Michael Markham

Campfire Stories & Visitations — Red Cloud's Ghost

2011-11-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

The campfire is something that is created within the landscape, and the campfire and story telling go hand-in-hand. No doubt, in times past, campfire gatherings were a time for hunters and warriors to tell of their exploits. Today many campfire stories are ghost stories and, while many of these are light-hearted fictions (often told to give children a fright), there truly are ghosts in the landscape — of people who have passed before us and whose spirits still engage us and speak to us. The landscape is saturated with their stories — some heroic, some not so ... many tragic — and these stories tell about how we behave and how we adapt and how we survive (or not). If we want to know the landscape, we need to know these stories — many of which go well back into the mists of time.

This image shows a photograph of Red Cloud, the Oglala Lakota leader, projected onto the smoke of a campfire. As the smoke moves around in the breezes, Red Cloud's image appears and disappears — the thicker the smoke the more vivid the image.

Watercolor ...

2011-09-25T06:40:00.000-07:00

Did this watercolor some time ago. Gave it away as a gift, but came upon the photo recently and I'm thinking this might make a good series. We often see scientific maps that are colorized to show temperatures of the oceans or population patterns and so on. The color here means nothing — it's just about the color itself as an agent for defining the map.

Marshall McLuhan

2011-07-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

The media prophet's 100th birthday is this year and he's experiencing something of a revival and a reconsideration. The following link is to a site that has numerous videos of him talking about himself and his ideas: http://marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/

Above photo by Joseph Karsh.

Beauty, eh?

2011-06-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Just spent several wonderful days up in the mountains with a group of old friends. Among other things, hiked up into the area above Lake Louise. Lake Louise has been referred to as the "spiritual center of Canada". Enjoyed a hike up to the Plain of Six Glaciers and Lake Agnes. Felt so good to be out in that mountain air again after so many years!

Back on the Road

2011-06-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Weather's better now. Time to quit the Arrow paintings for a while and get outside and move around.
Sending out some new postcards — this image the first postcard of the season.

Joss Bachhofer — Travels to East Asia (Blog)

2011-06-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, artist and traveler Joss Bachhofer from Munich, is starting out tomorrow on a long journey — by scooter — into central Asia, planning to return to Germany sometime in October. Perhaps you might like to follow his progress on his blog. Blog will be mainly in German (perhaps some English) but I expect there will be many photos. Follow his trip on his blog: Travels to East Asia

Spring — Rideau River, Ontario

2011-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Summary of Arrow Work to Date

2011-05-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

For summary click on this link:
http://mmarkham.com/MARKHAM_Arrows.html

3-D Arrow Drawings

2011-03-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Working on a small series of these. Can frame them up on the wall and hang viewing glasses beside them. But for this page (and without the glasses) try this procedure:

To achieve the 3-D effect, try staring THROUGH the images and let your eyes "glaze" until you notice a third image between the two on the page — then focus on that third image and, with any luck, the stereo effect will lock in. Try doing this from about a foot away.

Three-Dimensional Portrait of Kazimir Malevich

2011-03-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

LEFT: Two-Dimensional Self Portrait by Kazimir Malevich, 1915
RIGHT: Three-Dimensional Portrait of Kazimir Malevich, by Michael Markham, 2011

While working on my arrow compositions (the 3-D drawings in particular) it occurred to me that they had a look reminiscent of the Constructivist/Suprematist work by Russian artists during the early 1900s. So I went and took a look at this art again and came upon a painting by Kasimir Malevich called Self-Portrait in Two Dimensions (1915).

Well!!

The temptation was too great and so I decided I had to do a Portrait of Kasimir Malevich in Three Dimensions by creating an altered image to place beside the original and which would serve to project Malevich's composition into space.

Malevich’s original composition is on the left.

Details on original painting:
Kazimir Malevich. Two-Dimensional Self-Portrait. 1915.
Oil on canvas. 80 x 62 cm. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

To achieve the 3-D effect, try staring THROUGH the images and let your eyes "glaze" until you notice a third image between the two on the page — then focus on that third image and, with any luck, the stereo effect will lock in. Try doing this from about a foot away.

Jason's Jam, Kenny's Castaways, Bleeker Street, NYC

2011-03-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

Jason's Jams take place every Tuesday from 10pm-2am. If you're in New York City, drop by. If you can participate, so much the better. A good bunch of performers and musicians. Friendly atmosphere! This photo from last night — Jason is the man on the left.

Two new paintings ...

2011-03-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

Two Paintings that can be Viewed as a Sculpture
Acrylic on Canvas
24 x 24 inches each

These two paintings were conceived to sit side-by-side. When photographed — and viewed in stereo and at an appropriate size — the arrows will project outwards, making the paintings a sculpture. To achieve the 3-D effect on this page, try staring THROUGH the paintings and let your eyes "glaze" until you notice a third image between them — then focus on that third image and, with any luck, the stereo effect will lock in. Try doing this from about a foot away.

NEW ARTIST RESIDENCY SPACE in BERLIN

2011-02-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

American ex-pat sculptor Howard McCalebb now has an ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM at his DADA POST art space in BERLIN. If you want to spend some time in Berlin — a city at the center of today's art world — take some time to consider this opportunity. This is a new residency and needs publicity — please "share" this information!

See also:
http://www.dadapost.com/index.php?/main/floorplans/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001511221674#!/album.php?id=100001074758779&aid=27927

Contact and information:
info@dadapost.com

Getting from A to B ...

2011-01-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

Michael Markham
Getting From A to B
acrylic and paper on plywood panels
5.75 x 5.75 inches each panel

Arrows — c'est la vie!

2011-01-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

If you've seen my website (www.mmarkham.com) you'll know that recent work is on the subject of the highway and the landscape through which the highway/road has been cut. The work is fairly dense with subject matter, and I felt the need for something a little lighter and more playful. I also wanted to paint (much of the work referred to above has been photographic).

What I needed was some simple subject/object to anchor the painting and which would keep the paintings connected to the other work (which continues). The subject/object I chose was the arrow — the sign/symbol of direction, movement, route, course, bearing, orientation, trajectory and so on.

The 9 panels here are meant to be hung as shown. Each panel is 5.75 x 5.75 inches, acrylic on plywood. The piece is untitled.

SMITHSONIAN BANS ART FROM EXHIBITION based on complaints from religious agitators.

2010-12-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

As an artist I have to say that I find it offensive when people dismiss or (worse) condemn an artwork without actually taking the time to look it over and consider it carefully. So many — including certain predictably self-righteous politicians — do a major pile-on without having heard anything but the most outlandish rumors.

This video is about suffering and dying and was made by an artist dying of AIDS. The imagery is as much metaphorical as anything, and the "offensive" ants-on-the-crucifix is intensely poetic — symbolizing suffering, despair and decay. And what better symbol to use than the image of a man known for his suffering, and one who is best known for transcending death?

Art is a form of speech and expression, and for a major (world-renowned) American institution to ban an artwork already accepted for exhibition — based on the complaints of a few religious zealots — is outrageous.

Good cause looking to expand ...

2010-12-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

John McDermott is a British artist and Falklands War veteran involved in projects to help soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) deal with their difficulties. John and others are developing a site online (link below) and are looking for support, not only inside Britain but also by way of links and hook-ups abroad. With so many countries involved in Afghanistan today, and previously in places such as Iraq and Rwanda, PTSD remains a growing concern for many who experience the trauma of war and then have difficulty adjusting to life after returning home.

Part of their program is expressed as follows:

"We aim to remove the stigma attached to combat related post traumatic stress disorder, by creating a bridge of understanding between sufferers and the community and raising national public awareness of this condition, through the use of visual art".

LINK: www.aftermathptsd.co.uk

One of the better therapies for returning veterans — and for many others needing to express and deal with their deepest emotions — is art. Art allows for an expression that is directly personal. The "artist" is left to discover his/her own most satisfying and effective form and then to freely express themselves within that form. Veterans of many nationalities have turned to visual art or poetry or story-telling to unburden themselves. These artworks don't only allow distressed veterans to express themselves, but through organizations such as John's they also enter the public record and remain there for all of us to consider.

Oscar Peterson

2010-12-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

Ottawa has a new public sculpture of Canadian Jazz great Oscar Peterson. It sits on the sidewalk outside the National Arts Center. There are a couple of speakers set on the wall which feature his music.

2010-11-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Went for a drive in the rain. Passed by this abandoned motel.

New York City Cacophony

2010-11-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

A suite of 30 multiple exposure photographs of New York City are now shown on my website. Please go to www.mmarkham.com and click on "New York City Cacophony". You can then click the various thumbnails for larger images. See also the "recent work" page for 5 new postcard images.

My friend, the painter Linda Hoard, died today ...

2010-11-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, the realist painter Linda Hoard of Poulsbo, Washington State, has died of cancer at the age of 54. A rare talent, and a warm and wonderful spirit, she will be missed by many. The above paintings are oil on canvas, and we can take some comfort in knowing that her paintings will be appreciated for many years to come — ars longa, vita brevis. Condolences to her husband Bob, and to her family and friends ...

Jammin' with Wicked Grin ...

2010-11-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

Went Jammin' at the Rainbow Bistro this evening and got up for few songs with Maria Hawkins (see 3rd post below). Host band was Wicked Grin shown above (left to right: Murray Kinsley, Richard Wielusiewicz, Leigh-Anne Stanton). Good crowd — a variety of fine musicians got up to play. The Rainbow Bistro is the primary blues venue in Ottawa and has been in existance for over 25 years.

Laura Wee Lay Laq

2010-11-07T05:18:00.000-08:00

My good friend, ceramic artist Laura wee Lay Laq, talks about her hand building techniques and other aspects of her craft. She was recently featured in an important exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver, Canada. (See also the link to the right)

Read it and weep:

2010-11-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting these kinds of headlines for a while now. You see them often enough, but usually they pass by without provoking much comment or concern. Once you start building up a collection they become much more disturbing, and I must have hundreds of headlines now on numerous environmental issues. Scientists, artists, and many others understand the critical issues here, but politicians and governments the world over seem either unconcerned or downright dismissive. It can all be very depressing. I guess it's easy enough, especially for those living in comfort and affluence, to ignore this kind of thing — and population pressures will only make matters worse. It's hard to see any remedy to this sad and dangerous problem.

cariboo threatened
environmental alarm
it's only a drill

Maria Hawkins

2010-11-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Maria Hawkins is one of Ottawa's top musical talents, a blues singer with a powerful voice and great stage presence — I often perform with her. Beyond the standard gigs and concerts, however, Maria likes to take her talents into the school system — singing and teaching music, performing mini-concerts against bullying and other behavioral issues, and playing for children with special needs. She works these kids like a southern preacher, totally engaging them and drawing them in and making her lessons seem more like a rally than a class. Kudos to Maria for her many dedicated years of doing this!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2010-10-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Made from hinged Halloween Skeletons.

Country Road

2010-10-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Photo taken near Renfrew, Ontario.

Northern Star

2010-10-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

Photo taken near Calabogie, Ontario.

Soon it will be winter ...

2010-10-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Photo taken near Madawaska, Ontario.

Strike up the Band!

2010-10-02T16:06:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid in high school I joined up with a bunch of jokesters who had formed up a rock band they called The Mojos. I hadn't seen any of them in some 40 years or more and they hadn't much kept in touch either. Last Thursday we had a reunion which was great fun. Left to right foreground: Mike Markham (rhythm guitar and harmonica), Stanley Berneche (vocals), Skip Layton (drums), John Winskell (lead guitar), Robert Chambers (bass). You can try and match us up with the youngsters in the back.

Photo and composite by Stanley Berneche.

Back in the North Country ...

2010-09-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Jason's Jam / Kenny's Castaways / Bleeker Street, NYC

2010-09-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

I try to get down here to play harmonica every Tuesday I'm in NYC. As at any jam, the music can on occasion be uneven, but there is a core of very excellent musicians who can get up and pick up the pace whenever things lag. The music is based in blues and funk, although any tune will do and I've heard just about everything here including Hank Williams.

Jason Rosen hosts the jam and he can be strict or generous as needed. He has one rule for those who would participate: "DON'T SUCK!" (note to harmonica players: don't take this rule too literally).

Most interesting is a large number of Japanese musicians who hang out here, many of them quite excellent — last night a young, slight, Japanese girl got up to play the drums and made a powerful contribution.

The highlight of last night's performing for me was being onstage for a rousing rendition of James Brown's Sex Machine. I took a long solo.

Matisse!!! Radical Invention at MOMA

2010-09-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is why I like living in New York — you very rarely see such exhibitions elsewhere in the western hemisphere, and they happen all the time here. This exhibition was organized by New York's Museum of Modern Art and The Art Institute of Chicago and is only showing in these two cities.

I've loved Matisse for as long as I can remember — his color, his lines, his compositions, the overall richness of his work. Where Picasso was volatile and prickly, Matisse had a cool intuitive intelligence. The word "elegant" is a word I've always associated with Matisse.

This intelligent show — of his formative middle works which have perhaps been somewhat neglected — is a beauty, and keys on two major paintings (see above — and click to enlarge), surrounding them with other works from the period which help illuminate Matisse's overall development at this time.

This is not just a show to look at, but also one to think about. You can look at the works from afar and see the finished piece — you can also get in real close and see all the evidence of his work (the scratching, scraping, over painting and changes in composition) that Matisse intentionally left there as subtle evidence of the works progress. This is exhilarating stuff to me.

This exhibition is up until Oct. 11th. If you enjoy the very best of art — and you're in the area — don't miss it.

On the way out I also stopped to take another look at Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon — something I make a point of doing every time I'm in this museum.

A few thoughts, from New York City, on 9/11 ...

2010-09-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

After the planes hit the twin towers, and while the towers were burning, I was watching the news unfold on a big office screen at Penn Plaza in NYC with a crowd of people from that office. I remember a woman saying "This is like Pearl Harbor" and I remember replying that I thought it was more like Thunderball. I saw this event as the advent of the world-class criminal, with Osama Bin Laden as a kind of Blofeld. This was not to belittle the event, by any means ... but I think one of the great mistakes made was to "declare war" on these extremists and in doing so allowing them the prestige of seeing themselves as holy warriors defending the Faith. We should have treated them as nothing more than criminals from the start and, I believe as a consequence, the rhetoric and perhaps even the outcome might have been different. We would have then assumed a different language and approach, treating them as terrorists and murderers and pursuing them as such, not with armies but with the police forces of the world and with whatever special forces might have been appropriate. The epicenter of this rhetorical mistake (I almost fell off my chair in despair when I heard President Bush first say this) was to declare that this was "a crusade" — this was the worse possible thing to have said at the time, and must have been something that riveted the Islamic world.

We now seem to be kind of flailing about, with entire armies chasing phantoms in the dust. I doubt Al Queda can be defeated militarily — Al Queda is an idea and must be defeated as such. The Taliban will not go away, and can't be wiped out. They are not a country but a people and they will be around for a very long time — and they will remember, as people and cultures do.

We need to end the war, intensify the policing, change the rhetoric and make our peace with Islam, which is not simply a religion but also a culture that has contributed greatly to civilization as we know it, from our science to our perfumes.

We need peacemakers now, not people who want to fan the flames like Newt Gingrich, who came very close to declaring supporters of New York's proposed downtown Islamic center to be Nazis. I deeply resent that comparison. I support the right to build that center, and I support it in the name of peace and good will.

(composite photo taken by me from Brooklyn, the evening of 9/11)

Among my photos — a street sign in Portland, Dorset:

2010-09-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

New York City photo series

2010-09-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

I've been scanning some old photos/slides that have been sitting in albums and unavailable for viewing. These examples are from a NYC series that I did in the 80's and 90's — I wanted to capture the clutter and clatter of the city. They were done on film — in camera — using multiple exposures and winding the film on so that frames overlapped. You can come up with similar images today using Photoshop, but Photoshop images would be more contrived and constructed whereas these film works always had a high level of chance (even though i got pretty good at remembering what I had photographed, and how the various images and the light and dark would interact on the final product). These were fun to do, largely because the element of surprise was always present. Click on images to enlarge.

Bombers overhead!

2010-09-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

Back in the days immediately following 9/11, when there were bombers over Afghanistan and Iraq, I spent some time putting up decal silhouettes of B2 (Stealth) Bombers on the ceilings of hallways and barrooms and offices of New York City so that they would hover above the folks below, giving them some sense for what others in faraway lands might be feeling. Most of these — likely seen as unsettling and perhaps even offensive — were removed pretty quickly. They weren't all that stealthy, actually, as they were black and most of the ceilings were white. One place where I stuck such a decal was in the washroom at Pearl Paint, on Canal Street, and it remains there today — painted over, and so even more stealthy than before. (Be sure to list the washroom at Pearl Paint among the "places to visit" if you ever make a trip to the Big Apple!)

And now for something completely different ...

2010-09-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to photograph a dragonfly in flight?

2010-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

More River Stone Sculptures — Algonquin Park

2010-08-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

I was in Algonquin Park again yesterday, doing a little hike down by the Oxtongue River, and came upon some stone sculptures very like those shown in the post below. Probably not by the same person, as these items resembled the Inuit Inukshuk. This manner of piling stones (as shown here and below) seems to have become a Canadian pastime as you often see them perched on the rocks alongside the highways.

Arrows (c'est la vie)

2010-08-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

As I've developed my series Roadwork (which is largely photographic and digital and very much concerns a large mess of content) I've been looking for something which is more basic to traditional art practices and which will engage me in a different way. I wanted to make a purer art with a radically stripped down content. And I wanted to paint again.

I also needed something which would act as a foil for the paint and would reference the road work in some way. I settled on the arrow: the graphic sign of direction, movement, route, orientation, trajectory and so on.

Top left: Road sign
Top right: Untitled, 6x6 inches
Bottom: Untitled, 48x48 inches

An Experiment ...

2010-08-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've spent a fair amount of time in Algonquin Park, an area frequented by Canada's famous Group of Seven artists and their associate Tom Thomson back in the early part of the 20th century (link).

I've been wondering if there is a way to treat the landscape that is more representative of my own time and yet which somehow refers back to their heritage. One thing I've done is take some some photos of the same landscape and then play with them in Photoshop, digitalizing them and trying to find something between a photograph and a more abstract and graphic representation. The above image is part of that experiment.

I doubt these images will find much acceptance as art — there's a lot of prejudice to digital work (especially Photoshop) — but I like playing with the photos, as much out of curiosity as anything else.

POP LIFE — The National Gallery of Canada

2010-08-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the gallery's exhibition publicity: POP LIFE — The National Gallery of Canada

This show is not so much about art as about branding — the branding of the artist and his/her work; the art of self promotion; art in the market place; art-as-commodity; the artist as celebrity. The word "POP" seems wrongly applied here. The word has come to define a different era, and is a bit misleading.

The exhibition originated at the Tate in London, and is designed to link the so-called Young British Artists to New York's East Village scene of the 80s and through them to Andy Warhol, thus establishing an historical narrative. There is a variety of continental European artists and a Japanese artist to fill out the exhibition (for a complete list see the link above).

Andy Warhol is set up as the defining father figure, with the others as his progeny. But Andy has an iconic presence that goes beyond mere branding, and his overall effect was to change the culture whereas these others seem content to ride it (like Andy did in his later years) — largely for their own self-aggrandizement. The only artist here who seems like a true son-of-Andy is Keith Haring, but he died far too young, a mere three years after Andy's passing.

Many of the claims made for this work have to do with how it challenges various assumptions about identity and representation and production and commerce. The need for the artist to control his or her own media image is also an issue. These issues are not unique to these artists however, and the work here can be so self-indulgent that the claims often seem more directed toward excusing personal excesses. The pornography of Jeff Koons or Cosey Fanni Tutti, to take the most glaring examples, can't simply be explained away as being a "challenge to social acceptability" — the narcissism is too apparent, and it is the narcissism that rankles, not the sex.

There is one piece in this exhibition that stands apart, however, and it's not Jeff Koons' over-hyped and over-lit stainless steel Rabbit. Piotr Uklanski's Nazis is the most provocative work in the show as it calls attention to branding of an entirely different order. Say what you will about the Nazis, their uniforms and trappings have a hypnotic and lasting allure — it was extremely effective design. And when you combine those Nazi trappings with the charisma of a movie star you have something uncommonly seductive. This artwork has been very controversial. It's basically a large collection of photos of movie stars decked out in Nazi regalia. The Nazi brand is merged and glamorized with movie star brand names (Brando, Peck, Fiennes and many others), with the overall effect that you are confronted with a potent mix of references about power, glamor, representation and good costuming and how seriously seductive it all can be. But the glamor of these photos has a very sharp edge because they can't be considered at all seriously without bringing to mind that long list of very unglamorous horrors and atrocities which were also the legacy of Nazi design. This work pushes a lot of buttons, and the serious and unsettling issues raised by Uklanski's work are in sharp contrast to the superficialities apparent in the rest of the exhibition.

Significantly perhaps, the least interesting artist in the show turns out to be Damien Hirst, who is the most successful self-promoter of the lot, but who here seems merely humdrum. The shark might have helped, but I'm guessing it doesn't travel well.

Ottawa River Sculptures

2010-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

Down by the Ottawa River there are a number of stone sculptures, all carefully made by stacking and balancing. They're all meant to be temporary — eventually wind, water, ice and such will take them all down. The artist, John Ceprano, is one of a group of artists around the world who engage in this particular activity: balancing stones creatively and elegantly. I've occasionally done this myself, and suspect many people have, but never to this level — these folks take their work seriously.

In the "old days" this area was the homeland of the Algonquin people. Samuel de Champlain and Etienne Brûle, assisted by Algonquin guides, were the first Europeans to travel up the Ottawa River and past this point, doing so in 1615.

Claudia Serea — poet

2010-08-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

I'm adding a link today to some poems by Claudia Serea.

I met Claudia while working at McGraw-Hill Publishing in New York City as a freelance art director. She was a full time art director, and a recent immigrant from Romania. Someone told me Claudia wrote poetry, but she was modest enough that she never revealed this to me until I asked her directly. Turns out she's an excellent poet who can write evocative and atmospheric poems about her homeland or about experiencing life in New York City. She can also write insightful political poems borne out of her memories of life as a young girl in communist Romania and her experiences during the fall of the Ceausescu dictatorship.
 
An excerpt from her poem Identifying the Poets:
 
     Bob is a poet: 
     a tall, smiling man, with curly hair— 
     and he is a lawyer, too. 
 
     He comes in the morning and drinks coffee,  
     tapping thoughtfully on his laptop 
      elegies for lost stocks. 
 
For the full poem (and others) click Claudia's name in the "Links" panel on the right. 
 

Flora & Fauna

2010-08-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

Took this photo a week or so ago in Algonquin Park in Ontario. Much of my work is the result of experiences while traveling — the landscape and the highway are central themes. As I've been traveling around I've been taking photos and then turning them into postcards as I travel, using a portable printer and pre-made adhesive backs. These cards have been sent out to various friends, either as singles or as bulk mailings of up to ten cards per image. This particular photo was not used for a postcard — I chose another one more suitable to my needs. So to those of you who got the card with the moose on it, here's a different shot of the same animal.

Hello!

2010-08-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this new blog. Just getting started, as you can see.

I'm an artist, musician and poet and I move about a lot. I'm hoping to be able to post a variety of things here: comments and images concerning my own work in progress; reviews of exhibitions I see; commentary about art in general; other observations about the world around me. Eventually I'll include videos.

Websites tend to be fairly static, and so I'm hoping that linking this blog on my site will allow for a more energetic and far ranging expression. Hopefully this blog will not be all about me — I hope to include images and writings contributed by friends also. I hope this will turn out to be a place to keep an eye on.

In the meanwhile check out my website: mmarkham.com

Check back from time to time and see how things are going!