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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

I Live Here Now


Last Tuesday I woke up at 1:37am and audibly gasped. I had just realized somehow, while sleeping, that I was exactly two months away from the opening of my show in Sweden. At first I thought I was wrong and I convinced myself I was wrong. Then I realized I wasn't wrong, not at all. My show opens on April 4 and, needless to say, it took me hours to fall back asleep due to a mix of panic and excitement. The next day marked the beginning of several days of intensely focused studio time. I also realized I should start talking about the work because this helps me to process and stay focused. There is also something in sharing, it makes it more real, less scary. When I made the work for my solo at Velvet da Vinci I kept everything secret for basically a year. When the work was done, I felt strange. I think keeping it hidden was a bit detrimental. I would like to learn to strike a balance between sharing and revealing too much when it comes to making new work…


I'm very happy to tell you that the title of the show is "I Live Here Now," a phrase I started using when I lived in Belgium in 2012. Now every time I go to a new place or move, I say these words out loud to myself when I arrive, regardless of how long I will be there. Since the work I'm making for this exhibition is all about home, it is the perfect title.


With "home" as the underlying concept, I'm working with three separate yet complementary themes: family, house and homes, and early influences. The pieces are about my mother, father and brother; the house I grew up in; how my childhood home influenced my interests as a kid and how these interests continue to influence my work today; the different places I have lived in the US. It is ambitious and I know I may not have time to make everything I want to make. At this point, I'm behind in my timeline with just a few weeks before I'm supposed to ship it all to my photographer in Seattle. I've been working seven days a week and some nights, basically as much as I can in between helping at home and sleeping.

I'll be sharing more every week leading up to the opening.

Thanks for reading.

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