Cam Novak

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Video Blog Feb.28

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Making Sense of Something Seemingly Random

Above are drawings I did by randomly spraying paint onto a piece of paper and then drawing overtop the color with a pen to make some faces.

This process, even though it may seem totally random, could be a good representation of how you should approach living.

Hear me out....

As I've said many times before, I think that we are all dealing with similar struggles of identity and purpose, and when you start getting into it, it almost seems like a bottomless pit of crap and scaryness. At times I feel this way but sometimes, I feel nice and warm inside by one simple line,

"It is what it is."

Why does this give me comfort? Because when you really think about life and how we are all connected by the fact that we exist, the rest will come as it should, because that's what it's supposed to do.

What I mean by this is, there is much to be gained by analyzing our existence, but a lot can be gained by existing now and realizing that is all that will ever be. To think about tomorrow is no less crazy than thinking you can fly. There is truth in everything that is now- the pain, the love, the gut feelings, the strength, the weakness- all of it is truth and it is what it is.

When i think about what I've done above, I see the struggle of life. Nine figures created from nine different sprays. Were the images created by me, or did they already exist and I helped them appear? I did not spend time thinking about the composition or the shape or the expression on each face, I let the spray decide what was going to happen. I let the form form itself and didn't get caught up on what I thought it should be. Life is most appreciated when you let it happen. Who you are is who you are and there is nothing you can do other than expose it and embrace it.

These figures are connected not by their differences but by their participation in the act of existence. They all exist on the paper and their truth is in their paper-ness not their spraypaint-ness.

Friday, February 8, 2013

the shoreline

As someone who has always had issues with identity, it comes like a breath of fresh air when I see that I've made a little bit of progress and feel a little bit more certain in my skin. We all seem to be sharing this struggle and although we all may be dealing with it differently, I think that the problems remain the same.

Who am I? What should I do? Where do I belong? These are all questions we encounter in our daily quest to internal peace and I believe there are answers out there for us all.

It's not an easy journey, but I can't think of any bigger reward than finding out who you are.

My artistic journey has brought me to this point in time where I am interested in exploring my own personal experiences in the hopes of empowering others to look within for answers.

This first spoken word piece entitled "A Walk on the Beach of my Mind" is my first project that tries to add a bit of dimension to the human struggle- giving it a place that it can be explored rather than imagining it as a dark hole to get lost in.

This project will be ongoing and will involve audio, video, sculpture, written letters, photographs and illustrations. I hope that you can take this journey with me and maybe gain a bit of perspective on what ever struggles you may have.

You have the ability to change your mind and opportunity awaits at every step of the way.

-Cam

Friday, February 1, 2013

A conversation with Identity

Identity- "Hello, my name is Identity."
Cam- "Oh hello Identity, where did you come from?"

I- "I come from a place that is similar to here but not the same. It's strange here with you."
C- "Oh really? Can you describe your home to me? I only know this world. "

I- "I come from a world where I am accepted."
C- "Accepted? What does that mean? "

I- "I am me, and it's okay. "
C- "Oh. Well that's strange. You see, people here are only valuable if they can make money. Do you know what money is?"

I- "Money? Yes. I've heard terrible things."
C- "No no, it's not terrible, it helps us decide which ideas are good and which ideas are bad. It's a great system. How do you rate ideas in your world if you don't have money?

I- "All ideas are valuable, it's part of the process. Do you know about the process?"
C- "No not at all, what is it?"

I- "There's no final product or decision to stop at. It's an ongoing journey that we all participate in. Ideas build off one another in order to create more ideas. We don't focus on anything else. We just create more and more thoughts to play with. Our goal is to never reach our goal."
C- "Oh how strange. So how do you survive?"

I- "We don't survive, we live. We don't have the same problems that you have here because we don't arrive at anything. We feed ourselves and each other with the harvest of our minds."
C- "I'd love to understand the space you live in because most people here I'm sure would like to live where you are. It's not easy though, we can't seem to work up the courage to leave behind what we own. It's property that paralyzes us and keeps us grounded and safe here. It's nice here."

I- "You do not need to leave here in order to arrive where I am. You are where you are and it is the same place that I am."
C- "What?"

I- "No one lives outside of true reality. You do not breath a different air that I breath or drink a different water that I drink. You just are. The train in your mind can only go to one station, the choice is yours if you want to get off. The journey is only as far as you make it."

..... to be continued....

Creativity haunts me like a smile of a beautiful woman on the street

Monday, January 28, 2013

Rock Against Racism- Jan. 31 Benefit

I designed this poster for wicked anti racism event happening on Thursday.

Be there are at Katacombs and rock your pants off in the name of fighting racism.

Money goes to the CKUT Homelessness Marathon and helps support people who live on the street.

What's not to love?

Give some love to their FB page- http://www.facebook.com/Smash.Hate.Mtl

FB Event- http://www.facebook.com/events/130357657122909/

Second Floor Bathroom

Second Floor is a bar that has just opened up at 5169 Avenue du Parc.

I painted the men's bathroom. You should come check it out at their big opening party this Friday. I'll probably be there dancing the night away.

FB Event-

http://www.facebook.com/events/322466711188175/

FB page- http://www.facebook.com/second.floor.bar

Photo by Pierheleneriouxfoto

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Psychic City

I painted probably one of the coolest jam spaces in Montreal and am really happy with the way it turned out.
Psychic City is located in the basement of 3655 St- Laurent

None of this was sketched or preconceived. It was a fun process to work out what belonged on the walls and how it should all fit together.
Since the space was really tight, I asked a friend of my and really talented photographer Seb Morin to help take photos of the final product.
Here's his flickr page- http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebmorin/

If you want you want something painted by me shoot me an email- cyclebird@gmail.com

This walls was painted after Seb came by so these are cell phone pictures

Identity?

I've been a busy little bee these days so I haven't had too much time to blog 'cause I've been out there living wildly.
I have to say that despite the record breaking cold that everyone is complaining about, this week was pretty incredible. I painted, I was in a movie and feel healthier due to my high consumption of green vegetables and my lower consumption of pizza and pizza related items.

I feel creative and am feeding off what ever inspiration I can find. One of these morcelles of inspiration food is this video.

Never mind that she is an incredible public speaker but what got me is that she speaks some of the most raw and beautiful truth that I have heard in a long time. She grabbed my heart with her voice and kept me interested until the very end.
I think that we all struggle with identity and the very fact that we are in a world that wants us to believe in products and not ourselves makes me sick. We are told to believe in a structure and institutions that are themselves not virtuous, yet we are told to live up to high standards and live honest lives. They are robbing us blind while at the same time telling us not to steal.
This is why I do what I do the way I do it. I push on in the hopes of discovering who I am and not what others want me to be. I push forward and work to maybe, one day think of myself as a "good person". (what ever that means)
I want to live a just life, not a profitable one. Can they coexist? Well, if I am going to survive, I am going to have to figure out how they do.

My next inspiration meal is this epic woman. Fan Lebowitz. HOOOOLLLYYYY SSSHHHIIITTT!

If talking were a sport, this woman would win first place at every Olympics.
What I like most about her is the way she explains things and how, for the most part, her thoughts are accessible to most anyone no matter your background. Now, to get her wit and subtle comedy is a whole other story, but she does not try to loose you in big words or concepts. Her sentences are crafted to be concise and strong and she doesn't, "beat around the bush" so to speak.

If you have an 83 Minutes to spare, I would highly suggest you watch the small doc about her called public speaking
Here's the full movie for free :)
http://www.movie2k.to/Public-Speaking-watch-movie-524584.html

I have many many other things that have given me inspiration over the last week but I am starting to realize the power of self admiration. I am not talking about ego or narcissism but rather, a sense of self that is beyond the physical world.
The physical world is and will always be, a manifestation of how we feel. If we feel shitty, we will do shitty things. If we feel good, we will most likely do good things.
The world that we live in tells us we are worthless unless we attain a certain level of success or have special pieces of paper declaring our excellence. This system hurts the collective soul and conscience of the people and doesn't allow for TRUE acceptance of individuality. Yes, we live in an age of endless opportunity, but those opportunities are not our "rights" as many people feel they are, they are privileges that are given to us by those who want society to conform. You can not buy individuality and when you realize that, you are a little bit more free.
All that aside, there are a lot of shitty people out there who can and will beat your soul down and steal what ever sense of self worth you may have.
Personally, I've had enough of this. I see that the next step is to feel good within and feed off of what I create myself. Being my own hero, being my own lover and admiring the beauty that I am without looking in a mirror.

The video below is the 20 year-old me who didn't know jack shit about business and just wanted to bike my little butt off until I felt some sort of feeling of belonging.
Cycle-Bird gave me the feeling that I could do anything because it was me. No one said I should do this or that it was the best "career" choice for me. I did it because it felt right in my gut and everyday it made me feel alive and happy.
Was it easy? Of course not. It beat me just as hard if not harder than a professional university program but I came out the other side feeling closer to my identity. This is not to say that you can not discover yourself through academics, but as someone who has a hard time sitting down and concentrating, school was like a cage for me. I felt trapped and doing this job and building something that I called my own was the only thing that kept me sane and happy.

This is the challenge of life that we all have; finding our identity in this crazy world that we all call home.
It's not easy for anyone but what I suggest is that you start looking at your energy as currency and spending it in the right places. Your emotions and your psychological state is just as important if not more than your bank account. Treat them as such. Follow your heart and make sure you feel good with every breath you take because you never know when it might be taken away from you.