C.ommunity (for me at least) involves showing up and participating in any form of action which assists and or brings value to a situation. Being willing to step in when extra hands are needed. Eagerly a participant sans the motive of some sort of reward in return.
Popped out to a pop-up in Crown Heights to experience an exhibit of art and music co-curated by Okai (@okaimusik), a member of my community in Brooklyn. I brought my camera because it would be a good opportunity to capture candids and I love being able to pass anyone photos documenting an event even if there are people there to document it. My friend Rich (@haitianrich) who’d normally be taking stills was filming. There was no dedicated photographer.
Sometimes people have a difficult time knowing how to fit in various community situations. This for me always involves at minimum two things: 1. My awareness of what I definitely have to offer. 2. An awareness of what assistance is needed and whether or not I can wholly accept the responsibility of whatever work that needs to be done.
I'm a natural team player who by default arrives ready to get hands dirty. A success for the community is a success for C.
I was able to contribute more than being a body in a space at the event which alone is valuable when we speak of community support, but I also have material to contribute in the form of documentation of this experience that for the most part will only be a memory for those who attended. The moment can live on through the videos recorded by Rich and the stills I captured. Also benefiting continued promotion of the album that was released which was part of this as well as the art on exhibit and it’s creators.
Think about how you can bring value to your own community especially through the things you enjoy doing the most and do well while also being open to assist in things which may not be in your purview, within reason. Engage in this exercise mindfully thinking on how you can show up in the healthiest way which suits the occasion and is comfortable for you.
Sometimes just stick around to fold up chairs after the function or help tidy up to get the venue back in the order it was in before the engagment began. Simple.
C.
Recently I was thinking about the abundance of material I have which ends up in bundles each day I shoot. Folders full of potential fodder, likely inspiration for someone else. Strangers from around the globe who I'll never meet. Why not make photography, digital images of my creation as well as sounds available for free download? It's a way to invite collaboration or in the least give another being something to work with, even if I never see the end result.
As much as many artists like to be perceived the epitome of anti everything, as denouncers of capitalism and feasting on the rich, most aren't willing to give any bit of art away freely and will argue with others about devaluing their work with accessible prices, regularly mirroring typical elitist sentiments contributing to more noise polluting our contemporary 'art world'. You don't have to give away art, but don't ridicule anyone else for their choice to do so. It will not adversely affect anything you have going on I promise.
I don't hoard books and things someone else could benefit from so why wouldn't I release digital files I'll likely never put to use. I also started my research around stock photography and passive income, also more visibility. It's important for me to recognize the tools and resources at my disposal so I'm not complaining about what I don't have and to fully use what I do. The action of adding a collaborate page to this website as well as a links page is to continue what I do irl; invite community. Consider this post as your invitation to create with or frankly without C. using materials I provide freely. Assisting in the creativity of another is fine with me, even if I don't know I've done it which is often the case in general as I share free content across social media platforms. Why not do it on purpose?
I started writing this post and lost my original scribe three paragraphs in. I know better than to start a draft outside of an application which does not autosave or give a saving option. But here we are and I digress.
Was in the city Friday for four hours. In this stream of conscious post I share some images captured during my trek. These are personal images outside of what I was tasked to document in the city on this day. Yes sneaky ass Chrysler Building I caught you spying on me through the window of some random building. Reflections caught in photos can be quite remarkable. What light captures and reveals, the eye captures and notes and the camera’s interpretation all give much to ponder and discuss. I’m fascinated by the worlds within worlds living in a reflection.
There was a projection in the window behind the mannequin in the photos above. Immediately as I took each one I thought of how I could edit them to bring certain aspects forward. To alter and make it more pronounced in typical fashion. I’m giving you the doctoredless images so you can see what was captured in rawest form. If you’d like, feel free to download and edit these images. In doing so, notice how the wordless story shifts.
I’m working on spending more time with all of my art. From simple photo captures to my paintings. As I draft this and review the photos I’m posting I’m recognizing things I did not when I initially took them. Relearning to sit with things and truly experience them. So much to be gleaned even from the seemingly mundane. This blog orginally was going in a different differection that ultimately would lead us to reflection anyway. Many paths leading to the same destination which really isn't a destination.
Today, take time to REFLECT. However it makes sense to for you.
C.
One trip to the dentist had this then seven year old David DeVore questioning reality, added a hit of more than likely Lidocaine which hadn't yet worn off post visit during the ride home. Some would say the time during the global pandemic of 2020 was surreal. Unprecedented, humankind has never collectively experienced anything close to it. I do recall an oddness of energy the initial first few weeks and have to say I did in fact share David's sentiment, which probably at least partially explains my creation of the work, "THIS HIGH TO RIDE" by Pixellitist, part of the Quasi Surrealistic Era series. Surely my subconscious contributed to the fabrication of this dreamlike digital work or just maybe it was my attempt to conjure the beginning of a makeshift Black Mirror episode, a replacement for my entertainment as the series was paused during the pandemonium.
On a basic level access to new information especially images/video constantly reshapes our individual and collective realities daily. Nevermind the need to suss out 'fake news' regularly, it's often challenging to know what is 'real'; literally. It doesn't help that many of today's headlines read as if directly taken from The Onion, hence the use of the word quasi in the title of my series. The images border on a place which could actually be real. But life is but a dream, right?
"If Bezos worked the carnival in Kansa City." In a moment I'll reveal how this work gained this description.
Originally drafted for minting as a NFT (Non-fungible Token) on ETH blockchain the work is a combination of wildy unrelated images. In making these I wanted to incorporate original material sourced from the real world or by my own creation with found ones via Google. [Look at me I'm the quasi analog Midjourney!]
The background of the piece begins with a photo I took during my visit to the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park in Kansas City, Missouri back in 2017. I processed (datamoshed) the photo online via a site called PhotoMosh enabling the psychedelic adjacent effect. Again it’s a way for me to embed C.’s finger print in my work as Pixellitist. I was anonymous when I developed the moniker and started a digital art community the same year using social media platforms FB, IG and Twitter. When March of 2020’s black swan landed I didn’t paint for some time and leaned into making digital art while rediscovering much of the work I began making three years prior.
I no longer have the actual eyeball I scrubbed the web to use as heads replacing the ones of the figures in the series. I edited their colors individually to suit the overall image, provide contrast in the characters and ultimately did more color adjustments to finish the collage of items, tying it all together to make them look less collage-like. Also note the position of each eyeball in the work as the factor is important in telling each story.
Now on to the finale!
Now we unveil the puppeteer, wizard of Oz, boogeyman, man in the sky or whichever archetype you decide to anoint the character with in this piece. All depends on how you decode the imagery. The meaning is actually flexible with these works. The narrative you assign, well that’s up to you.
That's all folks. Feel free to comment here with your interpretation and or ask questions about what you see, process or anything this post has brought to mind.
C. the Rich artist
P.S. Framed art prints are available here.