Past tense Overhaul

Past tense. For me that phrase holds a double meaning. The past can make us tense.

And so I'm making an attempt to clear some of the remnants of the past--to make things not so tense.

One might argue that anything that's "done is done"; that the past does not influence our present state. But it does. Here I am---on a Saturday morning going all lumpy couch philosopher (don't have an armchair) and you're thinking I need to just shut up and tell you about the fun adventure I had instead. Bare with me.

This week- this vacation--- I am staying put. For the first time in almost I don't know how many years I am not hopping a flight or a train and putting miles between myself and my home on spring break. I am staying right here and making my adventures not only local, but purposeful as it relates to my daily life. I am trying to make a dent in a collection of articles from the past....objects of varying degrees of sentiment....that need to be pitched.

Over the course of this effort I will try to present a picture a day (if I can

stick to this) of an object from the past, its significance (however shallow in justification) and then tell you its fate. STAY TUNED as the visual catalogue

builds.

Featured item of DAY ONE: Le Femme De la Nuit

Category: Artwork

This is the first 'original' artwork acquired after moving from my first post-college apartment. Ummm yeah.

Please do not judge. I was very utilitarian and my Japanese roommate actually left this picture behind when she took off for parts unknown. She insisted it was not her painting (although she was an art and photography student). Supposedly, she h

ad saved it from the discard project pile at R.I.T.

So why did I save it? Somehow at the time it just intrigued me because of the black and white and the simplicity. Probably the same reason the roommie saved it from the flames of the college's incinerator. Let's be real though---even the lines, the angles and shadows are wrong and it violates all laws of perspective that I remember from my limited art training.

Perhaps I tried to justify keeping it in storage because it represented something-- a time and a place in my life. And maybe at one point I thought the painting was akin to commentary (a happening single girl taking a moment to reflect). Well...that was until my friend announced with absolute certainty "it's a hooker".

In all actuality it is just bad art. IT GOES!