This morning I installed "Bibliography" at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles. First, I climbed to the very top of the ladder to attach two lengths of fish line to the ceiling. Then, I unrolled the mile long lists of books and articles requested from the library of the Berlin research institute called the Wissenschaftskolleg during a six month period. The "Wiko" invites 40-odd scholars from all disciplines to reside there for year-long periods. So the references mingle titles from

The assignment: to develop a work about a single body part for an exhibition at the end of August for Gestalt Projects at BG Gallery in Santa Monica. I'd been invited to the exhibition based on one of my rare figurative pieces called "Labors Lost." For that very large piece I worked with my own body as a stencil, a brush and a pencil. For the new work, I decided to pursue using myself in this literal way rather than working with a model ( myself or someone else). I decided t

I'm very excited to be a participating in the upcoming "Applied Science" exhibition at Gallery 825, LAAA. The Opening is on July 13, 6-9 pm. "Bibliography" is one of the works I developed through ethnographic research among scientists and scholars. I was living at a residential institute of advanced research called the Wissenschaftskolleg . By making art, I was able to gain distance from the day to day practices of knowledge production including my own. It led me to stud

In Morocco poppy dust is used to make "Aker Fassi," which is used to tint the lips- a natural lipstick. I have been using it to tint, dye and paint tissues paper and silk organza. I also draw with poppy seeds to add texture and weight as well as line. I further shape the work by stiffening parts of it, while leaving other sections open and freely moving.

Thank you to everyone who made it to my open studio. Today I'm transforming yesterday's gallery into a home again. As I take down each painting, or fold up or pack up an installation your voices return to me. A feeling brought forth by a color, or a theme that resonates with the work of another artist, a query about the relationship of anthropological research research to art making, or a comparison between pieces I've made at in different places or at different periods ....e

Ten days to go before the Open Studio on February 9th. I'm thrilled that along with artists and musicians from Southern California, we will be joined by performers from Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast for a series of performances and talks throughout the day. Here is a preliminary program.

I had blog-related problems with the website. Then website related issues with pages that vanished. I was submerged in an avalanche of digital disasters for a couple of months, but now I'm back with an entirely new website. Thanks for your patience while I've been away.

My aunt Lu bought a paint-by-number set she could not finish. Or so it is that my mother explains how a set of three paint by number canvases on cardboard arrived at our small ranch home on 6th avenue in Des Plaines, Illinois. ( That’s Des Plaaanes— of the planes? These planes? It is just next to O’Hare). Perhaps it was '63 or '64? I could not read yet- but I  could tell numbers from letters. Mommy explained that she would match the number on each paint pot with those o

In response to my last post, Carol asked about my  " non-collector" propensities and wondered " is there then a tension between creating art and then having those artworks in one's life? Or, at least, needing to find a way to move those works on and "out" beyond one's own life?" Definitely something to think about. Making art that results in objects does lead to  collecting. Although part of my aversion to what I feel is an over accumulation of objects is related to the

Next in my wandering around Bergamot Station, I came upon the Elena Mary Siff’s exhibition of the intricate table-top sized installations she composed in response to  Italo Calvino’s “Invisible Cities.” (Click here to see Siff’s work).  Each piece is accompanied by a section of Calvino’s text, suggesting how the image moved her to move it from the page to the artwork.  This process does not incorporate letters or phrases but places the artist in the position of medium

I made these works with words for the "On the Line" project starting  with a text from a children's jump rope  chant about mothers fighting around the clothesline.  There are many versions, but this is one: My mother  and your mother were hanging out clothes, My mother punched your mother right in the nose, What color blood came out? ( the children recite the colors  blue, green, yellow, black, red, until the child jumping rope "misses.")

To follow art in and around LA requires wandering. I do not own a car. I live in downtown Riverside.  Yesterday,  I had an afternoon appointment in Santa Monica. The latest "morning" train to Union Station from Riverside leaves at 8:15 am. So I decided to go into town early in pursuit of art. I took the red line from Union Station to  7th street, then hoped on the Expo line to Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. Since the last post here  thoughts about art and writing, l

Looking at a detail of “spazierhen gehen” (going for a walk) brings  process invention to mind. I made it for  a site-specific project about the materials/processes of knowledge production   at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, where scholars ( and a few writers and artists) are invited to spend a year's sabbatical in a yearly cycle. The "fellows" live in an idyllic, leafy atmosphere throughout the year, working on projects of their choice. They are not required to pr