Big Things Happening

Sometimes a long interval passes between my blog posts because life seems to be moving slowly - not much seems to be happening.

This has not been one of those times.

The long interval, this time, is due to the fact that so much is happening... so fast... that it's hard to find time to write, and it's hard to know what to pick out to write about.

The biggest news, really, is that Christina and Kodiak and I are moving to Sweden this summer! More on that in a moment.

Two posts ago, in my entry of December 4th, 2021, I discussed the fact that I had been commissioned by someone I know here in Taos to build a new sculpture. That sculpture is now finished and installed. The client wanted a sculpture to bring attention to his ambitious and well-developed solar electric installation, and so 'Electra' was born. 

Electra is an emissary from the future, letting us know that we'd better shift our energy technologies over to sustainable sources before it's too late.

Other than her base (which is carbon steel), she is fabricated entirely from stainless steel, so her surface should require little maintenance and she should look like that more-or-less forever.

And here is Electra taking her rightful place at the evolutionary end of the progression I showed back in December.

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So, we are moving to Sweden.

Well, I should qualify that and say that we are almost certainly moving to Sweden this summer. A grotesque enlargement of Putin's vanity war, or some other unforeseen complication might still derail our plan, but that feels pretty unlikely. I would put the likelihood of us really moving at about 98% and climbing.

The news has been leaking out, so some of you reading this may already know it.

There are multiple reasons for this move. In roughly descending order of importance, they are:

• Secure a better education and a better future for Kodiak. This really is the undisputed #1 reason for the move. New Mexico is 49th out of the 50 states in quality of education, and we feel Kodiak deserves more. We also want him to have the opportunity to become a 'World Citizen' in a way that he never could if we stay in Taos.

• Move to a place with a less divisive political climate, and less Republicans. I hate the conservative agenda in this country, I hate the fact that that agenda is driven by fear and hatred of dark-skinned people and women, I hate the effects of unchecked free-market capitalism, and I hate climate-change denialism. I could go on and on. Sweden does not suffer from these idiotic problems. Christina feels the same way. 

• A change of career opportunities for Christina and me. Who knows, really, how our careers will go in Sweden, but it's well-known that there is an entirely different level of respect for the arts in Europe than here in the US. Serious artists over there can get government assistance, there are collective workshops (places like BBK in Berlin, where I built With Open Arms, and KKV in Sweden), and probably lots of other good resources for artists. We are jumping in a little blind but we are willing to roll the dice.

• We will be in a place where we can grow old and face inevitable health problems without going bankrupt, without enriching 'Health' Insurance executives with everything that should be Kodiak's inheritance.

• We will be closer to Christina's parents in Stockholm, and to my brother Cles and my mother, who both live in Greece. (One regrettable downside is that we will be farther from my dad and brother. But hell, now they will have a reason to visit Sweden!)

• We will be a short train ride or flight away from the rest of Europe... places like Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Venice... 

• We will radically increase our opportunities for exposure to arts and culture.

• We will be near a beach and an airport, things which are very far from Taos.

The timing of our move is incredibly complicated to pin down, as it depends on variables such as my application for a residency permit in Sweden, our ability to secure a spot in a school for Kodiak, our ability to secure an apartment or house to live in, and some possible job opportunities which might keep me working here in Taos into the fall. In any case it seems Christina and Kodiak will likely move over there in July, with me either coming at the same time or following some weeks later.

And for the record, we are NOT selling our ranch here in Taos. If things don't work out for whatever reason, we can always come back. 

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These last 6 weeks have been some of the craziest times for my career that I can remember.

In a nutshell, I have had a quite unprecedented flood of opportunities, most of which have promised to deliver big paychecks, and most of which have evaporated almost as quickly as they had appeared for one reason or another. And through it all, one or two good ones have actually stuck.

It's really been strange. 

• One job - a new sculpture build - promised to pay almost 3 times more than I had ever made on a previous sculpture build. The pay would have been so good that it would have made sense for me to stay here in Taos through the fall in order to build it, throwing a huge wrench into the Sweden plans. Then the job was suddenly postponed... perhaps indefinitely.

• A festival job disappeared because the guy I was working with threw a temper tantrum when I asked him to verify that I would have the right kind of forklift available at the site. That was a guy (well-known to some of my artist contemporaries) with whom I was possibly going to do other work in the future, and I feel like I dodged a bullet when he revealed himself to be a narcissist and a jerk.

• Yet another festival job disappeared when, over the course of a week, my contact couldn't be bothered to answer my emails and texts... until I told him I had run out of time to organize my logistics. Upon receiving that text, he responded immediately accusing me of being impatient! (I could expand this into a whole blog post... who are these self-absorbed people and how do they get these jobs? And why are we, as artists, so often forced to deal with them?)

• An old friend from LA called me with less than a week warning asking me to come to LA to help work on some droids for a new Star Wars thing. That actually sounded like a lot of fun but I just couldn't fit it into my schedule.

• A new 'traveling festival' is talking to Christina and me about leasing a few of our big sculptures to go "on the road." This could be a nice sort of 'passive income' for us... but I can't tell if they are really serious or not. They know we are moving to Sweden and that time is of the essence. We shall see...

• I just sold Fledgling to a local gallery owner and friend here in Taos. This means that, along with Electra, Taos will have two of my sculptures on permanent display, now that we are leaving!

• And now, in the last few days, I am talking to someone about a new sculpture build for display at an event in the United Arab Emirates at the end of the year. Just like that first job in this list, this one now threatens to upend the Sweden plans, because if it were to really happen, it would make the most sense for me to stay here through the fall and build it. I wonder what will happen?

One must have a high tolerance for uncertainty to work in the arts. It has been quite a roller-coaster as these jobs have appeared, promised to pay big dollars, and then disappeared. 

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Meanwhile, with the awareness that our big relocation is coming fast, Christina and I have been busy like never before. Not only are we selling vehicles and all manner of other stuff as well as cleaning up our land, we are also packing in the trips to see people and places we might not see for a while. 

In April, Kodiak and I spent a wonderful 5 days in San Francisco with my dad. It was a chance for Kodiak and my dad to get to know one another, as well as for me to show Kodiak the city of my youth. We dined with my dad at great restaurants every night, and I gave Kodiak a first class tour of the city. Among other things, we met up with my old friend Sabrina Merlo for a tour of Sean Orlando's cool new Seaport Studios, went to the DeYoung museum (where I was amazed to see Thomas Hart Benton's 'Susannah and the Elders'!), rode the ferris wheel right next to the museum, went to Baker Beach, the crooked street, Coit Tower, North Beach and Chinatown, SoMa and Haight Street. I took him over the Golden Gate Bridge to Stinson Beach where we spent a sweet afternoon with my old high school pal Vasco Agnoli and his family. We even climbed to the top of Fort Point for great views of the Golden Gate and the Pacific Ocean. What a great city that is.

And just this last weekend, the Vanagon triumphantly returned to take us (along with Kodiak's good friend Marcelo) to Chaco Canyon, home of Anasazi and their impressive architectural triumph, Pueblo Bonito. This trip really arose out of Christina's desire to show Kodiak the best of New Mexico before we leave (she also took him to White Sands and the Carlsbad Caverns a few months ago), but I was also thrilled to go. In fact, I did a school report about Pueblo Bonito when I was about Kodiak's age, so it was actually quite special for me to walk through that place. Much to my surprise, they actually let you walk around the site! 

So I guess that's it for now. 

As you can see, big changes are afoot! 

Stay tuned...