I am just an echo

Current Musings and Art Explanations

Rock n’ Roll friend, I’m still coming down from my high of finishing my latest video project which was my first official music video.

So I made video newsletter and include all the things I discuss in the video below.

After a successful music video premiere, here are some albums that inspired me to head to the windowless art space in my basement to start a new painting.

The Delta 72

One day while on Instagram, my feed became flooded with In Memoriam posts for the passing of the musician and DJ, Gregg Foreman.

I have no idea who this person was, but damn, the slew of heartfelt messages and condolences from legendary musicians to indie artists posting their love and gratitude for this guy,made me think about what I’m “leaving” behind.

It was a reminder that you don’t have to be in the spotlight to truly leave a mark.

I went down a rabbit hole and learned about so many bands he played with but well known for playing with Cat Power. I also learned about his first band, The Delta 72.

Nine Inch Noize Live at Coachella

I was living on the edge one Friday night…..of my couch that is, staying up way past my bedtime to catch the Livestream Coachella set of Boys Noize and Nine Inch Nails which was strategically released the last weekend of the music festival.

I’ve been listening to the Live Concert ever since.

The lyrics to the track, Copy of A, stand out to me as I paint flower petals on the large canvas.

I am just a copy of a copy of a copy

Everything I say has come before

Assembled into something into something into something

The lyrics feel like an accurate representation of who I am as an artist.

I am not an original.

I am inspired by something that has happened before.

There are visible and invisible influences everywhere and sometimes I don’t realize that these creative inspirations are echoing through my work.

I remembered many many years ago, I was watching a behind-the-scenes video of Nine Inch Nails writing the album, Downward Spiral. It may have been on some late night interview on MTV, I can’t remember the source. Things just get filed and get stored away in my brain and I remember them later. (Not an ideal way to reference things but hey, what can you do?)

I distinctively remember Trent Reznor using a basketball to create that eerie heavy slapping sound at the beginning of the track Mr. Self Destruct.

I just remember thinking how cool that was. Such a simple tool, a basketball of all things, to create a sound that made me curious.

When you listen to the beginning part of the song, you can totally make the connection to the basketball sound.

I’ve searched high and low for this interview video and I can’t find it. If I google NIN Basketball it just leads me to the Challengers film score.

If I’m wrong, kindly correct me. I’m sure I’ll eventually find the source someday by the grace of reddit.

film still of music video France is Sinking

She Explains Things

I realized that I echo a similar technique of the basketball sounds when making my video art.

I look around to see what’s available to use in the space. Kinda like the way my mom used to fashion together my Halloween costumes as a kid, it’s a What’s-the-junk-drawer/attic-approach. Use something that we already have to create something new.

Like searching through a junk drawer, I like capture video footage from my surroundings.

In this case, the main “character” of the video, France is Sinking, is a prism sphere. It’s really a reflection of the sun coming through the peephole on my front door. I manipulate the frame to make it look like it’s floating throughout the video even though it was shot as a still image.

I like to bend the image to encourage the viewer to look at something familiar in a new way.

On a more mellow music note,

my evenings have consisted of the work by the artist M.Sea

and Melody’s Echo Chamber…which I recently found on vinyl!

view of living room console with my new vinyl purchase - inside sleeve of Melody’s Echo Chamber

I Think That We Could’ve Been Friends

Thanks to a recent post by Alex Rollins Berg of Underexposed about experimental film, I’ve gone down another rabbit hole learning about the innovative video artist, Maya Deren. She was the first artist to receive the first Guggenheim grant for experimental film and pioneered indie filmmaking.

Researchers found a cure brain for brain rot: experimental film

The reason I started making video art and experimental films is because I did not know how to translate my ideas to paper. Creating videos helped me interpret my ideas into reality.

In motion pictures, I no longer had to translate…and I could move directly from my imagination into film.”

-Maya Deren

Same girl. Same.

As I read this article about this “new” artist, it was like reading a story about an artist friend that I knew well but had never met.

I see my work in hers and yet, this is a new discovery for me.

One might say that I am copying another person’s art.

But as the NIN song goes,

I am just a Copy of a.

How about you? Which artist or creative person or innovative human being have you immediately felt a connection to their work?

Speaking of connection,

Don’t forget to check my new monthly radio series, Coffee & Cassettes, that feature conversations where I talk about records with some of my favorite women and femme music enthusiasts.

This month, I chatted it up with Caroline in the Garden about the woes of discovering music in the 90s and in an era of music streaming wondering if the kids today will ever appreciate an album in its entirety?

Caroline’s got some great record picks so grab your beverage of choice and come hang with us.

Listen here on Mixcloud. It’s free to listen and ad-free.

You can catch up on previous episodes of Electric Radio club here as well:)

Talk soon and Stay inspired,

Joi

Support my work by becoming a subscriber.