Work in Progress

Stills from Keeper of the Furniture. [video]

When worlds collide. Tomorrow is a big day. 58 boxes of fine goods and several sticks of furniture will leave my presence. I won't bore you with the minutiae. It's been a 5-year struggle. It's not over, but I can see an opening. I have a love/hate relationship with antiques and china, and have pitted my art career against the niceties of life, constantly hedging my bets on which will pay off in the end. I have made mistakes on both accounts, and I am tired. 

Chantal Akerman's life work and recent suicide has stuck with me. Gnawing at me is more like it. I've been reading and re-reading texts about her, her own writings, and I can't get through a paragraph without being inspired. Pages are dog-eared from years of reference as though I was hoping my thumbprint would pick up some of her brilliance. Her films and writings have re-ignited an insistence to make a difference. Damn the status quo and popular consensus. It's a great loss when people you hold the creative torch for take their own lives. I'm grateful for her work and the people who have written about her.


I packed and repacked boxes. When I ran out of boxes, I figured that was a good stopping point. I had hesitated for so long thinking there was more art to be made, ALWAYS more art to be made. Useful props, stories to tell. Stuff and more stuff. But truthfully, it wasn't the stuff, you know. Or at least I hope someone figured that out. You can never tell here.

In a send-off to the furniture, I worked on a video. Pulling together disparate elements I may have figured out  how to unite my writing and art together visually. It feels right.  If so, it's a beautiful thing and I'll be in fertile ground. If not, I'll be happy to keep digging.

On Film Editorial and Writing.

Steve Hullfish interviews Pietro Scalia about editing The Martian and how film editorial is very much like writing. Yes. Exactly.

A post about people who think you are don't know what you're doing.

Someone, please, a ticket to pass go. Stat.

I desperately miss being around people who have some sort of cognitive reasoning when presented with something different. It's painful.

#Dearth.

RIP Chantal Akerman. Thank you for your contributions. You will be missed.

I am saddened by the death of Chantal Akerman. She was an early influence and someone whose films I've refer back to repeatedly throughout my own work as an artist.

Update. It’s been reported that Ackerman committed suicide.
**• In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found here.**

Over on Twitter, I'll be dedicating tweets to links and tributes about her work.

From the NYT

PARIS — Chantal Akerman, the Belgian filmmaker whose ruminative, meticulous observation of women’s everyday and inner lives, often using long, protracted takes, made her a pioneer in feminist and experimental filmmaking and influenced generations of directors, has died in Paris. She was 65.

Filmography

Chantal Akerman, From Here (2010)
Role: Herself

The State of the World (2007)
Role: Director

Demain on Demenage (2004)
Role: Screenplay, Director

From the Other Side (2002)
Role: Director, Cinematographer, Screenplay

The Captive (2000)
Role: Screenplay, Director

South (1999)
Role: Director

Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman (1996)
Role: Director, Screenplay, Producer, Actor

A Couch in New York (1996)
Role: Director, Screenplay

Portrait of a Young Girl at the End of the 1960s in Brussels (1994)
Role: Director, Screenplay

D'est (1993)
Role: Screenplay, Director

Moving in (1992)
Role: Director

Nuit et jour (1991)
Role: Director, Screenplay

Contre l'oubli (1991)
Role: Director

Histoires d'Amerique (1989)
Role: Director, Screenplay

Seven Women - Seven Sins (1987)
Role: Screenplay, Director

Letters Home (1986)
Role: Director

Golden Eighties (1986)
Role: Screenplay, Director, Theme Lyrics

Paris Seen By... 20 Years Later (1984)
Role: Director, Screenplay

Elle a passe tant d'heures sous les Sunlights (1984)
Role: Actor

L' Homme a la valise (1983)
Role: Director, Screenplay, Actor

Les Annees 80 (1983)
Role: Screenplay, Theme Lyrics, Director

Toute une nuit (1982)
Role: Director, Screenplay

Dis-Moi (1980)
Role: Director

5% de Risque (1980)
Role: Actor

Les Rendez-Vous d'Anna (1978)
Role: Director, Writer (dialogue), Screenplay

News From Home (1976)
Role: Narrator, Screenplay, Other, Director

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Role: Voice, Screenplay, Director

Je tu il Elle (1974)
Role: Screenplay, Actor, Producer, Director

Le 15/8 (1973)
Role: Director

La Chambre (1972)
Role: Screenplay, Actor, Director

Hotel Monterey (1972)
Role: Screenplay, Director

Almayer's Folly
Role: Director, Producer, Screenplay

L cuts and dado cuts all in the same day, d'oh

...and I removed wallpaper and painted a room last month, officially saying goodbye to the last vestige of the room formerly known as Dining. There's still a chandelier in the center. There are two chairs and it makes a nice place to sit and look at art. That's the main purpose of the room and it's perfect. I painted the walls white. Alabaster, based on a recommendation. I wasn't sure about it at first, but golly, it works. I'm still partial to Dover in the office. Softer.

I don't think "finding balance" means divvying up work tasks evenly throughout the day, though I am beginning to find a rhythm between wood shop, paint studio, office, edit suite, and home maintenance— and in a way this makes everything feel less urgent. Like right now I'm at the espresso bar after cutting corners—seriously, I cut triangles this morning for the stretchers. I'm in the middle of re-stretching a canvas, building another stretcher and sorting through old handkerchiefs while conceiving the technical side of a new body of work in my head. This evening, I commence editing a video for a public arts proposal, and the proposal writing itself.

And so it goes. Hello October.