From David Kanigan. (Lead. Learn. Live.)

Clutter revisited.

And while I await the shaming I deserve for allowing my studio to become a FEMA site, I ponder a fellow Minnesotan's resourcefulness and a community humble enough to appreciate it.   I speak of one Francis A. Johnson and the little town of Darwin, Minnesota, home to the Johnson Twine Ball, world’s largest twine ball made by a single person.  This fiberous Gargantua is 12 feet in diameter and wieghs 10,400 lb.  It took Mr. Johnson 29 years to roll that ball.  He began it in his basement in 1950. Bit by bit, piece by piece, winding and winding.... 4 hours a day.  Day after day after day. And when it became too big to wind by hand, he moved it outside to finish the job with railroad jacks.  Some say he was obsessed with controlling clutter, even gave his life to the cause. It has been said by many a Darwinian, it was the twine dust itself caused the emphysema that killed him. To clean or not to clean.

So you think you can paint?!

I rarely see work that knocks my socks off and makes me want  to change my name, run to my studio and start over.  Summer Wheat (the artist's name) at the Samson Project Gallery has got to be the most vital, exciting painter I have seen in a very, very long time. (This painting is very large and I swear the paint is 7 inches thick in places!) ( And yes, it is  horizontal).

Is that a rubber-binder in your hot dish?

This is basically the equivalent of "Is that an elastic in your borscht?" Point being, there are infinite dialects and perspectives to describe such a situation.  There is a rubber band in the midst of your nutritional substance. And there you have it: the Rubber-binder Theory. Its kind of like String Theory for those with short attention spans, overactive imaginations and lack of appreciation for logic and math skills.  Artists. And such. We who appreciate that things are always falling apart.  And while they can not return to the same shape or condition they had been - well, a little duct tape, a few elastic bands, a little genetic engineering and they may not be the same, but they surely will be unique!