Stacy Elaine Dacheux: What is a cloud? Christopher Lavery: Mostly, I think a cloud is made of visible water vapor frozen in the atmosphere that has been sucked up from the wet ground surface of the Earth through the conduction of heat produced by the Sun’s rays entering the ozone layer and warming the surface. … More Regarding Clouds, A Conversation with Christopher Lavery
“You begin with the possibilities of the material.” — Robert Rauschenberg The other day, my fiance and I shot a scene together on a sound stage. He is an actor, and I am not, so the whole experience was spatially overwhelming to me– take five steps and you’re at city hall, three steps and you’re … More Rauschenberg & Sound Stages
“Letters, in general, are meant to make up words and words are meant to make up sentences and sentences are meant to convey meaning. Breaking sentences back down into individual words and words back down into individual letters has the opposite effect. Meaning is reduced, taken apart, decomposed. Still, the letters and the words contain … More Twombly & Conjuring Spirits
Over the weekend, I met a woman with autism at a party. She pushed my head into my friend’s head. She wanted us to kiss. It was initially jarring. She asked what my sign was. I told her and then asked what she liked about astrology. Her mother interrupted us– she just likes asking the … More Autism & Recording Relationships
“Los Angeles, give me some of you! Los Angeles come to me the way I came to you, my feet over your streets, you pretty town I loved you so much, you sad flower in the sand, you pretty town.” — John Fante (Ask The Dust) I took this photograph on Spring Street with my … More The Many Fantes
My fiance and I listened to Dark Side of the Moon last night before bed. I first bought that album when I was 16. It really is a magical album. I can’t decide on whether it feels this way because it reminds me of breaking away from youth, or because of its overall artistry– a … More Pink Floyd Forever
I want to talk about Southern California and what it promised us, historically, and culturally. Off the top of my head, there is the gold rush. Then, there is cinema, moving pictures. Fiction. Art. Music. Our own soundtracks. “California I’m coming home / Oh will you take me as I am / Strung out on … More California, Will You Take Me As I Am?
Abstract artists are such tragic and romantic figures, akin to preachers or soothsayers, conjuring up spirits, reaching for ghosts buried deep within the body. This is the mythology. Franz Kline’s paintings are spontaneous and random, sparks of lines bordering up difficult space. This is the discovery. Many of Franz Kline’s paintings are somewhat premeditated. “He … More Soothsayers
Here is what happens when you admire rebels, weirdos, and recluses at too young an age. You grow up, but you don’t end up thirty-three and living in a house, like with health insurance and a 401 K, instead you end up thirty-three and living in an apartment next door to an alcoholic who is … More THURSDAY: Lenny & Hollywood Living
“The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.” — Diane Arbus At 21, in the darkroom, I dipped my fingers in the fixer to pull out a print. “Don’t do that.” A classmate reprimanded. “Your hands are like sponges.” At 28, outside The … More Photography & Assault
When visiting Alcatraz Prison, I snapped the above photo of a particular crack and rip on the cell wall, which reminded me of Joan Miro. “I felt a deep desire to escape. I closed myself within myself purposely. The night, music, and the stars began to play a major role in suggesting my paintings.” — … More Alcatraz Prison & Miro
Revising Loneliness 