a photo, a poem

.

.

tug of war

.

.

.






.

practice, practice, practice...

this is what today's practice looks like-


untitled
15" x 11"
mixed media on paper
angela simione, 2009

anonymity
redaction
identity
a document of Unimportance
a document of lost stories
unknown histories
histories that don't matter

who gets to be pictured and who doesn't...

and those white socks just kick me right in the heart.

just so you know...

angela simione, 2008

fear and portraiture...

ah mannnnnnn... i've got a doctor's appointment this morning that i forgot all about. geez. i really don't want to go. i hate the doctor's office. hate, hate, HATE. i always get nervous they're gonna ask me to do something humiliating... like take all my clothes off and call everyone in to the room to poke and prod and gawk and comment. not all that far fetched, actually. something along those lines happened once and, now that i think of it, i should have sued or at least complained and got that doctor in trouble but that doesn't have anything to do with today and there should be no reason for the removal of clothing at this particular appointment. at any rate, i've been pacing back and forth since i woke up. i'm all anxiety. silly. i'll go, i'll go. i'll be a good little girl and do what i'm told, i suppose. ugg. maybe it'll give me something to write a poem with. that's looking at the bright side, right? ha! art-nerd alert! :)

i think it's safe to say i've been on quite the poetry kick for the passed few weeks. probably due to my two mini-vacations and being away from my paint, but it sure has been nice. i got a bit of painting done yesterday now that i'm back at home and it felt really good and i kept bouncing back and forth between my canvas and my notebook, one practice feeding the other.

the redaction pieces i've been making have become quite a nice tool in my bag as well. when i first started making them about two years ago, i had no idea what i'd use them for, all i knew was that i liked them and felt like it was a beneficial thing to do. i've always seen them as art-pieces in their own right and want to frame a whole bunch of them, but lately i've been using them for book-making and poetry stuff like the one in my post below. but not all of them will get used that way. some of them are meant to stand alone- act as a little scrap of evidence... allude to a lost history or identity... to talk about loss and silence and fragmentation. they are portraits in their own right. little biographies. the dangle of a secret.


and i am sleeping in my battle
9.25" x 6"
redacted book page
angela simione, 2009

you know her...

(click the photos to enlarge)

one of the little lovely humble things i've been wrapped up in. quiet work that, in spite of its simplicity and smallness (or maybe due to it), feels so very important and honest. a little tool with which i am learning the world. poetry and thoughtfulness. this work soothes me. it makes me better than i am.






you know her
10.5" x 5.5"
mixed media artist book
angela simione, 2009

transcription:

she wore the white dress and white shoes
snow-white
under the little wire clamps
pale, nondescript
harmless
her hand to her mouth
she'd had such trouble
cutting. cutting and cutting and cutting.

history...

redacted book page
angela simione, 2008

two more!

both works - untitled
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite, gouache, and masking tape on paper
angela simione, 2009

trying to make the best out of the heat wave. hopefully tomorrow we'll get a bit of a break and i can get back to painting outside for more than just an hour a day. it's been nice to have a couple days just to look at the canvasses while i work on other things but i don't want to lose my quick pace. these little works are great though and i think it'll just be a little side-project of mine... 20 portraits is what i'm shooting for. dang! 20 GOOD portraits... we'll see!

"anonymous was a woman"...

yesterday, after the hell-like hotness got the better of me and put a hard stop on my outdoor painting time, i got to drawing. and it felt good. really good. i love drawing- just playing and meandering around, letting the materials take the reins and guide the process.

these are the drawings i made while i hid inside from the heat and i must say i adore them!




untitled 1 and 2
11" x 7.5"
water-soluble graphite, gouache, and masking tape
angela simione, 2009


they are untitled as of yet because i'm thinking these ladies need a few friends to keep company with. i'm also thinking they'd made good prints. hmmmmm. ideas, ideas, ideas. i'm gonna get back on the drawing-wagon this afternoon. it's supposed to get up to 110 today so i'll definitely be hiding inside.

yawn...

i can't sleep. maybe it's because i'm wearing a t-shirt that says "if i want to hear from an asshole, i'll fart". who knows... could be. i just can't seem to get my brain to simmer down. i'm super tired and my eyes are heavy but the second my head hits the pillow all sorts of thoughts and dreams start spinning and i am kept wide awake. this has been a pretty regular thing in my life but lately it hasn't been happening. the result of my odd anniversary, i suppose.


redacted book page
angela simione, 2008

nameless...

after consuming enough coffee to murder a small donkey and struggling with installing, un-installing, and re-installing photo programs this morning i'm finally back to being technologically competent. big sigh of relief.

this is the mess i made all over the gallery floor yesterday...




and this is the drawing i made during my two hour time slot...



unnamed drawing
15" x 11"
graphite and masking tape on paper
angela simione, 2009

i stopped drawing every now and then to chat with strangers and enjoy a glass of wine with a sweet woman named maggie that seemed to really know where the work was coming from. i love it when that happens: the mind-meld with a complete stranger... an affinity that goes beyond class or status or clothes or all the other arbitrary markers of a person's type and kind... just two humans with a whole slew of commonalities that don't need to be talked about or sorted out because you already understand each other and no explanations are necessary. lovely.



detail


these sisters are, as of now, unnamed.

the joys of redaction...

it's a great way to build a poem:


redacted book page
angela simione, 2009

click to enlarge image.

i'm thinking about making a book out of my huge collection of these - a single poem. a while back i made a long scroll out of these; so long that photographing it was pretty pointless because it just looked like a huge, white stripe. one of those things you gotta see in person to appreciate, i suppose. at any rate, it's a nice little marriage between the written and visual arts. and scratching out the printed words feels nice too.

this afternoon...

while waiting for paint to dry...



untitled (sisters 6)
15" x 11"
graphite and masking tape on paper
angela simione, 2009




detail

Anonymous Girl 5

15" x 11"
graphite and duct tape on paper
angela simione
2009

it felt violent laying the duct tape down across her mouth. it felt horrible and monstrous and unforgivable... exactly like what was done to her.

order of the day...

redacted book page
angela simione, 2008