AD.

WALKING ON THIN ICE

Ironic Sludge

July 31, 2013 1 Comment

Early Bird, 8′ x 6″, 1993, Smith – foto Smith

I do the Jumble puzzle every day, the one where you unscramble four words for clues and try to decipher an offbeat cartoon to unscramble a final frequently punny answer . . . like you’d get the clue “Even though he didn’t have a brain, the scarecrow had …” with the final unscrambled answer being “A lot on his mind.”

Below in reverse chronological order are my morning answers for July.

(There are 4 scrambled words Mon-Sat and 7 on Sunday).

Some great possible band names or poetry titles here folks, so help yourself.

Ironic sludge

Shiny bribe splint infant
Silky heavy siding fallen
Bossy cloth knight finite
Happen gender immune palace ironic sludge
Ethic style armory aviary
Event tenth eureka impale
Asked soupy floral bureau
Choke daisy sleepy father
Bunch carat loaded fairly
Grove enjoy living bummer
Grumpy sketch nibble fiasco purser violet
Craze fight uptown exotic
Yahoo arrow pulsar unseen
Gizmo tempo expand yonder
Unwed prowl agency fright
Quirk plume social worthy
Elder larva vacant whimsy
Tyrant auburn shrewd impede sewage oriole
About saute asthma clever
Lofty swung induce hyphen
Metal cloak advent billow
Scour hatch iodine scarce
Elope eject trauma engulf
Helix scout mighty azalea
Bitter ambush benign morale beside cobalt
Oddly fault invest island
Kiosk light upbeat entice
Crack kayak uproot useful
Spoil adult sprawl turnip
Alpha trunk person female
Axiom blurt feeble outlet

– Smith, 7.31.2013
(Jumble puzzle unscrambled words 7.30-7.1.2013)

Tomorrow I’m starting blogs on two twenty-year time boxes I received yesterday. A rich art dealer friend of mine (Art Feldman) who started to collect my Artcrimes and art in the early 1990s died a couple years ago and his kin gave two boxes of my stuff to SPACES gallery. SPACES is divesting much of their stored goodies and Chiplis delivered two cardboard boxes containing almost every one of my 21 issues of Artcrimes from 1986 – 2006, plus all my correspondence with Art including 50-some handmade mail art cards, a few pieces of my art, newspaper reviews of my career, and reams of poetry, including poems I’d lost since then. Wow, what a gift. Thank you Reality.


Thimplicity, 1994, 6″ x 4″, Smith – foto Smith

Tower of Babel, 1985, Smith, 9″ x 14″- foto Smith

Balance Charges, 1993, Smith, 7″ x 5″- foto Smith

HOLY SPOTS

July 30, 2013 1 Comment

Holy spots

the Qaaba
the Wailing Wall
the Statue of Liberty
the ground we walk on
the ground we can’t get to
to walk on

That’s OK

Peace in letting some ground lay there
Peace in letting the adornment be there
the garlands of whatever on it

Just stopping the insanity
Soaking in the sanity

The garlands
The bird winging by
in gold morning sun

Proof of Real Reality

Peace in taking off one’s shoes
walking around, really thinking
just relaxing

Do you really think about it?

About the center, about keeping
the center there?
the rock there?
the rock on this planet?
not busting it up
letting the rock just be there?
meaning the solid foundation
what you build your house,
your church, your story on?

I do.

I see the base of mountains
being held tight, solid, underground
the base of it all, being held solid
tight, underground

Can laying there on the rock
on the dirt, above the rock
on the flora, above the dirt
in the house, among the flora
and the fauna

Can that help?

Can I find my ground(?)
above that rock
and remember
how solid
that rock is?

How there is so much of it?

How there’s so much solidity to this?

How at least I am standing on this?

How we are standing on this?

How this is my baseline, my me
standing on this rock
looking at the sun
or rain
a center of sorts
wherever one takes one’s center
wherever one walks on the center
remembering the center
and knowing from there and anywhere
one can talk with God?

~ Lady

Land, Lake, Sky 2013 Jeffry Chiplis

July 29, 2013 No Comments


Land, Lake, Sky by Jeffry Chiplis, 2013, 25′ x 7′
permanent installation Cleveland Convention Center – fotos Smith

Here’s Jeffry Chiplis’ latest recycled argon tube installation at the new underground Cleveland Convention Center – it’s titled Land, Lake, Sky.

He had me help him install it, so I documented the process.

It was cool being in the convention center before it opened. The center is humongous and mostly underground, with a grass park roof overlooking the Lake Erie available to the public.

It was my first time on a drivable lift. The piece starts 15 feet up the wall, goes up to 22 feet.

These 42 fotos show the process from beginning to end. When we first arrived, we laid all the argon tubes on the carpet to test layout and lighting. The most interesting part was going behind the wall and climbing up above the air-condition ducts to wire the transformers.

The roof and Chiplis’ art are the most interesting part of the place, although I was impressed that the rooms are wired sound systems so all you need to do is plug your microfone into the wall and the sound comes out of the stereo ceiling. Place is big enough to park a fleet of semi trucks on the floors . . . actually saw one below us.

And as you can surmise from the fotos, Jeff is easy fun to work with.

dream on Dreamweaver

July 28, 2013 No Comments

moonchild – foto Smith

I helped found-recycled-upcycled neon artist Jeffry Chiplis install his 25′ x 7′ argon tube permanent installation “Land, Lake, Sky” in the new underground Cleveland Convention Center before it opened.

Took lots of fotos and went to add them to his website and discovered my 2004 copy of Dreamweaver which I use for web design doesn’t work on my new laptop’s Windows 8 operating system. This program cost hundreds of dollars and when I went to Dreamweaver for help they merely said “It doesn’t work with Windows 8.” When I asked them to give me an upgrade since they were responsible for the product they sold me, they said fuck you customer.

Microsoft Windows 8 seems to have the same attitude, which is both root symptom and cause of the rot that is the 1%. I know there must be honorable corporations out there somewhere but cannot think of one off hand. Corporations, politicians, police, military, priests, bankers . . . so much venal greed and senseless destruction of earth and animals and people.

So I downloaded the free web design program Amaya which works pretty well but either doesn’t do all Dreamweaver did or else I haven’t learned it well enough, so I designed the 43 page “Lake, Land, Sky” section in my head instead and wrote foto names, sizes, line breaks down on paper (see below). And it looks good.

Hope to have it up tomorrow morning. It tells the story of installation from start to finish, even goes behind the wall to show the wiring process. It’s a good piece, especially looking in from the street at night. Consists of 22 argon tubes.

Seize you tomorrow.


layout for Chiplis installation “Land, Lake, Sky” – foto Smith

Land, Lake, Sky by Jeffry Chiplis

July 22, 2013 No Comments

Land, Lake, Sky by Jeffry Chiplis, 2013, 25′ x 7′ – foto Smith

New crop of art
all mind, no heart
all plan, no spark

That’s why I like Jeffry Chiplis’ scavenged found-neon recycled art – it is heart and mind and full of spark (especially since he uses electric transformers to run it). You walk into a Chiplis exhibit and your mood lifts, your eyes rejoice, and you usually smile.

I helped Chiplis install his new 25′ x 7′ permanent installation titled “Land, Lake, Sky” at the just opened underground Cleveland Convention Center downtown.

I’ll post new pages on his website showing the installation process in a couple days, but here’s a taste.

The plaque says:

“Land, Lake, Sky”
By Jeffry Chiplis
2013
7′ x 25′

This site specific, all argon sculpture is a study of the horizon. This depiction is where the earth and sky meet is a reflection of Cleveland and its environment. This Cleveland artist has been using recycled and upcycled neon and argon tubes in his sculpture for over twenty five years. The installation features energy efficient argon tubes reclaimed from various sources in the region.




Land, Lake, Sky by Jeffry Chiplis, 2013, 25′ x 7′ – fotos Smith

Hot Heat Slide ‘n Seek

July 18, 2013 1 Comment

coffee bean Lady – fotos Smith

Hauled cat, laptops, stuffed chair, milk crate and assorted oddities into 11 by 13 foot bedroom where our single small antique window air conditioner resides.

Third floor, 90° hotcloudlesssunsmacksky, 77% humidity, no breeze . . . you do the moist, I mean math.

I was raised in 10% humidity (eastern Washington State), and have suffered since leaving 50 years ago. 10% humidity softens hot and cold.

Close quarters leads to odd talk.

She “How can I thank you for washing the bird feeder?”

me “flash your breasts?”

She “I don’t know if that’s lady-like.”

me “Hey Lady it’s legal, we’re married, have a license to lewd.”

She lifts her t-shirt, exposing one bra cup.

me “that’s bra flash, not breast flesh.”

She lifts the cup exposing the breast, and there’s no nipple. I’m wonderfully amazed. The bra had squished flesh over nipple and as I watch, the released breast gently expands, creating a slowly opening snake-eye slit with the buried nipple cautiously peeking through flesh curtain before sliding out worm-like as the breast biggens like a balloon being blown.

I laugh delightedly, “so that’s where you keep your nipples at night when they’re not being used.”

Life is good . . . we have cooled box air and peeping-Thomasina nipples playing slide ‘n seek.


desert air – foto Smith

new jokes on me

July 16, 2013 No Comments

new morning – fotos Smith

Added a second chicken/egg joke to Jokerman, deleted two other jokes because they were nasty, fixed the timing, flexed the flow.

Jokerman

Didn’t Thich Nhat Hanh open for Was (Not Was)?

Why does the sign always say Rite-Aid?
Maybe I want to go to Wrong-Aid for once.

What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Patting yourself on the back.

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get revenge for the road crossing it.

I have a new game: first I eat a raisin, then I eat a grape.
Call it Reincarnation.

Why did the egg cross the road?
To get to the chicken on the other side.

Knock not.
Who’s there?
Not the world, knocked much longer.

What are purple, really angry, and you’d better stay out of their way?
The grapes of wrath.

What do you call an honest cop?
Mythological.

Why did the egg cross the chicken?
To get even for the chicken abandoning it.

Is a Caesarean section a womb with a view?
No – that’s a test tube baby.

U has to be the happiest letter in the alphabet . . .
So many people say “I love u”

Why is the sound of one gland collapsing?
What the right gland giveth, the wrong gland taketh awry.

— Smith, 2010/11/12/13

FIDEL PERVASIVENESS

July 16, 2013 No Comments

Fidel Pervasiveness
forgiving itself

Fidel Pervasiveness
making Bathtub in Itself
making Backscrubber
making Soap
and scrubbing Itself

Does it get lonely
Fidel Pervasiveness
hold Itself close to Itself
looking longingly for something
other than own thumb to suckor
Its own breast
Itself suckling on Itself
Itself loving Itself
Love

Fidel Pervasiveness

Fidel Pervasiveness making dolls
from Itself,
walking talking dolls
Doll and God, God and Doll

God as Mom holding Doll babe,
Dali, Dolly

God as God-Mom and God-Pop
sent into world with amnesia
so they can find each other again,
see what comes of it

God throwing rolling dice
closing Its own eyes
trying to forget

God no longer titillated

God wanting projects to pass time

Wishing to be at peace with the mirror

God wanting Other God,
Other God wanting God

Other God and God combining together and
realizing they’re still the same gosh-dang God

Oh how God is lonely but how words can be balm

Oh how God can yearn but then find solace

Yes?

Solace in the Solipcism

I AM WHAT I AM

What am I?

Oh, God.

~ by Lady & God

so it goes

July 12, 2013 1 Comment

industrial sperm – foto Smith

So It Goes

No yes in my no
much no in my go
my me out of flow

From Revelations to juxtaposition
I gotta get in better position

Down ain’t out and out ain’t in
no matter what social lies they spin
I walk my way outside the pen
work my own barcodeless been
align my now with needed then

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
until then make the most of the much

I know no doesn’t lead to know
or noun to known
nor name to now

I are, therefore I is
you gotta go where the go flows

May your go flow well

— Smith, 7.11.2013


pay as you go – foto Smith

listen kid

July 8, 2013 No Comments

pursuit of happiness – foto Smith

Listen Kid

Life is sharp edges, blunt
instruments, sunsets, purring
kittens, hungry tigers . . .

And we?
We see,
upright the wrong.

— Smith, 7.8.2013


sorry kids – foto Smith