Natural Swaying Via Forced Meditation

Spent the weekend working on side projects and client web sites. Tonight I put a fresh coat of silver on a new batch of cheeseburgers. This will be the final state for these pieces. I'm not going to do any of these, unless they are in silver from now on. These are all McDonalds cheeseburgers. I'm going to give Burger King a go next. I like their sesame seed buns. Of course, the McDonald Big Mac is another item I've spent a good deal of time looking to replicate.. but these I'd like to cast in plaster or if I could afford it some type of metal... maybe even aluminium [Al, 13] if I could find a place to do them. I've been experimenting with freezing the sandwiches to see if they could get to an optimal state where I could use some form of dental plaster to develop a production mold for them. I'll have to do an even amount to the number of Big Mac containers I have in the studio right now... I think the count is somewhere around 65 or 70. I suppose at this point I'd like to make it an even 100... with a few extra artists proofs/variants as well.

Sundays Are For Sleepin' In Even Later

Here are some pictures from the SPIN show. Thanks Kanka... the man always has some sort of camera on him.






Kanka snapped this picture of the lady who bought 'Dance-Dance-Dance'. He said he thinks he spooked her out when he asked to snap a pic of her in the parking lot. I'm sure he did too... my buddie had a lot to drink that night.

Here is me and Steph getting our portrait done. It took so long we weren't able to get over to see Geier finish playing at the top of the Hilton — Nikolai's Roof. But we did get over there in enough time for us to all hang out. Yeah, I was still in costume... people must have been weirded out a little. I wasn't though. All I wanted was a cheesburger and a nap... and to my suprise everyone I asked about these things, gave me directions to both.


ELVIS v. KINGSIZED

The Kingsized Elvis show was just amazing. There had to be at least 800+ people packed into the Variety Playhouse. It was intense. I saw Fredrick from Degenerate Press and we discussed the sad news about the Starlight Drive-In and those jerk-offs at New Line Cinema. If you don't know what's happening check out what The Degenerate Press says — Degenerate Press: Live Journal
Fredrick said he should put together a 4th of July Event there... I'll hold him to that. Kanka showed up after I told him that if he was smart he'd come to the show. So he smart'ned up. We had some drinks and some chuckles. Tee Hee!!

Met with Luna Luxx after the show... check out the lashes on her. Ohh baby!!

Had 3:00AM breakfast at the Majestic. Me — Western omlette, coffee, and hashbrowns with cheese. Miss. Luxxy — 2 eggs over-easy, hashbrowns and wheat toast. Delicious... thank you Mr. Mike for the meal again. What a hell-of-a guy.

Saturdays Are For Sleepin' In

WATCH OUT BRITNEY... HERE COMES VERONICA!


The show last night was a big success for Spin. They had almost 100 items up for auction. Everything from art - sculpture - glassware - jewlery - certificates and lots more. All of my works were bought in the beginning of the show and by the end all had multiple bids on them. Which is very good — The person who bought 'Dance - Dance - Dance' is going to be putting it in their office building. Thats pretty cool. I'll have to go and see it there for real sometime.
A lot of people were really wild about the 4 drawings I submitted. Which was strange, as I figured people would hate them. But I was asked by quite a few people - what they were about - how i did the transfers - etc. I ended up giving away 20 or more website cards... so I guess we may get a few more viewers to the blog.
Got several pictures taken of me and the angry & always late (she was shopping) Veronica. However I don't have any of them right now. However we did get this strange portrait of us done. Those French artists are drinking to much absinth I think.



Got to do some karoke myself last night too. I did 3 songs — Clash: Rock the Cassba — B-52's: Love Shack — Iggy Pop: The Passenger — . I rocked the stage and didn't fall to my doom once. The DJ was same guy as the year before... he asked if I was that guy from last year and I winked. I did my brithsh accented grunting Clash - My best Fred with fly moves - The Iggy Pop dance. What a fun evening. Lots of my friends showed up which was great great great.
I'd have to say though, that my favorite part of the show was talking to people and catching them with strange looks as I talk to them in costume. I think it bothered some folks to talk to somebody all costumed up. It's reminded me of what Ray Johnson once said when he was asked about his work — 'By acting I mean I am putting you on, by acting I mean I'm performing here, but I'm also playing the role of an artist who is talking about what he does, but I'm playing with you both by talking to you, I'm just haveing fun by talking about this, but I do this... I have a Deadpan Club. I do this with a dead pan expression, like I'm really very serious, but underneath it all it's a Dada joke."

Headed to the Kingsized Elvis Show tonight... It's gonna be a' gimmer ana gammer


MAILING TRANSFERRAL
August 13, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 36 (postcard)

Show Night — SPIN & GIN V: Caberat

TONIGHT
SPIN & GIN V — Caberat!
914 Howell Mill Road, Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30318

6:00 - 10:00PM
$25 Donation at the door

—
2:15PM
Got home from my morning of community work. Hot and tired boxed food all morning. Getting cleaned up and putting together the last 4 works for the show. 4 hours till the party'n starts... yeee-haw.

—
8:35AM
VIVA LAS VEGAS

Geier is the man... check out the King chattin' on FOX 5.


The Late King


Luna Luxx does her stuff

—
7:52AM
Went to Stephs last night to finish up final production of my costume for the show and to check out hers. That girl is just too damn fast on a sewing machine. A lot faster than me.... wow!! The costume is finished as well as a major change in my appearance, I don't really notice it though. Again, major points to Steph for helping me with all this into the late late hours last night.

We both woke up really really early this morning... I have to donate some time to some community service for work and Steph is going to be on 'Good Morning Atlanta' FOX 5 to promote the Kingsized Elvis Show tomm. night. Geier is supposed to rock the TV set this morning. We are sleeping in tomm. Neither of us has had much sleep this week, way to many thing going on. Ahhhh!!! Paper Fashion Show is coming soon... AHHHH!!! Need sleep.

Show tonight... I'll update later.

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 12, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermitted Jughead 35 (postcard)

Come On Give Me A Drink For Heavens Sake — Why Don't You Cut It Short — Give Me Another Drink

8:27PM
Dance-Dance-Dance is complete. After waiting 2 hours at the customer pick-up counter, the Fader has finally reached my home and has been installed. All I can say right now is that this painting is so fucking good it makes me have to take a step back. I have tons of shit to work on tonight (all nighter) I'll write more later. But again... this painting is FUCKING amazing!!!! If you weren't planning on coming to this show you are going tom miss the best work there... so get your ass to the show! I'm damn serious too!!

—
12:02AM
Just shut off 'Dance-Dance-Dance'. Before I finished though, I hooked each colors (red/white) electrical plug into 2 different power strips. Then I flipped the switches on the strips back and forth to see how the strobe effect would look. After only a few seconds of watching the pulsing red then white lights I marveled at how great it looked, but also how uneasy and sick I felt — PERFECT!!! The slightly slower strobe effect I'm going to deploy is going to rock this show so so hard.
The pulsating lights make it look like a street side advertisement for some sleazy establishment. There are no letters or numerals on the entire work, so instead, we communicate with a set of select symbols all in the the form of Jughead. The Jughead's' various gestures and paced actions placed in a plenary void, combined with the lighting scheme, advertise a place that contains infinte possibilities within it. The title 'Dance-Dance-Dance' refers to the way we should act in such a free and open environment. Have fun with life... create every moment of it in your own image and enjoy the labors of this action at all times.
The lights do some very interesting things with the paint as I had suspected and then purposefully planned for. The red and white lights reveal and conceal certain aspects of the red and white enamel paint on blue background. Colors cancel out and others are enhancened, but at no time can we see the entire picture, unless we were to place it in direct white light. So, you have to fill in the void of missing information in your mind. Just as we do in everyday life, the plenary void forces us to create environments and situations to involve ourselves in.


SNEAK PEEK

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 10, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 33 (postcard)

They Are Drilling Tiny Holes In My Skull

10:48
Blood — Blood — Blood. It just wants to keep flowing.... delicious.

—
10:32PM
Just shaved all the hair off the back of my thigh and cleaned the wound with alcohol and benzadine. Applied a butterfly sutcher to the huge gap I created. YUMMY!! The bleeding has slown a bit... I probably need stitches, but I'll leave the turnakit on a while longer. My dressing will heal it just as well as stitches tonight. Would rather have the cool scar anyways. A strange feeling, shaving ones thigh... well, at least for a man that has never done such a task before. Poor women... such a horribly lengthy process to please men... I must admit though... there is nothing like a long smooth thigh to run ones hand up.

—
10:12PM
DAMN & OUCHH... I didn't think I was making any other works of art tonight until I found an X-acto knife lodged into my left thigh with blood squirting out across the room (YES there is blood everywhere in my living room). I'm sitting at that blood stained couch right now wearing a turnakit on my left thigh as I write to you. I know for sure I cut something really really deep and really really bad, but I ain't about to go drive to some emergency room. All hail the Boy Scouts of America!@!!


Before I dressed my leg in a tornakit I followed my typical Retroconsumeristic ideals and created a self-generated chaotic blot drawing — 4 of them.

Fuck... I'm still bleeding really bad (laff).. umm well. Anyways, enjoy the few pics of the fun. I tried a few times, but decided it best to reapply the turnakit to my leg, since I couldn't capture the blood spurts on my cell phone camera emanating from my leg. Enjoy... OUCH!!

—
8:46PM
Went to the hardware store today and it was a total success. I found the receptacle cap pieces I needed for the lights and well below the price I had limited myself to — 0¢ - 30¢ each. CAMPAK RGD 3/4" - 1/2" Steel Reducing Washers. These are just the most incredible and most practical, as well as classy cap pieces, for only 15¢ each. It's the same cap you would use on a large lighted sign, so I makes the work look even more vintage than it really is. It's so perfect.

Sealed the caps to/over the 1" openings with clear silicone sealant. Had to wait 2 hours for it to set (24 to cure) and I've began to string the final wiring. I was thinking that I might have to use silicone sealant to mount the receptacles into the frame but instead I've decided to use 1/8" fiber insulated staples. I wasn't sure if they would keep the receptacles in place, but once you screw the bulbs in, the tension/width of the bulb to recepticale to washer, forces the lightbulb to remain perfectly aligned.

This piece is going to be so damn good looking. There isn't a single portion of this work that feels out of place or cheap. There just isn't. I would say this work is mechanically the finest piece I've excecuted to date and a definitly pivotal point in my entire body of works electrical maturity.
On a bad note the stupid company I ordered the lights from decided it made more sense to send the Fader Controller I'm waiting for to the billing address v. the shipping address... Hmmmm — They originally shipped everything but the Fader to the shipping address so of course it makes perfect sence to mail the missing part to another place. Now I have to contact 'my' stupid company because they will not leave an overnight package at my door without a signature. GRRRR... this angers me so. I'll jump thru those hoops tomm., but in the meantime not even that can anger me. This work is looking more classical than anything I've ever done.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Attended the strangest of birthday parties. The theme was Surreal Circus. The entire loft was full of huge balloons... I mean it was waist deep and above with large balloons when Steph and I arrived. The entire loft was jam packed simply unreal. Now as for costumes... I didn't bring anything over to Stephs' and she frowned on me. Of course now, Steph the all too clever clothing designer herself, had a large amount of silly things to wear (silly if your a man). I wore (to her fall-on-the-floor-marriage-proposal-laughter) a pair of orange and black striped tights with a blue & gold one piece ensconced in sequins (chest hair in full view). The entire outfit rode my crotch and rode my crotch hard (someone called me Superman later in the evening), but it was so damn funnny looking that I 'had' to wear it out. She topped my costume off with a red bowed black cape and red 'Robin' mask. I looked.... well... 'indescribable'. Steph decided to step into her other persona of Monkey Lulu. Lulu wore a pair of hand made silver hot pants and a Wonder Woman sequined top with matching red calf-high leather boots. Gorgeous little monkey... ohh yeah she had the black lip liner, croaked pony-tails and monkey mask going too. Prettiest symbian I ever dun seen.
We arrived at the location (Mattress Factory Lofts) and couldn't get in right off. I suggested we walk to the other door and there we saw the party thru a window. Monkey Lulu instinctively rushed to an adjacent garden ledge and danced around and thru a fish at the window to get the groups attention. When everyone turned to look Monkey Lulu became scared and jumped straight up into my open arms. That Monkey Lulu is just too cute. The party rocked and there were still too many balloons left behind. What a great night!!

PICTURES COMING SOON

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 8, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 31 (postcard)

This Is Strictly A Holy Matter

Well I don't know if the electrical system is still going to work out... but at least my painting has 50 holes in it now. Headed out to make costumes at Stephs this afternoon. Will worry about the mounting of the lights after I perform some minor cosmetic surgery on the painting. A few touch-ups around the holes.



—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 6, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretemitted Jughead 30 (postcard)

A Person Working In The Service Of A Toothed Wheel That Engages Another Person Who Records Sound By Scratching Continuous Grooves Into Their Flesh

My light bulbs are here!!!! They are finally here!!! One hundred of the most beautiful ceramic light bulbs I've ever seen. This changes everything as far as the painting is concerned. I can not believe how absolutly absolute these match the red and white enamel painted figures. I haven't even had a chance to put them side-by-side and I know that they are spot on. My heart is beating pretty fast... I'm really really ecstatic. This is so so amazing!!

I can't wait to get home and work on this painting!!! The only bad thing is that the company left the Fader out of my shipment... they will be overnighting it to me though. Good folks at the All American Christmas Co.

Hung out at a Linton birthday party last night at Canoe (it was a gas — Kelly was funny as hell) and then Steph and I went over to Mary's to check out a really fun Drag performance. Some really great songs, sung on the bar itself (that's class if you ask me), with a good Siouxsie and The Banshees closer. Good croud there, even though it was raining. The DJ was kickin' the Eagles of Death Metal and the video screens were pulsing electric sex and retro-vitriol.

Photo: DOVER

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 5, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 29 (postcard)

Impair The Respiration Of Or Obstruct The Air Passage Of An Equivalence Or Correspondence Among Constituents Of An Entity

5:15PM
OFF TO THE PICTURE SHOW!!!

—
4:30PM
Adjusted the schematics for the work — 50 bulbs v. 66 bulbs. The reason being, besides cost savings, is that the Fader can only handle 3 Amps and with the previous setup I was going to need 2.1 Amps x 2 = 4.2 Amps. Now I only require 1.5 Amps x 2 = 3 Amps. The larger amount of bulbs would have fried the Fader.
Placed an order for all the components I wanted. Bulbs - Stringers - Fader. Went thru a different company as well and was able to save myself $30. I'm happy with that. Had everything sent UPS 2nd Day Air so i should begin instalation of these suckers this weekend. Like I said the money is a small stretch, but the work is more important than me right now. I'll be extremely proud to be near it at the show. Now the difficult task of putting it all together begins!

Here is the revised schematic:


—
4:00PM
OK — So now that I've figured out how to calculate for Amps... all I can say is.... DAMN YOU AMPS!!! I have to fix my plans... pushing too many Amps currently.

—
3:40PM
Calculations for electrical load requirements of 'Dance-Dance-Dance'

Total Number of Bulbs X Bulb Wattage ÷ 110 = Amps Needed

Basic Calculations
(1) x 7 Watts ÷ 110 = 0.0636 Amps
(25) x 7 Watts ÷ 110 = 1.590 Amps

'DANCE-DANCE-DANCE' Lighting needs
(33) x 7 Watts ÷ 110 = 2.1 Amps

TOTAL FOR WORK
(66) x 7 Watts ÷ 110 = 4.2 Amps

The cord I'm using has a max load of 5 Amps... so nothing should overload. The problem is the Fader Controller.. it only can take 3 Amps. DAMNIT...

—
3:25PM
LIGHTING - LIGHTING -LIGHTING
Why does this crap cost so much... it just blows my mind that little light bulbs can cost so much. I'm having to bite my tongue and hold my left hand back from punching my nose, as I consider spending a large wad of cash on this lighting system for 'Dance-Dance-Dance'. I haven't hit the PLACE MY ORDER button just yet, but I'm close. But now as I sit here and write this, I wonder... is there that much of a difference when it comes to $70 and $100. Should I just order all the crap I need or give-up and compromise. I never do that with my own work... so I'm wondering why I should start now. Money is always the most annoying of factors when creating art, but sticking to your convictions and struggling financially for a short time is alright. Especially when the work is as you envisioned it. I AM TORN...

—
10:30AM
Completed a huge portion of 'Dance-Dance-Dance' last night. As I suspected, the '1 SHOT Letterning Enamel' I picked up was the perfect choice. Amazing stuff. I loved how the figures I painted looked so much, I decided to repeat them in pattern all over the work. They look amazing. So now that the background elements are finished and the work finally appears grounded, I have to figure out a way to re-centralize the composition with the 3 smaller white figures. I believe I'll combine the central figures with other elements by linking them together with silver paint. We'll see how that works itself out.
Have sneak preview passes to The Aristocrates tonight. Gonna go with Steph... should be the most obscene, disgusting, vulgar, and vile film (as well as the funniest) we've ever seen. At least thats how they bill it.

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 2, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 26 (postcard)

An Outward Or Token Appearance Or Form That Separates The Limbs From The Body

4:08PM
Just finished creating my electrical schematic for 'Dance-Dance-Dance'.



I finally have real numbers to work with. Here's what I need:

(1) Fader Controller
(3) C9 Light String, 25' Length, 12" Spacing, 5 Amp, White Wire
(50) C9 Opaque (Frosted) White, 7 Watt Replacement Lamps
(50) C9 Opaque (Frosted) Red, 7 Watt Replacement Lamps

There will be a total of 66 bulbs on the work — 25 on each side and 8 top/bottom. They will alternate around the work white/red/white/red. Each color bulb will run on it's own line so a fader can be employeed. The fader allows each color blink on and off in an alternating rhythm with themselves. It can handle up to 300W per channel (2 channels). The bulbs are 7W @ 33 = 231W. This is going to work wonderfully.
There might be a little cost in doing this ($60), but what I want to try and do is not order online because the shipping is murder. I need to find somewhere local that has what I need.

—
1:40PM
Just got back from PEARL... spent a little more than I wanted to, but it'll be worth it. I found an old paint I used to use a while back that is just perfect for my thick opaque coating, thin line & drip needs. It's 1 Shot Lettering Enamel and boy does this stuff work really well. It's an oil based gloss enamel that's really durable and almost totally fade resistant. The thing I really like about it is how easily it flows from the brush and that it doesn't leave any brush marks. The paint drys in 2 hours and cures within 8... unlike most household enamels. It's really amazing stuff, better than what you'd get at Home Depot and a lot more reliable. So I'll have to skip a meal or two because of this paint... it's a weird lifestyle when you choose paint over food. I'm so ready to get home and get working with this stuff. I bought 3 colors — Pure White - Bright Red - Metallic Silver. I'm not completely sure what I'll be using silver for yet, but I'm sure that it'll reveal itself after I get working.

—
11:35AM
Headed out into this big world to buy myself some brushes and paints... YESH!! Gonna go hit PEARL first and then hit the hardware stores on the flip side. I think the hardware store will have paints closer to what I'm looking for... cheaper too. Have to collect these supplies today because I have a long night of work ahead of me. A long night.

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
AUGUST 1, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 25 (postcard)

"It Wasn't A Date." — "It Twas A Date Lolita!"

3:33PM
Gonna head out of work early today. Nothing going on and everyone is gone at a damn Braves Baseball game. I think I'm gonna head over to Criminal Records and grab a couple magazines and get a beer at the Vortex. Got a lot of painting to do tonight but I kinda want to just hang around the town for a little while before iI go home and put in a late night. Also I want to drive around the 6 Points area a little anyways and see if there is any good grafitti to look at. I'm considering adding some spray painted sections to my 'Dance-Dance-Dance' painting, but I'm not totally sure how or even why. Thats why I want to go to somewhere like the Vortex and do some more sketching out of my ideas before I head home. I always get some pretty good ideas hanging out around that part of town... PLUS I want to wander into the Junkman and see if the have any new cheap plastic shit that I might want to buy. Might have dinner later with Steph if she's not to slammed... will have to see.
Getting back to the painting however, I'm going to begin wiring the work this Sunday. Cost is absolutly a factor. I don't want to spend to much on it especially seeing that I make no money from the work (it's for a good cause though). So far I've only spent $10 on Brilliant blue acrylic paint. I'd like to keep the cost for bulbing & wiring to under $30. We shall see if that is possible. What I really need is 2 types of small christmas like bulbs. There's a store in Atlanta called Atlanta Light Bulbs in Tucker. I'm going to try there first. Here's what I need.


(30 count) — 7-5WC7/RED 130V 7W C7 CERAMIC RED 130V 7C7 CANDELABRA BASE 7214 HALCO C7RED5C


(30 count) — 7-5WC7/WHITE 7W C7 CERAMIC WHITE 130V CANDELABRA BASE 7C7

60 total bulbs on the work @ 30¢ each — $18.00 (might even go to 80+ bulbs if I can) The real issue is finding the bulb bases and then wiring it all (but they may have some suggestions at this store). The second challange is building a circuit that makes the bulbs flash on & off in pattern. Linton says he thinks he'll be able to help me wire it all and create the circuit. So we shall see Sunday.
The other interesting component for this work is the musical score that I'm creating for it. I've been composing a few different ideas on paper of the past few days... I'm just working on a techno/dance type groove. It's gonna have a lot of vocal samples in it, a groovy hook and of course a good beat. It's going to be about 3 minutes long. When the work is displayed the music will run off my iPod, but whoever gets the work will get a CD with the music on it and they can then run the attached speaker cord into whatever they want. If I had a lot of money I'd run the music off a iPod Shuffle and leave it in the work, but I'm not spending $100 when I get nothing back. However, I think this will be a great way to do the same type of scenario in some future work. I'm headed out of here.


—
1:46AM
Confidence is now, extremely high tonight. The paintings proposition is working out as planned, but because of my apprehension with the production of the work earlier tonight, it has, as the usual with my work, evolved and matured during this evenings fabrication process. It is becoming more and more Pop as my disposition with the work matures. I'm absolutly feverish about the rate in which this work is advancing, in both technique and composition. It will truely be something like I've never done before. How thrilling!!!

—
MAILING TRANSFERRAL
JULY 28, 2005
—————
BARKER - Pretermited Jughead 22 (postcard)
LUDWIG - Lux Blue (postcard)