April 2, 2013
Filed under: Notes — jessica
I’ve been thinking about websites a lot lately. All sorts of websites—my own, my friends’, other artists, total strangers, etc.
A lot of websites I’ve looked up lately are totally empty. Just a name, an email. Maybe one image and a name, an email, a CV. Maybe just a CV. Some websites are totally full, overflowing with information. Made with IndexExhibit, maybe. Some websites are full of found images that do not have a clear connection to the work or even perhaps the person behind the webpage. It’s confusing. My website used to be one of the middle ones, overflowing. There’s still a lot here, but less than there used to be. All this information makes me feel very vulnerable sometimes.
Maybe I feel vulnerable because it seems a lot of these people who no longer have websites have somehow moved beyond the medium; they no longer need websites to help them obtain gallery shows or have their images printed onto pieces of clothing. Their online fame has translated into a real world commodity. Or perhaps their names are just so uncommon that it is easy just to Google them and see a selection of their work? I don’t know.
Either way, I’m still here. Online.
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December 14, 2012
Filed under: Notes — jessica
language
all
around
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September 11, 2012
Filed under: Notes — jessica
Yesterday I spent all day behind a screen collecting for a project I am working on. Using the text Internet users have written to describe my work online over the years (found through Google, Alexa, etc), I plan to cobble together an artist statement of sorts. A description of what it is exactly that I do, since often I (and others) seem mildly confused about this.
And though it was exhausting work, it was made a lot easier by using the Arena platform. Unfortunately for most of you out there, it’s still in beta. But man, it’s great! I’m in love, organizing my online life. Thank you friends who have been working on it.
I’m also using it to organize the research for my long-term archery endeavor:
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April 1, 2012
Filed under: Images, Notes — jessica
paper wedged into dusty venetian blinds, sugar land, texas, usa, july 2011
shapes cut into a wall to let air flow freely, khartoum, sudan, march 2012
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February 26, 2012
Filed under: Images, Notes — jessica
On Tuesday I’ll be leaving on a trip to Sudan and Egypt for the next two weeks. I will not have the Internet but when I get back I will post some images.
Even though I have been reading many relevant books and watching films these last couple of months, I want to arrive in Africa with a totally clear and empty mind. I don’t know what it will be like and I am both nervous and excited.
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February 17, 2012
Filed under: Notes — jessica
I may have mentioned this before, but ever since I have started seriously learning Norwegian one of the unintended side effects is that I now approach my own native language with greater scrutiny.
For example, one of the most beautiful things to me about the Norwegian language is that many of the words themselves can be traced back directly to the national embrace of the social democratic system. And now that it is becoming ever more clear to me, I try to look for a similar thread in my own language, too. I ask myself: What is the English point of view? What is the American English point of view? What are the things we believe in so deeply that they have snuck into the very words we articulate ourselves with?
To be honest, I haven’t quite figured it out yet and I’m not sure if I ever totally will. However, I have found some small things along the way. The word ambivalent is a good example . I always thought it just meant to “not care”, especially re: a situation or a choice between two things. “I am ambivalent about what we are having for dinner tonight.”
But actually it is so much more than that. Instead of “not caring”, to be ambivalent specifically relates to having mixed feelings or not being able to choose between two things. So we really do care, we just try to hide it with our indecision. Just a thought.
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January 16, 2012
Filed under: Notes — jessica
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December 15, 2011
Filed under: Notes — jessica
The magicians have their tricks
The cooks have their ingredients
Painters have paint
Artists, what do we have?
A: Everything
“It’s so nice and slick and looks so much like art..”
“Art is supposed to be visual, why is there so much talking and writing?”
“You just can’t do everything, then it is not art anymore”
“If you think about it, a lot of press releases are these strange texts between criticism and advertising”
“I understand it less now that I hear you talking about it”
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December 7, 2011
Filed under: Notes — jessica
Maybe the most successful forms of art engage the viewer but do not beg or try to steal their attention. Silent power, strength in modesty and directness of intention. I know in my heart the power I have so therefore I am. I know what I am so that is what I am.
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