Flâneur Before & After

The winds that have come with the January rains may occasionally blow my windows open, and the hair from Callie's cat may jam up the printer once in a while, but I've still managed to spend a good chunk of the month working in the studio printing and editing and sequencing "Arcana." That project is pretty much wrapped up (I just have to decide on including a handful of images and one possible re-shoot) and now my focus has turned to "Flâneur."

To digress for a moment, I generally create a new printing technique for each of my projects — without being too technical, this can include large choices, such as black & white or color, what kinds of papers (watercolor or Luster), how I work with the images digitally (Lightroom or Photoshop) how I work the images inside those programs (for instance, curves or levels for dodging). While I always strive desperately to avoid trying to be the photographic equivilant of prog rock's overly technical noodling, I do pride myself on being a good craftsman. "Flâneur" is probably the most subtle project I've shot which curiously means that my printing technique has to be even more refined than normal so as to avoid being overly flashy (such as "Bridges of Desire"'s highly-wrought grainy images).

As I sit here staring thoughtfully at test strips, I figured it would be interesting for those of you who follow my work to take a look at some before and after comparisons of some of the new pieces I'm currently printing. The first image is directly from the RAW as shot and the second is as printed.

"Faded ‘Bar at the Folies Bergères’" (As Shot)
Eron Rauch, 2011

"Faded ‘Bar at the Folies Bergères’" (As Printed)
Eron Rauch, 2011
Archival Inkjet Print

"Bird" (As Shot)
Eron Rauch, 2011
Archival Inkjet Print

"Brid" (As Printed)
Eron Rauch, 2011
Archival Inkjet Print

"Garage" (As Shot)
Eron Rauch, 2011
Archival Inkjet Print

"Garage" (As Printed)
Eron Rauch, 2011
Archival Inkjet Print

"Falling Star, Fallen Angels" Mix by DJ Harmless

After some encouragement from my friends I have made a DJ mix to celebrate being retired from spinning records for a decade. My old DJ name was DJ Harmless and I mostly spun parties and clubs around Chicago and Minneapolis from ages 17-21. Mostly spun lots of bad trance at first, but a couple of friends I made in the scene got me interested in jazzy house and more sophisticated techno (and even some drum and bass) — Jose and Shannon, wherever you are, you gave me good taste in dance music. From there, I got burnt out and stop playing the club and party scene pretty quickly, being more of an introvert focused on loving the music (specially the IDM scene), and finally quit all together during art undergrad for photography, selling my tables and records when money was in direly short supply. Not having to worry pleasing anyone elseThis mix grabs lots of diverse, dark, glitchy, sub-pounding elements to titillate both your mind and groove. It was a fun experience learning the new software-based mixing methods, since I only ever spun on vinyl, and I want to say thanks to Callie, for bringing the idea of doing a new mix up at Royksopp concert, and for Mixmaster Massey and DJ Softcore for constantly encouraging/harassing me over beers to make a comeback and though out a new mix.

You can download an mp3 of the mix, "Falling Stars, Fallen Angels," here.

Or, I posted it to stream on Mixcloud! Whoo, technology!

Anyway, on a personal note I turned 31 yesterday, and I'm mostly huddled in the studio trying to make as much art as possible (also play lots of AI Wars) while Callie gets better in Maryland. I miss her encouragement and love of life every day! She's doing an amazing job getting better and will be home soon though!

New Year's Resolutions 2012

Happy New Year's Eve! In my usual tradition, I just wanted to post up my "reasonable" resolutions. I don't ever plan on finishing all of them, but I try to make this list as a general framework for my art & life in the coming year. These aren't big nor general things, but rather good trail markers so I can judge my progress. Also, I feel like publicly stating my goals helps me stick to them. Without further adieu, here they are:

Pay Off Debts (Car + CC's from grad school shows)

Plan Tokyo Trip

Pick Up a Few Words of Japanese

Learn 4-6 Actual Songs On Bass (i.e. stop noodling!) 

Go Hiking Twice a Month at Least

Learn To Make My Own Pasta

Blog About Art Twice a Month

Finish Old School RPGs I Own (DQ7 etc.)

Buy More Jazz Records (Those contemporary albums always pop up and eat up my budget)

Reread Gene Wolfe's Book of the Short, Long & New Sun

Do Monthly Artist Salons (nothing formal, just get people together for an art talk night)

Portfolios and Statements and Business Cards for FotoFest Houston (mid march)

Get More Art/Photo Books

Get Monitor Calibration Working

Video Converter Dongle for Work

Digital Darkroom Blog

Finish Apartment Homes Fake Book #3 & #4

Finish Full Arcana Portfolio Printing

Finish Printing Anime Portfolio (Small, portfolio-book form)

Finish Flaneur Portfolio Printing

Continue to Explore Different Generative Ways for Writing Poems 

Japonisme Proofs

Do Selects of Travels (digital form)

Do General Artist's Statement/Why/How I make work statement.

Do Specific Artist's Statements (Flaneur --> Arcana --> Bridges --> Travels --> Japonimse --> Eternal World --> AHFB --> Japonisme)

Redo Art Site (maybe not?)

Combine Fantasy Trilogy

Proof Rennfaires 

Shoot Rennfaires This Summer (Try to get backstage Access)

Shoot LA Mornings for Poetry Book

Do Test Print-On-Demand Book for Eternal Garden

Submit 2-4 Poetry magazine a Month

Search for Gallery Shows (2-4 Per Month)  

A New Mix: Shadowside

Callie is safely back in Maryland recovering and as I take a break from packing up our apartment I wanted to share a new mix I put together since she left. I'm not deliberately trying to play the emotional card, but this mix is designed to be an archeology of of the musical journey that I went on through the 40 days where Callie was hospitalized. This mix takes some very strange turns, starting off far more pop-y than usual for me but still very abstract and introspective. Okkyung Lee's "Noisy Love Songs" has been a constantly relevant and engaging album that I've had on constantly — if I had to pick one album to sum up these tough months out of all of these amazing albums, that would be my choice.

Thankfully I don't and from there the mix goes much heavier and darker but with an anthemic and personal vibe. 40 Watt Sun's "Inside Room" is representative and has been on constant repeat in my car lately, being a perfect twist on the usual expectations of thicker sounding metal going deeply lyrical without loosing any of the gut-wrenching heaviness.

After that, well, let's just say my experiences with Callie's accident has done nothing but increase my appetite for [but curiously even more, my understanding of why I gravitate toward] the darkest, hardest, fastest, most howling, challenging and harrowing music around. From track 12 onward, it's listener beware, but turn the mix the hell up and let it rush over you. I spent many nights at 4AM driving back to the apartment blaring these later albums until my ears almost hurt.

Yeah this mix is weird, yeah there are sad moments, yeah it gets really dark, yeah it gets really really brutal, but dammit, this is a mix to celebrate the strange gardens of art in the shadow-side of life.

http://www.eronrauch.com/downloads/shadowsidemix.zip

(both .m3u and .txt export-playlists included this time to make importing easy!)

***Edit 12/30: I just realized that I already used "Old, Dim Light" when I redid my Summer Sirens Mix. Whoops. But to give myself I little slack, this mix was a bit unique anyway, being that it was supposed to represent what I was listening to through the course of Callie's hospitalization. Enjoy it twice, it's a nice track. ***

Artist - "Song" - Album

1) The Black Atlantic - "Old, Dim Light" - Reverence for Fallen Trees
2) Arctic Plateau - "Amethyst to F#" - On a Sad Sunny Day
3) Tame Impala - "It Is Not Meant To Be" - Innerspeaker
4) Quest For Fire - " The Greatest Hits By God" - Lights From Paradise
5) Okkyung lee - "One Hundred Years Old Rain" - Noisy Love Songs
6) Tera Malos - "Frozen Zoo" - Patagonian Rats
7) Shabazz Palaces - "Youlogy" - Black Up
8) SubRosa - "Borrowed Time Borrowed Eyes" - No Help For The Mighty One
9) 40 Watt Sun - "Between Times" - The Inside Rooms
10) Tim Hecker - "In the Fog 1" - Ravedeath, 1972
11) Black Autumn - "The Threefold Life" - Aurora
12) Big Satan - "Property Shark" - Souls Saved Hear
13) Blood Red Throne - "Altered Genesis" - Altered Genesis
14) Miseration - "Dreamdecipher" - The Mirroring Shadow
15) Pig Destroyer - "Terrifyer" - Terrifyer
16) Mamaleek - "You Can Bury Me In The East" - Kurdaitacha
17) Big Satan - "Emportez Moi" - Souls Saved Hear
18) Disma - "Purulent Quest" - Towards The Megalith
19) Svart Crown - "Nahash The Temptator" - Witnessing the Fall
20) Solstafir - "Necrologue" - Kold

I probably won't be posting much until January, but I'd love to know what you think of this mix, or any tack on it. As always, go buy the album in whatever format you prefer if you like it!

On Safari, In My Head

Hi everyone! I know it's been a long couple of weeks since I made a post. It's been a combination of things, but mostly I've been really woodshedding on my art, but in less positive news, my girlfriend Callie was severely injured in a car accident when a driver ran a red light and hit her car. She's in the ICU still and just now starting the long road to recovering. If you want, a friend of her's has a blog post about a fundraiser she did here: http://jessiawesome.blogspot.com/2011/11/concluding-callie-care-at-comikaze.html If you want to help out pop on over there, or just go out and give blood in her name to help out someone else at your local Red Cross!

If you want something to tide you over until I get back in the swing of posting, I'd recommend the two relatively short but very multilayered books that comprise Gregory Frost's "Shadowbridge." These are obtuse, surreal and very deeply structured fantasy novels that are about the role of stories both personally and culturally. One part Guliver's Travels, one part Alice in Wonderland, one part Earthsea, they were my companion sitting by Callie's bedside for the first week. Filled with both moments of wonder and moments that are painfully human, I can't recommend them enough, especially if you like books by authors such as China Mieville, Michael Swanwick, John Crowley or Mary Gentle.

Travel Sketches @ ART + SOUL

Hi! In my previous post I promised videos from my recent video art show with Astronaut Disco Soundsystem, and here they are:

First, a quick clip of the actual event:



Here's one of the videos that set the tone for my project, titled "Chinatown Walk." This is the first in what will hopefully be a full series that explores immersion and perception of the self in LA's tourists destination.



This next video is called "Cavern Duet (Pt. 3)" and it along with the preceding two parts, takes as it's source material glitches while playing virtual fantasy games (can you tell this is Ironforge in WoW?) combined with datamoshing techniques to draw out the underlying organic rhythms of a non-physical world. To play the world like an instrument, as it were.



Then, if you want to see how we used the videos at the event:



Thanks for looking, and if you haven't already, check out the work I have up at The Arava Review right now!

ART + SOUL

Hi all! I just wanted to post some photos from the video installation I did with Astronaut Disco Soundsystem at the art and music event ART + SOUL that Nu-Soul magazine threw in downtown L.A. last weekend. My project, the first video art I've done in a while, jumped off from my interest in virtual spaces both real and digital as well as the visual poetics blooming from the cracks and glitches in perception. (Full artist statement at the bottom!)

Full Artist's Statement:
With these video works-in-progress I set out to explore memory and the creative fertility of virtual places, both physical (like Chinatown or Japanese magazine advertisements) or virtual (such as online games like World of Warcraft or Team Fortress 2). My interest is in the systems we each use to mine and use chunks of these pre-planned worlds — How we might not own the spaces, or even the characters we use to explore them, but that those experiences still tangle up inside ourselves, triggering unplanned memories and emotions. Poetry seems to spring forth when we wedge ourselves in to spaces between cues that are forced on us, like Chinese dragons and Medieval architecture.

Once inside the glitch, the halftone dot, the tourist marker, we find a twilight world filled with darkly luminescent landscape formed from massive human effort throbbing along to some new beat that wasn't apparent from the surface. Combining a love of remixing, bedroom recording tactics, glitches, irony, abstraction, meandering walks, incongruities and found fragments, these fascinations also become tools for growing art from the world's increasingly controlled and premeditated places.

Video clips to come soon!