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Current Work

  • I chose this photo cuz of the suspiciously specific resonance of that edge in the upper half of the top rock, and the contour of the mountain behind it 🌑🗿
  • Meanwhile. . . 👨🏼‍🍳
  • The “best nine” app did a horrible job of calculating the “best” based on the numbers... so I selected my own, which cross-prioritize numbers with personal relevance. . . Nevermind pandemics, fires, impending wwiii, elections, social upheaval, and the general fear-based zeitgeist of 2020... my internal world was turned upside down this year before covid hysteria even took hold. . . . . I’ve kept this mostly to myself thus far, but it was an important influence over my work, and lack thereof. In mid January, I started experiencing severe shortness of breath, bad enough that I went to a doctor, who diagnosed me with severe anxiety and put me on anxiety meds indefinitely, which proved toxic to my creative humanity. . . Despite arrogantly rejecting the diagnosis initially, understanding that anxiety was at the core of what I thought were more serious health problems, was a necessary but ruthless guru.. . . Long story short, although the meds were necessary at the time to level out the symptoms, my spirit ultimately rejected them. And against doctors orders, I proactively removed them from my system. The self-prescribed procedure involved a systematic micro-dosing of specific psychedelics over a one month period in June/July. It was a definitive personal success, despite the backdrop of a global pandemic. . . I can’t even describe the reinvigoration I experienced after that, as my general sensation of humanity returned! and as they say, losing something truly highlights its worth. . . While basically for the first half of the year, I felt metaphysically asleep, the second has felt like a second wind. In fact, 7 of these 9 selections happened since July. . . I get it that “2020” was a relative “dumpster fire” to most, but as far as my raw ability and drive to create, the only substantial obstacle ended up being myself, which I’m pleasantly surprised and grateful I actually overcame amidst such external circumstance. . . So I can honestly say that I FEEL mentally stronger and healthier now than then... . . Also, I owe a huge debt of gratitude for a select few humans who supported me interpersonally when I needed it most! . . ❤️
  • FAQ from novice balancers: . . “how do you make rocks profitable?” . . A: Stop *trying* 👽 . . This was me one morning after hiking up a snowy mountain under a 3am full moon, knowing full well my vulnerability and the inherent risk of mountain lion territory in the dark. . Cuz that’s what was necessary in that time and space. And the “profit” if any, was entirely within my heart and mind’s exposure to “stopping the world” . . . ❤️ . . #gravityglue #practice #artforartssake #fundamentals #doforlove #thereisnotry
  • I just noticed this, but the other day when I was time-lapsing this, I unwittingly captured Jupiter and Saturn, seen in the far left of the image, between the cloud and the mountain.. see 2nd image for detail.. 3rd image for a sky guide... “Altair” would be the faint star duo directly above the apex of the sculpture... also, the previous day’s image was lit from behind, but in this image, I placed a light on the ground shining upward through the hollow center of the sculpture. This image was taken at 5:18pm on 19 Dec 2020 #gravityglue #jupitersaturnconjunction
  • This was the final stage of that ice pie-thing before an overnight flood tore the berg from the stone circle, obliterating it in the process.. it was an unpleasant surprise at the time but I had no choice and used its destruction as a fresh slate to reform and tune the circle. . . Not even sure why lols
  • The snow was sticky today, and I had time to “waste”, which led to this spontaneous spiral of transient, public installation art.. courtesy of yours truly.. 🧙🏼‍♂️ #gravityglue #bouldercolorado #ephemeralart #landart #snow Height: ~ 2 meters ❄️
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  • End of the 7th day (yesterday)... at the bed of day 6, I let my leaf thing freeze to the remaining berg inside the circle, as it was the most logical and intuitive storage mechanism to keep it intact overnight while not floating away. . . . . I left it up to the circle to decide (with very slight guidance) where and how they would integrate. . . The whole berg inside rotated 180 degrees during the subzero yoga, and ended here, where I noticed this lovely camera angle yesterday, reflecting a tree in a satisfying way over the melted half of the circle, as if also holding the leaf-berg. . Now the temps are on their way down again.. ❄️ . . 🤯 to observe the entropy over the last week in this relatively controlled space. Each morning, the circle contains a new proportion of wild vs domesticated ice... the domesticated part being my mosaic of broken pieces, which initially filled the whole space (the remainder of which is seen here free floating at rest, on the right.. ), the wild is the stuff that fills in the gradually widening gaps between the mosaic and perimeter. Despite mostly melting each day (along with a fraction of the mosaic), the wild reforms every night filling in the gaps and slowly taking over the space. But now that temps dropped again, all bets are off.. #gravityglue #magickpotion #epemeralart #entropy #wabisabi #landart #itsalive
  • Day 3 (yesterday)
  • Day 2 (yesterday): . . All the Ice fragments in my previous post were not frozen together, and held stationary in a kind of gridlock within my stone circle while water flowed freely throughout.. but overnight, the fragments froze together into a single patchwork sheet of ice.. not even really sure how to describe it lols.. super weird. Super duper beautiful.. never seen anything like it til now of course.. 🤯 . . Photo 1 here was yesterday morning when I arrived.. beautiful light and this special style of pure transparent ice growing out from the stone circle. . . Photo 2: was early in yesterday’s timelapse before the sun and temps started weakening the ice. . . Photo 3: was at the end of yesterday, 24 hours after the initial fragmented stage. . . Photo 4 is a closer look at the patchwork ice all melded together. Reminds me rare examples of drystone walling I’ve seen, where irregular pieces fit together with improbable precision.. but here I guess it’s “wet-stacked water”..? . . Today is day 3, and I’m out here again timelapsing the ever-thinning and weakening ice.. super curious how it’ll all disintegrate. . . . . To be continued.. . . 🥰 . . #gravityglue #landart #ephemeralart #livingart #wabisabiart #beautiful
  • The art of the controlled accident... warming temps disallowed me from executing my original vision, so this thingy came to be instead. And I must say I’m pleasantly surprised and satisfied. . . ISO 100 27mm f/5 25sec . . #gravityglue #landart #ephemeralart #wabisabi #accidentallyinlove
  • Yesterday as I arrived at the creek, I heard a nearby murder of crows going crazy, which they normally do when a bird of prey is spotted.. I went to look and discovered a red tailed hawk with a freshly dead crow in its talons.. not sure if crows are a regular menu item, or if this one just got too close.. either way, the murder of crows was pissed, even cornered the hawk on the ground for awhile, chased it to a nearby tree, yelled for awhile more, then completely disappeared after about 20 mins, I reckon, when they realized their friend was dead. . . the hawk feasted for awhile, then decapitated the crow, let the body fall to the ground, and eventually flew away. . . What was interesting to me was knowing that crows don’t take their dead lightly, in fact they’re known to revisit the site of death and harass the perpetrator for weeks after an incident, according to my brief research.. . . despite the nature of the situation, it was a fascinating thing to witness up close. 🙏🏼
  • A few things... this was NOT a staged or planned photo. In fact it is one of 3000ish frames of a timelapse I had running in the background while chillin on the bank with these two ducks and intermittently adjusting leaves on a whim... The ducks knew I had a bag of mixed nuts that I would rarely pinch a bit off for them while chillin on the bank, so we developed a kind of trusted bond. They recognize me from a distance and come hang out at my feet whenever they see me, with or without food. . . But this relationship revealed a dilemma with the rocks. . . Because yes the potential energy here is dangerous, despite my knowing that the system was relatively stable even in mild wind. I could bounce a plum-sized rock off the lower rectangular column and it didn’t disturb the massive zero point up top... so although it looks precarious, I felt from many years of experience on this creek, and my experience with how the wind usually feels and acts, and with how all the edges felt at zero, that the balance was decisive, and that there was little to no risk for me, but more importantly, allowing the ducks to continue following me. . . So then, I allowed this happening to happen without trying to control, and also with a kind of pact with the universe (sorcerer business) that assured me the ducks were safe. I understand that may sound looney to the laymen, but it’s a strict matter of feeling, surrender, and flow with the infinite zen of things, while understanding the universe is very much more intelligent than my limited point of awareness. . . That said, I’ve decided that I will prolly never intentionally try to make this kind of thing happen. It must be a process of itself that arises spontaneously but never actively coerced into existence. THAT, in my view, is where potential problems arise in this integration or oneness I feel with the elements when I’m out in these kind of no-mind states of doing... . . all the imaginative risk and worry aside, my experience and relationship with these two ducks is absolutely sacred to me. I love them so very much based on the way they just sit with me and look at me. They melt my heart every time we share space. #gravityglue
  • "Nietzsche's love of fate naturally leads him to confront the reality of suffering in a radical way. For to love that which is necessary, demands not only that we love the bad along with the good, but that we view the two as inextricably linked" #gravityglue #nietzsche #meditation #balance #beautiful #necessary #rockbalancing #landart #ephemeralart #zeropoint #stone #yoga #stoneflower #ishihana #石花 #ロックバランシング #侘寂 #bouldercolorado #planetearth
  • 2021 Calendar (8th edition) is now available for purchase. Signed + Limited edition. Link in bio #gravityglue #calendar #supportindependentartists #bouldercolorado #rockbalancing
  • Something I love about my balance practice, is this pattern of losing my self in the Bermuda Triangle of creative flow. Like the way each one stretches and sculpts my being somehow, either through realizing a structure that was impossible in my mind just yesterday, and/or the intensely raw beauty I experience spending time with them in the elements. There is a unique romance with every single one. The way today’s realizations influence tomorrow’s. Even the way tomorrow helps me better understand today. The way it took several days of tiny insights here and there, studying photos at night, experimenting with leaves and light with no defined goal, adjusting design through rebuilds, picking dead leaves and applying them uniquely to each build. No matter how attached I become to the perfection of a particular leaf, I know it’ll be different tomorrow. I also know that others will shift into my awareness of things my heart and mind identify as “beautiful”. The way rocks cycle and recycle into my palette of building blocks. The way they appear and interface in different ways depending on the day or year they reach out. For example, the bottom egg here, rotated 180 degrees CCW, was the top egg in the previous creation. From there, rotate it 90 degrees longitudinally CCW so its top edge faces the camera, and it become the top egg in a 2018 creation. That’s just one rock. Of the 10 rocks included here, 2 (both round ones) were upcycled from the previous creation. 7 were rejected from the previous creation and cycled forward into this one. 1 was brand new. But collectively, rejects and otherwise, flowered into this thing that triggered a nonlinear transformation of spirit that’s impossible to describe outside of infinity. Alchemical even. Sorcery? definitely. Witchcraft most likely. Now where were we..? #gravityglue #meditation #balance #art #autumn #sunset #zeropoint #yoga #ephemeralart #wabisabi #imPerfection #stoneFLOWer #ishihana #earthart #landart #galaxyart #石花 #ロックバランシング #beautiful #nature #zen #integration #transformation #alchemical #sorcery #witchcraft #bouldercolorado #theseamlessunspeakablesomething #heretodaygonetomorrow #doforlove
  • Stone balance 1001: Most people have a hard time understanding how these more complex systems happen. But it helps to reduce the individual pieces into units or blocks that move together. The black circles represent the basic units as I’m building — I visualize these units as single pieces because once they are placed correctly, they can be adjusted as if they were single rocks. . Notice the bottom egg rock has its own circle. That’s because its position must be correct before placing anything else. If it’s wrong, I can’t adjust it without removing everything else above it. . Moving up, The next 3 rock combo is placed one by one but once placed, acts as a single unit that I keep stabilized with my knees. . Then the next 3 rock combo is placed one by one as well, and when that is finished, then it and the unit below form a single unit outlined by the yellow circle. I can now adjust that whole yellow section around its lowest contact point over the bottom egg. . Once I think I have the yellow unit in the correct position, then I can start placing the top three, one by one. This is the most difficult part because of the vertical counter-point-balance. Of the two black circles inside green, I brace the lower one with my left hand while placing the top with my right, all while supporting the yellow unit below with my knees. once the weight of the green unit is there, I’ll know whether or not the yellow unit and the bottom egg are centered.. because it’ll either wanna tip at that lowest yellow contact or not, or worse: under the egg. If the egg tips, I need to basically start again by carefully backtracking all of green and yellow, rock by rock.. if it wants to tip under yellow, then I remove green and adjust yellow as a whole. . So the bottom contact of the yellow unit needs to be correct to support the green unit. the bottom contact of the green needs to be correct for the rest of green to be correct, and hence the whole equation.. . it is possible that the bottom yellow contact is the final adjustment (using my knees). . #gravityglue #meditation #balance #art #process #ephemeralart #sculpture #stoneflower #ishihana #rockbalancing #石花 #ロックバランシング
  • I’ll go into more detail on this whole sequence in a later post, but for now I want to focus on this 3 rock combination, and more specifically the middle one with leaves. it’s certainly the most unique rock I’ve found all year with its particular curves and long tail. It found me over a month ago, not more than a few meters from this spot, and has been rejected from two previous waves already due to its obscure shape.. But, I reckon it was just waiting for the right combination to jump into the mix, and the right moment to coordinate with stage of these leaves. Im especially smitten with the reverse curve created by the two top ones together. But nevermind the rocks. These rare (in my experience) technicolor patterns of the dying willow leaves.. 😍 deeeeep plum, oranges and greens, totally captivated my entire focus this time. Alone and in combination they are just so fucking beautiful, words can’t describe. . . #gravityglue #meditation #balance #art #sculpture #willow #leaves #beautiful #death #impermanence #wabisabi #imPerfect #nature #curves #combinations #geometry #aesthetics #rockbalancing #connoisseur #stoneflower #ishihana #zeropoint #yoga #石花 #ロックバランシング #doforlove #artforartssake #earthart #landart #heretodaygonetomorrow