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Lee Tracy |
The Demandments, a series of 110 works on paper, 55" x 55" x 40" in assorted mediums and genres. ©2010-2016 People ask why I created my series, The Demandments. Why take the uncharted path? Why suddenly turn, breaking from where I stood? I give them three reasons. 1. I have a story and I write. I write about a fictional world, but one that I wish to live in. In order to explore it, I needed to impose some of my own ideals. The series produced the template for me to walk in an imagery landscape with truth. The world in my book is a society, still textured with tension, yet living by common sense. I had to be sure that I wasn't going to present a utopia that would fail. One day, I hope to introduce readers to my world. 2. The series aids in naming world problems and studying issues that I may not have examined in this life. The research pushed me beyond assumptions. I now have a good footing rooted in intelligent opinion. My discovery left me without a side and with the ability to see clearly into the foggy grey vistas. 3. I questioned what social responsibility entailed within the arts, art history and the present social commentary. I wished to experience a useful art, for others and for myself. The series is intended to be a catalyst for interaction. What transpired over time is an art assignment for students and a forum for us to listen to them. The Demandments -------- In the end, all my art of various mediums is influenced of my upbringing. Like Prince, Patti Smith, Dwight Eisenhower, Van Morrison, Luke Evans, Michael Jackson...and so many others in fields of expression, I am imbued with both tenacity and vulnerability. Being raised in a divided household with one Jehovah's Witness parent, I was taught the concept of a paradise on earth. It is both my weakness and my strength. Imagining a world other than this one introduces struggle and joy. I am an artist with a wealth of material and a human with a longing that must be reached. The Demandment series is an attempt at reaching. It could be that this is a body of work not yet finished in all that it can inspire in others. It has however, released me from many questions. 1. Do not alter seeds to render them useless 2. Do not produce toxic stuff 3. The earth was not given to you + 4. Never let your sternum constrict your heart 5. Never overlook the natural system that works 6. Stop cutting down whole forests 7. End all habits that diminish the bounty of the sea 8. Refrain from taking when another falls 9. Never dismiss the history found in the earth 10. Don't forget to be prepared for change 11. Abolish all abuse of all animals 12. Eliminate the imbalance of wealth 13. Respond to global cries of starvation 14. Restore the caregiver's purpose 15. Prohibit devices that disrupt the pollinators 16. Make consuming a small part of your life 17. Question endlessly any desire to start a war 18. Repair the gouges put in the earth 19. Disable the destructive influences of corporate lobbyists 20. Refuse to divide yourselves with dogma 21. Reject all plans that privatize the people's system 22. Unlimited growth is a stupid idea 23. Utilize earth's gift 24. Educate Everyone, Teach Empathy 25. Closeloop holes that entitle gazillionaires to more 26. Forbid Conglomerates from controlling your news 27. Keep your banks small 28. Require transparent elections of equal funding 29. Outlaw planned obsolescence 30. Reduce the trash that you create 31. Insist on pure ingredients 32. Use your creativity on your infrastructure 33. End usury 34. Be preoccupied with goodness 35. Create jobs! How? Value our assets, restore, upkeep, protect... 36. Beware of pill pushers 37. Look to women 38. Mind your own 39. Hate ruins everything 40. Clean up your households, chemicals are not the solution 41. Separate big business and public office 42. Quit trashing the heavens 43. Naturalize your lawns 44. Get over your craving for assault weapons 45. Widen your vision of God* 46. Get a grip on the Federal Reserve 47. There need not be poor among you 48. Scrutinize the Status quo 49. Regulate and watchdog industry 50. Halt all violent traditions 51. Grow innovation, flow Information, internet, patents, libraries 52. Dispel the discourse of fear 53. Saddle students with opportunity, not debt 54. Beat back the welfare kings 55. Rise up, you are not defeated* 56. See corporations as cash registers not citizens 57. Obstruct those who waste, ruin, or own water sources 58. Value the handmade, protect workers 59. Get ready, oil will end 60. Lionize the elderly 61. Make compassion the measure of religion* 62. Give fish a rest 63. Guard against complacency 64. Embrace the truth, skin is just a cover 65. Plan your families 66. Be Loving, allow others to love 67. Together, we affect the weather 68. Prosecute placing profit before people 69. Resist the seduction of stuff 70. Slow the spin, read several hours a day 71. The cost of living shouldn't take much 72. Understand that multinational corporations have no loyalty to you 73. Un-script Knowledge 74. Get as far off the grid as possible + 75. Fill empty homes 76. Oust the politicians that lie 77. Everything cannot be for sale 78. Punish plundering & profiteering 79. Unlock hoarded energy patents 80. Give veterans the excellent care they have earned 81. Enough with racial grouping 82. Circulate capital 83.Borrow energy from 84. Protect life after birth 85. Dismantle chemical agriculture 86. Call out the accomplices manipulating the food pyramid 87. Now is the time to lift your voice + 88. Express optimism as an incantation + 89. Confront political paralysis by uniting 90. Champion all cultures* 91. Make exploiting the weak a thing of the past 92. Create enduring access to dignity 93. See how all life is linked + 94. Combat causes, not symptoms 95. Unravel your life from the myth of scarcity while addressing your wastefulness 96. Break your addiction to nonsense 97. Be ok with idling 98. Sacralize the bounty of local small farms,Learn to plant your garden 99-110 forthcoming | PAINTING 1991-1995 1996-2000 2001-2005 2006-2010 2011-2014 MINI-SERIES 1990 Peppers, Seeds, and Rotting Vegetables 1996 What I painted when I could not paint 2005 For the Birds 2007 Butterflies are free 2011 The Year The Permafrost Softened WORKS ON PAPER 1988-1989 Chairs 1989-1990 Umbrellas 1991-1998 1997 The Chase 1998 Dismantled Sketchbooks 1999 Ragdale Series 2000-2004 Collage Art 2002 Charcoal 2000-2004 Figure Drawing 2000-2005 Project Art 2000 Spinning Plates 2002 Fan Collages 2001 Screaming In Places Where I Can't Be heard 2004 Wonderscapes 2005-2006 The Story of the Universe 2008 Buddha Was Here 2009 Life On Hold (NFS) 2010-2016 The Demandments (NFS) MIXED MEDIUM 1995-1998 Sectioned panels 1997-1998 White Paintings and Furry Work 1998 Red Dot Series 2001-2009 Wax, Wire, Gold, Globe, and Glass 2001 How Things Pile Up 2002 Retablos, oil on metal OBJECT ART 2002-present Project Items Historic-present Fane Items 1550-1560 Ancestral Figure Drawings INSTALLATION 2002-2016: Paradise 2006: Negative to Positive 2007-present: Four walls* 2008: Found 2010-present: Teacups for Reading Tea Leaves 2011-present: Waterworks* 2000-present: My Crates PERFORMATIVE 2004: White Sands 2006: Blue Clouds LIBRARY OF BOOKS 2000-present Box of Tears Flower Book Red Trees Prayerbook The Story of Red Trees Red Trees History Red Trees Kakemono Retablos: How I Got From Here to Here Elemental Communion Red Trees Chronicle Scroll of Influence Book of Leaves Symbol Book Book of Days Books of Sense Organ Origin Ransom Magazine The Fane Pamphlet Painting Inventory Brain Book Pocket Full of Cries Pocket Full of Cries The Ragdale Book The Wedding Program Ladder Book* Book of Stairs* The Studio Visit Playbill* Flower 2 (with text)* Whitewash Book Maps* STUDIO PRACTICE Studio 1: Dayton and Blackhawk Studio 2: Hubbard and House Project scouting and on location Works in progress Exhibits, happenings, homes Studio clippings and announcements Artist WORLD RIVERS PROJECT overview World Rivers: Curtain World Rivers: Participants World Rivers: Rivers World Rivers: Cloth Visit the River Log TEXT ARCHIVE Artwork Installation Books * documentation is forthcoming This archive is a creative history spanning two decades. The documentation is comprised of many technological formats ranging from slides, 4x5s, photographs, and straddles the introduction of digital formatting of the time. The goal was to preserve images, whether high or low resolution. |
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Lee Tracy |
