caseycurran

so I just found this video...

give it a few seconds for the music to kick in
this is one of the same reasons I hate christianity. I don't see love thy neighbor or an endless bounty of joy all I see and hear is "Act the way we tell you or burn FOREVER!!!!"

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!

and it's the most wonderful thing i've made to date! one and all should see it!

the public opening is thursday october 11th 5-8 at cornish in the main gallery which is down the stairs to the right.

if you can't make it you're missing out!

my life for the past 7days (a sculpture)


day 1-3
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individually tie 361 washers 3inches apart on 38 8foot long pieces of fishing line. (I started doing this about 2 weeks ago but had to start over about 200 washers in because the fishing line wasn't strong enough. I had to remove all the washers and retie them to new line that could hold up to 20 pounds without snapping.

day 4
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Expected UPS to overnight my package (and they did) but the call box to my apartment doesn't work with my cellphone so I missed the package. I called ups and they said the only day I could pick it up would be Monday, but sense Monday was the day that my sculpture had to be finished and delivered this really didn't work for me. I freak out! I frantically call the only person I know that would drop his plans for a few hours to help me out. Mr Robo-Homo (did I mention that he was celebrating his birthday that night?) anyway on my way out the door to go drop off the pickup info for Robo I run into the UPS man who just so happened to be dropping off another package next door 3 hours later. I got very lucky.

I goto work for 8 hours and get off sometime around 10pm then walk up the hill to grab my car (there's no parking in belltown so I park on the hill) I drive to maple valley were I"m working on the sculpture and pass out.

day 5
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I wake up and work on the sculpture for 7 hours and find out the weights I initially bought were to light. I had to return them which wasn't to much of a hassle. After that I drive back to Seattle to go to Robo's B-day dinner for just me and his friend Emily. I pass out after dinner for an hour and drive back down to maple valley. I arrive just after midnight and work on the sculpture for 3 more hours. In this about of time I find out that the motor I need to drive the thing isn't working... It's just not turning, there IS POWER! going to it (I know this because of a humm) but for some reason it's just not functioning. I freak out! then go to bed.

day 6
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My spirit is downcast with the motor not working and no one being able to figure how to make it work... I feel like crying, but I press on. I finish all the structural supports, attach gears, test some of the fishing line with the new weights, and even build an assembly for the motor to attach to (even though I isn't working). the sculpture is finished save for the fact that it doesn't work...

day 7
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I had reserved a U-haul truck some weeks ago knowing that this was the delivery date for the sculpture and if I canceled now it would be an extra 50 bucks that I didn't want to pay. SO I get up at 7am and drive to the Queen Ann U-haul place and grab my truck. those f-ing things are huge! (I had to upgrade because the sculpture was so big) anyway I pick up the sculpture in maple valley and drive it to Cornish and then go and drop off the u-haul truck. it ended up costing close to $100 I go back to Cornish and have Rob the sculpture lab tech look at the motor....
in no more than 10 minutes he got the thing to work. I jumped and screamed for so much joy! I haven't had that much stress lifted from my shoulders in a very long time. THANK YOU ROB!!!! (even though you don't read this.)


anyway that's been my life for this week. I've broken out in all kinds of pimples from the stress. I'm dirty and tired, but still have to get the thing operational. The motor works but does everything else? There was no time to do a test run and it's going to take several days to set all the fishing line and grass stalks in place so it's going to end up that my test run is the final run.

shit I"m cutting this close!
it will work though
I have faith.

I just figured out how to post videos!!!

Yes I am a caveman.

I feel despondent. Not so much as a hopelessness but more of this heavy feeling constantly resurfacing when working on art or walking through the city. What am I doing. These words keep punching me in the face. I can't shake it. I had a wonderfully successful show (thank you to all that came and to those that didn't it's still up until the 16th) and now I"m invited to an alumni show at Cornish that'll be hosting the opening reception for Sculpture Magazine's visit to seattle. It's amazing! though I keep asking myself is it good enough?

I go to the galleries, I see the work, I wonder how and WHY!? These aren't good to me. few things have struck me as wonderful as late, even some of my own work and ideas. I keep thinking it can be more. I can make them more wonderful but then I come to this feeling. this heaviness. what is wonderful? How can one make depth? expand ideas, emotions, experiences, without the tripe of commonness. Newness!

What is wonderful?

I also feel poor. I still have this itch to travel. I talked to dawn the other day and she said I could get a full ride at ohio university... but I'd have to go to ohio... The main reason why I'd do this is to live free for two years without the pressure of selling work. Or making the next wonderful piece. It's crap to always try and out do yourself. I want to fail and make mistakes. I can't grow without them. And living in this studio with no other voice besides my cat and Mr robo homo for criticism i tend to stick with what i feel is safe. (who if any of you know robinic, we tend to clash on most everything) but all in all I am considering going. It would be nice to up root myself. I've lived in this state for my whole life. It's time to move one.

Another Idea I had was moving to another country for just a few months. Get a little job so i don't go into debt, and really experience a culture. I looked on craigslist and saw a place in spain for 550 euros a month for six months... (does anyone know the exchange rate?) that would be nice. a real dream. something I will do.

though then we come back to the feeling of poorness. which I"m not really, though my job at brasa just doesn't afford me the savings I'd like to have for the above mentioned. It's basically hand to mouth and any art I sell either goes into more supplies for art or some crap I need (computer, glasses, clothes, a bed!) just stuff you know. I have no funds to expend on entertainment.

well it's 4 in the morning. I have to sleep, but I will end with saying that art is my passion, but unfortunately my passion gives way to wanderlust. maybe it's a good thing.

I would like to say that I just watched sicko.

and will be leaving the united states as soon as I figure out how to.

but most likely will not...

maybe grad school in france or brazil, just not here.

we're a tragic country. though that could just be the impact of the movie still working its cinematic juices on me. I have a fear that america will never be ok. Never. We ( I ) have to wake up. maybe i'll volunteer to feed the homeless or something not quite as narcissistic as painting. I feel so sad.

Tree falling in the forest.

Do physical laws or phenomenon exist without the concepts that describe their properties?

If vibrations are a form of sound and all the world had no mechanism to convert vibrations into sound (ear to brain via electric impulse) then the concept of sound could never come into existence. I think that’s true, but only for the concept. What about different spectrums of light? just because we can’t see them does that mean they don’t exist? We’ve been able to in the last 100ish years convert the vast majority of the light spectrum into various recognizable colors. Though true the actual ultra-violet, infer-red, and x-rays remain outside the realm of our physical senses, this does not mean that before the time in which we were able to convert them they did not exist. Just because we have limited senses doesn’t mean nature is limited.

Now, do the laws of physics exist in a void?

Yes they exits... sometimes, or more rightly sometimes we can know they exist. To know that they exist certain requirements must be met. In no way is it posable to prove the laws of physics exist in a void without an object to interact with, so the first requirement is an object. The second requirement is prior knowledge of the objects interaction with physical laws outside the void. Once the known object is in the void or outside of our “sense spectrum” we can still infer certain consequences of its actions via prior knowledge.

The tree.

In no way do we need a mechanism present to measure whether or not sound is present, just as we need no mechanism present now to know that there is more to the light spectrum than what is seen, because prior knowledge has proven this. All we need to know is that the phenomenon of sound happens when a tree falls regardless of whether or not it is measured or observed.

Ok so all i need to know is if this makes sense. yes or no


With any machine, specific laws are needed to produce a functioning structure, and as with this edict there is a similar structural relationship between text and visual art that must follow determined laws of interdependence. To produce a truth-seeming vision of realty (a functioning structure) the mind produces symbols categorized as expansive narratives from shared experiences. Each narrative in its own right possesses a semiotic relationship to written and visual vocabulary, which should be thought of as nothing more than a group of signs interchangeable with real life experiences. This interchange exists as a cohesive framework allowing one symbol to substitute another. In art and in literature ‘reality’ is composed of these coded semiotic relations.

My work confronts these structural relationships and departs from the readily available patterns of literature, art, mechanics and mathematical notation. By fusing the signing systems of each of these ‘vocabularies’ a new vision of reality is expressed. It is my hope that through participation and critical analysis each work creates a new symbol to a more expansive sphere of thought.

so it's official. I called my booty call and told him we can't get naked anymore. It's a good thing. daniel makes me happy. Big smiles. I have a boyfriend.

no more than three weeks ago I was so content existing as a single person with no cares and no worries. I'm still laking the worry part but I have cares, very much so. I feel balanced.

I have a crush!

this hasn't happened in such a long time. It makes me giddy just thinking about it. The only thing that seems to be a problem is that I've told myself for some time now to not get involved with anyone to much younger than myself...

he's 20
BUT! he's going to stanford for graduate school, and plays chess and is funny and likes the same kinda music i like and so on. I find this whole thing slightly intimidating. Anyway I've got another lunch date which makes me smile.

PS the call boy that had sex with tim haggard will be interviewed by dan savage and promoting his book about sex with tim haggard at R-bar tonight at 8

so I'm going ahead with the penis, polaroid, yearly income project.

I'll be photographing The penis on polaroid.
just the penis.
hard soft anywhere in the middle, I believe it will be left to the viewer.
no faces, just yearly income inscribed on the bottom of the image.
all people will remain 100% anonymous which will be stated in the model release form that all will have to sign.

After I've collected several 100 shots (i'm estimating 800) I'll scan each into my computer and produce a rough copy on one of the several internet sites that produce professional hard bound books.

I would also like to have an intro to the book written by dan savage or some other pop icon that deals in sexuality and culture.

by the end of the project and if all goes as planed I'll have a product on book shelves by the end of the year 2009

for value to exist (be that thing, event, belief, or idea) it must have function within any particular sphere of systems.

idea for next art project.

I've been wanting to get away form anything that's connected to what I've been doing currently so...

the idea is to take pictures of penises, no fluffing, no boner, just flaccid penis pulled out taken a picture of and then put back in. I would paint form the picture and on top or worked into the composition I would place each individuals annual income with the penis. It would be 100% anonymous.

I would also like to do the same thing with vagina's...

does anyone know if this has been done?

lets see...

I've moved to the Oregon apartments, which just happen to be located in Washington state on 1st and Bell.

I make art for at least 6 hours every day. Most hopefully the art show will go successfully. I feel like my work is to expensive though. we'll see... I sold my whole BFA show save for one painting and the large walking man which is now on permanent lone at the fred hutch cancer research center.

I've made a proposal to an unnamed source to get in to a show that sculpture mag. will be attending. Made a working model and everything. I think I'll get in but just maybe.

I've got my Viveza show coming up in August along with another show at fair gallery which will be in August as well. (Burning the wick at both ends...) I can't personally promote the fair gallery show though, because it's at a coffee shop and that kinda looks bad on a resume when established galleries look at it. the work will be different... you won't see my hand or style in it.

I work in a fancy food establishment two days a week busing tables. I make more money bussing tables at brasa than I made serving at sharis or the the grill. no more bitch assholes wanting more of whatever the fuck bitch assholes want.

and I'll be working at cornish for a hundred hours to help out with the last odds and ends of the BFA show before it goes up.

That's about it.

well it's come to an end. I'm sorry it had to be this way.

I had a cheap five dollar umbrella with me but the night didn't call for it. I walked away feeling sorry for him, for myself, for the whole situation. It was my doing. Sins of the flesh and all that.

I stopped in the sidewalk beneath the fur trees just outside the apartment. The rain was dripping harder more condensed there than just three feet to the left. I stopped and sighed and thinking to myself wishing it didn't end the way it did. I had the umbrella and left it soaking in my pocket. I knew if I turned at this moment, that moment, the light from the room would be silhouetting his form. I turned. It was. If he was looking at me I couldn't tell.

I walked on wishing the sky would crack itself open, washing down and away, gathering pools of these things. Each cloud spilling forth from the vaulted sky a million beads of sin. And in their essence all we will have, and all we will ever want rain down to be caught on the hand, or lip, or eye. It's not like this though, not free. These million sins are paid for, are given back with emotive cost evaporating with my every breath.

It is not that but this with more reality in it.

I will be walking through these sodden city streets with bits of pearled Puget Sound falling sparingly and without redemption hard and unfeeling against this skin. And in this skin I will continue regretfully but without contempt or uncaring guilt for all my past.

this is so weird...
try reading this


I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

I think I need a working vacation?

Cranky Artist

Cornish grad Casey Curran makes ingenious devices with wire, rope, and balsa wood, powered by hand crank.

By Sue Peters


Freshly graduated from Cornish College of the Arts with a BFA, Casey Curran, 25, creates clever kinetic art pieces that invite the viewer to interact with the work. In his debut solo show at Viveza, "Turn of a Crank: Sink into Script," Curran has created ingenious little devices rendered in wire, rope, and balsa wood that are operated by a hand crank. He turns to classic old texts for inspiration and extracts, literally, their stories, words, and concepts, bringing them to life in his sculptures. While most of his explorations are quite literal—a mechanical fly twisting and shuttering his wings on a background of text cut from The Lord of the Flies—this format could easily become a platform to leap into more surreal or fascinatingly symbolic realms to comment provocatively on the influence and underlying meaning of these texts. His work evokes Kurt Schwitters' found-object Merz constructions and are more elaborate than Duchamp's Readymades. Indeed, partly because he uses antique books and simple materials, Curran's contraptions look as though they would be at home among the machinations of the early 20th-century Dadaists. Curran, though, seems more sober in his intentions. For Evolution: Social and Organic (pictured), he has created two tiny skeletons and a sphere on an axis juxtaposed with selected pages and fragments of the text. The result resembles one of DaVinci's wildly visionary sketches come to life. The brilliantly elaborate pop-up books of Robert Sabuda also come to mind; they, too, apply complex mechanics to illuminate a classic text (notably, The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland). The Art of War, Moby Dick, Romeo and Juliet—Curran takes on seminal texts and literally toys with them. While his pieces encourage viewers to play with them, it would be interesting to see Curran twist his concept one more revolution and have his work, in turn, play with us. SUE PETERS

this is where you need to be on August 4th 6-10pm

http://www.viveza.com/

my first write up. (not yet published)


"In Casey Curran's unique, constructivist pieces, the enduring symbols and searing archetypes of great literature are kinetically infused with life. Great literature of the past, having shaped the construction of the artistic and social paradigms of the present, takes on new meaning through the viewer's interaction with Curran's playful diegesis—turn a tiny crank and kinetic, not psychic energy breaths life into the skeletal framework of Melville's great white antagonist, Moby Dick, making the page itself come to life.

Adorning the canvas with the texts themselves, Curran quite literally allows the meaning of each work to rise off of the page and into the world of his narrative."