Musings of the Mad
detail, Sean Visits Georgia O'Keefe, Sean Adams, 1984
I recently found some notebooks from my time in college. It’s nice to think that you’ve changed over time, matured, and found some wisdom. But these notebooks prove two things: I haven’t changed since I was 20 years old, and I was clearly insane. While other students were hastily taking notes about Roland Barthes, I was intently drawing the objects I deemed “mean.” The notebooks reveal a person obsessed with bizarre trivial ideas. Why did I create a narrative where Georgia O’Keefe serves me toast? I catalogued the world around me, which Southern California of the early 80s was new wave Vals (Valley teens), Bevs (Beverly Hills teens), and their shopping habits. I also include a page on semiotics to prove that while I was busy drawing LA Eyeworks sunglasses, I was also trying to understand structuralism.
The sad part of this, or the good part depending on your point of view is that my current notebook is no better. Today I finished a rather intricate drawing of a riverboat during a meeting.
Sean Visits Georgia O'Keefe, Sean Adams, 1984
detail, Sean Visits Georgia O'Keefe, Sean Adams, 1984
Portrait of Post Mods, Sean Adams, 1985
detail, Picture of Post Mods, Sean Adams, 1985
Art Things, Sean Adams, 1984
Nice Things, Sean Adams, 1984
Mean Things, Sean Adams, 1984
Picture of Different Glasses, Sean Adams, 1985
Actual notes, Sean Adams, 1985
Notebook cover, "Save me from the pig" added by me
Tags: 1984, 1985, Georgia O'Keefe, New Wave, Notebook, Roland Barthes, Sean Adams
