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I’m finally uploading images of the opening for Better Place Than Now from a little over a month ago. The show was a total success and it’s just the beginning for the body of work I’m currently researching, “Dead Wrestlers.” The awesome Conor Peterson also showed his large format photographs of quiet, desolate yet developed landscapes.

Me: Digital prints and drawing. The prints are highly pixelated, online video grabs, so they look slightly out of focused when photographed. The drawing of Miss Elizabeth is the first layer of a hand-drawn CMYK pattern. The image is from wrestling trading cards I collected as a kid in the mid 80s – early 90s. You can read more from an earlier post.

Conor Peterson: archival inkjet prints from large format negatives.

The Opening: Friends, food and fun!

Conor, gesticulating wildly with a snappy red tie.

Sarah and Kira, and Brian mid-chew.

The drawing and print series I’m currently working on is titled “Dead Wrestlers.” At Northern this month, I’m showing an in-progress body of work consisting mostly of digital prints. I’ll be posting those images, photos of the opening and updating my website in the next few weeks. Here is the statement I wrote for the series, including scans of photographs I took in 1989 at my very first World Wrestling Federation event.

Statement:

“There are people who think that wrestling is an ignoble sport. Wrestling is not sport, it is a spectacle, and it is no more ignoble to attend a wrestled performance of suffering than a performance of the sorrows of Arnolphe or Andromaque.”  – Roland Barthes

“The biggest thrill in the world is entertaining the public, there is no bigger thrill than that.”  – Vince McMahon, Chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment

The first fan letter I ever wrote was to Hulk Hogan in 1987. I was 8 years old. In return, I received an autographed postcard with a photograph of Hulk on the front. I was soon sending weekly letters to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Andre The Giant,” Jake “The Snake” Roberts, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “Miss Elizabeth,” “Mr. Perfect” and Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Usually I would include one of the myriad drawings on lined paper I sketched of the superstar, with scribbled notes exclaiming how much I loved them, what I thought of their matches and how much I hated their enemies. I attended my first WWF wrestling card in 1989 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, NY. Somehow, my father was able to get floor seats only a few rows from ringside. Between cheering for the good guys and booing the bad, I stood on my seat, a metal folding chair, and took photographs, occasionally scurrying to the front row to get better shots. Those photographs are pictured below.

As I grew older and realized wrestling was scripted, I drifted away from the squared circle, occasionally checking in on the happenings of the WWF as I passed through high school and into college. In 2003 however, a series of wrestling deaths rocked the newly christened WWE universe – “Mr Perfect” Curt Hennig, “Miss Elizabeth” Hulette and “Road Warrior Hawk” Michael Hegstrand all died due to steroid and drug induced heart attacks. “The British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith had succumbed to the same fate a year earlier at the age of 39. “Ravishing” Rick Rude had passed in 1999 at the age of 40 due to overdose drug-induced heart failure. André “The Giant” René Roussimoff, a famous drunkard, died in 1993 at the age of 46 of a heart attack. The list of deaths directly related to steroid and drug abuse keeps on growing: “Bam Bam” Scott Bigelow, age 45; “Demolition Crush” Brian Adams, age 44; “Sensational Queen Sherri” Martel, aged 49; Eddie Guerrero, age 38; “The Big Boss Man” Ray Taylor, age 41; “Hercules” Hernandez, age 46. This list is by no means complete; by some estimates, more than 100 professional wrestlers under the age of 50, from one time superstars to hopeful jobbers, have died in the past 15 years due to anabolic steroid and other drug abuse related causes. The mortality rate of professional wrestlers is seven times higher than the general U.S. population. They are 12 times more likely to die from heart disease than other Americans aged 25 to 44. Professional wrestlers are about 20 times more likely to die before 45 than pro football players.

This ongoing series of drawings and digital prints simultaneously mourn and celebrate those wrestling superstars who succumbed to early deaths directly related to steroid and drug abuse. Enlarged, highly pixelated, digital abstract prints of captured online video stills represent matches considered by wrestling commentators as career-defining moments for each deceased wrestler. The pixelated, oblique boxes of color portray a contrived reality, recognizable only at a distance, underscoring the spectacle of sports entertainment and our supporting-role relation as consumers to it.

Photos, 1989 :

WWF in Buffalo, NY  – February 13, 1989 at The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
Attendence: 10,207
Card:
-Sam Houston pinned Barry Horowitz
-Boris Zhukov pinned Tim Horner
-Outlaw Ron Bass pinned Koko B. Ware
-Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (The Brain Busters) defeated Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty (The Rockers)
-Ravishing Rick Rude (died at age 40 of drug related heart failure) pinned Tito Santana
-Big John Studd (died at age 47 of liver cancer) fought Akeem to a double count-out
-WWF World Champion Macho Man Randy Savage defeated WWF IC Champion the Ultimate Warrior via count-out at 5:09

Akeem “The African Dream”

Akeem vs. Big John Studd

Ravishing Rick Rude vs Tito Sanatna

The Ultimate Warrior (and my favorite ref Earl Hebner)

“Macho Man” Randy Savage

A couple weekends ago, friend Conor graciously came up to Olympia from south of Portland to accompany me on a journey to Spokane to purchase a beautiful antique sign press. By ‘accompany me’ I mean he had a truck and did all of the driving. Heh. I have awesome friends, what can I say? Anyway, we left Olympia at 8am and arrived back shortly after 1am, some 600+ miles later. The next morning, we moved the press downstairs with a handful of other friends who answered their phones on Sunday morning and volunteered their muscles. Conor, myself and friend Mark (an amazing former student who now owns his own screen printing business) had the 500lb press reassembled by early afternoon. Needless to say, I can’t wait to start printing as soon as my show is over!

Wait… a show? Yep! A show! But you’ll have to wait until the next post to hear about it, unless you live in Olympia and come to the opening at Northern, this Saturday July 10th, from 7p – 10p.

Spokane, there and back again:

The past couple have months have marked the beginning of a radical shift in personal perspective. On all fronts, it feels as if things are changing. Changing in ways they have to, have needed to, for a very long time. A cosmic kick in the ass, perhaps? Who knows. Regardless, things are falling apart in ways that are simultaneously terrifying and exciting.

This piece of advice, given to me recently by old friend Pete, neatly sums up my current life dilemma:  don’t burn bridges until you are sure you’re 75% the way across.

That said, here are my new life priorities in numerical order:

1. Make work. Art. I need to make stuff above everything else I do in life. I’m miserable when I’m not able to get my ideas onto paper in a visual way. Sorry, blog. Lists don’t cut it.

2. Find another job. Yup. Time to move on. I am stagnating, beginning to get fungus of the brain. The Olympia chapter of my life is over.

3. Start a press. Renegade Cascade Editions is officially getting off the ground. Watch for my etsy site this summer.

4. Continue growing as a teacher. Not only does this (somewhat) financially sustain me, I enjoy it immensely. Go figure.

That’s it, friends. If it doesn’t fall on my list, expect a slow, unconcerned response. I am no longer willing to overextend myself for unappreciative others at the cost of my life passions and creative visions.

Whew. How about them apples.

April showers bring May flowers, or so they say.  The Black Dot Museum, curated by Jean Smith and David Lester of Mecca Normal, took over the walls of Northern for the month of May, bringing together political artists based out of Vancouver, BC. We also celebrated the one year anniversary of Northern in conjunction with the opening. From the press release:

For May, David Lester and Jean Smith of Mecca Normal co-curate a month-long, group exhibit at Northern. “The Black Dot Museum — Political Artists from Vancouver” includes paintings, prints, drawings and comics by David Lester, Jean Smith, Brian Roche and Gord Hill. The opening reception for the artists was Saturday May 1, from 5p – 8p with a Performance by Mecca Normal at 7. This special opening also celebrates Northern’s one year anniversary serving as an all ages art and music venue in beautiful downtown Olympia, Washington.

Biographies provided by the artists:

David Lester is the guitar player in the underground rock duo Mecca Normal (Kill Rock Stars), a painter and graphic designer whose artwork is featured weekly in Magnet Magazine online with text by Mecca Normal singer Jean Smith. In 2009, Mecca Normal celebrated twenty-five years in music, touring their lecture, art and performance event “How Art & Music Can Change the World” based on Lester’s Inspired Agitators poster series. The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism (Arbeiter Ring, 2006) — an astounding collection of comparative statistics compiled by Lester — has been included in university course material in the US and Canada. David Lester’s art appears in the recently published Paper Politics (Soft Skull Press, 2009) as well as Reproduce & Revolt (Soft Skull Press, 2008).

Jean Smith is the singer and lyricist in the literary rock duo Mecca Normal and a two-time recipient of Canada Council for the Arts awards as a professional writer of creative fiction. Jean has two published novels and has, since 1986, released fifteen CDs on Kill Rock Stars, K Records and Matador. Smith’s series of self-portraits from age 13 has been included in several Ladyfest art exhibits. Her paintings are featured in Mecca Normal’s touring lecture event “How Art & Music Can Change the World”. Smith grew up in Vancouver with two abstract parents for painters.

Gord Hill currently lives in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (occupied Coast Salish territory). From the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, with Tlingit and Scottish ancestry, his family lineage includes the Hunt and Scow families. He has lived on reserves and in cities, small towns, and isolated mountain camps, and has been involved in Indigenous and other social movements since 1988, participating in many protests, occupations, and blockades. He is an artist, writer, and carver. Above all, he considers himself a warrior—one who defends his people and territory. Gord is the author and illustrator of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010).

During the 80s and 90s Brian Roche regularly exhibited his large paintings of various historical figures rubbing elbows with icons of popular culture.  An ex-Catholic ranting about atheism and corporatization at dinner parties, he regularly answered the inevitable “but what does it mean?” question about his paintings with “you figure it out.‘ This was all fine, but there comes a time in an artist’s life when, in taking a tally of accomplishments, things don’t add up. At this time, Roche stopped painting. Several years ago, Roche decided to stop living the way he was — a painter not painting is a person not happy. He decided to be happy. His recent return to painting came after discovering that smaller canvases make it possible to complete work in the time after his day job.

Photos of the gallery show and the opening (with a special performance by Janet Pants!) below:

Recently, I was interviewed via email by the lovely (and very patient) Belinda Haikes concerning my artistic process and methodology for her blog “Life, Universe and Art.” I’m included with a bunch of other intimidatingly talented folks and I feel honored to have participated. So, if you wanna learn a little bit more about what I make what I make and why I make it, this is your chance. Check it out: http://lifeuniverseandart.blogspot.com/

For my 31st Birthday, I sat for a spell on the Spiral Jetty along a remote shore of the Great Salt Lake. The journey began in a desolate parking lot adjacent to The Golden Spike National Historic Site and wound 15 miles further over dirt ranch roads to Rozel Point. I made the pilgrimage with former Olympian, now Salt Lake City transplant Laura Sharp Wilson. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a pair of aged hippies in a old blue VW bus with a red gas can strapped to its roof. Momentarily lost in space and time, as migrating pelicans swooped in graceful formations overhead, I gazed across white salt flats and the black basalt rocks Robert Smithson so deliberately rearranged on the lake bed in 1971. And yes, it was magic.

More on Northern’s march show, From, Johnson

Artists included in From, Johnson:

Daniel Arlein, Brooklyn, NY
Avantika Bawa, Portland, Oregon
Jenny Buffington, Shorewood, IL
Ingrid Burrington, Baltimore, MD
Scott Marvel Cassidy, Los Angeles, CA
Ariel Churnin, Johnson, VT
Thomas Cummins, San Antonio, TX
Janet Hassinger, Houston, TX
Harrison Haynes, Durham, NC
James Horgan, Cambridge, MA
Laura Kaufman, Hudson Valley, NY
Ji Eun Kim, Cheyenne, WY
Jong Sun Lee, Rockville, MD
Caitlin MacBride, Brooklyn, NY
Sharon Madanes, Chicago, IL
Rose Nestler, Brooklyn, NY
Ruben Quesada, Lubbock, TX, in collaboration with Jonathan Bohr Heinen
Nathan Rayman, Kentfield, CA
Alexis Semtner, Brooklyn, NY

More photos of pieces below:

Thomas Cummins‘ beautiful photo of bustling Johnson, Vermont on a snowy night.

Caitlin MacBride

Ingrid Burrington

Janet Hassinger

Ariel Churnin

Scott Marvel Cassidy

Avantika Bawa

Rose Nestler

Jong Sun Lee

Sharon Madanes

Ji Eun Kim

Ruben Quesada in collaboration with Jonathan Bohr Heinen

Since December, I’ve been hard at work organizing and curating this month’s group show at Northern. I met all the artists during my stay at The Vermont Studio Center this past November and December. From the Press Release:

For the month of March, Northern is pleased to present, From, Johnson, a group show exhibiting the works of 19 artists from across the country.

Each of the 19 artists included in From, Johnson met for the first time this past November at The Vermont Studio Center, a residency for visual artists and writers located in Johnson, Vermont. A play on words between the name of the small town where the artists lived and worked for a month and the influential Pop-Artist and ‘Father of Mail Art,’ Ray Edward Johnson, From, Johnson is about making connections — connections between artists, connections through the act of sending art via the United States Postal Service, and connections between the disparate works themselves.

Images of the show:

Nathan Rayman

Laura Kaufman

Harrison Haynes

Jenny Buffington

Daniel Arlein (This photo only shows the landscape painting partially extended)

Alexis Semtner

James Horgan

Sometimes it’s hard to hear the Universe talking to you above the din that is your day to day life. As someone who already has bad hearing from an ungodly amount of hardcore and emo shows attended as a teenager, sometimes it’s difficult to hear anything at all (I escaped the alterna-90s and all I got was partial hearing loss). However, when the same sentiment is repeated over and over from the mouths of unrelated people in my life, I can’t help but acknowledge larger forces at work and stop to listen.

I found out Thursday that I didn’t get a job I was actually (for once) holding out a fair amount of hope for – I had even been informally told to expect a phone interview, so I’m not placing all blame on my overactive imagination. As a direct result of this revelation, I have been listening to Kate Bush non-stop.

Recent insight via electronic correspondence with thoughtful Nora, brunch with the inimitable Brian Jones, and a phone call from always encouraging Kai, however, have left me with renewed faith (or at least a feeling of contentment) with my current lot in life.  Like Kai said, I live in a cool house, I teach at a rad liberal arts institution, and I have a cat and a blog. What more could I want?

While life is never as simple as a single catchy sentence, I recognize the truth in those words… even though I wish that sentence was somewhat longer. If it comes down to it, what’s another year in Olympia?

Where else could I have caught Calvin Johnson reading the entirety of the “O” section from Dan Nelson’s (somewhat problematic) book  All Known Metal Bands on Saturday night? AMAZING. Then, the following evening, where else could I have caught Wynne Greenwood and K8 Hardy personally screening their collaborative video projects via data projector beamed onto old sheets in a hip local thrift store? Jesus. I mean, how fucking awesome is my life?

(Right…?)

Photos via my shitty cell phone.