Blockades (with collaborators)
March 14th- April 18
David Patton Los Angeles
Review of Blockades (with collaborators): Holly Myers, LA Times (4/3/09).
Collaborators include: Charles Irvin, Nancy Popp, Tom McKenzie, Jen Hofer, Elana Mann, Adam Overton, Michael Parker, Christian Cummings and Michael Decker.
The title, Blockades (with collaborators), refers both to the tactic of blockading spaces as well as the psycho-emotional state of being "blocked". The work aims to make visual what it feels like to act directly.
In March of 2003 I was sitting in a cafe in Echo Park as the war in Iraq began full death. Meanwhile in San Francisco, people had banned together to close that city down. Over the intervening 6 years I've pondered the distance between these responses.
March 14th- April 18
David Patton Los Angeles
Review of Blockades (with collaborators): Holly Myers, LA Times (4/3/09).
Collaborators include: Charles Irvin, Nancy Popp, Tom McKenzie, Jen Hofer, Elana Mann, Adam Overton, Michael Parker, Christian Cummings and Michael Decker.
The title, Blockades (with collaborators), refers both to the tactic of blockading spaces as well as the psycho-emotional state of being "blocked". The work aims to make visual what it feels like to act directly.
In March of 2003 I was sitting in a cafe in Echo Park as the war in Iraq began full death. Meanwhile in San Francisco, people had banned together to close that city down. Over the intervening 6 years I've pondered the distance between these responses.
Some drawings from the show.
Charles Talks With Women At Recruiting Center About Suicide Rates Among Soldiers, 2009
Tom
Blocks War Contractor Parsons in Pasadena,
2009
Pencil on paper 41 x 58 inches
Nancy
Stops Traffic At 2 Freeway Ramp,
2009
Pencil on paper 58.5 x 39 inches
Jen
Knits In First Street(detail),
2009
Pencil on paper 69 x 57.5 inches
I am interested in performance as a form of action. I am also interested in visual art's role in a chain of mediation. For Blockades I worked with individuals to develop actions in public that could intuit direct-action. I asked these folks to "come up with an action that you'd be willing to do, where you directly confront with your own body, people in a space." With the individuals I worked with, we had long conversations about safety, comfort, what it means to impose your will on somebody else, where they could imagine doing such a thing, and then logistics.
Once the performer ("actionist?", "activist?") and I had everything planned, we went to their selected sight and they did their thing. I took photos. Later I turned these photos into drawings.
Charles Talks With Women At Recruiting Center About Suicide Rates Among Soldiers, 2009
Tom
Blocks War Contractor Parsons in Pasadena,
2009Pencil on paper 41 x 58 inches
Nancy
Stops Traffic At 2 Freeway Ramp,
2009Pencil on paper 58.5 x 39 inches
Jen
Knits In First Street(detail),
2009Pencil on paper 69 x 57.5 inches
I am interested in performance as a form of action. I am also interested in visual art's role in a chain of mediation. For Blockades I worked with individuals to develop actions in public that could intuit direct-action. I asked these folks to "come up with an action that you'd be willing to do, where you directly confront with your own body, people in a space." With the individuals I worked with, we had long conversations about safety, comfort, what it means to impose your will on somebody else, where they could imagine doing such a thing, and then logistics.
Once the performer ("actionist?", "activist?") and I had everything planned, we went to their selected sight and they did their thing. I took photos. Later I turned these photos into drawings.