The Unbearable Lightness of Being Paul Thomas

"I think to be a successful artist, you have to be able to see what you're doing and what you're painting. And if you produce something where, say a figure of human being and the head is in the right place, and it's not kind of over in one corner, and the body over in the other corner, and you can find it's a good bet that maybe they had the lights on and they were able to see what they were doing."

-- Paul Thomas via Paul Thomas, 6X6 Light, June 2, 2010

What weird wonderfulness transpired when all 90 of us crammed into the Ciné Lab on Wednesday night. Paul Thomas, the curator for the event, provided a radiant glimpse into his mind through the intermediation of his protégé Paul Thomas, who turned a phrase until it fractured like a prism, and actual film ran through an actual projector, and the audience was held captive in magic glasses by laser dancers, and in the dark we saw more kinds of light than we could have imagined, sent to us from New York, Italy, Ireland, and our own home town.

Selections for 6X6 Light:
1. Christopher Childs Untitled SP #1 5:32

2. Jeff Burns and Catherine Gilbert Thor's Lullaby 1:52 Brooklyn, NY, USA

3. Sabrina Cuadra Gazer Light Show 4:00 Athens, GA (live performance)

4. Paul O'Donoghue A Diamond Forms Under Pressure 6:13 Dublin, Ireland

5. Osvaldo Cibils Multimedia Head 5:00 Rovereto (TN) Italy

6. Lindsey Klonoski Repel 2:10 Athens, GA

Next up is Mystery, curated by Jeffrey Whittle. Submit by June 21!

6X6 #4: Light, Refracted Through The Mind of Paul Thomas

Light makes it possible for us to see and makes it hard for us to hide. We create great disasters to obtain it and we struggle with ignorance until it arrives. Paul Thomas has seen the light and it is beautiful like a rainbow. The selected works come from Athens, Italy, Ireland, and New York, including a performance by Sabrina Cuadra, a film by Christopher Childs, and more. Light will be shed at 6X6, this Wednesday, June 2 at the Ciné Lab from 7-8 pm. Be a part of it; be there!

Submit to Paul Thomas

You may ask yourself, what is this 6X6? You may ask yourself, why should I submit? You may tell yourself, this is not my 6X6. This is not my beautiful light. But it is -- don't hide it under a bushel. Submit and be seen.

Curated by Athens' own international art star Paul Thomas, the deadline to submit is May 21.

More About Paul Thomas
Paul Thomas has his hands in a lot of different things. Known to many as the proprietor of a series of salons offering vintage goods, conversation, and performance, he is now a full-time artist. His recent work includes being one of 14 contemporary artists chosen to augment the Dada Retrospective at The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in the International Dada Exhibition: "Born-Again Dada" at the District of Columbia Contemporary Arts Center, in Washington D.C.; the exhibit "Portraits of the American Subconscious" at the Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA; video and sound installations at the Contemporary in Atlanta and the AUX Festival, in Athens, GA; writings and collage work; and serving as curator/ consultant to the LM Gallery in Williamsburg, Va.

Paul Thomas on Facebook

Nature Swamped Us

It's the strangest thing. Last night, we were expecting Kim Kirby to come up front and preside over the 6X6 Nature event. Instead, this strange swamp creature emerged from the darkness to speak softly and surprisingly sweetly about how nature is our temple. No explanation was offered, but the work that followed was sweet (Sabrina Cuadra's Human Nature), funny (Dan Osborne's mockumentary about plastic cups in the wild), and snap-crackle-and popping (Ted Kuhn's performance involving massive quantities of Rice Krispies and PBR). Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger...

Selections for Nature

• Bird Migration, Sol Rezza, Amecameca, Estado de Mexico, Mexico, Sound work.
• Human Nature, Sabrina Cuadra, Athens, GA., Video
• Plastic Cups: Life After Disposal, Dan Osborne, Athens, GA, Video
• Sound of Saturation, Ted Kuhn, Athens, GA., Live Performance
• Freikörperkultur,Lindsey Klonoski, Athens, GA., Video
• Anemophilous Formula for Computer Art, Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy, Tallahassee, FL., Data-Driven Computer Simulation, Video.
• Caralion, Eddie Whelan., Wilmington, Delaware, Video

Coming up next: 6X6 Light, curated by Paul Thomas. Be a part of it! Submit by May 21!