Atomic Elroy

refuse artists statement/zen death poems

atomic elroy — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:57:19 +0000

The most important thing that I got from the Bill Viola lecture at the Anderson Ranch in Aspen last Wednesday wasn’t that he started off this lecture/demo reading some zen death poems. Although that was pretty great! He later went on to include Sufi and western version but the Zen ones stuck with me. It was how he was appalled at the academic/curatorial practices in contemporary art school these day. He didn’t like how they make artists write artist statements that are like critiques of the work. He was also appalled at how a friends daughter had for a first assignment to find out and write down the 3 biggest galleries in NYC. He got a round of applause from the 150 or so people packed into the Anderson Ranch meeting room this warm August night. It was nice to here someone else be peeved at the pedantic nature that has crept into art.
Back to the Zen death poems, which he used to illustrate the point that the thin line between life and death and how important it is. The best zen death poem started… Shit, shit, shit, shit. I can’t remember verbatim the rest of it but, it paraphrased went: so many times i’ve said shit and meant it and, now it does no good.

The talk was wonderfully inspiring and so positive. He was encouraging to all artists, at any point in their career and, said once you realize you’re an artist it’s a life long commitment, you can’t stop being one. He also mentioned that one of the most important things an artist needs is solitude, being able to be alone and have the intuition to listen to the voices from outside ones self.
He talked of how a few years back he was questioning his use of technology and was lucky enough to have an audience with the Dali Lama and spoke of how the technology he was using for art was now being used to lie to people distort the truth. He told the Dali Lama how when he went on vacation his father would go into the motel room turn on the TV and then walk away.
The Dali Lama replied ” I do that too” and laughed! Later in the conversation The Dali Lama picked up his fork and said he could use this tool to kill or to eat with, it was the intention in his heart that mattered. Viola used this topic to mentioned when they excavate caves from prehistoric times they always find tools and paintings… technology and art. It’s been with us since the beginning.
He showed a number of videos while he was speaking ( quite odd, but they were pressed for time) most of which I’d seen in other exhibits like the 1998 SFMOMA solo exhibit. The two I’d not seen were recent works. One was the Passions/Quintet which is 18 seconds of high speed film that when played back is 10 min long of 5 people and their changing facial expressions. The other was “Three Women”, which had three women walking in darkness then through water into the light. Images were B&W and when they passed through the water it became color, both pictured here.
He also demonstrated a video game he was working on that dealt with journeys and had very much a dream quality to it. It was black and white and looked like “an old 1970’s night vision surveillance camera”. It was very cool I’d love to play it!
It was really a great talk, worth the dive over Independence Pass. I shot some video, but it was not documentarian, but artistic, as soon as I edit it I’ll post it.

NO MORE MANIFESTOS

atomic elroy — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:09:46 +0000

I’m toying with the concept of ‘reality video art’, I got the idea from Bravo’s squeamishly trite TV series. It is sort of what I do anyway, I shoot documentary style footage and then edit it into something else. The video in the previous post is an example.
I’m also intrigued by the concept of supermodernism, it seems to be a concept tied mostly to architecture, a movement that’s for the most part has come and gone… I think it may artistically be a building block to become unstuck in postmodernism. It should be a great starting place to take my artwork.
I suppose the dilemma for me has always been the lack of an art movement to attach my work to. I believe now it is really my attempt at justification of legitimacy. Not have been an Art School Brat, I sometimes feel like a the red headed stepchild when it comes to dealing with the art world.
I was educated in art by myself, and other artists, and “dropping in” ( yes I was a Teenage Drop In) to some art classes of artist friends. I grew up at the end of the age of manifestos, some sweeping sophomoric rant about the inadequacy of the art word to support radical concepts and a prophecy of a “New Art Order” that said writer of manifesto would be the leader of… just writing that sentence made me laugh at how ridiculous the concept is. Yet I still cling to the concept of a movement. Perhaps reading too much Artaud as a youth has made me a manifesto junkie, I’ll take his advice in the essay “No More Masterpieces” and apply it to manifestos!
I’ve decided to shoot in HD but, in B&W, as it seems to be easier to down convert to SD on DVD and still look good. I like HD but need a bigger faster computer to make a complete switch.
It’s been a while since I last blogged… it felt good.

Independence…

atomic elroy — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 23:15:46 +0000

neglected blog

atomic elroy — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:33:11 +0000

OH blog, how art thou? feeling neglected? I bet. I have been rather busy with life in the outerverse and have left the innerverse unattended. I will return to you on a regular basis soon, I i’m about to leave the social networking fiasco of Fakebook, and you will be my only interweb portal. So until then here have this photo of a unrealized video project titled “Puppet Noise”. It depicts Grouch Marx and Franz Kafka performing an autopsy on Samuel Beckett. So until then I bid you adieu.

NEO-POST

atomic elroy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:52:05 +0000

No, I’m not coining an art movement, no, I’m not writing a manifesto, it’s just me being clever about writing a new post.

Marx and Kafka discuss Samuel Beckett's autopsy

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to start working “Out of Town” for again. I had great success in the past and only recently got pulled back down into the quagmire of HOMETOWN. So, other than making video for upcoming dance shows my focus will be back to the regional, national, and international opportunities I was having such success with 3 or so years ago. It’s a practice that’s supported by working in a medium that an artist’s greatest challange is finding shows to enter on the internet and to FEDEX a DVD to be able to show in these venues.
I guess I’ve had a problem dealing with the fact that I am a solo artist. I don’t collaborate well, I feel a strong responsibility to the idea I’m working with and nothing else. Listening to my own voice and instincts is always difficult in the insecure world of art I find myself in most times, but a little effort and no excuses, should remedy the situation.
I’m going to start writing more and developing a studio practice that is based on production and exploration. I have every confidence that turning off the local static will help greatly. I’ve developed a few performances lately I was thinking of producing as ensemble theatre, but they’ll work as solo performance art.
What’s it that Laurie Anderson says… “Just what the world needs another multi-media show”!

existential ennui

atomic elroy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:32:44 +0000

Video still from Marilyn Matrix #3

the magic if…

atomic elroy — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:32:52 +0000

what if…

no one is watching?

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling…

atomic elroy — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:25:12 +0000

star struck sycophants
striving for celebrity,
klub kid groupthink
reviles reverie.

musing magical misanthropes
cursing karma publicly,
retrograding normalcy
to non conformity!

deviate from peer group
audaciously act “uncool”
move minds immobile
fear not living the fool!

video stills from “anti-ivory tower” installation by atomic elroy 2010

VIP Lounge

atomic elroy — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:00:19 +0000

Watch This Space presents April 2010 First Friday event, VIP Lounge (Video Installation Performance) Series.

Watch This Space will restart our VIP Lounge (VIP for Video Installation Performance) Series by presenting the “Return of Art Angst and the Neo-Bohemian Collective” for First Friday on April 2, 2010 at 8pm. The cost of admission will be $10.00, which will include a complimentary mocktail, and hors d’oeuvre. The proceeds of which will benefit the newly formed Our Community Dance Co. up coming production.

aftermath of VIP Lounge Art Angst & Neo Bohemian Colective

Faux conceptual artist Art Angst will return to the VIP Lounge with his ragtag art collective of performance and conceptual artists with the Neo-Bohemian Experimental Ensemble to provide audio art.

WATCH THIS SPACE is a performance, dance, and multimedia art space located in the Depot Arts Building, under the Colorado Avenue Bridge at 218 W. Colorado Avenue, Suite 102, in Downtown Colorado Springs.

“We have met the enemy…

atomic elroy — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:30:07 +0000

…and He is US!”, Pogo. We’ve all heard that we are our own dilemma, change comes from within, we make our own problems, etc. in My case this is more than evident. Had a bit of an ongoing epiphany lately that I”m trying to combine incompatible elements. I’ve always liked the way, in the 1960’s,unconventional that unconventional and iconoclastic people had legitimacy. The era of the anti-hero. Being an impressionable youth at the time I aspired to mimic the behavior to gain the same results. But like any experiment, the conditions must be duplicated to achieve the same results. Oops. Our fickle friend time with it’s constant march forward is constantly changing the rules of the game. Trying to embrace an accepted anti-hero persona has caused unattainable goals, and I’ve created an unachievable objective.
I’m not talking about the romanticism involved in dreaming an impossible dream, I’m talking psychology. I need to stop self censoring, to not worry about how I appear, or wether the work I create will be acceptable in the art world. I need to focus on just making it ( like I said a few posts back).
My honest dilemma revolves around not having a role model, It’s much easier to be an early adopter than a trail blazer. I tend to be a alter-mimic, I mimic something but just tweak it a bit and make it my own. Which is counter intuitive to my basic belief in authenticity, how can I be authentic if I’m in essence copying someone. The artistic equivalent to a cover band. I know of two artists who do so, one just flat out steals the style the other apprenticed and is under influence of the alleged master. I’ve found this may work on a local or regional scale, but knowledgeable gallerists ( art dealer), and curators tend to turn their noses up at such work. Then I’m making an assumption here. I’m assuming that these artists are trying to be original. Maybe they are not, maybe they are finding artistic solace in expression of imitation of technique. Which is OK, for they are not the first nor the last to do so.
The choice is obvious, I’ll be the unlikable anti-hero, the scathing social commentator, the art curmudgeon. I feel my path leads to the city of Authenticity. No matter how difficult or frustrating the path. Perhaps that should be the subject the Authentic City. If you find where it is please let me know, oh wait look it’s right here, I just had my thumb on the map covering it!