• I’m messing around with digital drawings and animations. Eep! I started this one from a hand drawn image, but I’m getting there.  You may know about my purple plastic rabbit named Rabbit, but what you may not know is that I initially liberated him from a children’s museum display on the Fibonacci Sequence. Maybe you know the Rabbit Sequence: one pair of rabbits is born, they reach maturity at one month, and then each subsequent month every mature pair of rabbits has another pair of rabbits. The formula continues on and on forever in the golden string, an unbreakable string: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… I carried Rabbit around for a few years like you might carry around a small dog, as my pet, as Art. Rabbit was (is?) a gesture to daily evoke the absurd and as living commentary on what I thought must be other people’s relationship to their own pets. In retrospect I think this was reductive, as I now have a deeper firsthand understanding of bonding with a nonverbal dependent. Rabbit is in some ways a body without a mind; I think I’ve given him a spirit. So here in his honor is a purple rabbit; many, many, purple rabbits.  This was the animation for Red Purple this week, which is number 6 and coincidentally the sixth piece of this year’s emergent Rainbow Squared. If you want to read my full analysis, which includes a lot of Mary Oliver, check out that link in bio ❤️💜🐇🐇
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    I’m messing around with digital drawings and animations. Eep! I started this one from a hand drawn image, but I’m getting there.  You may know about my purple plastic rabbit named Rabbit, but what you may not know is that I initially liberated him from a children’s museum display on the Fibonacci Sequence. Maybe you know the Rabbit Sequence: one pair of rabbits is born, they reach maturity at one month, and then each subsequent month every mature pair of rabbits has another pair of rabbits. The formula continues on and on forever in the golden string, an unbreakable string: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144… I carried Rabbit around for a few years like you might carry around a small dog, as my pet, as Art. Rabbit was (is?) a gesture to daily evoke the absurd and as living commentary on what I thought must be other people’s relationship to their own pets. In retrospect I think this was reductive, as I now have a deeper firsthand understanding of bonding with a nonverbal dependent. Rabbit is in some ways a body without a mind; I think I’ve given him a spirit. So here in his honor is a purple rabbit; many, many, purple rabbits.  This was the animation for Red Purple this week, which is number 6 and coincidentally the sixth piece of this year’s emergent Rainbow Squared. If you want to read my full analysis, which includes a lot of Mary Oliver, check out that link in bio ❤️💜🐇🐇
  • This week is Black White Red, a reminder that the body is real, that all bodies are connected, that the Earth is a body, and that Water is Life. Right now, Water Protectors are putting their bodies on the line to prevent construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline on Ojibwe land in Northern Minnesota.⁣ ⁣ From the Stop Line 3 (@stopline3pipeline) official website: ⁣ ⁣ “All pipelines spill. Line 3 isn’t about safe transportation of a necessary product, it’s about expansion of a dying tar sands industry. Line 3 would contribute more to climate change than Minnesota’s entire economy...We need to decommission the old Line 3 and justly transition to a renewable, sustainable economy. Line 3 would violate the treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations in its path—wild rice is a centerpiece of Anishinaabe culture, it grows in numerous watersheds Line 3 seeks to cross. It’s well-past time to end the legacy of theft from and destruction of indigenous peoples and territories.”⁣ ⁣ The art animated here is the art of the Onaman Collective, the art of Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt. They share the PDFs and JPEGs of their Protest Banner Art for free online to download and use in support of water and land protection. You can find the link on their website: http://onamancollective.com/murdoch-belcourt-banner-downloads/ ⁣ ⁣ Whenever I see multiple image files I immediately want to see them animated, so I turned these into this animation. Best to see these beautiful banners in windows and in the streets, but all over the internet is good too. If you want the original GIF for other platforms, you can grab it from the full Black White Red piece on my website. Wherever you share it, tag the artists Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt of Onaman Collective: @christi_belcourt ⁣#isaacmurdoch #onamancollective⁣ ⁣ And if you can, and especially if you are white, contribute $$$. @giniwcollective’s bio has a direct link to donate, and @resist_line_3’s bio has a linktree with many ways to get involved. ⁣ ⁣ #StopLine3 #NowDoLine3 #BidenStopLine3 #HonortheTreaties #WaterisLife #WaterProtectors
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    This week is Black White Red, a reminder that the body is real, that all bodies are connected, that the Earth is a body, and that Water is Life. Right now, Water Protectors are putting their bodies on the line to prevent construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline on Ojibwe land in Northern Minnesota.⁣ ⁣ From the Stop Line 3 (@stopline3pipeline) official website: ⁣ ⁣ “All pipelines spill. Line 3 isn’t about safe transportation of a necessary product, it’s about expansion of a dying tar sands industry. Line 3 would contribute more to climate change than Minnesota’s entire economy...We need to decommission the old Line 3 and justly transition to a renewable, sustainable economy. Line 3 would violate the treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations in its path—wild rice is a centerpiece of Anishinaabe culture, it grows in numerous watersheds Line 3 seeks to cross. It’s well-past time to end the legacy of theft from and destruction of indigenous peoples and territories.”⁣ ⁣ The art animated here is the art of the Onaman Collective, the art of Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt. They share the PDFs and JPEGs of their Protest Banner Art for free online to download and use in support of water and land protection. You can find the link on their website: http://onamancollective.com/murdoch-belcourt-banner-downloads/ ⁣ ⁣ Whenever I see multiple image files I immediately want to see them animated, so I turned these into this animation. Best to see these beautiful banners in windows and in the streets, but all over the internet is good too. If you want the original GIF for other platforms, you can grab it from the full Black White Red piece on my website. Wherever you share it, tag the artists Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt of Onaman Collective: @christi_belcourt ⁣#isaacmurdoch #onamancollective⁣ ⁣ And if you can, and especially if you are white, contribute $$$. @giniwcollective’s bio has a direct link to donate, and @resist_line_3’s bio has a linktree with many ways to get involved. ⁣ ⁣ #StopLine3 #NowDoLine3 #BidenStopLine3 #HonortheTreaties #WaterisLife #WaterProtectors
  • This week my process tumbled me back into one of the very photo animations I ever made. Technically it was part of my final project in a Color Theory class when I was 19, before I would have (or could have?) easily shared such things on the internet. But I scoured a portable hard drive and just as I was about to give up, I found it. Here it is, circa 2006. Fifteen years ago. ⁣ ⁣ Watching it, I realized with some tenderness and a touch of horror that it wasn’t too far off from what I am doing now, both in technique and in inquiry. Sure, the genesis was a little different: I’m remembering now that my stop-motion practice emerged from being stoned and taking far too many photos on my digital camera. And I certainly took a long break from stop-motion and even color for a long time after that. ⁣ But somehow here I am again (or still) making stop-motions in my environment, searching for layers of meaning in colorful objects. What I do now is perhaps more intentional, but the persistence of this practice caught me off guard. What am I looking for here? Whose breadcrumbs am I following?⁣ ⁣ 🌈🌈⁣ ⁣ [Music: Marvo Ging by The Chemical Brothers. I don’t know how to give musical credit on here, it’s been a while since I used audio from anyone else 😂]⁣ ⁣ [Also, paintings included: Spectrum II by Ellsworth Kelly, Madinat as-Salam III by Frank Stella, Alpha Tau by Morris Louis, all at the FREE Saint Louis Art Museum, @stlartmuseum ]
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    This week my process tumbled me back into one of the very photo animations I ever made. Technically it was part of my final project in a Color Theory class when I was 19, before I would have (or could have?) easily shared such things on the internet. But I scoured a portable hard drive and just as I was about to give up, I found it. Here it is, circa 2006. Fifteen years ago. ⁣ ⁣ Watching it, I realized with some tenderness and a touch of horror that it wasn’t too far off from what I am doing now, both in technique and in inquiry. Sure, the genesis was a little different: I’m remembering now that my stop-motion practice emerged from being stoned and taking far too many photos on my digital camera. And I certainly took a long break from stop-motion and even color for a long time after that. ⁣ But somehow here I am again (or still) making stop-motions in my environment, searching for layers of meaning in colorful objects. What I do now is perhaps more intentional, but the persistence of this practice caught me off guard. What am I looking for here? Whose breadcrumbs am I following?⁣ ⁣ 🌈🌈⁣ ⁣ [Music: Marvo Ging by The Chemical Brothers. I don’t know how to give musical credit on here, it’s been a while since I used audio from anyone else 😂]⁣ ⁣ [Also, paintings included: Spectrum II by Ellsworth Kelly, Madinat as-Salam III by Frank Stella, Alpha Tau by Morris Louis, all at the FREE Saint Louis Art Museum, @stlartmuseum ]
  • Four pieces through this year, Year 5. Still getting used to doing it in an emergent order: it’s an entirely different flow. But I think that’s what I was looking for⚡️I’m updating this grid in real time over at the rainbow squared website, where even posting in html still somehow takes way less time than it did to chop the essays into Instagrammable squares 🤷‍♀️ If you like hearing from me weekly, I’m also sharing the pieces on Substack where you can subscribe to get each one in your inbox. Links to both in bio, of course 🌈🌈
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    Four pieces through this year, Year 5. Still getting used to doing it in an emergent order: it’s an entirely different flow. But I think that’s what I was looking for⚡️I’m updating this grid in real time over at the rainbow squared website, where even posting in html still somehow takes way less time than it did to chop the essays into Instagrammable squares 🤷‍♀️ If you like hearing from me weekly, I’m also sharing the pieces on Substack where you can subscribe to get each one in your inbox. Links to both in bio, of course 🌈🌈
  • If you are used to encountering these pieces one at a time, a very exciting thing happens at the end of each year: seeing the full grid as one twitchy landscape. Here is a peek at Year 4. There is some detail lost, but this macro view is a bit closer to my overall experience of the project. Rainbow Squared is ultimately documentation of the lived performance of making, as opposed to the artistic achievement of any one animation or essay. It is something to poke around in, sift, get lost in whichever loop draws you in and poke your way through the text. ⁣ ⁣ Which is why I am so excited about this new website. This video is actually a screen recording of the looping gifs. On the site, clicking on any animation will take you to its corresponding text. You can go on a clicking frenzy or theoretically even read the whole year in one very long scroll. Yes, it is possible that I accidentally wrote a small book last year. So grateful to @spozbo for his work on this site, so that this work has somewhere to live outside my phone and outside IG!. ⁣ In fact, figuring out this web format is what inspired the current year’s, Year 5. I’m creating pieces in an emergent order instead of in color order, posting them directly onto the website instead of on IG. ⁣ ⁣ View it all at arainbowsquared.com and subscribe to get each new piece in your email inbox. Links to both in bio.
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    If you are used to encountering these pieces one at a time, a very exciting thing happens at the end of each year: seeing the full grid as one twitchy landscape. Here is a peek at Year 4. There is some detail lost, but this macro view is a bit closer to my overall experience of the project. Rainbow Squared is ultimately documentation of the lived performance of making, as opposed to the artistic achievement of any one animation or essay. It is something to poke around in, sift, get lost in whichever loop draws you in and poke your way through the text. ⁣ ⁣ Which is why I am so excited about this new website. This video is actually a screen recording of the looping gifs. On the site, clicking on any animation will take you to its corresponding text. You can go on a clicking frenzy or theoretically even read the whole year in one very long scroll. Yes, it is possible that I accidentally wrote a small book last year. So grateful to @spozbo for his work on this site, so that this work has somewhere to live outside my phone and outside IG!. ⁣ In fact, figuring out this web format is what inspired the current year’s, Year 5. I’m creating pieces in an emergent order instead of in color order, posting them directly onto the website instead of on IG. ⁣ ⁣ View it all at arainbowsquared.com and subscribe to get each new piece in your email inbox. Links to both in bio.
  • NEWS: Year 5 won’t be on IG!⁣ ⁣ 🌈 If you want to see each new piece AND experience each year’s full 7x7 grid with images and full text, go to the newly updated and gorgeous arainbowsquared.com (link in bio)⁣ ⁣ 🌈 If you want to get each new piece in your inbox, head to Substack! Subscribe at arainbowsquared.substack.com (link in bio)⁣ ⁣ Read on for more about why:⁣ ⁣ First off, I am not leaving Instagram altogether, but this platform will no longer be where each piece debuts and “lives,” so to speak. ⁣ ⁣ I started posting my weekly watercolors on Instagram as somewhere to “put” the work where the images and the text could live together. The handle was “thebloodyrainbow” and I shared it with no one. I made the paintings each week and would update the IG in batches whenever I got around to it. You can still see those images if you scroll to the bottom of my profile. Go on, scroll. No, better yet: arainbowsquared.com/year1 ⁣ ⁣ It felt good to have some public accountability, even if it was pretty much unseen. As the years went on and I kept the practice up, I kept posting the pieces on Instagram. This made a lot of sense especially when I started making animations, because where else could they live? If an animation stays in your Photo Roll and no one sees it, does it really exist?⁣ ⁣ Sometime during Year 3, I decided that the work needed somewhere else to live online. I enlisted the help of my friend Will Rogers (@spozbo) and we built arainbowsquared.com. Finally, somewhere you could see all the images together in a 7x7 grid! I didn’t feel like I had the bandwidth to update that page every week, so instead we updated it at the end of each year in one big push, and I kept posting weekly to IG. (continued in comments or images…)
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    NEWS: Year 5 won’t be on IG!⁣ ⁣ 🌈 If you want to see each new piece AND experience each year’s full 7x7 grid with images and full text, go to the newly updated and gorgeous arainbowsquared.com (link in bio)⁣ ⁣ 🌈 If you want to get each new piece in your inbox, head to Substack! Subscribe at arainbowsquared.substack.com (link in bio)⁣ ⁣ Read on for more about why:⁣ ⁣ First off, I am not leaving Instagram altogether, but this platform will no longer be where each piece debuts and “lives,” so to speak. ⁣ ⁣ I started posting my weekly watercolors on Instagram as somewhere to “put” the work where the images and the text could live together. The handle was “thebloodyrainbow” and I shared it with no one. I made the paintings each week and would update the IG in batches whenever I got around to it. You can still see those images if you scroll to the bottom of my profile. Go on, scroll. No, better yet: arainbowsquared.com/year1 ⁣ ⁣ It felt good to have some public accountability, even if it was pretty much unseen. As the years went on and I kept the practice up, I kept posting the pieces on Instagram. This made a lot of sense especially when I started making animations, because where else could they live? If an animation stays in your Photo Roll and no one sees it, does it really exist?⁣ ⁣ Sometime during Year 3, I decided that the work needed somewhere else to live online. I enlisted the help of my friend Will Rogers (@spozbo) and we built arainbowsquared.com. Finally, somewhere you could see all the images together in a 7x7 grid! I didn’t feel like I had the bandwidth to update that page every week, so instead we updated it at the end of each year in one big push, and I kept posting weekly to IG. (continued in comments or images…)