Occupy Jell-O Art

I've been thinking what a big and wide-open theme the Occupy part is: what started at Wall Street has gone literally everywhere. I got the most juice out of a speech by Michael Meade about Occupying Your Soul. It was "Be Here Now" taken to a personal, political contemporary reality.

Free your creativity, your fears (let them melt into a sweet colored puddle), free yourself from the restrictions that tell you that you can't be an artist. Everyone is occupying everywhere...I just heard that the Irish will occupy the Vatican and call all the pedophilic priests and other religious criminals to accountability. Maybe we will soon be free to end religious domination of our culture and it will be up to us to cut the chains that we impose upon ourselves in trying to be good, to make it to heaven, to never sin.

Dessert is sinful, isn't it? Jell-O is so sensually delightful and gorgeous. Free the desserts! Free the dieting people everywhere. Make dessert your art form. Free Jell-O Art and Tacky Food for the taking. Oh yeah, you are supposed to pay $3 for your display but if you can't afford to put your art in the show talk to me and I will make sure you can get it in. You are also supposed to pay a donation to get into the show, to support Kerns Art Center. (Not really both...if you bring an exhibit don't also pay at the door-it's voluntary) If I get the t-shirts made, and I think I will, I have the opportunity to make money at the show. I generally sell so few that I don't even make my expenses, but if I sell them I will donate for you if you can't. I can't really speak for the Radar Angels or the Gallery, but I'm pretty sure it would be wrong for someone to be turned away for lack of $3. It's not supposed to be for the elite.

The beginning of the Jell-O Art Show was as anti-Art...an art form that is legitimate in itself, without evaluation of its goodness or badness, taking a common kitchen material and transforming it with pure artistic creativity. Putting it in a gallery elevated it, and us, into the world of real, capital-A Art, and it can't be sold or graded. I know I've broken out of this with the Jell-O Art I've sold at the Market this season, but the show is still pure creation. I think the decision to charge the artists and the public was in the spirit of supporting the gallery overhead and staff, so that they didn't have to do it for free just because we wanted to. There's always going to be a little cognitive dissonance when artists interface with *the establishment.*

But it isn't about money, and to be honest I usually end up giving the shirts away, even though I am worse than broke now that I have these awful medical bills. But since Occupy is a people's movement, I just want to make sure it is accessible to people.

And I want to make sure it is fun and easy. I don't know if I will manage to get a piece finished. I'm trying to get the shirts done and whatever else falls in place after that. But I will brainstorm and work over ideas on the theme while I wait to be mobile, and I hope you are working on your ideas too. If you have questions about technique email me at dmcwho@efn.org. or read back in the posts to see if you find answers. Or just experiment until you get the results you want. You can remelt it endlessly.

I got a plastic sandwich box at the hospital which will make awesome tiny tents. You could easily carve one from a square block too. You are of course allowed to use props and things that are not Jell-O. And if you can't find a way to interpret the theme or part of it, just do what you want.
Play. Enjoy. Create. Get lost in the flow. Embrace the jiggle. Put your soul into it.