Goodbye Oughts.

THYME: As the first flurries fall from the sky this season today I ask what do you think of year-end polls? Everyone seems to have them. Be it fashion, film, frivolity. Are they merely favoritism barely disguised as popularity contests, scraping the barrel of half-hearted pr campaigns, or in some cases perhaps even earnest opportunities to look back at how that particular annum charted new territory? They must have their place. In years past I even created these but found in short order that they became dated when the dusty scrapbook got hauled out even a few years hence. So this year I am not making such a ‘Greatest Hits’ comp. I am more interested in how things that surfaced this year carry forth into the next. That’s a true ‘test of time’, yes?

SAGE: Sometimes when you take a step back, outside of your daily go-go-go you come to realize that taking certain things into account can be either a benefit or a deficit. In years such as MMIX we were globally effected and our normal gaze or expectations have shifted, and been challenged, and even to an extent remained a bit (or >) askew. I sit and listen to Bowie’s Hunky Dory and it rings of leaving the encrusted stacks of past regression right there, leaving only the sweet melodies for future reference (is this record really 38 years old?). I mention this because this is a record, of the time (as Laurie Anderson once crooned). Stand by….

ALLSPICE: In 2009 I came to realize several things about where I am on Earth right now. Hey, I bought a French press, I took a new lover into my life (simultaneously, miraculously losing eight pounds in the process - that’s a first), left one gallery and found new representation - and again having to face the challenge of re-locating live/work space. These things take much concerted effort, passion and conviction, trial and error and most of all perseverance and a whole lot of patience. As I take a scant look back, in 2009 I was published in a worldwide hardcover, got the opportunity to exhibit with the likes of Dan Graham, Candida Höfer and Gordon Matta-Clark (among others), and had my first exhibition in Miami and a potential museum purchase! I chose to take an unspecified hiatus from critical writing (except in bits and pieces herein this blog which comes to an official close at year end) and curated an exhibition now touring the Northwest. Not bad (…I’ll spare you those details).

So, yeah, life is like a spice rack, and sometimes parenthetical. As we step forth we all try new things, of course, traverse prerequisite scary passages, with the potential to come out the other end either covered in a certain layer of soot or befitted in the Emperor’s New Clothes. Well, there’s always the grey area of the in-between, ya dig? I’d say it’s certainly still worth the risk, even when life is conditional as is. All things in due time.

((( LISTEN )))

SITE: EE Tapes

My most recent 10 uploaded tracks:
* John Cage - Cheap Imitation (III)
* Radian - Okazaki Fragment
* Drexciya - Astronomical Guidepost
* Two Lone Swordsmen - Lose Control of Yourself
* Gilbert & Lewis - R (AD 106)
* Cupol - Kluba Cupol (BAD 9)
* System 7/Derrick May - Altitude (Mayday Mix)
* Thomas Fehlmann - Epique
* Tomas Jirku - The Stickiest of the Ickiest
* Sogar - Isolohr

2009: A simple look back would be in haste if the deepest depths weren’t plumbed and the highs weren’t analyzed to the nth degree. But the past year had a certain chill about it, an unexplainable short in the prime circuit. While tending to holiday particulars and my ailing lover I spied a short ‘psa‘ that was disturbing, very hollow of message, and full of allusion to an uncertain future. Produced by the government, a new initiative for “intra-terrorism”? It’s hard to tell, but it gives a message without direction, except to this site. Aside from that the tree was trimmed to the tips with cool wintery colors and dinner on the eve of December 25th was pulled off without a hitch if I may say so myself. It’s been wonderful spending time with some loved ones, friends and some old-fashioned cartoons (I’m such a softy for claymation!). This past year was filled with stretching the few dollars and cents in my pocket, but also gave me the opportunity to show in Ohio, Florida and tour a show into the great Northwest. I predict greater things, and more change, into the new year. Should old acquaintance be forgot?

Keep warm.

Check out this auction at Gallery Homeland now….

untitled (LA), 2008
©2008 TJ Norris

To all you fearless readers (and few responders), as of 2010 the blog thus known as unBlogged will cease to exist in the format you have grown to know over these last three years and three months. You see, I have been blessed with my first-ever grant from an Oregon-based non-profit arts agency (more on that later) and this will enable me to offer you an entire remakeover in the first quarter of the new year, the new decade. This will include a small break and please do pardon the reconstruction time. After the sawdust and sparks clear there will be a fresh new site and blog (not unlike a triple powder coated sporty top layer), but it will be a sleeker model. Consider this tjnorris.net V3 ( this is the second full facelift since ‘02). I am having the chassie overhauled to enable for a smoother ride for you and a more stable and interlocking sense of the road ahead for me. Stick around because things will sometimes ride along curves you’ve seen but once it hits 60 there’s no telling where we’ll go.

KAREL APPEL: I think a late night conversation over burgundy wine with this man would have been a trip.

((( LISTEN )))

SITE: Crónica

PET SHOP BOYS ARE BACK AGAIN: It’s so colorful, I just couldn’t resist. That, and the interactive ‘Advent Calendar‘…and given that it’s the season of giving why not also check out the just released Christmas EP!

And here was the track originally recorded back in ‘97 exclusively for its fanclub, now available in a new mix heard here, enjoy!

Thanks SWI

Distinguished curators of the 2010 Whitney Biennial, Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari, announce the included artists. It’s great to see both Portlanders, Storm Tharp and Jessica Jackson Hutchins make the list! It’s also key to mention that if you include MK Guth (included in the 2008 version) that all three have resident studios at TodayArt (my former work space) in the CEID. Sometimes it’s the company you keep, sometimes it’s for safekeeping, but there is a certain energy keeping that space all fired up. Big congratulations to all the included artists, and for giving me a reason to head back east again….

P4P: This year’s event was just great and just different than years past. Many new faces, many more bodies in the heated space, some of the same printers, now in the Pearl with a shop!  And the coffee/bagels and soup were hot and ready. My third such event, I passed the baton last year so it was great to be back. It’s funny and strange and wonderful to be among sculptors, photographers, filmmakers and other artists who never do this kind of work, just to see some of the results - some are really astonishing, some are surprises and loose translations of aspects seen in their work. Others, like me, take the medium for what it is, for its sense of happenstance - and just go! Great to see Stephen Hayes, who conceived of the event, back in town, along with so many colleagues in the house - Annette Thurston, Leiv Fagerang, Pat Boas, Josh Smith, Gabriel Liston, Marie Watt, David Eckard, Brad Adkins, Joe Thurston, Shelby Davis, Justin Oswald, Sarah Meadows, Stephen Slappe, Paige Saez, Arnold Kemp, Tim Dalbow, Noah Nakell, Damien Gilley, Emily Ginsberg, Vanessa Renwick, Bill Park, Jenevive Tatiana, Linda Hutchins, Anna Fidler, Yoshi Kitai, Philip Iosca, and a whole lotta others about! A great event, as usual.

PRINTS FOR PICA ‘09
12/12, 6-9PM

After getting the inks warmed I attempted to make a few somewhat monotone prints incorporating horizontal stripes, and then adding sticks/stacks. A few preliminary flops that needed a second pass - and I later turned them around (w/the help of printing suggestions - and some patience). Made five in all to leave for the fundraiser, I toted one of the less reasonable ones homeward. I enjoy mark-making, so the process becomes less daunting when I can sit and contemplate layers - and also in the comparison of how it is so removed from the calculating digital aspects of work I make. Satisfied to be able to pitch in for PICA, putting in about five hours (about a print an hour). The PICA Shoppe is open through 12/18 for all your pleasures + treasures.

OK, OK, the Gorge is gorgeous and all that - and I love it as much as the next guy, but come on! You’d think that going up to see the flow of water and ice on a Thursday morning might be a quietly scenic respite, but think again…more like Disneyland for rabid, touristy amateur nature photographers, out in droves. Sure I brought along my trusty SLR, and touted it wisely to point-and-shoot at those amongst us, like deer caught in headlights.  The stunning Oregon backdrop was awfully pretty, but the ooglers, smokers and crying babies counterbalanced the sightlines in a clash between the Eddie Bauer-clad and SUV-strapped soccer moms. And it was capital C cold today!  The wind chill at Vista House alone had my friend Lyn and I out of the car and back again in less than five minutes.

Maybe it was just something randomly adrift in the air, but my personal GPS spied one too many tripods, super-sized wide-angle lenses and cellphones standing at attention today. Perhaps its simply the filter the camera suggests, the separation between you and IT. Well, there is a humor in it too. The gaze and allure of spectacular, wild nature, its wrath and in its wake. The crystalization of our resources in all its stop-action glory. Who can blame ‘em? Next time I’ll remember gloves for my nimble digits!

((( LISTEN )))

SITE: Low Point

Cool Flickr Page

If you had a friend from out of town enter the UGB for three days what would your tour look like? Well, for starters, I hadn’t seen my buddy Roland in, well, perhaps a dozen years, neither of us really held the proper count. And showing someone around who lives in the woods outside of the original Portland (ME) I figured this was the perfect counter-culture-imbalanced opportunity to host with cheshire pride. It was nice to have a laidback pal who could relish the fact that in-between things I was engaged in the domestics of laundry, the gym and decorating the new tree (in blues, grey/silver and white this year). I wanted to really provide a special preview of both the quirky and quintessentially Northwest aspects within Stumptown’s radius.

So we ventured out there and with the literal mind half-awake, first stopped into some essential bookshops including Powell’s, Counter Media and Reading Frenzy. A bit of a whirlwind in one shot, but we perused quite a number of varied sections on astrology, art, GLBT, erotica, zines and the like. See the photo above for our peek into the reinvention homage to the original 24 Hour Church of Elvis, a true Portland icon. This fourth (?) incarnation of the “Church” sides the Goldsmith Building in Old Town/Chinatown (on Couch). Drop in some quarters and you’ll hear voices and spy some interesting memorabilia. While en route we wrassled up a cuppa joe at the best bean in town, Stumptown Roasters. With paper cup in hand we then strolled a few doors down to the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts (who also do weddings). And after an eyeful of Tang-covered fried confections rounded the corner towards Fontanelle where Leslie Miller, co-proprietor of this quaint contemporary art space, treated us to a backroom closing peak of Queer Gaze which was a great exchange for all of us.

Over the next few days it made sense to check out the urban-rural delicacies of two very special places dear to me, the ever-quieting power of the Japanese Garden and the petite (and smallest public park in the US) Mills End Park, always different as it invokes our smiles. After cheap happy hour bites at Candy and since it was 1st Thursday we walked through the Pearl to see new shows at PDX Contemporary, Pulliam Gallery (the night’s standout), Blackfish, Beppu Wiarda and meandered down to the Everett Station Lofts to Anka Gallery which had an incredible old-fashioned art walk vibe going on. We also ventured to see/hear the evocative collaboration between Andy Paiko and Ethan Rose at the Museum of Contemporary Craft which requires lesser of a crowd to truly appreciate its subtleties. All-in-all it was a truly great night.

Brunch became us as Fernando joined in the eats at one of our regular spots, the wonderful Caffe Pallino on Division. With lemon curd french toast warming our cockles it was off to another Portland classic, Movie Madness, to ogle Mike’s Museum, the unique costumes and collectibles from movies of yore - now in even nicer museum-style settings. But what trip would be complete without a studio visit-in-reverse! It was a treat to be able to pull out a few flat portfolios to show and tell with my friend. We finally had the opportunity to catch up after so many moons have passed, and as we looked and chatted about some photographs and drawings I realized how important it truly is to get an outsider’s perspective. More food for thought. So to fill the gap later in the evening it was off to one of bridgetown’s most coveted eating establishments nestled under the Morrison Bridge - speaking volumes of the breadth of this town, Montage. I barely let anyone get away without experiencing this true gem amongst us. I am forever tickled to hear the yelp of ‘5 Oyyyssttteeerrrss‘ and the parting gleen of tall and oddly shaped tin foil caricatures filled with leftovers. I just can’t resist the Spold Mac, man oh man!

And on Saturday before heading towards the coast we stopped at one of my old hangouts, The Side Door, for a bagel and caffeine. A straight shot out to Astoria had us to and fro within five hours, stopping only for lunch before hightailing it back to catch the Trailblazers last night. Winning by a single point against Houston in the last minutes of the game, even despite Greg Oden’s fall and subsequent knee injury which will have him out for the remainder of the season. The drive was crisply gorgeous and the sky was shades of blue. But most of all it was great to see an old friend and show-off the wealth of our goods!

Room 208

The 2nd edition of this fundraiser hits the walls
@ Gallery Homeland
12/5 (Saturday) 7-10PM

Just passing through…12/6
Crystal Schenk + Shelby Davis

Have you ever just stared longingly at the ring made from the last dregs of coffee, the edge it produces in the floor of your cup? Today seems like one of those days, the sun sitting fairly calmly in the blue southern sky. Which makes me ponder the other day when Fernando and I saw a matinee of 2012, probably my most anticipated movie of the year. Well, it was basically long and just OK. I’m fascinated by what-ifs, conspiracy theory, dna logic and the like. This disaster movie, based in our time, had some keen special effects, all rotating ’round the aforementioned star above - and the Mayan prediction of the end of time. With consumption, waste, tsunamis, quakes and other earthly realities the movie paints a big picture of cataclysm and the throes of survival. But it is all so overly dramatic. And it misses its opportunity to massage the historical relevance of prophecy by slight mention only. Sure, science dictates the charted courses of our icebergs in New Zealand and Greenland, and the ozone has long had its depleted holes, though the soul of the movie is debatable given this key component. I guess while peering at my coffee ring I was truly staring into my own version of the cosmos.

Arkansas Times reports

SPLASH!
December 3, 2009 - January 9, 2010

Some of my ‘displaced drawings’ will be on view as part of the next exhibition at the Miami Art Exchange Contemporary Art gallery in Wynwood during the art fairs in Miami and throughout December. Ten pieces will be available for the show and I am on view with five additional international artists. This is my first official exhibition in Florida.

Strand (detail) ©TJ Norris, 2007

ARTISTS: Paul Aho (Florida), Mark Dixon (Canada), Till Könneker (Switzerland), TJ Norris (Oregon), Bill Puzstai (Canada), Sara Stites (Florida)

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