Restricted Frequency #196
New Space = New Art
Tea this morning. I’m a coffee man, but when my body guides me to the tea shelf first thing in the morning, it means that I am not entirely well. Started with black tea topped with fresh mint from my patio, now onto green matcha, because—sickly or not—caffeine is still needed. My mind tells me this tea does nothing for it and to please inject it with a triple shot of espresso. Despite the discrepancies between mind and body and the effects it is having on my functionality, all is well; I have a patio, where a pot of fresh mint gleefully soaks up the sunshine.
Hello, joy.
I moved into this place in March, where after spending about a month getting all the big stuff set up, I’ve been tinkering with small things here and there, the kind of things that only day-to-day use can alert you to. Like, how the patio could use something of an herb garden, or an umbrella to ease the blow of that violent Texas sun.
From THE SOLAR GRID #1
Overall though the place is in good enough shape to function as the much-needed sanctuary it was intended to be. Upon moving, I had a sit down with myself and went about examining how I spend my day; Work, exercise, cooking/eating, reading, and sleep. For the most part anyway, so I decided to tailor the place to those exact activities without anything getting in the way. The work part is where it gets a little complex because that actually entails multiple jobs and not just one: Drawing, painting, writing, fulfillment, and admin stuff. And given that all these work activities actually constitute the bulk of my waking life, it meant that the bulk of the space had to be tailored to said work activities, so from a square footage perspective that had to apply as well.
A peek into the space.
It’s been really nice to finally be in a space that allows for drawing, painting, writing, and exercise all with a degree of ease despite its small size. Efficiency is the name of the game, which may not sound entirely sexy or comfortable to a lot of people, but I find that 99% of the time, discomfort tends to stem from a lack of efficient functionality, and that is what I sought to avoid at all costs. I will probably write more about how I went about organizing/designing the space to that particular effect in a future newsletter. Better left for the sort of day I start with coffee instead of tea, and perhaps after I’ve tended to the scattering of small things that could be improved upon. For now, let’s look at some recent art:
THE CURSE OF I #1 original cover-art - Pencil and Ink on Bristol board, 11”x17” (28 x 43 cm)
WORDS HURT TOO - Mixed media on paper, 25.2"x16.3" (64 x 41.4 cm)
IN HER FREEDOM’S NAME - Aerosol and acrylic on Egyptian papyrus, 13"x17" (33 x 43 cm), edition of 10.
OUTSIDERS - Pencil and Ink on Bristol Board, 11"x11" (28x28 cm)
Two chapters remain before THE SOLAR GRID comes to a close, which I’ve been working on full-script. Not my usual approach, but it felt like wrapping the story up really really well may necessitate it in this case. Quite enjoying the writing, but another part of me is eager to get to drawing already.
From now till September 7, all orders for THE SOLAR GRID made on Mythomatic will be signed.
I have a few works on show at the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, Illinois, by the way. Titled CONSTANT PRESSURE, the show is heralded by Fatherless, an awesome art collective I connected with during an art fair in New York some years ago. Many other powerful artists are included such as Aida Wilde, Atlan Arceo-Witzl, CHema Skandal!, Jesse Shaw, Liz Born, and Nicole Marroquin. I love the mad work Fatherless produces, and it’s so great to be showing with them. Collaborations are sure to abound.
My cuppa is depleted of its tea. Time for a refill, along with some meds.
Till soon,
Ganzeer
Houston, TX
Soundtrack: DAWN by breakfast oats.
Book: DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES by Peter Biskind
Motion Picture: PAPER GIRLS on Amazon Prime