"Track after track, culminating on wax / the tape has slack, rewind then back..."

("i need a beat" by ll cool j)

Art on Record mass group show opens THIS FRIDAY...


APW Gallery
48-18 Van Dam St.
Long Island City, Queens NY
Opening Reception: Friday, May 1st, 6-9pm
apwarts.com

7 train to 33rd St & Rawson
2 short blocks west on Queens Blvd
2 long blocks south on Van Dam
map

"The contained center of an 'O', the pyramidic containment of an 'A'..."

("release" by blackalicious/saul williams)

Beautiful afternoon in Brooklyn today spent indoors painting. No regrets. This Obama portrait is LONG overdue. Two takes of one drawing. Might work well for a future Griot design. One of these will be featured in the Art on Record show in Queens I have coming up next week, stay tuned!

Making Art My Business

Strangled by the grind and some good ol' fashion god-fearin' financial anxiety, I haven't produced any new paintings this week. I do, however, have a couple shows I'm involved with coming 'round the bend. The first is THIS SUNDAY April 26th, one night stand. So Live! Arts is putting together a showcase of artist speakers, live performances, and an art exhibition (where one of my pieces will be featured). 6pm @ Pratt Institute's NoName Cafe Gallery (215 Willoughby Ave, Bklyn). Plenty of chill, inspiring people to meet. Great for any creative mind trying to gain some business ground or just looking to absorb some artists at work. All are welcome.





Also to come is another blanket of a group show, this time 200 artists deep. APW Gallery's "Art on Record" opens Friday, May 1st in their massive art space in L.I.C., Queens. I'll post more details soon, but in the meantime check out apwarts.com for more info.

Man Dies & Jazz Reprise

I recently took out Henry Dryfuss' Symbol Sourcebook from Pratt's library. I first heard of this resource while reading about Basquiat and his use of Hobo and folklore symbols in his paintings. Finally I got my act together and explored this piece, which I would recommend to any visual artist of any sort. Unfortunately it was due back at the library before I really wrapped my head around it all - it's a lot - but it's definitely interesting stuff and wanted to experiment a little with it. I did 3 takes of the folklore symbol of "Man Dies." The first piece was a canvas i've been adding to randomly for many months but I think it's arrived to something at least worth its weight in materials. Not sure if the second is complete either, but I figured it's best to just throw them all into the wind equally. I plan on running through "studies" of a few random symbols ("procreation" below) but eventually use them more subtly in future works.




"Man Fights, Man Dies (take 1, blue)" - acrylic on canvas




"Man Dies (take 2, red)" - acrylic, oil, graphite on canvas




"Man Dies (take 3, on wax)" - acrylic and marker on record


I'm also working on some new portrait pieces on wax for the shows I'm involved with this spring (Art on Record show @ APW Gallery in Queens opening in May, current exhibition at Goggleworks in Reading lasting through May). Some might call it rehashing - but reprise is a little more poetic. Really I just see doing several takes of the same drawing as giving the idea longer legs, letting it run its course. Here's a fresh take on an old T Monk painting (and new Griot Apparel design, coming very soon):



"T Monk (on wax, take 1)" - acrylic on record


And since I'm screwing around doing folklore symbols and jazz paintings in the same sitting, it only makes sense something odd would be blended:



"(Jazz) Procreation" - acrylic on canvas

"Before you strut your stuff for the net to see, lackin' human interaction's a bad recipe"

("digital dirt" by zion i & grouch)

So after a bit of a hiatus, I've decided to return to this blog and give it the attention it deserves. I started this initially just to document last fall's artist residency via Prairie Center of the Arts in Peoria, Illinois. However the more blogs I recreationally blaze through, the more potential I see for my own projects to prosper from such web play. Anyway, I changed the name to "Lackin' Human Interaction" because that's kind of what a blog or facebook or any obsessive online commitment ultimately enables: absence of physical human interaction. In the same method, though, an artist - particularly visual artists who produce their work solo - embraces a certain loneliness for a wider notion of communication and connection by way of their art. Blogs and art, though based upon life experience, are produced privately. Thus, lackin' human interaction. Boom. The quest for balance continues, as I solitarily plug away at the grind and hit the social scene with tightly-wound vigor at every opportunity.


As I'm sitting on a cornflake, waiting for word on a couple remaining graduate school applications and some random juried shows, I'm rubbing out a few random paintings here and there. It hasn't been easy to paint in my wee bk apt with a full-time job, particularly after the excess of time and space I had during the residency, but I'm doing what I can do when I can do it. What else is there do? Basically just running through some old ideas I had stashed as a means to clear my head and break through into the next set of ideas. Nothing major, but here's two fast but very different paintings completed recently.




St Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, 12x12"




Untitled (Written on the Palm of My Left Hand), 28x22"


More ideas on the brink, can't wait. For those who want to see some of my art live and direct, I'm involved with two shows right now at the goggleworks in Reading, PA. Details on my website: juliacocuzza.com

PRAIRIE RESIDENCY EXHIBITION SUMMARY

Sorry for the suspense, but once and for all, here are all 10 of the paintings I completed during my residency as well as my exhibition statement. Once again, big thank you to Joe and Michele Richey for giving me this opportunity. Until next time, thanks for the support, enjoy.

"Santos Party House, New York City" oil & acrylic on canvas, 24x36"

"The Spotted Cat, New Orleans" oil & acrylic on canvas, 24x24"

"Drummers at Bembe, Brooklyn" oil & acrylic on canvas, 24x36"

"Roger Sanchez at Vanguard, Los Angeles" oil & acrylic on canvas, 24x36"

"Debonair Social Club, Chicago (take 1)" acrylic on record, 12x12"

"Debonair Social Club, Chicago (take 2)" acrylic on record, 12x12"

"Random Bar, San Francisco (Mission)" acrylic on record, 12x12"

"Red Sky, Philadelphia" acrylic on canvas, 26x34"

"Main Floor Balcony, Crobar, Chicago" oil & acrylic on canvas, 46x51"

"Funky Buddha Lounge, Chicago" oil & acrylic on canvas, 36x53.5"

My current series of paintings focus on the concept of nightlife. Although nightlife as a term is broad and can definite a great range of situations, there are underlining cultural characteristics and intensions to provide plenty of common ground.

What I find fascinating is the instinctual ritual of it all, representing both light-hearted recreation as well as a deeper carnal drive. Those who congregate in such public spaces can encompass a range of motivations – to escape from their daily routine, to celebrate an occasion, to engage with friends, to hunt for a suitable mate, or simply to lose themselves in the aural and visual stimulation the atmosphere provides. Whether the intension is to be energized or sedated, engaged or isolated, what they have in common is the desire to break away from their usual restraint and participate in a more open and attractive shared space. The tension that exists among these participants as well as the environment itself is electric, at times sinister, but almost always seductive. It’s what keeps us coming out every weekend.

The bars and clubs I have chosen to narrate are based upon my experiences both living in New York City as well as traveling to other US cities. Like the individuals expressed in the paintings, the viewer’s perspective can be argued as either engaged with the scene or as an outsider looking in.

Leave It All Behind

Looking forward to coppin' that new Foreign Exchange album when I get back to NY. Couldn't find it out here (though I did pick up the new QTip which is FRESH).


On a related note, my residency is coming to a close. The babies (paintings) are in the mail, the bags are packed to capacity, and I've washed out the ethanol perfume from my hair. Tomorrow morning I catch a bus to O'Hare and will be back in NY by the evening. I'm at a loss for words at the moment, partially because I drank too much last night and worked too hard today, but mostly because it's just a lot to process. Maybe I'll choose some delicate words during the flight - or a week from now when i'm waist deep in my real-world routine, but for now I'll just say it's been a trip and I'm all sorts of thankful. Learned a lot, about a lot. Perfect timing on both professional and personal levels and arguably the most densely productive span in my art-makin' life.


Here are some pics of the show, reception, and afterparty. I didn't get many shots of the crowd, doesn't look like much here, but we had well over 100 people. All things considered, pretty impressive for a low key town that I don't know anyone in. The woman standing among the plastic bottle installation is Jen Van Winkle, the fellow resident artist, FYI. Once I'm back home I'll post some higher quality images of my paintings and the artist statement, just to wrap it up properly.

BASTA!

Finito! It's a wrap, mission accomplished - 10 paintings complete and I can finally somewhat relax for a hot minute. "Red Sky, Philadelphia" is done. Could have kept messing around with it, but enough is enough. I forgot how much of a gigantic pain it is to render acrylics without any slow drying medium, but I rocked it well enough to get me by this time. Started cleaning up the studio today, took down all the drawings, swept, packed up the paints, etc. Tomorrow my work hits the gallery walls. Beyond that all I have to worry about is some scanning first thing tomorrow morning and figuring out how I'll get all these fly babies home. Otherwise my time for the next couple days is mine before I split town Sunday morning. Maybe I'll get to check out the Contemporary Arts Center and mingle around town without looking like some sort of homeless person (aka I'll get to wear clothing that isn't ripped and covered in paint). Should be mighty sweet.

Get Up Get Out and Do Something

Okay, so the Red Sky piece is ALMOST done, should wrap that up tomorrow as it's due to hang in the gallery asap. I also squeezed off another wax jawnt - a little different than the other vinyl pieces, maybe not quite as successful, but interesting enough to show. One more day in the studio and it's a wrap.