Living on the Edge (of Town)

I am staying in on a Friday night, which I love to do in Brooklyn, too. Tonight, it is a bit cold as the temps dropped from an unseasonably warm 70's to the 50's to remind us that Spring is just warming up. The heat was turned off the 15th of March. The whole country or at least the part that has heating, gets their heat turned off at the same time by law. To warm myself, I am drinking peppermint tea and listening to the longing moans of the Mongolian band Hanggai. It was recorded at Dos Kolegas the bar my girlfriends frequent and met their Chinese boyfriends at. The bar is located next to a drive in movie theater and feels like you are in someones dark basement in the winter and opens up to a nice outdoor space when it gets warmer. The guys who run the bar are all from the same town in NW China, Ningxia, the town where goji berries come from.

CCD is becoming more lively as winter thaws. More people around, new arrivals. An artist residency program is in the complex, which hosts foreign artists. At the moment, there is a woman video sculpture artist from Switzerland, named Katjia and a performance artist named Andreas from Berlin. The whole feeling here as shifted for me. Its like I am seeing it all for the last time, as new people come to experience it for the first. The studio represents a place of dreams and investments and a bit of emptiness. Not a real home, but sufficient for the time. The Mongolian throat singing is continuing, but has picked up its pace. Lightening up the mood.



SPRING IN BEIJING

We had an OPEN STUDIO party April 11, 2009.
CCD300 Artists:

Su-Jung Lee
Katia Loher
Ma Yongfeng
Andreas Sell

We have a old factory complex with a cement courtyard. We are flanked by a taxi motel, where the taxis and drivers come to eat and rest and an active railroad track. I find the sound of a midnight train relaxing. In Athens, GA and Roslindale, MA I lived close to the tracks. From the studio, I can see it directly outside of my window. The whole town is a construction site at the moment. There is dust and pollen floating around everywhere. Luckily, I'm staying in town cat sitting in a beautiful home near the Lama and Confucian Temples. Counting my lucky stars.

Preparing to get back on the road...

My studio is on the raised part of this space.
This is before I built walls, opened the windows, added track lighting, and a door.