December!

Tomorrow I am leaving for my christmas vacation extravaganza! I really cannot wait its going to be a great experience.  I'll be in London for about 2 weeks (I will be there for my birthday! How awesome is that??), then to Hamburg, where I am spending Christmas with family, and afterwards Barcelona for a few days to warm up!! I didn't think about the climate changes I have to prepare for in my little duffle-bag I'm bringing. But hey! it's all about the experience right? I am going to document as much of it as I can.

Here are my self portraits of December... they are getting infrequent unfortunately, but I will be sure to keep doing them.  Life just gets in the way.

Self Portrait for December 5, 2010

2:35AM Dec 6

"The black pit breaks a little bit."

Self Portrait for December 7, 2010

3:46AM Dec 8

"run into my kiss, as a stranger"- i had this phrase looming over my head over and over again that night.

Pen me in

“Only in tension or in friction are life and poetry generated, as rubbing a rabbit fur across a glass rod genereates sparks of electricity.”

 

Self Portrait for November 30th, 2010

3:23AM on Dec. 1st

Self Portrait for December 4th 2010

10:20PM

the sewing machine and the umbrella make love.

I am currently researching information for a paper I am working on.  I just read this and I found it, extremely interesting and applicable to what I have been trying to achieve.

(on Andre Breton and Louis Aragon) “They found desire and dreams to be lights within darkness generated by contrasting images as they rub against one another, setting both mind and body on edge and opening them to the uncanny."
- Gray Read "Aragon's armoire"


(post title derived from Isadore Ducasse's definition of beauty)

images, as if to appear from fleeting darkness...

Yesterday morning I had my critique in front of a panel of 3 judges (2 of which are my professors) to conclude my first semester here in Florence.  I can say, I was so nervous.  Not because I had no confidence in my work, but I was nervous as to how it was going to be received. And to my, complete dismay and pleasure, the 3rd judge on the panel whome they introduced to me as "Mistro", fully understood the intent of my work (although translated from italian) and in fact put it in simpler, clearer terms than I could.  He (in translation) noticed the relationship between unity and deconstruction. Simple, but such a complex idea.  I could have gone hours and hours talking about all the research I have done on the process of thoughts, but when it came down to it, in my work I have truly been trying to find the merging point between deconstructing and unifying the world around and within me.

Another thing, is apparently rubbing on any monumental building here in Florence is very illegal.  My art history professor filled me in at the end of my critique, that I could have been fined or put in jail for the process of my art making.  Haha, I had no idea and I mean no disrespect, but that just makes my process much more rare.

Close ups: