First Friday: September 2024 - Beyond the Studio
Inspiration & Updates from Brian Madden Studio
“Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Hi friends,
Sometimes I judge myself for not always being inspired when I step into the studio. I wish I could be one of those artists who can just walk in each morning and create. But that’s not how it typically plays out.
My studio practice is about getting outside, being with people, traveling. I find inspiration in produce boxes stacked on the sidewalk, the call of an unknown bird in a far off forest, or the motion of a subway clanging along through a midtown tunnel. I make art based on the life that I’m living, as I’m living it, wherever that may be.
Since ideas can come from anywhere and everywhere, my job is to keep an eye out, an ear open, and a pen ready. If I can stay conscious of the creative possibilities I might encounter, then bringing ideas to life in the studio can be the result.
This month I’m excited to share what’s been guiding my practice beyond the studio. I’ll share:
WHAT I’M SEEING: Return to New York
WHAT I’M READING: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
WHAT I’M MAKING: Time in Motion NYC & Mussels at MoMA (café 2)
WHAT I’M SHOWING: Noe Valley Minidoc & 50th SF Open Studios
WHAT I’M HEARING: Summer Madness
You’re getting First Friday because you’ve supported my work, visited the studio, or otherwise signed up to stay in touch. Thanks for joining me on this ride!
WHAT I’M SEEING: Return to New York
It felt like ages since I’d been to New York. So when my wife learned that work would be bringing her to Manhattan this August, I glommed on and made it my own work trip. My goal was to do a little business development, catch up with old friends and collectors, and hit a few museums I’d been jonesing to see. With so many inspiring sights, I wanted to pick a few to share with you.
First stop was the Noguchi museum in Queens, the home of the archives of artist and designer Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi is one of my creative idols, a Japanese American artist and designer, who worked for Constantin Brâncuşi in Paris and already achieved global notoriety before being interned with other Japanese Americans during World War II.
Despite this dark spot in history, Noguchi created an enormous body of sculptures, products, and iconic public installations across the globe. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, founded in 1985 in Queens, preserves his archive and displays his work alongside curated exhibitions of other artists aligned with the spirit of his practice. The museum is directly across the street from the studio he worked in since 1960.
The Noguchi Garden was a quiet respite from the noise of the city, shading us from the heat of the summer. It’s well worth a visit next time you’re in NYC. If you’re coming from Manhattan, try taking the ferry!
My next stop was MoMA, one of my go-to spots while visiting New York. Walking through the David Geffen wing, I was struck by a large drawing on three giant pieces of paper by an Australian-born, LA-based artist Toba Khedoori.
Khedoori created this large regimented drawing of doors with different tones of blue and black, some with windows illuminated, seeming to stretch far beyond the boundary of the three-part canvas. The wax-coated paper looked like it had been well-loved, with footprints and pet hair. I felt a kinship with the piece because it captured the reality of the creative process, with all its signs of life.
Another visitor who happened to be in from Australia was inspired by it too, and we ended up walking the galleries and chatting for an hour and a half about history, empires, and how the USA fits into the historical narrative. Thanks for the chat Shane, excited to stay in touch.
Walking back downtown from the museum, I caught a glimpse of an incredible photo-realistic tapestry of crumpled foil behind the welcome desk of a marble skyscraper lobby. I stepped inside and learned it was the work of Pae White, an artist living between Sonoma County and Los Angeles.
Created from a hi-res digital image with a computer-assisted loom, Pae’s work is a reminder that art doesn’t always require the physical hand of the artist to be art. It just needs to express an idea, realize a vision, say something (or not). This freedom helps unlock the possibility of expression on larger scales, in new media, and with alternative techniques. Speaking of scale, after some research, I learned that in 2008, White created metafoil, the iconic stage curtain at the Snøhetta-designed Oslo Opera Theater.
WHAT I’M READING: Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
Recommended by one of my industrial design professors in my 20s to offer advice on writing, I embarrassingly didn’t pick it up until my 30s, but this book is now one of my all-time favorites. Writer Anne Lamott’s vulnerability as a storyteller makes me feel so seen – like having a conversation with a mentor who truly understands the ups and downs of living a creative life.
Bird by Bird is a charming tell-all that explores writing and life through Lamott’s funny, poignant voice. She was born into a family of writers and knows its challenges more than most. Turns out that even if you were born with a pen in your hand, it’s still just as hard.
Throughout the book, Lamott underscores the importance of learning to embrace the mundane (sometimes excruciating) process of the pursuit, not only the outcome. And I audibly gasped when she surprised me with the quintessential quote from my very favorite movie, Cool Runnings. If you need a refresher, Cool Runnings is a 1993 feel-good sports comedy about the first ever Jamaican bobsled team. A group of sprinters, coached by a disgraced former bobsled champion, overcame the odds to earn selection to the Winter Olympics, eventually becoming the darlings of the 1988 Calgary Winter Games.
“Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it.”
Coach Irv Blitzer (John Candy, Cool Runnings (1993)
Bird by Bird came out in 1994, only a year after Cool Runnings premiered, so I can understand how Anne Lamott might have been moved to weave it in. I love how she drew inspiration from life as it happened, and 30 years later, it still feels just as timely amidst the Olympic spirit in 2024. I hope you’ll find something useful in her message, and learn the meaning of the title for yourself.
WHAT I’M MAKING: Time in Motion NYC & Mussels at MoMA (café 2)
Even though my Time in Motion series started on airplanes, I’m finding that trains, subways, and buses are perfect backdrops for seismic mark making. Here are 5 drawings I created over the course of one subway trip through Manhattan in late August, transferring from the A line to the B line.
The next morning on the M7 bus heading uptown from Columbus Circle, looking forward to visiting MoMA, I felt compelled to break out a blue Prockey marker I picked up in Japan.
The following afternoon, I made it to MoMA and headed upstairs to the 2nd floor cafe for lunch (can’t look at art on an empty stomach). As is tradition, I started drawing on the paper placemat while waiting for the food to arrive. Mussels this time.
Midway through the drawing, the floor manager stopped by and said, “hey, that’s cool. If you sign and date it, we’ll put it in the book.” When I asked what the book was, he proceeded to drop a heavy binder onto the table – chock full of placemat art! And with that, I am humbled to share with you that my artwork now lives in the MoMA (second floor café placement drawing binder). Thanks Victor!
After exploring the museum, I left MoMA and took the F train downtown, using my ticket as the canvas for a 10-minute Time in Motion drawing. I love how complex the drawing turned out to be, thanks to the subway clanging along beneath Midtown.
Who knows where this work will go next! In the meantime, I created this example of how I might express the Time in Motion from the M7 bus ride on a larger scale, in Nero Marquina marble with a blue painted metal backing to recall the color of the bus.
WHAT I’M SHOWING: Noe Valley minidoc & 50th SF Open Studios
Having the opportunity to present my artwork in the Noe Valley Garden Tour earlier this year gave me a chance to expand the scale of my artistic expression and try out new material among friends and neighbors.
I’m excited to share a behind the scenes look at the installation and exhibition, filmed and edited by Juan Urrutia. The film sheds some light into the process of setting up for the one-day event. Hope you enjoy.
Sonic Monument to the Morning Dew and Bed of Mussels will be on display in Dogpatch on October 5 & 6 as part of the 50th annual artspan SF Open Studios!
I also invite you to check out the 50th SFOS kick-off celebration, ArtLaunch, on September 19 from 6-9pm at SOMArts in San Francisco. I’ll be presenting my drawing Sonic Monument Warm Study alongside the work of other Bay Area artists.
WHAT I’M HEARING: Summer Madness
Much like how I fuel my artistic practice, I keep my ears perked for musical inspiration, and this month brought a great sampling of our sonic landscape. September starts slow with Summer Madness from when I saw Khruangbin at the Greek in Berkeley. We’ll travel through a range of genres with another highlight by Ahmed Malek from Surface Magazine’s write-up of Chelsea Ryoko Wong’s show at Jessica Silverman in SF, and then build to a crescendo, like a good party should!
The First Friday Playlist can only consist of songs I’ve heard, received, discovered, or rediscovered out in the world, songs overheard at coffee shops, restaurants, bars, galleries, or received from friends and family IRL & online.
Thanks for your time. Take care and talk soon,
Brian
brian@brianbmadden.com
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, via James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter (highly recommend)
I'm sad I missed "Sonic Monument to the Morning Dew." What a beautiful concept and collaboration. I'll be keeping an eye out for future Bay Area exhibits. Excited to have discovered your Subtack today.