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New Works and a New Collaboration

For the past nine years, I have been developing a body of new work that is a departure from traditional ceramics. I will always love and make the clay vessel but I have been in need of working with other materials to express myself and my ideas. I have been working on a collection of static and kinetic sculptures that incorporate elements of ceramic along with wood, metal, plastic and natural fibers. The themes of these sculptures encompass time, space, time travel, space travel, alienation, our relationship with the natural world, water, and dimensional multiverse.

These sculptures invite the mind to play by imagining oneself as an alien observor looking at information that has traveled light years away in the "past" in a different way. They are physical representations of that perspective and thinking. As seen in the short film above, our perspective is of an outsider studying human behavior through environment. The sculpture, representative of thoughts and feelings, appears in brief flashes thoughout as we slowly come to understand what we are seeing and make sense of it. And perhaps some of it still makes no sense at all. All we have is our own forensic study gleaned through observation of other, events that have transpired and physical spaces. in short, we are the aliens, alienated by time, space and understanding.

Music and sound have started to play a larger and larger role with the creation and presentation of my work, and have been for a few years now. These short films of works are not just documentations of the work, but also a way to incorporate the sound experience I would like you to have when experiencing them. The singer-songwriter and producer, Feroza Cayetano, continues to feature in my presetantations, but with this short film '-298450.94942192973' of some of the sculptures, I present a new collaboration with Sal Robert Pauciello and Peter Minde of the band Skylight. I have known Peter for a few years now, and he recently shared that the band had released a new track. I went down their rabbithole on Bandcamp. I followed them on Instagram and on Facebook. Two of their songs, resonated deeply with me with my new works on my mind, one of which is Alien Mind Probe, the song in the short flm above. Some have asked me why I don't create my own music, and maybe someday I will, but for now I want to focus on creating tangible objects in physical space.

It's both wonderful and bizzarre how we can know someone but not really know them. Each and every one of us contains a universe and various dimensions within. In proposing this collaboration to Peter and Sal, and them accepting, I discovered some intriguing things about my friend and his bandmate. He and Sal have been collaborating for forty or so years. Sal is diligent about sending music off to various radio stations around the world, and he keeps track of what gets played. About ten years ago, Klemen Breznikar wrote a piece about some of their work for his electronic 'zine, 'It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine', a Slovenian online music magazine dedicated to psychedelic and progressive music news, band interviews and album reviews founded in October of twenty ten. I learned that Sal began playing in the early nineteen seventies, and that he was always interested in experimenting and improvising, which is reflected in projects like Junkyard Genius and the bluesy Common Ground, and the song I used in the film. In the nineteen eighties, he and Peter recorded with The Lefthands, which appeared in the famous CBGB club in New York City. You can read the interview, Junkyard Genius & The Common Ground interview with Sal Pauciello & Peter Minde, featured on December 9, 2014 in the magazine, here.

Sal Pauciello cannot be found on any social media, and there is no official bandpage other than Skylight's profile and music on Bandcamp, their Instagram and on Facebook. You can directly connect with Peter Minde on Facebook here. Below are some of the first recordings they have ever done, which someone put up on Youtube.

The piece you see a detail of here has been "done" for a while now but I did not feel it was finished. It somehow seemed incomplete.

Cross Seas

A friend asked me once when I know my work is done and ready to share with the world. I told him that it's a feeling. I just know. A couple of things had to happen before I would have that feeling and knowledge for this one.

One was singer-songwriter Feroza Cayetano would need to write and release her collection chronicles 'Spring Awakening'. She released it in September of 2022. A six song album, which included a hauntingly beautiful track titled 'Water Has Memory'.

The second was witnessing an oceanic phenomenon called 'cross seas', which is the title of this sculpture. Cross seas, also known as 'grid waves' and 'square waves' are caused by two oceans meeting each other, high winds, water rebounding off a landmass or a combination of the aforementioned. The geometric symphony is best witnessed from high places - drones, a lighthouse. They are incredibly dangerous and will drown swimmers, overturn boats, disrupt sealife. I was walking along the cliff edge of a peninsula and was able to view the pattern on the water, and it was then that I  knew. I knew this sculpture was finally complete and ready to be shared with others.

Walls Within

At the beginning of the year, I exhibited my series Walls Within in exhibition in Barcelona at a Espai Cenit, a cultural center and art gallery. I was one of five lucky applicants chosen from many to have my work on display in their charming space. The series is very special to me for several reasons. It was born in Cáceres at the Guadalupe Monastery when I was took part of the first year of the Observatorio de lo Invisible's arts program.

After making the four lanterns out of stoneware, the unfired pieces were carefully transported back to three hundred and twenty-one kilometers back to Madrid. Once they arrived,they went into the kiln for the first of two firings, the bisque. After that, I carefully and precisely applied the glaze, leaving some sections unglazed. Once, they came out of the glaze firing, I gilded them.

Over the course of the past few months, since exhibiting at Espai Cenit, some have asked me when they will be shown in Madrid. I am pleased to announce that they will finally be on display at this open studio. I've decided to hold morning and early afternoon hours so they and the other works on display can take full advantage of being seen in the sunlight.

Open Studio

Autumnal Equinox

21 & 22 September 2024

11:00 - 15:00

The address of this private location in Madrid Spain and will be delivered to you by email.

For two days in 2024, I will open my studio to share a new body of work on the weekend of the Autumnal Equinox. I'll be showing a series of sculptures, static and kinetic.

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A friend has been telling me for ages to write a book, a memoir, of all my wild past-life experiences. Maybe I'll write a book about my life when I'm older, maybe around 80 (if I am blessed to live that long). I've decided to keep this diary instead.

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