When was the last time you broke the rules?

This week, I’ve been exploring the darkness inside. I highly recommend the journey - there’s some cool stuff hidden in the shadows.

LIFE

You never know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Last week I let go of a painting that helped me get through the anxiety and drama of getting set up in London. I was sorry to see it go, but it’s in a home that I feel very proud to be in, with people that are going to change the world for the better, just by being part of it.

I made the painting by charring and burning old pieces of Ivory in a furnace, it’s a dark process - both literally and figuratively. It let me get to grips with the part of nature we all fear - Death.

It’s an aspect of life that I’ve had the fortune (and misfortune) of being around a little more than most. Over time I’ve adjusted to see it as a good thing, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t scare me.

Without its ever-present shadow, we wouldn’t have fear. And it’s fear that lets us know something needs our focus. It can be disarming and overwhelming, but without it, everything becomes obsolete.

Right now I’m scared. Writing scares me. Making Art scares me. Hell, sometimes getting out of bed is scary. But when I’m able to pay attention to why I’m scared, deep down, it shows me something.

Normally in that dark space where we feel fear, something is trying to get out, and we often can hear and feel that voice that will get us through the situation. It can be difficult to hear it until we jump into the unknown, but it’s where we see the real growth, as terrifying as that process can be.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to get myself back into a flow with my work and process to continue one of my favorite projects, the Love Interviews. Just the thought of going into the project and knowing what I have to do with them makes me feel uneasy.

But I know within that uneasiness is something I’m avoiding, something I don’t understand yet, something I’m sure I’ll learn when I finally make the jump. It’s just about getting myself steady enough to do it…

To get some spiritual steadiness I went to see a Shaman. They left me with this:

“You’ll know you’re going the right way when the path disappears”

Hope you find a way to enjoy the darkness as much I have,

with love,

R

LOVE

This week I’m interviewing two new people for the project.

I’ve been trying to understand where the value is for me and us as a group with the project and it’s starting to make sense within my head.

Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing the interviews and some excerpts from them here.

The interviews will always be anonymous and I hope that the work sheds some interesting perspectives on what love is, or what it could be.

Equally, I hope to find the edge of where love is. That means some of the interviews are going to be pretty testing.

Give me the latitude and space to explore and I’m sure that the project will give us all something we can value.

If I go too far, feel free to let me know.

LEARNING

This week we’re looking into how the eye and visual cortex process visual information.

My theory is that there are feedback loops for information processing that operate within the eye, visual processing system, subconscious and conscious systems.

Why is that important?

To control your mind, control your eyes.

I grew up hacking stuff, I was banned from the computer rooms of my first primary school for messing with the networks and teaching kids how to get around the adult restriction settings at school and since then I’ve been obsessed with shortcuts.

Art is a shortcut.

I see Art as a vehicle for an idea, and ideas change the world.

Ideas travel from the Artist to the medium, through some system, to the recipient.

When they reach the recipient they have to get through a whole host of barriers because generally, we don’t want new ideas unless they benefit us…

The eye is the first of these barriers, and what I’m starting to realize is that there’s a whole lot of eye training that happens in the modern world.

Our eyes are designed to work in nature, registering colors between red and blue, maximizing the breadth of greens we can see.

But most eyes don’t live that lifestyle, they’re seeing screens and urban environments. And these spaces train your brain to control you - for the benefit of them (and in return you…)

I know it all sounds very sinister and conspiratorial. It is.

Here’s an example from Amazon Prime in Web UI

So this week I’m learning about the eye’s processing units to understand how much is conscious and subconscious and what levers to pull to move between the two states.

STUFF

I read, talk to people, and experiment with my life.

I have to make stuff so I don’t go crazy.

This week I’m working on some new ideas for the Mirrors Project and Designing a Handbag.

Last week we gave away two mirrors to these two submissions

We’ll do it again this coming week on Thursday along with a new question and Mirror.

If you can’t wait and want something a little bigger I have this available…

As always it’s a unique item and I’m only going to be making a limited amount of desk-standing mirrors from here…

Get it before your friends do here 

If that’s not what you want and you’re looking for something special - The artwork waitlist is here

ORACLES

Just for collectors and patrons.

Here’s what’s coming in the next few weeks, if you’re interested in anything lmk and you’ll be top of the queue.

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