Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

All of a sudden it seems like I'm involved in a number of collaborations. From working on paintings with Jess Barnett to poems with Martin Cockroft, with film and writing and photo work in-between, there has been lots of close working with artists lately.

The pics above are from last weekend (or two weekends ago depending on how you measure it) and are of Jess Barnett and I working together on a painting. Now, I am not sure it qualifies as anywhere near as cool as the collaboration Pollock and Tony Smith worked on—as described in the intro to the book “Pollock: And American Saga,”—that eventually turned into the painting Blue Poles, but it was pretty great. You can also check out Jess’ blog to see how some of our experimentation has leaked its way into her work:

http://myfavoritecliche.blogspot.com/

But all this collaborating combined with random High School images finding their way onto Facebook had me replaying the Vanilla Ice opus “Ice Ice Baby,” in my head. Was it really “Stop, collaborate and listen” as an intro? What the hell does that even mean? Freeze, get together and pay attention? And when will shaving lines into your eyebrows become cool again?

In other news: On rotation in 617 Midway are Mayday Parade’s “Jamie all Over,” and “Remembering Britt” by a Day At The Fair.

I wonder if Frank O’Hara said to Jasper Johns during the making of “Target with Plaster Casts,” something like “all right now— stop, collaborate and listen.”