Dear Critics.
It’s now July 21st. I’m thinking about how nice it is to sleep in. And how this nowhere land is more like what it will be like to be an artist than the cut and grind of school, long term. That said, I like being in school, with the sleep deprivation and the madness and the social gauntlets, and the structure. I made this painting last semester called ‘convenient time to have an opinion’, where I wanted to paint the phrase from observation. After debating in my mind what font to use as source imagery for this paint-from-observation project, I wrote it down on a paper as a to do list and decided I would paint from that instead. I made a painting from observation of the phrase “convenient time to have an opinion’, based from my own written version of it. THe painting was not that good, and I felt silly while doing it. I was trying hard for concept. The idea was that it’s silly to assume that truth comes comes on schedule in regards to a BFA degree, and thus we fill in the gap with a timely facsimile to get us by.
Every so often I sleep in and sometimes when I do that I have this kind of fever-dream thing where I conceptualize a ‘piece’ and kind of in my REM state wiggle and writhe around in my sheets (though I don’t sleep with sheets, so, blanket statement), imagining I’m creating something in a state like flow. I remember a decent amount of these and sometimes put them to paper in the form of sketches for another time. I wonder if this terminal year of PAFA is a good time. I like miniatures, in their photograph-like clarity. Thus an illustration Idea being sculpted and photographed appeals to me, and likewise rotoscoping. Some of these art ideas come too when I meditate, or lay on my back before going to sleep. Sometimes I draw these ideas, though my vision is usually not satisfied in drawing ends, it’s just a way to put it down and visualize it for later.
I had this idea to get people to write me directions to their houses, so that I could get the cerebro-visual experience of imagining the way there; wether it was my tentative trip or imagining their daily trip. Wherefrom do we begin imagining someone else’s experience? I got into going by Kemeys at some point, as otherwise it was an inert middle name to me. I was 22 years old, and I felt that I WAS Kemeys. This was clear to me. What was unclear to me from that point on was what Kemeys was, so it was kind of a reversal, so I set forth on my journey, and did some stuff that I’m embarrassed of, and even when doing it I was embarrassed of myself for my future self’s sake, and I think I’m not alone in this. It’s guilt, (front-loaded, as if an audience already exists- it’s young fame- mistakes). But anyway, I began this commitment one way or another, and over time I’m involved (at least that) and participating in the becoming of self that I call Kemeys. I used to be called Robbie, btw. Um. . So . . I went to some therapy over the summer and we got into family, and I drew some of my family and some memories of mine, and it was awesome. I learned that my dad was scared of lightning and drew something along those lines, and talked to him about doing a picture of his getting stabbed (a story I thought I had in my mind) and was corrected on the details. Turns out, he didn’t get stabbed, but rather his friend did while my dad ran the other way- something which my dad feels bad about to this day. I drew my grandpa reverse cowgirling in a toilet, because I knew that’s how he peed, and when I showed my grandma, she enlightened me to his condition- he had a hole at the base of his penis, which made for otherwise messy bathroom breaks. My father’s lightning phobia idea, when I pitched it to my dad was aided by visual fodder in the form of setting and ages of he and his buddies. My dad watched his friend die under an oak tree in North Carolina as it got hit by a lightning bolt as a storm rolled in. This is along the lines of painting I’m thinking of pursuing. It could be in form of graphic novel/ sequential illustrations or stop motion, or film, rotoscope, painting, sculpting, printmaking you name it. I’m thinking ‘assumptions’ captures something along the lines. Assumption landscapes, assumptive visions, or memories. The projections we make memories from. For example; I have been listening to Ulysses on audiobooks this summer and my dream landscapes have a heavy Dublin influence. I have never been to Dublin. What would a Dublin landscape be to someone who has not been- and part of my answer is maybe better for having not gone, maybe not.
I like the poetry of Dylan Thomas; so colorful. This would be good fodder for paintings.
I love the visuals made in The Warrior Song of King Geysar, and I’ve long since made a fantasy of pursuing paintings based on excerpts from it.
Same goes for the Snow Leopard book.
Da da da. That’s most of what I’ve got for now. Thank you for your time.
I wanted to write something to you / for you that we could get started, but also that wouldn’t waste your/our time, and also opened doors without shutting others.
Here’s hoping for a clear and productive semester. Thanks again.
RKG
