Wide, wide river

PRINCETON D, (2006) 10" x 10"

Fans of the long-lost sixties band The Fugs* will recall the song of todays posts title.  Scatological in the truest sense of the word, the song aptly describes Sonoma County's Russian River.  Dumping ground for the wine country's agricultural runoff, wastewater and treated sewage from cities and towns upstream, the river remains a tourist and recreational mecca for many Bay Areans.  These people, whether oblivious or unconcerned, continue to canoe, kayak and, heaven help them, swim in the rivers dubious waters.

Friends who visit us here are often surprised when I reveal the content of the Russian's flow, and why I refuse to drop any body parts in or around it.  It is especially tragic, given the beauty  of the river as it runs along River Road and highway 116 to the sea.  But the river also has the misfortune of being the easiest way for people to get rid of things.  In large quantities.  In the middle of the night.  And broad daylight.   Trash, wood, chemicals, sewage, only the last two remain officially sanctioned "products" of municipalities unwilling to bear the cost of responsibilities to their downstream neighbors, let alone the ocean, nature and the world.  

The results of too much growth and not enough planning is the default history of America in general, California in particular, and Sonoma County in spades.  The solutions are always "cost prohibitive" if you listen to the various councils, commissions, and assemblies.  So, here we are.  A river you shouldn't swim in is still hyped as a great river to swim in.  When some poor bastard, knee deep in the stuff, shrugs "Hey, it's the river!" when told about its toxic levels of e.coli, you realize The Fugs* had no idea.

* Ed Sanders, one of the founding members, was the publisher of "Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts", which to my mind, may be the greatest magazine title ever.

  

Link Dump

NATIONAL:

Bringing it to the people: Adding waterfalls to New York's East River.

STATE:

Set it and forget it:  Geegaw figures out how much water your lawn needs.

LOCAL:

Chablis uber alles:  "Wine Country" locals are done with grapes.

Preface

Most of the perfect times in my life have been spent either in, or next to water.  Frequently naked.  Sometimes high on something or the other.  Almost always with friends.  These details all but ensure that I was someplace secluded, remote, and what we tend to regard as "in nature".   These were experiences of a primal comfort that blended sensual pleasure, solitude and, with any kind of luck, the glimpses of connectedness and enlightenment that usually only natural psychedelics can provide.   Usually, but not always.

Years after those ecstatic experiences I would either hear sad stories of, or witness first hand varying degradations of these wonderful places.   I could've seen it coming.   What I had found amazing about these spots, so had others.   And their friends.  And their dogs.     

Sometimes things were managed to provide access to these spots while limiting the potential impacts of human activity.  Sometimes not.  But the idea that sources of fresh water were being depleted was never discussed. 

Seven years ago, I came across a small Qing Dynasty porcelain in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  About the size of a small teacup, this celadon container mesmerized me with what I perceived as a perfect shape, size, color, and finish.   I thought it was declaring  its purpose across culture, and language, and time.     And it was called a Water Coupe.  Coupe as in the French definition of bowl or cup.

The memory of this little object stayed in my head for some time, and in 2003 I began a series of paintings based on the relationships humans have with water.  Paintings serving to "contain" water.  The memory of water.

I had been making art for over thirty years with varying levels of intensity and success, mostly low-to-barely perceptible.   Regardless of the media I was focused on, painting was a favorite method of expression, and so I decided to focus my direction on "re-learning" the process.  The initial paintings of this effort can be seen on my website.

  

During the making of these works, I began to think that it was also important to do something, however small, to examine my own relationship to water in the world.   The obvious survival issues are a given.  The increasing coverage of water as a political issue between have and have-not countries warrants some kind of attention.

But even on an admittedly hedonistic level, shouldn't everyone have the opportunity to experience pristine water in the wild?  A visceral and personal connection to where the water comes from?  A chance to experience that kind of pleasure?

Now to begin.  

I've been inspired by many of my friends who have used their creativity to provide something beyond their own desires and profession.  Something that will help.  

While I'm certainly not above including my own ruminations, artworks and pithy crackpot remarks, my desire is to gather information, pass it on, and perhaps enable discussion and community.