The Futile Art

Make it rain on ya

2009-01-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it helps to see it in paint.I just realized I really love hyper-commercial rap. Where else can you get a true experience of all life's compulsions? Completely in love with booze, money, women, fame and not afraid to admit it. Is there strength in revealing your desires to the world no matter what anyone thinks?
It all started with RUN DMC "King of Rap". I listened to the hell out of that tape, much to my father's dismay. If you haven't yet, add Lil' Wayne to your Pandora and enjoy... When I was a little kid, this is what I wanted to look like.

Last Summer

2008-11-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

more real than 2D www.undigestedkernel.com

lately

2008-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

aw, shucks...

dewd

tina and tyson visiting from shveedin

really?

oliver and scott

mike

ohio

kirk

http://www.jordandomont.com/ http://www.mothlove.com/

hana

http://www.cavescavescaves.com/

bradley

gretsky

Random Stuff

2008-02-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a bunch of random pictures from the last little while. I think I'm going to post some actual coherence someday...

mmmm. Girlfriend burrito with a kitty quesadilla.
Clint and Kara under the Fremont Bridge.
Ted
I love this woman and her face.
Skiing anyone?

Can you believe lawyers trust these guys with their important papers?
Ash Street

Kitty quesadillas?

Kicking and Screaming Installation 2008

2008-02-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

Check out my website at http://www.josharseneau.com/ for more images from this show.

p.s. thanks to Zak and all the Portland messengers who showed up to roll c-lo and special thanks to Ryze for making music all night long.

Mike's memorial ride

2008-02-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

Michael Stevens R.I.P.

2008-01-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

You will be missed, my friend. Say hi to Kierkegaard.

2007-12-23T15:42:00.000-08:00

All Fridays are the Same and I'm Glad for That

2006-11-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

Imagery of Blacks

2006-03-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

This is an email that I received and my subsequent reply. I am posting the two here because my reply was returned due to an un-recognized address from the sender. It is my hope that it can be discovered by its author on this site.

March 13, 2006
Dear Josh Arseneau,
I saw your work on thos webiste and found it interestimg that a great deal of the work uses "popula culture" imagery of Blacks. There defenately is an abundance of visual artists using the image of Black as commerce and this is nothing new since NBA, Rap, Rock, Blues have all benefited from the misuse of Black images and Black culture. Todays art scene is no exception and romanticizing "thug life" or oppressed people who provide a cuture so others can reap from it is something that should be really examined more thoroughly. I think the right step is to acknowledge the ills of our system by understanding the complexity of the damage it has created. Using imagery to make others aware becomes problematic when one doesnt umderstand how those images are already being exploited by "media." Understanding the different perspectives of our social ills is deeper than a one dimensional comment on rights and wrongs...about evil and god. Intentions get lost and commerce is hard to avoid when we realize that our social make up is just about exploting the opressed or weaker. This country was made on the blood of Black slaves and by their labor and their imagery...these things have not changed and your decisions to use image of blacks through a pop cultural lence should be re-thought otherwise your attempts will only be as exploitve as those your mission statement aims to address.
Sincerely
Robert Lock

March 16, 2006
Robert,
Thank you for responding to my artwork so thoughtfully. Many times it falls on blind eyes or on the souls of the apathetic. I agree with you wholeheartedly, as well. The imagery I chose to use for that series of paintings caused quite a stir and was often times misinterpreted. The easiest way to explain myself, I guess, would be to tell you the story of how it unfolded. I started the project in June of 2003 after I read an article in the New York Times on the civil war that was raging in Liberia. Much of the imagery of child soldiering that I used was appropriated from that historical event. I became really involved with the subject and was torn that the art I was creating could been seen as exploitative when it had meant so much for me to make it. I went to the West Coast of Africa in October of 2004 and visited Senegal and The Gambia, where I made a lot of friends and learned much about the cultures of the people who live there. I noticed in my travels that what young Africans see and hear about the US is from mass media sources like MTV and they strive to emulate that lifestyle. The lifestyle, of course, is the way our media portrays many African-Americans - like thugs. The paintings I made after that reflect my observation that the way we picture people of the US has effects that reach much further than we think. It's an effort to show that the violence we worship in the media is influencing the violent actions of young minds abroad, especially on the West Coast of Africa. The paintings are an attempt to show fear and powerlessness and futility - and how violence can be and escape from those aforementioned effects of marginalization.
I hope this helps you, Robert, and I know that I am guilty of our culture because I am consantly affronted by these images as well. If anything, this series of artworks should show that I am trying to make sense of the images of the world around me. Thank you again for your response.
--josh

no title

2006-02-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

Art and Vandalism

2005-08-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Art, as an act of vanity, is a form of revenge. Can art only be a vain action? The creation of something completely original is the recreation of the ego? If art truly is a personal reaction to stimuli, external or internal, how can it be anything but an act of vanity? Self expression is violence - an act of theft and reclamation. In the creative act, there is also the act of destruction.

From an email to the artist Scott Wayne Indiana (www.39forks.com) on August 6, 2005:

My thoughts of late have concerned art vandalism - not simply graffiti on a bathroom wall or a commuter train, although I do love that stuff. I really love when people vandalize famous works of art. I have been thinking that a work isn't really finished until it has been vandalized. My reasoning is this: if art is a vain act of self-satisfaction and revenge is a vain act of destruction for selfish reasons, what more supreme artistic act than to create art through the destruction of art? -josh

And the reply:

i guess my response would be that i don't think art is a vain act.

(well, not the kind of art i am into anyway.)

Is it possible that some art can be a vain act while other art is not?

A haiku written at Rockaway Beach, OR:

Thoughts about my art

and of dogs digging holes.

Both are quite futile.

Two Dreams

2005-07-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamt of a white dog from Africa who caused a man to murder his young wife and their unborn child. When he woke to her body the next day, he could not remember having done it and was horrified. The dog ran away and was adopted by another family. I watched it all from a distance, but when I awoke, I felt that I was the man whose weakness had been exploited.

I dreamt that the restaurant where I work was destroyed. The restaurant collapsed under the weight of the five floors above, which is where all of the employees lived. No one was killed, but we were all instantly rendered homeless and unemployed. Strangely the bombing, which was done by someone I didn't recognize but who seemed familiar to me, was a liberation of sorts. The bomber had taken so much from us all, but in his act of betrayal had freed us all of our burdens and the things holding us there. It made me wonder just how much I hold myself back in the name of advancement - both in the life and career sense. Whether it be unfortunate or not, the life of the artist is, in a way, his career.

2005-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

I learned to paint life
by watching the clouds above
They merge and break up.

Violence

2005-07-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I am interested in images of violence because I fear them. Is it dying that I fear, or is it not dying that scares me? .the potential of death. By recording and rerecording the images of the potentiality of death - the symbols of dying - do I confront or embrace my fear? Do I fear the symbol more than the thing? The wreckage of the bombed car is like an effigy; actually, more like the body itself. It symbolizes the destruction of the human body - it is a symbol for the potential destuction of the human body. The car is a weapon of war against an unsuspecting and civilian population. It's wreckage becomes a monument to their demise and remains as a reflection of their destroyed forms.

Three months gone by

2005-04-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

I always wonder what people see when they look at art. It seems that most are geared towards the aesthetic, while the rest focus on the content or miss it completely. My most recent installation really made me think about this. At the opening reception I talked with people who loved the way it looked, people who joked about their own play on words or clever descriptions, people who had never been to an art show before and people who thanked me for the work that I do. The installation itself was a floor to ceiling collage of dress patterns with carbon paper transfer drawings on them. The drawings traced images I had collected from my research on child soldiering and from my own pictures taken in The Gambia. The two subject matters were arranged randomly; some of the patterns overlapped, others abutted and they were a very soothing mix of amber hues against the white of the gallery wall. The tone of the carbon paper transfer drawings blended so well with the tone of the printing on the patterns that many visitors overlooked them completely. They looked and didn't even see before they left. The people that stayed and talked usually asked questions about my trip to Africa only, and skipped the subject of child soldiering altogether. With the exception of Gabe Flores, who has been the most critical of my critics, no one questioned my combining of experiences or the focus on Africa. Everyone did, however, comment on how the show looked pleasing to them. They were calmed by the color shifts and drawn to both the delicacy of the paper and the tactile quality of it. For the most part, they were drawn into the work because they didn't see what it meant at first. This is not to say that I don't give everybody the benefit of the doubt when it comes to looking at art. As an artist I think I am the worst of anyone - I am initially seduced purely by the feeling that the aesthetic creates. I feel the colors and the composition and then I choose to walk away or stay and dig deeper, and uncover the content and meaning. Sometimes I find that thinking less like an artist might make me a better one. But not really.

Forests and Trees

2005-01-29T01:00:00.000-08:00

Do I lack conviction? Do I lack passion? What is it that I'm missing? I guess I'm concerned that if I just come right out and say how I feel, I'll be preaching to the choir. The choir is, of course, the general art appreciating public - the gallery frequenting liberals who share much of my way of thinking. So, I must say what I feel, but I must do it in a way that confuses my choir and induces their thought from a different angle. My newest body of work that will be shown in June starts to breach this idea. It is the visual record of a multiplicity of experience in West Africa. One part will reflect my research on child soldiering; the other, my personal experience in The Gambia. The result will be disparate images forced to occupy the same visual space of the rectangular canvas. It is extremely difficult for me to distance myself from my paintings in order to take the role of the viewer unaware of the artist's intentions. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to decipher the information I've painted with no background knowledge of the pieces. To that end, I must make sure that the paintings are all aesthetically valuable - to draw the attention of the viewer and to make them want to learn more about the art. In this way, the form takes precedance over the content, but continues to reinforce it. These two trees, shape and content, must share the space enough to be read as a forest.

nothing about art

2005-01-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

Today I know less about art than I ever have before. In fact, the more I learn about art and art making, the less I know what art is and how to make it. Sometimes I yearn for the days when I just worked construction all day and drank from the moment I got off until I passed out, then did it all the next day, too. Those days went by so quickly that I hardly knew they happened at all. Now so much of my time is spent thinking that my mind wanders and I get lost and distracted. As I paint or draw, I think about what it means to make art and why I make it. It's difficult because so much of what I do is emotionally charged - my art is my response to the imagery I confront and a response to the stories I uncover in my research. In a way, what I do is simply report my findings in a visual format. I'm less an artist than a reporter, though a reporter with a toe in conceptual waters. I think that to be considered an artist one must be dedicated to a particular vision and one must constanly produce something that can presented as art in an art-friendly atmosphere. It doesn't hurt to produce "art" in a consistent medium and rarely stray from it until one's popularity wanes. Much of the struggle for me is related to the method of presentation - should I chose to present only paintings or should I create an installation of other works? I guess what I should try to remember is that anything goes with art - what I call "art" is art simply because I self-classify as an "artist". If I make an object and present it in an art atmosphere, then continue to make similar objects for the length of time to be considered a career, I am an artist. I am an artist until I stop making things for people who like art. I am an artist because I feel and I choose to translate that feeling into a medium that the world can understand.

Near-life Experience

2005-01-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

The first time I realized I had a near-life experience was last year in the fall. I was visited by a friend from San Fransisco and we went for drinks in my neighborhood. Later that night we went to the park with a couple of tall boys of Pabst and sat on the bench in the shadows and watched people wander by. It was really late, because I realized that moisture was starting to gather in the air in preparation for the morning's dew. My friend and I hadn't spoken for a few moments - the water particles were swirling in the convection currents around the street light in the park - I finished my beer and realized that I felt alive for the first time in a while. Or, at least I came the closest to living that I ever had. That moment - the experience of that moment - was so individual and special that it became etched into my mind as a singularity.
Now I wonder what the perfect conditions are for such instances in the future. Could the experiences be touched off by the appearance of my surroundings? I've often felt that I've seen things just as perfectly as they could be arranged in their space - accidental installations that should only be viewed from one aspect. I tend to think that the naturally occuring composition is only a part of the setting for the near-life experience. The others could include smells or sounds or just a contemplative thought.

After Africa

2005-01-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

Now that I have returned, I am at a complete loss. This should be the time when I feel the most inspired - a brain full if images, sounds and smells. I feel like I can do none of it justice. Do I want to continue to connect to the child soldiers? I'm also torn over the actual imagery - do I want to detach myself from the social concerns? If I combine all the images I've collected... the results of my year of research and my trip to The Gambia - the child soldiers, the environment and the people I met; all in one picture plane. Then I could show the process - the process of realization, of clarification, of learning and understanding. But how am I treating these figures by distancing them even further from their own spaces and cramming them together? Perhaps the displacement of the images could act as a metaphor for the helplessness felt in war time situations.
Personal attachment to both the pictures and the people - which is more valid as an experience? Is the connection to the images of child soldiers more valid because it commands a strong emotional response or because the photos cannot physically react to me? Or is the experience of meeting people in their space more important because it does allow for exterior influence? I tend to believe that both experiences are equally valid because my mind and body are the connecting elements - the elements that bind me aesthetically to the imagery and to the action.