TRYST Art Fair: Matt Allison for "Community Loving" (Part 1)
Trying to fill a basket with light is an odd bit of business.
It’s an act of poetic futility; situated somewhere between Sisyphean bolder rolling and Yoko Ono using a bucket to steal the moon's reflection from the surface of a lake.
Like most of the the work I’ve been making for the last several years, Paper Flower (Overlooked/ Eveready) seems destined to forever be a work in progress. It exists on an edge that’s created by two distinct aspects of my personality. Where and how they meet is in a constant state of flux. A delineation that's always moving; like an internal shoreline- revealing it’s location for only a second before shifting again.
On one side there’s the discursive nature of my aesthetic inner-world. This is the slow moving and wandering part of me; informed by idiosyncratic color choices and the search for intuitive beauty. A weird person who feels better about the world when it’s filled it weird things.
On the other side is the results oriented part of my brain; The Virgo; ruled by systems of my own design. The person whose most at home with (fairly) well organized containers filled with the nuts and bolts of getting shit done. This the never ending voice in my ear, pushing me towards the pragmatism that is essential for effective community driven and activist work.
I’m still not sure which side the devil lives on, and which side has the angel. Perhaps that's why I choose to work this paradox out in my studio; less room for binary thinking.
I live an incredibly privileged life where daily survival isn’t an immediate concern. And I don’t work with the delusion that this body of work is going to solve Southern California’s homelessness crisis. But this work does have meaning. It certainly means something to me. And I wouldn’t put it out in the world (either in a public art context or as a private act of support to unhoused folks) if I didn’t think it could mean something to other people.
By choosing to create this type of work means that my studio is filled with objects that are otherwise useful to folks who are struggling in a very real way. The immediacy of their needs is something I can’t (and don’t want to) ignore. Even when (especially when) I’m off tickling my own aesthetic fancies with a search for the perfect vintage orange to round out my analogous color scheme.
And that’s why I turn to the Mutual Aid community. Folks like Community Loving in Torrance. Or BeLoved in Asheville, NC. They are doing the work 24/7, while I’m busy daydreaming. And much like the song Billy Shears penned about the life and times of Kevin Arnold: "I get by with a little help from my friends."
For TRYST, composer Jeff McLaughlin graciously expanded his composition Unrealized in support of Bridge to Solidarity. Despite its mournful inspiration, the piece brought a sense of calm over our space that had a profound effect on visitors. The art fair was vibrating with chaotic creative energy; and several people noted that our room was the place they’d come to when they needed to find peace.
That’s a feeling that I’m fully down to keep cultivating.
To quote another banger from my childhood: "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."
Our Vision is to transform the South Bay into a self-sufficient and compassionate society; one liberated from exploitative and oppressive systems. In this new South Bay, a love ethic fuels life-affirming institutions and an economy of mutual care, where everyone’s needs are met so we can do more than just survive.
We are a political project born out of necessity, not choice. Pending revolution, we help our community survive a system that prioritizes profit over people and the planet.
In doing so, we empower each other to reclaim autonomy, model new relationships, and organize for collective liberation.
For all newsletter subscribers please following this link to hear Jeff's original composition: Unrealized mvt I, II, III (The embedded Sound Cloud link only shows up on NNH website.)
ANGIE NIXON (Sung over and over, to the melody of "Happy Birthday To You")
A call to action, commonly known by the initialism CTA, is a strategic marketing tool designed to spur an immediate response from an audience, guiding them toward a specific action.
NNH began with the (perhaps naive) hope that it could be of service to folks who needed it. I wasn't exactly sure who that meant- Was it the potential readership? The Mutual Aid groups that would be featured in each post? Or other creative types (equally fed up with the constant "me at the center" paradigm required by our Tech Overlords) looking for a place to get weird and do some good.
SO, if you're out there- whomever you may be- Let me know. Leave a comment. Click a link. Tell a friend. Pitch an idea. Do anything to feel less alone in the world.
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