QUOTES FOR GHOSTS

Feb 2, 2017

Fellow advertisers.

The surreal field in which we work lends itself to mental compartmentalization.  Separation of art and commerce– for creative people, we may check out, leveling down our consciousness to manage the split.

There are deeper aspects to life, and existing in a perpetual state of emotional salesmanship can run your feelings ragged.  And we seem to like that.  So, for all advertisers in need of solace and despair amid the madness of 2017, I offer the following quotes.  And photos.  Quotes and photos for ghosts.  Read on, you’ll see.

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS4

The desire to consume is a kind of lust.

We long to have the world flow through us like air or food.

We are thirsty or hungry for something that can only be carried inside bodies.

But consumer goods merely bait this lust, they do not satisfy it.

-From The Gift, by Lewis Hyde

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS

Money is the pimp between man’s need and the object, between his life and his means of life.

-From Karl Marx’s 1844 manuscripts

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS5

Real, total war has become information war.

-From The Medium is the Massage, by Marshall McLuhan

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS2

Reason, by itself, may not be enough to get us out of our planetary plight.

– From Notes From the Edge Times, by Daniel Pinchbeck

QUOTES FOR GHOSTS3

There are no oceans, cities, hills, and rivers; these are but marked in the landscape of your consciousness.  Who are you, anyway?

You are a ghost.  No man ever saw you, ever will see you, even as “no man hath seen God at any time.”

-From Four Minute Essays by Dr. Frank Crane

xo,
suzymae

 


 

Many thanks to Anousha Hutton, an LA-based artist, director, and photographer who creates cinematic narratives blended with surrealism.  I worked with her brilliant mind and powerful skill to create these photos, exploring psychic isolation and the cult of consumption.

Photos by Anousha Hutton, 2017.  Follow Anousha on Instagram.

Thank you as well to Bruno Loffredo, Canter’s Deli, and Vivian Hua, for the introduction to Dr Frank Crane.

 

FEATURED IMAGE

≈NEW≈ Only Ok in LA Postcard Packs

Aug 8, 2016

only ok in la 5 years SUZY MAE copy

Wow. It’s been five years in the city of angels.  Since 2011, I’ve been documenting overheard (and personally generated) snippets of LA life.  Five sun-kissed years since I found myself texting, “Tanning session ran over.  Will be late for Katsuya,” and thinking, “I’ll have to choose between my therapist or my personal trainer.”

only ok in la SUZY MAE3 copy

I arrived in Los Angeles from Portland, Oregon.  Portland people tried to dampen my enthusiasm for LA, but I’d been California dreaming.  In my art studio, an inscrutable paper map of LA hung on the wall for a year.  I was determined to move to LA by my 30th.  Each day I’d stare at the streets, confounded by the lack of grids and the vast spread of neighborhoods.  Silver Lake got decorated with unicorns, magic sparkles, and hearts.

Beck-Confession-Obsession-SuzyMae3

I’d read in a late-90’s Seventeen that Beck lived in Silver Lake.  Fifteen with no car, before smartphones and rideshares, I plotted a skeezy runaway hitch hike from Las Vegas to the supercool post-grunge home of weirdo art musicians.  A Big Life Thing in the form of Parental Death happened, and I didn’t get to LA for another couple of years.  A few friends from the music scene and I would hit 18+ Santa Monica clubs to dance all night, then stay in some cousin’s Echo Park living room.  From Portland, business trips took me to LA often, doing research projects for Nike and Levi’s.

only ok in la SUZY MAE2 copy

It’s been five years of learning the city, meeting the people that make up its creative demographic, and honing the Only OK aesthetic.  Cluelessly entitled, art-damaged, super-sensitive and forever at the whim of someone more famous, the Only OK voice speaks for the millions of people who move here to be “in the industry,” whether they find raging, rich-kid success, or move back home.

only ok in la SUZY MAE4 copy

With the Only OK in LA postcard series, Angelenos can either celebrate their insularity, or shake their heads in shame.  The shoots are done in my living room, using my friends as models, then all the illustrations are painstakingly done by me.  Currently on the second run of postcard designs, I could go on forever.  In the works:  an adult coloring book…

only ok in la SUZY MAE copy

Part therapy, part observation, part obsessive art project, Only OK in LA tweets are the most fun I can have while eavesdropping.  My goal is to continue expanding the Only OK voice, including more perspectives from across the city.  Packs can be acquired in my li’l zine shop, or at the Los Angeles County Store.

xo
suzymae

 

WILD GOLD

Wildness Collective will read to you

Aug 8, 2016

Don’t fear the feels.

That’s the motto of Wildness Collective, a writing group I’m a part of.  We meet weekly and share our work, grouped around a common theme.  Part of the intent is to push each other, to to go the places we normally avoid, to become better, more honest writers.   Don’t fear the feels.

WILD GOLD SUZY MAE 2

Our first reading was held recently, in the beautiful Show + Tell space, run by Mara Mehdy.  Wild Gold, we called it.  The Pretty Creatures ran the photobooth.

WILD GOLD SUZY MAE 3

Bringing people into our community was the goal.  In the name of abundance, we went overboard with the beer, wine, popcorn and sparkles.  We invited new people to read, welcomed curious wanderers off the Little Tokyo streets, and created beautiful banners with our motto:  Share your wildness.  Don’t fear the feels.

WILD GOLD SUZY MAE 4

Each reader gave a wonderful performance.  Sarah Elaine White started with arresting, flowing poetry.  Grace Duong followed with her charming children’s book.  Shawn McClellan read an excerpt from his radical in-progress novel.  Chelsea Naftelberg read two beautifully expressive pieces.  Claire Finucane shared a short surrealist piece.  I read my specialty, horror fiction.

WILD GOLD SUZY MAE

Wildness Collective is continuing to thrive.  Follow our Instagram, where we post quotes from every reader each week.  We have another reading on the horizon, and continue welcoming new writers to our group.  Interested?  Email me!

xo
suzymae

 

p.s.  Super special thanks to Brian Frisk and Clark Canez for playing bouncer!