Neurotically Zen

Inner Transition: It Takes A Village, 2011 final photos

2011-11-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone involved including NELA Transition, The Arroyo Time Bank, Throop Church. An extra special thanks goes out to David Cutter for being my right hand man throughout the planning and execution of this huge endeavor, Janine Christiano for planning the food and drinks, everyone who helped with marketing, outreach, and documentation, and for everyone who helped at the dry run.

These final photos by David Kiang were taken the day before the demolition. Over the week, I returned a few times to paper-mache the tent-like structures back together and reinforce the joints. As the walls began to warp and twist with the change in humidity, they seemed to take on a life of their own, in fact, they were very active throughout the week. Video still to come!

From Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

Some photos by Alanna Simone on build day

2011-10-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

Below are some photographs of maquettes made by some participants. These would be later used to build the full sized structures.

Second Set

2011-10-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here is a set of great interpretations by photographer David Kiang.

From Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

First set of photos for It Takes A Village

2011-10-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

From Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

Dry run for It Takes A Village

2011-10-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

From Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

2011-10-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the new flyer!!!

From Neurotically Zen

LIVING ART INSTALLATION “IT TAKES A VILLAGE”
PRESENTED BY NELA, ARROYO TIME BANK, AND ARTIST RON SAUNDERS
OCTOBER 15, 2011 10AM-3PM
AT THROOP UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
IN PASADENA, CA

Interdisciplinary artist Ron Saunders, along with the Northeast Los Angeles Transition (NELA), and the Arroyo Time Bank present the art installation, “Inner Transition: It Takes a Village” (Forming Resilient Communities for Lasting Connections) on October 15th through October 22nd at the Throop Unitarian Universalist Church, 300 S. Los Robles Ave. in Pasadena. This temporary home in the garden will be a living art installation, bringing together multiple organizations, artists and community members for a large-scale art collaboration funded through time-dollars rather than grants in Pasadena. This event is free to attend and open to the public.

Recently relocated from New York, Ron Saunders’ work centers on social interaction, community creation, and intervention. His social sculptures provide participants with the opportunity to actively engage in their surroundings and become the art through their activities. He has held similar events in New York, The Netherlands, Finland, and South Korea.

Sharing Saunders’ mission to create strong community interconnections are local grass roots organizations NELA and the Arroyo Time Bank. Both organizations focus on local resiliency and the strengths of interdependence. The Arroyo Time bank (arroyotimebank.org), established in March 2009, facilitates the exchange of local services in the community without using money. Instead members exchange services for hours and bank those hours using a simple internet-based system, which keeps track of exchanges. Northeast Los Angeles Transition Initiative (nelatransition.org), formed in November of 2010 and is a part of an international grassroots response to the issues of Peak Oil and Global Warming. Transition Initiatives are about moving our communities from oil dependence to local resilience.

On Saturday, October 15th at 10am, event participants will create minimalist temporary cardboard living structures at the Throop Church in Pasadena. The event will be an expression of creating a new home as industrialized society transitions to the world of environmental and energy sustainability. The event will also build community relationships while creating this temporary aesthetic experience. The “Village” will remain installed on the south lawn at the NE corner of Del Mar and Los Robles for one week. After October 22nd, the structures will be broken down and the cardboard material will be used to establish a permanent, permaculture garden in front of the church.

During the event, viewers are invited to come and speak with the participants or take part in building a structure themselves. The event will provide an opportunity to investigate art, community, and sustainability. The objects and documentation of the day will be exhibited later at a more traditional space.

Pendulum Painting Series #20, 2011

2011-09-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

From Neurotically Zen

I've been making paintings with a pendulum since 2000, this is the 20th documented piece in the series, although I've used the technique for a few other paintings. This series is one of my favorite bodies of work. Every outcome is different, because I am always changing the variables. This one is acrylic and enamel on dibond. The size is 16"X32".

I remember when I first thought of the idea. Between my 1st and 2nd year of grad school, I had a summer job working in a factory on a press making door liners for Honda. I still remember the sequential movements I had to preform over and over and over again... While at work I had plenty of time to think, Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" comes to mind. I was thinking a lot about making scenarios, or machines, that would make paintings for me. For some reason, the mundane act of making hundreds of door liners inspired me.

It just came together in my mind. What if I attach an all-thread and weight to a 1 quart paint can, cut holes in the top, and one small hole in the bottom, and let gravity do the rest? The rest, is history. That day after work, I drove 3 hours to my studio to make the first one.

Since the first pendulum painting, I've experimented with paint additives, hardeners, self leveling mediums and have perfected a few 'recipes'. I've also experimented with motors, weight, degrees of freedom, and magnets in order to achieve unique results. I even wondered if this machine could make sculpture.

Pendulum Painting Sculpture, 2000
concrete paint on structo-lite

From Neurotically Zen

It can!

16" X 32" on dibond, and 16" X 8" on finished masonite

2011-08-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here is a work in progress. I'm am going to collage simple, graphite drawings of paper airplanes to this, as well as touch up some areas. At the same time, I have a similar smaller 16"X16" panel I am just finishing. I'll be uploading images of both soon.

From Neurotically Zen

Even though I have been focusing most of my energy on 16"X32" dibond panels, I've been compelled to work on smaller pieces that are in some way related. This one has a repeating theme to the 16"x32" dibond panel I posted on July 25.

From Neurotically Zen

Also note that in the previous post on July 25th, you can find Leviathan's Compass, 2011, it is intended to have a similar 'feel' to Game Show, 2011, posted on July 17th.

Selected Series of Small Works, Ron Saunders and Mikey Johnston

2011-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I talked about cropping off sections of a larger painting completed with the help of painter Mikey Johnston in Corning NY. Well here they are finally completed. Each are 8"X10", made with acrylic and spray enamel, and on masonite.

From MikeyCollab

No Match for Wishful Thinking, 2011 and Leviathan's Compass, 2011

2011-07-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

No Match for Wishful Thinking, 2011
16"X32"
acrylic, marker, and enamel on dibond

From July 25, 2011

Leviathan's Compass, 2011
16"X16"
acrylic, marker on hardboard

From Neurotically Zen

From July 25, 2011

Game Show, 2011

2011-07-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

latex, acrylic, spray enamel, masking tape, and craft paper on dibond.
16" X 32"

From Neurotically Zen

This painting really came together by using the leftovers from the process of trying to complete it. When I started on the background, I wanted to use a drip that would move out in opposite directions, thereby creating two stages for the paint to perform. I started by laying a vertical mask 2/3s of the way into the panel, and poured paint into the mask in both directions, tilting to the right, to the left. By keeping the craft paper relatively flat and underneath the panel, I was able to capture the multiple layers of poured residual. After they dried, I cut the latex paint out from the craft paper, leaving about a 1/4'” around the marbleized biomorphic forms. They were so nice that I mounted some of the forms back onto the paintings.

I finished it with a few more translucent pours on the right side, this time from top to bottom, to give it more of a base, and then lightened the top with enamel. I also added a couple of pin stripes, using craft paper and enamel. You may also notice two blank dialogue bubble masks in the middle of the composition, which were left in at the last minute because I thought it made more sense of hold back an original intention. The empty dialogue bubbles have been a repeating motif in my work since I first moved to Elmira, NY after spending three years in South Korea. It's an evolving symbol for me over the past 4 years. In the past, it has represented language and cultural barriers, indifference, but in this case, by blending into the background, it objectifies and personifies the biomorphic forms as important players in this cosmic landscape.

My Mondrian

2011-07-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

This one was a lot of fun. The primary color scheme was initially planned, and as the painting developed, Superman emerged. When I realized this, I just kept moving forward, undeterred. What I'm really trying to say here is that Superman doesn't scare me. Its acrylic, spray enamel, and marker on finished hardboard.

From Neurotically Zen

Another thing to note about this painting is the scale. At 5"X5", the detail images of these paintings are magnified 3X.

From Neurotically Zen

Great day in the studio

2011-07-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is a controlled paint spill on craft paper. I've got at least one more to do for a painting I am planing. I'll cut them out from the craft paper, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the edges, and use it as a stencil on the piece. It will be 16"X32" on aluminum dibond.

From Neurotically Zen

I've been meaning to get a collection of photos of my some of my favorite studios I've had in the past, but this will have to do for now. Here is a view of part of my current studio in Pasadena, CA.

From Neurotically Zen

Wings, Overshadowed

2011-06-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

From Neurotically Zen

I've been working on this painting for the last two years, I guess, but honestly, it's never really come together for me until now. Actually, it started as a lot of my paintings do, as an experiment with the media. I wanted to make a background that looked like a controlled, transparent pour onto an angled surface. Not exactly what I expected, it wasn't bad, just not how I wanted it, so I put it away for awhile, then I was in Europe for three months. By the time I returned I was so busy with the book and finishing the Finland work that I had forgotten about it.
After using black spray paint into a thin but wet medium along the top, it reminded me of a cave I explored while in Cambodia.

From Neurotically Zen

Here are same details.

From Neurotically Zen

Welcome Back

2011-06-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile since I've posted. Originally I was viewing this as a travel blog for my residency at Raumars in Finland, but lately, I have been thinking that I would like to document my work in the studio a little more.

A lot has happened since I've last posted, I am now represented by Exhibit A in Corning, NY. An ongoing collaboration with my friend Mikey Johnston in Corning, NY resulted in some really wonderful work, and in February, Mackenzie and I relocated to Pasadena, CA.

For the past month I have been experimenting in the studio, layering some of the alternative forms of mark-making I've developed over the last 10 years. The majority of content I plan to share with you comes from this ongoing series of medium sized paintings.

These images are of paintings made in collaboration with Mikey Johnston.

The Tunguska Effect, 2010
26"X50" acrylic, spray paint, and marker on canvas

From MikeyCollab

The Tunguska Effect, detail

From MikeyCollab

The Tunguska Effect, detail

From MikeyCollab

Internalizing Combustion, 2010
42"X32" acrylic, spray paint, and marker on canvas

From MikeyCollab

Internalizing Combustion, detail

From MikeyCollab

Internalizing Combustion, detail

From MikeyCollab

These next images are details of a larger painting we did together on hardboard, but my plan is to crop it into 5 or 6 smaller paintings, approximately 8"X10" to 12"X18".

From MikeyCollab

I thought the day would never come...

2010-10-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

The books are here.

Mackenzie and I are going to do our best this weekend to get all of the books signed and ready to go. The books and artwork will be shipped as soon as possible. I apologize for the delay on the artwork but hope that after seeing the book, you feel it was worth all of the wait. Actually, some of the work had some finishing touches to be done while waiting for today.

Neurotically Zen

Inner Transition: It Takes A Village, 2011 final photos

Some photos by Alanna Simone on build day

Second Set

First set of photos for It Takes A Village

Dry run for It Takes A Village

Inner Transition: It Takes A Village

Pendulum Painting Series #20, 2011

16" X 32" on dibond, and 16" X 8" on finished masonite

Selected Series of Small Works, Ron Saunders and Mikey Johnston

No Match for Wishful Thinking, 2011 and Leviathan's Compass, 2011

Game Show, 2011

My Mondrian

Great day in the studio

Wings, Overshadowed

Welcome Back

I thought the day would never come...

Finally, the book is Finnished...

Rauma in New York

Library lecture

The Latest Collage Work

Book progress and future events

You may not know, but Holland is tropical

And on to the rest of Europe

Boat Performance/Installation and Upcoming show in SF

Preparation for Rauma Biennale Balticum 2010

Time Bandits 3

Upcoming Events and More New Collages

Our new aquistion

The Office of International Cooperation is Open for Business

New Collages

‘Lauaikast Reissu’ – ‘Hyvaa Matkaa’- ‘Safe Journey’

Happy Vappu!

Today's Victory

Our first participant…

Club Day at the Sauna

Ron and Mackenzie Vs. The Volcano

More Community Dialogues

Mic Check