while living in australia been working on a series of drawings portraying old men and their guns; mainly because i miss papa and brother graham who actually lives in the arizona desert now, on rancho relaxo. i’m sure he still has granddad’s shotgun tucked under his mattress, loaded.

we’ve been conjuring and conceptualizing for 3 months now and after missing the boat on a grant we applied for we realized new money is way worse than old money so let’s do it anyway and see what happens.

been painting walls, building plinths, shooting video, making field recordings, talking fast over coffee, smashing matchbox cars with hammers and making good on the 3 typewriters i have here.

this is a special prospect for me all things considered. it reflects keenly my time here in sydney and even the path leading up to it; was an athletic exercise in the otherwise regional breadth of what i’ve pursued and attempted insofar. here’s to hoping people will answer all our questions.

first things first, my subconscious desires to paint manifested in acquiring an artist in residency at scratch art space (SAS), located in marrickville – a dusty, industrial suburb of sydney. i met one carmel byrne, an artist who owns the gallery/studio space SAS and she invited me in to create for the duration of my time here. carmel has been the breath of fresh air i was looking for in this sometimes-stuffy sydney; a conversationalist extraordinaire, casual cathedral bell-ringer, and dynamic woman all-around, she has made this experience a genuine pleasure indeed.

i’ve been steady shuffling pigment onto 2 large canvases for the retrospective exhibtion in august, and chasing brain storms for a collaborative installation with carmel which will find us channeling a young andre breton in a traveling atmosphere – and there will be typewriters involved! here’s to hoping the marrickville city council ponies up the cash for the grant we applied for.

in other happs, i’ve been slowly working on a series of drawings based on old men and their guns. perhaps partly due to my missing family and friends and the context of a firearm-inept australia has me thinking this is the right idea for right now. no trees yet, but i will draw a eucalypt or two before it’s all said and done.

off to the MCA again, this time to take in christian marclay’s the clock; for those unfamiliar, it’s a pastiche film that runs the length of 24 hours, with each scene capturing a watch, clock or other indication of the time of day. when watching, you become inherently aware of the time, which is typically the opposite of what happens when you sit down to view a film. visceral. i’ve been a long-time fan of marclay’s and the sheer level of ambition this project entailed had me reeling.

i saw it twice: once from 3:23-4:23am and again from 3:34-4:34pm. the contrast from night (sexy and seedy; everyone seems to be drinking) to day (coming home from school, work, the hour of domestic tension) was tangible, and i believe this will be one of the great works of our time.

went to the sydney biennial/biennale tomato/tomato with carmel. took the ferry from circular quay and landed on cockatoo island – a former imperial prison, gaol, dry dock and construction mecca for world war-era ship-building. the party itself was a riot, a real free-for-all.

it reminded me of joel schumacher’s goofy rendition of batman and robin, complete with all that black light glow, lasers and weirdos with sparkly hats on. a fellow party-goer overheard carmel and i talking about slapstick and when i mentioned how slipping on a banana peel still sends me into a fit, he proceeded to slip on his own imaginary peel and we all burst out laughing. not too stuffy at all.

and then there was the guy in the bathroom who was commenting on all the empty beer bottles and cocktail glasses sitting on the shelf of the urinal and how that could have been an installation of its own. another batty reference – he reminded me of jack nicholson as the joker – purple suede suit and green flower to boot.

lastly, i’ve been making tattoos for friends; what a wonderfully warped prospect. but they seem committed to going through with the inking process, and i’m honored and on board. the permanence of it all has me wishing i had just a bit more time here to explore and conjure in this city. so with what little there is left, i plan to make it count.

holy biennale batman.

tattoos:

scapula.

compass.

pure trash.

it’s different in the southern hemisphere. constellations, booze prices, and how you can actually see the curve of the globe in the sky to name a few. i’ve seen some tree trunks i’d like to draw. i’m missing painting more than i thought i would.

i went to the sydney MCA and saw an incredible installation by rafael lozano-hemmer. it held 12 pieces that used things like motion-sensors and old ribbon microphones as devices to create something else entirely based on the viewer interacting with them.

my favorite was tape recorders, subcsculpture 14 which uses a computer to detect the presence of a person while a tape measure extends upward as long as they stand in front of it. the sounds of collapsing measurement! i then recalled with indignity the ill-conceived project of eerily similar design i made in college and had to curse the bastard for ripping me off. that said, it ranks as one of the best exhibitions i’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. here are some pictures.

let’s have us a show. my friend j. shelley harrison has currated a multi-faceted event based on this date and the inherent mystery that surrounds it. i’ll be exhibiting an installation that is some 5 years in the making, using a typewriter and ganglion to document this multiple brain storm.

if you’re in the east bay on friday, november 11th, 2o11 wondering what the hell it all means, stop by and we’ll let you in on the secret. you can read more about it here.

this weekend i’ll be showing some drawings at the 3rd annual Regional Bias put on by The Bay Bridged at the verdi club in SF. getting pumped to start a riot and get all jangly on the dance floor. we’ll see which comes first.

the impetus behind n x t l v l n is to play the newest and most forward-thinking electronic/bass-heavy party jams that have yet to find a home in any singular genre. the more we can familiarize a crowd with new sounds, the further we might understand what makes our bodies say yes and our minds say no and vice versa. do you have to be intimately familiar with the music you’re dancing to? no, not necessarily. not if you’re at n x t l v l n.

download the mix here!

and if you’re doing nothing but playing brain games lone wolf mode on saturday night, come get a little sweaty with us. don’t forget to lace up.

i’m currently finishing up 4 new paintings in the secrets series and they will be posted in the painting gallery soon. there’s a new one posted now. get to the chopper!

been having staring contests with 2 new ganglion pieces; they taunt me from afar, even when i sleep. when finished, they will represent my most comprehensive mind mappings to date.

just finished the album artwork for the Royal Geography Society’s debut record Golden Man which will be released in August on Ruralfaune Label. i’ve since begun the artwork for an additional tape cassette release by RGS simply yet potently called The Mushroom Tape.

drawing quite a bit as well, little things like tributes to beloved dead pets and big things like tasty fish, the kind my father and i used to catch from our boat.