You Lost Your Money and Your Home. So What?

You lost your money and your home.

So what?

Miles Davis quit cold turkey.

Try That!

I didn’t cause it anyway.

Did I?

It is your life.

Did I?

I cannot control it.

I cannot cure it. 

It is certain.

Can you stay here anymore?

My reply is no. 

I have to cut you off. 

I have to hold on to my sanity.

I love you. 
I love you.

The Twelve Steps Are Giant Steps

When Cue went in search of his eight ball,
first, things had to be broken:
promises, dreams, laws, bones-
anything to avoid that sinking, cornered feeling.
Eventually, cause and effect became anonymous,
and he made a decision to turn his will and his life over to the care of God as he understood him,
that is, St. John Coltrane.
The twelve steps are Giant Steps.
It can take a lifetime to master their changes.
Step 8.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed,
and became willing to make amends to them all.
You can do this.
Don't Scratch.

Falling Into Place

Card design by The Artery

Card image by Greg Halloran

Curatorial Projects with elin O'hara slavick

Card design by Greg Halloran
Card image by Ashley Oates

Still Alive

This is a still life I painted earlier in the week for my intro to painting class.  Watching the fruit decay was fascinating, like watching the downfall of a celebrity.  The shape of my pear was painted when it was fresh, but the texture and color were added after the pear had rotted.  The painting is paradoxical and in that sense; life and death are present in the same object.

I feel like a real artist now and I plan to refine my work.  The main problems are in the shadows.  It turns out they are just as important as the objects!  Creating the colors is definitely my favorite part of painting.

Ephemera

I have a drawer, where I keep the remains of the good things past and concluded - show bills, letters, wrappers. The forms are useless, but the memories are profound. I think that heaven is God's drawer of memories, where he can store the crumpled bodies of the people he doesn't want to forget. Angels are ephemera.

Repetition

I am currently reading a book about music and its relationship to the human body called The Music Effect by Daniel J. Schneck and Dorita S. Berger. In one section, the authors address the importance of progress through small steps in a clever way. Reflecting on the periodicity of all energy (in the form of waves), Schneck and Berger propose that the functions of the human body also demonstrate the desirability of repetition as a means toward an accomplishment. Our bodies would be unmanageable if we had lungs large enough to hold one breathe that could last a lifetime. Our hearts must pump our blood over and over again, and so on. The argument proposes some fun situations for the imagination (a stomach large enough to store all the food we need for the rest of our life...)

Nevertheless, this is my first attempt at painting a cartoon face with no reference. I should probably do it over and over again if I want to get better.

The Artery Presents: Taking Shape

The opening of the temporary gallery in University Mall was a success. The space was active all night, some pieces were sold, and everyone seemed to have a good time! The space should be open through August 2nd: Thurs.-Sat. 1pm to 9pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm, but we might have trouble organizing all the artists to run the space. I think our gallery is a great addition of perspectives to the wonderful, art-filled mall. The number of artists in this show who are doing work in unusual mediums with unique methods and messages is too great to describe here. I can't wait to see what happens next.

The Artery July 8th University Mall

UNC student artwork will be on display Friday July 8th through August 2nd inside University Mall in Chapel Hill. I will have 4 pieces on display: three from the perception/reality series and an unpublished piece named Bar codes and Blood. Gallery hours will be known soon. The reception is Friday night.

Gordian

There is no such thing as possibility. Possibility is just the word for expectation. Expectations and guesses are our system for dealing with the invisible future which can only really occur in one determined way. The future is the present; there is no instant when the present will turn into the future except for the infinite instant each of us breathes in. Every single decision, which is actually a reaction, brings the next link in the chain of life we knit from the single thread of desire. It never could have happened any other way.

There is only what did happen, which determines what is happening, which determines what will happen. Our knowledge of this system is inextricably intertwined with the outcome of this system. Saying "Anything is possible." is the equivalent of saying "I know nothing," or "There are no expectations." On the other hand, one who knows everything (omniscience) can do anything (omnipotence).

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Divergence

You might not get a second chance so take a chance this very second.

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Blur

Time is not one of the five senses.

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Trying to make sense of it all (all at once)

Once again I used test strips from Lydia McCarthy. Congratulations to her for a wonderful show at the Ackland Art Museum!

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Perception and Reality

Before the camera was introduced to society as the standard for portraits, painters argued whether a person's essence was best captured by a strictly technical interpretation of physical features, or if an artist could trade physical accuracy to capture a subject's personality.



As a twist on this idea, I have started drawing and exposing photographs on the same piece of paper, hoping that the truth lies somewhere between the realism of the photograph and my perceptions revealed in the drawing.



© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Things Are Getting Complicated

These pieces were produced by undergoing a transition from simple to complex. Each piece started as a thin, flat length of paper with a smooth gradient of color on each side. Pushing the curvature of the material to its limit, each piece was turned into an increasingly convoluted mass of colors.

Complexity (in this case: a lack of symmetry or pattern) can be beautiful or displeasing. When trying to trace the color transitions, the complexity can be both playful and frustrating.





© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Sketches from Hanes

I have been attending art club all semester, but I only get work done at half of the meetings; the other half of the time I am too busy talking to people. Here are three of the drawings I have done recently thanks to the work of Richie and the Undergraduate Art Association.

It turns out one of the few things that is just as fun to draw as a person's face is a worn out old cowboy boot, too bad I didn't get to finish it. Both of the life drawings are experiments with color value. The final piece is a test of my recent minis project with water color.







© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Muto's Proud to be Published, Again!

My freshman year I got two pieces published in my school literary magazine, the Cellar Door. Now, for my sophomore year I will have one piece published in the book and one published online. Both are photographs, and one of them I have not posted to the blog. Here it is:



The interest comes from the eerie, uncertain forms. It is called "Gathering of Dummies."

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Muto's Minis #14

Over winter break I had a lot of time to paint. I used part of it to continue making paintings similar to the last miniatures I posted. Making them is fun because it is a puzzle to fill up the same amount of space a different way each time, using my own personal rules for what makes a good curve (though I sometimes have to break them).


© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Muto's Motto # 11

Richie is the Man

© 2011 Gregory Halloran

Muto's Moment #17

Release: Improvisation

Sometimes, the space between action and reaction,
Between input and output,
Or between one inclination and the next,
Is like the distance between c sharp and d flat
Or the gap between wood and metal, when a cymbal is struck -
So perfectly nonexistent,
It is a mystery as to where there was ever any room for decision.

Sometimes, one can occupy this space,
Where thought, doubt, and plan are lost
Like the division between two notes played with a slur,
Or the bar line between measures connected with a tie.

Sometimes, the joy of this infinite thinness
Between one thing and the next,
Is activated by the touch of a tender fingertip, with its spiral design,
To a metal string, with its intricate coils,
And the fingers are able to move so fast
That they eliminate the length between brain and hand,
Between finger and pick, between string and fret,
Between sound wave and ear, between axon and dendrite -
Until there is only a continuum of parts acting as one,
Working at the true speed of sound.


© 2011 Gregory Halloran

1:15 am The School Radio Station Plays Good Music?

So, once again, I arrive at the HAC past midnight to start working on my photography project. I am ready to stay up all night. I have my cell phone loaded with a perfect set of songs to keep me company in the claustrophobic echo chamber called the darkroom. I am actually looking forward to the hours of solitude, and the one inevitable interruption, when the janitor comes looking for trash and ends up witnessing a whirl of hair, thrashing about and beating its chest to the rhythms of Chris Adler, under the glow of an amber-colored safe light. Then, the smile on my face turns to shock when I enter the room and see that I am not alone.

To my surprise, I have a companion in the darkroom. I have never seen him before; he says he is from one of the other photo classes. "How late are you gonna be here?" I ask in a fake dialect of friendliness, a language that normally comes easily to me, when the enjoyment of my eardrums is not at stake. "Not much longer, this is actually my last print," he responds as he moves his paper to the tray of fixer. Excellent.

"You are listening to WXYC, the radio station of UNC Chapel Hill," the DJ announces over the radio. Not for long I think to myself, while my fellow student packs up and leaves. As my image turns crystal clear through the lens of the grain focuser, something amazing happens. The room starts to echo with the wailing voice of Robert Plant, singing I Can't Quit You Baby from the BBC Sessions. With the room now empty of intruders, I decide to match the wail of the Golden God. "Made me mistreat my only child..." The glow of the safe light is close enough to the shining stage lights of Albert Hall to let me pretend I am a fifth member of Led Zeppelin.

After three songs, the DJ comes back on. "I hope you appreciated that block of Zep as much as I did." Heyeah my ears exclaim. Just then, the same student I met earlier in the evening enters the room with a grin on his face. "Hey man, I don't know if you thought I was gone; I was trimming some prints outside." He chuckles, "I just wanted to say I enjoyed your little Zeppelin sing along session. I'm gonna head out now. Take it easy and good luck on your project."

I remember a time when that would have embarrassed me.

© 2011 Gregory Halloran