February 2007 – Page 2

Short Report From Carrollton

Posted on February 13, 2007 by Varg

I had an 8 a.m. appointment this morning in the Carrollton area and had to drive through a disaster zone to make it. The whole area was out of power and the police and National Guard were directing traffic at major intersections. Driving down Carrollton Avenue towards the river, debris was all over the road…

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Liens du Moment: 2/12

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Varg

This is just a reminder that New Orleans will be featured on American Experience for the next few nights on PBS American Experience | New Oleans PBS From the “obvious” department… New Orleans shuns trans fats ‘ban wagon’ AP Don’t say the Krewe of Tow didn’t warn ya! New Orleans Tow Trucks Will Pull During…

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Times Like These…

Posted on February 7, 2007 by Varg

Making the rounds on other blogs yesterday was a story by the New York Times that examines the cycle of violence and the state of the New Orleans’ criminal justice system, essentially painting it in a none-to-favorable light. There was nothing groundbreaking in the article for us. But the rest of the country, well, it…

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Mainstream media

Posted on February 6, 2007 by Varg

I have always hated mainstream media, and I hate it even more that they are poised for their next blown-out-of-proportion-fest, the killer astronaught lady. Well, I didn’t get done thinking “Why the fuck are they covering this and not New Orleans?” before I clicked on to the long-ago-abandoned Web page of MSNBC and was surprised…

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Last one

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Varg

Okay this is the last one. Promise.

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Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.