Say Hello to TJ Norris

Don't let the earnest picture fool you as I fill in the blanks. I live in a lil 'treehouse' on Marquam Hill, a quiet lil' cul de sac that plays host to Portland's new tram in the sky, where I also manage to obtain free, yet often extremely intermittent wi-fi. My work is a range of things that often come from documenting the fringes (trolling) the back alleys of the industrial Northwest, combined with a splash of conceptual modernism and the peripheral theories of Emmanuel Levinas. Think of a hybrid of photography and sculpture, add it together with a dash of writing, curation, installation and collaboration and it starts to make me out to be a beat poetry slammer, or a mad chef concocting a fragile souffle recipe (though I can hardly fold t-shirts, let alone some fancy egg mixture). I have been a cultural journalist, mostly focusing on experimental electronic music, since around Y2K, giving lectures and moderating panels at a handful of international music festivals. That's my 'other' life. I've shown my work in a handful of galleries and museums across the North American continent, and in Europe as well. I'm newly represented by the red hot atelier of things all-brow, the New American Art Union (watch for their brand-new site this Friday), an exciting small stable of talented and challenging artists. Some may say 'Homo Universalis', others say 'I pity the fool'. Anyway you slice it, I am here on my own accord, and up for the challenge. My sense of the truth (or what's left of it) seems to be ever emerging. Unfolding the intangible elements I choose such as gravity/suspension, tension and distance. My studio practice has often been collaborative, so it will be interesting to see how I might actually "compete" here, as an empath of all things. My main interests are: blogging, karaoke, critique/wordplay/dialogue, videography, podcasting, electronic/experimental music, independent film/video, criticism/discourse, museums, public transportation, YouTube, bodies of water, existentialism and Fluxus/Dada (and obviously the use of the almighty slash, parenthesis and quote). Let's see, I listen to disco and rock, is that so wrong? Anyway, there's plenty more about ME on the web so I am gonna cut to the chase rather than bore you with statistics.


*** ROLL CREDITS: Very Special Thanks to good sport Los Angeles filmmaker and documentarian Sopia Balme of CurrentTV for having cameraphone on the go and for uploading on a tight deadline! We just met today. Also to my background folks Gabe Flores and Abi Spring, you two are root-tootin' good sports. And of course to the Foghat-lovin' guys of Sincerely John Head for putting up with our on-the-fly antics in front of their weird and wonderful "Box Set Sessions" set up (you gotta try it). Peas.