Tag: found

ART

Found and Chosen

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date January 7, 2023

I had an artist reception at the Hamilton Gallery today for my solo show Found and Chosen. I received a creativity grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to produce a recording which coincides with this exhibit.

This show features animation, a record release, a webpage, a Plasticland installation, and about 16 framed works.

As a coping mechanism for the collective anxiety we felt during the pandemic, I took long walks through my neighborhood in Baltimore City, and later, other cities. It was a form of meditation. This developed into a practice of mindfulness. I was able to quiet my thoughts and generally slow down. I noticed and found delight in objects and sounds that I previously might have overlooked. Found and Chosen is a collection of materials gathered during this time.

The Atlas of Found Objects

Some of the interesting objects that I found, I bought home. Most were just photographed with my phone. I made this 6′ x 3′ banner showing some of my favorites.

Each image has the location where I found them under the photo.

The Minotaur and the Four Horsemen

The Minotaur is an icon adopted by the Surrealists, and monsters figured prominently in their works between the world wars as they stood against fascists and Hitler. I found it interested that one of the January 6th attackers resembled a very skinny minotaur.

22.5” x 16” Wood, glass, acrylic paint, wax pencil. 2022

This painting is the product of my new animation, which has a working title of The Art of War.

The images below are also from this animation, only I worked with discarded prints from the government repository.

I’m not sure when the full animation will be complete, but all these pieces seemed to fit squarely within the context of this exhibit, and I wanted to get part of this out into the world.

Yellow Cravistans Nos. 1-3

One day, while walking Goose, we found one of these yellow cravistans in the grass. The following day, we found another. Same with the day after that. I brought them home and mounted them like the trophies they are.

Other Found Objects

I’ve included some letters, which you can read about elsewhere, and other treasures, some of which are used in The Lunatics animation.

Plasticland

CDs and Tapes

While supplies last, people can visit the gallery and take a CD/Cassette. I’ve talked about this elsewhere, and in great detail on the Found and Chosen page I’ve linked from the liner notes.

Tags decommissioning office, exhibit, found

ART

Music

Creativity Grant

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date December 8, 2022

I have been awarded a creativity grant by the Maryland State Arts Council! This is truly an honor, and much needed.

I used the grant to create physical copies of my album entitled Found and Chosen, which I will be giving away at my upcoming show at the Hamilton Gallery in Baltimore.

I finished all the work for the grant, and awaiting the arrival of the recordings. I’ll talk more about them in a different post.

This ended up being A LOT of work – more than I had originally calculated. I loved every minute of it, and I’m full of gratitude and happiness.

Tags found, lofi, loops, musique concrète, Theoretical Audio Laboratory

Music

Joie de Vivre

Found & Chosen: Letters

Post author By Jim Doran
Post date March 30, 2021

Following up on my previous Found & Chosen post, I found these letters over the course of several days’ walking. I’ve deducted that these were thrown away by contractors renovating an old house, and they must have blown out of a dumpster. I’ve obscured the corresponder’s names.

These scraps stirred my imagination, and I toyed with scripting them into an animation – both, literally read, and loosely based upon the content of these papers. I didn’t get anywhere interesting, so I’ll shelve the idea for now. The actual papers went into a time capsule my girlfriend made to archive the pandemic time in our life.

I find the following letters very intriguing!

Water based ink from a fountain pen, inspirational quotes, and a lost tobacco pouch. Love AND Joy.

I learned this about the Hudson River State Hospital.

The Hudson River State Hospital, is a former New York state psychiatric hospital which operated from 1873 until its closure in the early 2000s. The campus is notable for its main building, known as a “Kirkbride,” which has been designated a National Historic Landmark due to its exemplary High Victorian Gothic architecture, the first use of that style for an American institutional building. It is located on US 9 on the Poughkeepsie-Hyde Park town line.
The entire facility was built over the last three decades of the 19th century, at great cost. Once complete, it would be used as intended for much of the first half of the next century. As psychiatry moved away from inpatient treatments, it began to decline in use until its closure at century’s end. Today, it is slowly deteriorating out of public view as it awaits reuse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_State_Hospital

There are fantastic photos of the hospital in various states of ruin – I’m not going to link to any sites, but a Google search will show wonderful photos.