Letters From South America

My First Show

javertgotscrewed — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:50:32 +0000

Dearest Readers,

It’s finally all over; the works taken down. (My first solo exposition that is.) It opened Friday the 9th of October to a crowd of just shy of 50 people. I would not say it was a raving success, but more people showed up than i thought would. It closed last friday to just me taking it all down.

I guess you could say that it was well recieved. Or atleast all the coments i got were positive or constructive. I arrived around 7:30 at the Centro Cultural Hector Oesterheld, made a few last touches to the photos (a pair had fallen down), put out my catalogs, opened few bottles of wine, made a quick call to my dad looking for a few words of encouragement, and waited for the first guests to arrive. Luckily my best friend down here Bruno, showed up punctually at 8:00. By 8:3o-8:45 there was about 30 people there all crammed into the small exposition room. Jose Luis MacLuaghlin introduced me as the artist of the work and spoke a bit about it. Then put me on the spot to say few words. My mind was blank as i uttered thanks to all the people who helped make the show possible. Then looking at everyone with nothing to say believe i said something to the effect of ” my, my , my work……” then i shrugged. Finally a few things popped into my mind and i stammered though 2 minutes about the series and what it meant to me, why i chose these specific images, etc. The rest of the night was spent mingleing with guests and answering the same questions about million times.

All in all it was extreamly gratifying to see everyone crowded around my work and likeing it. Or atleast that’s what they told me (hahahaha). I can think no greater feeling for an artist than to put all that put into this show and finally see it all come together.

I will try to post few photos of my work in the comeing week on my fotolog. www.fotolog.com/josh_inked

sincerely,

Josh

Too Much

javertgotscrewed — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:32:45 +0000

Dearest Readers,

I think I may be going insane. I’m not 100% sure, but it sure feels like it. I am only takeing 3 classes, am preparing to test out of another 3 but the end of november. Still trying to fin a ticket for December and not really finding anything for a decent price. Then….Then there is this exposition that i am TRYING to do that is not coming together as smoothly as planned, but i guess anything worth doing in life is never easy.

I still don’t have the pictures i need! And everyday i feel as though i am running in circles trying to get everything done! i guess i am literally running around in circles making 3 tips a day to the photo lab, 2 trips to school, stoping once or twice to grab a cup of coffee and take 30 seconds for myself, and in between all that racing home 4 times to change messenger bags, backpacks, or portfolios depending on where my next turn takes me.

I love art…….i think,

Josh

ps here is a preview of my exposition, A Child of 25

No Title

A Sunday Spent Tattooing

javertgotscrewed — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:04:07 +0000

Dearest Readers,

As the name of this post implies it is about this past sunday. I really have nothing that new or exciting to wrote about this week except that. It started with a few friends coming over to have a few beers and chew the fat a bit. Caro (a friend of mine) came as well to start her new tattoo. As we went on about this and that i started preparing the stencil to transfer the image directly onto her skin.
The next step was to clean my work area (my table). This implies passing some sort of disinfectant spray and wrapping the area in question with plastic film. I prepared me machines and in and finally got down to work.

An artist always starts with the outline of the image, later filling it in with color and shading. As we soon discovered this part of Caro’s leg was incredibly sensitive and her constant movement was impeding my work. At this point we decided to only do the outline that day and later fill the piece in.

http://www.fotolog.com/josh_inked

After much discomfort, on both our parts, the outline was finished. As the last of her insults and obscenities (due to the pain) finished i could not help wondering “this must be what a dentist feels like”.

After cleaning up and few more beers everthing mellowed out and it seemed as though my earlier acts of torture were forgotten. I finished my day attending a stand-up show at a local bar .

This is about what a typical sunday is for me.

Sincerely,

Random Letter

javertgotscrewed — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:18:08 +0000

Dearest Readers,

I am not really what to write today. It is yet another rainyday here on the bottom of the planet, and i guess i should try to do something semi-productive. i think i’ll try muscle my way through a few more pages of Finnegan’s Wake, then study a bit.

school has been going alright i guess. i didn’t do so hot on a portfolio review the other week, but i quickly fixed that and ended up with decent grade.

Got the chance to go do some climbing a while back, and didn’t even rain……yeah thats right NO adverse weather at all!

aside from school, photography and getting ready for my exposition has been keeping me busy.

i have an interview on local radio coming up and i am still not clear as to why they interviewing me. they just called me out of nowhere. i am now a little angry with the person who randomly gave out my cell number.

this is all i think i am gonna write.

sincerely,

Josh

quick post

javertgotscrewed — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:15:38 +0000

my dearest readers,

here is a link to the page where i will be posting pictures from here on out.

http://www.fotolog.com/josh_inked

sincerely,

Josh

Finally Back to School

javertgotscrewed — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:57:51 +0000

Dearest Readers,

Well as the title says I am back to school,and it’s about time. My school has gone back its relative normality. I have been able to lump all my classes into two intense days of class giving me a 5 day weekend. Though Pilates and Photography will keep me quite busy as well.

I think I have finally figured out the way to load Photos on to this blog. So will be attaching a few pictures of my trip to Cordoba over my winter break. Ok, this is not working so I gonna try a Phot Bucket account.

On another note on October 9th my first solo exposition opens. Not entirely sure what it’s going to be. I was thinking about a Photographic exposition, but painting is tempting as well. As time goes on I will keep you all updated. Not that there are SO many people who read this, but….eh.

Sincerely,

Swine Flu and Snow

javertgotscrewed — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:12:15 +0000

Dearest Readers,

Unless you have been living in a vacum for the past couple months you have heard of the flu pandemic (n1h1) that is affecting our little rock called Earth. Well Argentina has been no exception. After the initial outbreak, they finally decided to close the schools and other such places where people tend to collect. This resulted in an extra long winter vacation for me.

My plans were to go to the mountains in Cordoba for a climbing course. Well, I went but the weather had other plans for us. After the first day of scorching heat, spent scramble up into the mountains to our camp site, it quickly took a turn for the bad…..and worst. The clouds moved in, and a that altitude when the clouds move in you are within them. The rock was soaked, which meant no climbing. We managed to get about half a day of climbing in, but then clouds brought mist and light rain which kept us in our tents for another day.

Finally on the last day, as it looked as though things were clearing up, the clouds moved in yet again and there was little to be done. We returned to camp, only to have it start snowing as we packed up. 5 inches fell in about 2 hours and i found myself scrambleing down extreamely slippery rocks as nthe snow continued to fall. When we at last had the car in sight it all decided to stop and clear up.

So that was my failed trip to Cordoba, after 9 long hours in the car we arrived at home to find out that it had snowed all over the country (very rare). Some places got as much as 70 cm in one night. One must understand that these places are no acustomed to snow and i caused hell on the highways.

Now i am back at school……more or less. The extra 3 weeks of vacation set everything back and no one knows what is really going on. hopefully after an administrative meeting tonight they can get things back on track and it will be buisness as usual before the end of the week. I personally doubt that (this IS argentina you know).

sincerely,

J. Benjamin

The Struggle that is Painting

javertgotscrewed — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:40:03 +0000

Dearest Readers,

It never fails to amaze me how somthing that brings such joy to one can frustrate on SO much. My mania passed and now I sit here in quiet contimplation. Not sure if I am on the right track or if I have derailed in some deranged trainwreck. I guess painting is a love/hate relationship, and as of late it has been more hate than love.

I believe that only another another artist can truely understand this relationship in the context of art and the plethera of emotions that acompany it. I guess i could go on and on about each one, but it all boils down to (for me) rage and meloncholy. This, to me, is the eternal that ever artist struggles with and falls within its poles. The mania he or she faces, the battle that keeps one awake at night…..

Whoa this is getting too deep and i am not really in the mood tonight.

Well here it is. Here a few photos of this 6 by 8 foot monstrosity. You all be the judge. Please bearin mind that it is only a sketch and it was realized at 4:30 am in a fury of paint, smoke, coffee, and rage.

ok there are some stupid technical difficulties that will not allow me to up load a photo at this moment.

sincerely,

Letter Numero Uno

javertgotscrewed — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:34:51 +0000

Dearest Readers,

This is the first of hopefully of atleast a few letters from here on the bottom of the world. This blog is not to be confused with the OTHER Rettig Chronicles. These are the chronicles of Joshua, not those of Joseph. I am in no way trying to undermine or ridicule the original Rettig Chronicles; I just really liked the name.

Now that that is taken care of, on to the body of this letter. As previously mentioned I am Josh, and as the title suggests I am an American ex-patriot living in South America (Argentina to be exact.) I am currently (still) persueing a degree in fine arts at the National University of La Plata. On that note, I guess I can say my studies going fine lately. Only that a 4 page paper on the evolution of the vanguards during the first part of the XX century has been a bit of a problem. The reocurring theme seems to be true comprehending the asigned texts. Being that they are in Spanish it always, no matter how simplistic they may be, a challenge. I accept it as yet another challenge I face while I continue to live here in on the bottom of our planet.

Aside from school keeping me busy, I try to get out into the great outdoors as much as possible. I am an avid (as much as one can be while in college) rock climber, backpacker, and mountaineer. This “summer” was quite productive with respect to my alpine pursuits. After brushing up on my crevasse rescue skills I intended to summit Mt. Tronador (the header of this page), but unfortunately was turned back due to bad weather. After a bit of rock climbing I went on to summit Volcan Lanin and its 12,220 feet on the 25th of February. The ascention was spectuacular with great weather and only a few other people on the mountain that day.

Now, obviously, I am back at school, but winter vacations are fast approaching and I am hoping to go to the province of Cordoba to do some rock climbing on some really spectacular walls. With multiple pitches and a total of over 260 feet in some cases, it promises to be an exciting endeavor.

Me on the summit of Volcan Lanin

It’s now almost 3:30 pm here and that means i need to get ready for class. I hope you enjoyed this first letter. I know I did! I hope atleast a few people end up reading/following this blog. I will try to keep posting.

Sincerely,