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I’m looking forward to seeing this movie, maybe tonight….

Look him up, love him, give him your wallet. Watch this video.

I’ve been reading Tim Boucher’s blog for a while now, and his subject matter has become pretty interesting lately. I’ve started to see things a little differently, especially when it comes to advertising. One thing that popped out for me was this recent Bank of America commercial, encouraging us, among other things, to buy a minivan and wear a tie. Be like everybody around you and spend your money like a good citizen.

My new project is coming along, and I thought I would jot down some notes here so people don’t think I’m full of it when I say I’m working. I’ve had two things floating around in my mind for the last few years, and every once in a while I pull them out and dust them off just to see if they’re ready to stick yet. Fall is historically my creative time of year, especially the time after the leaves change but before the first snow. I get into this intense mood where I need to create and grow spiritually. Since those two things, for me, are connected in my artwork, it seems like a good time to start a new project.

So idea number one is to make Part Two of “A Journey of Keys.” I made that as a kind of shamanic soul-journey of healing. Themes of ritual play an important part in my life in general, and my “real” art specifically, so I want to be sure my new project contains some ritualistic elements. Do I need a soul-journey right now? Does the world? I guess I don’t know, but that idea as a whole isn’t really doing it for me, so it’s not going to be Part Two. Though I will steal some ideas from and possibly the aesthetic of Part One.

The other idea that has more promise for me right now is something that I’m calling “The Stigmata of St. Johnny Halo IV.” This is an idea that started out almost satirical in that it was going to be a lament about my poor eyesight. I have an astigmatism, and “St. Johnny Halo IV” is an anagram of my name. So I had planned these grand Christian symbols to show my frustration with wearing corrective lenses. It was dumb, but I liked the idea of making something that looked very profound but was, in reality, stupid. But I had a hard time convincing myself to make something that was stupid on purpose. I did a little of that in college and I just felt cheap. So the new project won’t be “Stigmata” but it will be about St. Johnny Halo IV.

Here’s what I’m thinking: A divination machine. An online ritual followed by a series of animated vignettes that are designed to act like an oracle. It’s working title is “The Oracle of St. Johnny Halo IV” and it’s growing on me. I have lots of sources to work from, including the tarot and i ching. I thought about limiting myself to one divination system, like the tarot major arcana for example. Creating 22 vignettes to represent the cards and use three at a time for the “reading.” But I don’t feel like I need to limit myself. I’m sure I’ll use some ideas from the tarot, the Hanged Man is an image I have been drawn to lately, so I’ll probably use that. Otherwise I’m going to go nuts. I think this is a good project and for the first time in a while I’m excited about making art.

As far as the ritual itself is concerned, I’ve had a few thoughts on that as well. I’ve always liked the idea of turning The Hymn of the Pearl into a ritual, or maybe something out of the Sethian cosmology, which has been growing on me lately too. I’ll post sketches and storyboards here as they come. It’ll be interesting to have my process so out in the open, but I think it will keep me on task.