I saw a delightful and giddily relaxed David Bowie¹ in an old video clip saying something so true: artists are more comfortable describing their process than what things mean.

I know this intimately. When I was 26 at my first solo² exhibition, I remember these two guys from the bar where I worked, goggling at one of my wall works³, then me, like they just saw a naked lady. “What does that ship mean?” “REALLY, what does it MEAN?” They smiled and giggled with each other and gave wide-eyed stares at me. The ship had a figurehead, and it was clearly my torso. After all, I did not have wherewithal to hire a model, nor have any workspace other than my small apartment.

That piece was likely loaded with mythic images and layers of acrylic paint. After I saw their eyes shining at me, I felt deeply embarrassed. Ashamed even. I don’t remember what I titled that piece. Nor precisely what it meant to me at the time I made it. But I do know now, like David Bowie says in this clip, only after I made visual painting and film works, was when I titled them.

Art evolves and Nature shows

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But, writing is different – sometimes

On this WordPress bit of bloggery, I often write the title first, then explore and explain myself below in the content area. I’m doing this now: trying to explain/show the difference in energy between “title first” and “title last.” It’s a great way to get started, but usually results in stream of consciousness and even more loose andwild connections. That’s okay, this process is for me.

I also remember my dad being very keen on titling people correctly. He loved a great title or credential, so [[[[bracketed both]]]] sides of his name with them: Dr. Charles F. Mullen, OD⁴. He had decided that getting a degree in Optometry in his 30s was the cheapest, fastest way to gain a good title and decent livelihood. He was right. Then he went about raising up his profession about as best as he could: “making a contribution,” he said. “Always make a contribution.”

I respect this, even if a different way than mine.

See, I don’t care for titles, but am starting to get why they matter to other people: maybe it’s their way of fulfilling a role? If someone calls you “Doctor,” maybe then you’ll behave like one? Healing people, the gist of what the title implies. “Avant-blogger,” Ha! I know my own hypocrisy on this one, how can you self-title something this? I think you can’t. But anyway…

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1. Here is video clip courtesy of _the_spotted_zebra_ ↩︎
2. I was an artist in a vocational and commercial way for the early part of my life. ↩︎
3. Sorry, I don’t seem to have a digital image of this piece, and its material is long since gone. I tossed everything not sold at the gallery onto State Street, Boerum Hill, for trash pickup shortly before I moved away. I lived down the street from the prison. ↩︎
4. His website is here ↩︎