I would gather the funds and backing necessary, produce a massive amount of art, which when completed would be shown on its own in a gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea art district. I would not pay for the space, but I would instead convince others that the work deserved to be seen. I would use this exhibition as a springboard for my career in the arts: I told them that I referred to it as a Career Launch Event.

I was honestly and earnestly told that, “generally speaking, that doesn’t happen for unknown artists.”

Well, sometimes it does…

I have a solo show at a gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea art district… and I feel pretty goddamn good about it.

Of course, as many of us know, it’s easy to dream, but bringing that dream to fruition can be a painstaking process. The realization that dreams, generally speaking, do not just simply come true is a tough pill to swallow for many. Those dreams must be methodically broken down into smaller components, which must then be broken down into a digestible series of actionable steps… or, in keeping with the cliché: baby steps. The hard part is not figuring out where you want to be, but rather, figuring out how exactly you’re going to get there.

As I ramp up for the show, set to open Thursday, September 16th, above all else I know… I’m tired – but I am more alive than I have ever been and I know that I have a chance in front of me that I will not squander.

I hope you can make it: it should be an interesting experience!

The Time of Men: Forest Glen, pigment print, 45 x 60

Shot on location in the Delaware Water Gap. A lot of early mornings, and even more waiting around… early in the morning. Proof positive below…

In the event of boredom, insert finger into belly button and wait...

Waiting was an interminable purgatory of in-between: NOW was how I thought of heaven, while LATER was hell.

As I grew older and the reality of accomplishing larger goals dawned, patience developed as a necessity. Expressions such as “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and “time flies when you’re having fun” were mantras oft repeated as I methodically broke down projects into the bite size, and therefore more easily achieved, steps by which a larger whole comes together.

A good example of this would be the photographs that my partner, Nicole, and I are soon to capture in the wooded paths and mountain crags of Eastern New York state.

At the heart of these tableaux vivant will be costumes, as is fast becoming a trend in my contemporary photographic work.

Born round a crackling fire, sketched in a camp chair, and powered by a crusty PB&J sandwich, the imagery came to life.

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I had spent weeks prior to the sketching of the designs collecting fabrics and leathers and feathers from which I hoped to make the costumes. There were trips by car and train to acquire the materials, and I lovingly sealed them into large plastic bins, taking up yet more space in an already cluttered home studio (and living room – sorry sweetheart!)

After the collection of these necessary materials I sought the services of a talented costumer whom I had met many years before while shooting black box theater for New York’s Inverse Theater Company.

The costumer worked diligently after several meetings to discuss the viability of and tweaks required to make my designs a reality. As the weeks peeled away we moved forward and elements were completed. There remained, however, one item needed: a collection of small sticks, worn smooth by the lapping of gentle waves and bleached by the sun such that they resembled bone. Yeah, that’s specific… and I knew exactly where to get them. The problem was that the location (a reservoir in upstate NY) was inconvenient to get to.

In the interim, as I plotted to secure these magic sticks I worked with a friend to produce a component for the male costume: an icon meant to perch atop a staff. The staff had been ordered from a gentleman in Georgia, crafted from a fallen cedar swamp tree and had taken more than 2 months to arrive. After late nights of fevered research I ordered sandals through the internet. I discovered and stalked the notions and trimmings stores of New York in pursuit of those little details that add up to create a richly detailed scene.

Months passed and the costumes were completed… and they were magnificent! All save for the now legendary sticks (legendary in the fact that I’d spoken to so many about them, but no one had ever seen a single one.)

I knew that the damn sticks needed to be a part of the project – I hadn’t seen anything like them. Anywhere. And I had looked. Trust me.

But, finally, almost a year later, on the way back from Maine, at the end of a daunting 11 hour drive and as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, I clambered down the wooded incline that lead to the shores of the reservoir where I had remembered seeing The Sticks. It felt magical – to have spent so much time thinking about and pursuing something only to be this close, and there… bobbing in the water… exactly as I had remembered them, were The Sticks.

As I type these words, the sticks are being incorporated into the final elements of the female costume, having been sized, trimmed and labeled for use.

The point of this all is that after more than a year of effort, we are only now drawing upon the time when we will make use of these costumes. Where once it was missing from my internal make up, patience has now become essential to the process and project. Patience has become a part of who I am and what I do. And that is something I never saw coming – not once.

The planning has begun in earnest: 5 days in the woodlands and forests of The Delaware Water Gap (weather permitting.) Hiking, camping and trekking in order to find that perfect location where light and land cooperate to create something special. And then… well, then we put on the costumes and we start playing in the woods.

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The aesthetic goal for this project was originally inspired by the format and concept realized in my Post-modern Fairy Tale series, and though we’ll be using different equipment and techniques I hope to capture some of the magic and wonder of that first series.

Check back here for our results!

“Holy. Shit.” thought Coach Dixon.

It was not the first time that afternoon that he had thought he might have a heart attack and drop dead on the gleaming parquet.

His boys had played their hearts out, and he knew that if they’d lost this one that that would be the end of their will to play. He didn’t, however, have the heart to tell them to set their sites low.

They hadn’t won a game all season… that’s 14 games without a win. That’s gonna shake a young man’s confidence. To the core.

But there it was, 14 point for both teams and Lil’ Duane, legs set wide, stooped at the free throw line, with a bucket percentage of 24%. It seemed that time was moving an order of magnitude more slowly than it should have, and Couch Dixon wasn’t the only one holding his breath.

A tilt of the head, a flick of the wrist, and the sphere was loose.

And as the ball followed its inevitable gravity-defined arc, curving, spinning, and occupying its rightful place in three dimensional space, the crowd frenzied itself to stillness.

In that instant, when leather met nylon, Duane Shahome forever became known as Lil’ Money to the boys that made up The Navy Yard Boys Basketball team.

Go Lil’ Money, go!

With no thanks to the ever growing wave of digital camera use, this was found nestled in a clump of leaves between Atlantic and Fulton Streets in Brooklyn – not far from Ratner’s impending basketball themed Palace of Sport.

Another day, another piece of handmade custom designed jewelry… ho-hum.

Kidding aside, I love how this piece has turned out: one of the most moving aspects of this project is to see the real world transformation from drawn design to physical object.

Being so lucky as to work with the craftspeople I have has taught me an enormous amount about their processes and art, as well as about compromise and the beauty of a creative partnership.

Click the image below to see the original design drawing.

A first, brief look at a wax cast for a new piece of jewelry for the upcoming project, Carnivora.

In order to help with visualization: the bracelet will be cast in silver, accented with red coral cabuchons, and the open center chamber is to be filled with a single smooth piece of onyx overlain with a patterned silver filigree.

One such medium is that of the musical note: I’ve spent the better part of the last year working with an immensely talented musician named Felix McTeigue (aka FDR.) Over the course of many months we’ve assembled what I believe to be an album of music that we both can be proud of.

To celebrate the near completion of this phase of the project I’ve linked to a track from the album below.

Please feel free to listen, download, burn, or email it and otherwise treat it like you would any other track daring enough to show its face online stripped of any kind of DRM. Please help get the word out…

Expect to see the album on iTunes at some point in the next 6 months!

Enjoy

Click here for full size.

Click the thumbnails below for another view, and an image of the mold from which the ring sprang.

A glimpse, or a taste…

9:45pm, Brooklyn, NY, deep in Sunset Park.

I could still hear the sound of the dancing above and the clinking of Corona bottles.

As I crept along the dark passageway I remember thinking, “the tacos were REALLY good!” I was looking for the bathroom to the small, pleasantly authentic Mexican restaurant just above. Somehow, however, I had managed to stumble upon what felt like a set from Saw XXIV, right down to the eerily dripping pipes and odd scurrying sounds originating just out of sight. Common sense dictated I go no further…

Mere moments later, with great release I was directed to the bathroom IN the restaurant. After, as I washed my hands, I realized I must have found my way into the neighbor’s basement. Who knows what horrors may have waited… and si senora, another Negro Modelo Especial, por favor!