ongoing voices

I have a quote by martha graham in my notebook: You do not have to believe in yourself or your work. It is not your business to determine how good it is, how valuable it is, or how it compares with other expressions. But it is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly to the urges that motivate you. Today, I had thoughts about the surplus of free couches in the world, why there is a surplus and what can be done about it. I saw a free piano on craigslist that I wanted to acquire and deconstruct but wondered if it could ever be decontextualized since piano keys are so iconic. I take fragments of retro lettering on buildings with my camera or mental camera every day and I've been mentally cataloging the styles of decorative concrete blocks and am finally starting to photograph them. Today I'm enamored with square metal signpost tubing and want to use it in a credenza design. I've also finally found a functional solution for the wooden boxes I acquired at a rock and gem show last summer and just yesterday I finally integrated the perspective-graph-paper I've had for two years into something. When I'm thinking, writing, or sketching out these things I don't know how much time goes by. These urges come at me every minute of every day and they fill the day and every space in-between. When certain people in my life ask me "what did you do today" I have trouble answering because the volume of thought turns into instant fuzz. It makes for a very short kind of quiet phone conversations because I can't articulate what consumes me. I just know when I try to quiet these urges I become lifeless. I've yet to unify all of the chatter within into a singular medium. For my sanity and the self-esteem of my alter ego I need to find that medium or some coherence. In the meantime, the best summation for my alter ego and what I'm trying to get out is "Conceptual Artist". The version of me that operates on a normal level and more accepted and measurable mode of value is the "Architect-in-Training". The message I've always received or that's been implied by people in my life is that there is no value to conceptual thought. So I guess there's nothing to lose. Here are my couch thoughts:
In the living-room stage the couch is the primary spot of comfort and relaxation. It is the primary spot to receive entertainment whether it be television, movies, conversation or watching children play. During a domestic intermission, AKA the act of moving, the potential labor to move a couch is weighed against the amount of money paid to acquire it. The break even point must be fairly low because there is a surplus of free couches in this world.

My guess is that most people don’t want someone else’s couch because of the very intimacy that a couch implies. Who knows what particles, fluids, or other substances coat the cushions. Who knows what act of passions have occurred on top of or in the couch by people and pets. I am now making it my prerogative to think about the Free Couch and set it free from it’s reputation as a domestic outcast. I’m going to bring the Free Couch back into the home by devising a new functionality for it.

Couch

Fabric becomes formless when off the frame of a couch. When put back into 2-Dimensional space imperfections on the fabric are easier to spot and isolate.

Couch is made of wood, fabric, springs, metal, screws, adhesive, stitching, leather.
Couch inside out – exoskeleton, extruded.
Destruction – tearing, burning, staining, cutting. Performative deconstruction.

Deformation by subtracting and adding to the frame and then re-upholstering.
Disinfection by complete bleach or chemical bath.

Can a couch be re-constructed to be displayed on a wall?
Can a couch be lived in. Free Couches in San Diegohttp://sandiego.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=free%20couch&srchType=T