Here's the collaboration piece I've been painting with Nic. I've been working on it most of the night and still have about three more hours (I'm guesstimating) until I finish. I've been awake for the past twenty hours and it's been a rather productive time. I made thirty-one prints today that will be available during the show. That took up the bulk of my day. I am now in the gallery as I type this. There is work to be done here, as well, but I can't fight off the urge to upload photos and update this thing. Nic's show opens in about thirty-six hours. Lots of work to still be done, but I'm not too stressed about it. Tonight is "hang night", which is usually the most exciting step in the whole orchestrating an art show thing. I'll be posting another "sneak peek" later today so check back.
"Sneak peek #2" leans a bit towards the perverted/erotic side of the spectrum.
Ok, it doesn't quite "lean" on the perverted so much as it is smack dab in the middle of it.
This painting is acrylic on wood and measures 11.25" x 14.5". Right now the title is up for debate. It's either "Power U" or "Gold Member". Cast your vote.
I will try to post at least one "sneak peek" a day until the opening. This is the first one and it's one of my personal favorites. It's called "Chicken-Fried Steak Burger" and is approximately 8.5" x 11", acrylic on wood.
Oh! Also, I made a "set" on flickr dedicated to this show. Check it out. Tongue And Teeth by Nic Rodriguez. This photo set will be updated quite a bit as the show develops and will eventually be the home to all things "Tongue And Teeth" related, like photos from opening night and available originals and prints, and other goodies.
The countdown has begun. The opening for Nic's show is in four days. Nic started painting one of the gallery walls this afternoon. Check it.
I'm a real sucker for pink, so I naturally think this wall looks amazing. And as the day turned to evening we headed outside so Nic could do a little piece by my front door.
It will be a hectic week, but I'll try to keep you all informed with how the show is coming along. Also, I will try to keep the gallery open all week during the set up. If you come by and I'm closed feel free to give me a call and I'll probably be able to meet you within ten minutes or so.
The postcards for Nic's show arrived yesterday! It's always an exciting day around the gallery when art show postcards arrive. It makes everything seem more official. Plus, it means we get to start promoting. Fun times. So, we already mailed out 300 of these suckers and then ran out of postcard stamps. We probably have at least 100 more to send out. Unfortunately, I've had to retype 100's of snail mail addresses because the file I had them saved in on my old computer was not opening on my new computer. Fancy that. Luckily, I never threw away the dozens of sheets of paper with the handwritten addresses on them. Anyway, I hope all of you (my trusty 2,000+ readers) will be able to attend this exhibition on August 1. It's going to be awesome! For reals. I mean, seriously, check out that "Mad Hatter" painting. It's dope!
When you have extra blank shirts laying around and are struck by a surge of spontaneity you can be pretty assured that a good time is to be had. A couple of weeks ago I found myself in this very predicament. And here is the outcome.
The process. I knew I wanted to make some one of a kind shirts, so I picked out three silkscreens that I've used for various things in the past. Then I just put a shirt down and screenprinted an image. And then another. And another. I wanted a multi-layered image that would be different on each shirt. Oh, and I knew I wanted to use hot pink on the purple (orchid, according to american apparel) shirt for at least one of the images.
sweet! Sarah from Birdwatching hooked up my Chameleon wallet in her etsy treasury.
check out the other great lizard items she found on etsy. I think this list expires within 24 hours so you should get all click happy on that link as soon as you can.
i hope you all are having a wonderful relaxing (and somewhat lazy) sunday afternoon.
I am expecting two boxes, in the thirty pound range, to arrive this afternoon. In the boxes will be about eighty cans of delicious Montana Spray paint. The paint is manufactured in Spain and is shipped to a distributor in San Francisco, which is how I am able to get my hands on it within a day or two. This paint is so awesome. Seriously. And it's not just for graffiti aficionados. Like I said in a previous post about art creating culture, it's no wonder artists have picked up on this paint before the common folk. Artists know what's good before a lot of other people do. So much other spray paint out there is watered down which means you need to lay down a couple of coats to get good coverage. You also get drips because of the paint being watered down. Montana, on the other hand, has a lot more pigment to it making it considerably more opaque than other brands. Surprisingly, it doesn't cost much more. If a can of Krylon is $5 at a place like Michael's Craft Store and up to $6 at a specialty hardware store and a can of Montana is only $6 at my shop then you'd be smart to get the Montana. You'll use less paint for the same job and it will look a lot nicer. Not to mention there are 116 colors available. I'm not writing this with the intention being to promote my shop, but I just can't hide my excitement about this paint. It will be very exciting when people start coming into the shop to buy this paint for uses like painting their old wicker furniture or their new fixed gear bike they found at a garage sale or the antique dresser they found at goodwill or whatever. There are so many uses for it that go beyond graffiti. And I love graffiti, so don't think I'm knocking it. In a small town like this I feel honored to have the opportunity to offer such a great product. To prove a point check out this photo.
I cut this can in half to see what was happening on the inside. As a youngster I imagined paint cans having a fancy reflective metal sphere shaking around inside. Eventually, I cut a Krylon can in half and was disappointed to find a regular old marble. Like a "cat's eye marble". Other than that there was nothing else inside the can. Now, the photo above is of the first Montana can I used to completion. What amazed me was that when it felt empty and sounded empty I was still able to spray a decent amout of paint out the nozzle. It was like a bottomless pit. The can that never ends. When I cut the can open I was pleasantly surprised to find, not one, but two metal spheres inside as well as a straw that attaches to the spray nozzle. This straw is what made me think the can was never ending. When another brand of can stops spraying there is still some paint in the bottom that never gets used, but Montana has systematically solved that problem. You really get more bang (or paint) for your buck. Also, because the marbles inside are actually metal balls you can attach a magnet to the can to be more stealthy. The magnet will keep the balls from shaking around if you're in a situation where you need not be distracted by the sound of metal shaking inside metal. Have you even shaken a can of paint in the quiet of night? It's a loud endeavour, for sure. One that you will most likely want to avoid if you are walking around town with a can of paint in your pocket. Ah, but who really walks around with paint in their pocket?
There would be some comfort in knowing I'm not alone. Don't get me wrong, I cherish my "alone time". Probably more than you do. However, I hope I'm not alone in the inability to wash dishes within a proper amount of time. It's not laziness. It's more that I am just such a genius with so many amazing things and thoughts going on that washing dishes is a chore unfit for me. Yes, I'm above it. (Not really, but let's just pretend, ok?) What I am about to tell you is that I committed the ultimate lazy today. I threw dishes away. It was just too much to scrub, clean, and dry. So, I threw the dishes in the garbage can. I did, however, muster up the energy to clean the silverware.
Subject change number one. When is this damn challenge of writing a blog a day going to end? Yesterday I kind of cheated by posting that "promotional" bit. Also, I have to post two tonight. One for today and the other one will count for tomorrow. There is a good reason for this. About six weeks ago I made it a goal to stay off the computer on Monday's. At least stay off the internet. I try to not turn the computer on at all, but on a couple of occasions I had to print some stuff out that did not involve the internet. So, to accomplish one goal (not getting on the computer on Monday) I have to sacrifice another (writing a blog a day). I suppose I could write a blog on Monday and not post it until Tuesday, but at this point (now that I've written it) I might as well just get it over with.
Subject change number two. Isn't "Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead" awesome?
Grocery shopping is not the sort of activity I look forward to. It's the lines. I despise waiting in line. In fact, just the other day I was craving a deli style sandwich. Sinking my teeth into a black forest ham sammy in much the same way a shark chomps down on an unexpecting surfer is something I had been looking forward to for about three days. Entering any eatery ten minutes before noon is just a bad idea. All those drones on lunch breaks, ya know? I knew better, but thought I'd give it a try regardless. As expected the line was about eight people deep. Sorry, Subway. You're not getting my business today. High Street Deli, what I consider to be the best sandwich place in the town, hands down, was even worse. I gave up and opted to eat some microwavable vomit food that I had waiting for me at work. Back to the grocery shopping. I have developed a habit of getting my shopping done late at night to avoid the hecticness (yes, I just invented a new word) that goes with shopping in the middle of the day. The local Vons closes around 1am, so I try to get there in the 12am hour. It's pretty awesome. The aisles are covered in boxes and pallets take up the entire back row of the store. The nightshift workers are doing their thing. It stirs up a bit of nostalgia as I reminisce about my late nights in Pavillions doing the very same thing. I have also developed the habit of only allowing myself to buy what I can carry. No cart. No carry basket. No oilcloth bag that seems to be all the rage these days. Since I've picked up this behavior it's really cut down on the amount of food that goes bad in my house. In fact, food rarely goes bad. When my food does grow moldy it's only because I was on some crazy health kick in which I buy a 5 pound bag of carrots. "Wow! I can just eat these as a snack instead of the Chewy Chips Ahoy I've been addicted to for the past three months!" Yeah, those carrots, those poor poor carrots. They never stood a chance.
Phases. They come and go. Some have more lasting value and some vanish as fast as they appear. About a week ago I went through a little phase that resulted in three new little art pieces. I would make a black and white drawing and then spray paint over it. I tried to keep the drawings simple, meaning not drawing more than one character and not filling the entire page with the usual whimsical lines, stars, arrows, etc that I normally do. I had to leave blank space for the spray paint, which is sometimes a challenge for me. Empty space and myself don't work well together, at least not without a lot of self-control on my part. Blah, blah, blah…who cares, right? I apologize. I'll get to the point. Here are the three drawings (mixed media pieces) that I came up with.
"Brother Erotic" 6" x 7"
"Where's The Roller Derby" 6" x 7"
"Pick Your Fight" 6" x 6.25"
Each one is currently available for $20 in the online shop.
It's almost 6pm, which means I am closing up the gallery for the night. There is a good chance I won't be back on the computer until tomorrow, which means I have to write my blog in just a few minutes. This crazy goal of writing a blog a day for a week is quite challenging and I've been waiting until about 11pm every night before I even start typing. There are just so many things to do during the day that I never make the time to write a "quality" piece. Anyway, for today I decided to list the last ten groups that I've listened to through my trusty refurbished ipod.
1. The Good Life 2. Pulp Fiction Soundtrack 3. Voodoo Glow Skulls 4. Mix Somebody Gave Me 5. Bright Eyes 6. The White Stripes 7. Juno Soundtrack 8. The Moldy Peaches 9. Johnny Cash 10. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I'm not sure what that list says about me, but it could be fun to analyze, which is what I might do for my next post.
Hello Squares, I Welcome You With Open Arms And A Smile.
I have decided to repost yesterday's entry with today's additions. I also added a few photos here and there to spice it up.
What's next? I'm guessing geometric handiwork. It's so hard to predict trends, but no matter what they always change. They circulate. It doesn't matter how cool something is it eventually becomes uncool. After awhile it becomes so uncool that it actually is cool again. The main, and possibly, only exception to this is...well, I can't think of any. I almost said the Simpson's or David Bowie,
but I can't really commit to that. It's just easier to say that nothing has been cool forever. Not even that gray hair wig wearing Campbell's Soup can painting art guy has been cool forever.
OK, now that I'm thinking about artists it could very well be possible that Dali has always been cool.
But probably not. Oh my, what a digression. I went from "geometric handiwork" to soup cans. Moving right along. I am a keen observer. Either that or I'm annoyingly oblivious. Have you heard of Ryan Mcginness? He's on my top five of living contemporary artists. (HA, "living contemporary". What does that even mean?) Here is a photo (and below a close up detail) I took of one of his paintings at a show he had in La Jolla last year.
Amazing, right? I think so. Anyway, in the non-close up photo take note of all the curlicue line work. I'm no art historian, but I'd say it hints at or is a direct descendant of Victorian Design. Or better yet, if Victorian Design and Art Nouveau met at a pub, drank themselves to a stupor, had unprotected sex in a back alley that resulted in an offspring you would get these swirly curly lines of whimsy. In the close up photo you can see more detailed versions of the whimsical lines I'm talking about. This line work started showing up in Mcginness's work around 2001. By 2003 it was a big part of his work and by 2004 it pretty much dominated the surface of his paintings.
Earlier when I claimed to be a keen observer, which I am in a wide variety of areas, in this instance I am specifically talking about design. As in graphic design (such as print ads, business cards, web site banner ads, hangtags on clothing, etc.) and fashion/clothing design (fabric patterns, t-shirt logos, etc.) If you, too, are a keen observer of such things it is no doubt you have witnessed the proliferation of this style of design on practically everything. In the last three years it has sprung up on print ads for things as diverse as BMX bikes and credit cards. You see it on Hurley shirts and generic shirts from Target and Wal-Mart. I think it all stems from Ryan Mcginness. It's no doubt art creates culture. It's unfortunate that most people don't know where it comes from. Do you remember that scene in "The Devil Wears Prada" when Meryl Streep schools Ann Hathaway on where her blue sweater came from? If you don't remember it here it is.
The part she left out, of course, is that some artist probably used Cerulean Blue in a series of paintings. Of course, a fashion designer is an artist too. We mustn't conclude that the only art that creates culture is the art of painters. (But, it probably is.) Anyway, that scene describes what I'm trying to say better than I can describe it myself. Plus, it's late and I'm in no mood to articulate my little theories.
As I was saying, art creates culture. And it's no doubt that once arts influence has infiltrated every sect of society it is only a matter of time before a new trend emerges.
My prediction, as I stated at the beginning of this, is geometric shapes. Soon you will start seeing more circles, squares and rectangles popping up as background filler in print ads and t-shirt logos. This Victorian- Art Nouveau thing got to the point where items just appeared boring or generic if those elements were not included. It's now flipped, however, to the point where using those design elements is generic. All the graphic designers out there will have to stow away their favorite bed mate,
the Dover Victorian and Art Nouveau books, until the trend comes back, which will probably be right after people get bored of circles and squares and need something a little more old school. More old fashioned looking.
What's next? I'm guessing geometric handiwork. It's so hard to predict trends, but no matter what they always change. They circulate. It doesn't matter how cool something is it eventually becomes uncool. After awhile it becomes so uncool that it actually is cool again. The main, and possibly, only exception to this is...well, I can't think of any. I almost said the Simpson's or David Bowie, but I can't really commit to that. It's just easier to say that nothing has been cool forever. Not even that gray hair wig wearing Campbell's Soup can painting art guy has been cool forever. OK, now that I'm thinking about artists it could very well be possible that Dali has always been cool. But probably not. Oh my, what a digression. I went from "geometric handiwork" to soup cans. Moving right along. I am a keen observer. Either that or I'm annoyingly oblivious. Have you heard of Ryan Mcginness? He's on my top five of living contemporary artists. (HA, "living contemporary". What does that even mean?) Here is a photo (and below a close up detail) I took of one of his paintings at a show he had in La Jolla last year.
Amazing, right? I think so. Anyway, in the non-close up photo take note of all the curlicue line work. I'm no art historian, but I'd say it hints at or is a direct descendant of Victorian Design. Or better yet, if Victorian Design and Art Nouveau met at a pub, drank themselves to a stupor, had unprotected sex in a back alley that resulted in an offspring you would get these swirly curly lines of whimsy. In the close up photo you can see more detailed versions of the whimsical lines I'm talking about. This line work started showing up in Mcginness's work around 2001. By 2003 it was a big part of his work and by 2004 it pretty much dominated the surface of his paintings.
Earlier when I claimed to be a keen observer, which I am in a wide variety of areas, in this instance I am specifically talking about design. As in graphic design (such as print ads, business cards, web site banner ads, hangtags on clothing, etc.) and fashion/clothing design (fabric patterns, t-shirt logos, etc.) If you, too, are a keen observer of such things it is no doubt you have witnessed the proliferation of this style of design on practically everything. In the last three years it has sprung up on print ads for things as diverse as BMX bikes to credit cards. You see it on Hurley shirts and generic shirts from Target and Wal-Mart. I think it all stems from Ryan Mcginness. It's no doubt art creates culture.
*sidenote - I have three minutes to post this if I am going to keep to my goal of a blog a day for a whole week. So, this is now a two part blog. To be continued. (And hopefully concluded.)
The other night I chose to pick Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" on a jukebox that had a bunch of unclaimed credits. Who in their right mind would leave eight songs worth of credits on a jukebox in a dive bar? Anyway, the second the song came on the entire mood of the bar shifted. Suddenly everybody was best friends with everybody. People were singing arm and arm with people they had never met before. Nuns were dancing with their tops off. The bartender was giving free drinks to underage kids. Some hillbilly brought a hose in from outside and orchestrated an impromptu wet t-shirt contest atop the broken billiard table. I couldn't help but feel like a bit of rockstar since I, and I alone, had chosen this particular ballad. Needless to say when the Too Short songs came on that some young hooligans picked on the jukebox the bar emptied out in a matter of milliseconds.
Why the hell do you have an escalator in your store that only goes up forcing us lazy asses to walk down the staircase directly next to the escalator. OK, truth be told, I am not so much "lazy" as I am a man of luxury. I want to be transported up and down one level to the next without exerting any energy.
Why must you park like a douche bag? Is it so hard to keep your vehicle in between the white lines? The sixty other cars in the parking lot didn't seem to have any trouble with it. There would have been sixty one cars (my car being the sixty first) parked in there if you weren't such a dill hole. At first chance please hurl yourself off a twenty foot high spring board into an empty Olympic sized swimming pool.
I'm sure I am not alone in the fact that I receive random emails with promise of enlarging my penis or enhancing my sexual performance. You know, with the typical ever enticing slogans such as "Add 28 inches length to your scrawny sad little pathetic penis!" "Now you can stick it to you lady under the table while having dinner at the local Taco Bell." "Guaranteed to last longer...you'll be thrusting like Lionel Ritchie, ALL NIGHT LONG!"
Yeah, you know you've seen these emails. Unfortunately, they are here to stay. We must embrace them. What concerns me, however, is the lack of emails advertising vagina enhancement. Your inbox never receives messages advertising services on how to "Show your man you love him and return to the tightness of Prom Night!" or whatever.
So, I have set a goal to write one blog a day for a week straight. Self promotional blogs do not count. The idea is to write more. I started this blog with the intention of writing random bullshit that might be funny and it has slowly transformed into a promobloggy. Wish me luck. One down, six to go. Five minutes to post. Also, I encourage you to jump in on this action. Start right now. Write one blog a day for a week straight. Who knows what kind of magic can happen. Three minutes to post. Time to copy and paste. See you tomorrow.
