Post-Country, 2014
Audio, 9 minutes
The Studio
(F) (Am)
When I go into the studio
(F) (Am)
I don’t expect productivity you know
(F) (Am)
Nor do I expect focused play
(C) (G) (Am)
I just expect to flirt with ideas all day
(F) (Am)
When I walk in and I sit down
(F) (Am)
My neighbor’s playing his radio too loud
(F) (Am)
I’ve only got eight by fifteen feet
(C) (G) (Am)
Of white walls and gray concrete
(Am)
I just can’t perpetuate
(C) (G)
Fumbling and frustration
(Am)
Followed by breakthroughs
(C) (G)
Of inordinate creativity
(C) (G) (Am)
The killing of time is revelatory
(C) (G) (Am)
Is it really revelatory
(F) (Am)
I have to admit I’m starting not to care
(F) (Am)
If I’m in my bed or my studio chair
(F) (Am)
It's all starting to lack boundaries
(C) (G) (Am)
And is in favor of mobility
(F) (Am)
But practicality’s too valuable to loose
(F) (Am)
And it's not like post anything is something new
(F) (Am)
The studio in an integrated society
(C) (G) (Am)
Maybe it's time for a little productivity
(Am)
Maybe I’m just trying to
(C) (G)
Assign names where names aren’t needed
(Am)
And maybe it’s just frivolous
(C) (G)
To consider the frame of the studio
(C) (G) (Am)
It was frivolous a long time ago
(C) (G) (Am)
Frivolous a long time ago
(C) (G) (Am)
A long time ago
(C) (G) (Am)
A long time ago
Confessional I
(G) (C)
Is it just didactic
(D)
Or a one liner
(F) (G)
Is there something to get
(C)
Is it too reverent
(D)
To the canon of
(F) (G)
Conceptual art
(C) (D)
Is it too referential
(F) (G)
Does it alienate a viewer
(C) (D)
Does it lack aura
(F) (G)
Or does it even matter
(C) (D)
Is the work underwhelming
(F) (G)
Does it ask to much of a viewer
(C) (D)
Without fulfilling
(F) (G)
Their expectations
(C)
Am I too quick
(D)
To discount formal
(F) (G)
Operations
(C)
And is it fixed
(D)
To an art context
(F) (G)
Or meant for dispersion
(C) (G) (F) (G)
Is it an already told story
(C) (G)
Does it add anything new
(F) (G)
To the conversation
(C) (G)
Does the installation
(F) (G)
Contribute to its function
(C) (G)
Or is it problematic
(F) (G)
It's just too problematic
Confessional II
(C)
Doesn’t it get tiresome
(G)
Beating a dead horse
(C)
A horse that’s been dead
(Em)
For at least forty years
(C)
The only thing I think is new
(G)
Is that I don’t care whatever
(C)
But I really do
(Em) (C)
Which doesn’t make it any better
(C)
I just want folks to like what I do
(G)
Which is so embarrassing
(C)
And I mean that sincerely
(Em)
As sincere as I can be
(C)
Living life so ironically
(G)
And so defensively
(C)
Please please oh please
(Em)
Be gentle with me
(C)
I’m a poet enthusiast poser
(G)
And a faux academic
(C)
A frustrated comedian
(Em)
Please think I’m funny
Post-Country
(D)
Mirroring the culture at large
(G) (D)
Blurring genres and crossing boundaries
(D)
Remember sitting under the stars
(G) (D)
It was all about that trajectory
(D)
All the ones that ever counted
(G) (D)
For anything at all
(G) (E)
They all have been appropriated
(A) (G) (D)
And executed and installed
(G) (D)
Post-Country
(E) (A)
What does it mean to me
(D)
Well meaning isn’t fixed
(G) (D) (A) (D)
It’s just something you project on to it
(D)
With signifiers that range
(G) (D)
From obvious to inaccessible
(G) (D)
Wanting to write itself into the canon
(E) (A)
That kind of narcissism is not usually successful
(D)
Accepts that all work exists
(G) (D)
In a permanent state of conflict
(G) (D)
And is comfortable adding more meaning
(E) (A)
Further complicating our relation to it
(G) (D)
Post-Country
(E) (A)
What does it mean to me
(D)
Well, meaning isn’t fixed (No, it ain’t)
(G) (D) (A) (D)
It’s just something you project on to it
Contextual Photograph (Post-Country), 2015
Photograph