Thanks to Lunch Ticket for the spotlight on
the “Do I know you?” series by R.L. Gibson.
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Tag: DIKY
Gifts in Savannah.
inheritance. thanks, but no thanks
I am proud to have both “Heartbreaker” & “Cut Throat” including in “The Gift You Never Wanted” exhibit at the Non-Fiction Gallery in Savannah, GA, sponsored by ArtRise Savannah. Here’s a link to more info. (continues below)
The reception is December 18th from 6 to 9 pm (1522 Bull Street, Savannah), and the show runs through January 4th. Both “Heartbreaker” & “Cut Throat” are 11″ x 14″ digital-collaged mixed media, rendered as xerography on canvas and are available for sale through the Non-Fiction Gallery. Price available on inquiry.
Learn more about the #DIKY series!
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RESULTS: Thankful
… a wonderful way to start
the “Thankful” holidays!
“Dear R.L. Gibson, It is with great pleasure and excitement that I welcome you into the Lunch Ticket Literary Family. We receive a number of strong submissions each viewing period and choose the works we feel strongly represent Lunch Ticket’s Mission, while showcasing great talent and skill. We are so very excited to reproduce your collection, ‘Do I Know You?‘ — A Xerography Series.”
Thanks for the love, Lunch Ticket –a literary & art journal from the MFA community at Antioch University Los Angeles. I am looking forward to seeing my work among these pages. As an English major with a concentration in Composition, this artist is particularly pleased to be included. Be sure to check out their current issue.
3…2…1… Three acceptance letters spanning two bodies of work in one week puts such a smile on my face. Thanks again.
Happy Holidays!
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Lessons continue.
vanished
On December 14, 2014, she finally got some peace. Emma Gibson had just 15 days to go until her 93rd birthday, but she just couldn’t go there. My intimate journey with her began 2 years ago today with a phone call.
When I answered that call that told me my father was in the ICU grappling with what would eventually be revealed as fatal injuries, my first thoughts were not for him but for my grandmother. She had been in nursing care with end-stage dementia for a couple of years at that point. And, while she could still recognize me, she was fading fast.
My journey with her through guardianship, conservatorship, and every imaginable health issue possible inspired me to share my passage from fear to resolution. It all ended in a fairly confident summation in artist-statement-format for my July 4th opening of “Do I Know You?” that ended with “The best we can hope for is a few good photos and a really good story about how we got to the end. Smile. Everyone dies.” I meant it at the moment, but…
Sometimes I am a pompous ass.
She’s dead.
She’s not smiling.
I’m not smiling.
She loved me.
I loved her.
I love her still.
I can’t believe she’s gone.
How shocking that I could be still shocked that her loss hurts this badly. It was expected; I thought I was prepared. I was not. Her lessons for me will continue–despite her absence.
Smile. At least you’re not dead.
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Thanks AAME!
#DIKY in the PRESS
Thanks to Arts Alliance Mountain Empire for covering “Do I Know You?”, my exhibit currently up at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center, home of the Arts & Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville. Click on the screen shot to read the coverage on A! Magazine! (continues below)
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Pass the Bottle
Progress…
I am making progress on the “Do I Know You?” series. I completed the first stage of a piece named Pass the Bottle last night. And, while I can’t share it until closer to the July 4th show opening (at The Balcony Gallery at The Emporium Center in Knoxville, TN), I can show you one of my inspirations.
Meet Darryl
6 months
March 1949
He was a beautiful child, and as an adult he became the ever-popular sideshow exhibit known as Uncle Darryl. He was a wonderfully and wildly-inappropriate adult influence on me by most measures, and absentee parent to his only child. I thought the world was a much better place with him in it. He helped me successfully make a huge decision at age 13 that probably saved my life.
He physically survived a tour in Vietnam and mentally endured the aftermath of physical injury, PTSD & chemical contaminants with the only tools at his disposal—-a doting mother & many a liquor bottle.
In April of 2006, a heart attack ended the suffering he endured from a decade-long battle with cirrhosis of the liver. He was 56 years old. He betrayed his body after his brain betrayed him. I love & miss him. I SO wish he were here to be a questionable influence on MY child.
The “Do I Know You?” series will feature an image saluting his battle with cirrhosis as well as an image in tribute his struggle with PTSD & the aftermath of Agent Orange.
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Mini Me AVAILABLE NOW!
PRINTS
of a sort
I get a surprising number of requests for prints even each of my pieces is a monoprint. I understand that not everyone has several feet of wall space for surrealist, pop-art portrait with a less than subtle political message. So, for my next show (Do I Know You? opening in July of 2014), I intend to sell a handful of paper prints for a charitable cause.
In the meantime, you might not realize it, but a small number of 4″ x 4″ prints on gallery-wrapped canvas DO exist of the Psychomachia Show. You can own one today by going to the the Facebook store of The Haggus Society.
Take a look…
For your safety…
WARNING…
It HAS been a very productive day for me both creatively and organizationally. I had a dear friend make the casual suggestion to me that maybe I should start spending a mere 15 minutes a day organizing for my big solo show in July. I have been completely stressed out about how far behind I am. And my reaction to panic is often paralysis. But the 15 minute method was a perfect way to jump start action without getting overwhelmed…and I am on my way.
But during my productive day of art and the business of art, I must have forgotten to turn off the bullseye button on my back. As most of you know, I am generally patient, tolerant and optimistic. Today, tested my ability to remain bullet proof. So…
In an effort to be pro-active, I am publishing this short PSA warning
of what you should NEVER SAY to an ARTIST… for your safety.
Please share with all of your friends!
INKED
The
black
Thin Line…
I am not one to be drawn to traditional art supplies. I don’t tend to go gaga over watercolor papers or a specific brand of oil pastels. I usually just love the bizarre, non-traditional objects that I believe are destined to end up as art–like abandoned lunch trays, old silkscreen frames and Cracker Jack boxes.
My primary focus has been Xerography, and I’ve had little use for pens and pencils over the years. However, as I begin exploring new techniques for an upcoming series, I have to admit that I have fallen in love with the Sakura Pigma Micron pens.
They are a fairly inexpensive alternative to the technical pen. I am particularly in love with the Micron 05. You have to use a very light touch, which isn’t really my norm, but the delicate results are just unbelievable. They are pigment based, don’t bleed or feather, and they are archival.
I’m inspired…
LARYNGITIS
Here we go
again
At the end of 2012 when I am normally planning for the coming year with anticipation, something broke. My Dad died unexpectedly, and my creativity came to a screeching halt. I seemed unable to find a voice. I haven’t been able to find something to say for over 8 months now.
Today, while sitting in the doctor’s office hearing that I will need yet another surgery, I found my voice. While sitting there listening to the doctor explain that my body has turned against me once again, I realized how pissed off I am to be sick…again.
Not all art comes from anger, but it can be a fantastic catalyst. As I sat and marinated in my newest health debacle, I immediately began to feel guilty for being angry. Everyone’s body turns on them eventually…that’s how we die. I’m not alone.
I have generations of family whose bodies have abandoned them in the end. And I also have the pictures of them before they knew what was coming. My grandmother, pictured here at 36, had no idea that 63 years later her most common phrase would be, “Do I know you?”
Art is found in contrast. I found my voice again, and it really isn’t pretty.
Stay tuned…