faces of jesus (not-bottled)

i found this link on jonny baker's blog (which is really worth checking out if you haven't yet). it's an animation/morph of faces of christ throughout history... i'd love to figure out a way of morphing to my bottled jesus piece at the end! good context for the work anyway... check it out here.

jesus bottled

this piece came out of taking a class called 'Art, Science and Nature' at OCAD which inspired some interesting and different approaches to my consideration of sacred space... mostly to do with the idea of quantifying God (is the embodied Jesus God quantified?), but also the 'God VS Science' silliness... anyway, i won't say more at this point because i think the work asks enough questions on its own. hopefully. see more about this piece and others i'm working on here. click on the pictures to see full size images.

final presentation

my final presentation for this semester (part I of II) was today and the discussions i have been craving all semester finally began! i no longer feel like i'm working alone in a void -- which is nice, i was starting to get lonely in my void. Got some really good email feedback from various people and also some good feedback and suggestions from classmates... i wasn't very articulate and mostly talked about control and access but they really picked up on the deconstruction/reconstruction redemptive aspects of the work! cool. hopefully such discussions will continue and expand... thanks all.

virchual turch

not sure why i didn't post this before, it's been around for a while... an online 3D internet church... interesting and weird, that people consider this 'sacred space.' it's all about what you bring i guess... brought to you by those funny people at ship-of-fools.com. And yet for some reason this online virtual labyrinth walk does seem like sacred space every time i've "walked" it. try it and see...

a new blog - where is God in Toronto?

so i started another blog as a side project to this one... It's called "Where is God in Toronto?" and you can send me stories of encounters with God in the T-dot to whereisgodintoronto@hotmail.com. It relates to this project of mapping and defining sacred space and if you want to know more about my thoughts about mapping and control and access, I am working on a paper titled: "From Jesus Fishsticks to God Helmets: Psychogeographies, Warchalking, Auras & Neurotheology(or: Why Where God is Matters)" which i may or may not post at some point...

update to the website

having just completed my interim report (part I of the thesis - woohoo!), i have just posted descriptions of all the projects i intend to do this year... click here to see the list or here to go to the frontpage... post feedback here under comments or email me!

featured on ZED!

well, i'm rather chuffed that somebody in webland likes me. they decided to feature my installation and a video as featured content on the ZED hompage... wow. i feel so cool.

thief in the night

i just stumbled across this screensaver by an artist called Francis Alys. strangely, it satisfied an urge i had to create an artwork based on a weird nightime breakin encounter i had a few years back in melbourne. funny how someone else's art can do that sometimes. saves me the job! to preview or download it (mac or windows), click the pic.

writers i like

annie dillard inspires me. mike riddell inspires me. leunig inspires me. they all make me think about god in new and surprising ways. i like manhole covers (and alleyways). leunig wrote a little prayer that i think of every time i see a manhole cover. it goes like this:
god bless the lone tunnellers; those rare individuals whose joy and passion it is to dig mysterious tunnells beneath the earth; who share the soulful purpose of moles and worms; who labour gleefully beneath our feet while we bask in the sun or gaze at the stars; whose pockets and cuffs are full of soil; who dig faithfully in the darkness, turning left and turning right; not knowing why or where but absorbed and fulfilled nevertheless. Under houses; under roads and statues; beneath and amongst the roots of trees; on elbows and knees; carefully, steadily pawing at their beloved earth; sniffing and savouring the rich odour of the dirt; dreaming and delighting in the blackness; onwards and onwards, not knowing day or night; unsung, anadorned, unassuming, unrestrained. Grimy fingernailed angels of the underworld; we praise them and give thanks for their constant, unseen presence in the vast labyrinth they have created beneath our existence. We praise them and give thanks. AMEN.

artist i like

the artists who are somewhat inspiring and informing my current work are (for various reasons): janet cardiff, bill viola, doug aitkins, and mark wallinger. i will keep adding to the list. these are just the hot, big names that relate to what i'm doing and come to mind first. although i do genuinely enjoy what they do!

ZeD posting

ZeD (http://www.zed.cbc.ca/) is the coolest thing happening in TV land as far as I know. It's a place where art is shown on the telly and all you have to do is upload cool content to the website. i've been a member for a while but have only just posted something: 1 song. find the track in my profile here. it's a jazzy sort of thing, electronic-y... please check it out (and if you're a ZeD member, rate it!)

sacred space installation #1

the first installation i have done pertaining to my thesis - sacred space

installation #1 - close up

a close up of the custom made, hand screen printed caution tape elly helped me make. part of my first installation project. elly also took the pictures - thanks!

here i am

well, i finally joined the wanks, i mean ranks of bloggers. this shall be a sort of copy of my art journal and some other bits of info. i am currently working on the my thesis for a BFA at OCAD in toronto, canada. the title is sacred space. most of what i post will be about trying to figure out what that means. if you have any idea, i'd love to hear about it. as this is my first post ever, i'll stop for now before anyone gets hurt.