19 April 2025
Looking at my calendar / sitting on the toilet / taking a shower / thinking about death / thinking about LA / counting to thirty (average length of a month) / counting to thirty-two (my age).
Lovely visit to Jonathan's studio in Hackney yesterday, and that discussion around parameters came up again. Or structure, as Jonathan referred to it. Structure for honing and deepening inquiry. Mine and his have a little bit in common right now, namely the clear-primed canvas foundation with that transparent gesso that leaves a toothy destroyer surface. He puts his faith in the thin dry drag and I go for the fluid line that leaves a little splashy wake on its way around. We talked in both cases about confronting material comfort, the hand making good like a golden child while allowing some humbling at the same time.
Also relevant was a discussion around forgiveness in the process. I'm coming more and more to a process that enjoys raw canvas too much to keep the idea of burying it alive as a failsafe. I'm happy with a built-up history to slosh around on top of when the idea is dense enough, but there's something about clarity of intention that I'm drawn to now, even if that intention is almost guaranteed to become obsolete as it departs my brain through my hand.