the wall beneath one of my studio’s windows
Well, I would like to have something “scintillante” to say but I don’t. The studio rehab project continues. It is taking much time and energy but feels so good. Nevertheless, I am tired and will go take a nap now.
Happy Birthday Momma!
related links: The Art of the Peeling Paint
When I finally get my studio in order and have some space to move around in, I’m going to dance Chuntaro Style!
I have already written about dancing for your health and need to follow my own advice!
Related: Chuntaro style? + EL GRAN SILENCIO CHUNTARO STYLE + CHUNTARO STYLE ZUMBA video + sabor kolombia chuntaro style mix + what is CHUNTARO STYLE book excerpt + Chuntaro, Tribu urbana mexicana. Primo hermano del cholo y el malandro, hermano del naco
This is the bottom of my Parian beach bag. Every year it’s a victim of more wear and tear so I add another patch boro style. This means the more the bag is worn, the more it will be repaired thus the more beautiful it will become.
Decluttering my studio also means coming in contact with repairs that have to be made. And I plan on affronting them boro style, too. Because repairing is a form of aesthetics.
Decluttering and cleaning the studio is a method of disintoxication and, as such, a spiritual experience. Each time I ask myself: Do I keep this or throw it away?, I am making a decision about the direction I want to take my life.
The most difficult part so far has been that of going through cardboard “archives” (6 of them)…sketches, notes, art show invitations, newspaper articles, etc. The “personal” stuff is so much more difficult to deal with. It took a glass of wine to convince me to throw away 5 years worth of obliterated train tickets, souvenirs from when I commuted to teach at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Milan, Florence, Rome). My plan was to use them as a base for a painting. But the waiting list on my Things I Want To Do is so long that there’s just not time enough to do everything. So, being a part of my past, the tickets got dumped.
Hoarding desires is unhealthy, too.
Decluttering is also a way of interrelating with the space you have (makes me want to re-read Gaston Bachelard’s “The Poetics of Space”.) And of rediscovering what’s already there. Old things suddenly become new again.
It still will take me awhile to finish this gig. Before real cleaning can be affronted, the decluttering and re-arranging of furniture has to be done first. So I read with some envy about Clare’s cleaning of her Arthouse and home! Can’t wait to be doing the same!
Clare’s curtains drying in the warm October sun, happily flapping over the valley
Decluttering blitz at my studio still going on.
Eleven years ago, when I started ART FOR HOUSEWIVES, I had a kind of missionary spirit thinking I had to save a.k.a. recycle every piece of trash that came my way and especially into my house. Above is a little relief sculpture, unfinished of course, made from a shoe box, 2 different kinds of yogurt cartons, sanitary rolls and junk mail. It is quite sweet but, after collecting dust for several years, it’s leaving my studio forever.
And another unfinished project. This was meant to be a flowering cactus primarily making use of plastic water bottles. The layers of dust it’s collected tells me it, too, will be permanently leaving my studio.
And another cactus variation also unfinished. Pity.
You know those little honey syrup bottles that look like little bears? I decided to cover one with paper so that I could then paint and add it to my papier mache animal collection. Au revoir my little friend!
When I taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and spent so much time on the train commuting, to make up for lost studio time, I began making drawings that could travel with me using a mouse and portable computer. The only problem I found with computer drawings, aesthetically speaking, was giving them the right context. Commercially printed computer drawings look pretty banale, in my opinion. So I experimented with making plastic bottle compositions to sustain the drawings.
Luckily, however, many projects of a similar nature were finished and used as props for the Magnolia TV program VIKY TV (oriented towards recycling for young adults).
one of my “Clutter Gardens” used for Viky TV via
the background Bunny in A Box as well as the paintbrush holder below are both mine
article about unfinished art Unfinished Art: Obi-Wan Kenobi Digital Circlism
Recently, the Broken Windows Theory made the rounds on Facebook. The theory claims that, to avoid crime and vandalism, an environment needs to be free of disorder. Not at all a new idea, the theory is based on the fact that a car with broken windows is more likely to be vandalized than a car without broken windows. Just like it’s more likely that someone will litter in an area already full of trash.
an experiment making flowers from plastic bottles with a plant stand found at the dumpster
Well I don’t have any broken windows at my studio (Los Ojos) but I do have a lot of clutter. Since I work primarily with recycled materials, it’s easy to accumulate thinking: Hey, I can use this to make something! Plus I do much experimenting which means many unfinished projects.
the frame from an abandoned chair covered with crocheted plastic
On one of my walk’s to Krios this summer, I decided it was time to reorganize my studio as a form of personal renewal.
There are so many benefits that come from decluttering and reorganizing. For one, it helps you let go of the past so you can focus on the present and make room for the future. Decluttering also gives you more freedom as it’s easier to clean and easier to find things once order is established.
many papier mache projects, finished and not
And a decluttered space creates room for energy to flow. Feng shui stresses the importance of providing space for Chi (energy). Because the more things you have, the more obstacles your Chi has to affront.
As an artist working with materials, it will be impossible for me to have a perfect feng shui space. But I can get rid of a bunch of dead weight. So, after a quick souvenir foto, anything layered with dust now goes to the dumpster. And just after a few day of decluttering, I already feel euphoric.
Dumped:
an unfinished Bebina Bunny and many plastic bottle compositions meant to sustain small artworks
a broken mirror framed by soda cans
jars with flower tops made from plastic bottles and light bulbs
a plastic bottle composition
painted plastic…a corner in my studio many many years ago….this Zen like look no longer exists. But it was the beginning of my dedication to recycling and I still had much trash to collect!
The Narrative Within 