Hopscotch Tracks

When we were first asked to created an 8 pieced project based on our hopscotch experience I had trouble coming up with a theme. I thought about the numerical properties of the board and how I might be able to incorporate that in my project. I thought about points in time, ages, dates, important events, number of items in collections, and other things along those lines. That is when I thought about the tracks on a CD. Music has always been a huge influence in my life so I liked the ideas. I decided on the CD entitled Juturna by Circa Survive. Their music is very unique and creates many visual images with the lyrics. I decided to select a couple lyrics from each song and illustrate it. I tried to connect the pieces by using the same mediums in each piece. They all contain black permanent markers, a magazine clipping, blow pens, black pen, prisma markers, and one is done also with pencil. All of the magazine clippings are from the APMagazine (a well known alternative band magazine) in order to keep up the music theme of the set.


1. Holding Someone's Hair Back

"She's got the photos, but no recollection
He's got the motive, but no transportation"


2. Act Appalled

"Patience, both we and our words are over produced by influence
I'm only asking if you remember"


3. Wish Resign

"What brought you back to this place
I knew you'd never learn"


4. The Glorious Nosebleed

"Walk into the light
Giving into something you don't understand
This sort of thing gets you out of mind right before"


5. In Fear and Faith

"This heart is already frozen
I can't remember the fall
And if I last through the winter
I swear to you know, I wont call"


6. The Great Golden Baby

"Make your move
Obvious humor
Desperate and respiratory plight
Always Un-
Dress to impress
I'll be the last one to find out why"


7. Stop the Fucking Car

"Don't stop talking to me
I haven't been listening"


8. We're all Thieves

"I smile as it burns
Your face is light and cocaine white
One messages beating through
I've been erased
I've been erased from the picture"


All lyrics copyright to Circa Survive.

Hopscoth Potsy

Four is the number of times i've eaten at KFC.
Three is the number of cavities i've filled.

Two is the number of paying cards i found on the street.
Five is the number of twos i have on one foot.

One week ago I saw a bum on the street.
Eight is the number of years i've lived in my house.

Six is the age I stopped believing in monsters.
Four is the number of oranges in this hat.

Hop-Scotch.

This being the first time i have ever played hopscotch, i felt very ackward while playing. At first it seemed like no big deal but as i made each jump i felt nauseaus. From the top to the bottom, these are some of the images that i saw while playing and jumping. Except for the first one. Number 1 is just a way to start the drawings; it is a rectangle that i filled with red acrylic paint. Following number 1, is the image i saw when i stepped on the square #2. It is not greatly detailed but i felt like i was right on top of it and falling. Number 3 is just another quick version of an even higher view. For me it was an even greater, more intense feeling. But the details were so many; i could see it so clearly, that i decided to sketch it rather than make it perfect. And i think it adds movement. Number 4 was another nauseating moment for me and hence i drew another view except this time i remembered the view from a time i went to NY, and the roofs looked like they had square layers one over the other. NUmber 5 is just how green i saw the grass that time. It was what most impressed me during the experience. Number 6 is a building with colors that my mind made up. I have never seen a building with those colors. Number 7 is a view as i jumped from one square to the next. and Number 8 is just an attempt to recreate number 3.

Drawing A Breath

When this project was assigned i had a totally different idea of going about with it. First i wanted to make a 3-D model of a can but later found out it was very hard to do. I thought that the 3-D representation of it would be another way to capture the essence of the can of air, although it was just a compilation of cut outs of pictures of the can. Although it would have taken the shape of a can and it had the same colors, and the same writings on the outside it would not be the same. So then during the same day the assignment was due i came up with the thought that capturing the breath of the can of air did not mean that i had to accurately represent every minimal detail and shape, and function. I remembered the concept of the "Signifier and Signified" theory and came up with what you see above. It is a can of air, a picture, placed in a box made out of paper. It contains air, and although it is not round it is the same thing almost. In this case, the signifier is "box of air" and the signified is the object which originally was a "can of air."

Hop-scotch Project

Box #8
Eight years ago was my first time traveling to Taiwan. I remember the stinky airports and meeting most of my relatives. I ate so much lychee for the first time and I also met my grandma for the first time. Taiwan is a very important place to me. Ever since I've been there for the first time and the two other times I went years later, I felt that Taiwan is my second home. I feel as if I be welcomed home no matter when I go there. During my first time there, it was also my first time on a 17-hour flight. I remember getting a toy and it was this 3D hexagon coin holder. Also, I loved having my hair braided by my cousin. It was a fun time.

Box #7
I remember that I had the best time in my freshman year, seventh period, geometry class. I loved doing proofs and just about anything with geometry and shapes. But the funnest part was when my teacher let us play Mafia many times during the year. I remember one game where I was the Mafia, but in order to reduce suspicions, my accomplice, another mafia member, killed me. I was stunned, amazed, angry, I doubt I could find another adjective.

Box #6
Six years ago, in seventh grade, my class dissected frogs. I remember my lab group's frog being the only one to have eggs. While I dissected the livers out, I accidently pulled too hard and a piece of the liver came off.

Box #5
I love to fix and to make anything. I fixed the drawer, door hinge, doorknob, showerhead, and watch in my house.

Box #4
My parents, brother and I went camping on weekend. But that night, it started to pour and thunder like crazy. So, my Dad drove us home and we slept the night at home. The next morning, we came back to our tent and camping.

Box #3
My two family friends and I went on a picnic near a pond in Morristown. There was a small pond-ish beneath a bridge and the water was deep enough to contain fish. So, my friends and I went into the water. The water reached up passed my knees. I was able to catch three Sunnies (I'm not sure what kind of fish they were) with my bare hands. My friends also caught crayfish and we put them in a breadbag since, we did not know we were going to go fishing.

Square #2
Two summers ago, I stayed at the Morris County Library and studied for the SATs from morning until afternoon. It was very cold in there and very hot outside. Often, I would get bored and fall asleep. It was not a fun experience.

Square #1
This is my first goal and dream since I was little. I have always wanted to become a math teacher, so I would make teach my stuffed animals math and make tests for them. I would then do the tests for them and grade them.

Sorry, if the quality of the pictures are bad:

Hey. For this project, I decided to draw my eight boxes in sort of a coloring-book style. I've realized that ever since I was young, I loved using crayons and color pencils to color in the lines of the outlined picture. I was fascinated by the possibilities of having unlimited matching colors. I could choose any color to go with the first color I chose, and keep on changing the colors on a new sheet of paper.

Bubble Trouble

For this project our inspiration was hop scotch, which is a game dealing with trial and error as well as a sequential order or process. When I looked at the game I thought of a book in particularly books I read when I was young that had a basic story line of trying to achieve a goal through a process of trial and error. Because hop scotch is usually played by children I thought of doing a book that kids could read and get enjoyment from and so Bubble Trouble was born!

Hop-Scotch: "Work History"

When I thought of hop-scotch--a game I never really played or can't recall ever playing--the first thing that came to mind was "jumping" from job to job... As Wayne from Wayne's World would call them: "Joe jobs." And I've worked a lot of them. There is something really silly about the concept of doing mindless jobs to accrue $$ that you can't and won't be saving. It's a struggle some people never break free of--I sort of have recently. I'm sure others feel the same way. On the flipside, I can't really fathom that life is about gathering a pot of money, sitting on it, wondering if it's enough, too much, etc. So in that regard there's a something like poetic bliss to the "Joe job," akin to the feeling of a child lost in a game of hop-scotch? Maybe.

Here is a breakdown of some of the imagery and their corresponding jobs--moving bottom to top, left to right--sometimes I tried to portray a general feeling and other times I tried to pinpoint a specific character or moment and represent it. 8 SQUARES 13 JOBS, Let's do this!

1. BAILING HAY: When I was 13, a strange farmhand would go around picking up neighborhood boys in the back of his pickup truck to bail hay for 5 bucks an hour (paid by personal check from Gus Knight of Gus Knight Farms). Looking back, it seems strange that my parents were OK w/ this. And I can say--with the hesistancy of memory fatigue barreling down---that this was the hardest fucking job I ever had. I couldn't take anymore after about 7 Sundays of this--despite the fact that the farmhand--I think his name was Roy--had hardcore pornography taped all over the cab of his truck, and we would sneak peaks during water breaks. Other than the porn, the scratched up arm is a pretty good portrayal of how my my wrists looked after 8 hours of bailing hay. SUMMER CAMP: 2nd job. Organized sports at a day camp for about 2 months in the summer... "capture the flag" represented here.

2. DELI: I worked this job on and off for basically all of high school. It was a pretty fun and messy job, and I liked and was good at it. Lots of colorful "regulars" came in--on the right side that's supposed to be me using the slicer.

3. BORDER'S BARISTA: I did this for a few months. It was like working for the deli only 87% less fun. The figure in the lower left represents a man who smoked white owl cigars, drank copious shots of espresso and wore a member's only jacket. He was like a savant of some kind. He drove most of my co-workers to go hide in the back, but I enjoyed talking to him. COUNTRY CLUB POOL SNACK BAR CZAR: Quite possibly the best job I ever had. If it were socially acceptable (and weather-permitting) I would be happy doing that the rest of my life. Watching all the pool moms in their bikinis and ragging on the bratty kids while eating pixie sticks with one of my best friends and listening to the radio...

4. TOYS R' US: This was like a non-descript 3-week stint (the red area on the board). Although I once got yelled at for eating peanut butter M&Ms that had ripped in the back and fallen on the floor. Even though I was EATING THEM OFF THE FLOOR, the manager of course assumed I had opened the bag, placed them on the ground, and was eating them because I was a theif. NJPIRG CANVASSING: Horrible. Asking money door-to-door for a semi-corrupt "non-partisan" orginization.

5. THE GOLF COURSE: I worked in the "outside ops" which is the fancy title for "guy who cleans golf clubs for way too much $$ in tips." This job was ridiculous money, but not worth it at all.

6. LIQUOR STORE/RADIOSHACK: At this point I had flunked out of college, was living in a shit hole and had two of the most depressing jobs I've ever known. One of the guys at Radioshack was a divorcee with a kid he never saw. On a good week, his take home was about 8 bucks an hour. Imagine paying child support on the commisions from selling batteries and cheap wires. Partly because of this guy, I quit after a month. This was the only time I've ever used "too depressing" as my official reason for quitting. That guy... I have this awful feeling about what happened to him, and by "happened" I mean: nothing much at all.

7. PIZZA/NEWSPAPER WRITER: After getting my act together, I landed 2 jobs at the same time. I was a sports editor for a media company that published about a dozen local papers in Bergen County, and I delivered pizza at night after photographing and writing about high school baseball and softball games all day. This was pretty busy and somewhat fulfilling, although the pizza job ended sourly after thugs shattered my passenger side window and stole my $13 dollar CD-walkman in between delivers. They were looking for my delivery bank, but I kept that shit in my pocket. When I discovered this, I walked the pizza and ticket back inside and quit on the spot. I should have done something with this event but, you know... time constraints.

8. MY JOB NOW: After starting up at Mason Gross I got an office job in East Brunswick at a tug-and-barge shipping company that moves petroleum products. I guess because I never called out sick, they kept promoting me, and now I have a real "non Joe job" job w/ full benefits and salary kicking in this summer. Right now I work about 20 hours a week @ 25/bucks an hour. I have my own cubicle w/ high speed internet and I've never done less work in my life. It is not shocking that our corporate structure is crumbling--it is a heaping pile of spoiled bad egos, foolishness and sloth. But I'm hardly an idealist. (Note: This was probably too personal and definitely too long. But give a man a forum, and... )

THE END

ROB'S HOPSCOTCH PROJECT

#1 For the first square of the hopscotch game I depicted the first time I went to the hospital. One of my brothers pushed me down the stairs and I ended up getting stitches above my left eye. The whole staircase is supposed to represent one. 

#2 For the second square I choose to depict a sign that my 2nd grade teacher would use. If the class was good for the day she would fill in a part of the letter, at the end when all the letters were filled in we would have a party. I only used the first two letters to represent the number 2. 

#3 represents how many times i have seen the Allman Bros in concert. It's represented by the three people that one would see at a concert. 

#4 depicts how the amount of laps we ran each day for a warm up for track. The number 4 is the only number not covered by runners. 

#5 is depicted by the number of place settings on the table. This was the amount of people there used to be at my diner table before certain changes happened. 

#6 is depicted by the the 6 on the alarm clock. 6:15 is kinda burned in my head from waking up that early everyday during the summer for work. 

#7 is depicted by 7 graduation hats being thrown into the air. My graduation year was '07 so thats why I choose it for the 7 spot. 

#8 is depicted by the 8 on the magic 8 ball. This magic 8 ball was given to me by my prom date who i took awhile to get back to about going to the prom. This gift was an attempt to get me to make up my mind sooner. 

and thats it.