GETTING ANGRY AGAIN-- IN A GOOD WAY.

Today most of my creative energies have been spent on a private commission I've been working on this week, but for some reason I got into this trance and wouldn't stop making stuff.

While I was waiting for my soup to cool down, I did a quick sketch of my uncle watching TV.  His arm is off....oh well, I blame not being able to erase ink and feeling famished.

Then I started catching up on some reading and my Art and China's Revolution by the Asia Society seemed to appeal the most today.  I loved that exhibition so much, I wish it were part of the permanent collection so I could visit it a couple of times a year.  I know this kind of art is not China's proudest of moments but what appeals to me is the youth during this time.  Regardless of how Mao is viewed, the younger generation saw hope in him and had this interest in making serious change in their country through art.  There were lots of restrictions, but for those who really believed in this movement, it was deep...and more importantly it was for the masses.  And it all shows in the art: gestural drawings, bold and saturated colors.  People saw themselves in those posters, not some lame upper class people drinking champagne.

I love the idea of art being a necessity for survival.  Not only for artists but for everyone: literate and illiterate alike because it's as important as language, a way of communicating with each other.  For me, I constantly have this frustration with this society.  I don't want to hear about who's Britney's new baby daddy or exactly how many women "he" cheated on his wife with-- C'mon.  I want to know why the Bronx is still the poorest area in the country...why these kids have the highest rate of asthma...know what I mean?  This is the part where I get angry and for me, it's a good thing, because just like those kids in China, I'm also fed up.  Why can't I also express this anger through art...to inspire, to motivate...or share information, educate?

Of course, every once in a while, I have to sell out...we all do.  I mean, we gotta eat, you know?  But this is my motivator, what drives me --enough to have some extra will left to make those pieces I don't want to do but will hopefully pay this month's rent.  In the meantime, I'm going to keep getting angry and riled up and produce work that speaks to me...and hopefully others, because I'd like to think I'm not the only one out there.

Promise I'm done with my rambling.  I've been wanting to keep working with linoleum and move farther away from digital for now.  I love the little accidents made in linoleum, where the paint didn't pick up.  Anyway, here are some prints I made today-- I might redo some and re-post.

PATTERN FRENZY

This past month has been quite revealing for me in many ways-- personally and artistically.  Aside from having to deal with external influences...I've found this battle with myself and my own expectations.  Sometimes, after a while, you kind of forget why your expectations are what they are.  I think when that happens it's time to stop a moment and re-evaluate why you chose those expectations.  Are they really because that's what you want to do?  Or is it because all of a sudden you find yourself having to fit that role and succeed?  Maybe the intent was there but it just went in a direction you didn't want it to go?  Tons of possibilities and situations.  In the end... this is the position I'm finding myself in.  In a way it feels like going a step back but I know that it'll be a huge step forward--in the right direction.

That said, in my sketchbook lately, I've been having this urge to make patterns....drawing things over and over again.  It sounds boring, but I found myself having fun with it and really getting interested in this other way of making art.  I think I like it because it can make a message so clear...because it's so redundant.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll snap out of this slumber of pattern frenzy soon...so don't worry about me TOO much.