hello friends,
i just did an interview for a really cool website called found in the margins. check it out:
found in the margins interviewfor those of you who missed today's art opening at the gallery AUDIO VISUAL ARTS on first street between first and second avenues in manhattan, you still have a chance to see the show- it will be up until 9/22. and if you don't live in new york, you can see the comics here:
"copy after rembrandt" new comics (online gallery)I gave a lecture, a kind of guided tour of the work, with annotations played on the fiddle, at 2 pm today. here is the text from the lecture (a springboard from which i sprang):
"copy after Rembrandt" show
Daniel in the lion's den
He cried lord have mercy on me
Now is the needy time
Promise to answer prayer
God he sent an angel down
The angel locked the lion's jaw
Mr. rogers thing – start fast
Extended vocal improv
Tell stories… 75 year old, land surfing, samurai jesus, moral compass breakdancing, bicycle thief, going deaf this summer,
Joanna the roady
Cross out "awesome windows" in windows comic
Irish tune/all a jolly soldier song with didling
Good afternoon and thank you for coming to "copy after Rembrandt." I thought I'd say a few words about the comics. I mean the work really speaks for itself, to be honest, but let's take a wander around and maybe I can show you some things. These are copies of drawings after Rembrandt. I was just recently in Amsterdam where he is from. I did not go to the Rembrandt museum but I did go to the museum of bags and purses. Let's take a look. I went on a date with a seventy five year old woman last week. I mean, I think it was a date. With women it can be hard to tell. But sh asked where we wanted to go and then we each went into our separate rooms and got dressed up to go out, she put on some makeup and a nice shirt, and I changed from my sweaty clothes that I had seen 'tropic thunder' in into a button-down shirt, some clean clothes. It was a bit awkward but nice. I think I will call her the next time I am in san diego. Her name was sammy. Her mom had become an artist as an adult, when sammy was in high school, and she her mom painted these wonderful portraits of people doing stuff, kind of naive art style. She seems to have a boyfriend though, but a long-distance thing, he lives in park slope. He s a widower, his – we got dressed up and went out for Mexican food – his wife who died last year was an incredible singer who taught my parents a lot of songs, including this one.
(sing "Climbing high mountains.")
Let's move on to another drawing. Jesus did water surfing and that's cool but I'm getting into land surfing. Let's try it.
Daniel in the lion's den (sing song)
Gibbon – have everybody fight finger sword fight.
Rembrandt was really 'street.' You can se here in this drawing how 'street' he is. If he were alive today, he wouldn't be apainter, he would be keeping up with the times. He would be expressing himself through breakdancing. But he would be able to express so much through his breakdancing, the way he expressed so much through all those fucking self portraits. He would be able to work out equations on the moral calculus.
Let's turn to another image that was created this summer. The house of fiction has many windows. That's true. I'm trying to read too many books right now. But fortunately I'm also writing one. It's about the strength that people need to carry on. I gave up writing it because the answers are in the chorus to the new r. Kelly song: 'what a relief to know that we are one, what a relief to know that the war is over, what a relief to know that there's an angel in the sky, what a relief to know that love is still alive."
Thank you sam Bartlett for letting me draw. Sam Bartlett taught me a lot of things. So did my grandfather, in a weird way. He died last Wednesday. He was in the one class that Wittgenstein visited in the united states. He lovd photography. Mr. rogers taught eme things too.