October is the time of randomness, of social and political upheaval and for this year pleasant surprises. Tempus projects was central in many of the art experiences for this month- snowballing in quality and frequency of events on the Tampa Bay scene like no other venue.
This proves that sustained focus on good programming, no matter how humble the space, can lead to a very interesting situation. I would add also that it is a better policy than spreading energy all over the map. October ushered out Tempus' self generated project "Return to Sender" - a mail art exchange that included artists from around the nation of varying professional status. The project also included the publication of a catalog which is available from Tempus.
Visit the Tempus web site at- http://www.tempus-projects.com/
The exhibition "I Can't go On I Must go On" was the October surprise, although i should have assumed it would be interesting based on the personalities involved. Local artist via Chicago Noelle Mason is the regional liaison for this group show including the work of Benjamin Bellas, Justin Cooper, Stuart Keeler, Clinton King, Noelle Mason ,and Magdalen Wong . Under the umbrella of IE this group of artists is a pleasure to view because of the obvious dialogue that exists in their presentation. Small scale interventions coexist with larger formal pieces made with the conceptual weight as ballast located in the methodology of how the works are produced (especially in Noelle Mason's work where the title cards/brochures inform us that the works were created in terms of what it would cost an immigrant to illegally pay their way into the United States as a unit of worth- and you can probably make a good wager on who actually did the physical labor in the production of these works)
Tempus projects during the soft opening of "I Can't Go On I Must Go On"
On October 15th i went downtown to take in the Occupy Tampa events and look at some protest signs. The germination of ideas about utilizing an exhibition format within the Occupy activities has already begun ( actually even before the Occupy Wall Street movement began there have been plans in the works built around Tampa's hosting of the 2012 RNC). I will let the images speak for themselves.
Photos by Allen Leper Hampton
On October 19th I met with Jade Dellinger, Jack Massing and Jay Wehnert to discuss their upcoming project in Houston with Johnny Meah ( a mutual friend to myself and all present not to mention a collaborator/friend of my partner photographer Kym O'Donnell).
So far on this blog i have not written a sentence in which the references/activities of the personnel mentioned would be greater and more diverse. To that add that we were joined by Kym O'Donnell herself, Devon Brady, Tracy Reller, Lux Devoid and Becky Flanders. And after 8 drafts of Octoberfest i ceased to be part of the mix ( at least in the cognitive sense ).
We met at The Independent on Florida Ave. in Tampa with the plan to walk to Tempus Projects (which is a block or so to the north of The Independent) and discuss plans for a project to be mentioned later.
From left to right Joe Griffith, Tracy Reller, Jay Wehnert(in background), Jack Massing(foreground) and Jade Dellinger. (Photo taken by Devon Brady)
Tracy Reller ,is the director of the before mentioned Tempus Projects-www.tempus-projects.com-, Tampa, Fl., Jay Wehnert is the Director of Intuitive Eye, Houston TX, - intuitiveeye.org-,Jack Massing is one half of The Art Guys, Houston TX -theartguys.com-, and Jade Dellinger is an independent curator and author (just google his name)
The night was filled with conversation about Johnny Meah(sideshow banner painter, artist, swordswallower, human blockhead and master storyteller) who is the subject of a new exhibition at The Art Guys World Headquarters in Houston. For more info on the fantastic Johnny Meah-
http://www.czarofbizarre.com/
http://www.aiga.org/the-last-sideshow-banner-painter/
http://2kno.com/JMslideshow.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXWIGPZx-D0
Johnny Meah was also involved in a collaboration with local photographer Kym O'Donnell called Carnytown-http://kymodonnell.com/Carnytown.html which furthers the tangle of interconnectedness in this evening. Further subjects of conversation included teaching, Tiny Tim, The Orange Show, Andy Kaufman, the graves of blues musicians and the cruelty to marine mammals in theme park environments.
2012 has arrived and a new sketchbook has begun. For the last 20 years or more I have kept a sketch journal with meticulous attention to dating every page. The only gap is the sketch book that was stolen from my truck in Houston TX in 2001 after an opening reception at Diverseworks (along with all my tools, my partner's cameras, and even the candy in the coin holder under the dash) Above is an image of a shelf in my "storage studio" showing many of these books. I thought to start out the new year with a few pages from the last sketch book.
Many of the pages are dedicated to experimenting with color overlays for paintings I am currently working on- like the page above.
The book is also filled with poetic imagery like the page above. During my commutes to Orlando this year I decided to keep myself awake while driving by doing blind drawings of faces, buildings and dreams. Below are two examples of such drawings. I really like them in that they have no control- they are sort of like acid drawings.
The last sketch book was a normal lined composition book just like the two sketch books before it ( most of the books are in blank "art" sketchbooks but lately I have been less precious about them) This sketch book also has a few contributions from artist Spanky Hudas done in an Orlando bar while we visited.
