Another reason for my pilgrimage to Atlanta was to plug back in to the local network of Atlanta artists, or more specifically to touch base with Charles and Kojo. I accomplished that in one shot, meeting Charles at his studio first and then rendezvous-ing with Kojo at his house later. (left, satellite photo of Atlanta)

I'm always inspired being in Charles's space. For so long, our work was stylistically so similar that we ran up against a lot of the same problems--the comparisons to Chuck Close, the tedium factor inherent in such a repetitive system of markmaking, trying to balance system with expression. He investigated that mode deeply and long enough to have developed some answers whereas I've ultimately decided to abandon that motif entirely. So actually it's nice to see where that could have led.

Kojo's space is in his garage, and I found out quickly that the new work-if it's top secret--is such because he's still working out what it is exactly. And as we talked it was uncanny to me how similar our struggles are. It boiled down to this: how to be a black artist who can claim the authority to make universal statements about universal things. This is a difficult thing, as least to do so while remaining in the realm of figurative or representational art, which all of us do. Kojo said a couple of times, we should be able to do whatever the fuck we want without these limitations, these ineffable pressures. Yes, we should. And therein lies the problem.

After a few drinks, I was feeling especially argumentative and we all got into it a little bit over Afro-futurism, whether that's a dead end or not, and the comical realization that some people are apparently using my article on the subject as some sort of bible of Afrofuturist visual art. Such a thing only barely exists, but the big show next month in Minneapolis should prove whether the concept really has legs in the visual world.

I say it has become exhausted to some extent, espousing a set of ideas that are by now irrelevant or obvious. I say bring in the next set of ideas and set them right upon the grave of the old while the dirt is still freshly turned. Charles meanwhile argues for hijacking the term and stretching it to include new ideas. Kojo with his distrust of -isms and groups, says to hell with the whole thing; fly around the labels and you don't have to worry about obsolescence.

The evening ended late with a brief tour of Charles's section of suburbia, which is basically suburbia like any other suburbia--strip malls, lawns, and homes that all look alike. My Austin crew (and the New York crew before that) is so bohemian. No on is married, no one has kids. Only a few even own a house. So people are constantly coming and going, myself included. This makes community-building always a temporary proposition. Which may all be well and good. Still it was nice to imagine being part of a slightly more fixed community. Charles, Kojo, and a couple of others I know here are all attached to wives, houses and children. And even though they claimed to envy my alleged freedom, they of course have the much better deal.

current music: Rilo Kiley, More Adventurous

Kojo with his distrust of -isms and groups, says to hell with the whole thing; fly around the labels and you don't have to worry about obsolescence.

There's an idea out there - a good one, I think - that you don't want to be your own art historian. Make stuff and let other people label you. Eventually they will contradict themselves - so you don't have to.

I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. For me, there's no great magic that happens in receiving a label. But there is a great magic in getting together with a group of people, identifying a common problem and working systematically and rigorously toward solutions.

Such a thing--guiding group philosophies--used to be standard in the art world. Everything from renaissance perspective rendering to dadaism was a result of a group of people getting together and saying, "hey, there's this social/aesthetic/material problem that we need to figure out. Let's all work on different parts of the problem and see what we can come up with."

Only recently with our overwhelming focus on careerism has group affiliation become a dirty word. What we have instead is the myth of the individual artist who has to sit alone in his studio inventing the wheel all over again.