JOE DENARDO: Confusion is Not Easy

Joe DeNardo lives in Brooklyn and has a van for sale. Its a red 1989 Chevy van 10 with a V8, a short wheel base, 80,000 miles on the dash, newly rebuilt transmission and a moonroof. While there's some rust on the body, it runs great, passed New York State inspection and is thus available for test drives weeknights. Additionally, Joe makes films, collages, photographs and plays guitar in Growing.

What do you do? What are you doing the most lately?
I follow major league baseball, play music, watch movies, and drink.

How long have you done these things? How have the things changed?

A pretty long time. Each of the things have gotten better and better, but harder and harder.

Why do you do these things? What's it like when you are unable to do these things?

I get a nice FLOW when I'm doing these things. Sometimes I feel really good, and most times I don't worry as much. When I can't do these things I get anxious and angry.

You're from Chicago, where baseball lives in the Cubs & The White Sox. Could you tell us about what these teams mean to you?
Chicago is a Cubs town. Even the White Sox admit that. If the Cubs ever won the World Series again they'd paint the town cubbie blue. The White Sox are some bastard American League team that doesn't play true baseball that showed up 40 years later under the original moniker of the Cubs (the white stockings). How unoriginal.

Could you talk a little bit about what you do & why?

I like to take pictures and shoot motion picture film. I pretty much just really like what lenses do, and how you can combine what lenses make (pictures) in different ways, moving or still, and how all that can render dimension. I wish I could spend more time on it.

When was That Moment in your life that told you you would become what you are?

I don't think I've had That Moment yet, unless That Moment is just the series of daily moments that continually tell me what "I'm not".

How has your life changed to accommodate That Moment's effect on you?
I've become comfortable with being dissatisfied. But confusion is not easy.

How has your work affected your life in return?

Keeps me going.


How do you relate to David Lee Roth?
Don't know him.

Favorite book & movie?

I don't have an all time favorite book or movie, but I was impressed with THE MEMOIRS OF MADAME DE LA TOUR DU PIN, which I just read, and I recently rewatched PASSE MONTAGNE by JF Stevenin, and realized its really a favorite of mine. So many images!

What do you think of the future?
I like it because it hasn't happened yet, but don't think I'll like it much once it has.

All images by Joe DeNardo.
Top to bottom: CCHM 2009, Moving Picture Left, New View, Subtractive Notation
GROWING
Films by Joe

IRENE MOON: What Seemed Simpler

The unbelievably prolific Irene Moon currently resides in the North Carolina home where she grew up, amidst collections of rescued ferns, elf homes, rare pottery, toy horses and devil's-head jugs. Her theatrical and musical output exhibits an equally bewildering array of influence (from a lifelong passion for insects to stark allegories of the subconscious,) characterized by blend of dark humor and childlike enthusiasm.

What do you do? What are you doing the most lately?
I inhabit universities. I am an entomologist…I study insects. I program web content. I facilitate free dispersal of biological information. I create music that is theatrical in nature. I create recordings and release them. I build things.

How long have you done these things?
Insects—all my life
Music—since about 1996 or 97

Why do you do them? How does it make you feel?
Mostly I do it because its fun. When it is no longer fun than I guess Ill move on to something else.

Irene performing Conjur Auk at the Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain MA. Photo by Bill T. Miller, 2005

When was That Moment in your life that told you you would become what you are? What happened?
That moment happened a few times…moments of choice between what seemed like a harder path and what seemed simpler.

My first year in collage a lot gelled for me. I was taking courses in zoology along with design school classes. I was discussing with my advisor about how I wanted to get a merged degree, one involving the design of organisms. He said I couldn’t do that, so I quit that university, hitch-hiked to Athens GA, got a job in the Entomology Department, accepted to art school and started performing musical scientific slide show lectures.

The moment happened again after graduating from art school I decided that if I wanted to do science related art I needed to actually work in science. To experience it, not just imagine the experience. So I left Athens and got my masters degree in the Entomology Department at the University of Kentucky.

How has your life changed or not changed to accommodate that moment's effect on you?
My work is all I think about and I am sure I'll die early because of it. Personal and family relationships have suffered. I only own music gear and a few pillows I really like.

Auk Theatre press photo

How has your work affected your life in return?
I can talk about how much I love Black Sabbath for hours without getting bored. My favorite thing in the world to do is listen to ELO while programming. I am pretty good at giving a lecture, scientific or musical.

The best thing is the number of friends I have made. People of similar drive both in music and entomology who have a creative and strong desire to uncover some hidden truth.

What does David Lee Roth mean to you?
Everything. I even have a Van Halen velcro wallet.

Incredibly thorough Irene Moon websightings:

http://begoniasociety.org/

Irene Moon Wikipedia page

LIZ FLYNTZ

TOOK THESE PHOTOS

OF
KATHERINE HILL (top)

AND

LEXIE MT & CHIARA KEELING (bottom, l-r)

liz flyntz took these in the sculpture garden of the baltimore museum of art during october 2006.

you can find her other photos of things like mud wrestling, Beach House, hairballs, piles of gold & rope and sexy broken legs here: http://flickr.com/photos/leighviande/