the hand that holds the thing

so i have been gone for a month and not really putting stuff up here. partly because i've been busy and have not made the time, partly because i've been cheating on my blog with instagram (@nathanielrussell), partly because i don't know why. in any case i was not around because i was doing an artist-in-residence program at facebook campus. as weird as that may sound, i can assure you that is a real thing and i did it. i will be showing photos and drawings of things i made and did as well as sorting through my various feelings about them for the foreseeable future. 

i was there for a month. i got to be back in oakland for that time but did not really get to hang with buds that much as i was kind of working or tired from working the entire time. next time, buds, i promise. i'm going to begin with the easiest thing to begin with, which is the last thing i did: this mural. i did it the last two or three days i was there and it was a nice last thing to do. i could do whatever  i wanted, wherever i wanted. getting all up in people's faces is not really my deal, so i found a nice quiet spot that you might have to try to find if you ever go there, which i suggest because the food is delicious.

 you know me, i'm keeping it simple. i started by painting a big blue hand.

 then i painted what the hand was holding

 then we took a break and went to the alcatraz night tour, which is expensive but really awesome. this is the best picture i got.

 also this one, some san quentin prisoner art. i have a thing for prison art and tv shows about prison. i am against going to prison, for myself. 

i was hoping this would happen:

this has got to be the second best san francisco movie, in my opinion. and the first is not "bullit", it's "dirty harry":

anyway, then i came back, finished painting the thing the hand is holding and then spray-painted a long  line that went around some corners, a plant, some conference rooms, and then back to the beginning. 

here it is in real time:

 the line was fun

 but it made me tense, too.

 if you look at the video, i start making a weird clenched half-fist with my left hand. that's an unconscious tension, man. you can't see, but there's a handful of programmers (?) i'm pretending to ignore. 

 at first i was all, "i'm gonna spraypaint that plant!" then i remembered that would be the lamest possible thing  i could do. then i thought "i'm gonna spraypaint that tv screen" then i remembered i didn't want to be a jerk for no reason. so i avoided both and went along my merry/stressed out way, which i think is an entirely more apt social commentary.

 the line again

 it's still going

 this part was very pleasing to me, but maybe the people who painted that wall are bummed

 going over the door was a major moment for me

 and now we're back

and that's it. and then we packed up and left and drove home three days later.