I enjoy seeing the work in its new home. This piece made its way to Maine. One Day I Became Who I Was, 2018, is part of the Double Universe Topology series.
One Day I Became Who I Was, 2018
acrylic, enamel, house, spray, oil paintstick, crayon & watercolor pencil on roofing paper
36”x36”
Artist, mother, daughter, health care worker, creative Fëfé Oráiste (@hotjoy.art) started working on a body of small watercolors a while back because she needed to know that she was still an artist. She needed more than daily life. When serious creatives get pulled in many directions—by parenthood, day jobs, ailing parents— the concern that we might not get to be creative again, that our creative identity is about to be consumed and snuffed out by life’s obligations, looms real. I remember worrying about this when I was a new parent. I remember wondering while I was fully engaged with my novel if I would ever write poetry again.
So the artist began getting up early to paint. When we first met, she painted. As time went by, she moved into performance. These watercolors are brightly colored and full of personality, and I really like them.
Just wanted to share them with you. If I were still directing a gallery, then there would have been a show.
You can find all of the paintings here.
As the anniversary of the release of my 80s coming-of-age novel nears, I’m flipping the mixtape!
As Stuart Page would ask, “Now what?”
The paperback option that many of you have requested is a thing!
Paperback copies of Your Silent Face are now available at Amazon, brought to you by my publishing imprint, In Love with Plaid Press.
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About Tim Lane’s 80s coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face…
“The reader will likely be reminded of Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel High Fidelity or possibly Richard Linklater’s 1993 film Dazed and Confused; Lane’s tale is similarly episodic and digressive and more dedicated to re-creating the feeling of a time and place than telling a cohesive story. Even so, the sharp prose and inviting energy help it to succeed where similar novels fail. Readers will enjoy following Stuart’s thought processes, wherever they lead.” —Kirkus Reviews
What lies ahead that doesn’t suck? Summer break forces Stuart Page to return home and wrestle with his fraying ties to the East Side of Flint, his memory an archive of cassettes he would like to erase. His freshman year of college was lame. More early Cure than Spandau Ballet, he might be overheard saying. More Gary Numan than Falco.
Flustered by visits from a stoic viking, fueled by an endless supply of beer, Stu picks apart an obsession with the lead singer of Joy Division and chugs the sour dregs of insecurity as he drunkenly veers through Flint’s blue collar fight culture, summer hook ups, the aftereffects of Old School Catholicism and Reaganomics in Your Silent Face.
Key words: #fiction #comingofage #80smusic #NewWave #GenX #RustBelt #NativeAmerican #graffiti #urbanpoetry
Check out the companion Spotify playlist!
I have a new musical love: French classical guitarist, Thibault Cauvin.
This album, which is a collaboration with many other renown musicians, is great for chilling.
I especially like track nine, “New York-Mad Rush.” This track was my introduction.
What is your favorite B52s album? It’s not an easy question. On any given day, I could say Whammy, or Wild Planet, or their self-titled album from 1979. One thing is certain in my mind, though: 1979-1983 were their golden years. I couldn’t get enough of those three albums.
And remember when the DJ played “Rock Lobster” at the dances, and everyone spiraled down to the floor and lay on their backs and shook their arms and legs in the air at the crescendo of that musical spiral? The dances were the best. Yeah, they were filled with a lot of anxiety, too—would anyone dance with me? would I dance with so-and-so? would I meet anybody new? But that was part of it. Most of the time, I didn’t; once in a while, I did. Dancing to good tunes was fun, though. So much sweat; just letting go; lost in the music, darkness, flashing lights.
Good times.
Fred was so intense. I loved it. That guy could bang a tambourine!
I think my favorite B52s song is “Give Me Back My Man” just saying.
Does anyone remember that Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson were siblings, and that Ricky Wilson died of AIDs in 1985 at the age of 32? So sad. His death had a profound effect on the band for several years.
The band had a huge effect on me. They helped me let my hair down and have fun during those tough adolescent years.
#B52s #NewWave #80s #GenX #geneverybody #postpunk
Patriotic Painting, 2006
mixed media on canvas
40”x30”
This playlist is a companion to my 80s coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face. Stuart Page is a protagonist obsessed with 80s New Wave and Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Divison. All of the tunes and bands in the playlist get a mention in the novel. The novel is available on Amazon.
A third Blade Runner poem is coming soon. I am also making progress on a new painting. And I am reading a very interesting book: The Long 1980s. I am also reading Malina, by Ingeborg Bachmann, and The Cyborg Manifesto, by Donna J. Haraway. Also, watched Stop Making Sense the other night. It holds up.
Oh, and I am reading Philip K. Dick’s final interview, which in part has also been fueling the Blade Runner poems.
This playlist is a companion to my 80s coming-of-age novel, Your Silent Face. Stuart Page is a protagonist obsessed with 80s New Wave and Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Divison. All of the tunes and bands in the playlist get a mention in the novel. The novel is available on Amazon.
I always paint in series. I guess I’m writing a poetry series, now, too. Here’s another Blade Runner poem. The films (Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049) fascinate me to no end.
As usual, the poem is mine, but I do not own any rights to the image.
#BladeRunner2049 #BladeRunner #ryangosling #contemporaryart #contemporarypoetry #poetry #lovelansing #GenX #cyberpunk #philipkdick #doandroidsdreamofelectricsheep #thebladerunnerpoems
