Damn, cleaning out the studio is grueling and not for the feint of heart.

That would be feint faint of heart as opposed to the deceptive thrust of the heart as implied in the post title. 

The game is structured and extremely hard, like diamonds, 2009
oil on canvas
7" x 5"

Three days it has taken me to weed out the studio. One full day, one full, but kind of half-ass day and today was the finessing. I also trucked some work over to storage. Moving into a smaller storage unit was a dicey move, but I think I'm okay with it. It's a tight squeeze and it definitely means I will not be making any more larger paintings. I haven't issued a moratorium, per se, but secretly, that's where I'm heading. I think this is a dicey move as well. When was the last time you saw an installation view at a gallery or a museum in which all the works were under 10 inches? When was the last time a show of tiny paintings was reviewed? (Other than a review last year in the New York Times.) It seems like a death wish or the fast track to oblivion to impose a size limitation on my paintings. Here in Los Angeles it seems that small paintings are the mainstay of  salon-style group exhibitions held during the month of December and benefit auctions. This is one of the reasons why I was reluctant to do them and also why I suddenly found myself enthralled with investigating this scale after having such a bias against them. I love disputing myself. 

So far, the head count of the 5x7's is 12. It's the titling that's been slowing me down. That, and the ongoing search for self within them. More on that later. I also need to update my statement.

***
Just got the disappointing news that I  was NOT selected as a pre-qualified candidate for upcoming public arts projects. Bummer, I was thinking I'd have fun doing murals and being a public artist, as opposed to the private sector artist that apparently I am. Oh sadness.

And totally unrelated,  but quite funny as hell, I came across this quote by Anthony Lane  in his review of Star Wars: Episode 3-Revenge of the Sith, "Break me a fucking give." It's from 2005 so I'm already four years past the shelf-life, but I'm intent on finding a way to insert this into every conversation I have from now on.