COURTLANDT-LAND DOT COM: April 2008

From NYTimes:
"The other Pace newcomer is an old hand: the abstract painter Thomas Nozkowski, 64, who showed at Max Protetch from 1990 to 2006. (No sharing here; there is not a whiff of Mr. Nozkowski on the Protetch Web site.) If a little too plentiful, Mr. Nozkowski’s paintings at Pace attest to the durability of his particular brand of abstraction — small, inventive, colorful in all sorts of unexpected ways. His achievement lies in erasing the division between geometric and organic form that was one of the bugaboos of early Modernism and then melding them with more than a hint of cartooning into a signature style unburdened by a signature motif.

Each painting feels like a new adventure in shape, space, color and suggested meaning, and a continual joke on Modernist seriousness that is also serious, most of all in its visual richness and telling surface variations. Constructivism is leavened with suggestions of children’s blocks or worn Persian textile. A grid of colored squares waves like a flag. A mountain shape is unnaturally striped in bold blue red. A series of vivid black and red ellipses are extended into a pale pinkish shape that suggests a tree trunk with sawed-off limbs. Mr. Nozkowski has come a longer way than most artists to what some would term the art-gallery big time. Some of his earliest shows, starting in 1979, were at 55 Mercer, the artists-run cooperative that recently ended its 39-year-run in SoHo this year. If PaceWildenstein made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, it was also one he richly deserves."

1. The Wee Ones at the Base of Mount Dreamy Plans

The Wee Ones gathered around
to decide the fate of their town.
The idle mountain, avalanching tears,
caused the villagers panic and fear.

The mountain cried to them,
“I’m coming down!”
but the Wee Ones protests resounded:

“We need dreamy plans. We need dreams.”

Said the mountain, to everyone:
“You best get out of here.
The time has come.
The pressure’s too great
up in the clouds,
so I will join you all,
down on the ground.

Then came rumbles underneath
all of the Wee Ones steady feet.
Mount Dreamy Plans
saw them stay.
The mountain begged them
to go away,
but the Wee Ones
wouldn't move,
filling Mount Dreamy Plans
with love.
Inside Mount Dreamy Plans
it all built up.
Instead of coming down,
it did erupt!
Now, Mount Dreamy Plans
is piled high.
The Wee Ones let out
a smiled sigh.
The Wee Ones
at the base of Mount Dreamy Plans
lived their lives fine.

2. Fable for the Future

There was one Wee One that did not stay to support Mount Dreamy Plans. The special connection Gϋbi shared with the mountain’s spirit gave him insight into why the mountain was feeling anxious. Mount Dreamy plans, now loftier than ever, could no longer feel the ominousness brushed against its face by the wind. Before the mountain could come down or hold up, Gϋbi made haste to the village archivist’s hut. The lone Wee One set to the task of recording the premonition that struck him like a finger flick from god. Ensuring he spoke slowly and clearly, but unable to keep his voice from trembling, Gϋbi recollected the danger that all living things would face in the foreseeable future. The capsulized record was the only Wee-made item to survive the village.

3. Motorboat Rainbow

Before his daydream materialized, Gϋbi set out on the Ones’ only vessel, across the foggy Sea of Forgotten Friends. Having never traveled away from the village before, with no insight as to which direction to go, and knowing his memory would be extinguished during the journey, he pointed himself toward the unknown horizon. Gϋbi hid the archive capsule in the hull of the boat. It was the only memory that would survive from the Village of Wee. He needed to protect it from himself, while traversing the sea. The memory would be coveted, conjured and quickly ebb with the tide in a last effort to maintain the sanity of an anchored memory

How long have I been out here? How long has it been since the day I left the shore? How long? How long do I have to...

I'm waitin' for my rainbow; searchin' for my pot of gold. If a rainbow's a circle there is no end and I'm becoming my own best friend.

Telepathy is possible when your all alone, but it's still hard to hear the thoughts and where they're coming from.

Where am I coming from? Have I forgotten so soon?

I'm lost in a sea surrounded by rainbows. I cannot see.
I'm lost in the ocean surrounded by water I refuse to drink. I stay thirsty.

I'm running out of gas.

I'm hungry for a rainbow.

I gotta paddle back.

I haven't tasted the colors, save for gray.

I have to paddle back.

I have to paddle back.

Maybe that's it.

Gϋbi had lost himself, both in person, and in location. In a final panic, as the last memory disappeared into the fog, he frantically paddled the now gnarled boat. How did the boat come to be gnarled? How far? How long? Now Lost, with the rest of the How’s, Who’s What Where and Why, the If’s, And’s, or But’s and When; it was all gone.

4. The Day the Field Workers Were Forever Frightened

The Wee Villagers didn’t have enough time to realize Gϋbi was gone before mayhem struck the serenity of the scene. The rumbling of the mountain had only subsided slightly when a new rumbling came over the horizon. From behind the mountain appeared a monster. Those who tried to escape were annihilated; and everyone tried to escape. Explosions were not rendered in slow motion, as if they were a scene in a movie. They came and went with the speed of lightning bolts; the sound mixing with nightmarish screams and damning bellows. The path the monster blazed scorched the Earth. The village was destroyed. The monster concentrated on bringing darkness to every corner of the land.

Mount Dreamy Plans was the only entity that did not fall under the monster’s determined destruction but the mountain was still affected by the event. Unable to bear the pain bestowed upon his symbiotic surroundings, the mountain plunged into a coma. Years passed as the mountain lay dormant. The Ghosts of the Ones surrounded the area, but after the monster was finished with it, not even ghosts dared inhabit it.

The only thing we have is fear itself.

5. Buildings

Gϋbi, unaware of his name, his past, or his whereabouts, continued into graying skies until he reached a village much unlike the one he had long lost and forgotten. Things were strange. Gϋbi knew he had lost the memory in his brain, but in the new surroundings, even his subconscious instincts were thrown into loops. He doubted every decision, was unsure whether to come or go. He sank into himself for comfort, but there was nothing left inside to warm the cold that had fallen on the outside. In seclusion and anonymity, even Gϋbi’s core emotions were lulled into dormancy, and though he had contact with others, they too were blank faced and empty, adding to his isolation.

Despite his emptiness, or maybe in response to it, Gϋbi sensed something welling up inside of him. It pained him to have no outlet. He was on the brink of insanity and revelation, of despair and desperation, but there was nowhere to go with any of it. Almost torn as he was, Gϋbi stabilized himself in an unnatural system in hope that something would change before his whole being burst.

6. The Mad Machine

The Mad Machine was planned long ago. It was brought into being by a few likeminded conspirators who were eventually consumed and outlived by the monster. All living things were forced to do its bidding. No plant, animal, or microorganism was spared from suffering its order. The only being able to remain stable in the new environment was The Mad Machine. Its adaptation was almost immediate to evolution of its own motives.

The machine’s control over the entities of the world became a sinister dance, an orchestral operation conducted by an evil engine.

I’m telling you:

The buildings went up and the Wee Ones went down.

None of them knew they were robots.

The Mad Machine destroyed their dreams.

El Colin is The Mad Machine.

None of them knew they were robots working for The Mad Machine.

7. A Meditation on the Myriad Life of the Metropolis

While working for the Sanitation Commission setup by The Mad Machine, Gϋbi saw something unlike anything in the machine’s world. It was bright and glowed with life. There had not been one day since he stared that Gϋbi left work early. It was the way things worked. He only had one bag and that bag was disposed of by the Disposal Commission exactly when his shift ended. Gϋbi abandoned his sanitation bag and ran to his domicile, passing many other automated entities along the way. He did not stop and his presence was barely noted. His discovery was concealed with his anonymous identity in a nation of stagnation.

When he reached his designated place of sleep, Gϋbi burst through the door. Immediately, the room was filled with the life of the light. He had forgotten all of his inabilities. His surroundings melted into a canister of hope placed directly in front of his fixed eyes. Risking the newly obtain feeling of warmth and acting on the first autonomous thought he had since before he could remember, he pried open the capsule. At once, like a vivid dream, the memories of his life bombarded his dormant mind, leaving him paralyzed with wonder.

Gϋbi saw the mountain, saw the families of his forgotten race. He knew he had to confront the worst feelings he had ever been subjected to. Instead of retreating back into the cold shelter of the darkness, Gϋbi faced the future with an exhilaration he had not felt in years. He remembered his name. He knew his place: He was Keeper of Mount Dreamy Plans! He must find the mountain before all that the Ones lived for was lost.

8. Dance of the Downtrodden Optimist

Gϋbi’s spirit was reconnected with the mountain. He was shocked to discover the close proximity of Mount Dreamy Plans. Buried in the middle of the metropolis, the mountain was resting in a concrete cage, surrounded on all sides by the faces of windowless buildings. The overpowering sensations building in Gϋbi caused an explosion. Gϋbi’s body was flung through a wall in his designated domicile and he landed, miraculously, at the base of Mount Dreamy Plans!

The abrupt impact of the One woke the mountain. Gϋbi felt as though he had been broken, but suddenly, he realized the sensation was that of breaking free! He danced around the mountain, proud to be reunited with a small piece of his past. Celebrating and sharing strength, the mountain and Gϋbi reveled in each others’ company.

The concrete at the mountain’s base started to crumble and grass began to grow from the forsaken ground. Hope was flooding all of Gϋbi’s being. Mount Dreamy Plans fed the feelings and gave comfort to Gϋbi when remember the great loss of the past. Gϋbi rested on the mountain and slowly finished taking in the memories of his life. As Gϋbi regained his color, so did the world around him. Spreading out from the mountain, a natural equilibrium fell on the immediate area.

A new system was sprouting inside an obsolete machine.

_______________________________________________________

The new album is here! This is the official release! You can download it for free!

Go to this website:
http://www.archive.org/details/AllOverTheWhere-FortuneFavorsTheBrave

**It may look confusing but follow my simplified version of the page in the next to pictures:

To download the music:
Click on "VBR ZIP"
---see the picture below
(If you own a mac, I think you hold 'option' and click)

To download the art and the story,

Click on "271.4K"

----see the picture below

I apologize because, no matter what I tried, I was unable to get all the information for each song file save on the file, so you may have to do some work editing song name, album name, artist name and track number. It bothers me but I did everything I could... a small tweak in an otherwise well arranged release...

The idea was to release the album as fully downloadable and free. To make the art and music as obtainable for a stranger on the street to my best friends and family... All of whom, are too far away for me to simply give a cd at the moment.

The original hope was to release the album on Feb 29th - Leap Year Day, but having only worked on it for about a month or 2 at that point, I knew there was a lot more to be done with the concept that was shaping. There are still improvements that could have been made, however I am eager to move on to the next projects in music and instrument building.

The album is mostly a product of a gray winter away from friends and family and anything familiar.

If you need help, have questions, wanna start something or anything else, just drop me an email.

-el colin

seoul, republic of korea, 4/14/8