i came across this short piece i wrote years ago while living in Detroit, Michigan. thought it would be fun to share…

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Resolution Doubts

The idea of making a new years resolution is very tempting. It appeals to my sense of beginning again on a new page. A new start, another try, wash away all the sins of the last year…
Let’s put aside (for a moment) that up here in the North, starting something, (hell, even getting out of bed) in mid winter is nigh impossible. The grey sky and cold air hang over the general population inducing lethargy and laziness. It is hard to do anything much less stick to a new life changing regime of going to the gym or quitting smoking.
If we must pick a time on the calendar to begin anew, at least let’s make it in the spring when everyone is a little more hopeful and a lot happier.
A second reason not to make a new Years resolution on the first of January comes from the fact that while we all want to change at least one aspect of our lives (or at least most of us strive to constantly becoming better human beings right?) It is hard to push these major types of decisions; life changing and life affirming decisions should come when the commitment is at its highest. This also, I believe, greatly increases the chance of success in achieving ones goal. This apex of motivation does not, and never will, adhere to a calendar. I would rather see someone make a major decision when they feel they are ready.
This is not to say we do not need some sort of kick to get started, to get ready, jazzed, and hyped to stop a bad habit or start a good one. But I say, let it come naturally, like love or luck. Whenever you look for it, it is not there. Same with realizing that you have the capability to realize fully whatever goal you may have. You can commit yourself totally to doing, or not doing whatever you want on any day of the year.

Artist Statement

Navigate: to plan, record, and control a course and/or position
Map: a maplike delineation, representation, or reflection of anything

This body of work, which I think of as a series of maps or records of various navigations, allows me, in the broadest terms, to engage with ideas of navigation and the processes of mapping experience.

I consider my paintings a type of combination of personal records layered among, around, throughout, on top of, and below each other, ultimately forming a multifaceted yet cohesive image. Towards this end, I include a variety of materials: literal maps, sketches of memories, current thoughts, and images from various sources. Each piece is a record of my thinking through a specific idea or network of ideas, while leaving a web of potentials.

I use mapping as a device to concentrate on specific information and turn it into a visual. In this way I fold information into the histories of the paintings, which include the line of my own thinking and the works’ own progressions. In the paintings themselves I concentrate on geography, time, structure, and information. The interplay between these layers of information, what is hidden and what is revealed, is, if pressed, what I regard as the ‘subject’ that I paint.

The physical aspect of painting, over-painting, sanding away any one of a number of layers (in essence, looking into the past and selecting to reveal only certain aspects from the history of the work’s creation), and re-painting satisfies my need to use my hands to make images. I explore my surfaces using both additive and subtractive methods. My materials include paint, pencil, pen, paper, wood, sandpaper, and a variety of collage materials. Through the experience of making I navigate both external and internal worlds, and the interplays between them.

Artist Statement

Through investigating and re-interpreting films from America’s past I attempt to recognize the impact this particular form of photography has had on our cultural landscape. In examining not only the films themselves (by looking at the individual frames that make up these motion pictures) but also evidence left by librarians and archivists, I explore not only the specific content of the films but also the changing technology surrounding the archiving process.
There also seems to exist an underlying obscure narrative that can be imagined by a viewer looking at the various images presented here. I propose no strict parameters for defining this narrative, but leave it to the viewer to see the images in all their various contexts. As one reviewer put it, “…they look like a scientist took them who was looking into past lives and found bits and pieces of the life and times of someone/(s). it seems too, that if all the pieces were put together a whole would develop somehow…”

Artist Statement

Although I work mainly in video and still photography I feel that using the correct medium for a specific project is important. It is the concept that matters most to me and using the appropriate materials to convey the specific idea is critical.

The projects I work on generally start with intensive investigation into the seed of the idea. As I delve deeper into the research the work goes through many stages until a final version is attained which attempts to strike a balance between aesthetics and information. I have worked in film, painting, installation, and sculpture and tend to blur the lines between different methods and mediums.

I am deeply interested in the history of art and how it relates to the history of our culture as a whole. The evolution of aesthetic viewpoints and how it relates to the history of photography and film are some of the fundamental issues I explore in my work.

As an artist I fully acknowledge the fact that I stand on the shoulders of tradition. While reacting to numerous influences I feel it is extremely important to personalize my work. I do this not only by combining old and new ideas and techniques but also by strictly adhering to my own personal interpretation of the underlying idea.

analysis – the separation of something into its constituent parts in order to find out what it contains, to examine individual parts, or to study the structure of the whole

The images in analysis are fragments of film frames taken from a much magnified video camera lens, analyzed and edited in digital format and posted to the web.

In analysis, I explore the intersection of 2 time-based media– namely film and video. This intersection between more traditional media and newer digital aesthetics is of great interest to me. This includes not only the ways in which artists work but also the ways in which viewers experience the work.

There are nuances in individual film frames that are all but lost at typical viewing speeds of 24 frames per second. In addition to ‘stopping’ the movement of film by looking at the individual frames, I also magnify them in order to investigate deeper into the material aspects of the film.

I explore different methods of viewing, including the materiality of the original film and the narrative possibilities of multiple imagery. The intended original subject of the found film becomes secondary to the act of analysis. Yet there remains recognizable fragments in order to engage a secondary method of viewing- being able to imagine scenarios among the images. The spatial relationship of the images on the website begins to resemble a narrative structure albeit a very loose one.

Artist Statement

In the short video piece Ac⋅tu⋅al⋅i⋅ties I consider how history is not always clearly visible or readily interpretable. This seems especially true in the mediums of film and video, which have historically been seen as ‘truthful’ mediums. Utilizing video technologies, I change the viewing speed and re-edit portions of early films. I discover nuances in the original that are lost at speeds of 24 frames per second. These ‘lost’ details include original anomalies in the films themselves such as copyright stamps and ‘flash’ frames. There are also clues left by the archiving process that can take many forms. Some of these are: missing frames, documentation of cataloguing and signs of restoration and/or prior re-editing. Thirdly, there is evidence specific to film and the way it ages such as scratches, emulsion decay, and shrinkage of the film stock.

In examining not only the films themselves but also ‘invisible’ evidence left by librarians and archivists, I comment on the content of the films and the changing technology surrounding the archiving process. The series of vignettes in Ac⋅tu⋅al⋅i⋅ties illustrate the different methods and outcomes of my continuing exploration into issues of temporal disarticulation, truth in translation, and how these ideas relate to the mediums of early film and contemporary video.

Artist Statement ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

In this constructed table piece I explore the materiality of film as it is translated through mini-video cameras. Titled +1 second the piece consists of a table on which sits two cranks approximately 36 inches apart. Attached to the cranks are film reels. A short, custom-edited film is attached between the reels and runs through a track directly in front of the viewer and under the three video cameras. By turning the cranks, the viewer sees the film as it passes by the three cameras as well as on three 5 by 7 inch LCD screens (connected to the cameras) that are situated on the wall directly in front of the viewer.

The content of the film (a print made from spliced found footage) addresses, among other concepts, issues of time and how it is measured. Films unique ability to fragment time into very short segments is an overall concern in + 1 second. The segments in this piece are 1 second long and are separated by a single frame.

The plasticity of motion picture stock seen through the 3 video lenses allows the viewer to experience the film and its motion in unexpected ways. The participant will realize that in order to examine a film closely, it must be taken out of its regular context. In fact, although the piece encourages movement of the film past the lenses, the specific imagery (as specific frames line up with the lenses of the cameras), is most accessible when the film is not in motion. The cameras are spaced exactly 7.5 inches apart, which is equal to 24 frames of 16mm film, which is also equal to one second of ‘filmic time’.
The overall design of the table and the mechanical apparatus (made from a salvaged film projector) is meant to emphasize transparency of process and materials.