The weight has been gained. The pressure is on. The baby is almost here.

“She is known throughout the world by many different names — Demeter, Persephone, Cerridwen, Bride/Bridget, The Callieach (Old Wife), The Corn Maiden, Mother Corn, The First Mother, Selu and Kahesana Xaskwim. These are just some of her names. She is the Goddess of fertility and life, guardian of all growing and blooming things, and also Goddess of death and rebirth. She sacrifices herself at the harvest, only to be reborn in the spring.“

5 months pregnant and SLOWLY but surely recovering from my surgery.

xo ME

Gather the crew, it’s time to start causing trouble. Word is there is a little Elotito coming this summer…

xo
ME

Returning to my roots at the DIA…

Well, its been a little over a year now since I moved back to my home town, and I gotta say its been great but trying to make it in NYC sure isn’t easy.

First there was Dia de Los Muertos: Illuminations in San Fransisco, for which I needed to ship an adult tricycle and a speaker-cooler across the country.  So, I nabbed a studio share in the neighborhood, moved my stuff in and got to work building custom boxes, packing it all up and getting it on a light freight truck.  Then there was the performance at Jolie Laide in Philly, for which we decided we needed a body sized platform to accommodate an internal projector.  So, I went to Lowes, cut down a bunch of OSB, screwed together some boxes, painted them, forced them into my car and rode to Philly literally squished up inside the damn things.  Then there was New News is Old News Part II at Gowanus Studio Space… pack up the framed posters, pack up the giant logo painting, pack up the table, drive to the venue, set it all up and take it down a month later.  I have to admit I was looking forward to 2012 with nothing on the horizon but new ideas to get started on.  I bought a used Schwinn exerciser and a dynamo and started researching pedal-powered electricity… I took apart some old headphones and started messing with little things.  Then came Papeles: Are We What We Sign?  and before I knew it I was having new props shipped in, making trips to the print shop and packing and installing once again.  Thank God for my sweetheart, unpaid art handler.

All that to say… back in Bushwick I am still an utter NOBODY.  Want to know how many new sculptures I’ve completed on my own since moving back to the big city?  ZERO.  I couldn’t even open my half-of-a-half-of-a-work-space for Holland Cotter during the tour this summer.  So here I am a little over a year later and its time to roll up my sleeves and get the big guns out!  Moving into a new private studio at the ACTIVE SPACE this month… getting down to business on my pedal powered sound machine… trying to finish new work before the year is through.  Its not like the work just gets made. I have to will it to happen… beyond reason, beyond means, beyond natural ability.  It’s like I’m building up my practice all over again, and I’ve got to put in the hours, the sweat and the frustration… so much heavy lifting still to be done.

animated gif courtesy of Hal Morra

You’ve got the world in your hands.  And I’ve got my feet off the ground.

2013 baby. Let’s make it rain.

There I was, in the studio of our great spiritual ancestor, who spent her life depicting her image in an effort to better portray her reality.  Did she look in this mirror too?

Standing in Frida’s painting room and looking at the place where she used to sit down to work.  Seeing myself in her mirror.  Seeing myself looking back at myself, it’s confirmed that I AM not her. I’m only ME.