This morning I awoke to an email from g. formerly of Melbourne currently of Singapore written in the morning, his morning which was already his afternoon, the last morning of this bizarre month, at common man cafe in the Martin Road. It was labeled ‘Idea’.
“Going through my blue note book filled with conversations of internal thinking and true collections of major powers I am reminded to remind you of an idea that cAme to mind only now not when I was having the conversation with v*’s body digitally moving experience in my study room a room that is an unknown place but the same formation of unknown purging throat sex exploring more to the point this idea I have — personas of time. Fascinating book title as it is and with my loose lettering of typographic setting you cAme to mind if you don’t mind with a curiosity to interact with you for you see v* and I probably more I said how individuals ‘self care’ in strange ways. Do you do persons of time ? I’m having a common man vegi wonderland breakfast on a round table with characters from Star Wars with only numbered eggs to differentiate genesis. My number tells me I’m 85. If I may continue to notice there is a hollow rooster peacock in ornamentation that laid one more egg. This time it’s 82 with salt and pepper shakers positioned just enough as to make an offering or something other than to pepper or salt the conversation around me. Even the little restless spring chicken with his tattooed father is rather happy to make this same connection with ‘self care’ in very unusual ways.”
The idea being self-care, a topic grown more urgent since our last face-to-face conversation in a quiet cafe in Wedding late that (finally) cool and rainy Saturday morning just prior to our call at the door of the Bezirksamt der Polizei, he in his four armed suit and ready to smear Crisco in his hair before performatively running barefoot through Gesundbrunnen Viertel but the question that stood out:
Do you do persons of time ?
Later that same morning, my morning, I posted on FB two quotes I’d read in an essay from Charles Harrison the previous day while sitting on the concrete bleachers of a steamy pool deck.
"when management speaks, nobody learns" (Art & Language, circa 1970 -1975)
"If, finally, the conquerors succeed in molding the
world according to their laws, it will not prove that quality is king but that this world is hell. In this hell,
the place of art will coincide with that of vanquished rebellion, a blind and empty hope in the pit of despair." (Albert Camus, 1951)
Six ‘Likes’ for the first and eleven for the second, including a comment from pk. in Sri Lanka, a painter-colleague who ”worked at Existentialism” according to his profile.
The earlier contact from g. followed by that from pk. in Sri Lanka and the contents of my two postings began to meld with
self-care
subtext (that comes from s. and f.)
personas
surreptitious (makes me think of lg.)
persons of time
subversion (makes me think of u.)
contact
distance
messages
digital
social media
and how I came to meet, befriend, ‘friend’, these two artists, my colleagues. There is no guarantee we will ever sit across from each other and converse face to face again but facebook to facebook our proximity may be maintained.
“... how individuals ‘self care’ in strange ways.”
When, where and how the personas came to be, as tools of a painting practice. But are they also tools of a strange way of self care?
Is this partially my attempt
“... to make this same connection with ‘self care’ in very unusual ways.”
and if so, why?
****
Developing personas as a means of saying, that what I cannot say
But as a refusal to being silenced (apologies lw.)
For whatever reason
A means of speaking when I cannot speak
For whatever reason
A way to move forward when I am unsure of the way
Doing so surreptitiously
For whatever reason
Creative playing just around the corner
Subversion, for good reason.
In this situation we find ourselves
For whatever reason
In this hell
For whatever reason
If finally the conquerors succeed in molding the world
For whatever reason
According to their laws it will not prove
For whatever reason
That quality is king but that
For this very reason
This world is hell.
****
A pseudonym or a persona becomes a person of a certain time. The time, the situation, is broken through by this person and its assumed, created, identity.
Q: Why did you choose to use this name and not your own?
A: Because I did not want to use my own.
Q: Why?
A: That’s a good question?