Automatic Undercutting Machine
This one's got a random postcard-draw that has me Feeling Seen, a new podcast feat. Mia Wolff, an Instax outtake, and more
The Virtual Memories Show News
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This week, I posted Episode 621 of The Virtual Memories Show! Artist Mia Wolff joins the show to celebrate her fantastic monograph, THE EMPTY LOT (Fantagraphics Underground), which brings together 100 paintings from more than 40 years of her oeuvre. We talk about how she found the thread & structure for the book, the patterns that emerged as she re-ordered the pieces and stitched them together with new illustrations, comics and prose pieces, and how you can make a joyride of a monograph by introducing your cat into the scene. We get into her dream of catspiders that inspired her for decades, the game of exquisite corpse she’s been playing with Jim Woodring, and her history in art and side trips into a trapeze act with a circus and teaching martial arts. We also discuss the graphic novel she’s working on and how that art parallels her painting, why The Empty Lot has an afterword in the form of a page-by-page tour-conversation with Samuel R. Delany, her love of transparency & translucency and why her paintings of water are so magical, the tension of her pitch meeting with Gary Groth, and a lot more.
Last week, I posted Episode 620, where Damion Searls & I kicked off my 2025 season with a conversation about his amazing new book, THE PHILOSOPHY OF TRANSLATION (Yale University Press). We talked about how he balanced his book between philosophical argument and concrete examples of translation, and how he came to define translation as “reading one thing and writing something else.” We also got into where all the languages — German, Dutch, Norwegian, French — started for him, how the business of translation has changed during his career, how a ‘book report’ led to him becoming the translator of Nobel-winner Jon Fosse, how he edited an abridged version of Thoreau’s (7000 pages of) journals, and why he only put one negative example in The Philosophy of Translation. Plus we discuss how he doesn’t look over his own translators’ shoulders, why he resents critics’ bias against translation and the notion of “a ‘faithful’ translation” or “getting it right,” the days when translators treated like typesetters, and plenty more. Give it a listen! And go read The Philosophy of Translation!
Recent episodes: 2024 Recap • The Guest List • Benjamin Swett • Ken Krimstein • Eddie Campbell • Caitlin McGurk • Frances Jetter
Automatic Undercutting Machine
I know I goof on the idea of New Year’s resolutions, but there is one that’s held up for me: my 2022 resolution to mail out a postcard every day (except Sundays and holidays). I’ve managed to keep that going for 3+ years. It’s great to have some slow communication as part of my start-the-day routine. (Let me know if you want to be on the recipient list.)
Problem is, I ran out of postcards last Friday. Well, I ran out of the boxed sets of postcards from which I usually send. That meant I had to resort to the stack of postcards people have sent me over the years, as well as singletons that I bought, like a couple from last year’s visit to the Getty Museum, of the Wm. Blake exhibition.
A couple days ago, I randomly drew this one
The caption on the back described it as a piece of mining equipment, namely an Automatic Undercutting Machine. And I thought there may be no better term for that part of me that’s absolutely compelled to self-deprecate (whether it’s in this newsletter, my podcast intros, or the conversations themselves).
Which is to say, I FELT SEEN by this random postcard draw.
I decided to take a picture of it so I could remind myself about the presence of the Automatic Undercutting Machine. Maybe I can unplug it sometime. Hope it helps you do the same.
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Instaxery
I didn’t take any new Instax, but I’ve done a little writing for the GUEST/HOST book, and I also worked on some design ideas for it, playing with a few trim sizes and layouts.
Here’s an outtake pic from when I recorded this week’s show at Mia Wolff’s apartment & studio. The one I went with is even better:
Artistry
I’m still making a little sketch every day with a rollerball pen in a cheap notebook, but that’s been it. Yesterday I drew one of Mia’s catspiders. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn or painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-craziness, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art, but no more Instax (at least, not for the book project).
Do I so worry you? / You need to hurry to my side, it’s very kind / But it’s to no avail, and I don’t want the bail / I promise you, everything will be just fine,