2 new paintings in progress; they are about half way there. This might not be that apparent because of the lack of surface information a jpg provides and the overall simplicity of the rendered subject.
A image from the Volvos on Sunset set.
This is probably not the first time an image has been on the cover of 2 magazines at the same time, but the first time I received emails of their releases within 24 hours. Here are the covers of the september issues of Artforum
and Frieze.
Maybe Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno’s Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait were the same, but I remember them being different images of the same piece. Memory being what it is, they probably were the same.
Today I made an attempt to see the remnants of Berdoo Camp—one of many temporary camps that functioned as the staging grounds and housing for those who built the aqueducts in California as well as their families. Berdoo Camp was part of the Colorado River Aqueduct project that brought water to Los Angeles. It was erected in the early 1930’s northeast of Indio Hills, CA, and was abandoned in 1937. It was one of the largest camps constructed and many crumbling foundations and walls still exist.
My failure to reach my destination was a simple one. The only road near the camp is old and nonexistent in parts, and my car is an on-road vehicle. Approximately 2 miles short of my destination, I decided to turned back. Things that were not in my favor were: the washed out road, piles of debris littering the already suffering road, and some seemingly fresh spent shotgun and rifle casings (this is actually common in the desert, but it does not inspire confidence for one’s safety despite how ridiculous the movie Twentynine Palms may have been). It also happens that August is probably not the best time to go as average temperatures routinely go over 100° F; today it was 112° according to weather underground. So after some slightly rough road and what looked like worse ahead, I returned home with only these images.
I’ve begun six of the paintings for a forthcoming exhibition here in LA. There has been some progress on this one since the last posting. I am still deciding how i want to surrounding area to look like. I think once I decide what to do it should shape up quickly.
My dream internet video would involve fireworks, eating habanero peppers, a slap fight, doing a backflip off a wall while a kitten falls asleep, and maybe some ghosting thrown in for good measure. Oh, and hopefully everything but the kitten falling asleep goes horribly horribly wrong.
A week ago I drove out to Palmdale to see the intersections of the streets there. Palmdale is organized, Lancaster as well, on a grid where the smaller street names are subsets of the major streets (e.g. E Avenue P, E Ave. P-2, E Ave. P-3, et cetera). Unfortunately the pictures I wanted to take were not possible. Also a quick look at Google maps shows the overall consistency of the street plans aren’t there. Still it was something I wanted to explore. I did go to the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42, which has a collection of aircraft that were flown, tested, designed, produced or modified at the facilities.
Here is the Triumph that was designed by Burt Rutan, who in addition to designing this aircraft has a long list of accomplishments in aerospace engineering including the Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the earth without stopping or refueling in 1986.
This is my current wallpaper; sized to fit my computer screen. Click on the image for the larger 1280 X 854 version.
