Thomas Arthur Schaefer
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Monday, October 31, 2016

Respect And Condesention Of Circles

Untitled (2016)
Photocopy and bumper sticker on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 31, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 09 - 'The best prophet of the future is the past.' (4x6 postcard)
IZZY - Torquaret Channeling 01 (4x6 postcard)
WASSERMAN - Reiki Chieftain 01A (6x6 abstract postcard)

Today I took on a daunting task, but I had to tackle it. So the blog we are on right now lost all of it's images from 2014 back to it's beginning in 2004. This happened some months ago when I did some server transitioning. Some server issues and stuff just got lost. Or, more like bad backup on my part. So I spent most of my Halloween evening handing out candy and re-uploading years and years worth of images, post by post by post. So I'm quiting for the evening. I completed all the way thru 2011 to current. I wanted to make myself a note about what all this meant tonight, as I didn't produce any physical works today. Though this blog is a work in itself. It's good to remember what you do on a certain day and the reason for it.

This blog is an important artifact. It's title is just as important now, as when I pulled it together some 12 years ago. Suppositions, Slants & Suspicions — so appropriate. This blog is a ready retainer of my personal information, not unlike my sketchbooks, notebooks and journals. One never knows when one won't be around. In my current situtaion this thought is casting back on me every morning I wake up. When one has the ability to leave behind something that helps define and explain ones life, work, thoughts and beliefs — that thing holds great power. I've thought it for the last few months since getting back onto this blog again after recent events. I may have mentioned before, but it bears repeating. There is and will always remain a very large gap in content on this blog. The timeline is very specfic and it gives me pause every time I notice it. It's a powerful signature of events had and un-had.

Going through certain time periods today and having to figure out what photos were in what post, dug up a lot of old memories. Good or bad, old memories never leave you. Time is strange like that. We forget so much, but it only takes so little to trigger so much more. I'm happy I made it through those years today. It was worth the effort and time to look back and save what there was for the future. The rest of this 'restoration' project will have a different type of reflection on me. I'll wait a few days before I start the next section, 2010 - 2004. I need todays work to sink in and run its course.

I could have, of course, just left all the content lost or even just gone in deleting everything. Why not start fresh? But at that thought, I'm reminded of Robert Rauchenbergs 'Erased de Kooning Drawing'. It's a work I've actually had the pleasure to see in person. I stared at it for almost an hour and most everyone in the museum looked at me confused. Why is this man staring at a blank piece of old paper? But for me, that piece and that experience has had an enourmous impact on my current work. It helped me realize that nothing is ever really lost. All information is retained in some fashion. It's all a matter of how the viewer construes it. The power of 'Erased de Kooning Drawing' derives from the allure of the unseen and from the enigmatic nature of Rauschenberg’s decision to erase a de Kooning. The power of this blog for me currently derives from the allure of what was there and my introspective decision to un-erase it.

Here is me with 'Erased de Kooning Drawing' at the San Fran MOMA - June 2010

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Influenece Over The Actions Of Self

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, paper doily, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Forced Ownership Of Institution

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, wrapping paper, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 29, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 08 - 'A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.' (4x6 postcard)

Friday, October 28, 2016

The Fall Of General Interest

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, wrapping paper, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 28, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 07 - 'Share your joys and sorrows with your family.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 16 (4x6 postcard)

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Ohh How It Melts Away

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, wrapping paper, accounting paper, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 27, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 06 - 'Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 15 (4x6 postcard)

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Reason Things Are Born To Reality

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, wrapping paper, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 26, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 05 - 'Simplicity and clarity should be your theme in dress.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 14 (4x6 postcard)

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Imagine You Were Born

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, newsprint, tissue paper, paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 25, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 04 - 'You will have a long and wealthy life.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 13 (4x6 postcard)

Monday, October 24, 2016

The Role Of Sound And Voice

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, tissue paper, paper doily and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL — OCTOBER 24, 2016
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 03 - 'A healthy body will bebefit you forever.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 12 (4x6 postcard)

Sunday, October 23, 2016

On The Record Of Disappearance

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, tissue paper, paper doily and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

Saturday, October 22, 2016

To The Men Of Always

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
OCTOBER 22, 2016
—————
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 02 - 'You will soon be crossing the great waters.' (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 11 (4x6 postcard)

Friday, October 21, 2016

To Those Who Lose Faith

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
OCTOBER 21, 2016
—————
BARKER - Somewhere Betwixt 01 - 'It is a nice day.' (4x6 postcard)
DECILLIS - Come Up Smiling 02 (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Benevolent Bouquet (7x8 abstract postcard)

Thursday, October 20, 2016

To Those Who Write The News

Untitled (2016)
Four color print, comic book, photocopy, tissue paper, ink and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
OCTOBER 20, 2016
—————
BARKER - Desktop Darling - Varient A (4x6 postcard)
DECILLIS - Come Up Smiling 01 (4x6 postcard)
KANKA - Desktop Darling - Varient B (4x6 postcard)

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Routines Bite Hard

Untitled (2016)
Photocopy, legal document, house paint, tissue paper, ink and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Throw Me A Line, Do Me A Favor

Untitled (2016)
Billlboard, photocopy, legal document, cardstock, tissue paper, ink and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

Monday, October 17, 2016

Fall Asleep Staring At The Ceiling

Untitled (2016)
Newsprint, four-color-process print, legal document, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm
"REPETITIVE EXPERIMENTATION IS INTELLECTUALLY BANKRUPT." — Schaefer

repetitive: containing or characterized by repetition when unnecessary or tiresome
experiment: the process of performing a scientific procedure to determine something
intellect: the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively with regard to abstract matters
bankrupt: completely lacking in a particular quality or value

MAILING TRANSFERRAL
OCTOBER 17, 2016
—————
KANKA - Marshaled Termination - 10 (4x6 postcard)

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Give You My Time, Now I Give You My Brain

Untitled (2016)
Newsprint, photocopy, four-color-process print, tissue paper and acrylic on cardstock
8.5 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm

It's late... or early at this point in the AM. Sitting here working on some postcards in my office, my dog is sleeping beside me. Looking at a set of 2 pieces in particular — a thought occurs. Working on a pair of 'twins', not sure who they are for just yet. I have a thought and want to make a note to myself on this thought. This is important, so act on this. If not now then in the near future... but you're getting old friend, so if you don't act in the now, you'll never act. Stay in the now, as you have been of recent. Act. Act. Act.

NOTE TO SELF:
Think about the work. Look at it as a Process Artist. Look at it in the progress of process. Process. Process. Process. Now... tell the Process Artist to go get a cup of coffee. Steal the work. Deny him the satisfaction of process. Deny. Deny. Deny.

Why not consider abandoning some parts of the process to preserve the inherent nature of that process in the work. Show the 'HOW'. Allow the 'WHY'. Show the unpredictable. Show the aborted pieces. Force the abortion to remain a part of the whole. Deny that aborted portion a second life elsewhere and force them to live in the disharmonius world that is the process in its natural unfinished, unprocessed, unpredictable environment. Save the knife for something else this one instance. Save and celebrate.

Look at the parts. Look at how they laugh and enjoy themselves. Don't deny who they are. Let them be who they are. Let the world see. Let the world decide. Stop trying to readapt things and let them manifest themselves as they will. Let them be as themselves. Do not over-define the work. Let the work define itself.