To hold spices

A short history.  3003 was sold as a as is, don't ask too many questions, don't look too closely deal.  Two of the four brick walls were hidden behind two stud and drywall walls.  When I took my sledge and crowbar to those two stud and drywall walls this was why the sellers didn't want too many questions asked.  Funny though is I did ask what were they hiding behind the stud and drywall walls.

They said they weren't hiding nothing.  (except for huge ass holes in the brick)

Decided to fill in the holes in the wall with concrete.

The concrete pour came out imperfectly perfect.  Exactly unexact.  Annie's clean canvas for color completion.

I made some shelves for the part of the wall that will be eventually be the kitchen.  Bought some thick aluminum but the rest came from what was in the space already.  When the earthquake comes, the strongest place to be will be under the shelves.  Way way way overbuilt.  But they fit right in I think.

The angle steel was left up on the rafters, the big spikes I used to anchor the shelf supports were also scavenged from 3003.

Tapped the pieces together with 1/4-20's

Everything is held to the concrete with 18 1/2" bolts...4 would have been overkill.  18 is insane.

I'm sure the mantra at Ikea is "From Ikea to the landfill as soon as possible."  I was at a holiday party yesterday afternoon.  A holiday party of photographers, quite a few were there.  Two of them were talking about using Ikea kitchen cabinets in their recent construction.  I threw up a bit in my mouth.  Have we stooped this far to think that buying this shit that is only manufactured to hold up long enough for the warranty to expire is ok?  I refuse to be part of the march toward mediocrity.  I refuse to surround myself with particle board shit held together loosely with the flat pack mentality.

So until I can make something that is right for this space, this space right here then the shop tables and old decommissioned work benches that are being used right now will do just fine.  Better funky cool than something that makes me vomit every time I see it.

Holding Breath

I had made a wooden something to hold the stereo components for my second studio.  That was maybe 25 years ago.  The wooden something didn't seem to fit in at 3003 visually so I utilized some of what was left behind here to make a metal something more befitting the West Oakland aesthetics.

The wooden something was strong and enclosed, the components felt safe and secure.
 
But now I'm understanding how fragile and insecure Life here on Planet Earth is.
And how fucking beautiful Life here on Planet Earth is.

The first thing you see as you come into 3003 is how the beautiful music that is filling the space is balanced so precariously.
Three of four support points are on thick steel, the fourth has nothing.  It is depending upon the other three for the survival of all.  The strong here need to hold up the weak.
Maybe the current times demanded me to build it like this.
You look at this and there's this unsettled angst in you.  Metaphorically you hold your breath a bit.

I think it's good.  The fragile unsettled chaos is good.

The top photo is one of the attachments the sculptor before me used to bolt his gantry to the timbers of the roof.  I wire brushed off the dirt but left the patina.  The receiver was too big so I tapped another piece of steel to support the third foot.  And tapped that with three 1/4-20's to fine tune the support.

And since listening to music is such an orgasm for me, I put on a high polish at the end of that piece to underline the Big O.

More

No Attachment

I was doing two things at once.  I'm making some kitchen shelves for the new studio kitchen.  The previous tenant at 3003 was a sculptor.  Apparently he worked in a big and heavy medium because he left a sizable moving gantry up in the roof.  With a lot of hard work on my part I took it down and put it aside.  Forty foot pieces of steel big.  Winch it down a little at a time big.  I wanted to re-use the steel somehow.  A couple pieces I cut off and wire brushed and made a stereo holder.  (see tomorrow's post on that)  Some of it I'm using it for the kitchen shelves along with half inch thick by ten inches wide aluminum.

The other thing I'm doing at the same time is photographing a new wine.  The most expensive wine this particular winery has ever offered.  So I'm doing a full work up on it.  Some straight on bottle shots, some beauty shots with food, some shots suggested by the client and then some "Paul, do some of your artistic stuff, would ya"

I'm polishing the aluminum up so I can put up the shelves this weekend when I decided the polishing itself was a beautiful background.  I tried to use it for a background for a wine shot.

But sometimes it just doesn't work.  Sometimes if you work at it hard enough you can make it work, sometimes no matter hard to work at it, it just doesn't jell.  Started to set something up but maybe my heart wasn't in it because after three different setups I said fuck it.  You see you have to be willing to give up attachment to things.

Earlier in life if I had made a prop for a shot, damnit that thing was going to be in the shot no matter what.  And I would work and work trying this way and that way. The thing got in the way of what I was trying to do.  But once I understood how liberating it was to lose the attachment to things, shots flowed so much easier. 

Of course some things seem to have latched on me and I do have attachment.  And it's good.  There's value to them.  But there come a time when even the most prized of things will be put down and I will move on.


So instead I put them on the wall, or least tried to.  Together the ten foot, half inch thick aluminum with the reclaimed steel, each shelf probably weighed a couple hundred pounds each and I was trying to attach them to concrete with 1/2" bolts.  A struggle I tell you.

The shelves trying to be something they were not.

The polishing swirls

The aluminum writes it's name as it comes off the drill bit.