M i x tu r e
M aga z i ne
parties saying that running a workshop would be impossible no one would show up but I went anyway and knowing nobody would show up really just committed to being there and see where this was taking me. Sort of living through my own drawing process going one step at a time without knowing what the outcome is going to be. Sometimes it’s a good way to process life too. Going one step at a time without knowing what the outcome is going to be. Just as you are doing the thing that feels correct in the moment. And so I went. Went into a coffee shop one morning I was in Jerusalem and a young woman came in and I started to chat with her she was an Israeli of European descent migrated from Germany. And she said what are you doing here I was the only American, the only Westerner in all Israel… I mean when I flew there the plane was empty I mean this was a conflict so she said what are you doing here and I explained as I explained to you and she said that is fascinating do you like music? And I said yes. I have tickets to the Jerusalem symphony. And after the show I would like to introduce you to some artist and poet friends of mine who would be interested in what you are doing and that became the beginning of and an incredible journey for a month so I met these folks and they invited me to their home where I was meeting more artists and poets and writers, some of them Palestinian some of them Israeli. And told them what I was trying to do. .. Well it’s a great idea lets see if we can get something together, why don’t you call this guy see what he thinks he is a very active Palestinian Artist so I would do that and with everybody I would explain and they would say what about politics are you Jewish? Yea but I am not involved in Politics and I don’t know anything about politics though certainly. I got in touch with this one person named Ali Clebo and he was referred to me through some one else he says well I don’t really have time but if you’d like come to the west bank if you are willing meet me at this coffee shop and I will talk to you for a few minutes. So I get to the 58
coffee shop and in the west bank, it’s nine a clock at night and he was wearing a funky shirt and I was sitting there reading as a matter of fact my book on Deleuze the philosopher who speaks about the deconstruction of language and so this guy who had no time for me really walks in and says he starts to say hello he said you are reading Deleuze! That’s my MAN!!! He is the man! So he smiled right away and he sat down and what was supposed to be a 10 minute meeting turned into a three-hour meeting. Now, this fellow is no lightweight. He is PhD Anthropology and teaches at Al Quud University in East Jerusalem. He is also a painter; he had a show at the Turkish culture museum in Jerusalem. He also is a filmmaker and had completed a film with a grant by the French Government premiering the week I was there, which was also similar to the work I was doing at the time. So we became very good friends and he took me to see some performances and he introduced me to the musicians who took me to their home and we had dark Egyptian and Arabic coffee and we played instruments it was great. The thing is that the notion of this language this script the Markography, the notion it is conceivable we can have a dialog some common fashion is possible and then in spite of all these once people accept that they are all identifying with the work in their own way and then realizing that the same thing is appreciated by all of us. That is a little bit of the storey of the nature of this work. Are you creating your own language through your art? Here it is not contrived, it is an organic process that is why when you look at this work you’ll see that the symbols repeat themselves organically where they are and this is the mystery behind this thing. Not like hieroglyphics where you make a mark and that symbol becomes something this is more organic and they are signs and symbols that people respond to. Because markmaking, not