sincerely

I'm obsessed with the stitching I'm doing these days.
I fall into it.
I need to hold myself back from doing it all day.
Diagonal marks with wool thread,
alternating straight lines with curved,
I consciously attempt to make an eye bending experience.

I want to reach
a place of texture
that is untethered to conscious thought
like a dream is

like when you close your eyes
and retreat into your own body
and slow way down

"I want to get to non art.
non geometreic, non anthromorphic, non-notthing.
Another kind.  Another vision.  Another sort.
From a totally other reference point.  Is it possible?"
Eva Hesse

this stitching has driven me further into solitude

I feel guided by something ...

its out of my hands

The piece I'm working on is the second daily practice.  The other two are shown above (their backs)
(see here for story)  (also here )

I'm also reading old journals again

and then wrapping them gently with wool cloth, stitching them shut

I read today that:
interiority
reflexivity
craft
sincerity
are what makes Canadian art what it is.

"Something in me loves works of art that have within them the sense that they have only just survived their making.  In the end, you shouldn't know what is fiction and what is not. " Robert Frank

At 60, can I stand perfectly still for an hour?

rhythm of a true space (revisited)  1994  and 2014  by Suzy Lake  inkjet print on vinyl on wood, figures larger than life size 

What kind of art do I respond to?

Simple

emotional

Extended Breathing in the Rivera Frescoes  2013-2014  by Suzy Lake  ink jet print

rooted in labour

grounded in nature

Extended Breathiing at the World Trade Center  2012 - 2014  by Suzy Lake   chromographic print

based on repetition
expessing concern for our world

Are You Talking to Me? 1979  gelatin silver prints with applied colour by Suzy Lake  "I was very deliberately thinking about music.  I was trying to create a very frenetic rhythm so that the audience would understand the anxiety"

The photos in this post are from the Suzy Lake retrospective now on at the Art gallery of Ontario.  Suzy Lake began making her autobiographical/conceptual photographs in the early 70's, her work is an important part of the feminist revolution in the art world.

Perhaps her most famous pieces were made when she was an attractive young woman (such as the large gallery installation of self portraits shown above and detail here) but what I was drawn to the most were were the pieces about a woman artist ageing.

The extended breathing series came from her asking herself   "At 60, can I stand perfectly still for an hour?"  Time lapse photographs over a period of 60 minutes show the ghosting of the world around her while she stands still and strong.

"A celebration of breath and life"  Suzy Lake