Steve Mumford paints watercolors in Iraq

www.artnet.com

I really like these watercolors. They are quick, yet precise, and seem to come from the world of photography instead of painting. I like that mix up. This is the kind of tourism/travel art I am thinking of, just without the overt political context.

Sketches

I've begun making images from this trip and I still have a month before I even get to where I'm going. It's no good though because I have to use other's images. This one I got from wikimedia.com

Traveling as Art, cont.

Here's a good example of what intrigues me. Regarding Jeanette Doyle's piece called "Star Line Tours" here's a little bit from ArtForum's website critics picks.

"...Combining the languages of video, photography, and painting with sound components, she creates elaborate installations that critically address identity—whether personal or national. In her latest solo show, “StarLine Tours,” all the pieces presented derive from footage she shot during a Los Angeles commercial sightseeing journey focusing on celebrities’ mansions. Two videos reveal the view from the window on the left side of the bus, providing glimpses of bushes, pedestrians, vehicles, and the occasional star’s home... Reflecting LA’s history and spirit, the usual description of tourist attractions is replaced by the faits-divers of the city’s personalities. ...Doyle highlights the consumption that marks current leisure activity, a metaphor for her ethnographic inquiry into the politics of contemporary society." (thank you M. Amado)

I guess this makes sense to me. And it's not too far off from how I'd like to present it. And look! it gets critic's pick! It must be important. Does it all come down to cultural sampling, or rubbing two cultures against each other? Haven't we moved beyond that?

I suppose I would be considered Romantic (Pre-Modern) to want to go to a place and experience that place in itself.

All the data you could want

This is my new favorite site. I tend to get lost looking at all the numbers. I can't really get any meaning from it, yet it seems so meaningful.

Here's what city-data.com says about Portland (just keep scrolling down): www.city-data.com/city/Portland-Oregon.html

Traveling as Art

I have been trying to wrap my head around what exactly I am trying to do. Am I confronting personal myths by going to the source to see for myself? Am I comparing home (Chicago) to elsewhere (Death Valley, Wyoming, Portland?) And how is this exactly art?

Most often, I think, artists GO somewhere and DO something. Like it is all very important. Take this guy for example: Dude washing a photo

Schedule so far

I get into PDX on 6/21. Immediately will rent a car and head out to the coast for a week. My goal is drive one big circle from Portland to Astoria to Brookings and back up, camping all the way.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Google map

PORT707

PORT707 is the name of my new piece. This new piece is also my summer vacation, and how I want to spend my time post-grad school.

I've always wanted to go to the Pacific Northwest in general, and Portland in specific. As usual, I'm inclined to make some sort of art work out of it all...