It's Saturday night. Do you know where your trash is? It might be hanging on the wall at the tasting room of Copper and Oak Craft Spirits. The artist, anthropologist and reclaim archaeologists Ross Brooks shows us what was discarded, rescued, embellished and promoted. Ross Brooks shows us us.
Heidi and Ross Brooks
Ross doesn't just hang his findings and finishing touches on the wall. He'll tell you about his discovers too. He's kind enough and honest enough to be shy about his work and then when sharing his discovery you can see the pride of being able to share what he found and did to awaken the discarded refuse spirit.
Heidi and Ross Brooks arriving at Copper and Oak
The venue was Copper and Oak Craft Spirits, located in the Downtown Portsmouth, Virginia, Olde Towne district. We were able to get there from OgFOMK ArTS' office in a hot, flat 6 minutes. We ain't bar hoppers but we love art. So when a friend tells us about an art show we want to go see it.
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
Copper and Oak Craft Spirits is not a bar. It's a trendy tapas joint. It is no bohemian flopping ground. It's entirely new to us. It's a distillery right on High Street with a very comfortable tasting space that has blank walls that are perfect for creative minds.
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
The tasting room is 50 percent of the visible space. It's public space. The other visible space that is not public is the Craft Spirits Distillery. Partitioned only by a wainscot wall and vintage mullions that frame light friendly glazing.
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
There's a small bar. There are comfortable chairs, tables, couches and relaxed lightings. The crowd is a mix of animated gentlemen, ladies and the director of Ross Brooks' show, Ross Brooks.
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Pieces at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Pieces at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
Ross Brooks Show Piece at Copper and Oak
The works range from LP jacket size or slightly less than to twice the vertical size of a movie poster. No fancy frames. No place card judgements. Fastened to the wall with whatever made sense at the time.
Richard Kim Photographs Heidi and Ross Brooks
Ross planed the show about nearly two months in advance. For him to do the show it was a lot of stress. No one pushed him. No one forced him. No one paid him or commissioned him.
Heidi, Ross Brooks and Richard Kim
His work was not even for sale. It's not fine art. It's sweat, frustration, feelings, form, perception and joy.
Heidi, Ross Brooks and Richard Kim
With Ross, as difficult as it was to get his composition together, there is always humor. He's laughing. He smiling. He's kindly taking you on a journey with him where he has found your discardlings.
Ross Brooks with Friends
Ross Brooks the archeologist from the dig becomes an anthropologist. He takes his findings to the lab. He cuts, dissects, reassembles and presents.
Ross Brooks with Friends
Upon completion of the work the artist passes on the results of his labor to the director. The director shares the work. Now it's up to the audience to complete the process.
Ross Brooks with Friends
Ross Brooks of Olde Towne, Portsmouth, Virginia shows his found object work at Copper and Oak Craft Spirits. It's a collection of found pieces that have been highlighted as mixed media with an anthropological bend.
I was inspired by an article my cousin posted on Facebook regarding tax cheats. I'm re-posting my response. Sunflower follows the sunshine, you follow the money If you really want to follow the money, read this by Robert Breedlove (Below). Taxes are just 1 side of the coin. The other is the money itself. #USD The US Dollar is the unit we have to pay our taxes in. USD is the reserve currency of all other world currencies so you need it to purchase most goods but especially Oil, food, water, raw materials and labor. USD is manufactured (issued #Fiat ) by the Federal Reserve who are NOT a government branch. They are a private organization of banks who create unlimited USD which is given to large failing corporations and governments as loans and bailouts that are NEVER paid back. Inflation is created when a limited supply of USD is increased. When the FED issued 2 trillion extra dollars this year it devalued the USD everyone who worked for it head. This is an invisible
Lon, Alex and Eric 1987 OgFOMK ArTS Issue 1, 1988 Pre Publishing 1987 The photo above was taken by Cheryl. In the photo is from the left: Lon, Alex and Eric. It was 1987. Maximum Rock-N-Roll was the most influential publication to me. I, Alex, had a dream of being an influential punk writer, musician and artist. Oddly enough, fame was not what I wanted. I was merely a participant in a counter revolutionary uniform. I wanted to publish. I wanted to do it myself. DIY "Do It Yourself" was our mantra. We were bombarded with products, commercials and trends. It was the same for the children of the 1920s to the end of the Twentieth Century. After a Civil War, Two World Wars, a Korean War, Vietnam, an Iran hostage fiasco, The Cold War and One Space shuttle with a civilian going kaput we knew the commercials were lies. The news was bad. The sponsors were offering relief and solace with tobacco, beer, trendy clothes, and video games. Fantastic rock music and rap presen
Dimka, "Grey Smoke" This is Dimka. Her name is a Russian variant word that means "grey smoke". She appeared to us about three years ago. We found her out front of our little townhouse in the rainy part of August 2016. It was cold and very wet. She was shivering and hungry. Dimka at the front door 2016 We already had an indoor only cat. I told my wife that if this outside cat hangs around for 5 days we will adopt her. I made a little shelter outside for her to sleep in. As it turns out she had the attention of both of my next door neighbors. a.k.a. Mosby, "Gray Ghost" George was my neighbor to the right. He did not like cats. He did however find interest in Dimka. George had bought food for her and named her after Civil War General John S. Mosby because of her grey coat. John S. Mosby was known as the "Gray Ghost" (Incidentally the word for guest in Russian is ghost). Joan was my neighbor to the left. She wa
