artists en scene.

LOOK! THE MONSTER HAS A FRIGGEN KNIFE FOR A HEAD!! I'm really stoked.

In all seriousness and illnesses aside, Portland has been really great. As I think I've already expressed there's just a TON of interesting things going on all the time, and *amazing* beer and food, and nice people... the only thing I would truly complain about is everyone's terrible, terrible driving. I saw a man driving the wrong way up a one-way street the other day and honest-to god, watched two cars in front of me just calmly move out of his way and wait for him to pass. Doo-dee-doo, ops-a-daisy, excuse me I didn't mean to get in the way of your dangerous and illegal Monday night cruise-control fest. ...don't even get me started. I've never voluntarily flipped off so many nice, well-meaning people in my life.

I hope somebody warned these people I was coming. Oh well. There goes the neighborhood.

fare-thee well, good-bye, so be it, amen

2009-11-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

screaming in the car in the 20-mile zone

2009-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Oakland to Seattle!

Not photography related. Definitely art related.

2009-10-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little dorky but I can't help it...

IGOTMYNEWBIKE!

...gotta represent.

Ivory 8-speed 50" Torker. A work of art indeed.

Thank you thank you thank you Manifesto Bicycles!! You guys are great.

strictly botanic.

2009-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

I went to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park with a friend yesterday. It was a very beautiful and peaceful and perspiration-inducing experience...

apparently there are also buffalo, waterfalls, a 100-year-old carousel and a dude with weed truffles in the park too. I need to make the trip more often.

"The regime of days and all that..."

2009-10-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

things which are beautiful/ meaningful/ over

2009-10-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

serendipitous! wasted!

2009-10-01T23:49:00.000-07:00

there's a mysterious little river running down my street

kinda sweet-soundin'...

XXIII

2009-10-01T08:55:00.001-07:00

SUSPENSE

2009-09-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

I love suspension bridges.
These two in particular.
The one on the left is an obvious bridge for obvious reasons, and the one the the right is St. John's bridge in Portland, OR, where I'm officially moving to for about 2 months in November(!). Both were constructed at around the same time by two of the most prominent bridge engineers in the 1930's.
There is something very epic and strange about how these kind of bridges are constructed (or I guess at least if you went to art school with a very limited understanding of architecture or physics...).
I thought it was interesting that they each coincidentally resided in places that hold a lot of significance in my mind. A good sign?
Or you know. Maybe just a sign.

David Steinman, who engineered the St. John's Bridge also did this one:

which is beautiful too. The Mackinac Bridge. It's in Michigan I think.

...ONE MONTH!

hey!

2009-09-22T22:28:00.001-07:00

I'm featured on some dude's blog!

Thanks, dude!

what about California?

2009-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

Brad Neely. Brad Neely Brad Neely Brad Neely.

...um, our governor is blurry too, Texas.

the beginning of the end

2009-09-12T21:07:00.001-07:00

So, time for a small rant, I think. You all have been off the hook for waay too long.

In the wake of late-night craigslist binges and begging art galleries and studios for what is essentially indentured servitude, I fear that I and my art have unconsciously drifted to the shallow-end of the conceptual pool. Even worse, I have to entertain the possibility that I've been here the whole time with little California College of the Arts water-wings kicking in circles- making fun of all the little children here with me who are clearly all peeing in said pool. EVEN worse, I was probably the one peeing the whole time.

And now I have all this spare time for deep thought and organizing old desks and trimming what's left of my potted plants- I am truly just another thing in the world. I have no one to answer to but old Uncle Sam. My obstacles are more or less self-generated from now until I can find a ball and get it rolling. Which leads me back to this 'shallow and of the pool' stuff. I need to figure out just where in the pool I'm treading in. And why I ever got into it in the first place. I am forced to think about what it is that motivates me to make art even when no one is looking. I made a little list...

#1- New shit. Seriously. Just like I am convinced getting a new $600 bicycle will truly motivate me to ride more, I am convinced if I get a Mamiya 7 II or a new wider-angle lens for my Wista 4x5, I will not only shoot more, but I will WANT to shoot more. I will be in love with my perfect thing and its perfect process and I will crave the satisfaction I get when I utilize its wonderful capabilities for years to come.
I know how petty and materialistic that may sound, but hang in there with me. I think this may not be a totally insincere endeavor in the name of art.
We all do it in one capacity or another; we have all fallen in love with a goldfish at the ping-pong cup tent at the fair, we have all bought those Etnies which we hope will bring us, if not better skating skills, some form of street cred. The problem with goldfish and huge shoes is that at the end of the day that's just about all we have to show for our investment. And what I am after are tools; my new bike will provide me with reliable and efficient transportation and exercise, my new Mamiya will cause me to generate images, artwork, ideas. And even if my undying love for my new shit well... dies, at the end of the day I still have something to show for my investment. Temporary flux of creativity is better than no flux at all.

#2- Neurotic-hyper-sentimentality; I have it. I now realize that is probably how I became a photographer in the first place. I love so many things! -I want to see them forever.

#3- I've recently come to the understanding that religion, science and art are all means to a similar end. A kind of endeavor towards personal relevance and universal truth.

Or you know. Whatever. Stuff.

I'm sure (I hope) there are more than three reasons I absolutely positively must be a photographer, but I can sense lethargy sneaking into your heads. I'm surprised you got this far- I should probably buy you a beer!
All this being said, I should say I don't actually believe I am insincere in my artistic endeavors. At worst perhaps I lack direction, especially now since I haven't got a syllabus to run my finger down anymore. If at any point I was, I think I can safely say I'm not peeing in the pool (...not on purpose); I'm not contributing meaningless or unfulfilling waste into the art world (though I guess that's entirely subjective. I still don't think so though). I am finding my sea-legs on the S.S. Recession! I am justifying myself to myself! I have shed academia altogether! At least till I decide I want an MFA! Or to work at a school! Or something!

!

I owe you all a beer.

pacific

2009-09-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

"EUREKA!"

2009-08-10T14:05:00.001-07:00

Weed, CA

priorites

2009-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Boris Yeltsin HAS to show me how to do that

2009-08-07T10:03:00.000-07:00

EQ!

2009-07-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

"I would never understand photography... the sneaky, murderous taxidermy of it."

-Lorie Moore

Summertime

2009-07-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

HEATWAVE

2009-06-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

I heard this song at a wedding last weekend. I nearly jumped out of my skin!....

2009-06-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pictures of people in my family standing next to giant fake dinosaurs

2009-06-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

????

all these came up on facebook. Very cool and also weird.
How often does this actually happen?
Where does my family go?

this awe

2009-06-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

va'-ca' siesta

2009-05-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Ten Hours

2009-05-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post them, but on my drive up to Portland I decided to take a picture from where I was every hour and e-mail them to my boyfriend at work until I got there. Not as cheesy as youtube videos of kitten playing keyboards... but close. In any case what started out as being a kind of cutesy gesture after about the 4th hour began to dwindle into this mindless, disciplinary routine which actually started to warp my perception of time. Hang in there with me for a second- this is cool....

I've made this drive from the Bay Area to Portland many a time. Each time I'll recognize certain gas stations, freeway merges, places where my ears pop, rest stops, silos, roadside porn emporiums... and associate them with a point of time in my trip. So, for example I see Mount Shasta and I know automatically that I'm going to need to stop for gas soon, or I drive by the trailer painted with what looks like a punctured forearm violently spraying blood everywhere with the caption: "HE BLED FOR YOUR SINS", and I know I am roughly 4 hours into my drive.
It goes like this the whole way... its very long and very linear. What happened THIS time was that by adding an hourly element to my drive (taking a photograph from where I was) it sort of cut the single "10-hour linear drive" into smaller, more digestible segments.
At about quarter-to every hour I would automatically start searching around for a nice composition that I could catch with my camera phone without starting a pile-up. I'll admit I got a little lazy toward the end, but this nice new time-compartmentalizing technique definitely helped me not lose my mind in the car by myself all day...

anyway if it wasn't philosophically enlightening at least it was an adorable endeavor.
Heres the photos:

8:00 am- Oakland, CA
9:00 am- Cordelia, CA
10:00 am- Williams, CA
11:00 am- Red Bluff, CA
12:00 pm- Castella, CA
1:00 pm- Siskyou Summit, OR
2:00 pm- Merlin, OR
3:00 pm- Winchester, OR
4:00 pm- Saginaw, OR
5:00 pm- Salem, OR
6:00 pm- Portland, OR

off to Geneva, Switzerland in about 2 hours! maybe my cyclical-time exercise works on 12 hours flights too....?
a tout alors!

post-______

2009-05-13T16:44:00.001-07:00

"We invest the breaking of our barriers with some tangible form if necessary. We try to think of it as a thing... We know that death dstroys nothing, leaves the totality of existence intact..."
-Georges Bataille, Erotism

I AM FINISHED!

I am living post-academia-womb life. The world is my big beautiful recession oyster. I am celebrating by taking a few days in the northwest to relax and re-calibrate. I've been reading all the dense, pretentious things I have been putting off reading (Proust, Bataille, Harry Potter book 6...) and hopefully I will start rebuilding my website sometime super soon.

Nothing really new to speak of outside of my new tableau rosa--- EXCEPT-

that if you are in the East Bay Area on the evening of May 15th, you should come check out the stellar art show reception at Pretty Penny curated by Lauren Davis:

(more details here...)

northwesterly! northwesterly!

no circumstance. just the pomp.

2009-05-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

sick-ass photo by Rosey Lakos

NON! JE NE REGRETTE RIEN!

2009-05-03T23:35:00.001-07:00

(...)

the end of an era.

"1968 at the Holly Inn- Renoir and Goyle friend"

2009-04-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

perhaps they ought to marry?

big thumbs UP for the northwesterly

2009-04-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Bar Mitzvah and Other Tales of Living in Stereo

2009-03-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

this is STELLAR.

I not-so-secretly want to be Michael Williams of Square America. His vintage photograph archive is just wonderful; here though he has put together a series of slide snapshots and made them into GIFS. They are just wild.

shalom!

tonight is out of control.

2009-03-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

yes yes it is.

So many very exciting art happenings to swing by. I have a few recommendations;

so I am very very stoked about the new gallery scene at Pretty Penny clothing on College Ave., the area seems more than ripe for some sort of creative space. The last show I went to there with works by Alice Tullar was pretty darn faboo if you ask me. Good times had by all.

There is another show opening at Pretty Penny tonight;

I can 100% vouch for at least 5 of these very talented people- this is going to be a really wonderful show curated my Miss Lauren Davis and DJed by Mr. Tom LG.
...besides if you're not into the scene (philistine!) then maybe you will be into the vintage sweaters and tiny shoes that they sell. I'm excited on all counts. 6-9 pm. Info's all on the flier above.

Second is the works by my friend Paul Solis;

5857 San Pablo Ave., Forthrite Printing, 6-9pm. More info on his site linked above.

And finally my favorite excuse to not brush my hair and ride a bike, it's First Friday!! Definitely come to all the openings at Oakland Art Murmur. You can go for the art OR the baked goods OR the primo people watching.

Anyway thats enough to make you feel lame if you decide not to go out tonight, right?
Its f*&%in' Friday! Woo and yay!

woo-haa w-w-wednesdayyyy

2009-03-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

so- in perfect sincerity, I want to thank absolutely everyone who made it out to my opening and the after-drinkage last Wednesday- I think fun was had by all (especially me... as most of you could tell) and the night couldn't have been more perfect if a limo pulled up and Rick Astley himself burst out of it to roll us all.

Thank you for making it a very special night.

here's a few shots from the evening...

...had to throw in a shot of Alice the Awesome.

thanks to Mr. Jesse Balthazaar Crimes for the photowork

swim with sharks

2009-03-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

CRESCENDO!!!!!!!!

2009-02-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My senior thesis photography show will be hung and showing from Sunday the 22nd to Saturday the 28th.

The reception will be this Wednesday at the North Gallery in Oakland from 5:30 to 7: 30 pm, followed by a little College Ave. bar walk afterwards.

art--> deep critical thoughts--> arbitrary socializing--> food--> homies--> beer--> pool--> more beer--> ????????--> wake up outside pasta pomodoro with "DEEZ NUTZZZ" written on your forehead at 2:30 pm.

(you can also check out the facebook event page here)

...tell your Tivo you're going out Wednesday night. It'll know what to do.

hope to see you there