If nothing else, this month has confirmed my sispicion that I am very much a home body. A view outside from my cozy 12th floor appartment has on many days been the closes that I have come from actually getting outdoors. Appart from my bi-weekly walks to the market street near campus to buy groceries, I have spent the makority of my time between my living space and my makeshift studio. While some might have the tendency to get cabin fever with such a limited scope of surroundings, I on the other hand find it hard to get out!
Generally, most days after getting up somewhere between the hours of 10 am and noon, I make the arduous treck down the hallway to the study room where I have set up my easel and my gorilla style studio. So far, no one has said anything or touched anything and since I can absolutely NOT be painting with oils in my tiny living space, it has been a real time and life-saver. Anyone who has set themselves the task of producing a large body of work in a short ammount of time, will understand the necessity of having a conveniently located workspace.
In many ways, it has been like getting back into shape. Your body, while retaining a good muscle memory will feel tired and out of breath after 10 minutes. You'll be limping and wheezing your way home after your workout wondering how you ever let yourself get into such bad shape. Time is such a crock. Thankfully however, persistance like in most situations pays off and little by little you can feel your eye improving, your mixing coming more easily and your results speaking for themselves. With all this available time however, I have gotten off track and I now find myself staring down the end of my holidays directly in the face.
Although the show is still more than a month away, I unfortunately do NOT have amonth to produce the rest of the work as I will need to have a show poster and pamphlet designed and distributed before the date of the show. This being the case, I will be spending the next couple of weeks in an outright sprint to the finish, trying to get my works finished in time to photograph, title and get them off to the graphic designer in time. Then I can go back and rework them. For now however, the last week and a half of my vacation will be more like crunch time at the end of term before final critique when you have multiple artists sleeping on the couches and eating only at the cafe in the painting department. Thankfully, my bed is a lot closer than when I was a student.
While February has been a fairly reclusive month in my books, I have been out to some really great concerts and exhibitions recently. Last week I made it out to see "The Japandroids" in concert at V0Hall in Hongdae. I have to hand it to Super Color Super, it was a GREAT show. I headbanged my head into severe soreness and felt more at home than I had in months!! It was enough to make me homesick and cure it at the same time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXlJSd3Qdp8
I also made it out to the rather fantastic French dinner with my friend Danielle and a great exhibition "Secret of the City" featuring performance and video art at the Golmok Gallery in Itaewon.
While I was more than slightly bummed out not to be in Cebu celebrating a romantic Valentines day, I was happy to have been with friends. The first V day after a breakup is always HELL and when you had plans that were canceled it is even worse, but hey, there's always next year and you never know? next year I could be in another stellar relationship, making art, hanging out with good people and enjoying the benefits of a great job with good pay and very decent vacation. You never know? The worl is full of so many possibilities. It's just a matter of remaining open to them.
