I’ve been in a tizzy all weekend because I had a big thesis meeting tomorrow but it just got cancelled because my advisor is sick. So more procasination for me I guess. I told my temp agencies I would be kind of busy this week but now it looks like I have full availability for at least tomorrow and wed. Thursday and Friday I have health and other thesis related meetings to attend.
Also a letter I am sending to Vogue Magazine:
Dear Vogue Magazine,
Thank You for considering me in your 66% discount for a new subscription. However the free bag offered with your discount is hideous and the reason I have not renewed my subscription for many years. You are Vogue Magazine. How can you even try to pawn that horrible bag off to your loyal readers like that. Has Anna even seen it? I suspect that she wouldn’t be caught dead even looking at it. You could have at least done us all a favor and made it all black. But it appears this bag is a terrible combination of a shade of red that was popular with Payless Shoes about 6 years ago and a brown that has given up on life. I am baffled Vogue would want to be associated with such cheap and desperate merchandise.
Sincerely,
Laura t.
I’ve been feeling a little more creative lately. And I honestly think its because I’ve started temping. Yes I know weird. Temping should be slowly sucking out my brains, soul, passion and creativity but I think because its new and takes up a good chunk of my time, my spare time feels more precious, and I feel more inspired to actually do things and start projects.
Last semester I was only doing a handful of things and had a ton of free time that I promptly frittered away. Sure I got some stuff accomplished but mostly I squandered. I am definitely one of those people who need a little bit too much on their plate and I really can get a lot done. Having less time means I have less time to mull over unimportant details that muck with my productivity. For example I spent pretty much two months agonizing over how I was going to create these stencils. I over thought the whole thing. Now that I don’t have as much time I just did it in a morning and stopped being so fussy. And so far its ok. I am going to change some things but its working.
Speaking of frittering time. Real Simple has this ridiculous issue devoted to 15 minutes and how 15 minutes can change my life and all that. Now Elaine Perlov has a nice egg-timer system where you can do short annoying tasks in 15 or more minutes (and I bought a lemon shaped timer from a dollar store last year and it helps) but I felt the magazine was actually putting a lot of pressure on people with this issue. Like every 15 minutes of my life had to be totally productive and awesome and filled with healthy food and no bad television whatsoever. To cap it off they asked a bunch of over-worked ladies what they would do with an extra 15 minutes in their day and they all gave these over the top ambitious answers like writing a novel or learn a language. I suspect these poor women were put on the spot and felt like they really had to make it count. Only one of them was brave enough to have an answer close enough to “probably nothing at all”. Even then it had to mention coffee and a meaningful breakfast. If I had an extra 15 minutes per day I suspect these 15 minutes would be snatched away by the cruel masters of corporate america, sleep, tv or blogs. I like sleep the best.
I moved out of my studio yesterday. It was getting too expensive. I have set up my new workspace in my underused dining room. I still have a little bit of stuff in the old studio to work on a very messy project. Hopefully a lot will be resolved in the next week or so, because I really don’t want to mess up my apt with this project.
I never really liked my school assigned studio. I always felt enormous performance anxiety whenever I was there despite the provided curtain. I hated the pressure of “this is where art happens” whenever I was there. It was hard for me to concentrate. Ultimately it was only useful to me when I wanted something messy done. I also hated, hated how freaking filthy the place was. I felt like I could never get it clean enough. I am kind of a neat-freak so it really messed with my productivity. I also didn’t like being forced to listen to other people’s music and conversation. So while I still could probably use a little shed somewhere away from my house I love the amount of control and privacy I have.
I read an interview a couple years ago with the late artist Felix-Gonzalez-Torres and he too expressed dislike for the studio. Here is an excerpt:
Tim Rollins(interviewer): This is something that I’ve always wanted to ask you: why have deliberately, obstinately decided for some reason to not have a studio?
Gonzalez-Torres: …The reason why I don’t have a studio–I think that I am very neurotic. Actually, I guess I am neurotic. So having a studio would paralyze me completely. Just the idea that I would have a place where I had to go to work and make “something” scares the shit out of me. The studio is a scary stage set.
Rollins: Stage fright?
Gonzalez-Torres: Maybe. The only time I had a studio, I didn’t make a single thing for six months. I guess that’s good; I saved the world from more unnecessary artworks. I’ve always wanted a studio, a studio that looked like an “artist’s studio” with all that stuff: all the lights and the stereo music and the assistants like in House and Garden. I never had a penny, so by the time I got around to having some money, I realized I didn’t really need a studio. It was a revenge, a sweet one. Now I am happy I made that decision because I don’t produce objects all the time.
Taken from Between Artists: Twelve Contemporary American Artists Interview Twelve Contemporary American Artists
Filed under: ecuador
The following are links to two bands that I remember from my earlier years in Ecuador.
The Locomias. Umm a Spanish singing sensation with dapper fans, matador costumes and really pointy shoes. This song was popular when I was about 11.
Vilma Palma e Vampiros. I believe this was the first album I ever bought. I think I was 12.
I may have danced to these songs at ill-concieved pre-pubescent parties. In an odd way I am convinced that sub-consciously this is what dictates my sense of aesthetics. I have always feared this and tend to fight it. I want to be graceful and beautiful, not somewhat earnest and clumsy but!! A fellow latina student at her thesis show this year painted her walls turquoise to compliment her paintings. It worked and she mentioned to me that she finally accepted her own latina aesthetics. I only understood too well.
