lazy day

i am worn out! my cleaning spree turned in to an opportunity to change out all the paintings on the walls and do a decorative overhaul to the entire house (and it spilled over well in to nightfall). i even rearranged my studio last night, making it alot more functional than it was, and i'm excited by all the prospects for making things that having a well organized, clean space provides. so today i've been taking it pretty easy: making paper dolls and playing in glitter - a very nice way to while away the day. i'll post some pictures of what i'm coming up with once everything's dry and ok to be moved. for now, my back hurts and nothing sounds better to me than sitting in bed and cutting out more paper dolls or allowing the drawing rampage to rear its gorgeous head again.

keeping busy and getting sentimental...

between painting, the drawing rampage, dropping off work to the gallery, doing art trades, and setting up my etsy shop, this month went by so incredibly fast. i woke up today realizing that halloween and the holidays are just around the corner. the evenings have cooled down and i've been making scarves again. i've been spending alot of time putting together care-packages for family members and trying to come up with sweet, sentimental gift ideas.

lately, i've been completely consumed by the desire to do nice things for other people... ever since i finally sat down and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. (thanks rebecca!) :) following through on the impulse to do thoughtful things for others has really brightened my days and made me a much happier and positive person all the way around. i'm thankful for the opportunity to do nice things and to be surrounded by so many people who appreciate the action. maintaining a positive outlook really does take a person a long, long way. some days it's hard. i can get in a funk pretty easily sometimes, but i'm getting better at reminding myself to see the good in my life and to count my blessings. i've got a lot to be thankful for. just being able to live as an artist is the best thing that could've happened to me. for as much struggle as there sometimes is, it is still such a joy to be able to wake up and paint. the truth is, at the end of the day, i spent it doing the thing i love most. i am a very lucky girl.

i spent some time going through the etsy forums last night. reading all the encouraging posts from one artist to another really warmed my heart. the art community is great at being supportive and i'm so proud to be a part of it. being in a community of artists was the big reason behind my desire to attend a private art college. it's important to be surrounded by people who appreciate what you do and understand that it is work. being in a place where art is respected, valued, and validated is priceless.

anyway, i'm getting sappy. ha!

here's a sweet little drawing of a nest i did the other night in bed as i was winding down for sleep. it's in the shop so swing by and check out the space when you get a chance. comments, criticisms, and suggestions are completely welcome. i'd be glad to know what you all think. thanks! angela



5 1/2" x 7 1/2"
ink on paper
2008

ZINES ARE WONDERFUL! HOORAY FOR ZINES!

YAY! i finally got my new zine in the mail yesterday and kept going back to it between drawing sessions all day long. it's sarah mcneil's zine "Lines on Paper and Other Things", a companion to the art exhibition she curated of the same name. all of the work is so great! and the zine itself is so well made and fantastically cute that, even today, i've had a hard time putting it down. i love it!



sarah mcneil's cute but creepy drawings captivated me some months back and i'm so glad to have a bit of her work now. i'll definitely be saving my pennies to buy the real thing one day. she's also got an etsy shop, fun is cool, where not only can you order this zine, but original drawings (like the one above) and her handmade, intricate and lovely bird broaches. check it out!

Rana Kelly - Witch of the Bayou - read it!

on one of my all-night, who-knows-how-or-why, coffee fueled internet adventures, i stumbled across an author whom i absolutely adore! Rana Kelly! i found her short story 'witch of the bayou' hidden among the free mini-books (you print them out yourself) at featherproof.com and fell instantly in love. i actually kissed the cover when i finished reading it. nerdy, i know, but absolutely deserved! i won't leak any of the details of the story, but if you're a fan of southern gothic or possess a secret fascination with voodoo, Rana Kelly's story will not merely satisfy, it'll astound. over night, literally, she has become one of my favorite writers. print yourself a copy. seriously. her work is amazing. send fan mail. great art needs to be supported, even if the only support one can offer is a kind word or note of appreciation.

i've always been impressed with writers. it's hard work. i've tried several times to write a short story but after a few weeks of headaches and heartache, i'd re-read what i had written and been tragically disappointed. captivating an audience with printed words is a talent i've not yet been able to hone. maybe one day. but until then, i'm happy to be in the audience. stumbling across great writing, when it happens, is the highlight of my day.

art storage overflow!

spent another day doing the big, top-to-bottom, fall cleaning session at home and realized what a massive inventory of art i've got: well over 80 pieces of art crammed in to our little house. dang! alot of the work is small and on paper, which is fairly easy to store, but about half of this jumbo art pile are oils on canvas. wall space is at a definite premium.

so... i started the daunting but extremely necessary task of scouting out galleries today. i've just got too much work and it's unrealistic to think my gallery can handle it all. and being that i produce new work on a daily basis, my collection grows pretty quickly... too quickly for me to even keep track of sometimes. i made a stack of all the work that still needs to be photographed (24 pieces) and will spend some time tomorrow documenting them while the light is good. in the meantime, i'm having to come up with some creative storage solutions... the best one being to just get the work out there for people to see.

finding an appropriate space for artwork can be a lenghty process though. it's by no means a quick fix. i like to keep my eye on galleries i'm interested in for months before sending an artist packet their way. i like feeling confident that my work not only fits well with a space's over-riding aesthetic but that it also fills a niche. so, for the next few weeks i'll have to cut back on my playtime a bit and do some real artist work - pound the pavement and see if i can't uncover a few new avenues for finding homes for all my lovelies. there are a few choice galleries i've had my eye on for quite some time now... i've just got take a deep breath and go for it.

playing in paint...

art-trades and the first batch of postcards are in the mail! keep an eye on your mail box. :)

i pretty much spent the day cleaning house and finishing up a few small drawings that have been waiting for my attention.


untitled (angela's backyard 2)
15" x 11"
gouache on paper
2008

HANG has the first drawing in this series.

i've always loved the look of gouache and, since the start of summer, have been using it more and more. i'm learning its' secrets and how to handle it. it's alot of fun and i'm happy to show the medium the patience it requires. i also lept back in to my oil paintings today so hopefully i'll have some images to show you soon. since i work in layers of stains, a large part of my practice is practicing patience... waiting for the individual layers to completely dry before adding the next. having such a quick-drying medium to turn to in the meantime has been great for keeping up my momentum.

i also made a few tiny collages on some edited book pages - tiny territories - which are adorable and minimal (work after my own heart)! just little cut out black fence posts, a glue stick, and play time:


(1)


(2)

i had such a great time working on these! i've got four so far, but these are my favorites. it's great to get an idea you can run with and i think they work well with the work i've been focused on the passed few months.

back home and licking stamps...

Southern California was blue and bright this trip and i would've loved a few extra days of sun and Mexican food but i'm back home and ready to dive back in to painting.

tomorrow, i'll be mailing out the art trade (thank you so much to the people who participated!). it's so much fun to trade work and is such a great way to be supportive of another artist's practice. it's just so important to be encouraging and appreciative of the work other people do. it can make such a wonderful difference sometimes. making sure to go to openings, leaving comments on blogs, giving feedback when asked, and making a point to let an artist know that you've had a reaction to what they do is such a big help and, more often than not, just what the artist needed right that very moment. i'd like to do another art trade soon... maybe a bit closer to the holidays.

i also got the new postcards i ordered. based on the overwhelmingly positive response to 'dahlia 1', she is the image on the front of the postcard.



i'll be mailing out a bunch tomorrow as well but if anyone out there would like one, send me an email and i'll add you to my mailing list. it'd be my pleasure. :)

ever since i built a website for the work, i've been much more focused and pleased with the work as a whole. finally sitting down and re-writing my artist statement awakened a wonderful and relieving bit of clarity. putting together work that falls within the parameters of my statement is very satisfying and i feel like i'm exploring my ideas in a much deeper and concentrated way. it's more personal, more powerful... not necessarily more accessible than my previous work, but i'm very proud of the route the work has taken and i feel very attached to it. even the poems i've been writing as an extension of my visual practice have been reigned in and make a lot more sense than they did a few months ago. maybe i'll post a few of them here once i get further along with them. i'll work on getting my courage up to do that.

getting crafty and going to LA

well... so much for not dripping any ink on my nice white quilt! arg! bound to happen, i guess, and that's what patches are for, i suppose. besides, sleeping amongst ink stains makes me sound totally hardcore as an artist. ha!

i'll be leaving tomorrow, yet again, for Southern California. this time, no business to attend to other than just hanging out with family and old friends. i'm really looking forward to it. ever since i moved to the Bay Area three years ago, going home has been hard. lots of ghosts. but my crazy back and forth this summer has lessened my fears about being there and, now, my visits are joyful and warm. so while i'm gone, i might not be able to get any blogging done. i'm going to try to leave the art-stuff in my studio for a few days and just enjoy the people i'm surrounded by. this will be my last trip down there for awhile.

but until then, i'll be catering to the drawing rampage! there's just something about black ink on nice white paper. it's sexy. when i return, it's time for me to dive back in to oil painting though. i'm currently working on a new body of paintings and, although the drawing rampage has been wonderful and lots of fun, i haven't worked on the paintings since it started and i miss them. they are the first thing i think about when i wake up.

one thing is for sure, friends and family can expect some art for christmas this year. i've got too many drawings at this point and no where to really store them for very long. i've never given artwork as christmas presents before, it might be a nice change of pace. lucky for me, everyone in my family actually likes my work. my brother doesn't quite get down with the more conceptual stuff but he's usually on board with everything else and, truth be told, i could give him the most minimal, conceptual, hard to understand piece of artwork in the world and he'd love it... he's actually even started to see the relevance and beauty of abstraction: a major step in a person's art appreciation! AND a very proud moment for me, i must say.

i'm also entirely infatuated with my little etsy shop at this point. 3 days old and already the love of my life! :) i'm busy brainstorming what other crafty things i can make and even just thinking about all the little goodies i can twist up with my trusty crochet hook makes me happy. this is, at least, one avenue i can take to kind of bridge the gap between art and craft. it's always bothered me how disrespected craft is. it's beautiful and important work. everyone needs a blanket during long, cold nights.

DIY, Etsy, and little black dresses...

after a lot of hemming and hawing, i finally decided to take the plunge - head long- in to the Etsy pool and set up shop. it's something i've wanted to do for a really long time and have been putting up plans to do it all summer long. now, with summer over, i felt like i'd fantasized about it long enough and to just get it going and see where it takes me. the name of the shop is little black fences , in honor of the Territories series i've been working on, and is primarily dedicated to my printmaking and crocheting alter ego. have a look and let me know what you think.

in other news...
the drawing rampage of the passed weekend is still in full swing! it feels wonderful to be on such a roll! making art everyday does wonders for my spirit. it centers and humbles the chaotic little core of my neurotic self and helps me focus on the joy in life. here's a sampling of work from yet another series: black dresses.



black dresses (2)
11" x 15"
ink and gouache on paper



black dresses (3)
11" x 15"
ink and gouache on paper



black dresses (4)
11" x 15"
ink and gouache on paper



black dresses (5)
22" x 30"
gouache on paper

for more available art, check out my gallery's website.

"let's be friends" art trade!

no complaints here - i spent the entire weekend at home drawing... in bed, no less, and managed not to drip any ink on my white quilt. :) my hand is a bit cramped but it's a small price to pay for such a wonderful couple of days. i worked out a few ideas i've had rolling around in my head and then just drew for fun. i spread all the work out today and was amazed by just how much there was. 13 in total! dang! and with an inventory like that, i thought it'd be nice to do an artist trade.
the 4 drawings below are all 11" x 7.5", small and cute, but definitely big enough to frame and hang on the wall.



black apples (7)

they are drawn in ink on Rives BFK (being archival counts!), and signed and dated on the back. the 'black apples' are an image that i am absolutely in love with right now and it is quickly turning in to a series. i even like the way it sounds when i say it out loud... black apples. try it.



black apples (6)

so if you're an artist and you'd like to have one of these, send me an email - angelasimione@aol.com - and we can work something out. i love trading artwork and think it should be done way more often than it is.



black apples (5)

i've only got 4 of these little beauties to ship out so, in the hope of making a few new art-friends, the offer is not extended to family members. sorry family members, christmas is coming, hang in there.



black apples (4)

don't be shy! drop me a line and let me know which drawing you'd like to trade for. get 'em while i got 'em to give!!! thanks!

Present Perfect- collaborative works by eddie gesso and Analisa Goodin

If you're anywhere near San Francisco and have an affinity for conceptual art, I highly recommend stopping by The Spare Room Project to catch the closing reception for Present Perfect, a show of collaborative works by eddie gesso and Analisa Goodin. I went to the opening and had a wonderful time and, honestly, the work is worth seeing more than once. I was stunned by the austere beauty of the installation, the thoughtfulness (and seriousness) of the work, and tried not to cry in public when I realized that I was one of the artists who were mentioned as an influence.

here's the press release:





Present Perfect.
collaborative works by eddie gesso and Analisa Goodin
at THE SPARE ROOM PROJECT

Inspiration provided by the following artists (working): Sophie Calle, Rosenclaire, Léonie Guyer, Harmony Hammond, Eva Hesse, Roni Horn, Agnes Martin, Alfred de Musset, Robert Rauschenberg, Leah Rosenberg, Sappho, Angela Simione, Hadi Tabatabai, and Félix González-Torres.

Opening reception Friday, August 29th, 7-10pm
Closing Reception Friday, September 12th, 7-10pm
The Spare Room Project is conveniently located at
270 Anderson Street,
San Francisco, CA 94110 (in Bernal Heights)

The gallery is opened to the public by appointment only for viewing through September12th.


Present perfect examines temporality through a collaborative effort between two artists, and three temporal delineations: present, past, and future.

It is an abstract exploration into the translation of meaning through time. Present perfect is a grammatical term which illustrates a complex relationship between time and desire—it pushes the temporal boundaries of past present and future into each other. Everything we had said will have made perfect sense is one example of language as a manipulation of time in order to bend desire, wantingness, and expectation for a future outcome.

Failures in communication and slippages in the reception of language are our starting point for this exploration. Stretching the logic of language, and subverting its own rules into absurd structures offer a glimpse into the motivations behind our speak. We want to have been understood.

The Spare Room Project was initiated by a desire for more creative experimentation, more space for emerging artists to fulfill both physical and curatorial ideas, and the tight quarters that San Francisco allots the majority of us. SRP aspires to allow artists in the local community opportunities and exposure often reserved through more rigid tradition, and it hopes doing so will foster otherwise unrealized innovation, exploration, and growth. Through exhibitions, workshops, and group critiques, it serves as a vehicle for teaching, learning, communicating, and sharing.

The Spare Room Project is funded by The Alternative Exposure Grant Program through Southern Exposure.

poetics and painting...

i've always thought that the arts of writing and painting are sisters. both methods of expression seek to hold a correspondence that transcends its form. alot of my personal heroes and influences have been writers: charlotte delbo, peggy phelan, anne sexton, samuel beckett, sylvia plath...

and their influence on my work might even be tinged with a fair amount of jealousy- there was a time when i double majored in fine art and english, hoping to be become both artist and writer. assuming both titles has been difficult for me. i'm a much more prolific painter than i am poet, and am weary of attributing labels to myself simply because i desire them.

however, writing has immense importance within the visual arts: we all need and rely on artist statements, reviews of exhibitions continue to be written, and even artists themselves, as individuals, journal about their practice. i regularly employ the use of text in my practice, keep a diary of my pursuits and short-comings, collect zines, and have considered much contemporary oil painting (not merely my own) as leaning heavily on poetics and metaphor... so, going back to my original statement about painting and writing being sisters, maybe all writers are somehow painters, and all painters somehow poets?

a while back, i read a statement about poetry and how it differs from prose... something along the lines of prose being defined by what it says, and poetry by what it does not say (send me a comment if you know where i may have read this)... the details that are left-out, alluded to, a collection of fragments that create an atmosphere rather than a world that has been explored and catalogued. this has been my exact approach to curating exhibitions, and the attitude i've held while working on individual pieces of art. this is the foundation of my interest in classified documents and crime-scene evidence, my desire to investigate loss, and the hope i have for establishing lines of communication with others. it is the method i know for offering comfort... even if the only comfort i can extend is the knowledge that no one is alone... someone else has gone through a similar experience, tragedy, or moment of hopelessness. metaphors are the opportunity we have to really connect with the Other- they allow us to see beyond our own situation and internalize the loss someone else has experienced and to experience it as if it were our own. metaphors are powerful things. i am endlessly thankful for the poems, essays, and stories i have read that have served to substantiate the importance of metaphor, and of reaching beyond our differences to find our commonalities.

they call it a "transitional phase"...

well... in the interests of professionalism, i've actually created a website exclusively for artwork. it's got an artist statement and everything! which holds me to a standard somewhat but that's good. not all the work needs to make the cut.

i'll use this blog for what i originally intended it for: talking shop. now that i'm out of school, i'm a bit afraid of losing my awesome art vocabulary if i don't use it. it took me a long time to learn all that jargon and, hopefully, one day i'll be fluent in art-speak. i'll get my practice in here... feel free to correct me when necessary. i'll continue to post new work here for awhile and use this space to talk about my intentions as well as my reservations within my practice.


It's pretty clear to me that the work seems to have moved into a much darker space recently. my work has always been a bit dark and kinda creepy, but over the course of the last few months a certain shift has taken place. color has almost completely left the work (an aspect that many people have commented on) and i've also done a few full-face portraits which is extremely different from the cropped portraits i usually do. my love of minimalism is really starting to show through too (the fence drawings, for example).





i finished this painting about a week ago and, right now, i think it's the best thing i've ever done. in this piece, two bodies of work have finally come together. the girl on the tire swing is Jon Benet Ramsey. she has been a subject of a lot of my paintings.

my desire to paint her has always been an attempt to restore her humanity. i don't care about all the beauty queen stuff, i care that she was a little girl who was assaulted and murdered.

but by looking at the painting, there is really no way to know that it's a painting of Jon Benet Ramsey. it isn't titled that way, the fence obscures her face, and one would have to look back through my work of the last year in order to learn the identity of the "Anonymous Girl"... which is great. the story is much longer and sordid than what i'll write here.

it could be anyone's daughter on that tire swing... and that's exactly how i want these paintings to be read. but it wasn't everyone's daughter, ligatured and body dumped in the corner of that basement. one family suffered this horror.

the fence is my impossible attempt to protect her- not only from her murderer, but from us as well: the watchers. by refusing to paint her the way the media did, by presenting her as exactly what she was - a little girl - i intend to highlight her loss.


above:
Anonymous Girl #3
16" x 12"
oil on canvas
2008

angela simione