Here we are. 

I'm writing from my house in Los Angeles where I've lived for the past twenty months. My studio is packed and I will soon bubble wrap, box, and transport the rest of my domestic belongings into a storage unit where they will stay, quite warm, until September. I've just (three weeks ago) graduated from the CalArts MFA Art program and am planning a European Tour from July 6th until sometime in August. I'm calling it "GONE FOR GOLD" from the title of my newest performance which I premiered last week as part of the CalArts MFA Exhibition MMXII. My first stop will be in Braunschweig at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste where I will join other CalArts students in an exhibition organized by Shirley Tse.  After our opening we will go to Kassel to see dOCUMENTA(13).  Post Kassel I will travel to several different cities across Europe to perform in galleries, theatres, and bars. 

"GONE FOR GOLD" is a thirty-minute cabaret that follows a city performer who is down on love and out of money. He decides to go mining for gold with the hope of finding true value. As you can imagine this does not go as well as he wishes. After an enlightening encounter with an old miner he decides to return to the stage where he can sing his songs, tell his stories, and effect his audience to be inspired for change through collective experience.  

In a time (this is nothing new!) when many people are caused to question the existing and constantly changing value systems and structures (social/political/economic) of their culture(s) I find this nomadic narrative particularly exigent. The exploratory nature of this journey translates metaphorically across the many struggles within a  diverse audience and reflects the consistent navigation of "being" that we experience day to day. The underlying critique of materialism is located metonymically in the gold; it points to the larger conditions created and sustained by capitalism and how these issues are woven into all aspects of our advanced societies.

It is my hope that this blog will function as a document to the places, people, experiences, thoughts, and reflections of my own journey.