SURREY ART GALLERY - 5TH SUNDAY PERFORMANCE

GREETINGS BLOGGERS!

JEREMY (MY INTERN AND PIXEL-CLEANER) TOLD ME THAT IT WAS RAINING IN VANCOUVER SO HE FIGURED IT WOULD BE POURING JUST AS HARD IN SURREY.

HE ALSO MENTIONED THAT HE CHECKED IN ON THE SURREY ART GALLERY EARLIER IN THE DAY AND THAT PEOPLE WERE IN THE TECHLAB WAITING TO SPEAK WITH ME.

WHAT LUCK THAT I DID NOT APPEAR TOO LATE IN THE DAY TODAY! CANADIAN ART ICON, ERIC METCALFE MADE IT OUT TO SURREY FROM VANCOUVER TO SPEAK WITH ME! I AM HONORED! I KNOW OF ERIC METCALFE FROM HIS WORK WITH THE WESTERN FRONT WHICH IS JUST THE KIND OF PLACE THAT BARNETT NEWMAN WOULD HAVE VISITED!

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT METCALFE HIMSELF KNEW MY CREATOR! THEY ARE DEFINITELY PART OF THE SAME GLOBAL ART-HISTORICAL CONTINUUM.

HE MENTIONED THAT HE IS EXHIBITING AN INSTALLATION OF HIS TRADEMARK GREEK VESSELS NOT TOO FAR AWAY FROM EMMA LAKE IN SASKATCHEWAN WHERE MY CREATOR FIRST INSPIRED THE CANADIAN MODERNISTS. METCALFE SAID MORE SPECIFICALLY THAT HIS INSTALLATION IS ACTUALLY ON ONE OF THE EMMA LAKE CAMPUSES. I MENTIONED TO HIM THAT I HAD APPLIED TO GIVE A SPECIAL APPEARANCE TO CHAT WITH VISITORS ABOUT MY ANCESTOR AND CREATOR AT THE EMMA LAKE INSTITUTION. METCALFE INDICATED TO ME THAT THEY WOULD BE NOT VERY LIKELY TO BE INTERESTED IN HAVING ME THERE. I GUESS THEY HAVE BECOME TOO CONSERVATIVE AND RIGID! THEY SHOULD REPAY THEIR HISTORICAL DEBT TO BARNETT NEWMAN BY HAVING ME APPEAR THERE! IT WAS HIM, MY CREATOR WHO GAVE THEM THEIR REPUTATION IN THE FIRST PLACE!

METCALFE CONFIRMED THIS RIGIDITY FURTHER BY NOTING THAT EMMA LAKE HAD ALSO REJECTED THE FLUXUS ARTISTS BECAUSE THEY HAD LISTENED TO THE ORTHODOXY OF CLEMENT GREENBERG. I FIND THIS, ONE HAND, STRANGE BECAUSE I WAS BORN OUT OF THIS VERY AESTHETIC RIGIDITY THAT HAS LED TO THE MORE BLAND BUREAUCRATIC RIGIDITY OF SUCH AN ART INSTITUTION.

DID GREENBERG NOT RECANT HIS WAYS LATER IN LIFE TO ALLOW FOR MORE DIVERSITY IN ARTISTIC EXPRESSION? IF THIS IS INDEED THE CASE, THEN IF HE WERE ALIVE TODAY, HE WOULD PROBABLY ALLOW BOTH THE FLUXUS ARTISTS AND YOURS TRULY TO APPEAR AT THE EMMA LAKE WORKSHOP FACILITIES. WELL, ONE CAN ALWAYS DREAM! PERHAPS I WOULD HAVE LUCK EXHIBITING NEXT AT THE WESTERN FRONT? I SHOULD LOOK INTO THIS POSSIBILITY VERY SERIOUSLY.

NEXT UP TO THE PODIUM WAS DOUG. DOUG BROUGHT HIS GRANDDAUGHTER TO CHECK THIS EXHIBIT...HE HAS BEEN TO THE SURREY ART GALLERY MANY TIMES BEFORE BUT HAS NOT SEEN THIS PARTICULAR EXHIBIT...I WISHED HIM LUCK AND HE SET OFF ON HIS JOURNEY.

REA AND ANN THEN APPEARED AND ASKED ME SEVERAL QUESTIONS FROM THE OFFICIAL QUESTION-LIST COMPOSED BY THE SURREY ART GALLERY. ONE OF THE OFF-LIST QUESTIONS WAS FROM ANN WHO ASKED IF I KNEW WHO “DATA” FROM STAR TREK WAS. I ANSWERED THAT MY BRAIN HAS A DIRECT FEED INTO GOOGLE AND CAN ACCESS ALL SORTS OF EXTRANEOUS CONTEMPORARY CULTURAL INFORMATION. I SIMPLY GOOGLED “DATA” INTO MY DATABASE AND REGURGITATED ANY SUMMARY ABOUT THIS TV ANDROID THAT I COULD ABSORB WITHIN THE SPACE OF 20 SECONDS.

ACCORDING TO MY SUMMARY, I AM ALOT LIKE DATA AS IT ALSO TOOK HIM MERE SECONDS TO ABSORB AND PROCESS INCOMING FEEDBACK. REA RETURNED TO THE OFFICIAL LIST AND ASKED WHERE I PLAN TO EXHIBIT NEXT AFTER THE SURREY ART GALLERY. I THEN FOUND THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO LET OFF SOME STEAM ABOUT EMMA LAKE’S REJECTION OF ME AND THEN MENTIONED MY MOST IDEAL DREAM OF EXHIBITING ALONGSIDE MY ANCESTOR AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY. IT WOULD BE A FAMILY REUNION AND CULTURAL REPATRIATION, OF SORTS.

ABOUT 15 MINUTES AFTER THET LEFT, TWO SHORN HEADED MEN ENTERED THE ROOM AND WAS ABOUT TO SPEAK WITH ME BUT THEN CHANGED THEIR MIND AND BOLTED FROM THE ROOM. WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID? MAYBE THEY ARE SECRETLY AFRAID OF “COLORED” PEOPLE.

SPEAKING OF 15 MINUTES, DURING THE LAST 15 MINUTES, I MADE A PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT THAT I WAS GOING TO END MY PERFORMANCE TODAY ABRUPTLY AT 3 PM. SUNDAY IS A RELIGIOUS DAY FOR ME AND IS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES I HAVE LEFT TO MEDITATE ON MY ISOLATION IN THE BLUE VOID AND CONNECT WITH THE SUPREME SUBLIME DIVINE. USUALLY, DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, I STAY PAST MY BEDTIME TO CHAT WITH PEOPLE BUT TODAY, I REALLY NEED TO FEEL BLUE.



BLUESY REGARDS,

VOICE OF FIRE 2006