Issue 27: Just Stay Here Tonight by Augustana
This is one of those songs that I've loved listening to lately because it makes me think about fresh starts and old friends. I've seen this as a challenging year with mixed pay offs, but songs like this help to put me in the right head space. Time will continue to pass, some things will get better and some will get worse, but that's why you have people to lean on. Just Stay Here Tonight by Augustana is the perfect blend of folksy alt-rock and is going to be on rotation for a good while.
The influence that pop art has had on my style and work seems immeasurable when I consider how my perceptions where shaped at such an early age. I've always loved iconic images and have gone to great lengths to wallpaper the places I've lived in with them. There's something about arranging and selecting them that fascinates me. There's always something new to focus on, and the finished walls of imagery exude an overwhelming blend of culture, history, excess, and targeted ambition - there's so many ads in the mix!
In the summer of 2004 I wanted to focus some of that energy and created these three canvases from scraps of old posters, calendars, and magazines. All of them are based around urban life and in addition to highlighting shots of famous New York locations, my canvases were really an experiment in perspective and scale.
These canvases have been tucked away for a while now, but they all hung in my dorm at film school. I'm still quite proud of them.
Interestingly enough, I haven't produced any canvases in the last few years (with the exception of a few wall collages) but it's largely because my blog has become a more immediate outlet for my graphic experiments. My headers are constantly changing and I think my style is even more apparent now that I also include images of myself with my other original photographs. The experiments are still ongoing.
I hope you're able to take a moment today to remember why, in the grand scheme of things, we have it so good. There's a debt of gratitude to be paid both past and present. Lest we forget.
Take a moment to read this article by Kevin Myers. As a Canadian I think it instills a great sense of pride and humility, not to mention what a great place this country is.
